Alright everyone I hope you are all well and ready for chapter four!

Atsik101: Thank you and yeah, I'm trying to stick to a proper writing schedule, but life is life.

Fox Sage 1: Maybe due to violence and what not but not yet. I'll try to update faster but creativity and motivation mix with life can be a butt.

Bearbarian901: I have a few ideas, but I'll wait until this and A Wraith in the Ghostzone chapters are in the double digits before posting something new.

I don't own anything.

Asuma took a drag on his cigarette as he watched his students spar together. Right now, Shikamaru and Naruto were fighting against Hinata in a two vs one match. This was a pure taijutsu match. No nin or genjutsu were allowed. The way the boys could win was to land three solid hits on Hinata while all she had to do was land a single hit on each of them.

The purpose of this training exercise was for five reasons. First it was to help Hinata build her confidence, a couple of wins against her teammates can help with that tremendously. Second, he noticed that Hinata had little experience in fighting more than one opponent, something that should have been taught in the academy. In fact, when he was a graduate, he was supposed to be able to fight off at least three opponents for at least a minute. Third, this was to improve Shikamaru's and more importantly Naruto's taijutsu. When he saw the blond's fighting style, he cringed at all the holes in it. The boy was more of a street brawler than a shinobi. Fourth it was to help build Shikamaru's stamina. Finally, it was to force Naruto to think before he acts since he would often rush in. Seeing he could lose because of a single hit he had to be cautious. Overall, he was helping all his students with a single training exercise, not too bad if he says so himself.

"Shit!"

"Troublesome."

Hearing his male students defeat Asuma stopped the timer. "Congrats this is a personal record you three. Hinata, you were only hit once while you two lasted five whole minutes before losing. Not bad everyone."

"Thanks sensei!"

"T-thank you sensei."

"Troublesome."

"Good now it's time for chakra training. You three know the drill." Nodding the three moved over to a nearby pond. Hinata and Shikamaru began slowly and unsteadily, Shikamaru more than Hinata, walked onto the water and began running laps. They would be doing this to increase both their control and reserves. In all honesty Asuma was hoping to get their chakra levels closer to high genin to low chunin in a month or so. Naruto on the other hand created three shadow clones and the four began to walk up the trees. Asuma looked up the shadow clone jutsu to better understand it. Thanks to this he discovered its ability to transfer memories back to the user. He did limit Naruto to only three clones though to keep him from overloading his brain.

Asuma leaned back and thought about his students' progress. When it comes to their flaws, he could say they are improving. Hinata's confidence is still shaky, but she has started to stutter less except when talking to Naruto. Shikamaru was well, he was still lazy as ever, but his reserves and stamina had increased. Naruto, kami where to begin. The kid's taijutsu was horrid, thankfully he is reteaching him the basics, his chakra control was a nightmare but thanks to the tree climbing exercises and clones that should be taken care of. Genjutsu, Asuma loves his girlfriend but even Kurenai couldn't teach him how to cast a single genjutsu. Not the kids fault of course due to his ridiculously large reserves, so Asuma was more focused on getting him to recognize and free himself from them for now.

Moving on he was able to test their affinities. Normally most wait until they're chunin to even bother but Asuma thought it would make things easier to teach them their strengths. What happened was interesting. Shikamaru had a fire and earth chakra. That was simple enough, so Asuma gave him two scrolls, the first being the mist waltz jutsu. This was a D-rank fire jutsu that allows the user to breathe out a gas of combustible air that will explode when met with open flame, a fairly technical technique for sure but very useful in a hands of a Nara. The second scroll was for a low C-rank earthen skewer jutsu. As the name suggests this allows the user to create spikes of earth to shoot out of the ground. Combined with the shadow possession technique, Asuma was sure this would be great for Shikamaru's arsenal. Then came the surprises.

Naruto shocked him when it revealed that he had a powerful wind affinity, hell the chakra paper he handed to him was shredded to nearly tiny pieces. He was so shocked he nearly missed that some of the paper was singed or slightly damp. Meaning along with a wind affinity that may be stronger than his own Naruto had a minor fire and water affinity as well. He decided to give him the drilling air bullet. A good offensive technique for a beginner. As for the second was the water bowl jutsu. Combined with his clones he could give his teammates excellent cover.

Then came the biggest surprise with Hinata, when the shy wall flower used the chakra paper it revealed she had an affinity for water and lightning. That wasn't something he expected. Historically speaking the Hyuga either had an earth or fire affinities. Not that most used them, but it was still a shock. Asuma decided to first give her a scroll for the hidden mist jutsu. Mixed with the byakugan would be a terrifying combination. Even more so when the second jutsu he's having her learn be the thunderclap jutsu. While it doesn't damage anyone it can deafen those for a short amount of time.

Overall, it was a good set of jutsus he's having them learn but he's proud of their progress.

Mission hall one hour later

Team Asuma stood in front of the hokage as he read over their mission reports. "Impressive. Twenty missions completed in a short amount of time." The aged leader muttered.

"There are a couple more D-ranks that need to be done." Hiruzen continued. "Unless... Jonin Sarutobi, do you believe your team is ready for a C-rank mission?"

Asuma took a puff of his cigarette before nodding his head. His team has improved leaps and bounds so a simple C-rank would be doable.

"Very well. The small town of Nakae has lately had people go missing. Go and investigate these disappearances and see to put an end to it."

"Understood. Team, pack for a week's worth of travel and meet me at the gate in one hour." Asuma ordered.

Naruto ran back to his apartment full of excitement. "All right a C-rank mission! Take that Sasuke-teme!"

"You shouldn't think about one upping the Uchiha." Kyubi scolded. "You should be focusing on your mission and the supplies you'll need." Ever since Naruto awakened the two have been talking to each other daily. For the most part, it was small things like what the fox did on their spare time before being sealed or what's the best food was. This often led to the two arguing due to the fox saying roasted rabbit was better than ramen.

"I know but I can't help it." Naruto thought back as he began to pack. "I wonder what's it's like outside the village." He thought more to himself than his tenant. While he had been in the forest that surrounds Konoha, he never seen another.

"More than the same than you think. You better hurry up. Your team will be at the gate soon." The fox demon told him. Cursing the blond began to hurry.

Konoha Main gate – 15 minutes later

Asuma walked behind his team as they began to head towards their mission. As they traveled Hinata looks over to her sensei.

"Sensei, have you been to Nakae before?"

Asuma took a puff before turning slightly to his students. "Not me personally but I had a couple of family members pass through there. I know it's a small town and most of its economy is from the river that comes from the capital and logging."

"Then what do you think is causing the disappearances?" Naruto asked.

"Could be a number of things. For now, focus on your surroundings. We'll try to figure things out after we talk to the mayor." It took them four hours before the shinobi made it to the small hamlet. The town was busy as people bustled in the streets, fishermen at the river were pulling up nets of fish as loggers were hauling wood to the mill. The four made their way to the mayor's office. Knocking on the door they were let in as an elderly man sat behind a table. His face was littered with wrinkles and the only hair on his head was his white beard that was neatly combed.

"Ah, you must be the Konoha shinobi we asked for. I am Otsuji Ken, welcome to Nakae." He said as they walked in.

"We are. Is there anything you could tell us about the missing people." Asuma said causing the man to sigh.

"Yes, for the last couple of weeks people have been going missing. At first, we thought it could have been them simply leaving or getting lost in the forest. But just a couple of days ago a young man by the name of Mizuta disappeared as well."

"Why is that significant?" The smoking guardian asked.

"Mizuta's family are the owners of the logging mill, making them the wealthiest family in town. His father died a couple of weeks prior meaning he was about to take over. Not only that, but Mizuta also had a ring he always wore no matter what. We found it on the side of the road after a search party when out to look for him." Asuma nodded at that explanation.

"Very well. My team and I shall begin our investigation." He said leading his team outside. Turning to them he began giving orders. "Alright team, it's clear something is happening here so here's what we're going to do. Hinata and I shall look around town and search for anything of merit. Shikamaru, you and Naruto investigate the surrounding area. Naruto, while you are there use your clones and enhanced senses to see if you could track down any of the missing people. Shikamaru, stay with the real Naruto. We'll meet up at the motel in two hours to go over our findings. Understood?" Getting nods from everyone they separated to begin their tasks, little did they know they were being watched.

Naruto and Shikamaru traveled to the outskirts of the town and began their search. The forest was thick enough where only a little bit of sun poke through the thick canopy creating a dark and ominous atmosphere.

"Alright let's do this." Naruto exclaimed before creating ten clones. "Alright everyone let's transform and find those people!"

"Wait." Naruto and his clones turn to the Nara in confusion.

"What's wrong Shika?"

"Were all of you about to turn into your wolf form?" Seeing the group of blonds nod he sigh. "Please don't."

This shocked Naruto seeing his werewolf form would help the search greatly. "Seriously!? Why?"

"A couple reasons. First if these people are simply lost then a giant wolf man bursting out of the forest screaming found you would be troublesome." This caused the group to begin chuckling nervously, each knowing that was what they would do.

"Second, if someone is responsible then they would see your transformation. It would be better for us to keep that hidden for now." Naruto paused as the shadow user had a good point.

"Good to see you understand. For now, we'll split into pairs and search." Naruto nodded again before his clones burst into smoke again revealing five birds and squirrels. Seeing this the Nara cocked an eyebrow before turning to the werewolf.

"Figure if we are being more careful why not have the clones be something that could be overlooked." Naruto grinned. It was a grin the Nara knew well. Whenever the blond grins like that someone was being pranked. Thankfully he knew it wasn't him.

With Asuma and Hinata

The sensei and student were at the logging mill. Of course, no one saw them as they walked on the ceiling and hid in the shadows whenever possible. As for why they were sneaking around the mil in the first place was something Hinata asked when they arrived. Asuma reasoned that they are investigating the missing people to find a pattern or anything that could help. Given the latest disappearance was the new mill owner trying their luck at the mill was worth a shot. The two carefully made their way through the halls listening to the workers as they passed below them.

"Still can't believe Mizuta is gone." One worker said to his friend.

"Yeah, and it's been smooth sailing ever since." His friend smiled.

"Isn't that the truth. It was great working under his old man, but after he pass Mizuta been cracking the whip for no reason."

"What I don't get is why. We're ahead of our quota and there haven't been any new orders, yet he still had us shoving lumber onto carts."

"I don't know. I saw some of the guys picking up the lumber. They didn't look to friendly to me."

"Yeah, well as long as they don't cause trouble, we'll be fine."

Asuma looked at Hinata and signaled her to follow him. The two made their way through the facility before coming across the owner's office. Hopping down Asuma quickly picked the lock allowing them to enter without being seen. It was a decent size office. A bookshelf was against the wall with a large desk with some paperwork still on it. A shelf with various types of alcohol lining it hung next to the doorway.

"Alright. Hinata use your Byakugan to keep an eye out for anyone coming. I'll search the room."

Nodding Hinata activated her family's kekkei genkai and immediately saw something.

"Sensei, there's an alcove behind the bookshelf." Asuma looked up from the desk and turned to the self cautiously.

"Do you see any traps or alarms?"

"There's a mechanism on the bottom self, third book from the left. It looks like a way to open but I see nothing that could be an alarm or trap." Nodding Asuma doubled checked and pulled the book. The entire shelf moves to the side revealing the alcove with a journal and money. Grabbing the journal, Asuma skimmed it before frowning.

"We better get to the others. Things got a bit more complicated." The jonin didn't know how right he was as at the same time in a shady bar a group of men were sitting in a darken corner.

"You sure about what you saw?" A gruff voice asked. A plainly dressed man nodded.

"Yeah, a group of ninja from the leaf came and talk to the mayor." The gruff voice man sneered but nodded. It was only a matter of time before this happened. Thankfully it was just a jonin and a couple of brats. He and his crew can deal with that.

"Anything noticeable about them?"

"Not much really, except for the girl with those creepy eyes." This caught the man's attention.

"Were they pale eyes that looked like she was blind? If so, was her forehead covered or had a tattoo?"

"Yeah, they were and there wasn't anything on her forehead at all." The man grinned devilishly.

"Well then looks like we just got a lucky break." The man grinned as his head ban was caught in the light. A head ban with clouds scratched out.

Alright chapter four is done. Had to get a bit of training out of the way, hopefully it's realistic since most of these jutsu are low level and fairly common. Although I did have to look up some of these online so if anyone has any suggestions on jutsu these three could learn feel free to say so.

I hope you have a wonderful day and please review.