A/N: Hello everyone and here we are back with another chapter of One Year Early. Now before getting started, I know my updates are not that regular and this one is updated even less regularly than Guardian, but still thank you all for keeping up with me and continuing to support this story. With this chapter, Naruto and Hinata start their lives as genin, but as every other genin squad, what awaits Team-6 at first are the D-ranks! How will Naruto and Hinata take on the D-ranks? Read to find out.
CHAPTER 4: THOSE STUPID D-RANKS! AND SOME TRAINING
The next day, Naruto and Hinata reached the Hokage's office at 7:30 in the morning. They found that Shikaku-sensei was already there. Upon seeing his favourite blond, Hiruzen gave an affectionate smile.
"Heya Jiji!" Naruto greeted the old Hokage, whom he considered a grandfather. Hinata bowed down to greet her sensei and the Hokage.
"So, I am here for my first mission. Get ready to hand over the hat to me, I will get there in no time. Dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed with a grin.
"Well then Naruto-kun. I do have a good enough mission for you, I am sure you won't be disappointed." Hiruzen said with a reassuring face, he fought hard his urge to chuckle. He then motioned for Iruka, who was also there, to hand the two kids their mission-scroll.
"Oh, Hey, there Iruka-sensei, didn't see you were here." Naruto greeted. "So what kind of mission am I going to have, saving a princess, saving people from pirates…" Naruto continued his excited rambling.
"Hold your horses, Naruto, this mission is not as difficult, but I am sure you will enjoy it." Iruka said with a smile, he handed the scroll to Hinata though, who accepted it with a bow.
"You two can go ahead, I'll catch up in 10 minutes." Shikaku said.
"All right sensei, first mission here I come!" Naruto declared in excitement and dragged Hinata (who began blushing) out with him.
*An hour later*
Naruto's eye brow twitched, once, then twice, then thrice and finally four times.
"DAMN YOU JIJI! YOU DARE CALL THIS A SHINOBI MISSION! PAINTING FENCES! WHAT THE HELL IS NINJA LIKE IN THIS? WHY COULDN'T YOU DEMAND SOMETHING LIKE AN ACTUAL MISSION…LAZY SENSEI!" Naruto yelled holding a paintbrush at his Sensei, who had found a nice rock to lie down upon and watch clouds. The experienced Nara didn't even bother answering, on closer inspection, the two Genin understood that their sensei was napping.
"HOW DARE HE NAP? HE GIVES US THIS LAME AND STUPID MISSION AND WHEN I SAID I WILL DO IT IN FIVE MINUTES, HE SAID 'NO SHADOW CLONES ALLOWED!' DAMNED LAZY SENSEI...GET THE HELL UP!" Naruto yelled in frustration and upon getting no reply, tossed his paintbrush at Shikaku … Only for him to vanish in a puff of smoke.
Naruto's eyes began twitching again.
"HE SAYS NO SHADOW CLONES TO ME AND SENDS HIS OWN TO THE MISSION!" Naruto exclaimed in frustration. Only after Hinata placed her hand on his shoulder did he stop ranting.
"I-I know it is annoying, b-but we should still complete the mission. I-It won't be good for a future Hokage to h-have i-incomplete missions on his records." She reasoned in a low voice. Naruto looked back at her with a smile.
"You really believe that I can make Hokage, Hinata-chan?"
"O-Of course, N-Naruto-kun. I am sure you will make a great Hokage."
"Thanks a lot, Hinata-chan, you really are the best." He said holding her shoulders, a tinge of red appeared on her cheeks.
"Now let's get this mission over with, Dattebayo!" He declared raising his fist in the air. "But sensei has just got his name written on my to-be-pranked list." He declared again in a low voice and a grin, Hinata nodded in agreement.
Once the 'mission' was over and our favourite genin were back in the Hokage's office, Naruto gave Hiruzen a dark look, making it clear that he was pretty much pissed off, and a look that promised a prank that would mean pain. The Hokage wondered what was keeping the boisterous blond from lashing out. One look at Hinata gave him his answer. The Hyuuga was somehow managing to hold Naruto's hand, (without passing out!) which was keeping him under control.
'Trying to be a gentleman and impress the girl, eh? Naruto-kun. Didn't expect that from you so soon.' Hiruzen inwardly chuckled. His decision to put the two on a team was doing wonders.
Naruto then looked at his sensei and groaned, rolling his eyes. Shikaku sweatdropped, these kids were proving themselves to be a handful. He looked over to the man who was his boss and the reason of his current predicament.
'I know, this was all your plan to interrupt the small amount of time I get to watch clouds and nap. Scheming old man!'
"Well, now that the mission is over, let's do a bit of training." Shikaku suggested. Naruto's expression immediately changed from irritation to excitement.
"Now if you could excuse me, Hokage-sama." Hiruzen nodded granting permission. "And these are the rest of the documents that need to be looked over." Shikaku said, barely hiding a smirk. Hiruzen paled, looking at the mountain of paperwork. He then looked over to his own table and saw another huge pile of paperwork. The Old Hokage began to tremble and looked at his Jonin Commander with a frightened face. The Nara gave a small smirk, before turning to leave.
'You are doing this knowingly, aren't you Shikaku?'
'What did you expect Hokage-sama, you think you can ruin the little time I have for cloud watching and napping and get away with it? You think you can just give me who is perhaps the most troublesome genin Konoha has ever produced as a student and not expect consequences. Well, too bad for you, now you get to deal with the double paperwork, Hokage-sama. Although I was considering telling you the secret to beat that kage's bane but I have changed my mind.' The Nara clan thought as he exited the Hokage office with a devilish grin pasted on his face.
At the same time, in hell, a particular Uchiha clad in red armour and long spiky hair sneezed, so did one particular pale faced paedophile obsessed with snakes somewhere in Otogakure and somewhere in an underground base, one particular member of a certain clan of immortals who was now possessing the body of a certain monk also sneezed.
*Training ground 8*
Once in the training ground, it was quite obvious that Naruto was totally impatient to get started, but still just for Hinata's sake perhaps, was acting a bit reasonable.
"Before getting started, Naruto, I think your temper could use some work. Although it was just a D-rank mission and a paintbrush that you threw at me, such attitude can land you in trouble in case of much riskier missions." The Nara clan head cautioned, his expression making it clear that he was not at all bothered by being thrown a paintbrush at.
"Wait a minute. That was your clone I threw the brush at. How the hell did you know what happened, sensei? I didn't tell you and there's no way Hinata-chan would betray me." Naruto exclaimed.
"Nice point kid. And you're right, your cute girlfriend didn't tell me, of course." Naruto's cheeks reddened at the tease and Hinata's face did the best impression of a tomato.
"H-Hey, w-we a-are n-not -" Naruto began stuttering and making excuses.
"Okay, okay, we will see. But the point is that it wasn't Hinata that told me, I simply got the memories of the clone when it dispelled." Shikaku exclaimed. Naruto's eyes widened.
"WHAT!"
"When you read about the Shadow Clone Jutsu from the forbidden scroll, didn't you read the theories related to it?"
"Umm... well, I kinda only looked at the hand signs and the instructions about chakra channelling. I skipped the rest." Naruto said rubbing the back of his head.
"I figured as much." Shikaku said with a slight sigh. "Well, now you know. And we have one more thing to train you about. Since you want to be Hokage someday, you should have the patience to read theories. You will be dealing with a lot of paperwork and you must be able to read a lot, perhaps all day. Being Hokage isn't just about being some badass warrior. It's a lot more." The Head Jonin explained.
Naruto listened to the explanation wide-eyed. A small part in his mind even questioned if his dream was worth it but such thoughts were immediately quashed. As if reading and paperwork can stop him from getting the hat! Well, he knew Hinata-chan could help him out, he had seen her reading stuff many times in the academy. Yeah, no big deal.
"That's no big deal!" Naruto declared with a thumbs up. "Anything to be Hokage."
Shikaku smiled, the kid did have some drive in him.
"Fortunately, we are not dealing with theories or books right now." Naruto's features relaxed a bit. "I have learnt that you two have learnt tree walking. I want a demonstration."
The order was immediately followed and in almost no time, Naruto and Hinata were on top two adjacent trees.
"That's good, now we will move to next part of it then. You are going to learn water walking and Naruto; I want you to use 30 clones for the exercise. Dispel the clones after an hour and then make another group of 30 clones. Hinata, I am sure can manage it herself, due to her excellent chakra control. Now get to work."
"Hai Sensei!" both preteens acknowledged and got to work. Shikaku excused himself to the branch of a nearby tree.
"Until these kids begin C-ranks, I can get some more sleep and relaxation from that damned paperwork." The head Jonin muttered himself and dozed off in almost no time.
After 6 hours, Naruto and Hinata walked to the bank and collapsed, totally exhausted and of course soaking wet.
"I am sorry Hinata-chan, I have to take off my jacket, and my shirt too it seems." Naruto said with a sigh. Hinata's cheeks immediately reddened. She had never seen her longtime love bare. As Naruto took off his jacket and shirt and laid the shed soaked clothing and himself down on the grass, all while the Hyuuga fought her urge to faint, both to try and begin overcoming her nervousness around her love and not wanting to pass the opportunity to take in and memorize every aspect of Naruto's body that she could see.
Then she realized that even she was totally drenched and had to take off her baggy jacket which had become a nuisance.
"I-I think I-I have to t-take off m-my j-j-jacket t-too Naruto-kun." She stuttered out with a deep red face, Naruto's cheeks reddened as well, he could only nod.
"I-If you are uncomfortable with it, I will go somewhere else, don't worry." He offered. At some corner of his mind, he wanted to see Hinata take off that jacket of hers. He turned away from her and shook his head to quash any perverted thoughts.
'I don't even understand I want her to take off her clothes before me, what's happening to me.'
"I-I a-absolutely d-don't m-mind you b-being h-here, b-besides i-it's just the j-jacket." Hinata reassured with a smile, of course her face was still red but she did want to take off her clothes for him. Turning her attention back to herself, she elegantly unzipped the baggy jacket, took it off and put it aside. When she looked at Naruto, she found him staring at her, his cheeks were red. For you see, under the jacket, she wore a tight t-shirt with short sleeves, Naruto could notice that his best friend had for some reason begun growing up a little earlier. He gulped.
Hinata allowed herself an inward smirk, Naruto liked what he saw. Of course, she also liked his well-toned body, heck she even wanted to caress him all over but she couldn't bring herself to it, not right now. But still what she was getting now was more than enough.
She lay down on the grass and let the wind dry her off. Naruto couldn't help stealing glances at Hinata. What he didn't know was that Hinata was also stealing glances at him when he was not looking at her.
When Shikaku got up from his awesome nap, he went to check on his genin and stumbled upon an interesting scene.
Being soaked from head to toe, Hinata and Naruto had chosen to take off some clothes, Naruto had discarded his jacket and mesh t-shirt and Hinata had chosen to take off her jacket. And now the kids were stealing glances at one another.
'I wonder what Hiashi would have to say about this. Hopefully he won't go mad and chase Naruto all over the town holding his family sword in hand.
Perhaps I should allow them a few more minutes, it's almost sunset now and I will have to send them home for the day as well.'
And Shikaku allowed his students fifteen more minutes to observe each other before letting out a cough. His students jumped up.
Hinata's cheeks reddened up.
"So, students, how did the water walking practice go?"
"Sensei, Hinata-chan got it down in three hours, then she helped me with her Byakugan. I worked with the clones just like you said and it was really awesome, I got their experiences, and got the water walking down in 6 hours."
"That's good." The Nara clan head said nodding. "Hinata has excellent chakra control. She could do well with medical ninjutsu." The Hyuuga nodded enthusiastically. Even Naruto was happy at the mention.
"As for you Naruto, it seems the shadow clone training method works well with you, so we'll be working with you on this method from here on out." The blond nodded happily.
"Now you two are dismissed for the day. Tomorrow same place, same time." Shikaku said before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.
"Well, at least the training made up for that lame and stupid thing called mission. Hopefully tomorrow we'll have a better mission." Naruto commented as he put on his relatively dried shirt and jacket. Hinata nodded in agreement.
Well, to say the least their hopes were about to be painfully dashed.
*The next day afternoon*
A fat lady began crushing…err. …tightly hugging the poor cat, who couldn't even get a meow out in protest.
Naruto and Hinata, both fully covered in numerous scars, having pieces of their clothes torn up couldn't help look at the creature in sympathy.
"Oh, my poor Tora, where did you vanish my baby. Oh well, let's go home now and be a good boy."
The cat called Tora only hissed in response. Naruto and Hinata only fidgeted in response. Once Madam Shijimi, the Feudal Lord's wife, exited the Hokage's office, Naruto turned his gaze back to the old man.
"Jiji" He hissed out.
"Look, Naruto-kun, I am sure you must have learnt somethi- "
"YOU CALLED THIS A MISSION! WHAT WAS THAT, PAYBACK FOR ALL THE PRANKS I'VE PULLED? THAT STUPID CAT COULD HAVE LITERALLY KILLED ME….ONE THOUSAND TIMES! SOME MISSION IT WAS! NEXT TIME YOU SEND ME TO GET THAT CAT, I WILL LET IT LOOSE RIGHT HERE IN YOUR OFFICE. (Hinata nodded at the warning.) I SWEAR THAT. DATTEBAYO! AND THAT THING…YOU CALL IT A…CAT. THAT THING IS A MONSTER BELONGING IN THE LEAGUES WITH THE KYUUBI! MAYBE EVEN WORSE!"
The Hokage, sighed, he knew Naruto would throw a rant like that. Although the said rant contained a warning about letting Tora loose on the Hokage's office, the next time he was assigned that mission. The Hokage shivered at the prospect of Tora being let loose in his office. Shikaku also gulped at the thought of it.
"But I am interested to know how did you two manage to catch Tora? You managed it without a full team and within two hours. That's a new record. No team has managed to capture him in less than three hours." Hiruzen inquired.
Naruto only rolled his eyes back.
*Flashback*
"So today we have to catch some runaway cat with a scratched ear and a red ribbon around its neck. Should be a piece of cake. Right Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked.
"I think so too…Naruto-kun." The genin then looked at their sensei and saw that he had a small smile on his face, a smile Naruto recognized to be similar to the one he would wear when any victim of his was about to get pranked.
"I have a bad feeling about this, Hinata-chan." He whispered to his bestie, who only offered a reassuring smile in return, well if anything bad were to happen, they will go through it together. (really now, Padawan Naruto?)
"Team scramble." Shikaku ordered and the genin took to the trees.
*45 minutes later*
I have spotted a potential target, 500 meters west. The size is about right and I can also make out a small cut on its ear." Hinata informed her teammate and sensei.
"All right kitty, here we come." Naruto grinned, at the prospect of completing the mission, but the bad feeling in his gut remained.
The two genin and their sensei reached the spot, Hinata had observed with her Byakugan.
"All right, cut on the ear, red ribbon around the neck, a perfect match. Target Tora identified. Naruto, since you are the closest to the target, it's your job to capture, and try to be a little discrete." Shikaku cautioned. A part of his mind cried in sympathy, but another part just wanted to see how the master prankster would take to being pranked hard.
Naruto jumped down and very silently approached the said cat. Alas just when he was about four feet from his target, Tora turned back and spotted the blond. He hissed and let out a growl and then crouched. A part of Naruto somehow understood that he would be fucked up badly should he go ahead, but he was a responsible Shinobi and he had a mission to complete.
Naruto dived at Tora and managed to grab him.
He then found out just why the 'Capture Tora' mission was called the genin's bane. Tora violently swung his paws around and viciously scratched Naruto wherever he could, he even torn parts of the blonde's jacket.
Naruto screamed in pain but Tora didn't let up. In concern, Hinata also made her way to her teammate and love. Just then, Tora managed to free himself from Naruto's clutches and made a dash, unfortunately in Hinata's direction. Determined, not to let Naruto down and fail the mission, the former Hyuuga heiress also dived and managed to grab Tora and then soon ended in a very similar predicament to Naruto's. However, she somehow managed to land a chakra enhanced strike, which luckily hit Tora on a pressure point, forcing him to limp. But Hinata couldn't take up the torture and threw the cat towards Shikaku after letting out a girlish shriek. The genin then had a slight hope that their sensei would somehow catch the cat. But as soon as Tora was close to Shikaku's face, he again began scratching violently and 'Shikaku' vanished in a puff of smoke. Tora then limped away.
Naruto and Hinata stared at the ground where their 'sensei' stood a few moments with incredulous expressions on their faces and then a shout of:
"HOW DARE HE SEND A SHADOW CLONE AGAIN! AND WHY IS THIS FUCKING MISSION NOT A S-RANK?" was heard all over Konoha. In the Hokage tower, Hiruzen and Shikaku shivered a bit, they knew a troublesome rant was on its way to them.
Since Hinata had managed to land a lucky Jyuuken strike on the monster cat, Tora couldn't get anywhere far and soon two very pissed off genin were upon him. This time, Naruto again grabbed Tora, hoping to let Hinata avoid the vicious predicament, with his functioning three legs, Tora again began making scratches on Naruto's face. Then Hinata got to him and began caressing Tora's fur, letting her frustrations on him slide for the time being in favor of trying to cut Naruto some slack. Her efforts worked, somehow Tora calmed down. Seeing that, Naruto also began caressing him. In a few minutes, Tora was purring and meowing like a good and obedient cat. The genin let out a sigh.
"Hinata-chan, I am pranking both sensei and Jiji for this, and really hard at that, you with me?"
"Of course, Naruto-kun. Count me in." Hinata replied with an uncharacteristically determined voice. They then made their way to the Hokage's office.
Upon seeing how his owner treated him, Naruto and Hinata internally agreed with Tora's behavior.
A/N: And done! So Naruto and Hinata have captured Tora and have sworn vengeance on Shikaku and Hiruzen for having them carry out this SS+ class mission. What sort of tragedy awaits the Hokage and his Jonin Commander? We'll find out in the next chapter. Also, regarding the NaruHina scene here, this is the indication that they have started to hit puberty. But don't worry, I promise I won't be writing any actual sexual interactions between the two of them until they are both 16. The most would be cuddling and kissing. Lastly thank you all for the love and support this story has gotten itself. See ya all in the next chapter. Cheers and Peace.