Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This should've been clear by now.
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A dark shadow leapt through the forest, glowing eyes shining through the darkness..
"Target has moved!" Kakashi's voice rang through the wireless radio.
"Over there!" Naruto whispered. Hinata and Sasuke were hiding on his left and right respectively.
"What's your distance from the target?" Kakashi hissed, the radio glitching his words.
Naruto looked at his teammates for confirmation. They both nodded. "We're ready, just give the signal!"
Kakashi was remained still for a moment, and then his eyes widened. "Now!"
All three of them leapt towards the unaware cat, and poor Naruto was unfortunate enough to be the one who grabbed her.
"I got it, I got it–ow, ow!" The cat wriggled around in his arms, scratching at whatever it could. "Stop that!"
"Naruto, g-give it to me!" Hinata gently extracted the cat from his arms. "Now, now," She cooed at the cat, "You're fine."
The cat curled up in Hinata's arms and purred at her.
Naruto groaned. "Why does it only like Hinata?"
Sasuke sniffed. "I bet it likes me too." He reached over to pet the cat only to be rejected with a hiss and a swipe. "Or maybe not."
Naruto laughed at Sasuke's expense. "Now who's the idiot?"
Sasuke glared and prepared to retort.
"Please, stop fighting," Hinata scolded both of them. "We have a mission."
Both boys looked at her sheepishly and nodded.
"Lost pet "Tora" acquired. Mission accomplished," Kakashi stated into the mic.
"WELL IT BETTER BE ACCOMPLISHED!" Naruto yelled through his radio, causing screeching feedback to ring through everybody's ears. "LET ME TELL YOU THIS, I HATE CATS!"
Kakashi recoiled from the force of Naruto's voice. "Okay, okay." He held his hands up in defeat. "Let's go back to the Hokage's tower."
They all did so gladly.
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"Oh, my poor little Tora. Mommy was so worried about you," The rich lady, who was on the chubby side, simpered, practically squeezing the cat to death.
Poor thing. Hinata was sympathetic. No wonder she ran away.
Naruto and Sasuke, both having faced the more aggressive side of the cat, had much darker thoughts than Hinata which more or less was along the lines of "she deserves it".
"Mission report, Lord Hokage," Kakashi explained how the cat hunt went down, bored.
"Ah, well that's good." The Hokage flipped through more files. "Let's see…there is another civilian that needs his fence to be painted…"
"Ahh!" Naruto protested. "All our missions are so boring! We've been herding dogs, chasing cats, and painting fences for the past two weeks! Give us some real missions!"
Although Sasuke would rather apologize to the killer of his clan than openly agree with Naruto, he did think that he had a point. These missions were getting tasteless. Hinata was more worried about Naruto's attitude towards the Hokage, but she thought a change would be nice as well. Kakashi sighed. I knew this was going to happen. After all, Naruto was NOT known for his patience, and he was bound to get frustrated about the easy missions they were going through so far.
Iruka immediately got up and slammed his hands on his desk. "You're just a brand new genin with no real experience! You need these missions to hone your skills and improve yourself!"
"Are you serious?" Naruto whined back. "Painting fences and babysitting does not count as missions, they're just stupid–gah!"
He was interrupted by Kakashi's fist pounding into his head and knocking him down.
"Will you put a lid on it?" Kakashi asked, annoyed.
The Third Hokage sighed. "Naruto, you need to understand, hundreds of requests come to the missions everyday, ranging from simple babysitting to assassinations. These requests are sorted by ability, and your ability is sorted by rank. Hokage is at the top, jonin, chunin, and genin at the bottom in that order. At the highest mission level, we have A-ranks, usually reserved for experienced jonin, after that B-ranks, which are for fresh jonin and experienced chunin, and then C-rank, which are for chunin and experienced genin, and lastly, D-rank, which are for genin fresh out of the Academy. These missions fund our village and our work. Since you are all untried genin just starting down the shinobi path, you are given D-level assignments. Naruto, are you even listening?"
"So I had tonkatsu ramen yesterday, and I'm thinking I'll have miso ramen today–dah! You're always lecturing me like you're my grandfather or something!" Naruto complained from his seated position on the floor where he was telling Hinata and Sasuke his ramen story. "But I'm not the little brat who used to play pranks all the time, I'm a ninja now, and I want a ninja mission!"
The room was silent after Naruto made his decision. Iruka smiled faintly. The silence was broken by the Hokage's chuckles.
"Hehe, Naruto wants us to know he's not a brat anymore." The Hokage smiled through his pipe. "He's a former brat who wants a mission."
Naruto pouted from his place on the floor, cheeks puffed in a way that Hinata personally thought was adorable.
"So be it, then," The Hokage came to a decision. "I'll give you a C-rank mission. You'll be bodyguards on a journey."
Naruto immediately perked up. "Ooh, really? Who? Who are we guarding? A princess? Or some big, important lord?"
The Hokage nodded towards the door, which slid open, revealing an old man who was holding a bottle of sake that was probably not his first.
"What the–?" The man eyed the children in front of him. "A bunch of little snot-nosed brats?" He took a chug from his drink. "And you, the little one with the idiotic look on his face, do you really expect me to believe that you're a ninja?"
Naruto laughed. "Who's the little one with the idiotic look on his face…" His voice faded off when we compared his height with Hinata and Sasuke's. Hinata never realized until now that she was slightly taller than Naruto.
Naruto immediately charged towards their client, only held back by Kakashi. "Let go of me, I'll end him!"
"Naruto," Kakashi chided. "Your mission is to keep your client alive, not to kill him on the spot."
Tazuna took another drink from his bottle of sake. "Well, you're handling the master bridge builder Tazuna!"
Kakashi nodded. "We'll meet you outside." And then he promptly set off, dragging a kicking Naruto with him. Sasuke went after them both with a "hn". Hinata bowed to Tazuna apologetically before running off to her teammates.
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They met right at the main gate of the village.
Naruto stretched out his arms and yelled out, "Yeah! Alright!"
"What's so exciting, Naruto?" Hinata inquired softly.
"This is the first time I left the village," Naruto cheerfully explained. "I'm a traveler now, believe it!"
Hinata smiled at his antics.
"Am I supposed to trust my life with this runt?" Tazuna grumbled. "He's a joke!"
"It's okay," Kakashi reassured Tazuna. "He's with me and I'm a jonin."
"Hey! You're just a stinky, old man, and I'm going to be one of the greatest ninjas ever!" Naruto pointed at Tazuna and grinned. "And someday I'm going to be Hokage, and you're going to look up to me! My name is Naruto Uzumaki–remember it!"
"Hokages are powerful and smart," Tazuna took another drink. "You are puny and brainless. The day you become Hokage, I'll sprout wings and fly."
"Ah! Shut up!" Naruto yelled. "I'll do anything to become Hokage, no matter what it takes!
"Well, you should know." Tazuna glared crossly at Naruto. "To me you'll always be nobody."
"Dah!" Naruto charged forwards, again, only to be, once again, restrained by Kakashi. "I'm going to get you now!"
"Naruto, you're supposed to protect the client, not end him," Kakashi chided him tonelessly.
Tazuna set off.
But there was a problem. Yes, little did Team 7 know, they were being watched.
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Hinata walked, trying to start a conversation with Tazuna about his home, the Land of Waves, and then gave up trying to do so when she was only answered with grunts. As they were walking, she noticed a puddle on the ground. Strange. She thought. It hasn't rained in days. She glanced at Kakashi who discreetly pointed at his eye. Ah. She quickly activated her Byakugan.
"Th-There are two birds," She noted calmly. "Both look like they're ready to s-sing."
Naruto and Sasuke shared a look. In the past two weeks they hadn't just been doing simple missions, no, they had been training their butts off whenever time permitted. They had learned new jutsu, different styles of fighting, and honed their basic skills in Naruto's case. They were about to go on chakra control, but this mission came up. They hadn't just practiced their fighting skills though, they also learned different code words to say to each other on missions. The bird one was the most common for "enemy". The two boys stood at the ready.
"They've started!" Hinata jumped in front of Tazuna, sliding into the gentle fist position gracefully.
Chains whipped out of the bushes, wrapping themselves around Kakashi and ripping him to shreds.
"One down," A masked man said through the snorkel-like device on the front of his face.
He barely had a second to react before five Narutos kicked him to Sasuke. He only managed to nick him a little bit on the hand with the claw-like device on his hand before he was knocked to the ground.
The other man was running towards Hinata, thinking that she would be the easiest. He sliced his claw at her, only to have her duck and land a palm on his shoulder. The man smirked at the soft touch, throwing it off to inexperience. He froze when he realized that shoulder was now unusable.
"Gentle fist!"
He was blown back by the "gentle" fist again along with his friend. Sasuke swept up the chains they used and tied them using those, finishing off smoothly by landing on both of their large claw contraptions, successfully tying them to a nearby tree.
"Show off" Naruto muttered when he saw Sasuke's dramatic finish.
"Tch." Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"What about the other guy?" Tazuna looked around worriedly for Kakashi. "He just died! Are you not sad?"
Hinata smiled gently and tapped her Byakugan. "D-Don't worry, Mr. Tazuna. He's over there." She pointed.
Speaking of the devil, Kakashi stepped out from where he was observing the fight and applauded them all.
"Good job, Hinata, Naruto, Sasuke. Great reaction. You captured the Demon Brothers from the Hidden Mist on your first C-rank." He glanced at Naruto's hand. "But we should go back and get your hand fixed, Naruto."
"What?" Naruto complained. "It's just a tiny cut!"
"Yes, but it's poisoned." Kakashi explained calmly while tying the Demon Brothers more securely to the tree.
Naruto growled, and then stabbed his kunai into his hand, to get rid of the poison, and held up the bleeding fist. Hinata's eyes widened in worry. "I promise that I will never run away! That is my way!"
Hinata smiled. Naruto is so brave. Kakashi sighed.
"Fine, fine," He resigned. "But really, let's wrap the cut up before you bleed to death."
"Wha-?" Naruto frantically jumped around, shaking his hand, as if that could heal it. "AHHH!"
"Here!" Hinata took out her ointment. "T-Take this. It's a disinfectant."
Kakashi took it and rubbed it over Naruto's palm. It immediately started to heal. The nine-tail's chakra. He realized.
"Wow, Hinata, your ointment works very well. Did you make modifications to it?" Kakashi praised. Hinata's ointment was very efficient, even though it was mostly the nine-tails doing the healing, so it made for a very good cover-up.
"I-I did." Hinata frowned. "But it doesn't w-work that well…"
"Don't sell yourself short, Hinata," Kakashi reprimanded. He then turned his attention to the two tied up Mist ninja. "Now it's time to interrogate our favorite siblings. And you too, Tazuna." Said bridge builder gulped when Kakashi's piercing eye set on him. "We need to have a chat."
"Why?" Tazuna tried to protest.
"I did stay out of the fight because I wanted to see how my students would cope with a challenge, yes, but also to see who the ninja were aiming for, who their target was. Was it the ninja, my students, or was it you, our client?" Kakashi narrowed his eye. "Now, tell us Tazuna, what is the real idea behind this mission?"
Tazuna sighed. "Okay. Fine. It all started with a man named Gato. He's a powerful shipping magnate, but in reality, the "shipping company" is just a cover-up for much shadier activities, like smuggling contraband and trafficking drugs. He took control of the Land of Waves' shipping route, and is monopolizing it by isolating it from the rest of the world. Our land is impoverished and starving because of that while Gato basks in his riches. That's why I want to build this bridge, to free my people."
"With t-the bridge you're connected with the rest of the w-world." Hinata connected two with two. "And that's w-why Gato is after you."
Tazuna nodded. "Our country cannot afford anything beyond a C-rank. But I didn't expect children." He turned eyes to Kakashi. "But you can go ahead and ditch this mission. Sure! I only have a poor grandson who will cry his heart out when he finds out his grandpa died, and a daughter that will hate the Leaf for the rest of her life–"
"Calm down." Kakashi rolled his eyes. "You already heard Naruto, we're not ditching this mission."
Tazuna relaxed. "Well, good."
Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just, next time, please be more straightforward about this. Start with "I have a powerful and corrupt businessman after me" next time."
Tazuna nodded rather guiltily.
Hinata took in this new news. This was quite the turn of events. Will I be able to do this? She was worried. Yes. And if I don't think that way I'll never be ready. She had trained the past two weeks for a scenario like this, however unlikely it had seemed at that time. I can do this.
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Soon, Team 7 and Tazuna had reached the harbor. They called over a boat and rode to the Land of Waves.
"Why is this taking so long?" Naruto asked bluntly.
"Shh!" The driver of the boat hushed Naruto frantically. "It's just the mist delaying us. Be quiet!"
Hinata shakily stood up. "I can help." She activated her Byakugan and directed the driver.
When they all reached land, they gratefully got off the little boat and thanked the driver who just told them to stay safe.
"Hinata?" Kakashi looked at the young girl after walking down the path for some time. "And no need to use code words. We have the information we need."
"Right." She nodded and turned her Byakugan on again. Her eyes widened when she saw something. "Two chakra signatures ahead, one's coming our way, and the other is staying hidden–"
"Duck!" Kakashi warned them, realizing a large object that was whirling their way. He forced Hinata to the ground and Sasuke did the same with Tazuna.
The large object that turned out to be a sword lodged itself firmly into a tree right behind them. A person with a mask not unlike Kakashi's landed on the handle. Killer intent filled the clearing.
Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "Well, well. If it isn't Zabuza Momochi."
Zabuza laughed. "I'm honored you know my name, Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake." He turned around to face him. "You, of course, are in the bingo book." He looked over his team almost pitifully. "I'll give you one chance, give up the bridge builder, and you can walk away in one piece."
Kakashi shook his head. "Never." He turned to Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata, putting his hand on his headband. If he's our opponent, I'll need this. "Quick, Manchi Formation! Protect the bridge builder!"
The three quickly leaped around Tazuna, protecting him from all angles. Naruto looked at Kakashi, concerned.
"What about you, Sensei? Don't tell me you're going to fight this guy alone! What about the teamwork stuff you told us?"
Kakashi turned to them. "Zabuza is on a different level than all of you. Leave the fighting to me, and stay safe. This is a type of teamwork."
Naruto wasn't satisfied with Kakashi's answer, but stayed behind anyway.
Kakashi lifted his headband up, revealing a red eye. "I'm ready."
Hinata stared at the eye, shocked. She glanced at Sasuke.
"Where'd he get that?" Sasuke muttered.
She glanced back at that fight. Where Kakashi got his Sharingan, the legendary dojutsu of the Uchihas, could wait.
"Ho ho, I'm honored to see the legendary Sharingan so early in this fight!" Zabuza jumped off his huge sword and wrenched it out of the tree. "But it'll take more than that to stop me."
He raised his arm. "Ninja art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!"
Fog filled the clearing, making it impossible to see.
"Hinata!" Kakashi commanded.
"Yes, Sensei!" Hinata activated her Byakugan.
"Oh ho! Two of the legendary dojutsus in the same place, eh? Zabuza chuckled. "Maybe after I kill you, I'll sell you off for a pretty penny."
He charged at Kakashi.
"Sensei, duck!" Hinata guided. Kakashi obliged, the sword swinging just where his head had been a second ago. "On your left!"
Zabuza growled in frustration and charged at Hinata instead. "Annoying brat!"
Hinata yelped and jumped up to avoid the sword, trying to keep up with Zabuza's swiftness. She aimed for his chest with a chakra filled palm, but her speed could not match with one equivalent to a jonin, and she was punched right in her solar plexus.
"Gah!" She bowed over, the wind knocked out of her.
"Hinata!" Sasuke and Naruto yelled at the same time, both forgetting that they had a client to protect when their comrade got hurt.
"I-I'm fine!" She stood up on shaky feet, only to have to fall back again to avoid Zabuza's huge sword.
"Eat this!" Naruto charged in with multiple shadow clones and aimed a kick at Zabuza's face.
"Tch, little rascals!" Zabuza snarled. "I'll take you down a notch or two."
"Zabuza! Kakashi charged in, taking advantage that the mist had slightly lightened up when Zabuza was attacked by Naruto and driving him away from his team. "Your fight is with me. Leave the children out of this."
He swiped the kunai at Zabuza, only for him to turn into a water clone. Zabuza retaliated–only to find out Kakashi was…also a water clone.
"It's over." Kakashi stood with his kunai held to Zabuza's throat.
Zabuza smirked and suddenly appeared behind Kakashi. "Sorry, but I'm not that easy to fool."
Kakashi ducked hastily to avoid Zabuza's sword, only to be met with a fist to his jaw, sending him into the river.
"Water Prison jutsu!" Zabuza shouted.
"No!" Kakashi struggled before being put into a dome of water. We underestimated him.
"Water clone jutsu!" A copy of Zabuza rose from the water. The real Zabuza stayed with one arm stuck into the water prison.
"Hinata! Can you see where they are?" Sasuke asked her urgently.
"Yes!" She narrowed her eyes. "At the river!" She fumbled in her pouch for something. "Take these. I'll guide you when you get there." She handed the wireless radios to Sasuke and Naruto who quickly put them on. "Go!"
When the two arrived, following Hinata's instructions, Kakashi pleaded with them to go.
"You have to run away! This guy is out of your league!"
Naruto snorted. "Yeah right. And what was all that training for then?" He looked towards Sasuke who nodded that he was ready.
"Wind style: Great Breakthrough!" Naruto yelled.
"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" Sasuke breathed out a large, you guessed it, fireball that when meeting Naruto's large wind gust intensified in both size and power. It hit the clone, making it melt back into water.
Zabuza's eyes widened. These kids were a force to be reckoned with. But still, no match for him. "Water style: Water Forge jutsu!" A large swirl of water encompassed his sword, and jetted out in a blast to meet the rest of the fireball, canceling both attacks out.
Sasuke took out a shuriken. "Demon wind shuriken!" He threw it at Zabuza who caught it easily, and then jumped to dodge the one following it.
"Hah, you'll need more than shuriken to stop me," Zabuza smirked.
Sasuke looked pointedly behind Zabuza.
Too late, he realized that the shuriken had transformed into Naruto, who was now charging at him with a kunai. He jumped away from the water prison to avoid getting hit. Kakashi came out of the dome, dripping wet but otherwise unharmed.
"Heh, not too bad of a sensei, are you, Kakashi?" Zabuza sneered at him. "They tricked me into letting you go."
"No," Kakashi corrected. "They forced you. Now to finish this."
Hinata ran over, Tazuna in tow. "Are you all okay?" She worriedly checked over Sasuke and Naruto's scraps and bruises. Her hand glowed green, fixing what she could with her just competent medical ninjutsu.
"Yeah, we're okay, Hinata!" Naruto reassured her. Sasuke nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile, Kakashi was facing Zabuza on the lake.
"Water style: Water dragon jutsu!" They both called out in unison.
They met in the middle of the jutsu, kunai clashing with sword, then leaped away, circling each other. Zabuza raised his arm up for the hidden mist jutsu, and then started when Kakashi did the same.
It's as if he knows what I'm–
"–going to do next?" Kakashi finished Zabuza's thought wryly.
Sweat beaded Zabuza's brow. What? Is he reading my mind as well?
"You can't beat me with cheap tricks." Zabuza was getting worried now.
"You're just a monkey!" Zabuza's eyes widened when he realized that Kakashi had finished the sentence along with him. He growled and flashed hand seals.
"When I finish with you, you'll never open that monkey mouth again!" Zabuza snarled when he realized that Kakashi had finished doing the seals before he did.
"Water style: Giant vortex jutsu!" Kakashi called out.
A giant ball of water hurtled into Zabuza, forcing him under the lake's surface.
"Gah!" Zabuza frantically thought through the events that just happened. I was going to create a vortex, but he created one first!
The water swept him up to a tree. Several kunai studded themselves into his body. Kakashi landed on a branch above Zabuza.
"How?" Zabuza croaked out, turning his head to look at Kakashi. "Can you see the future?"
"Yes," Kakashi replied coldly, holding up a kunai. "This is your last battle. Ever."
Suddenly, two needles flew over and embedded themselves into a point in Zabuza's neck. A boy wearing a mask appeared on a branch.
"I thank you." He disappeared in a whirl of wind and reappeared supporting Zabuza on his back. "We've been hunting him for some time. I will dispose of his body now."
"Hunter-nin," Kakashi explained to his team, as he walked over, checked his pulse, and backed off.
"Wait!" Hinata called out, her byakugan activated. "He's not dead!" Yes, maybe his pulse had stopped, but the byakugan was not so easily tricked. She could still see the flow of his chakra.
"Yes," The masked-nin replied, a little bit annoyed. "Because I will kill him in a private area. Goodbye." He disappeared with another whirl of wind.
"...What was that?" Naruto asked, staring at the floating leaves left from the hunter-nin's dramatic exit.
Kakashi sighed and put his head in his hands. "I don't know, but I feel like…" He dropped to the ground.
"Sensei!" All three of them cried out. Sasuke and Naruto ran forwards to support him, while Hinata did a quick check with her Byakugan.
"It's okay." She let out a relieved sigh. "Just chakra depletion. Probably from using the Sharingan."
Tazuna bowed his head. "You guys can stay in my house. It's the least I can do after all the trouble I caused you."
Hinata smiled reassuringly and decided to reply to the offer, as out of the three remaining genin, she had the most tact. "It's alright, Tazuna. But I would like to take up the house offer, please."
Tazuna nodded. "Of course. Right this way."
Naruto heaved up Kakashi's right side with a grunt. "'Kay, let's go."
The four people set off, with an unconscious jonin slung in between Sasuke and Naruto, to the seemingly very long journey to Tazuna's home.
Poor Kakashi.
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Woo! Half (ish) of the meetings with Zabuza down in one go! (Don't I do it good?) All jokes aside, this was kinda hard to right because I sort of forgot what happened, hehe. I frankly don't know how I'm going to remember all the events that happened because even though I'm just halfway through Shippuden (is it a bad idea to write a Fanfiction about something I haven't completed?), I already forgot some events that happened in Naruto. Oh well! I also heard you can give out "cookies" to your readers/reviewers, so here! Imaginary, tasteless, digital cookies! Enjoy? I guess? :) Review please!