Chapter 4: Dreadful D-Ranks
Sasuke leaned against a tree peering around the side, a little ways away Sakura was crouched down behind a bush, Naru was behind a tree.
"Do you have the target in sight?" Kakashi's voice came over the radios in their ears.
"Yes." Sasuke whispered back.
"Okay on my count -"
"Wait target is moving!"
A black blur shot through the bushes and stopped. Naru was closest, she gulped and went to her knees and moved out a little, a hiss sounded.
The 'target' was a small tabby cat named Tora, she had brown fur and lighter brown markings, and amber eyes, and had a red ribbon on her ear.
"It's okay Tora, come here." Naru whispered and waved her finger in the direction she was guessing where the cat was at, she hissed again. Naru made a kissing noise and reached out, she hissed as Tora's nails hit her hand. "OW!" she yelped and held the bleeding cut on her hand. Tora took advantage of the situation and turned to run but froze as Mamoru stood in front of her. He roared at her, she yowled, her back and fur going straight up and she jumped in the air in fright, Tora ran to Naru and jumped into her arms shaking in fear, Naru laughed and stood up slowly. Mamoru nudged her and she got up on his back and he set back to the team.
Sasuke and Sakura jumped down just as they arrived to Kakashi's location.
"Mission accomplished!" Sakura said with a smile, even though inside she was ready to throttle the cat they had been chasing for hours!
"Is the cat okay?" Sasuke asked looking at the shaking cat in Naru's arms, Kakashi looked at the cat.
Mamoru let out a rumble and Naru giggled a little.
"Meh." Kakashi gave a small shrug. "Let's go." he said, they set out back to the Hokage tower and Naru stayed on Mamoru as Madam Shijimi who was the wife of the fire Daimyo came up to her and picked up Tora and hugged her tight, and for the first time ever since the stupid cat ran away, didn't fight the tight hold of her mommy, she actually snuggled into her arms.
"I think we finally took care of the cat…" Kakashi muttered.
"Congratulations on a successful mission Team 7!" Sarutobi said with a smile. "It took you a little longer than normal, did Tora get better at hiding?" he said with a chuckle and puffed at his pipe.
"We would have been done with this mission SO much sooner, BUT Naru let Tora run right past her a bunch of times! What wrong with you!? Are you that blind you can't see a cat with a bright red ribbon?!" Sakura sneered. Naru slunk a little and blinked a few times, eyes starting to get watery. Mamoru growled a little which made Sakura step back a little, Sarutobi gulped as he saw how upset Naru was.
"I'm sorry." Naru mumbled, Sarutobi cleared his throat, they turned their attention back to him. He sighed.
"Alright, I will give you another mission. Your mission is to pull some weeds for an old woman who needs help around her property due to her increasing age. It will be tomorrow." he said, they nodded, Kakashi took the paper and they left with a bow, Naru held on to Mamoru as he jumped to her apartment.
"Are you okay?" he rumbled.
"... Yeah…" she said. She unlocked her door and he let her get down and watched as she walked to her room and sat on the bed. He sighed and curled up with her, he looked and saw tears running down her cheeks.
"Naru-sama, don't be upset by what the loud one said. She's just being ignorant." he said, she chuckled a little with a small smile but it fell and she sighed. 'It's not fair...' She thought.
~o0o~
The next day Naru and Mamoru jumped down a little ways from Sasuke and Sakura, Kakashi appeared 15 minutes later and sent them off to their work of pulling weeds from the woman's garden, while Kakashi sat lounging on the fence reading his Icha-Icha book.
Naru was on her knees feeling along the ground of her section carefully, Mamoru helped by telling her quietly where to go and not go.
Kakashi peered over his book and looked at Naru, he tilted his head as he watched her feel the grass before she would pull it and watched Mamoru instruct her. 'Strange...' He thought.
He looked over at Sakura and Sasuke but they were just looking bored and pulling the weeds easily, he looked back and watched Naru struggling a little with her section being the one farthest behind.
Soon they were close to being finished with the garden. Naru was moving faster and had Mamoru helping her less than before, feeling the grass with her hands and got moving faster, Kakashi was relaxing again but jumped when he heard the woman let out a yell.
"You idiot! You pulled all of the herbs out!" she screamed at Naru.
"I'm sorry!" she said and felt the grass and winced as she felt the difference.
"I should have known a Demon couldn't help, only destroy!" she said putting her hands on her hips.
"I said I was sorry." Naru said.
"You idiotic monster fox!" she snarled and shoved her, Naru cried out and fell into the mud, Mamoru launched in front of her and roared, the woman screamed and fell, Kakashi launched in front of her.
"Whoa! Easy!" He said. Mamoru growled his fur standing on end. Kakashi sighed and helped the woman up, he turned and watched Mamoru nuzzle Naru gently.
"Are you okay?" Mamoru rumbled. She sniffled and rubbed her face that was covered in mud, Mamoru picked her up and got her on his back, she struggled and got up right on his back, he sent one more growl to the woman.
"Wait!" Kakashi called but Mamoru jumped away with Naru.
Later that night Naru came out of her shower drying her hair, Mamoru laid on her couch. There was a sudden rapid knocking at her door, they perked up, Naru walked up and paused.
"Yes?" she said.
"Naru, it's me, Saru." his old voice sounded, she sighed and opened the door and blinked towards his location, he let out a breath of air, and cupped her face, she gave a small smile to him.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied sadly.
"What happened?" he asked as he ushered her to her table and sat down with her. "I mean, Kakashi said there was an issue on the mission and you left early, he said you got pushed?" he said.
"I made a mistake with the weed pulling and the woman yelled at me, she called me a Demon and…" she said looking down, tears starting to fill her eyes. " … And I apologized but she yelled again and shoved me back into the dirt." She said as tears starting flowing from her eyes. "Right when she did this Mamoru leaped at her only to have Kakashi step in between." She said while crying. "KAKASHI WAITED UNTIL I WAS PUSHED TO STOP HER! HE'S A JOUNIN! HE COULD HAVE PREVENTED HER FROM SHOVING ME TO THE GROUND, BUT NO HE ONLY CARED ONCE THE "DEMONS" PET LUNGED AT THE OLD BITCH!" Naru shouted angrily with tears still flowing down her face.
"Stupid human." Mamoru muttered from his spot on the couch.
"Naru, I'm sorry." He said reaching over to hug the crying girl. "Maybe we should avoid these kind D-ranks missions. We can stick to other kinds like-"
"It won't matter!" Naru said sharply, jerking away from him. "It won't what kind of D-rank I go on!" she said angrily. "D-ranks are supposed to be simple! They are just menial tasks around the home that people pay others to do because they can. Anyone can do them except someone like me who can't see!" she said and sighed shakily and tears still falling from her cheeks. She brought her knees up to her face and wrapped her arms around them crying loudly. "It's not fair!" she yelled. Sarutobi moved forward and pulled her into a tight embrace hugging her and holding her tightly. She bawled into his shoulder, he rubbed her back and hushed her gently Mamoru got up and set his head on her lap gently and both comforted the girl as she broke down.
~o0o~
Two days later Naru, Mamoru, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura stood in the mission office for the first time since the last mission.
"Alright team 7, considering the last mission and it seems you all are improving a little, I have decided to give you a challenge." he said, they perked up. "I have a C-rank mission for you all." he said with a smirk, Kakashi blinked confused that he was giving a practically brand new genin team, that hadn't really gotten along yet, a C-rank mission.
Naru had a tiny smile on her face, she knew everyone else was confused but she wasn't, Sarutobi decided he would give the team a chance on a C-rank, mainly because it was getting difficult for Naru to keep the mask on her face while on D-rank missions, so maybe a C-rank would help her.
"This is just a simple escort mission. A bridge builder needs to be brought to his home and to have some protection from robbers and highway men while he finishes working on his bridge. He lives in the Land of Waves, just off the coast of the Land of Fire." he said. "Send in the client!" he called. They turned and looked as an older man came in, stumbling a little. He had gray hair that was messy, it almost looked like he just rolled out of bed, he wore brown, tattered clothing showing he wasn't the richest man alive, he had a pair of small glasses on his face, and his face had a pink tint to it, which showed he had been drinking, the other sign obvious sign was the large sake bottle which was almost empty in his hand.
Naru cringed as the smell of sake hit her nose, causing her to she gag a little. They all blinked at the man who they were supposed to be protecting.
He grunted and smacked his lips and blinked. "What is thish!?" he said wobbling. "I requested ninjah! Not a bunch of brats!" he said with a heavy slur and took another swig of his drink and wiped his mouth with his arm. "They don't look like they could protect a fly!" he said.
"I promise you Tazuna-san, they are more than qualified." Sarutobi said with a smile. He stumbled forward, closer to Naru. Naru couldn't hold the gag noise in this time, earning her glares from her team as she continued to gag.
"What's your problem dobe?" Sasuke said.
"Did you take a bath in sake or something? Or are you just a walking bottle of it?" she said cringing and covering her nose. He growled. Sarutobi chuckled a little with a cough, Iruka shook his head with a smile.
"So you're telling me I get three brats and a kitten?!" He said. Mamoru roared at him, causing him to jump and his bottle to fall, shattering on the ground. He let out an exasperated moan, earning a giggle from Naru.
"You don't call Mamoru a kitten." she said.
"Brat!" he said, she frowned at him and Mamoru rumbled.
"Ahem." Sarutobi said, they all looked at him waiting. "I want you all to set out tomorrow morning at 9. That will give you enough time to make it to the Land of Waves during the daytime." He said. They nodded, he signed a paper and stamped it, holding it out for Kakashi to take and bowed. "Dismissed and good luck." He said. They walked outside, which was followed by Naru taking in a deep breath of air as Kakashi watched her.
"Naru?" he asked, she perked up but looked at her hands.
"Yes?" she asked.
"I... uh...- never mind." he said, she turned towards him tilting her head to the side slight while crinkling an eye. She smiled and set off with Mamoru.
They arrived at her apartment and Mamoru crouched letting her slide off. She walked in after pulling her shoes off, she began to make some lunch for herself and Mamoru.
"You need to get packed up for the mission." he rumbled.
"Yeah, I'll do it after this." she said with a smile and put his dish down. She sat down and ate herself quickly. She finished and sat there quietly, letting out a soft sigh.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm just…worried, I guess." she said. "What if…what if I mess up again?" she asked.
"I can't say you won't mess up again, it's natural, but you have to know how to move on." he said, she sighed. "Everyone makes mistakes." he said. "But they make you stronger, so long as you don't let them hold you back and you learn from them." he said, she smiled.
"You always know just what to say don't you?"
"Yup." He said, she snorted. He stepped up and put his paw on her chair and licked her cheek, she smiled. "You'll be fine." he said. "Get ready." he said, she smiled and got up and walked back to her room and began to pack her weapons and supplies into her pack and set it against the wall out of the way, Naru sighed and sat down on her bed and yawned.
Mamoru jumped on the bed with her and curled up, she smiled and changed her clothes and crawled into bed herself and finally went to sleep, wondering what exactly would happen tomorrow…
Land of Waves arc starts next!
We've been planning like crazy! We have worked out some kinks, but we're getting it done! Enjoy!
Don't forget to drop a review on the story before you go! ;3