Here we are
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Naruto, Hinata, and Choji were walking down the street, killing time after their lunch at Ichiraku. As they meandered carelessly down the dirt roads of Konoha, Naruto felt a familiar chakra rush that accompanied a nearby shunshin. The chakra signature was so familiar to him that he didn't even bother turning to look.
"What's up, Sasuke?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "We have a mission."
"Another C-rank?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke grinned, not an unusual sight these days, at least when he was around his team. He tossed a scroll to Hinata and Naruto each. They both unrolled the scrolls, eyes flitting across the mission details.
"A B-rank? This doesn't seem like something Kakashi or Yamato would pick?" Hinata said.
Sasuke smirked. "I agree. I believe it came straight from Hokage-sama."
"The old man specifically requested us?"
"Hn. Seems like the most likely explanation anyway."
"Woohoo!" Naruto said, "Gotta go Choji, we got a mission to prepare for!"
"Wait a minute," Choji said. "A B-rank? We haven't even been on our first C-rank yet!"
Naruto grinned at him. "Yep! It's not a big deal or anything. It is probably a record though. Anyway, gotta go. See ya later Choji!"
The shunshin left only a breeze. Choji turned back to Hinata, only to find her gone too. He just chuckled and went back to munching greedily on his potato chips.
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"Team 7, are we ready?" Yamato said. It was 5 minutes before 8 p.m. when he 'arrived' at the Southern Gate. Right on time, just like always.
"Yes we are, Sensei." Hinata responded. The boys nodded beside her in agreement.
"Alright, the target was last spotted somewhere between here and the border with the Land of Rain. You know the mission parameters, so let's get moving."
Without another word, they fell into their standard traveling formation when they were outside village walls. Hinata was in the middle of a triangle that featured Yamato in the front, using his experience as a jonin to lead them. Naruto was behind Hinata to the right, covering her back and flank. Sasuke was on the other side doing the same.
They took to tree hopping to start. They weren't on an escort mission, so they didn't need to travel at a civilian pace. They didn't want to wear themselves out either, so despite the urgency of the mission, they weren't pushing the pace all that fast either.
It took them half a day to reach the area where their target was last spotted. Naruto and Hinata were working overtime to try and find her. They weren't on a strict time table, but you never knew what bandits would do with a kidnapped hostage.
It was Naruto who sensed them before Hinata could spot them. They found their camp a mile south of a lake. Tents were spread out in a clearing. Campfires were lit sporadically between the tents, with bandits seated around them causing a ruckus.
Naruto could smell the booze from his location hundreds of yards away, up in a tall oak tree. Team 7 was staying outside an average ninja's sensing range just in case there were any rogues in the group. They had to give Hinata time to properly map out and report the area, as well as locate the hostage and hostiles.
Sasuke chose to join Naruto, giving Hinata some room to focus on her task.
"You know what's going to happen." He said. It wasn't a question.
"I know."
"Can you do it?"
Naruto gazed in the general direction of the bandits while he thought for a moment, taking the chance to make sure he was absolutely sure.
"Yes. How can I be Hokage if I'm not willing to take an enemy life for the sake of the village? How could I ever order anybody else to do it if I can't stomach it myself?"
Sasuke saw the determination in Naruto's eyes, and felt a tinge of jealously.
"I'm not sure I can stomach it." He said, exhaling a puff of air out of his chest. "I don't want to turn in to Itachi. I don't want to do anything that makes me feel like him."
Naruto didn't miss a beat in response. "You're nothing like him. Like I said, this is for the village and all those in it that we love. We're doing it to protect them. That's the complete opposite of Itachi as far as I'm concerned."
Sasuke steeled his resolve, the blonde's words touching all the right notes to calm down and inspire him.
The two genin sat in silence, checking equipment for the fourth and fifth time, and mentally running through their jutsu, until their captain called them over.
"The hostage appears to be unharmed. Hinata has located her in the center of the camp in a tent. She's alone at the moment, so we're moving in quickly before that can change." Yamato pointed at Sasuke. "You'll be with me. Our job is to distract and combat the bandits. We need to keep the damage away from the center of the camp. Naruto, you'll be with Hinata rescuing the hostage. She will be scared, do your best to keep her quiet and cooperative."
There was a momentary pause as they all thought about their part in the mission, before Yamato kicked them into action.
"Alright, move out."
Naruto followed Hinata, who silently led them through the forest to the back end of the clearing. They crouched down together behind a tall bush, and waited for Yamato and Sasuke's distraction to take hold. And take hold did it ever.
Out of the dimming light, came a massive fireball, at least to a civilian. In reality, Sasuke was capable of creating a much, much larger jutsu, but chose to keep it small to minimize the risk. Besides, it wasn't the fireball that was the distraction, it was what it was aimed for.
The human sized ball of flame collided with a cart, setting it ablaze. Seconds later, there was a small explosion, and the flames burned hotter and wider. He had lit the booze cart aflame, and every bandit in the camp was now pissed off and looking for the jutsu caster.
Sasuke, for his part, made it very simple for them to find him. He stood at the edge of the clearing, hand planted on his hip, and a smug grin on his face.
As the bandits began to roar and outrage, the nearest ones charged at him. The eight closest found themselves tripped up by unseen roots, roots that quickly expanded and tangled amongst themselves. In seconds, they were all trapped in a makeshift prison of gnarled tree roots. The wood was several inches thick, and compressing on them. They wouldn't be escaping.
The distraction was more than enough for the other two members of the team to begin making their way through the campground, weaving around tents and doing their best to avoid any of the bandits. Naruto led, with Hinata directing from behind him.
They were two tents away when they hit their first resistance. Literally. A man with a large axe and leather straps crossing his chest noticed them and charged from their left. As the brute raised his axe high above his right shoulder, Naruto smoothly slipped inside his range and dropped him with a single jab to the face. He felt the man's nose crunch under his knuckles, and felt more than saw the blood spray from it. To Naruto it was easier than beating up on Konohamaru, the man seemed to move in slow motion. He briefly wondered if this is how Sasuke saw things when he activated his bloodline.
His attention was quickly drawn back to the battlefield when he heard Hinata moving to their right, cutting off Naruto's would-be second attacker. Three lightning quick strikes dropped him, but before Naruto could compliment her on a job well done, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye.
There were five of them moving towards the tent with the hostage, each holding a different weapon. One man even held an alight torch.
There was no hesitation, no worry. Just a job to be done, and that's all Naruto focused on as his hands raced through newly familiarized hand signs 'Tiger, rat, horse, snake, dragon' As he clapped his hands together, he felt his chakra well up in his gut. He forced it up towards his mouth, compressing it as much as possible as he did.
"Water Release: Water Severing Wave!" The water stream shot out of his mouth like a fire hose, and he swept his head to catch all of the attackers.
The B-rank jutsu was intended to slice, but the genin was yet to perfect it He was also backing off the power quite a bit, knowing the opposition. The result was still much more than Naruto had anticipated. While it didn't cut them in half like the jutsu intended, it struck all five in the chest and immediately dropped them to the ground and swept them away. None of them moved when the water relented and their bodies sprawled to a stop. He could see several of them had completely caved in chests.
The blond froze, his face feeling hot, and his head light. Luckily, Hinata had seen the whole thing. She grabbed him by the hand and pulled him towards the tent with their hostage. Naruto was brought back to reality by her, and he quickly snapped out of it. They reached the tent in seconds, the rest of the bandits either occupied by Yamato and Sasuke, or afraid of what the blond had just done. Hinata entered while Naruto stood watch. It was decided that a friendly female face would be better for a young teen girl to see, much as Naruto wanted to debate that he was the friendliest looking.
10 seconds went by, then 30, then a full minute. Naruto fired off a massive gust of wind, sending one of the few bandits brave enough to charge flying back through the air. He was about to check on the two when Hinata called his name. He quickly ducked into the tent opening, ready to fight.
Hinata and the hostage were the only two in the tent though. Hinata looked fine, but the brown haired girl looked to be in shock. Ropes showing signs of Hinata's juken strikes lay at her feet. Her pants were torn in a way that was definitely intentional. When Naruto saw this, he felt angry. Truly angry for the first time in… well he wasn't sure he could remember a time when he had been that angry before.
He felt the Kyuubi's chakra stirring in him, asking him to harness it's chakra, calling to him to let it out. It wanted him to go on a rampage and destroy whoever had done it. He needed to calm down and think, but the bijuu's chakra bubbling in his gut was hard to fight. It was a gentle touch from Hinata, and his training that finally did it. The breathing training that the old coot Pervy Sage made him run through every morning.
He took several breaths and focused on what he could that wouldn't set him off. His team was okay as far as he knew, the mission was going well. The hostage didn't appear to be overtly injured in any way. He just had to keep moving one step at a time.
He squatted down to look at the seated girl's eyes, and put on a gentle smile.
"I'm Naruto, what's your name?"
There was no response, the girl just kept staring into the ground, a light tremble running through her buddy.
Naruto kept the gentle smile and slowly moved a hand to her back. She flinched, but he just smiled bigger to reassure her, and his hand made contact. The girl shook harder, but Naruto powered through, intent on helping.
He began to channel chakra through her, slowly at first, but quickly increasing the amount. In his many hours of medical ninjutsu practice that he had put in, he had only succeeded at one thing so far. Calming people down. Hinata said it was because he had the warmest chakra she'd ever seen. Sasuke said it was because even a baby wouldn't think he was threatening, which he meant as a diss but Naruto took as a compliment.
As he let his chakra flow smoothly through the girl, he thought about his happiest memories. Jiraiya teaching him his first jutsu. The toads accepting him. Becoming a part of team 7. A big bowl of ramen at Ichiraku's.
Slowly the girl relaxed, and after a moment longer, she looked up into his eyes.
"What's your name?" Naruto asked again.
"Nyoko." She said so quietly that if Naruto hadn't preemptively channeled chakra to enhance his hearing, he never would have heard.
He smiled bright at her, continuing to let the chakra flow into her. "Wow, that's a beautiful name. I'm Naruto, that's Hinata. We're here to save you. Our teammates are taking care of business outside, but we need to get you out of here. Can you stand?"
Nyoko nodded.
He smiled big again, removing his hand from here back and standing up straight, he reached to grab her hand, and effortlessly lifted her to her feet.
"Alright, it could get dicey out there, so Hinata's gonna carry you while I keep a look out, that okay?"
She shook her head hastily, much to Naruto's confusion.
"Well I can't let you walk, it's too dangerous."
"Why don't you carry her?" Hinata chimed in, knowing what she would want if she were in the teens' shoes.
Naruto tilted his head in question, he was about to ask why she'd want him, but he never got to it. Nyoko nodded her head at the suggestion, and moved closer to him. He shrugged, and made a single hand sign. Five more Naruto's came into existence, and the original picked her up bridal style.
As they ducked their way out of the tent, he felt a chakra spike that had the tell-tale tingle of lightning nature. A nice reassurance that Sasuke was still functioning, even if the enemy wasn't all that dangerous in the first place.
The newly minted battle ground was a disaster zone. A section of it was soaked from Naruto's water jutsu. The rest was littered with fires, freshly grown wood, blackened grass, and much to Naruto's queasiness, the bodies of a majority of the bandits.
To his right, Sasuke was squatted down checking for a pulse on what appeared to be the last of the men responsible for the kidnapping. Naruto, his clones, and Hinata made their way to join the rest of their team.
"Hostage has been safely acquired, Sensei." Naruto chirped.
"Good work you two." Yamato said, "are you alright Nyoko-sama?"
'Sama?' Naruto and Hinata simultaneously questioned silently.
There was a soft mumble into Naruto's shoulder, too quiet for the rest to hear, so he translated.
"She's a bit shaken up but I don't think she's suffered any permanent physical damage." He said, tone a bit more uptight and serious than normal.
"Very well, we should get moving then. That battle could attract a lot of unwanted attention."
The three genin bobbed their heads at their sensei, who turned to leave. Before his team followed, Naruto and Sasuke both turned to look at each other, checking in. Two slight imperceptible nods were given, before Sasuke checked on Hinata. When they were all satisfied that everyone was okay for the time being, they took off after their sensei. They travelled at a much slower pace, given that Naruto was carrying a civilian girl. Their formation had also shifted, without a single order given, to allow for Naruto to be in Hinata's usual spot, though there were several clones flanking the Byakugan user to accommodate the shift.
Upon returning to the village hours later, an ANBU squad immediately ushered them straight to the Hokage's office. Within the confines of the seat of power for Konoha, was the Hokage, along with a pompous man dressed in fancy silk clothing.
The jewelry dripped off of him as if he was a fountain made of gold. The samurai next to him, as well as the jewelry, indicated that he was quite wealthy. Despite this, the thin man had a humble air about him.
"Team 7, this is Hiroshi Fukushima, the Treasurer of the Land of Fire, and one of the closest advisors to the Daimyo, as well as being his brother. I believe… that you have just rescued his daughter."
Naruto's jaw dropped open, eyes wide in shock. Nyoko was the niece of the Fire Daimyo? Hinata and Sasuke's reaction was much more downplayed, though a reaction at all from them, while in front of the Hokage no less, was telling enough.
Naruto shot Yamato a quick glare for not giving them the full breadth of the mission. "Yeah, she's uh, in the hospital getting treated." Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly after he recovered from his surprise. "I'm almost positive she's fine though. We had Hinata look her over." He tended to babble on when he was nervous, which wasn't all that often.
"She's one of the best and most talented Hyuga," he added quickly, "so I trust her. I mean I trust her eyes. Well I trust her too, but I also trust her eyes." He glanced sideways at the Hokage, who was stifling a chuckle, but openly smiling. "I'm gonna stop talking now." He made a zipper motion over his lips, and shrunk into himself to try and look smaller.
Yamato came to his rescue. "I think, what Naruto is trying to say, is that the mission was a success, Hiroshi-sama. Nyoko-sama was rescued with minimal injuries quickly, and the group responsible was eradicated. She's quite shaken up, but you should be able to go see her."
"Thank you so much, Team 7 was it? I am forever in your debt." He bowed to them, much deeper than they ever would've expected from somebody of his importance, and left the room in a rush.
Naruto turned to watch him leave, then whipped back to the Hokage. "Jiji… what the fuck?"
It was Hinata and Sasuke's turn to be outraged, while Yamato became more familiar with the lines on both of his palms.
"Naruto-kun," Hinata said, "You have to be more respectful to the Hokage." She sounded unsure of herself, despite the confidence that the words showed.
All of the reactions were drowned out by Hiruzen's roaring laughter. "Is there a problem, Naruto?" He asked after calming himself.
Naruto deadpanned at him. "Why were we assigned such an important mission? You just had genin sent to rescue the niece of the Daimyo. What if it had gone wrong? What if she had been injured or killed?"
Sarutobi seemed to think about this for a few seconds before he responded. "Well, Naruto. For starters, you and your team are extremely skilled, and have yet to give me a reason to not believe in you. Secondly, Between yourself and Hinata, you are an excellent sensory team, and she needed to be found promptly." The Hokage then leaned in and whispered so that only he could hear, "just between you and me though, you might want to work on those sensory skills of yours, there was an ANBU team tracking you the whole time as backup just in case."
Naruto's cheeks reddened at that, embarrassed that he hadn't been able to pick up on their tail.
"Lastly, you want to be Hokage right?" Naruto nodded. "Do you know what it takes to become the Hokage?"
Naruto puffed his chest out and answered resolutely. "You have to be the strongest ninja in the village! You have to be able to make hard decisions about the village, and risk the lives of your fellow shinobi for the greater good, and you have to be willing to risk your own life to protect Konoha, and carry on the Will of Fire."
Hiruzen nodded. "Impressive answer, as expected Naruto. Wrong though, I'm sorry to say." He held up a hand before Naruto's incredulous look could turn to outraged words. "Ah ah, let me finish. "You are correct, that is what it takes to be Hokage. What it takes to become Hokage, is a different story altogether." Sarutobi began slowly pacing pass the photos on the wall of his predecessors and successor. "To become Hokage, you must not only qualify for the job's duties, but you must be in a position where people wish for you to have the job."
His pacing came to a halt in front of the portrait of the Yondaime. "Do you know who selects the Hokage?"
The question was directed at Naruto, but Sasuke answered for him. "The elders and leaders of the village, but the jonin must approve too."
"And…" The Hokage drawled.
"T-the Daimyo also must approve the choice." Hinata said.
"Very good, Hinata." He turned back to Naruto. "You must have the favor of the Daimyo and his court, or at the very least, more favor than anybody else. Hiroshi is the Daimyo's favorite advisor, being his only sibling. Opportunities to help people with that much power do not come often. I thought it prudent to get your foot in the door early." He addressed the rest of the team. "Of course, it never hurts to strengthen the name of the Hyuga and Uchiha, two of our most prominent clans."
Sasuke straightened his posture minutely, while Hinata bowed deeply.
"You three are dismissed, I expect a full report by the end of the day tomorrow." They turned to exit, leaving their sensei behind. "Though I should say. Of all my available ninja in the village… Team 7 was my first choice to succeed at the mission, regardless of politics."
The grins on the three genin could be seen for hours to come, but none matched the one residing on their sensei's face.
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A few days later
The rookie nine were gathered at Choji's favorite barbecue restaurant in celebration. Team 10 would be leaving for their first C-rank the next day, much to Shikamaru's lamentation. Apparently Ino had straight up demanded it after hearing of Team 7 getting a B-rank. The first rookie team to do so since the Sannin apparently.
Naruto was doing his best not be graceful about it, but the smirk on his face was better suited on an Uchiha than himself. It did seem to help Hinata's confidence along even more though, which was always a positive.
He was just about to dig on to a juicy cut of meet when he was interrupted by light and smooth voice. "Excuse me, Team 7?"
"Nyoko?" Naruto said. "You're out of the hospital? That's great!" Hinata also voiced her happiness, though in a much more respectful manner. Sasuke almost smiled at her, which was pretty good for him. Sakura punched Kiba in the side of the head to keep the drool from spilling out of his open jaw.
"Mhmm, I was just released. The Hokage told me I might be able to find you here."
"Did you want to join us? We have room for one more!" He slid over, patting the spot on the booth right next to him."
She blushed slightly, but shook her head, her brown hair looking much better than it had a few days ago as she did so. "I just came to thank you, Naruto-kun." Hinata and Ino raised an eyebrow at this, as did Sakura, albeit for different reasons. "And you too, Hinata and Sasuke. I don't think I'd be here without you." She recovered quickly.
"Please accept my most sincere gratitude, and this gift." Nyoko bowed as deep as she could formally, and then extended a gift wrapped box out to Naruto.
The blond took it awkwardly, and stumbled around opening it. "It's an… invitation?" He said unsure of himself.
"To come visit the Daimyo's court and have dinner." She blushed again. "It's for all three of you of course, and your sensei."
Naruto didn't really like the sound of having dinner with a bunch of stuffy old rich people, but before he could turn her down, Sasuke answered for him.
"We are most grateful for the offer, Nyoko-sama, and of course we accept, although it might be hard to find a day with our… busy schedules. We mean no offense of course."
"It is an open invitation, you may come whenever you please, just be sure to send word ahead so that we might prepare for you." She was speaking to all three of them, but she couldn't take her eyes off of Naruto's.
She bowed once more, before turning on her heel and quickly evacuating the area. The table was silent for a few seconds, before Kiba interrupted. "What a babe, how'd you manage to land that, Naruto?" He earned himself another punch to the head, this time from Ino, for his comment.
"I didn't land anyone, Kiba." He turned to Sasuke, "and why did you accept? I don't wanna go to a fancy dinner with people I don't know. What the hell am I even supposed to wear to that?"
Sasuke smirked at him. "You heard what the Hokage said the other day, you need to get your foot in the door with the Daimyo, and accepting the invite does just that."
"Plus she looked like she wanted to f— AHJHFE" Kiba was interrupted by Sakura shoving a napkin down his throat to shut him up.
Ino picked up the slack for the Inuzuka though. "I hate to agree with Dog Boy, but he's right Naruto. She was eyeing you like Choji eye's the juiciest piece of meat on the grill."
Naruto let out an exasperated sigh. "Why though, why can't she just eye Sasuke like everybody else." Hinata inwardly took offense to this. "She's probably super prim and fancy too, I don't think I'd like that in a girl."
"Oh you wouldn't know what you like if it smacked you over the head." Ino said.
"So troublesome." Shikamaru added from his place resting on his own forearms, trying to catch up on sleep.
"What pineapple head said." Naruto said, before digging into his food.
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Not a lot of author notes, just a relatively simple chapter to set more things up in the future. I made the mission a B-rank because there were no suspected shinobi, despite the importance of the hostage, sorry if that doesn't seem believable.
Nyoko and her father are completely made up OC's, though I hope to include them in the plot as the story progresses.
I finally got my sketch of Naruto to post as my pfp, though you can't see the whole thing (It's tough to work from an iPad). If you wanna see the whole thing, check out the instagram StolenHawk22 . I'm not looking for followers or likes or anything, its just to add a little bit to the story, because changing a main characters look is often difficult to picture.
Thank you for all the favorites, follows, and comments! I read every last notification I get, even if it takes me a few days, so keep them coming!
Lastly, since I lied about there not being a lot of author notes, I might as well plug my new story, centered around Itachi. I'm still working on the summary, the current one doesn't do it justice, and I'm hoping that it turns out better than this story. Hopefully chapter two will be up tonight or tomorrow morning!