Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ A Better Start ❯ A Better Mission ( Chapter 9 )

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“Mmmnnmmm. Just gimme ten more minutes…zzzzz” The young blue eyed boy cracked an eye open and mumbled in his dreary state after chucking his newest alarm clock into the unlit fire place across from the couch he was still using as his bed.

“Get up dobe. If I have to get up at this ungodly hour of the day I sure as hell am not letting you sleep in.” Mikoto had emerged from her room and took the three steps it took to get from her room to the living/dining area and the kitchen.

Naruto ignored her and only turned over in his sleep, barely keeping from falling off the edge of the couch. Agitated by his childishness the “Last Uchiha” took it upon herself to take the extra ten steps it took to stand behind the back of the couch. Peeking over the edge she scowled at how much he seemed to need to sleep. “And he wants to be a ninja. Psh.” Placing her foot on the back of the couch she gave a sharp push.

“WHOA!” Naruto was now on the floor with the couch lying on top of him. He could already imagine the couch's thoughts of “Revenge!” from him jumping onto it all the time.

Grunting he shoved the couch back to how it was and sat up on his knees and rubbed at his eyes. After he managed to remove all of the substance that somehow was able to get into the cracks of his eyes every night he looked around to glare at his tormentor. Said person was already at the fridge and rummaging through it.

“We need to go shopping again, we're running out of…just about everything.” Mikoto closed the refrigerator door and placed the milk carton onto the counter and opened the cupboard above the counter. She was about to reach out for a box, only to realize that it was no longer where it normally was. Said box of breakfast goodness was now resting two full shelves higher. Out of reach of the young girl.

“Augh! Why does this keep happening? None of us are tall enough to reach that damn shelf without having to climb on the damn counter!”

Naruto secretly laughed to himself, oh how he loved messing with his house mate in the mornings. To be able to see the normally calm Uchiha scion so cranky in the morning was reason enough to take the effort of moving the cereal box at night, even though he normally could do no more than manage to crawl onto the couch when he gets home from the training that the hermit dished out that day.

“Odd how the training manages to be so hard when the damn man never seems to even be there to train you.” Kyuubi stated shortly, quirked at how the aging man was depriving her host of the training he could be getting by leaving half way through the lesson. “At least it gives you time to practice the chakra control techniques that he has taught you. You are almost up to an adequate level of chakra control for a human…”

“Really?!” Naruto shouted out loud, always eager to soak up the praise he receives from others.

“…Infant.”

Mikoto just looked at him oddly from her seat on top of the counter as he groaned, having chosen to not waste the energy to hop down to the table when she had all she needed for her breakfast right there on the counter. Clad in her usual morning wear of baggy sweats and a tank top she re crossed her legs and took another bite of her cereal, having slowly gotten used to the blonds random outburst from talking to the Kyuubi.

Just then the door at the other side of the living room opened and a sleepy Kimiko slumped into the kitchen. “Stop with the yelling already, it's two hours too early for that.” She grabbed the milk carton and swished it about, squinting at it.

“Hey, we need to-“ the redhead was cut off abruptly.

“To go shopping, we know.” Mikoto and Naruto said at the same time.

Shrugging the red head poured the rest of the milk over her cereal, shaking the carton for good measure.

Naruto finally stood up off the ground and headed for the hallway, running a hand through the natural disaster that he called hair. “I guess I'll be taking a shower first then.” He didn't wait for a response as he took a towel from the closet and entered the bathroom.

After a quick hot shower he stepped up to the sink and dried his hair with his towel, he took an odd fascination at how much more muscle he seemed to have built up already. He hadn't really even been doing any heavy lifting, just the repetitious crap that Jiraya seemed to enjoy giving him. He had actually whittled the side of The Rock down quite a bit from the training sessions that involved said rock. Looking to make sure that the door was locked he wrapped the towel around his waist and did numerous body builder poses while looking into the bathroom mirror.

“U talkin' ta me? Punk?” Flex, next pose, flex. “Cuz I don't see anyone else around here, so you must be talkin to me.”

After a bit more flexing and ego boosting Naruto picked up his clothes and held them under his right arm.

Kimiko had just finished cleaning her bowl and placed it in the cupboard when she heard the bathroom door finally open.

“Man that took a long time. Did you leave me any hot…” Kimiko had to abruptly stop herself when she turned around to ask the lone male in the house. “Naruto!”

Naruto looked up from rummaging around in his duffle bag, which he has been storing all of his clothes since he had been staying with the two girls. “What?”

“Don't just come out of the bathroom wearing nothing!”

Naruto looked at her stupidly. “But I'm wearing a towel. You come out of the shower wearing a towel all the time. Mikoto does too.”

“Hnn” Mikoto turned towards the counter to hide her embarrassment, remembering the first morning that Naruto had been living there and she had left the bathroom wearing one of the houses smaller towels.

Kimiko had more to say than her friend. “That's different! We have the towel covering the entire upper half of our body. You are only covering the lower part!”

Naruto looked down at himself. He had a towel tied around his waist that reached slightly past his knees and covered everything that needed to be covered on a boy. Really, there wasn't much of a difference between him wearing the towel and him wearing a pair of swimming shorts.

“Why are you yelling at me about this now? I've seen you wear skirts that cover half as much leg as this and I don't go telling you off about it. So I forgot to change in the bathroom, what's the big deal?”

Kimiko flushed slightly, remembering the times she had worn those skirts, and at the fact that he had noticed her in those skirts. “Forget it. Just remember to change in the bathroom from now on.”

Naruto shrugged and pulled out a white undershirt from his bag. “Sure, whatever.”

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-Three Weeks Later-

Knock Knock.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up from his daily agenda that he had been reviewing towards the clock on the wall. It was only six in the morning; he himself had just sat down only minutes prior. “It's open.”

A young blond boy entered the room and sauntered over to sit in one of the offered chairs in front of the large desk. “Sup old man.”

“Good morning to you too, Naruto. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, and so early I might add? Perhaps you have already made a decision on what we discussed a while back?” Leaning back into his chair he folded his hands on top of his lap.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. “Nah, I don't really wanna make that decision till I got someone in mind. And Sakura-chan hasn't let me have a chance yet.”

“Ah yes, the young Haruno. Her written scores were one of the highest in your class.”

“Yeah, she's awesome like that.”

A short silence followed until Hiruzen cleared his throat. “If that wasn't it, then what exactly is the reason for coming here then?”

Naruto nervously rubbed his hands together. “I have a bit of a problem, and I was kinda hoping that you could help me with it before I had to get ready for the morning session with Iruka-sensei. Well…ya see…it's been like three months since I graduated right?” The Sandaime nodded. “Yeah, and I was kinda expecting to have started doing some missions by now. Since I'm not a full time student at the Academy anymore I haven't been getting a monthly stipend from the system. And…well……I'm kinda broke.”

Sarutobi's eyes widened slightly. `I should have thought of that already! My inability to think of this matter has put the poor boy under even more stress.' Keeping calm he spoke out his thoughts on the matter. “I see. That does present a problem. And you are too young to get a job as a civilian and nor are you technically a Genin so you can't get a shinobi job assignments. Though I suppose that if I put my foot down no one will really complain. Hmmm, and with your training schedule it would be hard to find you a job with any real hours... Aha!” Standing quickly he pressed the button on his intercom “Jean, please take care of things while I am gone, it should only be an hour.” Walking around his desk he motioned for Naruto to stand with him. He placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder and they both vanished.

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The pair reappeared in front of a large industrial building on the outskirts of the city. Naruto recognized the area as being not too far away from most of the more popular training grounds and a short distance away from the city's power station.

Sarutobi ushered Naruto into the open door to the facility and followed him inside. Immediately ahead was a curved desk with two receptionists sitting behind it with a pair of the new fangled computers on the desk. As soon as the two Chunin noticed their leader they stood and saluted.

“Now now, no need for any of that. I am just here to give my friend a quick tour of the facility. Come along Naruto.” Walking quickly past the desk he began telling the boy of where they were. “This is one of the newest departments in our fair city's power grid.” He gestured to the doors lining the long hallway that made up the building. “Each of these rooms is lined with electricity conversion seals. These seals feed off of the excess chakra that a person lets off when they use a jutsu. That excess chakra is then converted into electricity and used to help power the cities electrical grid. Now, due to the sheer size and demand of Konoha this facility doesn't power it completely. It just saves the citizens a bit of tax money and gives each of the participating shinobi a bit of extra cash inside their wallets.”

Naruto was looking around with wide eyes. He had no idea that a place like this even existed in the world, let alone the village. But he did catch on to one thing. “You said shinobi, though. I'm not a ninja yet.”

Hiruzen looked back at the boy. “Ah, but like I said in my office, they won't mind if you have my personal permission to be here.”

Nodding the boy continued to look around ash he was being lead on a tour of the giant building. As they went up the stairs the doors were spaced farther apart and the doors even looked to look thicker.

“Now, using the latest in computer technology we can monitor the amount of energy each room generates and logs it for reference. Using those numbers we can make a measurement of how much power the person supplies in comparison to the city's power station. The higher the amount of electricity they make, the higher they get paid.”

Naruto nodded, seeing that they had reached the top of the five story building. “It seems kinda simple when you think about it. But why does it have to draw the energy from a jutsu and not just directly from the person?”

Sarutobi sat down on one of the benches lining the walls. “Ah, it isn't that we haven't tried. But we have yet to create a device that can do that efficiently. We either took too little from the person or took too much and put the participant in danger.”

“Oh, right! So you think I could do this? But all of my jutsu are just the basics. And my shadow clones soak up the excess for themselves to use.”

The Third looked at him oddly. “You mean that Jiraya and the others haven't taught you any jutsu yet? That seems a bit odd to me. Within a month I had already taught Jiraya the seals for the Summoning technique.”

Naruto just shook his head. “Nope. I think they have an agreement or something. None of them are teaching us any techniques, just refining physical stuff. In fact Mikoto is starting to get really pissy about it too.”

Sarutobi stared at the boy for a moment before looking up at the ceiling. `I believe it is time for me to call in a meeting from that lot. I seem to have missed a lot from this group.' After thinking on it a bit more Sarutobi looked back at the blond. “What about that technique you used in the fire? Jiraya mentioned that it was quite powerful.”

Naruto thought for a moment. Remembering the incident and what that technique had done. “I don't know if I could do it again, I mean it was pretty much the Kyuubi that handled most of that technique and it was still really straining for me. And from what I remember it went through three floors of a building and out the roof and was still going and going and going and going.”

Sarutobi made sure he remembered that piece of information for future use. “And what of your parents scrolls? Surely they must have left you something.”

“Haha, yeah. My dad's scroll has something, but the part that I'm at on it is pretty much all meditation. And my mom's scroll has a bunch of jutsu, but I don't really have time to work on them if I don't do it when I'm with one of the teachers. And they won't teach us any jutsu.”

Standing up Sarutobi motioned to one of the doors with a green sign on it. “I suppose I have no choice but to teach you something relatively easy, but gives off a fair amount of residual chakra.”

Naruto jumped up into the air with a raised fist. “Booya! Oh yeah! Let's do this!”

Smirking at him Sarutobi closed and locked the door behind them, readying the seals. ”I'm sure that you have seen Mikoto's fire jutsu correct? I suppose it would be right to have a future ninja from the Land of Fire to know at least one fire technique.”

Naruto tilted his head and crossed his arms “Wouldn't it be better if it was an electric technique though? The reason behind this place is electricity right?”

Hiruzen nodded sagely. “That is what I had thought of when I had the idea brought up to me about this facility being built. However, it seems that we get more energy from storing and converting the chakra instead of the electricity of a technique. Also we would need lots of expensive fuses in each of the room connected to a small lightning rod inside of some of the rooms. We have only been able to make three of such rooms so far, for the ones that only have high powered lightning techniques. Now then let us work on this fire technique. No need for it to be perfect at the moment, we are just here to get you acquainted with the system and for you to know a technique to work on.

For now it doesn't really matter how hot you make the flame, simply the size of it. So all you have to do is to release a lot more chakra than is required. Now the seals are Snake, Horse, Dragon, Rat, Ox, and Tiger. This technique is called the Fire Dragon Missile. Charge your breath with the chakra inside of your lungs, before you let it out in a constant stream. You use the tiger seal to light the flame, so place your hands just under your mouth when you exhale. Make sure it is constant though, this technique has a nasty habit of exploding in your face if you don't feed it the necessary oxygen. Also, do try not to flaunt it in front of your friends, it is unbecoming of a young man after all.” Stepping as far back as the room would allow Sarutobi waited to see how the boy would do. He really should have rephrased what he said about putting in a lot more chakra than needed. This is the boy that made three full Shadow Clones when he was aiming to make just one.

After running through the seals five times to get used to the new sequence he looked back at the Sandaime for the signal.

“Go ahead.” He nodded, expecting the boy to give off a small gout of flame. That was the norm for people when they first try and perform a fire technique.

Nodding, Naruto gave it a shot, running through the hand seals and applying what he thought to be an adequate amount of chakra for an offensive technique. “KATON! FIRE DRAGON MISSILE!”

For the rest of the day everyone secretly wondered why the Third Hokage of all people was at work with blackened and singed clothes.

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Not even an hour later the door to the strongest ninja in Konoha's office was thrust open. In strode a decidedly enraged Tsunade followed by her ever faithful apprentice Shizune, who was followed by her own ever faithful pig Tonton. “That's it old man, I can't stand being in this damn place any longer. I have to get out of here.”

Not even looking up from his calligraphy work on the latest letter to the Daimyo of Fire country Sarutobi acknowledged his latest guest. “What is it that you can't stand Tsunade. I had given you well over ten years of vacation time from the village. While you were gone from Konoha you contributed nothing to Fire Country. Even while on his own lengthy vacation Jiraya still managed all of our spy networks. He even found the time to write his own books. Don't tell me that you want me to give you more time off, only for you to slack off the entire time?” Now looking up from his work Hiruzen did not look amused.

Tsunade seemed to have taken a step back. She had forgotten how strict her former teacher could be. Since she had gotten back to Konoha to start teaching she had taken the transition of working again in stride. But now that she was starting to run out of text only materials she feared that she would have to start teaching the students more hands on techniques to healing. And that often would lead her to seeing blood again. Something she did now want.

Thinking quickly she went with the first thing that came to mind as an excuse. “What if I make it into a field trip?”

The Sandaime put his brush down and folded his hands on the table. “A field trip you say? Where exactly would you go? With who? I don't suppose you were planning on taking the whole group out of the village were you? A group of eleven children yet to be certified as ninja I might add.”

Tsunade looked towards her apprentice for assistance, only to receive a shrug in response.

“No. I don't think that just the two of us would be able to an eye on all eleven of the brats. But I think I could take a few of them with me, five at the most. Besides, I think it'll be good for them to get out of the walls and see the world a bit.”

Stroking his short beard for a short moment he stood from his seat and looked out over the village he protected. After a minute of odd silence Sarutobi turned around and looked at his former student. “Very well. You may have your field trip.”

Tsunade was about to bow and thank him, but he quickly raised a halting hand.

“But, you may only travel as far as the fire country boarder, and I get to choose the children that you will be taking. We can use this as a training exercise, a fake mission. You and your group are to travel to seven cities and bring back a souvenir that you think best represents that city's populous. You will have two weeks.”

Sitting back in his comfy, overstuffed chair Sarutobi picked up his brush and dabbed it into his ink vial.

Tsunade switched her weight to her other foot. “So who am I taking with me then? When is it anyway?”

Glancing back up at her for a second he waved her off. “Just be sure to be waiting at the south gates by eight A.M. tomorrow. I expect you all to return back safely.”

Tsunade and Shizune took that as their time to leave.

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Naruto stood on top of a slippery rock out in the middle of a river. The day so far had gone smoothly, except for having Kurenai pointing out rather bluntly that he had no aptitude whatsoever for the art of casting Genjutsu. Which he had been starting to suspect, having failed every lesson in the subject save his high resistance to being casted on. He chalked it up to Kyuubi's chakra constantly fluctuating inside of his body. But hey, he'd take whatever he can get.

After a quick stop at his favorite food stand and bottoming two on their newest MEGA BOWLS, the blond had sauntered off to the waterfall clearing that the sage seemed to prefer. As soon as he had arrived Jiraya had pointed to The Rock, resulting in two hours of strenuous physical labor. Now though he was doing something Jiraya commonly called Dodge Rock. I know what you're thinking, that sounds kinda like dodge ball, right? Well, that is the basis of this game, only Naruto was restricted to standing on the surface of a flat rock out in the river and dodge rocks. He could not jump higher than three feet off the ground, “in order to practice conserving his energy, no matter how much he has”. Oh, and did I mention the rocks? Fist sized and each weighing around three pounds, these rocks were being rocketed towards him at least averaging ninety five miles per hour.

Those things HURT!

And it didn't help that the entire river bank was a limitless supply of ammo for the one throwing.

Naruto had been out on the river for the past half an hour getting hammered despite his best efforts to dodge. Even his bruises were starting to get bruises. But at least those would go away after a while. But it still hurts!

“Okay brat, that's enough of that for today. You're starting to make me feel bad.” Jiraya tossed down the rocks he had in his arm to the ground and waved the boy over.

Groaning in relief Naruto leaped from the middle of the stream and onto the bank.

“Okay then, ten minute break.” Jiraya then set himself on top of one of the larger protruding rocks overlooking the river, with Naruto sitting against it.

After a minute of comfortable silence Naruto looked up at the lecher. “Hey, you know a lot about girls right?”

Jiraya looked down at him quickly, before returning to his writing. “Look, kid, if you're looking for someone to give you `the talk'-“

“Nononono, I learned about all that a long time ago. I mean…like….dating and stuff. And girls in general. I never know what they're thinking. Just a couple weeks ago Kimiko was shoutin' at me cuz I came out of the shower in just a towel- one of the big ones too. I mean, swimming trunks cover less!”

Jiraya closed his notepad and turned to face him better. “Ah, the age old quest to discover what women are thinking. I myself have been searching for that illusive answer. But sadly no male in existence knows the true answer to that one. And the towel thing….maybe she just has a pet peeve about guys walking around in just towels? Maybe she's just embarrassed to see you without a shirt on? Just because you lot are training to be ninja doesn't mean you don't have innocence. You are only twelve after all.”

Naruto looked down at the ground between his folded legs. “I guess….do you think you could teach me what you do know about girls though? Like, the non-pervy stuff. So I know for when I'm a bit older.”

Jiraya looked at Naruto's figure at the bottom of the large rock. He could already tell that something was on his mind, troubling him. `Probably too much girl trouble. Ah, to be young…' “Haha! Well, you are my student after all! It is to be expected of me to teach you such things.” Looking up at the sky he grinned. “Well I don't see why we can't start today. We can skip some of the physical exercises I had planned to tortu…have you do. First! A date! Ninety percent of the time the first date will always involve sitting down and eating. Now remember, this is after you had asked her for a date in the first place, so on the date don't bother trying to brag about yourself! You already got her to say yes to the first one so she already has an interest in you, don't ruin it! Also! Never forget your manners!”

“B-But I don't know anything about manners other than holding doors open and stuff!”

Jiraya palmed himself in the face.

Just then a swirl of leaves appeared a small distance from the two. When the leaves settled it showed the cat masked ANBU officer standing stiffly. Abruptly she walked forward and handed Naruto a scroll, then she used the Shunshin technique again. Too bad for Naruto that she was too close, causing all of the leaves to fly around him and smack him in the face.

Brushing the remaining leaves from the top of his head he looked at Jiraya questioningly.

“What? Why do I have to be the one to explain everything to you? That was Sensei's personal ANBU, “Cat”. You met her before, on the day your house burnt down….sorry. Anyway, just open the damn scroll.” Jiraya mumbles, now trying to figure out how to teach this brat how to become like him. A ladies man.

Naruto looked back at the scroll and made quick work of the paper seal and unrolled the piece of parchment. “Hmm…mission…fourteen days….mumble…seven cities blah blah blah….with Tsunade and Shizune…and pig… Awesome!” Naruto jumps to his feet in excitement, startling Jiraya who was trying to write down his recently though out schedule for the boy in his commonly perverted notebook.

“Gah! Don't do that!” Smack. With a swift back hand to the blonds inner knee he brought him back to a sitting position. “Lemme see that.” After a quick look at the scroll he looked up at his smiling student, then towards his now useless schedule. “Sigh..Oh well. I guess this means I can get in some more time to gather information. Though, I do wonder who these other four are supposed to be.”

But Naruto was all smiles. “Don't care! I'm goin' on a mission! And one outside the village at that! WOOHOO!!!”

“SHUT UP!” Smack!

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Naruto had gotten up extra early this morning. Hell, he was even up earlier than Mikoto was, and that is saying something. Considering that she is always the first person to get up. No matter what.

This was going to be his first mission ever! So what if it is just a practice mission and that there's a slim to none chance of there being any real action? He was not going to let there be anything in his way to being a ninja, and ultimately Hokage.

Though there is a down side to being up this early. There is nobody else to talk to.

`Speaking of talking to, I haven't heard a peep from her in like a week. I would think it to be really lonely, all cooped up and no one to talk to….Hey! Kyuubi? Are you awake in there?'

There was a long pause…before he heard a soft rustling, which was odd since he had only ever heard the fox's voice from outside of the seal room. Not other random sounds.

“Mmm, what is it? Yawn…”

Naruto stared at the road blankly. She had been asleep all this time? It had been a little over a week since he had last talked to her. He hadn't even gone to the seal room in his sleep recently.

`You were asleep all this time? How can you do that?!'

Another soft rustling sound, then a squeaking noise like that of a bed spring. “You forget that I had spent over ten years inside of you with nothing else to do but sleep and glance through the surface of your memories. You get good at it after a while.”

`Yeah, but what if I needed you immediately for something? I'm still not all that familiar with the whole opening the `door' to talk to you still. Which reminds me, how come I haven't ended up inside your room recently when I go to sleep? I used to end up there all the time after we first met.'

“…I was asleep.” Slurp. Tea, again.

Damn her ability to conjure anything she wants to eat out of thin air.

Speaking of which, Naruto's stomach decided that now was a good time to remind him to feed it. His stomach really is a sentient being. “Ugh. So hungry…”

`So it's you that decides to pull me over to your room? I'm not supposed to just show up there anyway when I go to sleep or am unconscious?'

”No. I simply pull your consciousness out of your second stage of sleep, when you may be called thoroughly asleep. This is the time you would normally start the dream cycle. This just makes it easier for me to pull your consciousness to me.”

`Oooooo…kkk. So basically I won't come to you when I'm asleep since you're not awake to pull me to you, but when I'm meditating I can guide myself there?' Naruto scratched his head, guessing the last part from the facts that he already knows about his mindscape.

“More or less. Was there something urgent you needed to wake me up for?” Kyuubi asked, walking around her room and pulling out a book, one which she remembered reading over one hundred years ago. She frowned at the book, before placing it back. It made her feel old, despite her appearance.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and paced in front of the gate, next to the booth that a tired looking Chunin pair was sitting at drinking their morning coffee.

`Nothing really important and all, but I'm going on a mission! And, I haven't really heard from you in a while. After a month of having you talk to me all the time I kinda got used to it. Besides, I figured you must be lonely and all in there. Not really anyone to talk to.'

“I appreciate your concern. However, I have lived for longer than this village has been standing. I am used to long periods of hibernation during times of inactivity. I also do not require large amounts of sentient contact like you humans do. I am constantly connected to the planet, which is enough.” Sitting down on her comfy chair in front of the recently lit fireplace the Kyuubi continued to enjoy her hot beverage.

Naruto glanced down the road, looking for anyone he recognized. Then glancing at his small watch attached to the left strap of his backpack he realized that he had gotten up waaaay too early. He still had almost two hours left until the group was supposed to leave.

“Man, I'm so hungry. I bet I could eat Tonton whole!” Naruto rubbed his painfully rumbling stomach.

”If you are so hungry, then go to a restaurant and get some breakfast. Or you could go back to the house and make yourself something to eat. It is not as if you don't have enough time for it.”

Naruto glanced down the road again. `Yeah, but what if the group all gets here before I can get back?'

“I am sure that they would wait for you to arrive. If not, then why not leave a clone? If they get there before you do, the clone can dispel itself to let you know to hurry up.”

Naruto thought about it for a second, and in another second a clone was standing in front of him in a salute. “I shall keep vigil at the gate while you are gone, Sir!”

“Very well, I am off!”

The two Chunin sitting at their booth just shrugged at the scene and added more sugar to their coffee. It's not like they haven't seen stranger things, like the Hokage and Gai posing dramatically on top of the Monument during a sunset in the green spandex that Gai is known for.(I hope that gives you nightmares)

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Naruto found himself sitting in a small booth at a dinner only a mile from the gate. It had only been recently the he had been allowed to eat at this particular establishment. He had gone out to eat breakfast one morning with Kimiko and Mikoto because they didn't have anything else to have for breakfast, so they had decided to just go out and eat. As soon as he had stepped through the door, behind the two girls, the owner had adamantly demanded that he should leave. But, with Mikoto not being in the mood to find another place that served a decent breakfast had stated that the owner would forever loose the Uchiha's business if they refused to serve Naruto.

So belatedly the waitress quickly took his order and rushed off to another table, coming back a few minutes later with a glass of orange juice. Only the glass was mostly full of ice, leaving only a small amount of orange juice actually in the glass. After another ten minutes of waiting his plate of eggs, bacon and toast arrived. But instead of the customary smiley face that the dish is normally served in the bacon was curved in a downward fashion, making the face into a frown.

But Naruto had stabbed the yolk of one of the eyes and made it cry a river of yellow tears, only to be absorbed by the bread and eagerly devoured. After taking his time with his breakfast, if for no other reason than to bug the workers, Naruto pays for his food and walked out of the dinner with his pack hung on one shoulder. Heading off back towards the gate Naruto called back to his inner demon…spirit…woman.

`So, if, like I got into a fight and I needed your help instantly, how am I supposed to get you awake and paying attention to what's happening around me? Because you didn't exactly wake up all that fast when I called you earlier.' Naruto looped his other arm through the backpacks other strap and readjusted it on his back.

Kyuubi just continued to sit in her chair peacefully, swishing her tails back and forth to amuse herself. “You did not call to me all that urgently either. Therefore I did not act urgently. Though I suppose if you tapped into enough of my power I would notice that something is wrong.”

Naruto leaped onto the nearest rooftop, seeing as the morning traffic was starting to set in. `But there's just one problem with that idea. I don't know how to `tap into your power' yet.'

“…Ah. True, I have not taught you the method of doing such yet. Then I believe that to be the next lesson we will begin on in our sessions. Be prepared, we are starting tonight.”

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When Naruto finally arrived back at the gate he noticed that two others there besides his clone and the gate guards. One was standing against the wall nearest the gate and the other was talking with his clone, which dispelled itself when it saw Naruto arrive.

Kimiko waved the smoke away from her face and turned to face him with a smile. “Hey there. Where have you been? You were gone before we got up, but you were late to get here.”

Naruto rubbed his neck. “Ah, yeah. I was waiting here earlier, but then I went to go get some breakfast. That's why I left a clone here, in case everyone showed up before me. Speaking of which, how come neither of you two told me you were coming on the mission?”

Mikoto was suddenly behind him. “You never asked.”

Naruto jumped and quickly turned around. “Don't do that!”

Kimiko was barely able to keep from laughing, but she was still smiling at her friends. “What type of ninja doesn't expect to get snuck up on?”

“An awesome one!”

Mikoto scoffed. “Let me know when you see one.”

“Hey!”

Just then Tsunade and her two companions (Tonton counts as one) turned a corner and came into view of the three. Shizune waved at the group cheerfully. “Good morning.” She was received with a round of similar greetings.

When Tsunade noticed that they didn't seem to greet her she got irritated, and told them so.

“Morinin'.” “Hnn.” “Sup.”

Tsunade's eye twitched. This generation never shows any respect. “So we still have two more of you little shits to wait for then?” The rest of the group just shrugged.

Shizune gasped “Tsunade! Language please!”

The blonde woman just grunted and went to a nearby bench to sit down. “It's not like they aren't training to become better killers or something. I think their small innocent minds can handle a bit of cursing.”

Shizune followed her mentor and sat beside her, letting the pig onto the ground to plop down on its side. “It's the principle of it, a dignified member of society like yourself shouldn't be using disrespectful language like that all the time. It is bad enough with your infamy with gambling and drinking.”

Naruto snorted at the `dignified' comment. “Right, dignified. A dignified old medic that can't even look at blood or she passes out.” He shot at her, chuckling.

Tsunade abruptly stood up. “What was that, you brat?! Why don't you come over here and say that to my face so I can take yours off!”

Naruto marched up to her and stood inches away from her body, having to look up and back to dodge her boobs. “Be careful old lady, don't wanna hit me too hard. I might start bleeding.”

Kimiko walked up beside her friend and looked at Shizune and put her hand on the blonds shoulder, Shizune standing behind Tsunade incase the larger woman decided to do some damage. “Naruto, be nice.”

Tsunade lost some of her anger in the face of the calmer girl, deciding that the brat might just live to see his next ramen bowl.

Mikoto had yet to leave her spot off to the side of the confrontation. Really, there would only be entertainment if she let it continue. Nothing like a one sided beating to get a day started. It was just icing on the cake that Naruto would have been the one on the receiving end.

A small cough came from the other side of the group, who all turned to see the familiar face of Hinata. But she wasn't alone, a tall man with long black straight hair, a blank face and white robes stood beside the girl.

“Hiashi?” Tsunade wondered in amazement. From what she had heard, the man rarely left his home. He was only known to be out for an event or a meeting of the Village Counsel. “What are you doing out here? You didn't have to escort your daughter to the gate, I'm sure she would have been fine.”

The tall man gave a small acknowledging nod. “Lady Tsunade. I am sure this is the case, however I wanted to personally meet this group that is accompanying my heir outside of the village. I must say that I am relieved to see one of the Sannin to be traveling with her.”

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle. “Pff. Lady?” Said lady gave him a small punch in the arm, eliciting a pained yelp from the seemingly small tap.

“I also wanted you to be aware that there has been a recent uprising of violence and crime in numerous places all over Fire Country.”

Shizune stepped forward a bit. “Of course, we will ensure the safety of all of them.”

Hiashi looked for conformation, which he got. He then looked at the other three standing near them. His eyes lingered slightly longer on Naruto, but it was such a small amount of time that no one other than Naruto himself noticed. “Very well. I wish you luck on your expedition.” He then turned and walked away.

The quiet Hinata stood there nervously. “I'm sorry that I am l-late. It won't happen again.”

Naruto just smiled and walked up to her and put an arm around her shoulders and led her closer to the group. “Don't worry about it Hinata! Shizune here just got here a little bit ago too.”

He didn't notice how the girl swayed as she was walking until it got to the point that she was leaning on him when she tilted his way. Naruto stopped and looked at her oddly. “Hey, are you o-WHOA!” he had to stumble as he caught her. “Hinata. Hinata! Oh my god, what happened?!”

Mikoto just looked away, losing interest. The older women chuckled as Kimiko walked over and took the girl from Naruto's frantic hands. Hinata was placed in the bench that Tsunade and Shizune were previously sitting on.

Just then a head of bright pink hair popped in between the group of people. “Hey guys. What happened to Hinata?” She then noticed Naruto in the group. “Oh. Great.”

Naruto brightened, leaving Hinata to sleep off whatever illness she was suffering from for the moment. “Ah! Hey Sakura-chan! Your coming too? That's awesome, can we count this as our first dat-“ He never could finish his thought, as his face was soon planted in the dirt. The one that put him there yelled `NO' and huffed.

Mikoto just smirked. `Yup. Nothing like watching a one sided beating to brighten up my morning.'

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Hmmmmm. Well, there you go.

Special thanks to all those 9 people that reviewed, as opposed to the 5,487 of you that didn't.

I guess I should respond to some of you now eh?

IllusoryMoon: ……I'm kind of amazed at how accurate you were to what this chapter was about. I had most of it done when you reviewed, so it kind of freaked me out. Also, about me or the viewers being the ones that are happy. I only want feedback to make me a better writer. This whole story started out from me being bored and a suggestion from my prof. that I should start writing more to improve my writing.

pire of fire: Holly shit. I had no idea. Thems bees some big boobies.

Kagenin: I have been trying to make Sakura a bit more likeable in my point of view. I don't want to change her too much, and she is vital in some of the slap stick I use in the humor of this story.

babaga he who laughs at anime: Thanks, I shall keep that in mind for later in the story.

Kael Hyun: Extremist much?

Also, I'm starting to see that a few of the characters are kind of acting too much alike. Let me know if you feel this is true.

As always, please review with your feedback on my story.

~Dshadodragon