Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Atelier Uzumaki ❯ Chapter 7

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: Omega X

It's been a grueling month, Naruto recalled. He had now worked on all the intermediate forms that the Kyuubi and Gwendolyn had hammered into him, and thanks to Hinata, he had some adequate combat experience using them.

It was really strange. Gwendolyn had taken to a real liking to the girl and asked her if she would want to join them in their training. She said no at first, but she returned the next day, if only to watch and gather materials. The next day, she would do the same thing, and it wasn't until the third day did the Wind Mana ask again, and encouraged the girl to join.

She finally said yes.

“Ramen Boy, this is Leader, the target is coming to you... are you ready?”

Naruto's mind was still on the Hyuuga heiress, so deeply that he couldn't find the capacity to listen. His thoughts revolved on how she was, well, pretty weird at first. Her face would flush something crimson, and most of the time, when she trained, she always seemed so crestfallen. Gwendolyn then suggested a spar with Naruto, Hinata looked like she would faint by that suggestion.

“Ramen Boy... can you hear me?”

The Hyuuga heiress seemed really weak at first, but after more urging by the Wind Mana, she just suddenly started pulling moves out of thin air... and the blonde alchemist appreciated the effort very much as the spar began to poke holes in his form, and ultimately making him stride to make them better...

“Hello... Ramen Boy...”

Still... she was weird. Fainting, her face flushing like she had an all-dayy fever... you'd think that...

“OI! NARUTO-BAKA! WAKE UP AND GET WITH THE PROGRAM!”

Naruto woke up from his daydreaming, feeling somewhat deaf. He wasn't the only one... somewhere, Hatake Kakashi had been rubbing his ear after taking out the transceiver, while Uchiha Saki almost fell down on the tree, clutching her head.

“Oh... um... Ramen Boy here... sorry, what's up?” the blonde had called, finally recovering.

“You idiot! The target's going towards you!”

“Huh... what target...”

It wasn't long before a fearsome chibi suddenly lunged at him, hissing.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Naruto looked like he was ready to kill someone. On his face, he bled in places where the cat that lunged at him earlier. The monster just kept scratching and scratching, ruining his perfectly manly looks (or so he thinks), while Kakashi and psycho-girl just snorted with laughter after catching up with him.

Sakura looked pretty pleased, making the face which easily read, `Serves you right'.

“That's what you get for being distracted, idiot!” the pink-haired kunoichi declared.

Naruto looked crestfallen. His crush, disappointed in him? He wouldn't be able to bear the failure!

On his shoulder, Gwendolyn sighed, wanting to see that Hinata girl again. She was this close to setting them up... and when her partner finally sees the beauty of the well-mannered, if not very shy and introverted Hyuuga, Naruto wouldn't even give this brute of a pink hair a moment of his time.

“Why were you day-dreaming, Naruto?” Kakashi had to ask, curious.

“He was probably thinking about his girlfriend,” Saki teased, remembering last week's surveillance of the blonde, where he met the Hyuuga heiress.

Kakashi's visible eyebrow lifted. Saki had changed somewhat for the past week, though it was too subtle for the other two genins to notice. The surviving Uchiha had been treating the blonde somewhat more nicely than before... though, as he scratched his head, he wondered if it was a good thing, or a bad thing.

“Girlfriend?” Sakura scoffed.

Naruto's eyes widened as if he was scandalized. That Uchiha was trying to sabotage him in Sakura's eyes!

“Shut it you psycho gir-”

Naruto stopped the moment he felt her killing intent suddenly wash over him. Her eyes promised death if he ever dared complete the sentence… the blonde could only swallow.

“Er… I mean… you bastard!” the blonde corrected himself quickly. He felt somewhat relieved when the killing intent vanished. “How dare you suggest I'm not loyal to Saku-”

He didn't finish his sentence as he was hit on top of his head by his crush.

“Don't call Sasuke-kun that!” Sakura declared. “Besides, he was right. Who'd even be interested in you?”

Naruto rubbed his head, going quiet all of the sudden. That hurt… even from Sakura-chan, he thought, pained. Even Kakashi and Saki winced somewhat, knowing the double-whammy of her verbal attack. It was bad enough to state she wasn't interested in him, but to say no one else is?

“Maa… that was too much, Sakura,” Kakashi declared, his whisper cutting through the silence effectively.

“Hn…” Saki muttered, still in her Sasuke character mode, though agreed. She could have put it more mildly. Besides, the pink-haired kunoichi was wrong anyway… Hyuuga Hinata is still very much interested in the blonde… not that the ignoramus knew.

A tense moment of silence passed once more. Sakura didn't seem to even respond to what Kakashi had said, though she did lower her head somewhat. Naruto just shut down, making the jounin file away on his mind that this is the first day his whole team went weird… and frankly, he wasn't good at being empathetic.

So, he did the next best thing.

“Who wants a new D-Rank mission?” he asked.

His genin groaned…

“Eh, come on Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto burst out, he the one looking the most annoyed. “I want a C-Rank! C-Rank!”

The jounin had a victory smile. Just one sentence, he had his team back… maybe. As its stated earlier, Kakashi isn't what people would describe as empathetic.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

At the Hokage Tower, Team Seven returned the cat towards the `pleasantly' plump woman, who without a second thought, began to crush the cat with her huge arms in a what Naruto could describe as a bear-hug, and rubbed her oversized cheeks on the cat's face.

Sakura felt somewhat sorry for the cat, though Naruto cackled silently as he saw Justice was served.

After that, the three awaited patiently with bated breathe as the Hokage would reveal their new (and hopefully, C-Rank) missions…

“Hmmm…” the Third Hokage looked towards his list. “Job well done, Team Seven. Now, your next assignment is baby-sitting an elder's grandson…”

Naruto suddenly deflated, with Sakura groaning. Saki's eyes developed a twitch, but those actions were ignored as the Hokage continued reading the list…

“… shopping in the neighboring village, help with the potato digging, cleaning kennels…”

“No!”

The Hokage, Saki, Sakura, Kakashi, and Iruka (who was helping the Hokage with the scroll missions) looked at the blonde who crossed his arms across his chest, making a big X as he shook his head.

“No! No! And absolutely no!” Naruto declared. “I want to do… you know… a cool mission! Give us a better one!”

“Naruto…” Iruka's eyes twitched. “You're just a rookie. Everyone starts out with duties like this.”

“But we just keep getting the crappiest missions!” Naruto declared, looking incensed. “I mean… how many times do we need to clean a damn kennel!? Last time we did that was not even three days ago! What the hell!?”

“Be quiet,” Kakashi declared, gently punching the blonde's head from above, quieting Naruto.

The Third Hokage smiled, having expected the blonde's reaction; something would have been up if he hadn't. The old man had been tempted to go to his lecture mode, talk about the importance of ranks in missions and how they affect the ranks of all ninjas in the country, but then, decided against it.

Besides... he had a feeling Naruto wouldn't even listen to him.

Instead, he decided he'd give Team Seven a break. He'd heard some good things from Kakashi's reports... apparently, the Teamwork Exercises seemed to work. The Haruno girl had apparently been more supportive, the last Uchiha seemed to be making an effort of befriending her teammates, and the blonde was… well more mature.

What the jounin didn't state though was the only person Sakura had been supportive of was Saki. The only person Saki had been making an effort on in return was actually Naruto, and even then, Kakashi wondered if it was some sort of ploy as she only began to act like this a week ago. Lastly, the only thing Naruto matured into was not doing pranks…

Of course, what the Hokage wouldn't know, wouldn't hurt, Kakashi thought.

“Alright… I got a C-Rank mission for you…” the Hokage suddenly declared.

There was utter silence… well, other than the noises of chuunins working. Team Seven and Iruka though were stunned silent, all of them looking at the scroll. The first person to react was the blonde alchemist, who jumped in the air, whooping as loud as he could.

“YES!” Naruto shouted. “C-Rank! C-Rank! C-Rank!”

“Be quiet Naruto!” Sakura declared, though she looked rather pensive.

Saki had no words to say, but her grin became a bit more pronounced. Finally, she thought, feeling excited for a mission for the first time since her first day as a genin.

“So, what's it gonna be?” Naruto asked. “Finding a run-away gambling princess? Escorting an actress? Hunt an organized criminal organization filled with missing-nins?”

“Honestly, Naruto… you make me wonder where you get that imagination of yours,” Sakura declared.

“You'll see, Sakura-chan! I'll do those missions!”

The Hokage chuckled.

“Yes… well, as good as all that sounds, your first C-Rank mission is escorting a bridge builder back to a quaint country…” the old man declared, smiling when he saw the blonde's reaction.

Naruto sagged somewhat, feeling put-off by the job… but then, he shrugged, thinking it was infinitely better than cleaning the kennels again.

“So… who are we protecting?” the blonde asked.

Naruto didn't have to answer. Behind them, the doors opened, revealing an old drunk, looking at Team Seven with doubt and disrespect. He huffed somewhat, and began to drink sake from the bottle he was holding.

“This… are the buncha brats that gunna protect me? They look so stupid… especially the blondie…”

Naruto looked somewhat stunned.

“I'll… kill you!”

Saki sighed as she watched her blonde teammate, grabbed by the back part of his jacket collar by Kakashi, trying to stab their client with his kunai.

Then again… maybe cleaning the kennels would be better.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

About a few minutes later, at another Training Area, Team Eight have just finished up another D-Rank Mission easily. No, it wasn't because they enjoyed it, no Rookie Team did, but unlike Team Seven, Team Eight had a much higher capacity for Teamwork.

Inuzuka Kiba was loud and boisterous, but quite loyal; after all, that was the primary philosophical teachings of the Inuzuka Clan. Hyuuga Hinata was shy and quiet, malleable, which could be a good and bad thing depending on the situation, but at least she wasn't as arrogant as the majority of her clan. Aburame Shino was the thinker, and although quiet, like the other two members of the team, he, like them, was loyal.

Yuuhi Kurenai was proud to be their sensei. As Konoha would teach, the worth of any team is not the abilities of their members, but how cohesive they were when working together, and they pretty much embodied that philosophy.

Still, it would help if she could further hammer out weaknesses individually, she'd have the perfect team. Hence the reason why she was very pleased with the sparring match today.

“Very good, Hinata-chan,” the jounin declared as the Hyuuga heiress seemed to dodge Kiba's fast attacks with slight ease. “Kiba… you're not holding back are you?”

The Inuzuka boy growled in response, though he had that smile on his face. He was competitive, but he was also happy that his usually meek teammate was fighting with her all… but even then, he thought as he extended his leg and tripped her, he still was the better fighter.

“Alright, stop!” Kurenai declared as Hinata fell face-first towards the ground, though she had saved herself by rolling forward.

“You okay, Hinata?” Kiba asked, looking towards the girl, concerned that he might have taken it a bit too far, but was relieved when the stumble was anything but serious.

“Yeah…” the Hyuuga heiress nodded as she went to her knees, smiling. “Sorry… um… I… overextended…”

“Yes, and its good to know your mistake. Try not to repeat it next time,” the jounin helped her up. “Alright… Kiba, you and Shino shall spar next… unless you're tired.”

“Hell no!” Kiba pumped his arms. “Ready to go whenever you say sensei.”

“I think our sensei appreciates a male of her age, Kiba…” Shino, who was just a few steps away, spoke in his usually quiet and steady tone.

“Shut up!” Kiba muttered, his cheeks somewhat aflame. No one would ever live it down the fact that he sported a small crush on his beautiful sensei… even his own family would tease him about it.

While Shino initiated the spar, no malice was felt as the blows were exchanged. Kurenai and Hinata looked as the two boys went for it, Shino dodging as Kiba kept attacking, though both knew how it would end. Shino specialized more on his family techniques and the kikai bugs, but in a taijutus match, he was barred from using them while Kiba, who's taijutsu form, while not as refined as Hinata's, was still fast and hard-hitting enough to push Shino back.

Hinata concentrated on the two before she suddenly felt a presence coming to them. Activating her bloodline, she spotted someone familiar coming at them at high speeds.

Akamaru barked, having detected a scent in the wind. Kiba and Shino stopped for a moment, while Kurenai signaled them with her fingers to be ready for anything…

Hinata smiled as she realized who their intruder was… and soon, before anyone could say anything, something orange whooped from the trees and landed on all fours in front of Team Eight.

“Naruto-kun,” Hinata greeted.

“Hey, Hinata-chan!” the blonde genin called, waving at them. He spotted Kiba and Shino looking at him, and waved at them too. “Yo! Kiba! Shino!”

“Hah! Its dead-last!” Kiba declared, earning a scowl from Naruto, and unknown to him, Hinata as well.

“Shut it, dog breathe!” Naruto replied, looking angry.

“What you call me!?”

“I said your breathe stinks, you mangy mutt!”

“Come here and get your ass kicked!”

“I'll kick your ass first you-”

“Stop, both of you!” Kurenai suddenly declared, stepping between the two genins. “May I help you, Uzumaki-san?”

Naruto looked towards the beautiful woman, suddenly feeling somewhat shy. She was… pretty. It made him wonder if every girl he is destined to meet would be beautiful…

Why not imagine her naked as well? It wouldn't be the first time.

Oh shut it. I'm no pervert!

Please. You do not want me to tell you all the perverted acts you did. Remember the Uchiha?

Oh yes, Naruto remembered. His nose did too, as blood slowly poured out of his nostril, something Kurenai and Hinata noticed.

“Are you okay?” the jounin asked, looking somewhat concerned. Bleeding through the nose meant an injury of some sort… of course, it also meant something else, but being a sensible woman, Kurenai gave the young boy the benefit of the doubt.

Besides… he was far too young... right?

“Um… yeah… but who are you?” the blonde genin asked. He had seen the woman once, in the academy when she picked up Team Eight, but forgot her name.

“Yuuhi Kurenai, jounin-sensei of Team Eight,” the woman stated with a slight smile.

“Nice to meet ya,” Naruto nodded, though he scratched the back part of his head. “Anyways, I wanted to talk to Hinata-chan.”

“Whatcha want with Hinata?” Kiba demanded, only to be admonished by Kurenai, who told him to continue sparring with Shino.

“What is it, Naruto-kun?” Hinata asked.

“Um… I prolly won't be training with you for a while…”

The Hyuuga looked surprised and saddened by the news. For one wild moment, she imagined her father had found out about their training sessions, and forced the boy not to associate with her or something.

“Wh… why, Naruto-kun?”

“Well… my team got our first C-Rank mission!” Naruto declared happily, earning a surprised yelp from the Inuzuka boy.

“Say what!? I want one of-” and he didn't finish his complaint as Shino landed a clean punch to his gut. “HEY! Damn it, Shino! I was distracted!”

“So?” the Aburame asked back, switching back to his taijutsu stance.

“Good hit, Shino,” Kurenai complimented. She looked towards Kiba, and stated, “Concentrate, Kiba. I haven't ordered any of you to stop sparring yet.”

Ignoring the scene happening in the background, Hinata and Naruto continued to converse, the blonde excitedly telling her the mission details.

“We're going to go to this country called Wave or something… accompanying this old drunkard. The bastard was calling stupid, could you believe that? I was about to stab him in the leg, but Kakashi-sensei said something about not hurting the clients… it's a load of tush, really…”

Hinata giggled quietly, but said nothing as Naruto continued to rant about the old man (whose name was Tazuna) and how they were supposed to escort him so he could build his bridge…

“I bet the whole bridge is made of straw or something… I mean… he's a drunkard!” Naruto paused, and looked towards his friend . “Anyways… yeah, so that's why I'm not gonna be around for a few days… so… sorry.”

“Oh… I d-don't mind N-Naruto-kun,” Hinata replied, smiling. At least it wasn't permanent, she thought.

Kurenai, who had been listening to the conversation while, looked towards the blonde with somewhat concerned eyes. “Uzumaki-san…”

“Um… yes?”

“Be careful,” she replied, seriously. “It may be a C-Rank mission, but if you're not prepared, you could get yourself and your team injured.”

“Of course!” Naruto declared, somewhat annoyed by the jounin seemingly insinuate that he was going to bring his team down. “If anyone gets hurt, I'll give them my special healing potion! If any bad guy comes, I'm gonna throw as many bombs at them as possible!”

Hinata swooned slightly but then remembered something as he mentioned the healing potion. Searching her inner jacket pockets, she extracted one jar of her newly made batch of healing cream, and handed it to Naruto. The blonde received it, and looked at it, his face expressing approval. He opened the jar, took a small whiff of it, and looked at Hinata with a wide smile.

“This is great!” he stated.

“Um… n-no… not r-really…”

“What, you kidding me? This is like… a thousand times better than what you showed me last week!” Naruto declared, a total exaggeration, but Gwendolyn, who was sitting on Naruto's shoulder, giggled at the expression.

“Um… t-thanks… Naruto-kun…” the pale-eyed genin blushed. “T-The cream isn't a-as good as y-your potion, of c-course… I hit the l-limit for the d-distillation process…”

“Distillation…?”

Hinata began to explain the process, in which Naruto immediately recognized the process he used at times as he was, as of now, quite experienced at synthesizing products. Suddenly, Kurenai realized, as she had continued to listen to them, the whole conversation suddenly became somewhat technical, something she hadn't expected because of Naruto's records in the academy.

“So… you cannot get any purer concentration of the blue petal?” Naruto asked.

“W-well… I first tried to h-heat it in flame… but… the p-proteins denatured before I could even get a-anything useful…” Hinata replied.

“Hmmm… wonder what you can do to improve the process…” the blonde muttered silently. He felt a slight movement on his shoulder, and he saw Gwendolyn climbing over his side, and whispering something to his ears.

Naruto looked towards Hinata, and frowned.

“Um… Gwendolyn-chan says you may have reached your limit with the processing bit and the only way you can continually refine it takes outside forces… like Mana for instance.”

The jounin blinked. Who was Gwendolyn? Or Mana?

“Oh…” Hinata looked somewhat crestfallen.

“I think it's a bunch of bull, though,” Naruto declared, handing the jar back to Hinata. “You made it this far, didn't you? If you want… take it further! This was the best cream you ever made… I'm sure you can still improve. If not… then we'll work together to improve it!”

Hinata looked at Naruto, smiling somewhat, and nodded. “Promise?” she asked.

“Promise!” the blonde declared. “Anyways… continue practice! I won't stop training, so we can have a great spar when I return! Believe it!”

The Hyuuga returned with a stronger nod, and waved as the boy retreated, waving back at her. Behind her, Kurenai looked somewhat pleased, guessing the reason why Hinata had been showing steady improvement for the past week. She said nothing, only wishing her student would improve with her newfound friendship with the blonde alchemist.

“I yield,” Shino declared as he found himself cornered.

“Alright! I win!” Kiba yelled and he looked around, about to have another go at the blonde dead last when he noticed he wasn't there. “Hey… where'd the idiot go?”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The next day, Naruto rigged a few belts tightly as he wore, for the first time, his new clothing. It was something he and Kyuubi had come up with, wasting many days debating the design, function, and most importantly, color scheme of his clothes, before they both finally settled on the newly finished product.

Bi-weaved with cotton and a special liquid metal (which Naruto found was the hardest item he had ever made), his new clothes were, as the Fox Mana said, stylish, had pop, and dignity.

His pants were dark blue, reinforced in the knee area for joint protection, loose enough to move around freely, yet tight enough to not snag on anything. His undershirt was black, with a small orange spiral design in the middle, and on top of that was his new jacket… a dark orange trench coat.

The coat was not pure orange though, as it was highlighted by darker colors, giving it a more formal look. He looked at his sleeves, and spotted a few Storage Seals. Gwendolyn helped design them, applying it on certain parts of his new clothes so he wouldn't limit himself of storing alchemic materials because he lacked pockets.

To finish the look off, he wore lightweight black shoes.

“Wow… Naruto, you look great!” Gwendolyn, in her full human form, watched as the boy began to adjust the belts, and gave the boy two thumbs up.

“Yeah… turned out great,” Naruto declared with a wide smile. He wasn't normally an arrogant guy (just loud), but he had to say… he looked rather good.

Hmph, told you it would turn out perfect.

Yeah, yeah…

There was a slight pause.

Thanks…

Just don't embarrass yourself, and in turn, embarrass me.

Screw you, bastard fox…

The last reply wasn't exactly a jibe of anger, nor was Naruto trying to insult the fox. He looked at the mirror again one last time, before he decided that, as much as it pained him to say this, his new threads were overwhelmingly better than his old ones.

“I'll make a few more pairs when I return,” Naruto decided.

“Try different colors,” the Wind Mana suggested.

“No way. Orange's is the best!”

Gwendolyn sighed, but didn't say anymore as she shrunk once more, and sat on his shoulders. Naruto grabbed all the bombs and potions he had been preparing last night, and speedily set off towards the south entrance of the village, where his team would meet to start their first C-Rank mission.

Arriving there, he received the oddest stare he ever gotten from Sakura. On regular days, it would be a look of dismissal, annoyance, anger, and rare love-struck gaze on one occasion (actually… Saki was behind Naruto at that particular point, but of course, the blonde didn't know)… but her gaze…

It wasn't love-struck, but a blank gaze, seemingly like her whole brain seemed to shut down. Her mouth seemed to be trying to figure out whether to drop its jaw, mope like a goldfish, or shut itself to save dignity. The only words she could come out with was an incomplete `What'.

“Hey, Sakura-chan!” Naruto greeted, ignoring the pink-haired genin acting weird.

“Na… Na… Na…”

“Hmph… trying to dress to impress?” a voice called in from behind the blonde, making him turn around, and revealing the youngest Uchiha.

“What is it to you?” Naruto muttered cautiously.

“Nothing…” Saki replied, slowly settling herself away from the two genins, and leaned down on a wall. “Just wanted to say looks better than your usual outfit.”

Sakura finally found her brain, and nodded in agreement to her crush.

“Yeah, Naruto, what's up with that?” she asked, looking at Naruto from head to toe.

“Someone apparently told me I need to carry myself with dignity…” the blonde declared, thinking of Kyuubi, who felt proud as he was being credited for something… fashionable.

“Oh… Kakashi-sensei got through with you, eh?”

Naruto snickered as he felt Kyuubi inside of him fall on his face.

Kill her! I will not let some scarecrow lazy no-good one-eyed lanky looking jounin take credit for my design!

Whatever. Weeks ago, you were praising him for poking my ass and now you're aggravating yourself to insult him.

And you're too thick-headed and distracted because the Pinky gave you a compliment.

She… waitaminute… she did! Sakura-chan complimented me! Sakura-chan complimented me!

Oh Ancients… should have kept my mouth shut.

“Not really, but I'm glad you think it looks good, Sakura-chan…” Naruto smiled.

“You're not as good-looking as Sasuke-kun though!” Sakura declared, looking towards Saki with hearts in her eyes… the youngest Uchiha looked towards the other direction, not wanting to have anything to do with pink-haired genin.

Naruto's head went down, his minute of euphoria gone, brutally smothered out by Sakura's words.

Before anyone else could say anything, a loud `Yo!' was heard, and the three genin looked surprised as Kakashi, along with their new client, who looked slightly less drunk than yesterday.

“What?” the silver-haired man asked after a few seconds seeing with that shocked expression on their face.

“Who are you and what have you done to Kakashi-sense!?” Naruto spoke up first, earning a sweat-drop on both the jounin and their client. What made the statement worse was the fact Sakura had been nodding, and the young Uchiha looked ready to grab out her weapons.

“What? I can be early at times…”

“LIAR!” Naruto and Sakura accused.

“Anyway… since we're all here, we can finally start our first C-Rank mission,” Kakashi declared, his visible eye smiling. “Are you all rea…”

He stopped, something catching his eye, which immediately fell towards Naruto. The blonde took a step back as the jounin's face went serious, his hand slowly stroking the tip of his chin.

“Something's different about you, Naruto,” Kakashi stated.

“Yup, yup!” the blonde replied enthusiastically.

“You cut your hair, didn't you?”

There was a slight sound of air punched out of a narrow space. Naruto blinked slightly, his enthusiasm fading as he looked at his teacher oddly.

“… No,” he replied.

“Ate more vegetables?” the jounin asked again.

“… That doesn't even make sense.”

“Ah! I know! You got a girlfriend!”

“… let's just go…” the blonde finally muttered, turning his back on his teacher, and walked towards the gate. The jounin suddenly punched the open palm of his hand with the bottom of his closed fist.

“Oh… new clothes. Didn't notice that.”

Tazuna, Sakura and Saki just looked at the adult oddly, before joining Naruto, leaving Kakashi behind, who was smiling beneath his mask.

He still had it, he thought happily.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“W-oooow…” Naruto declared, looking at his surroundings. Currently, his team and their new client were on the road to Wave Country, and they have finally left the heavily forested parts of the Hidden Leaf Village to a more modestly wooded area towards the borders.

It wasn't that he hadn't liked the Village surroundings, but it did get boring after a good while. The only other place he had visited was a bit too unnatural for his taste.

Imagine a place filled with crystals everywhere. It was as plain as it was boring.

“Why are you excited brat?” the old man asked, taking a sip from his newly opened liquor bottle. “Haven't been out of your village?”

“I have, once… it's called Wind Alley or something,” Naruto replied, shrugging. “It's boring… nothing but crystal stuff.”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow on that. “You mean… Wind Corridor… right?” he asked.

“Yeah! That's what old man Hokage said!” the blonde replied.

“Don't disrespect the Hokage, idiot!” Sakura declared.

“Eh, he doesn't mind, Sakura-chan,” Naruto stated easily. “I've been calling him that for years!”

“You're lucky he lets you,” Saki muttered.

“What were you doing there anyway?” Kakashi asked, trying to steer the conversation back to his subject.

“Well…” Naruto was about to explain when he saw Gwendolyn flying in front of him, shaking her head. Nodding, the blonde replied, “I went there to gather materials.”

It wasn't the whole truth, but a truth nonetheless. The materials that remained of the Puni that he had slain were very interesting to say the least, and had a rather enhancing effect on medicines. He began using them in small amounts in all his recovery materials, mixing them with the water he used.

“Ah…” Kakashi said, looking satisfied with the answer. His lazy eye roamed around until he spotted something ahead of the road…

A small puddle.

Two other beings noticed something as well.

Naruto… be ready.

Why? What's wrong?

Not telling.

Naruto blinked.

Why the hell not!?

Consider it training. Don't let me down.

And then, there was silence. Naruto tried to mentally curse the fox, but he found no reply so instead, he tapped his shoulder gently, calling the attention of Gwendolyn, who looked alert.

“Hey…” he whispered. “Is there anything wrong?”

“Oh… you noticed?” the Wind Mana on his shoulder replied.

“Um… kinda… what is it?” the blonde asked.

“You'll see…”

“I'll see… what?”

“Heh… consider it training.”

Naruto frowned. What was it with Mana and cryptic responses? He looked in front of him to see his two teammates and their client. They must have passed him when he was musing. He was about to go ranting with Gwendolyn when he noticed a slight change in the wind. He turned his head to look back, and his eyes widened.

There were two black figures in the air, a chain linking them, as they dove towards Kakashi.

“SENSEI!” Naruto shouted, but it was far too late. The chain had wrapped around the surprised looking jounin.

“One down…” one of the men whispered, with frigidity that Naruto shivered slightly as the wind carried his words to his ears. Then, the two figures pulled on the chains that were linked through their clawed gauntlets, cutting Kakashi in pieces.

There was a shout. It was Sakura, who witnessed the death of their sensei. Saki's expression turned dark, and grabbed her kunai out, and dashed towards her blonde teammate, who she guessed would most likely become the next target.

She was right.

“Two down…” the other man in black whispered, dashing towards Naruto.

“Naruto!” Gwendolyn shouted.

“I know!” the blonde declared, and extracted a spear from thin-air, making the two attacking figures blink in surprise. What was more surprising was the fact Naruto had blocked the initial attack by swinging side-ways. A wind followed up with his slash, strong enough to push away his attackers.

That's what Saki needed. With pin point accuracy, she threw a throwing star towards their chain as they flew away from Naruto, pinning it on a tree, and to reinforce it, she threw her kunai, which lodged itself in the middle of the throwing star's hole, and towards the tree trunk.

Having seen his teammate pin down the two attackers, Naruto's hand went towards one of the storage seals in his sleeve, and drew out a rod. Raising her eyebrows, the young Uchiha wondered what it was as she witnessed the blonde throw it towards where the chains were pinned, and her eyes widened as the small rod began to discharge electricity.

The two black figures growled in pain. Still linked by the chain, the electrical pulses were cruising in their system, and they both decided, smartly, to lose their new liability. There was a sound of clicking metal, and the chain was released from their gauntlets. One of the figures attacked Saki, while the other went for the blonde.

For a moment, Saki smirked as she entered battle with a strong opponent, and moved as her training told her to. Using small movements, she dodged the claw the man was using to attack her cleanly, and counter-attacked when she found an opening, only to get blocked, and pushed away.

On her way to continue on offensive, she was surprised when her opponent suddenly slipped past her, and ran towards Sakura and Tazuna. The pink-haired kunoichi readied her kunai, and tried to block the man from reaching the old man.

Saki dashed, hoping to make it on time.

Meanwhile, Naruto went through the katas as he had practiced, his spear now shortened, he parried the man's claw with ease, but moved towards the defensive. While the shortened spear lacked reach, it made up with mobility, plus the fact that the attacker's claw lacked reach, the older man was still experienced enough to gain advantage against the shorter blonde, using heavy yet fast attacks to press against Naruto.

Finally, an attack came through. The claw slashed towards Naruto's face, who, with instinct, elongated the spear to block the attack, but the force was strong enough to push him away. Naruto's response was his hand towards the seal on his sleeve, and brought out an ice bomb, and threw it towards the man, who blocked it with his claw.

The result was instantaneous. The claw was encased in a solid block of ice.

Naruto was about to charge in, his hand going for his deck of cards when a hand suddenly chopped his enemy's neck, knocking him out unconscious.

“Good work, Naruto… Sasuke, and Sakura,” Kakashi declared, appearing relatively unharmed. Under his shoulder, the other man in black, who had been fighting with Saki, laid there, unconscious.

“Sensei!” the blonde declared. Trying to make sense of things, Naruto looked towards the area where Kakashi had been cut to pieces, and all he saw were cut pieces of a log.

“Sneaky…” the blonde whispered, and stole a glance towards his teammates. Sakura looked very relieved, while Saki had a somewhat sour look on her face.

“Show-off…” she muttered, almost inaudibly, but the wind carried it to his ears.

Saki found herself staring at Naruto, who began to chuckle uncontrollably.

Kakashi then began to tie the two unconscious men to a tree, giving the genins and Tazuna a clearer look at their enemy. They looked dangerous, with a gas mask, their forehead protectors indicating they came from another village.

“These are Mist-nins. Chuunins, from their skills,” Kakashi stated, studying them. He looked towards his genin team with smiling eyes. “They are known to continue fighting, no matter what. Good job fighting them off, Team.”

“Hn…” Saki muttered, though she looked towards the man whose claw was still frozen in a block of ice. Her eyes went towards the claw encased in ice, her eyes shining somewhat with approval.

The blonde scratched the back part of his head, somewhat embarrassed on how he (actually, the team) was being praised.

Sakura just giggled silly.

Kakashi's eyes then transformed, narrowing as he looked at Tazuna with an evil-like glint, making the old man nervous.

“What…!?”

“We need to talk, Tazuna-san…”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Naruto racked his brain as Kakashi began to explain. The Mist-nins actually hid in a puddle, which their jounin-sensei felt out of place because the area was far away from a water source and it hadn't rained at all this week. The blonde was pretty impressed at his sensei for figuring that out, and realized it was the same danger that Kyuubi had warned him about.

Now that went out of the way, Kakashi demanded Tazuna for an explanation. The two ninjas were aiming for him, proven by the fact that they tried to kill the man.

Tazuna didn't even leave much of a defense, and readily admitted that there was a dangerous man after him… Gatou, who was holding Wave Country in a tight grip, monopolizing its port to conduct business. The old man was building a bridge that would connect the country to a mainland, and was pretty much a threat to Gatou's business.

Kakashi took some time to deliberate, weighing his options. Tazuna hired them for a C-Rank mission, which mostly involves highway robbers, thieves, and the small-time gang members. Now that they found out was a very rich man who could hire ninjas, the rank became much higher: B-Rank, maybe even A-Rank.

“Let's go home,” he declared, making Tazuna's eyes widen in surprise.

“What…? Wait, please…” he begged, but was completely cut off by the jounin, who looked at him with a dead-serious expression.

“You hired us for a simple C-Rank mission… and it was pretty obvious it was more than that,” the jounin declared in deathly whisper.

“I couldn't afford anything higher…!”

“Not only that, but you deliberately lied, endangering myself and my team,” the jounin continued, ignoring what Tazuna had just stated. “That's a breach of contract and trust. There is no reason to continue on this mission.”

“Please! I had no choice!” the older man declared, his voice raised a bit. He slowly slumped down, almost dropping the bottle he held. “I had no choice. The bridge is our only hope… Wave Country… my home, have suffered enough under Gatou. So… please!”

Naruto looked towards Tazuna with a slight frown. Maybe it was the image of the down-trodden drunkard, begging with his all that tugged a few strings in his heart that made steel his resolve. He looked at Kakashi, and declared in a simple yet unfaltering voice, “I would like to continue this mission. I want to protect the old man.”

Tazuna looked at him with a very grateful expression, but Kakashi wasn't moved.

“Naruto, it'll get very dangerous. We don't know who else Gatou hired after him…”

“So what?” the blonde declared, somewhat annoyed. “That's why I want to continue this mission! I can't just abandon him like that!”

Kakashi wanted to argue, but felt that it would get nowhere. Instead, he looked to the rest of the team, and gauge their reaction.

“Let's continue,” Saki declared, stealing a slight glance towards the blonde. “If there are strong opponents… I want to fight them.”

“If Sasuke-kun goes… I'm going too!” Sakura declared.

The jounin sighed. Nodding, he wondered slightly if he was making a big mistake as he declared to his team those fateful words…

“Alright. Team Seven continuing the mission. Let's go.”

To Be Continued

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Author's Notes:

Sorry it took a while. I was out on a trip and all… plus some good PS3 games as well.

Now, as for Haku… I finally decided… but I'll keep it to myself. :P But in return, I'll say Naruto will meet up with another Mana in Wave.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Later!