n

n

nIt has been a few days since Yuna and Anko got their mission and the duo had just returned and handed in their mission report to the Hokage. Even Yuna couldn't help but feel a little sheepish.

n'Maybe we went a little too far?'

nA little!?

n'*Cough* O-okay we clearly went too far, but I am the one that wrote the mission report. No matter how suspicious the old man gets, the whole report is flawless. The whole story is cohesive and without any suspicious elements. Even if he tries to investigate it to find out whether the whole thing is true or not, he will find nothing.'

nHiruzen, meanwhile, was reading the report and his frown grew more and more pronounced by the second.

n'What the hell this? Although everything is written down professionally and concisely, why does it feel like I am reading a book about the adventures of two girls that stumble from one accident into the next.'

nAfter he finished reading the report, Hiruzen took a deep drag of his pipe. After exhaling all the smoke, he started speaking.

n

"So, in conclusion, of your seven-day long mission, you spent 2 days simply traveling to the border. On the 5 remaining days, you destroyed 6 small bandit camps, with about 20 people each, 2 bigger ones with around 50 people each, repelled a shinobi team from Iwa that tried to sneak in through the land of grass and got rid of two B-rank missing-nin that have a bingo book entry. Did I forget anything?

"

n'Okay, now that he lists them all back-to-back, we really have overdone it quite a bit.'

nDespite her inner thoughts, Yuna shook her head with an innocent smile, which was mimicked by Anko.

n

"No, that was all of it.

"

nHiruzen could only groan when he saw Yuna's innocent smile.

n'Whatever, it is not like they did something bad. The fewer bandits, the better, and those missing-nin won't be missed either.'

n

"Whatever, just get out of my office. Next time at least show some restraint please.

"

nThe duo was just about to exit the office when a small dog jumped in through the window and immediately started to speak.

n

"Hokage-sama, there is some trouble with Kakashi's team.

"

nHiruzen's face immediately fell when he heard that. Not because Kakashi's team was in trouble, but because Yuna was here and heard about it. The mix of excitement and interest painted a rather obvious picture of what she was thinking about.

n'Damnit, can't this day just end?'

nTwo days before Yuna returned to Konoha, it was yet again time for Team Seven to get a new mission. After a bit of searching, Hiruzen found the scroll he was looking for and pulled it out. Seeing the

"D

" written on the scroll, Naruto eyelids twitched a little.

n

"Yo, old man, you got the wrong one. The one you are looking for has a

"C

" written on it.

"

nAlthough the other two genins didn't say anything Naruto could clearly feel that they had similar thoughts.

n

"Now, now, Naruto. It is still too early for your team to take on a C-rank mission. It is normal for genins to do many more D-rank missions, so they can get used to the shinobi life and get accustomed to working together. A genin, fresh out of the academy, simply isn't ready for C-rank missions and needs more training from their jonin sensei.

"

n

"Oh? But didn't you give nee-san one?

"

nHiruzen could immediately feel a few eyes staring at him accusingly.

n

"Haha, Naruto, what might you be talking about?

"

n

"Hehe, no need to play dumb. We are living together after all. What kind of D-rank mission takes more than one day? She hasn't come home for 5 days now.

"

nNaruto and Hiruzen kept eye contact for a while before Hiruzen let out an annoyed sigh.

n

"Fine, Kakashi, do you think Team Seven is ready for a C-rank mission?

"

nFeeling three pairs of eyes zero in on him, Kakashi could only smile wryly.

n'Do I even have a choice? Oh well, considering Naruto's and to a lesser extent Sasuke's strength there shouldn't be any problems.'

n

"There will be no problems, Hokage-sama.

"

n

"I understand. I already have a mission for you in mind. You will be charged with protecting an important individual.

"

nThis immediately got the attention of the three genins. Even Sasuke seemed to be excited to finally get a real mission.

n

"He has actually been waiting for a while now. I will get someone to call him over right now.

"

nTwo minutes later, a drunken old man stumbled into the room.

n

"What the hell. It is just a bunch of weak-looking brats. Especially the one with the huge forehead looks like she is about to fall over from a gust of wind.

"

n

"Who are you calling weak, **ty old man!

"

n

"Now, now, Sakura, calm down. This is probably our client, after all.

"

n

"That's right. I am the bridge-building expert Tazuna, and you are expected to protect me until I get back to my country and finish building the bridge.

"

nAt eight in the morning of the next day, there was a slight commotion in front of Konoha's gates.

n

"Holy crap, Kakashi-sensei is actually on time!

"

nNaruto quickly put his hands together and flared his chakra.

n

"KAI!...KAI! What the hell, why can't I get out of this genjutsu!?

"

nWhile Sakura chuckled a little and one of the corners of Sasuke's mouth started to twitch, Tazuna had no idea what was going on, while Kakashi pretended that he didn't hear anything.

n

"Well, let's start walking. It will take us a while to reach the Land of Waves at a civilian's pace.

"

nWhile the group was slowly walking towards the Land of Waves, Naruto noticed something rather peculiar.

n'Two chakra signatures are following us. They are around mid chunin. Let's see what Kakashi-sensei thinks about that.'

n

"Kakashi-sensei, since this is our FIRST C-RANK mission, I would like to ask a few questions.

"

nKakashi immediately noticed that something was off when Naruto spoke

"first C-rank

" a little bit louder than the remaining sentences.

n'Has he noticed someone following us? He probably wants the enemies to underestimate our strength by revealing that kind of information, but considering his rather ridiculous sensing range I doubt anyone could spy in on our conversation yet. He is probably used to Yuna's even more ridiculous range and doesn't know what is considered

"normal

" yet. For now, let's play along and see how he handles the situation.'

n

"Sure, go ahead. We are still in the Land of Fire after all. The chances of us being attacked is pretty much zero.

"

nNaruto's face took on an innocent expression as he asked his question.

n

"Since we are finally out of Konoha for a C-rank mission won't we fight a ninja or TWO? This should be really exciting, right?

"

n'So, two people, huh? More importantly, how the hell does he manage to look stupid and innocent while revealing that two enemies are approaching us. Although there probably is no better façade to trick your enemies, it isn't exactly easy to look innocent when you are a shinobi that actually gets paid to kill people. Well, he hasn't killed anyone yet, maybe that is the reason why he can still smile like that?'

n

"I don't think so. C-rank missions rarely involve fighting other shinobi.

"

nAs soon as Kakashi finished speaking, both Naruto and Kakashi noticed that Tazuna seemed to fidget a little after hearing Kakashi's sentence. The two gave each other knowing looks before Naruto started speaking again with an annoyed pout on his face.

n

"That's so lame. I wanted to defeat a strong ninja and be immediately promoted to Chunin.

"

n'Both of them are chunin level, huh? Might as well have my genin give it a shot then.'

nKakashi chuckled a little before he answered Naruto.

n

"I see. If some shinobi appear, I will just have you guys handle it then.

"

nNaruto's eyes immediately sparkled with excitement.

n

"Really? That's awesome, Kakashi-sensei.

"

n'That was rather well done. I have already noticed that Yuna is incredibly quick-witted, but Naruto isn't too bad either. A pity the other two aren't paying him any attention. Stealthily informing your teammates about something isn't easy, after all. Although the sign language the ANBU uses is pretty useful, it only hides what you talked about and can't hide that you just transmitted some information to your teammates.'

nAfter another 10 minutes of walking, Naruto felt that the two chakra signatures seemed to have stopped a few hundred meters in front of the group, and after a few additional moments of walking, Naruto noticed two small puddles of water on the ground. He had to use all his will power to not roll his eyes at the obvious trap. Kakashi, meanwhile, was suppressing a chuckle when he saw Naruto's reaction to the trap in front of them.

n'It might be obvious if you are looking for a trap, but someone inexperienced could easily oversee those water puddles.'

nAs soon as the group passed the two puddles, two shinobi that had a chain connected to each other jumped out of it and immediately entangled Kakashi with it. Both of them yanked on the chain and immediately tore Kakashi to shreds.

n

"

"First one.

"

"

n

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!

"

nThe two immediately appeared in front of Naruto and tried to entangle him with the chain as well.

n

"

"Second o…

"

"

n*POW* *BANG*

nNaruto smashed his fist into the face of his assailant, which caused him to be sent flying into a tree. Sasuke, meanwhile, threw a shuriken at the chain that connected the two shinobi and then nailed it into a tree with a precise kunai throw, just in time for Naruto to punch the second one in the stomach to send him flying as well and cause the chain connecting the two of them to disconnect.

n

"Hehe, not bad Sasuke. How about we take one each?

"

n

"Hmph, I will finish mine quickly, so try not to die before I am done with mine.

"

n

"Haha, as arrogant as always, huh? Oh well, let's do it. Sakura, please protect Tazuna from possible stray fire while we deal with these two. Don't want our client to die from a random kunai after all.

"

nAlthough Sakura had no idea what was going on, she only nodded her head in understanding. Blocking stray Kunai is something she has the confidence to do.

nThe two enemy shinobi gave each other a nod and then charged forward. While one of them was aiming his throwing weapons at Naruto and Sasuke, the other one was bluntly charging at Tazuna while ignoring everything else. Naruto immediately understood what was going on.

n'They really are after Tazuna, huh? Instead of C-rank, this mission is probably B-rank…Hehe, I bet nee-san will be really jealous when I tell her about it. I can't wait.'

nConsidering the current situation, Naruto quickly made a decision.

n

"Sasuke, help Sakura protect Tazuna, I got this.

"

nNaruto quickly took out a bunch of shurikens and threw them at the weapons that were currently being thrown at Naruto and Sasuke. Although Sasuke was skeptical at first, after scanning the situation he quickly realized that Naruto's shuriken would perfectly block the ones used by the hostile shinobi. Although he was slightly surprised by Naruto's accuracy, he, nevertheless, acted quickly and appeared between Sakura and the approaching shinobi. Sasuke was just about to clash with him when Kakashi appeared and knocked him out instantly.

n

"That was pretty good. Good reactions from Naruto and Sasuke and good job remembering to assign someone to protect the client Naruto. Although you reacted quickly after receiving orders from Naruto, you froze up when the battle started. I won't blame you since that is pretty normal for fresh genin, but this is definitely something we have to work on.

"

nInstead of reacting to Kakashi's assessment, a rather awkward silence descended onto the battlefield as soon as Kakashi finished speaking. The first one to break it was Naruto.

n

"What the hell, Kakashi-sensei?! Things were just about to get interesting, why did you interrupt us like that?

"

n

"Now, now, Naruto, calm down. We shouldn't leave out client anxious for too long after all.

"

n

"You are talking about the client that paid the price for a C-rank mission and wants the team he hired to complete a B-rank mission? I don't see any reason to not have him struggle a bit.

"

nTazuna's face immediately paled when he heard Naruto casually exposing his lies. Considering how the people that were supposed to escort him were currently looking at him, he already knew that he was in trouble. After quite a bit of back and forth, a decision was finally made. Team Seven would continue the mission, but Kakashi would send Pakkun, one of his summoned ninja dogs, back to Konoha and make a request for backup.

nAfter everything was resolved, Team Seven continued their journey to the Land of Waves, unaware of what kind of dangers were awaiting them there.

n