It had been several weeks since the formation of team seven. Though if one were to look at them it would appear as though the team had been set up just a few hours prior to receiving their mission.
Sasuke, barely tolerated his teammates, and while Hinata had on occasion tried to start conversation with the last Uchiha there was only so much she would tolerate from the prideful gennin. Add to that the age old Uchiha/Hyuuga rivalry and you have two people that barely tolerate eachother mutually.
Then we have the final teammate. Though not particularly rude, the strongest of the group held his silence as if his life depended on it. Never speaking more than a few words and even then it was only when it was necessary. Hinata continued her subtle attempts at uncovering the source of the boys strength through conversation but she could never get much of anything other than a few clipped sentences.
Both the Uchiha and the Hyuuga had tried to follow the boy on several occasions but the masked 'genin' always eluded them.
And poor poor Kakashi was caught in the middle of this chaos.
The slightly dysfunctional team were now standing in the Hokage tower. They had just captured the Daimio's cat, the orange fur ball scratching at Naruto's arm with useless futility as the blond held him by the scruff of his neck.
Each of the team members had different yet slightly similar thoughts.
'This is such a waste of my time. I should be training instead of doing this crap.
'Such stupid missions. I would have thought that Konoha would know how to handle their resources beter.'
'Ahhh, finally, Ryoko and Karu are going to get lai-'
'Just a flick of the wrist to the right and this worthless neko's neck snaps. A flick to the left and up and her spine is crushed. Which way would be best to kill this foolish cat without anyone noticing?'
Before the blond could carry out his killing desire the Daimio's wife showed up and took the cat. Naruto had to smirk as he saw the woman hug the feline to her breasts he was glad he hadn't killed the feline, this woman's method for doing it was much much more enjoyable to watch. Especially as he heard the cats spine cracking and giving off minor snaps. Yes the little cats death would be slow and painful. He would have to pay the woman for her services.
The Hokage clearing his throat brought him out of his thoughts. "Now then, a new mission for team seven, we have walking the Inuzuka dogs, painting the east wing of the hospital, cleaning out the horse stables mowing the…"
His listing was cut off as Naruto spoke up, surprising his teammates and nearly making Sarutobi have a heart attack. "Hokage-sama." His hollow voice rang out, which had a severe undertone of annoyance in it. "I humbly request a higher ranking… 'mission' that these D ranks." As the words slipped out, he was half surprised himself.
But his patience was frayed, his skills were dulling, and if he had to deal with one more of these...chores there was going to be an unauthorized death. Very soon.
Sarutobi smirked. That had been the first kind of emotion Naruto had displayed to him in years. Even if it was just simple annoyance, progress is still progress.
He contemplated weather or not he should deny the request just to annoy him further, but then thought against it. That might do more harm than good. He slowly nodded and shifted through his desk. "Yes well, we have a C rank escort mission to the land of waves. Should you choose to accept you'll be guarding a man named Tazuna while he completes his bridge."
Kakashi opened his mouth to try to warn his two gennin students of the slight danger this mission could bring, just so they would know what they were getting into when a concentrated level of killing intent washed over him. He slowly turned and saw Naruto glaring at him, apparently, the blond didn't want to take the risk that the two gennin would back down.
In truth, Kakashi knew this form of restlessness, he had a case of it when he quit the Anbu. Having constantly lived on the brink of life and death to then just suddenly be a jounin, who didn't take nearly as many dangerous missions. For Naruto, who had known the bloodlust and battle high his entire life, to suddenly be on these slow laid back D rank missions must find it to be completely nerve wracking.
When there were no protests from Hinata or Sasuke Sarutobi ordered for them to go get Tazuna.
A few minutes later an old man with a straw hat and a Sake bottle walked in. "Wha? I paid good money and all you idiots do is give me these three brats? They look like they'll be killed five minutes into the fight."
Hinata and Sasuke, glowered at the bridge builder. Hinata's eyes narrowed while Sasuke's fists clenched. Naruto however once again remained completely apathetic.
Kakashi, seeing two of his students were likely going to kill their client before the mission even started decided to step in. He cleared his throat. "Don't worry, these are the best gennins in all of Konoha and you also have me. I'm a jounin." 'And if I cant handle it then Naruto most definitely can.' He added silently.
Tazuna hmphed and took a swig of his sake, muttering something like 'whatever' under his breath.
Kakashi turned to his team. "Alright then…meet at the east gate in two hours."
That said, the team filed out of the room to gather their equipment for the mission.
It was several hours later that the group of ninja found themselves on the road to wave. Sasuke was at the front of the group, with Tazuna directly behind him, with Hinata and Naruto standing behind him while Kakashi stood a few feet behind them.
The silence would seem almost oppressive were it not for the happily chirping birds around them. Hinata had, on occasion asked questions to Kakashi but other than a few short answers there was little interaction amongst the group.
Tazuna was unnerved by the silence as was Hinata and Sasuke to some degree. Kakashi didn't care all that much since he had his book. And a talkative Naruto possibly spoke like eight words a day, so yeah…he was good too.
Of course, both Hinata and Sasuke were too prideful to be the first ones to break the silence and Tazuna didn't have much to say.
But then just as Hinata felt she was about to burst from the feeling of boredom she caught sight of a peculiar thing. A puddle in the middle of the road.
She silently activated her byakuugan and saw the figure of two men's chakra signatures. She was about to say something to Kakashi when the hollow metallic voice of her third teammate reached her ear, making a shiver crawl down her spine.
"Quiet." Was his stern command as he kept his gaze forward, never even pausing in the slightest.
Hinata hesitated for a moment before she decided to keep her silence. If she and her teammate had seen it, Kakashi must have as well.
As soon as they passed the puddle, two ninja, predictably emerged from the water and wrapped a bladed chain around Kakashi, tearing him to pieces.
"One down." One of the nins spoke. Before they rushed toward Tazuna.
Sasuke leapt up and threw a shuriken, with enough force to pull the chain back until both the chain and the shuriken hit a tree. He then took out a kunai and threw it, hitting the center of the shuriken, pinning both the metal star and the bladed chain to the tree.
Hinata acted then, moving forward at speeds that were quite impressive for a gennin and gave a chakra enforced palm thrust to both ninja's stomachs. This would have normally damaged either their stomach or liver, but alas the two merely vanished into puddles of water.
Hinata and Sasuke felt their eyes go wide and immediately Hinata saw the real nins come from her right, ready to wrap her in their chain.
Before they even made it five feet however the black and red form of the third teammate appeared in front of her.
The demon brothers continued running, unfazed by the new arrival. As they went to wrap the chain around him however both were caught in a one armed headlock, by the new arrival of Kakashi.
Kakashi saw the slight twitch of Naruto's fingers on the hilt of his sword and sighed in relief. 'Sorry Naruto. But I want information.'
With the two nins currently unconscious in his headlock he turned back to Hinata and Sasuke. "Nice teamwork you two." He remarked lazily. Sasuke smirked and crossed his arms and Hinata also looked rather smug at the accomplishment.
Kakashi then turned to Tazuna. "We need to talk."
The bridge builder gulped down the lump in his throat. "A-alright."
It was several hours later that team seven found themselves walking down the dirt path that led to wave country. After Tazuna had told his tale, Kakashi asked his team weather they still wished to continue, knowing that the next shinobi they faced would likely be a jounin.
Sasuke grunted his response, which basically translated into. 'I'm not backing down from this.'
Hinata had also voiced her opinion. 'It would be a cowards way to abandon a mission, especially one where others need help.'
He didn't even have to ask for Naruto's opinion. So after debating it for several moments he figured there wouldn't be much harm in continuing especially with Naruto as his backup should things go haywire.
And now he found himself in this situation. 'GET DOWN!" The copy nin yelled tackling Tazuna down while Sasuke fell to the ground on his own and Naruto covered Hinata just as a massive Zanbatou flew over their heads.
The group looked up to the sword that had stabbed itself into a tree just as a man with bandages covering his face appeared over the hilt.
"Momochi Zabuza." Kakashi said as he stood up and dusted himself off.
"Hatake Kakashi, the famous Copy nin of Konoha." The demon of the hidden mist said in a slightly amused voice.
Kakashi lifted his forehead protector. "Ahhh, the famous Sharingan, so soon? I'm honored. Still, this doesn't have to get too bloody. Hand over the old man and none of the little brats have to get killed."
Kakashi turned to his team. "Stay out of this, I'll fight him." Kakashi said, delivering a pointed glare towards Naruto, hoping the blond had caught it.
The confrontation was short, in comparison to most of the battles Naruto had witnessed. In the end, Kakashi was kicked into the water and was placed within a water prison.
"Well it looks like you lost Kakashi." Zabuza spoke up smirking at his beaten opponent but his smirk died on his lips as he saw Kakashi's own smug smirk. "Why are you smiling copy cat?"
Kakashi's smile widened. "Because your problems just got a lot bigger."
"Wha…" The demon of the hidden mist began, but was cut off as a fist slammed into his face with a sickening crunch.
The Kiri nukenin was sent flying across the water, skipping and bouncing like a stone that was thrown across a pond. After about three skips, the jounin was able to regain his bearings and flip in mid air to land on his feet, skidding to a stop across the lake's surface.
He looked up and glared at the blond figure that was just slightly shorter than Kakashi. He then felt the strange individuals previously masked chakra signature and had to hold back a gasp.
'Wha-what power…this guy...what kind of monster is he?'
Naruto looked at Zabuza as Kakashi rose from the water prison next to him. "Disappointing Hatake. Your skills have dulled considerably since you left the Anbu. Perhaps I should take over." His altered voice seemed to reverberate through the clearing, his released Tenketsu sending waves of power through the air.
Kakashi shrugged. "He's all yours. Though, you're probably right. I do have to start training again. I'm getting rusty." The copy nin remarked scratching the back of his head rather sheepishly.
Naruto said nothing, instead he began walking towards the swordsman, unsheathing both of his scimitars, never pausing in his gait.
Kakashi walked back to his students and client. Hinata looked startled, though Kakashi had been defeated by Naruto, a part of her figured it was partly luck and that Kakashi had been caught off guard. "Sensei, what are you doing? He could get killed."
Kakashi waved her concerns off dismissively. "Don't worry, Naruto can handle himself."
Zabuza stood and took a defensive stance. Whoever this boy was, he was on a whole other level. Kakashi had nothing on this kid, and seeing how easily Kakashi handed the kid the reins it was safe to say Kakashi was confident in the boys skill.
Naruto's pace increased, from a walk to a fast jog and then to a full blown run. He came in with a low sweep with the sword in his right hand, which was blocked by Zabuza, the blond kept moving forward until his shoulder was next to Zabuza's. He then pivoted on his heel to spin around and swipe at Zabuza's mid section with the blade he held in his left hand with a reverse grip, but that too was blocked by the demon of the hidden mist.
Zabuza then countered by wildly swinging his blade to strike at the Konoha nin. But Naruto moved forward, into his swing and head butted the hidden mist ninja in the face, sending him reeling back. The blond then moved and delivered a solid spin kick to the man's head.
Naruto then leapt up, coming down with both his blades in a crisscrossing X. Zabuza placed his own blade in the way and blocked. Naruto batted the blade up, opening Zabuza's guard and then thrust both blades forward in a move that would have stabbed the Kiri ninja in the gut, but Zabuza was able to twist himself to the side, avoiding the two blades and then grabbed them, ignoring the biting edge of steel cuting into his hand.
He smirked and raised his sword in preparation to bring it down on the kid. But before he could a shadow clone poofed into existence and delivered a solid kick to the side of the swordsman's head, making his grip falter. Naruto pulled his blades back and cut two deep gashes across Zabuza's chest, not fatal, but extremely debilitating.
Zabuza clutched his head and the two injuries before placing his blade on his back, beginning his hand seals he spoke. "You little brat. I wont let some punk like you beat me."
Naruto then sheathed his two blades and began forming his own hand seals at a rapid pace. Zabuza noticed the boys hands and knew immediately which would be his jutsu. The Katon; Karyuu Endan. He smirked. The brat would lose this confrontation.
He finished his hand seals at what would have been the same time as the kid, but, Zabuza noticed with no little amount of surprise that the brat had added one more hand seal to the technique.
A water dragon rose behind him and charged at the blond.
Naruto cupped his hand in preparation to breathe out the stream of flame but Zabuza also noticed his other hand charging chakra behind him. 'What the hell is that brat doing?'
Naruto breathed out a huge stream of fire which took the head of a dragon. But then thrust his hand forward, a wind blast coming forward and combining with the fiery beast, making the heat and size of the attack nearly triple.
Naruto smirked at Zabuza's terrified expression as the fire dragon plowed straight through his water dragon.
Zabuza hastily formed a water wall but the defense was too little too late as the dragon tore through it and engulfed him in the searing flames. He screamed in pain as the dragon carried him all the way to the end of the lake, where it dissipated, leaving scorched earth and the smell of burnt flesh in its wake.
Zabuza weakly opened his eyes and saw Naruto approaching him, his slow steady pace calm and collected. Showing no hesitation. Zabuza's arms and legs were burnt horribly, the wounds the small blades of infused wind in the fire dragon had caused had been instantly cauterized by the searing heat.
The blond unsheathed his sword as he stood next to Zabuza and gripped the demon of the hidden mist by the throat, lifting him up until the man was at eye level. Zabuza stared, for once, seeing the cold blue eyes and froze in fear.
Naruto raised his blade to the man's throat in preparation to drive it through. "Die!" Came his voice as he reared the blade back a bit more.
The blond faintly caught the whizzing sound of a kunai but couldn't do much more than move slightly making the blade hit the side of his throat instead of the jugular, most likely saving his life.
He coughed blood, though it fell within his metallic face mask, and pulled out the blade with a sickening slice. He could feel the familiar burn of Kyuubi's healing as it worked on repairing the wound but he could also feel something else. 'Poison.' He thought as his vision blurred and he stumbled as a wave of dizziness hit him.
He could faintly hear Hinata, Sasuke and Tazuna's surprised gasps and Kakashi's footsteps as the copy ninja made his way across the lake to reach him.
He felt another presence appear next to Zabuza. He wavered slightly on his feet before he let out an angry roar and swung wildly, backhanding the mysterious ninja across the face with his fist, earning a glass-like crack that reached his ears. He growled, angry, furious. Careless fool!
The last thing he felt was the use of a shushin and Kakashi calling his name.