"(Y/N) here, I'm over at point D," I spoke softly into the head piece, pressing my back up against the tree. "Sasuke, I'm at point B." Sasuke's voice sounded like static through the ear piece. "Sakura, I'm at point C." She whispered, digging her feet into the ground. "Naruto, I'm at point A, believe it!" Naruto smiled into the microphone, I rolled my eyes. "Go slow, Naruto. Okay, squad 7. Hm?" Kakashi listened intently to the ear piece. "The target has moved! Follow it!" Kakashi-sensei shouted at us, I peeked out from my behind my tree. "Over there." Naruto whispered, hanging from a branch above me. I quietly s across the grass, hiding behind another small tree, I glared at it in the bushes. "What's you're distance from the target?" Kakashi whispered. "Five meters. I'm ready, just give the signal." I whispered back, keeping a close eye on it. "I am too. Believe it!" Naruto grinned. "I'm ready too." Sasuke said quietly. "So am I!" Sakura breathed into the microphone. "Okay....." Kakashi mumbled. "Now!" He shouted, I jumped from the tree and into the bushed, "I got him!!" I called out, hugging the cat close to my chest, he started to claw at my arms. "Ow!" I cried. "Can you verify the ribbon, on it's right ear?" Kakashi asked as I wrestled to keep the cat under control. 

"Affirmative, we got a positive ID." Sasuke confirmed, holding the ear piece closer to his face. "Right, lost pet Torah captured. Mission accomplished." Kakashi nodded. "Can't we get a better mission than this?! I hate cats!" I screamed into the microphone, Kakashi held his throbbing ear. 

"Oh, my poor little Torah. Mommy was so worried about her naught little fuzzykins, yes~!" She squealed, hugging the cat close to her face. "Ha! Stupid cat. That kitty deserves to be squished!" Naruto laughed, I rested my hands in my pockets. "No wonder he ran away..." Sakura said with a sigh.

"Now then, for squad 7's next mission, we have several available tasks." Lord Hokage sighed, his pipe sticking out of his mouth as he read the paper in front of him. "Among them, babysitting the chief counselor's 3-year-old, helping his wife do the shopping, digging up potatoes, and----" "No!" Naruto whined, crossing his arms. "I want to go on a real mission, something challenging, and exciting, not this little kid stuff! Come on old man!" Naruto complained, I sighed. Well, he's got a point. I nodded. But he's such a pain! Sakura rested her hands on her hips, annoyed. I knew this was coming.... Kakashi thought with a sigh.

"How dare you?! You're just a brand-new Genin with no experience! Like every one else, you start with simple missions to develop your skills and prove yourself!" Iruka-sensei shouted, slamming his hands on the desk in front of him. "Are you serious Iruka-sensei?!" I shouted, backing Naruto up. "Babysitting is not a mission!" I shouted back shaking my head. "Yeah, it's just a stupid---ah!" Kakashi-sensei hit Naruto in the back of the head. "Would put a lid on it?" Kakashi-sensei sighed, I crossed my arms. "Naruto, (Y/N), " Lord Hokage called, Naruto scrambled back up on his feet. "Ahhh!" Naruto cried, holding onto the back of his head. "It seems that you two do not understand the tasks you have been given." Naruto quieted down, looking up at Lord Hokage. "Listen, many different kinds of requests come into our village everyday, from baby-sitting to assassinations." He cleared his throat, putting his pipe back down on the table. "These requests are carefully recorded, analyzed, then ranked. A, B, C, or D, depending on their difficulty. We ninja are also ranked by ability, Hokage at the top, Jounin, Chunin, and Genin at the bottom. At the highest level, we select the missions and assign them to ninja who have the appropriate skill and experience.  And if the mission is successful, we receive a fee that supports our village and our work. Since you are untried Genin just starting down the shinobi path, you are give D level assignments, of course. Hmm?" Lord Hokage stopped, looking over to the five of us with our backs turned. "So, I had this tonkotsu ramen yesterday, and I'm thinking miso ramen today----" "Silence!" Lord Hokage shouted, stopping Naruto's ramen plans. 

"Oh...sorry." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, turning his attention back to Lord Hokage. I turned my head back to him as well. "Ahh! You always lecture me like you're my grandfather or something!" Naruto turned back around. "But I'm not that little brat who used to pull pranks all the time. I'm a ninja now, and I want a ninja mission! Hmph!" Naruto shouted back, crossing his arms. Hmm, I'm going to hear about this later, Kakashi thought with a sigh. Lord Hokage started to chuckle. They want us to know that they aren't brats. They're former brats, and they want a mission. Lord Hokage scratched his chin. "So be it." He called out from across the room. "Huh?" Both me and Naruto looked back at him. "Since you two are so determined, I'm going to give you a C-rank mission." Naruto's face lightened up. "You'll be bodyguards on a journey." Lord Hokage said, I jumped up. "Who will we be guarding?" I asked impenitently. "Yeah, who? Some princess? Or some counselor?" Naruto asked with a smile. "Don't be so impatient. I'll bring him in now." Lord Hokage put his pipe back in his mouth. "Send him in now." He said a bit louder, we all turned around to the door. An drunken elderly man opened the door up with his right hand, a bottle of sake in his left. 

"What the? A bunch of little snot nosed kids?" He sighed, taking another drink from his bottle. "And you, the short one with the idiotic look on your face. You really expect me to believe you're a ninja?" He grumbled, leaning on the door frame. "Ha! Who's the short one with the idiotic look on his----? Oh...huh...." Naruto looked around, he was shorter than the three of us. "I'll demolish you!" Naruto shouted, I held him back by the collar of his hoodie. "Let me get my hands on him! I'll destroy him!" Naruto flailed his fists in the air. "You can't demolish the client, Naruto. It doesn't work that way." Kakashi said with a sigh. 

"I am Tazuna, a master bridge builder, and I must return to my country. I'm building a bridge there that will change our world, and I expect you to get me there safely, even if it means giving up your life." Tazuna explained, Naruto finally started to calm down.

The large green gate opened, it was my first time leaving the village, I looked around with big eyes. Every thing was go green and beautiful, I couldn't help but smile. "Yeah! All right!" Naruto laughed, throwing his arms up in the air. "What are you getting so excited about Naruto?" Sakura asked, her arms and face cross. "This is the first time I ever left the village!" He said excitedly. "I know! Isn't it amazing!" I laughed, skipping next to Naruto. "We're travelers now! Believe it!" Naruto jumped up, laughing along with me. "Hey, am I supposed to trust my life with those runts?" Tazuna asked, pointing at us like we were trash. "They're with me, and I'm a Jounin, so you don't need to worry." Kakashi waved his worries away. I'm a runt?! Why'd we have to get this old geezer to guard? I crossed my arms angrily. "Hey! Never insult a ninja! It's a big mistake!" Naruto turned around, pointing an accusing finger at Tazuna, I turned my head away from him. "And I'm the greatest ninja ever! Some day I'm going to be a Hokage and you'll look up at me! Believe it! My names Naruto Uzumaki! Remember it!" Naruto grinned, "You're such an idiot...." I whispered to myself, smiling. 

Tazuna took another swig from his bottle. "Hokage are powerful and wise. You are puny and brainless. The day you become Hokage, I'll sprout wings and fly." Tazuna looked down at us. "Gah! Shut up! I'm willing to do anything to become Hokage, no matter what it takes! And when I do, everyone will have to admit that I'm the top ninja, including you!" Naruto clenched his fists. "Ha, you can become Hokage ten times over, and to me, you'll still be a nobody. A loser." Tazuna laughed. "Ah! I'm going to make you pay for that! Right now!" Naruto shouted angrily, I once again pulled him back. "Kakashi told you, you're supposed to protect the client, not attack him!" I sighed, Naruto tried his best to wiggle out from my grasp. "Just give me one shot at him! Let me go! I'll show you!" Naruto screamed like a kid, I shook my head.

"Say, Mr. Tazuna?" Sakura asked, we've been walking for a good half hour now, I was relaxed by the pace we were going at. "What is it?" Tazuna grumbled. "Your country is The Land of The Waves, right?" "Yeah, what of it?" Sakura turned her head over. "Kakashi-sensei, there are ninja in that country too, aren't there?" Sakura asked, tilting her head to the side. "No. There are no ninja in The Land of The Waves. But in other countries, there are hidden villages, each with their own different customs and cultures, where ninja reside." Kakashi-sensei cleared his throat, I looked over to him with mild curiosity.

"To the people of this continent, the existence of shinobi villages mean strength, military strength. In other words, they know how to protect themselves and maintain the balance of power with neighboring countries. The ninja villages are not controlled by and government. They're independent and have equal status. Now, a small island like the Land of The Waves has natural protection from the sea, so there's no need for a ninja village." Kakashi put his hands in his pockets, relaxing his shoulders. "The five ancient lands that posses shinobi villages are the lands of Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind, and Earth. They each occupy was territories. Together they are known as the five great shinobi nations. The land of fire has the Village Hidden In the Leaves; the land of water has the Village Hidden In the Mist; the land of lightning, the Village hidden in the clouds; the land of wind, the Village Hidden In the Sand; and the land of earth, the Village Hidden In the Stones. Only the leaders of these hidden villages are permitted the name Kage. Hokage, Mizukage, Raikage, Kazekage, Tsuchikage. These are the five leaders, the five shadows that reign over thousands of ninja." Kakashi took a long breath, looking back up at the sky.

Sakura gasped, "Then Lord Hokage's really important!" Hmm, is that old man really such a big deal? I'm not buying it. Sakura shook her head even though she was smiling. I got him with my y jutsu, he can't be that great. Believe it! Naruto crossed his arms. That old guy? No way, I could beat him any day! I sighed, looking back at Kakashi-sensei. "Hey! You all just doubted Lord Hokage, didn't you? That's what you were thinking." Kakashi-sensei called us out, putting his hands on his hips. "N-No!" The three of us shook our heads, Sasuke stayed silent. "Well, anyway, there are no ninja battles in a C-ranked mission," Kakashi patted me on the head, "so you can relax." I sighed in relief, for some reason I started feeling really tense. "And we're not going to run into an enemy foreign ninja or anything like that." Sakura smiled. "Not likely" Kakashi laughed, I shook my head. "I don't know, I have a bad feeling about something," I crossed my arms, Kale started to get uneasy, maybe he'll actually fight this time... I sighed, looking down at my best snake friend. 

We continued walking along the path, but I stopped, looking down. A puddle? Out in the middle of the rode on a hot day like this? "Hey, Kakashi-sensei," I asked, catching up with them, "Hm?" He asked, looking down at me, "When----" He pushed me out of the way just before he got wrapped up in spikes, two ninja seemed to jump out of no where. Sasuke and Naruto turned around in a second. "Do it!" One of them spoke in a husky voice. "No!" I called out, watching as their wires cut Kakashi in two! "AHHH!" Sakura screamed. "K-Kakashi-sensei!" I cried out, Naruto ran up to me, Sasuke soon following. The ninja laughed happily from behind, I turned around quickly, seeing them face behind me. "Now it's your turn!" They called out, about to attack Naruto. "You'll have to go through me first!" I screamed, jumping up as I thew a kunai down, it caught onto both of the wires, pinning them to the tree. "I can't get loose!" One of them grunted, I hopped up open their gauntlet's that held the the blades to their arms, and pushed them away with my legs until the wires snapped. The two of them ran in separate directions, one towards Naruto, the other to the rest. In a split second, I jumped in front of Naruto, readying myself for an attack, Sasuke defended Sakura and Tazuna. I prepared to meet the ninja's blade with my kunai, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes back up.

"Hi." Kakashi-sensei stood in the middle, he held both of the ninja by their necks under his arms, "Kakashi-sensei!" I smiled, feeling tears peck at my eyes. Hmph, showoff. Sasuke shook his head. "Huh? But he was...what?" Naruto and I both  looked behind us at a log cut up into tiny pieces. Kakashi-sensei used the replacement jutsu! I smiled. "Naruto, (Y/N), sorry I couldn't help you two right away. I didn't mean for you to get hurt, hmm, I didn't think you would just freeze like that, Naruto." Kakashi turned away, still carrying the ninja in his arms. They saved me after all..... Tazuna sighed in relief. I happily skipped over to him, sniffling. "Good job (Y/N), very smooth. You too Sasuke, Sakura." He nodded at us, Naruto got up on his knee. I was useless! And (Y/N) was so cool, like they'd done it a thousand times! Didn't they feel scared at all? They look so calm, not a single scratch on them, and I was so lame. Next time, I'll be the one saving (Y/N)! Believe it! Naruto stared at me, I looked back over at him. "Hey, you're not hurt, are you?" I asked with a smile, watching him climb back up on his feet. "Scaredy-cat..." Sasuke , I put my hands on my hips, Naruto growled at him. "Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, about to jump at him, "Naruto, stay still. These ninja have poison in their claws, we need to take it out of you quickly." Kakashi-sensei warned. N-Naruto got scratched? Wait, there it is! On his hand.....I can't believe I failed him like that.... I gasped, running towards him. "Naruto, oh no!" I gulped, rushing towards him. "You have to open the wound to remove it. It's in you're blood, so don't move around, that spreads the poison. I gulped. I'm so sorry, Naruto....I failed you. I put my head down.

"By the way, Mr. Tazuna," Kakashi-sensei called out, "Yeah, what?" He answered back, still shocked by the attackers. "We need to talk." I bit down on my bottom lip. Quickly, Kakashi tied our attackers up on a tree, they weren't going to move any time soon. I don't understand, I thought Kakashi-sensei said there weren't going to be any ninja attacking us, I can't let my guard down, not even for a second! I need to protect my friends! I clenched my fist, determined. "They're Chunin from the Village Hidden In the Mist, their specialty is relentless attack. They keep fighting, no matter what the sacrifice." Kakashi looked down at them, "How did you know about our ambush?" One of them asked, disgruntled. "A puddle on a clear day, when it hasn't rained in weeks? Look's like you noticed that too, didn't you (Y/N)?" Kakashi-sensei looked down at me with a smile, I nodded back. "In that case, why did you leave it for the Genin to do the fighting?" Tazuna asked, crossing his arms angrily. "I could have taken them out quickly, but then I'd have learnt nothing. I had to know who their target was, and what they were after...." Kakashi eyed Tazuna suspiciously, I placed my hands on my hips. "Yeah....but....I still don't get it." I shook my head, "Hm?" Kakashi looked down at me. "Why would they wan't to attack Mr. Tazuna?" I asked, looking down at them. "Good question (Y/N), I think Mr. Tazuna should answer that." Kakashi looked back at him. "Hmm? What are you getting at?" Mr. Tazuna asked, starting to get annoyed. 

"This. I wanted to know if they were after us, ninja attacking ninja, or if they were after you, the master bridge builder. When you put in your request, you asked for standard protection from robbers and highway men. You didn't way that there were ninja looking for you, hunting you down." Kakashi put his hands back in his pockets, I turned to face Tazuna. "If we knew this, it would be a B-rank mission or higher. Our task was simply to get you to your destination and protect you while you finished building your bridge," Tazuna looked down at the ground. "If I knew we would be fielding attacks from enemy ninja, we would have staffed differently and charged for the cost of a B-rank mission. Apparently you have your reasons, but lying to us is not acceptable. We are now beyond the scope of this mission." Kakashi narrowed his eye at Mr. Tazuna. "We are Genin, this is too advanced for our level of training. We should go back. And I really think we need to treat Naruto's wound and get the poison out as soon as possible." Sakura explained, taking a step closer to Kakashi. "As much as I don't want to leave this mission, Sakura is right. We can take Naruto back to a doctor at our village, I don't want him to get any worse than he is." I sighed, putting my hands on my waist. "Huh?" Naruto looked at his hand and then back to us. "Hmm. Naruto's hand could become a problem, I guess we should go back to the village." Kakashi sighed, I turned back to Naruto, my eyes enlarged as I saw him pull out a kunai from his pocket and jam it into if wound. I gasped as blood spewed from it. "Why am I so different? Why am I always, ugh!" Naruto groaned in pain. "Naruto!" I called out, walking towards him, Kakashi put his hand on my shoulder to stop me. 

I worked so hard to get here, pushing myself till it hurt, training alone for hours, anything to get stronger, to reach my dream. I will never back down again and let some one else rescue me. I will never run away, and I will not loose to Sasuke. "Upon this wound, I make this pledge, believe it! Bridge builder, I'll complete this mission and protect you with this kunai knife!" Naruto turned around, the blade still in his hand. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." Naruto grinned at me. "Naruto....uh, that was really cool how you took the poison out and all....but if you loose any more blood, you're going to die." Kakashi-sensei sighed, Naruto started to feel sick. "Pfft...!" I held my mouth closed trying not to laugh. "Good idea to stop the bleeding now, seriously." Kakashi smiled, holding onto Naruto's shoulder. "Not, not, not! No, no, no! I'm too young for it all to end like this!" Naruto cried, "Naruto! Just hold still!" I sighed, shaking my head. "Show me your hand." Kakashi-sensei asked. "N-No!" "Naruto! Stopped acting like a baby!" I shouted at him, Kakashi grabbed a hold of Naruto's hand, trying to make him stop wiggle. "Naruto, you've got a self-abusive personality. It's called masochism." Kakashi sighed, looking down at his hand. Huh, it's already starting to heal. It must be that fox demon....but how do I know if that's true when Mizuki said it.....I shook my head, trying not to think back on it. "Uh....um...." I gulped, kneeling down next to Kakashi. "Hm?" He looked over to me. "I-It's just that you had a really serious look on your face....ha....ha..." I gulped, shaking slightly. "Don't worry, Naruto's going to be just fine." Kakashi smile, wrapping Naruto's hand up in bandages. I shook my head, "W-Who said I was worried?" I looked away. "Ha, well, whatever." Kakashi smiled, patting me on the head again, I hate it when he does that, it makes me look like I'm a scared child! I crossed my arms. 

"Uh...?" I froze, falling back down on the floor. "You failed? You failed?!" A short man, dressed up in a fashionable business suit shouted, chills ran down my spine, who are these people? "What is this? Amateur night?! I put out big money for you! I thought you were supposed to be hotshot assassins!" He pointed at a dark figure lounging on a comfortable looking chair, he was shining a large, menacing, looking sword. I gulped. "Stop whining." He called out, his voice deep and booming, I didn't like this, not one bit. "Huh?" The short man jumped as the sword came slashing down in front of him, the dark figure pointed the tip at his neck. "This time, I'll go personally, and this sword will be the last thing he ever sees." Why am I seeing this? Who are these people? "Hey....(Y/N)....." I turned around quickly, there father was standing behind me. "W-What's going on?" I whispered at him, he put his arm around my shoulder. "Be careful....you're not strong enough to beat that guy...." He said, pointing to the man with the sword, I gulped. "And....he's coming....soon."

With his last words, he jolted me back up, I woke gasping for air. "(Y/N)! What happened?!" Naruto asked, I looked to my left, he was crouched down on the grass, and to my right, Sasuke, and in front of me, Kakashi-sensei. "Ow....my head hurts." I frowned, holding my head as I sat up. That's the second time (Y/N)'s eyes flashed yellow....it's happening sooner than I expected. Kakashi cleared his throat, "You just pass out....huh, was it because of all the blood?" Kakashi asked himself more than any one else. "It doesn't matter, I'm okay now." I gulped, standing back up on my feet.

Should I tell them about what I saw? No, I don't need to worry them about something I'm not completely sure about. Besides, of all the people I trust, why should he be on the list?  I shook my head.

"Let's carry on!" I said excitedly, Naruto jumped up next to me. "Yeah!" Although, no matter what, I can't let my guard down until we finish this mission, even if what my dad said was a lie. We've already been attacked once, who's to say the we won't be attacked again. I kept my hands to the side, one resting my my pouch, ready from anything.