9 Special D-rank missions

While Naruto and Fiora had been regaling each other with stories of their individual worlds, Kakashi was in the Hokage's office. Along with him stood other jonin who gave their team assessments. Kakashi shook his head when he had heard teams 1-6 had failed. Oh well, not every genin team could be as amazing as he could have been in their final moments. Hiruzen turned to Kakashi as the man gave his report. "Team 7, pass," Kakashi stated. The other six jonin looked incredulously at Kakashi while the sensei of teams 8 and 10 looked at him intrigued. Sarutobi allowed a small smile to come across his face. Judging from how dirty Kakashi's attire looked, it seems he had a rough time. Finally, the former student of the Fourth Hokage had found a team to call his own.

"Had some trouble with them?" Hiruzen asked. Kakashi would have chuckled at the tactless joke, but he just took it all in stride. He simply sluggishly slumped his shoulders. "Maa, they were better than I thought," Kakashi admitted. He actually found himself enjoying the prospect of teaching a team like this one. He just hoped they would take his lessons to heart. He would do his best craft them into amazing shinobi who were capable of forging their own paths and bonds. Hiruzen could see the glimmer in Kakashi's eye, it seemed the man had finally found something to strive for.

"Teams 8 and 10, pass." the two jonin said at the same time. Hiruzen turned over and smiled with a nod at Team 8's leader, Yuhi Kurenai, and team 10's leader, his son, Sarutobi Asuma. Hiruzen nodded and quickly began to dismiss everyone. "Hokage-sama, a moment," Kakashi said. The other jonin glanced back for a second in surprise. Hiruzen frowned for but a moment before quickly moved the other jonin from the room leaving him and Kakashi alone. The jonin stared at his leader before he gave a hard sigh. "Hokage-sama, I think I should have been told that Naruto learned a summoning technique from the forbidden scroll. The people he summons, they are more than enough to challenge a single chunin team, maybe even a jonin team if they are lucky. Where is he getting these people?" Kakashi asked.

Sarutobi took a large puff of his pipe before exhaling. "Kakashi that summoning technique was experimental. We have no idea of knowing where Naruto-kun is getting these people from. It's a dimensional rift, we aren't supposed to know. Truth be told unless this becomes a matter of life and death I wouldn't like to know either. If the council gets wind of this then I'm sure Naruto-kun will be placed under even more scrutiny than he already has been." Hiruzen said. Kakashi blinked.

"Would you have me ban him from using it?" Kakashi asked. Hiruzen swiftly shook his head and held up his hand.

"No, no, I wouldn't do that to my boy. It's common knowledge in the medical facility that his problem with ninjutsu and genjutsu is…complicated. I haven't the will to tell him just yet. Why take away the one jutsu he has finally been able to learn for himself besides what the academy has taught him. I can't do that to him," Hiruzen said. Kakashi placed a finger to his chin.

"Thank you Hokage-sama. I will come up with something, but I think we're wasting his intellect by keeping him this low. I think…you might want to give this team a special consideration," Kakashi said. He was being honest here. He knew his team was good. At least with Sasuke's power, Sakura's…uhhh…Sakura's…book smarts? Yeah, that was fine. And Naruto's intellect that wasn't mentioned in the academy reports, then perhaps it was possible for them to take the special-class genin missions. While Kakashi would have liked nothing more than to watch his genin slave doing yard work, chasing cats, and doing other genin tasks, but Kakashi felt this team, particularly Naruto would be better suited in other D-rank missions. The special D-rank missions.

"I see. I will give it some thought. You are dismissed." Hiruzen said. Kakashi nodded and then left. Slowly the hours of the day dwindled away allowing everyone within Konoha to get a restful night's sleep.

The very next morning, the dew was beginning to set into the grass. Naruto huffed as he followed through with his morning exercise. "When I had said 'May we continue our studies another time' this wasn't precisely what I meant Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto heard Fiora speak. Naruto made the small attempt to tune her out as he continued his push-ups. He grunted as the sweatdropped from his face. "That would be number two hundred. Would you like to try for another?" Fiora asked with a smirk while Naruto continued on. Fiora sighed. She never once thought that in all her times training…SHE would be the weight equipment. Fiora folded her arms as she sat on Naruto's back as the blond did his pushups. Naruto had summoned her rather early. Fiora had assumed she had captivated Naruto with the stories of Runeterra and would also have liked to learn more about the Elemental Nations, but when Naruto had asked her for training…she wasn't sure how to respond. She agreed…for whatever reason, but…she wasn't sure that this was what she was expecting.

"Aren't you supposed to meet with Monsieur Hatake Kakashi, your leader soon? A late body is a late mind." Fiora said. Naruto felt the burn of his arms and his legs. The dew of the grass wasn't making it any easier, but that was a part of the challenge.

"Kakashi has a habit of arriving late from the behaviors I observed. I'll be fine." Naruto said. Fiora shook her shoulders. Well, it was no…how did they say…skin off her bones? She smiled when Naruto twitched as she slacked his legs with a ruler. "30 degrees off Monsieur Uzumaki. You have another hundred more to go." Fiora said as Naruto frowned. I wonder if I should have tried summoning Master Yi or even Jax, I mean, come on, who uses a ruler for training? Only Fiora as far as Naruto could imagine it. Constantly, the sounds of a ruler smacking flesh were heard as Fiora continued to encourage Naruto to finish. About half an hour later, Uzumaki Naruto dropped to the ground with a hard huff. Fiora blinked as she stood up. "287, not bad Uzumaki Naruto, not bad," Fiora said as Naruto took a second to recuperate before standing to his feet despite how sore he felt. He then bowed. "Thank you, Fiora-san," Naruto said. Fiora waved him off before she dispelled with a wave. Obviously, this was going to continue to be a thing. Soon Naruto collected his towel, water bottle, and kunai before walking back inside his apartment. That was the beauty of having an outdoor hanging lawn. Naruto quickly dressed, ate, and grabbed his necessary supplies. Today was the start of his time as a member of Team Seven. Naruto didn't know what they were going to be doing, but he had a good guess, that it would involve a feline friend. Well, it wasn't like Naruto was looking for anything insane at this moment. Naruto grabbed his headband off his counter and attached it to his neck. He had just brushed his hair and didn't need his headband ruining it.

Naruto had arrived at the academy. It was where Kakashi had told them all to meet up at 8, so essentially meet up at 10. Naruto walked up to the front door just in time to see Sasuke and Sakura glaring at him. Naruto lightly shook his head. "You both forgot his behavioral pattern, didn't you?" Naruto asked. Sasuke snorted and looked away while Sakura had the decency to look foolish. She blushed and rubbed the back of her head. Naruto merely closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Well, it seems that we are all here. Good morning my cute little genin!" the three turned and noticed Kakashi walking up to them all. Sakura would have shouted, but she was way too tired to begin to try. Sakura just sighed while Sasuke frowned.

"Well, it looks like we're all a bundle of energy this morning. I know everyone's just dying for our first mission as a team so how about we all not waste any time." Kakashi said as he walked towards the Hokage Mansion with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura quickly following after him. It wasn't the most spectacular journey. However, the walk did help Sasuke and Sakura become more awake.

All three proceeded into the mission room. Team seven stood before the Hokage and Suzume, the academy instructor. Naruto blinked. He half expected Iruka to be sitting there. Suzume looked up from her work before she pushed up her glasses. Somehow…without any sunlight hitting them, her glasses shined. "I see the rumors were true after all. You have the makings of an excellent shinobi, Naruto. I expect you to not fail my predictions." Suzume said with a small smirk. Naruto slightly tilted his head to the side. However, he returned Suzume's smirk with a gentle smile of his own.

"I will try my best Suzume-sensei," Naruto said making the academy teacher smile. The kunoichi had never told it to anyone, and most likely never would, but Naruto was actually her favorite student. Everything he did was positively cute to her, jinchuriki of the Kyuubi or not. He was trouble, he did try his best at his work, and he applied her lessons as best he could, even if he usually did not succeed, but hearing he finally managed to master a jutsu, and even passed Kakashi's test made her feel happy for him. That wasn't to say Suzume didn't like her other aspiring kunoichi, but she always had a small place in her mind and heart for the blonde container of the Kyuubi. It was a disgrace to the very profession of teaching that some of the teachers made slight attempts to make life harder of Naruto. Of course, Suzume tried to not let that happen. "Nonsense! However, no matter what you do. I will always expect you to keep our lessons to heart." Suzume answered. Naruto gave a curt nod. Suzume gave a smile back. The others of the group looked at Naruto in surprise. In Sasuke and Sakura's eyes, it was a rather interesting sight to see Suzume have a favorable light of ANY student, let alone the dead last. Without a doubt, Suzume was a strict teacher. Perhaps she was one of the stricter ones. Sometimes, even Sasuke and Sakura had a hard time pleasing her with their work. The fact that Naruto could do so was a surprise, but from how things had been handled yesterday both knew that they had to take a reevaluation of their blonde teammate.

"He's one of my favorites Hatake. If anything happens to him, I will be holding you personally responsible!" Suzume said glaring at Kakashi, making the jonin sweatdrop. Granted, everyone knew that a teacher wasn't supposed to show favoritism, but Naruto wasn't in the academy anymore so maybe it was alright to make that common knowledge. "Ummm, I'll do my best?" Kakashi asked. Suzume sent him a strong look behind her glasses, but she gave a nod all the same. She had poured a lot of her time into Naruto. She would be most displeased if her favorite fox didn't become all that she envisioned. A clearing of a throat, brought everyone back to the matter at hand as the Hokage opened a mission scroll. "Now then, I assume team Seven is here for their first mission, correct?" Sarutobi asked. Kakashi and the others quickly nodded as Hiruzen gave Kakashi a look. The laziness in Kakashi's eye belied the intenseness that the Sandaime could see in them. The Hokage sighed. These types of missions hadn't been given to a genin team since the Second Great Shinobi War. Why was that? Because it required a certain level of intelligence, coordination, and skill that not just any genin could have. Not even Uchiha Itachi, nor Kakashi had taken them, granted they were offered, but both refused. Many a great Nara genin had taken them, though, given the lack of a drive for the Nara, they never completed a lot of them. Either this was a very good idea or a very bad one. Hiruzen would just have to wait and see.

"Very well, not many requests have been made, but I believe I have one that will start you off. Your mission will be to go and assist Konoha's Cryptanalysis Team in encrypting and decrypting a couple of messages. This mission is a little difficult. It requires intense analysis. Are you sure you're up for it?" Hiruzen asked. It was always customary to give consent to the genin team who were taking B-rank and C-rank missions under the guise of a D-rank mission. Officially the missions were D-rank and as such would be put as such on a public record, but for those unofficial documents, they were given a completion of a C or B-rank mission. This is why they were special. In context, they weren't something just any genin could do, but they were within the village and overseen by superior officers allowing for no true harm or danger to come up leaving it as nothing short of a D-rank.

"You mean we aren't doing something more…simple?" Sakura asked. Hiruzen and Suzume offered a small smile. "Would you like to do something more simple? We have tasks such as walking the dogs, cleaning out gutters, or pulls some weeds," Suzume asked. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched before he patted Sakura's shoulder.

"We'll take the former mission. Thank you!" Sasuke said rather sternly much to Sakura's surprise. No way in hell was Sasuke going to do ANY of those things. If it was just some stupid thing like fetch books or whatever then at least he could learn something, but he would never consider those other ones. "I see the Uchiha's determinations haven't diminished and that is good, but we also need Naruto's opinion as well," Suzume said and of course all eyes dropped to Naruto. He just looked at the mission. Something was going on here. There was no way doing work for an organization whose primary goal was deciphering top-secret messages could be a D-rank mission. Hiruzen seemed to look at him the hardest out of everyone. That wasn't to say this didn't make Naruto curious. Because it definitely did. Naruto merely released a breath. "I don't care," Naruto replied. As far as everyone knew, that was Naruto's acceptance of the mission. Hiruzen just sighed and nodded before closing the scroll. He really hoped Naruto cared a lot more than he was saying. He then handed Kakashi the mission scroll. The jonin took the scroll before pocketing it away. Team seven bowed to Hiruzen and Suzume before leaving the room. Suzume looked back at the Hokage before looking back at the door. She offered a silent prayer for her students. No doubt Sarutobi was doing the same.