6 A New Mission

"Oh, come on!" Naruto yelled out as he struggled to pull back the leash the held back the behemoth of a dog.

"Having trouble there Naruto?" Ori taunted in a cheeky, sarcastic voice.

"Quiet you," Naruto threatened, quickly regaining his balance.

"Honestly Naruto, did you have to choose the biggest one out of all of us," Sasuke asked in a bored tone.

"Yeah, what Sasuke said," Sakura added.

All three, except for Naruto obviously, had an easier task for them as they didn't choose a big heavy dog. Simply they all got small or medium dogs, small especially for Ori. Plus, Ori seemed to get along great with his dog. Sniffing each other, playfully greeting one another, becoming friends.

"Even so, one of us had to take lead and handle the big one," Naruto tried to retort, but Sasuke immediately rebutted that.

"How is caring for an alpha dog being a leader?"

Naruto could sigh in annoyance as he thought to himself on how could this day get even worse. Naruto slept through the night, with Ori cuddling in his arms, with ease until the first ray of the sun shined in their eyes. Naruto slips on his shinobi attire and enjoys breakfast with Ori and then went on the training ground. From then, Kakashi-sensei gave the team a mission, their first one as well, but it was boring and frustrating, especially for Naruto.

Naruto nearly slips again as he tugged the dog back with such force but it was in vain as it didn't faze the dog at all. 'This is such crap,' Naruto cursed to himself.

After a few hours, Naruto and the group all gave the dogs back to their owners. That being a rich, chubby woman, how stereotypical. And now, they were all meeting with Kakashi-sensei, waiting for their new mission.

And with a poof, Kakashi appeared before them. Most of the team jumped, except for Sasuke, before becoming annoyed at their teacher. Kakashi gave them that one-eyed smile as he gave them a paper note before poofing away.

Picking up the note, everyone could see what Kakashi wrote, and to say that they were annoyed was an understatement:

'Good job on your first mission. Now go paint some fences.'- Kakashi.

"You got to be kidding me," voiced Naruto.

The others nodded in agreement but they couldn't argue nonetheless. With a collective sigh, they all went to the designated area that need painting and proceeded to do their mission. As they were doing so, Naruto noticed the blazing sun above them. With a shrug, he bumped Ori from behind, getting his attention.

Naruto hinted at a nearby water stand, asking Ori to get some for the team. Ori nodded as he dropped his equipment and crawled over to the stand. With an unexpected burst of strength, Ori got hold of two buckets of water, each filled to the brim, and walked over to Naruto.

Naruto met Ori halfway and took one bucket to Sasuke and Sakura. They noticed Naruto and stopped what they were doing as they walked over to Naruto, feeling thirsty for the activity. With little to no words, they all had their drinks of water as they simply enjoyed the refreshing coolness the water bought as it slid down their throats. With the exchange of gratitude, everyone soon went back to work on the painting with vigor as they wanted to finish this quickly to escape the scorching sun.

And once they were done, Naruto and the team again waited for Kakashi to arrive. They saw a poof of smoke and when the smoke died down and on the ground was a paper note again. Reading it, it said:

'Help this lady find her cat, thank you,'- Kakashi.

"Meh, it can't be that hard right?" Naruto said, with some confidence.

He was wrong.

Later

"Ah! Ori get this off of me!" Naruto yelled as he struggled on the ground, a cat squealing and scratching his face.

Sasuke and Sakura could look on in wonder at the funny and/or stupid scene in front of them. Meanwhile, Ori hunched back and jumped to the cat, knocking it off. When the cat got off, the battle of the century happened as Ori and the cat circled each other. With a hiss, both opponents jumped at each other, creating a fighting circle.

Ori used his claws on both hands and feet, but mostly scratching with his hind legs. And the cat bit and scratch at the light creature. It was pure chaos for Ori, but he did his best out there. Rip and tear until it's done, Ori once heard from somewhere.

"Ok that's enough," the voice of their sensei interrupted as a hand grabbed the scruff of the cat, making it paralyzed.

Looking up at his savior, Ori could see the towering sensei, making him sigh in relief. Getting up, Ori crawled over to Naruto, who was rubbing his face in an attempt to soothe his scratches. Sitting up, Naruto glared at Kakashi-sensei, whom the man chuckled in response.

"Hey, Kakashi, can we do a real mission?" Naruto gritted out.

"I don't know, can we?" Kakashi taunted in return.

"Come on! I'm done with doing chores as missions. Why can't we prove ourselves by doing a real mission,"

"Yeah, I second that," Sasuke agreed upon.

"Yeah, what Sasuke said," Sakura squealed out.

Kakashi's eyes furrowed in thought along with his hand pinching his chin. Looking at each member, including Ori, and then returning into his thoughtful pose. He hummed to himself, making each team member look at each other in uncertainty.

With a snap of his fingers, getting the team's immediate attention, "Alright then, if you want a real mission, then you'll get a real mission. Tomorrow, head to the village gates and wait for your mission details by yours truly," Kakashi ordered before puffing into a cloud of smoke.

Everyone did a double-take on what Kakashi just told them, and not a moment later did they all cheer. "All right! Come on Ori, let's go home!" Naruto called out to Ori.

Off they went, leaving behind Sasuke and Sakura, and towards their apartment they did. When they arrived and entered their home, Naruto took off his jacket and shirt underneath, sighing as the cool air breezed his skin. Ori walked inside, heading to the restroom and leaving the room with a medkit.

Naruto sat down on his couch, waiting for Ori to come and help him. Ori set the medkit nearby as he got the rubbing alcohol and gauze. Pouring the liquid in the gauze, Ori gently patted Naruto's scratched face, wincing at seeing Naruto yelp in pain. After a while, Ori patted all of Naruto's wounds but knowing that Naruto would retaliate did Ori put everything else in the medkit, and shoved it to the side.

Naruto leaned back from the couch relieved that he won't feel the stinging sensation from the alcohol. Looking at Ori, he too noticed that he nor Ori was hungry. With a nod, Naruto opened his arms for Ori to jump to.

Ori did as he landed on Naruto's chest and nuzzled his neck. Naruto giggled at the brush of Ori's fur as it rubbed his skin. He patted Ori's back as he then noticed the sun sinking in the sky. With a yawn, Naruto walked to his bedroom, caressing Ori's back when he was making his way.

Being mindful of the little creature, Naruto worked his hands when taking off his pants, leaving him in his boxers. With care, Naruto slid into the bed after he pulled the sheets. Laying on his side, Naruto and Ori looked at each other with heavy eyes. Naruto reached up and rubbed the back of Ori's head, scratching his ears until down in his chin.

Ori purred as he leaned into Naruto's touch, the one giving said touches stretched his other arm and pulled Ori to his chest. Ori yawned as he moved his head near Naruto's pecs, still purring from Naruto who was now giving him back rubs.

Naruto curled into a ball, wrapping Ori into a hug, as he whispered to Ori, "Goodnight,"

Ori responded in his tongue, "Good night Naruto,"

With that, both of them embraced each other as sleep took them both.

The Next Day

"Well, I guess that's all of us then?" Kakashi said as he eyed Naruto carrying a sleepy Ori in his arms.

"Yes," Sasuke yawned out.

"Hey Kakashi," Sakura asked, gaining the teacher's attention, "Who's that guy?"

She pointed behind Kakashi. Behind Kakashi was an elderly man, wearing simple clothes but the only thing noticeable about him was the reek of alcohol in his breath. The alcohol made Ori gag awake.

"That there is Tazuna, a bridge builder. And we're supposed to escort him to the land of waves," Kakashi explained.

"Really?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," was all that Kakashi said.

"Well ok then. Let's get going then," Naruto yelled out, running out to the forest that bordered the village.

Ori yelped from being left behind as he too began to chase Naruto. The old guy in the group deadpanned as he looked at Kakashi, "Is he always like this?"

"Yes, and I like it," Kakashi responded as he walked on forward, Sasuke and Sakura following behind and soon Tazuna followed as well. 'Surely things won't go wrong right?' Tazuna thought to himself.

Who knows.

A/N: Why did I pull an all-nighter... oh yeah, to write you a story. Hope you enjoyed it.