Naruto : Chapter 91

Naruto sat in his secret home and read through a scroll on advanced wind jutsus. There was one he had wanted to try for a while, but he had had other things that he regarded more important at the time. But now he had a week off from duty and that meant he could finally invest the time he needed for the training.

For the last two months he had been doing one mission after another. After the initial B-rank with Shino, Sasuke and Shikamaru, he had also done three C-ranks leading Ino, Choji and Kiba as the team leader.

One had been upped to an A-rank though. Like with the Wave mission. He found it strange that many of his missions turned out harder than they should be. The others of his age group hadn't experienced as many upgraded missions as him. Well, except during those times they were on a team with him.

The mission had been to deliver new orders to one of the outposts of Konoha at the border with Rain Country. Sadly they had run into a fight between the ninjas of the outpost and a group of missing nins from both Ame and Iwa. And the Iwa nins hadn't taken well to finding the son of the Yellow Flash close to them.

Missing nins they might be, but they still harboured the hatred for the man that essentially cost them the third ninja world war. Taking it out on Naruto was simply petty, but hey, nobody said that Iwa nins were above that stupidity.

Naruto had had to fight really hard to not only defend himself against two jonin level ninjas and four chunin level, but to also keep the team he was leading safe.

He wouldn't allow for any of his subordinates to die on a mission that should just have been an easy C-rank. His combination of shadow clones, wind jutsus and the flying thunder god jutsu won them the fight and they managed to capture two of the missing nins.

They even had bounties on their heads, so after they had been interrogated in Konoha, they would be cashing in those bounties. Of the three genin Ino got hurt most with a deep cut on her right thigh. She had stupidly tried to use one of her clan's jutsus that left her body vulnerable.

He had given her a stern talking to when it was acceptable to do something like that, as with her using it then, she not only gave herself a dangerous opening, she also tied up Choji's ability to fight back and completely prevented that he could attack.

He would have to talk about that part with Asuma as well, as he would be taking over the team once he wasn't tied up with higher ranking missions anymore.

Naruto went through the handsigns for his new jutsu over fifty times to make sure that he had the quick forming of the twenty handsigns down instinctively and then he tried the jutsu with input of chakra.

'Wind release: Mirage,' he thought, having by now mastered the art of using his jutsus without shouting them out to warn his enemy.

It was a difficult thing to do, as it took massive focus. Few jonin even bothered to learn this, as it took years normally to get to the level where you could feel your chakra in a way where you could try it. And if they did, they normally used it for jutsus that they knew very well and which they used regularly.

He knew that Kakashi sensei could do it for replacement, clones, raikiri, summoning and transformation. He hadn't seen other jutsus being used like that, but he suspected that he couldn't do it for all of the thousand jutsus he had copied.

Naruto wanted to have an arsenal that he could use silently and within a split second if necessary. And he didn't want to be spotted when he was on a mission that required stealth, which was why this jutsu had been on his list to learn it.

When he now looked into the mirror, he couldn't see himself anymore. It wasn't perfect, there were blurred edges of the jutsu, which he would have to fine tune.

Mirage did exactly what the name said. Like a mirage in the desert, this jutsu broke the light in ways that deceived the eye. But instead of being like a genjutsu that pretended that there was something that wasn't there, this jutsu formed a kind of mirror in front of any part of Naruto.

The eye 'saw' things by analysing the signals that came in from light being reflected from a surface. The brain then connected the information and allowed you to perceive the world around you.

There were other jutsus that had a similar effect, but nothing could really compare with getting the effect by using wind manipulation.

And if he mastered the jutsu in the end, it would make it nearly impossible to locate him if you weren't a sensor type of a high level. It would make infiltration a whole lot easier. He was already good at suppressing his chakra to barely noticeable and this would add to his abilities nicely.

...

Kakashi looked at the mission request in front of him frowning. He had a bad feeling about this mission. Since the thwarted invasion things had gone fairly well for Konoha and they were nearly back up to normal working procedures.

This mission would have been one that he needed to do in person, as he had been the only one that had any experience with the country that was their destination. Snow Country.

The manager of a famous actress, Yukie Fujikaze, was asking for protection of the actress while the next Princess Gale movie was filmed in Snow Country. The problem was that Kakashi remembered the name Sandayu. It was one of the Royal Guards name.

This required a carefully selected team that could deal with any situation. He looked over the roster of ninjas that he had available right now. He needed to make sure that the team was strong enough, but that he didn't send ninjas that were needed for other missions.

The mission was set as an A-rank, which at least allowed him to send one or two jonins together with some chunins. He first selected Haku Yuki, as his ice bloodline limit would make him perfectly suited for the climate of Snow Country.

Not to mention that he was a fully qualified medic now and would cover that position on the team as well. He was a special jonin. Sending anybody who was handicapped in the cold would be stupid, so any Aburames were out. Their bugs didn't work well in the cold.

Against the special chakra armour of the snow ninjas you didn't do well with normal ninjutsu or genjutsu, so probably he shouldn't send Kurenai. She wasn't the best at taijutsu. Gai was a possibility though. But he was still responsible for his genin team.

Perhaps he could send that team with some other jonins for support? Lee was a taijutsu specialist, which would be useful for fighting against ninjas that used chakra armour. Tenten specialised in weapons, again a useful thing, and Neji with his byakugan and the juken was a good idea, as the armour didn't cover the head.

So Haku as the medic and one other jonin or strong chunin for support that could cover all areas that would be needed. Hm, Naruto was available. He had just finished his last mission leading the remaining genin from teams eight and ten six days ago and would be ready to move out again.

The mission would start in two days, so that wouldn't interrupt his recovery time. Not that Naruto was really relaxing probably. He knew that his student was normally busy working on new jutsus whenever he got the time.

Looking over the files of the ninjas, he nodded to himself and sent out calls for team nine, Naruto and Haku.

...

The six ninjas stood in front of the Hokage, waiting for their orders.

"You've been called to do an A-rank mission. The destination is Snow Country and the mission objective is protecting the actress Yukie Fujikaze from any attackers that might be after her. Snow Country was taken over in a coup d'état over fifteen years ago.

The daimyo was killed by his brother Doto, but I managed to get Princess Koyuki Kazahana to safety. I suspect that Yukie Fujikaze is in reality Princess Koyuki. The manager that is our client has the same name as one of the royal guards of the killed daimyo.

I suspect that there is more going on behind the scenes than we are told," Kakashi informed the group of six.

"The team leader will be Gai Maito with Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze being second in command. Haku Yuki will take the position of the team's medic. One thing you have to be aware of is that back when the coup d'état took place, the snow ninjas had armour that made chakra based techniques basically useless.

I assume that they will have developed those armours further, so be prepared to not be able to use ninjutsu and genjutsu effectively. We don't know what's going to happen, so be vigilant. The mission starts in two days.

It would be good for you all to get an idea about the actress and her movies, so go and watch the newest Princess Gale movie that's being played in the cinema. Once you did that, Naruto and Gai should go and meet with Sandayu, the client of this mission," Kakashi told them.

"Understood, Hokage Sama," most said, with Naruto replacing it with 'sensei'.

"We will make sure to perform at the peak of the power of youth!" Gai declared.

"Yes, Gai sensei!" Lee agreed loudly.

Neji and Tenten only shook their heads, knowing the quirks of their teammates too well. Though both were looking at their other teammates for this mission curiously.

While Tenten had already worked with Naruto during the invasion, she had wanted to have a mission with him since then to see more about his abilities.

And Neji had got a major wake-up call from seeing how somebody that had been called a loser and failure at the academy had risen above the so-called geniuses of his year.

And knowing that Naruto, who had been hated by nearly the whole village, and whom the civilians and some ninjas had tried to keep down, had defied all the odds, gave him some hope that he might not be totally fated to never escape his shackles in his clan.

The fact that his uncle had finally given him the last letter that his father had written to him had helped as well. He still wasn't a social person, but at least he didn't demean the efforts of others anymore.

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Hey guys I really need some power stones to Elevate the ranking :)

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