3 ch 2

Chapter 2: A Ninja…Finally!

Naruto awoke early the next morning. He had finally done it. He was now officially a ninja. Yesterday, he and his team, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke-teme Uchiha, had passed the true genin exam and they were slated to start as true ninja today. Naruto went through his usual morning routine before leaving his apartment to meet up with his team.

Meeting up at the training ground, he found that Sasuke and Sakura had already arrived, but Kakashi was nowhere to be seen. He remembered from the past two days that Kakashi had been late by atleast 2 hours. Hopefully this wouldn't be a regular occurrence. Sadly it was.

"You're late!" shouted Naruto and Sakura simultaneously as Kakashi arrived two hours late.

"Sorry guys, you see there was this old lady who needed help crossing the street and then she needed help…" Kakashi was interrupted.

"Can it!" shouted Sakura.

"Yeah, come on sensei, what sort of cool ninja stuff are we going to be doing today?" asked Naruto.

"Well someone looks eager to get started. So we will. Today we will be working on your teamwork" said Kakashi.

"Huh?" All three of them looked at Kakashi with a dumbfounded look. "Why do we need to do that? Come on, we are ninja now. Can't we get either an exciting mission or a cool new jutsu?" asked Naruto.

"No, not today anyways. I told you yesterday that the three of you will be working together in a team so we will work on making sure the three of you can work together" said Kakashi.

"But come on Kakashi. We are ninja now" argued Naruto.

"No 'but's. You are ninja and as ninja, you need to work together in teams" explained Kakashi. "Do you have a problem, or would you rather go back to the academy?"

"Err…no. Teamwork is great" said Naruto sarcastically.

For the rest of the week, Kakashi had them working on simple trust exercises, such as throwing a ball back and forth blindfolded or having someone guide another around a course while the one being guided was blindfolded. For the most part, these exercises went smooth, for the first hour that is. There came a point every time when Naruto would become fed up with the exercise and slip up somehow, creating tension within the group. Most of this tension was between him and Sasuke with Sakura siding with Sasuke, always. As such, the exercise would go downhill from there. Kakashi sighed at his teams progress. Perhaps a mission might help things out. He had the right mission in mind that was designed to serve as a good first mission and help build teamwork.

"Is everyone in position?" Kakashi called out through the wireless radios his team was wearing.

"I'm ready" called out Sakura.

"I'm in position" said Sasuke.

"I'm here" replied Naruto.

"Alright, where's the target?" asked Kakashi.

"Target is five meters. We are ready to go" said Sasuke.

"Alright, on my mark…go" ordered Kakashi.

With that, the three newly minted genin dove forward on their target. Naruto came up the one to catch it, although he was wishing he hadn't. Their target just so happened to be a pretty angry cat, known around the village as Tora, the Fire Damyio's Wife's pet and the Demon Cat of the Leaf.

Team 7 reported that they had caught the intended cat, indicating that it had a pink ribbon in its ear. They quickly made their way back to the Konoha mission hall and Naruto couldn't get rid of the cat any sooner. By the time Tora was back in the suffocating arms of its owner, Naruto's face looked like it had just been put through a blender five times over. Kakashi called that enough for the day, citing Naruto's health as an excuse to dismiss his team for the day and to read his book.

Before leaving, Iruka, who had been stationed to give out missions that day, asked Naruto if he wanted to get ramen later. Naruto gratefully accepted Iruka's offer.

"So Naruto tell me, how was your first week of being a ninja?" asked Iruka.

"You know, I thought it would be better, but all Kakashi-sensei has us doing are stupid teamwork exercises and then we get that mission" said Naruto, rubbing his face. "My face still hurts."

"Ah yes, the infamous Capture Tora mission" said Iruka.

"Wait, did you have to do that mission as well?" asked Naruto.

Iruka cringed a little as he recalled the full memory. "Yeah. That cat has a history of getting away from its owner."

Naruto laughed. "I can see why. That lady was practically suffocating the cat. Serves it right" said Naruto.

"Now Naruto, be nice. That lady is the wife of the Fire Damyio and you won't believe how much money that cat brings into the village" said Iruka. Naruto looked at Iruka a little confused. "All right, I'll explain. People hire ninja to do tasks ranging from catching a pet cat, all the way up to assassinations. We assign a ninja team to these missions based on the assigned ranking and the clients pay us a commission. Out of the commission paid, you get a certain amount of it, as well as the rest of your team, and the village takes its cut. This is main way a ninja village makes money is through the service of our ninja. The price of a mission depends on a few things but the two main factors are the intended length of the mission and the assigned difficulty. Now, missions are assigned a difficulty rank ranging from D all the way to S. As a genin, you will only be doing D-ranks for now but you may get a C-rank or two in the future once begin to prove yourself. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I guess. But still…" said Naruto. Iruka laughed.

"Don't worry. Everyone has to go through D-ranks. Think of it as a rite of passage that every ninja has to take. Eventually, there will be other ninja doing those missions and you will be doing things more exciting. Just stick with what you're given for now and eventually your time will come" said Iruka.

"Yeah, you're right. Besides, they can't all be as bad as catching that stupid cat. Just you watch, in no time I'll be kicking ass and saving nations! Dattebayo!" exclaimed Naruto.

Naruto was walking back from their daily training session. It had been just over a month since he became a ninja. His current schedule consisted of alternating between missions on one day and training on the other day with a personal day for rest or whatever every week. Now this wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been for the missions they were stuck doing or the 'training', if it was even that, that Kakashi had them doing.

The missions were more of chores. In the past month, his team had accomplished 10 D-ranks which consisted of menial tasks such as painting fences, weeding gardens, delivering baked goods, picking up trash, and the worst of them all…catching that damned cat. Sure Iruka-sensei told him a few weeks ago just to put up with them, but this seemed just like a waste of his amazing ninja talents. It was also on these missions where he always seemed to screw up somehow and as a result, Sasuke had to come to his rescue, causing Sakura to fawn even more over Sasuke for acing so cool and heroic. Naruto would then get yelled at, usually by Sakura, for not taking things seriously. Well perhaps if he was taken more seriously and given something that an actual ninja would do, then he would actually take the mission more serious.

If the missions weren't enough, the training just made it worse. After getting out of the academy, Naruto was expecting to learn some really cool jutsu and ninja techniques, but Kakashi had them working on nothing more than teambuilding exercises. Today was an exercise where Kakashi had one of them blindfold the other and then the non-blindfolded person would guide the blindfolded person around, directing them away from danger.

Everything had started alright. He had been tasked with guiding a blindfolded Sasuke around an obstacle course in less than 15 minutes. Sure he might have steered Sasuke into a few trees or off a log once or twice on accident, but that didn't warrant what he received when he and Sasuke swapped places. It only took about 5 minutes before Sasuke guided Naruto into the river, soaking him. From there, everything went downhill and the two boys ended up in a little bit of a fight, Sasuke coming out on top.

Naruto cursed his misfortune, being stuck with Sasuke-teme and a sensei that couldn't care less for his career as a ninja.

If Naruto was having a bad day, then Sasuke's wasn't much better. These menial D-ranks were starting to get on his nerves as well. He needed to become stronger so that he could accomplish his goals and these general labor tasks were not doing anything. In fact, if it wasn't for the Dobe and the obsessive fangirl, he could probably get them done faster and use the rest of the day to get in some useful training…but sadly that wasn't the case.

During those missions, Naruto would usually find some way to mess up and he would be forced to save the blonde. However, Naruto wasn't the worst. At the very least, Naruto was trying…to some degree. He had to give him that. Sakura, on the other hand, was the worse of his two teammates. He hated how her attention was always focused on him and not the task at hand. If she would put even half the effort into the mission or bettering herself as a shinobi, then that would also better the success of the mission and he would have some time to train. Sasuke knew what Sakura was…she was a fan girl.

Ever since the academy, he hated the fan girls. They did nothing but fawn left and right over him, coming up with ridiculous excuses to try and capture his attention. In fact, they had even gone as far to grow all of their hair because they heard that he liked girls with long hair. All the fan girls did was prove to be an unavoidable obstacle for him. If it wasn't for Sakura's constant nagging, he wouldn't have dropped Naruto into the creek

In reality, he couldn't care less. As part of his goal was to revive his clan, Sasuke knew that one day he would have to find a girl (or girls if the village forced the CRA on him) to help him. However, he didn't want this girl to be a brainless fan girl who practically worshiped the very ground he stood on. No, he wanted a girl that was strong and herself. He wanted someone who could stand against him and tell him he was wrong when he was. He wanted someone who didn't care if he was an Uchiha. Sakura was nowhere near that someone.

Sasuke could also care less for the team building exercises. To him, they were nothing more than a waste. He needed to kill someone and in order to do such, he needed power. He needed training. Not this. He needed real training and he needed real missions to test his abilities.

Sakura was nearly the exact opposite in terms of Naruto and Sasuke when it came to these missions. She didn't mind the menial missions or the labor. In fact, she rather enjoyed them as it gave her an opportunity to spend some quality time with Sasuke. The only thing she disliked about the missions happened to be Naruto. He always seemed to get in the way of her and Sasuke.

Sakura wasn't complaining so much. She had been slightly nervous when she started as a ninja, afraid that she would be thrown directly into some life threatening situation. She had heard of the shinobi life-style from her father. He was a former shinobi, nothing special, who retired from that life a few years after she was born as he had nearly lost his life during a mission with their former sensei, Iruka. When she told her parents that she wanted to be a shinobi, they questioned her decision, but eventually ended up supporting her. None the less, there was still a fear that she was getting in over her head.

Regardless, this choice wasn't too bad as it put her on the same team as just about every 11-13 year-old girl's dream guy, Sasuke Uchiha.

Naruto had just finished up dinner one night after yet another day of D-ranks. It was now six weeks since his start as a ninja and he was really getting fed up with the current program. Kakashi still had them doing teamwork exercises with some physical conditioning involved. Yet, Kakashi still refused to teach them anything ninja-like.

Coming out of Ichiraku, receiving some of the typical glares from the villagers, Naruto spotted someone he hadn't seen since the academy. It took him a few minutes to realize who it was exactly, but it came to him. That someone was Hinata. He had always thought of her as a weird and dark girl who just sat in the back and never talked to anyone. In fact, she was the exact opposite of most of the girls in the class. She was one of the very few, possibly the only, girls that didn't fawn over Sasuke. But there was something else…she was also the only one in the class that was never mean to him.

Naruto hadn't seen anyone else, besides Sakura and Sasuke, since the graduation from the academy. Well actually, he had seen Shikamaru and Chouji once, but they were busy chasing after that damned cat.

"Hey, uhh…Hinata!" shouted Naruto. He was just looking for someone else to talk to from his class besides Sasuke and Sakura.

Hinata froze up, hearing the voice of her crush coming up from behind her. "N-n-na-ruto?" she stuttered, looking frantically for something to hide behind. She found a nearby post and used that as cover although she peaked out from behind, glad that Naruto was talking to her.

"Hey, you still have your headband!" exclaimed Naruto, noticing the forehead protector around her neck. Besides his own team and Team 10, Naruto didn't know who the other teams who passed the genin exam from his class were. Kakashi had mentioned that there were three teams from his class, but he didn't know who the other team was…until now. "That means your team passed the genin exam!"

"Y-yes w-we d-d-did, N-naruto. I-I'm glad t-t-o s-see t-that you d-did as w-well" replied a stuttering Hinata.

"Wait, you're actually glad that I passed?" asked Naruto. He was sure half of the class had placed bets on him failing and the other half were preparing to beat him to death when he was the reason for Sasuke failing.

"I-I am. I a-always knew y-you w-would" she said.

"You did?" asked Naruto, getting a slight smile on his face. "Thanks. I'm glad you passed as well. Everyone in your family must be proud of you."

Hinata was happy that Naruto had acknowledged her, but at the same time, she was wishing that he hadn't brought her family into this. She looked down, catching Naruto's attention with this. "Hinata? What is it?"

"N-nothing. J-just that m-my f-father h-has always b-been strict and-and w-well, I-I'm afraid I-I'll d-disappoint h-him" said Hinata.

Now, if there was one thing Naruto knew, it was disappointment. For most of his life, he had been just that…a disappointment. However, through experience he learned that you're only a disappointment if you just give up. If you keep trying your absolute hardest, there is no way you could disappoint someone. He proved this the night he finally graduated after saving Iruka-sensei with the Shadow Clone Jutsu. "Don't worry. All you have to do is do your best. If you do that, you'll never disappoint. Dattebayo!" This picked Hinata's spirits up. If there was one thing she always admired about Naruto, it was his never give up attitude.

It was around that time that another man came onto the scene. "Hinata-sama, let's go. You shouldn't associate with that thing" said the man. He had the same eyes as her, indicating he was also a Hyuga.

"B-but..." Hinata tried to protest.

"No Hinata-sama. He's not right. You can't believe anything he says" said the Hyuga as he took Hinata away. Naruto looked down. He was used to this…adults grabbing children and dragging them away from him. He knew why, thanks to Mizuki's big mouth and an explanation later from the Hokage, but he still didn't understand. He wasn't the Kyuubi, he just had the beast sealed inside him.

"B-but, he t-told me t-to not give up, w-what's so b-bad about t-that?" asked Hinata. The Hyuga stopped in his tracks, turning around to see Naruto walking away, head down. Being a Hyuga, he could easily read people and in Naruto he saw a sense of sadness and loneliness. He hadn't seen this before, probably blinded by the whole Kyuubi thing. After what Hinata told him, he finally decided to take a good look at the boy…perhaps he was wrong. This boy was trying to encourage Hinata, something she didn't normally receive at home. Perhaps he wasn't the demon the entire village saw him as.

A group of men came walking past the two Hyugas, obviously coming from a bar. "Hey! It's that Thing!" one of them exclaimed quietly to the rest of his group so that Naruto wouldn't hear. The other men picked up various object lying around in the street and alleys, including a broken bottle of sake, a wooden plank with a few rusty nails, and even a rather large wrench. The men snuck up behind Naruto, ready to beat him as the other villagers just simply watched. Most of the villagers were hoping that the men would give Naruto a good smack or two before some of the ANBU intervened. To them, it was one of the more entertaining things in the village…watching a few people take a shot as the one they labeled 'Demon Child'.

Naruto felt something coming up behind him. This was a familiar feeling to him and he learned how to detect it. If he didn't know how to detect it, he most likely wouldn't be alive. It was the feeling of someone wanting to hurt him. Naruto turned around just in time to see the group of men charge towards him. He did what he would normally do, he began to run. Naruto had gotten half way down the street when he realized no on as following him. He turned around to see those men on the ground unconscious and the Hyuga man, holding Hinata's hand, standing over them. It was obvious that he had knocked them unconscious.

Hinata was a little surprised that her caretaker had actually decided to help Naruto. For as long as she could remember, he did everything he could to keep her away from Naruto. Naruto approached the Hyuga with caution, not sure if this was some sort of trick. "Honestly, I don't really see why they hate you so much. You're nice to Lady Hinata, so you can't be that bad" the Huyga said. Naruto was pretty sure he had just managed to make another friend.

"Umm, thanks for the help back there…uhh" replied Naruto, not sure of the man's name.

"I'm Ko Hyuga, pleased to make your acquaintance, Naruto" said Ko. Hinata hid behind her caretaker, blushing a little. She was also wondering if this meant that Ko would actually let her talk to Naruto from now on. "I'm sorry, but it is getting late and Hinata-sama's father is expecting her home. Perhaps we will see each other some other time." Ko's last remark encouraged Hinata that perhaps he wouldn't try to force her away from Naruto.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura showed up at the training grounds the following morning at 10:30. Kakashi had told them to meet up at 9:00am, but they had already gotten into the routine that Kakashi was going to be at least two hours late. Sakura had started the day out as she normally did, trying to get Sasuke's attention and ask him out on some sort of date. After awhile, Sakura gave up for the moment, but she would be back.

Just after 11:00am, Kakashi finally showed. "You're Late!" shouted Naruto and Sakura.

"Good morning. Sorry I'm late, but there was this little old lady and…" Kakashi stopped as he saw Sakura getting angry with him. "Anyways, I'm here, so who's ready for some wonderful teambuilding exercises?"

As soon as he mentioned it, all three members of Team 7 looked at Kakashi with killing intent. They had all just about had it with these exercises, even Sakura who saw them as a way to get to Sasuke. "We don't want none of your stinkin' teambuilding exercises! We've been doing those for what feels like forever!" shouted Naruto. "I think it's about time that you finally teach us a cool ninja technique or something, right guys?" Naruto looked to Sasuke and Sakura for support and surprisingly, he got it.

"The Dobe is right, Kakashi-sensei. Those teambuilding exercises of yours aren't getting us anywhere" said Sasuke. Kakashi was feeling slightly insulted that they were attacking his teambuilding exercises. Even Sakura had to agree with Naruto, and not just because Sasuke agreed.

Kakashi sighed. He was wondering when this day would come. "Alright, I suppose we've done enough of those exercises for now" said Kakashi in defeat. "I suppose it's time we work on your guys' chakra control."

"Why do we have to do that? We spent the last four years learning how to control chakra?!" Naruto blurted out. "We get our first real training session. Now why can't you teach us a cool new jutsu or something?"

"Naruto, chakra control is very important. Without the proper control, you would never be able to master anything above a D-rank jutsu" Sakura said after smacking him upside the head.

"Sakura's right Naruto" Kakashi said. "If you hope to be able to learn a cool jutsu, you must learn how to control the flow and release of chakra. The lessons you learned in the academy are basic, but they are not enough."

"Fine. It beats catching that damned cat any ways I wonder what sort of demon that cat came from anyways" said Naruto.

Somewhere in Kumogakaru, a young woman with blonde hair felt the urge to sneeze.

As if scripted perfectly, said cat came running out of the trees with a genin team in pursuit. Unfortunately for Naruto, Tora remembered him from the last time Team 7 was assigned to capture her and proceeded to claw Naruto in the face before darting off into the woods.

"I swear that the village makes more off of that cat than all the other D and C-ranks combined" said Kakashi quietly. "Anyways, today we'll be working on the first of the regular chakra control exercises, the tree climbing exercise."

"Tree climbing?" Sakura questions while Naruto and Sasuke looked on with a bit of curiosity.

"Yes, it's the first exercise in chakra control. The idea is to hold a constant chakra at the bottom of your feet and use it to stick to a surface, in particular the side of a tree, while you walk up it" Kakashi explained. He further instructed the genin in that exercise and they each proceeded to a tree. Naruto and Sasuke took a few steps up the tree before falling to the ground. Sakura had managed to climb the entire tree with little effort. Kakashi noted that her control was the best of the group. They were instructed to work on that exercise for the remainder of the day until they could climb the entire tree. After that, they were to exhaust their chakra as they continued to refine the technique.

Out of the three rookie instructors, Kurenai had begun teaching her students much earlier than either Kakashi or Asuma. It was already clear to her that her team had no pressing issues with one another, except for Hinata wishing that Naruto was on her team, and they didn't require much effort getting the three of them to work together. As such, Kurenai had begun actual training with them only a week or two out of the academy. Asuma followed, but it took a bit longer to get the boys and Ino to work with one another as Ino would constantly belittle them, saying stuff regarding Sasuke doing much better than they would ever do.

For Naruto and Sasuke, it was getting late. Sakura had already called it a night as she didn't have anywhere near the chakra reserved that Sasuke, let alone Naruto, had. However, she had accomplished the training after about two hours. Naruto and Sasuke were locked in a competition as to who would reach the top first. After the day ended, they were each about two-thirds up the tree.

The following day was a mission day for them filled with more exciting D-ranks. It was obvious that Naruto and Sasuke were getting irritated at having to do those. By the second day of their training, the two boys of Team 7 had managed to make it up to the top of the tree. Sasuke had been the first to reach the top, although he noted that Naruto was not far behind, making it to the top the next attempt. The three of them were instructed to refine the exercise for the remainder of the training days that week, until they had it down perfectly. They even used their free day to dedicate to the training.

"Alright, Team 7. For your next mission, you can either babysit an elder's grandson, shop in the neighboring village, or…" the Hokage was cut off by someone entering the room and whispering something in the Hokage's ear. "Well, it appears Tora has escaped again."

Team 7 shuttered at the thought of having to catch that cat again. "No!" Naruto shouted out. "I don't want another stinking D-rank. I want a real mission!" Surprisingly, Sakura and Sasuke both found themselves agreeing.

"I thought it was about time for this" Kakashi thought to himself.

"Idiot, you're just a rookie!" Iruka shouted, his head growing to 5 times its original size as he used his Big Head no Jutsu. "Everyone starts off at the bottom and works their way up!"

"But we keep getting the crappiest duties!" Naruto responded. The Hokage sighed. "We've been doing menial tasks for the past two months. It's about time we got something more fitting for a ninja!"

"Naruto, it seems I have to explain to you what these duties are about" the Third said. "Every day, the village receives requests, from babysitting to assassinations. Each request is written down and given a rank of D, C, B, or A. These missions are handed out to ninja based on their experience. If the duty is completed, the village receives payment from the client. You just recently became genins, so D-ranks are perfect for you." Obviously, Naruto was distracted, discussing his favorite ramen. It was then that the Hokage flipped out, and Kakashi knew he was going to get it later.

"But, if you must" the Hokage said. Team 7 diverted their attention to the old Hokage. "I'll give you a C-rank mission." Naruto was ecstatic, Sasuke and Sakura were pleasantly surprised, and Kakashi was in disbelief. "You will be acting as bodyguards for a certain individual as they travel to the Land of Waves."

"Who is it?! A Feudal Lord? A princess?" Naruto shouted out.

The door opened, and in walked a slightly drunken looking man. "Eh? You're giving me these brats? Hey you, short one with the stupid looking face, are you really a ninja?" the man asked.

"Haha, who's the short one with the stupid looking face?" Naruto asked, soon realizing it was him as he was the shortest. Naruto tried to charge the man, only to be held back by Kakashi.

"I am the super expert bridge builder Tazuna. I expect protection until I get back to my country and complete my bridge" the old man said. With that, the team departed the village a few hours later.