6. Life as genin

Naruto was grinning as he ran down the streets towards Training Ground Seventeen. Today was his first day of training. Today would also be the day of his first mission. The blonde truly felt like a shinobi and he was happy about it.

'This is it...this is where my journey to become Hokage truly begins dattebayo!' He mentally declared to himself as he left the houses of Konoha and was reaching the outer areas where the training grounds were.

It didn't take long for the Uzumaki to find the training grounds. The boy was cutting it close on time, however, which explained why his other two teammates and his sensei were already present.

"Last one here? I expected more from the future Hokage." Anko taunted the boy.

Naruto's eyes narrowed on her. "You be quiet Anko-Sensei! I'm on time dattebayo!"

"Lighten up boy. Just a joke! For a prankster, you take things too seriously." The woman laughed in response.

Naruto didn't say anything in response. He only slightly frowned as he made his way over to his two friends. He greeted both of them with a high five before he turned back to his sensei. It was at this time that Naruto noticed that the woman had a large, plain brown bag that she was carrying on her back.

"Well, we are all here, why not we just start now?" He asked.

"Eh...why not? We are only two minutes ahead of schedule anyway." The snake summoner shrugged before beginning her explanation. "Okay, just giving you all a heads up: this is how our daily schedules will work. We start each day with a warmup, which could take anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour, depending on my mood. After that, then I'll work on some group training work. This may include teamwork, chakra control, jutsus, weapons, etc. Really anything you all can be trained on as a team. Finally, after that, I'll make two shadow clones and then I, or my clones, will work directly one-on-one with each of you on specialized training. When that's all done, we will go to the Hokage's tower and see if there are any missions available. Is all of that understood?"

"Yes sensei!" All three genin replied.

"Alright, now, before the warmup and before I forget, take one of these!" Anko informed her students as she gave them each a slip of paper.

"And what are these for sensei?" Naruto asked as he stared at his paper.

"Well, Whiskers, these chakra papers are for finding out your natural element." She responded with a smirk.

Naruto's look of confusion morphed into one of excitement. Thanks to his last-minute paying attention to Iruka's lessons, he remembered the discussion on nature affinities. He knew exactly what they were and he was excited.

"Just a heads up, I won't really be teaching you brats nature manipulation just yet." Anko informed them. "But, I still want to do this for two reasons. For one, I can have it for a reference for later on. And two, when I start teaching you guys jutsu, I know what type of jutsus will be easier and more effective for you all to learn!"

The tokubetsu jonin pulls out her own chakra paper and applies her chakra into into. The paper immediately lights itself on fire and starts to burn.

"Whoa!" Naruto gasps, staring wide eyed at the fire.

"Pretty cool huh?" The purple haired woman asks as she crushes the paper in her hand, putting out the fire. "If it wasn't obvious, the burning and fire means I am a fire type. Naturally. But enough about me! This about you brats! Now...put some chakra into your papers and let's find out your affinities!"

The three genin nodded and followed their sensei's request.

Hinata was the first to have her paper react. Her paper was soaked, causing water to drip down the girl's hand.

"Water element. Nice!" Anko informed her. "Probably the most flexible and versatile element of all five. Great offense and defense and it's good with short and long range. You've got a lot of things you can do with it, especially if you actually get good with it. Yep...you got a pretty damn good element!"

"R-Really?" Hinata asked, a smile growing on her face. She seemed proud to hear she had an element that could be useful in multiple areas.

Anko nodded, then turned her attention over to Naruto. His chakra paper was split in half.

"Wind element huh? Very rare in Konoha. Your like...what, the second one we got?" Anko noted. "Nevertheless, great element! Single greatest attacking element in close and mid range and also great for support techniques. Very useful element indeed!"

"Heh, awesome!" Naruto cheered loudly.

Anko didn't pay too much attention to his screaming. Instead, she was currently gaping at the sight of the Nara boy. The paper he was currently holding had lit on fire.

"...really? Really?" Anko mumbled in disbelief. "Of all three of you, Lazy Ass is the only one with my natural affinity? REALLY?"

"...troublesome." Shikamaru simply stated as he stopped applying chakra and ended the fire. "...I'll just stick with my Clan's shadow techniques."

"Oh no you don't boy! If you have a fire affinity, I'll be working on that thing! Who knows, maybe I'll get you to be more active or something!" The tokubetsu jonin informed him. She was now sporting a grin at how 'training' with Shikamaru's fire affinity will go.

The Nara was starting to grow nervous.

"..ahem...anyway, yeah, I just wanted to get that in for a reference for later." Anko stated, getting everyone's attention. "Anyway, let's get to work with warmups! Let's begin!"

"Yes Anko-Sensei!" The three genin said in unison as they faced their sensei, ready to do any warmup she had planned.

What started off as a harmless, normal warmup turned into a training session from hell for the genin. Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru laid on the ground, tired and panting while Anko stood above them, frowning.

"Ah, come on brats! It wasn't that bad!" She replied.

"Not that bad? You call doing one hundred sit ups, one hundred push ups, and fifty laps around the training field not that bad?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"That's also not mentioning the kunai you would throw at us whenever we stopped for a few seconds, or the times where you forced us to start over because of some troublesome reason." Shikamaru added, glaring at the woman in front of him. 'She's worse than my mom! Good lord...this is a pain...'

"Seriously, it isn't bad! You should see what Gai does to his genin squad." Anko responded nonchalantly.

Despite all of his rude remarks towards her, Hinata felt deep sympathy for her cousin, Neji, if Anko's words about his sensei were true. 'What could honestly be worse than this?'

"Anyway, that concludes your warmup for today." The tokubetsu jonin told them with a smile. The three genin took this time to get up. "Now, onto group training! Today's focus: chakra control!"

'DAMN IT! This is going to be just like with mom, but worse...again...' Shikamaru groaned in his head. Naruto and Hinata were experiencing similar thoughts with Yoshino in mind.

"Now, just curious, do you guys know how to climb trees with only your feet?" The sensei asked. The genin nodded in response. "Oh, I see. I'd take you to practice water walking, but there's no water here...guess I'll have to do that later. For now, I'll just work on improving your tree walking!"

The snake summoner led the genin members of Team Three towards the forest near the training grounds. She stood in front of three trees in particular.

"Okay, brats, today's lesson plan is this: climb up the trees and get to the branches. Then keep walking underneath the branches and hold your positions there." Anko ordered.

"Huh? That's it?" Naruto asked.

"Eh, we'll see." She shrugged in response. "Anyway, the day's going on! Get a move on!"

With those words, the three genin rushed up their tree as quickly as they could. They all got on the underside of the top branch on their trees and stood there.

"Heh, this won't be that bad!" Naruto told his two friends with a laugh.

He had no clue how wrong he was...

Once again, all three genin were laying on the ground by their trees in exhaustion. This time, chakra exhaustion was added with their physical exhaustion.

Anko had decided that they weren't being challenged enough, so she ordered them to hop from tree branch to tree branch in the forest while underneath the tree. This was naturally harder to do then being above the tree and required even more chakra control and balance. Anko would also, once again, throw kunai at her students when they showed signs of tiredness to urge them to keep moving and training.

"Come on brats, get up! We need to do individual training now." Anko reminded them with a smile.

The three genin got up once again, this time more slowly.

"You're a sadist...you know that?" Shikamaru informed her with a deep breath.

"Yup." The woman responded.

"J-Just give a f-few minutes to r-relax please Anko-Sensei." Hinata requested.

The tokubetsu jonin sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll give you guys fifteen minutes to take a break. Just be ready when you're done!"

With those words, the three kids passed out on the ground in exhaustion once again.

'...well, at least I'm getting stronger dattebayo...' Naruto told himself, thinking on the positive side.

When all three genin were finished calming themselves down, Anko made the hand sign for the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Two clones appeared in a poof of smoke and stared at the genin.

"Okay brats, just saying: my clones will be working with Whiskers and Lazy Ass. They'll lead you somewhere else on the training grounds. That means Stutters-Chan gets time here with me."

Hinata released a small 'eep' while Shikamaru and Naruto merely nodded. Anko's clones ushered for them to follow down different paths. The two boys did just that. They were eventually gone, leaving Hinata alone with her sensei.

"Well, just you and me!" The purple haired woman stated with her trademark sadistic grin.

"Y-Yes..." her student replied nervously.

"No need to be nervous. Now...for today's first day of training, I am going to teach you how to use a weapon." Anko informed the Hyuga heiress as she started digging in the bag she was holding.

"W-What? What w-weapon?" Hinata asked, a little curious and nervous. "And w-why a weapon? M-Most Hyuga d-don't use w-weapons in their f-fighting style."

Anko was about to pull out the weapon of her choosing before she registered what Hinata had just said. She put her bag down for a second with a sigh and turned to her student.

"Hinata, I actually don't mind you, so I feel I should ask you: can I be brutally honest about your clan?" The tokubetsu jonin asked.

The Hyuga heiress nearly gasped at her sensei's words. For starters, this was the first time she actually referred to her by her real name, not the nickname she was assigned. Also, her sensei was actually asking for permission to say what's on her mind.

"Um...o-of course. S-Say anything." Hinata replied. She felt happy that her sensei actually asked her, but she was also nervous about what her sensei would say.

"Your clan is the biggest group of idiots in Konoha." Anko stated rather bluntly.

Hinata's eyes only slightly widened, having expected an insult. She merely remained silent, however, waiting to hear her sensei's words.

"You see, you guys possess the Byakugan, a doujutsu that allows you three-sixty degree vision in addition to see through walls and see people's chakra. However, the only thing your clan really uses it for is the Gentle Fist. Now, don't get me wrong: the Gentle Fist is pretty damn deadly and effective and makes a Hyuga a hell of an opponent! Having said that, that is really all you use your eyes for." Anko explained her reasoning.

"A Hyuga would make probably one of the best damn medics, since you can see directly through a person and into their body's systems, but you guys never become medics because of 'tradition'." The snake summoner rolled her eyes at her own words.

Hinata frowned as well. She actually had an interest in medical ninjutsu and even designed her own healing salves and medicine. Still, she knew she wouldn't be allowed to become a medical ninja. It would be considered 'impractical', 'a waste of time', and 'disgraceful' to her clan.

"There's also another thing your clan fails to use your eyes for: long-range attacks." Anko continued in her rant. "You guys have such great vision that you could see enemy shinobi coming from far distances! And yet, you are all close to mid range fighters only? Yeah...just no."

Anko finally ended up going back to her bag and pulling out the weapon she was getting earlier. Hinata's eyes wandered to it and gasped at what she saw.

Her sensei was holding a bow and arrow set.

"Yeah, I decided that you should capitalize on what your eyes can do! So, I'm going to work with you on developing your long-range skills. I'll teach you some jutsus later on when you can learn them. For now, though, let's work on developing your archery!" She declared, handing over the bow and arrows to the Hyuga.

Hinata held the wooden bow in her hands tightly. She instinctively moved her hand back and forth down its limbs, trying to get a feel for her weapon. The Hyuga then had another thought come into her head.

"Byakugan!" She shouted, activating her doujutsu.

Her vision expanded greatly, showing her everything around her due to her eye's range. For the first time in awhile, though, Hinata noticed just how far she could see with her eyes.

'I...I'd say I can see about a little more than a kilometer. I can see far away trees with fruit that I could shoot down! I know if there was a ninja there, I could see them and would be able to fire at them!' Hinata thought, excitedly. 'And I can even increase my vision with more practice...'

"So you just how deadly you could be, don't you?" Anko asked her student. "Get you some practice, and you could make yourself Konoha's single greatest long-distance fighter! And if somehow an enemy survived past your assaults from a distance, you'd have the Gentle Fist for when they get too close."

Hinata felt determination rush through her body. She immediately took out an arrow and placed it on the arrow rest as she started to aim at a faraway apple in a tree. Anko saw this determination and her grin grew even larger.

"Now, I may not be good with a bow, but I have some scrolls and I know the basics. So, Stutters-Chan, let's work on your skill with a bow!" The tokubetsu jonin declared.

Naruto was led by one of the Anko clones to a separate area of the training ground. They were near the edge and were surrounded by nearby trees with targets on them.

"Are we done walking? Can we begin now Anko-Sensei?" Naruto asked in a bored tone.

"Can it Whiskers! But yes, we are done. This'll do." The Anko clone replied as she came to a stop.

"Awesome! Then, what do you have to teach me? Huh?" The blonde questioned, getting up in his sensei's face.

"Whoa! Back up there brat!" The purple-haired woman ordered with a sigh. "Anyway, because of your large chakra supply, it's safe to say you're the ninjutsu type of shinobi. So, we're working on teaching you some Wind Style ninjutsu."

Naruto proceeded to jump up and down in place, excitement running through him.

"Hell yeah! Time to learn some kickass ninjutsu!" He declared.

"Simmer down kid. We aren't teaching you that good of ninjutsu yet! You got to learn and work your way up through practice. Anyway, I have a jutsu I think you might could learn now." The clone informed him.

The tokubetsu jonin stepped forward and made a five hand signs. After her last one, she took in a deep breath and faced a target. 'Fuuton: Great Breakthrough!'

The clone then released a gust of wind that blasted forwards. It cut into the nearby trees in front of her and obliterated the targets on them.

Naruto stared in awe at the work of the ninjutsu. The blast of wind actually knocked him back a little bit and he could see just how much damage the jutsu did to the trees and the targets. He was very impressed and excited.

"That's the Great Breakthrough. It's C-Rank and primarily a short to mid range offensive type. As you can see, it packs a pretty good punch." The Anko clone noted, impressed by her work. "It can be made better with practice though, especially if the user actually is a wind type."

Naruto's eyes gleamed at that.

"Hell yeah! I'll make that jutsu mine dattebayo! Anko-Sensei, Anko-Sensei, can you show me the hand signs again?" The boy asked, clearly ready and excited.

After watching Anko make the hand signs one more time, Naruto turned to face the same trees that his sensei was in front. He made the same five hand signs before taking a deep breath himself. 'Fuuton: Great Breakthrough!'

Naruto released his breath and tried to release the wind. No wind shot forward, however. A tiny breeze of wind could be felt, but Naruto couldn't tell if that was cause of his jutsu or not.

Anko sweat dropped. 'To be honest, I was expecting him to fail it the first time cause of putting too much uncontrolled chakra. How the hell did he fail to create it?'

"Damn it!" The boy complained. "Whatever, I'll get it down this dattebayo!"

The Anko clone continued to watch Naruto practice the jutsu, ready to give any hints she could to help him learn. Naruto continued to practice, dead set on learning this jutsu.

Shikamaru couldn't help but feel suspicious and slightly nervous as the Anko clone took him to his separate part of the training ground. Every few seconds, the clone would turn its head and stare at Shikamaru as if he was prey. The look would then go away as the purple-haired woman would pay attention to what way she was going. That didn't stop her from still looking at him like that though.

The boy continued to watch with her suspicion.

Finally, Anko stopped walking when they reached a small area in the training ground. Their location was a simple wide open field with nothing present: no trees, no practice dummies, nothing.

It was in this area that Anko immediately charged at Shikamaru, readying her fist to punch him.

The young Nara's eyes widened as he barely managed to get out of the way in time. He then put distance between him and the clone as fast as he could.

"Anko-Sensei, what are you doing?" He asked, his voice a little shaky from being caught off guard.

"Training you." She replied as she charged at him again, this time going faster.

Shikamaru was unable to avoid this blow. He took the fist straight in his face and fell to the ground in pain. He got up as quickly as he could and glared at his sensei as he made more distance.

"You should have seriously been able to dodge that." Anko pointed out.

"What's the point of this?" The Nara grumbled in response as he got into position to fight off enough another blow.

Sure enough, the clone charged at him again. The boy was able to block this hit and began to engage his sensei's clone in a fight.

"Well, basically, I noticed something about you Lazy Ass: your reflexes and physical strength suck." The purple-haired woman told him bluntly as she attempted to deliver a kick at him. She made contact and knocked him down after a strike to his stomach. "I noticed that in the test yesterday you didn't get involved really in the physical fighting: just all the planning and strategy. And according to the academy tests, you have one of the worst taijutsus. So, until we can work on your weaknesses and improve them, you're going to be stuck fighting me each day."

Shikamaru groaned as he got himself up, both in pain and annoyance. He had heard the complaint's about his taijutsu already too many times, from the academy teachers and his parents. This was nothing new to him. He couldn't help but get annoyed at his sensei's 'training'.

"Is that all?" He grumbled after he was finally up and ready to continue fighting.

"Eh, yeah. Basically, I am going to force some physical strength skills into you Lazy Ass. So be prepared!" She shouted as she charged again.

Shikamaru sighed, mumbling something about 'pains in the ass' before he got into position to fight off his sensei.

After an hour of individual training, Anko ended the sessions and closed training for the day. All three genin seemed to be excited about this concept.

Shikamaru was the most excited. He was completely exhausted having to deal with Anko's one-on-one physical training in addition to the previous sessions with his teammates. The boy was completely drained and he was surprised he was still standing.

'I am taking the first chance I get to take a nap. I really need one. Troublesome woman...' He complained.

Hinata was not nearly as tired as her lazy friend was, but she was sore in her hands and her eyes. She had been practicing her skill with the bow and arrow the entire time, attempting to hit faraway targets to make herself a skilled long-range fighter. At first, in the words of her sensei, she 'sucked horribly'. Still, with each arrow fired, she was getting better. By the end of the session, the Hyuga was finally starting to get the concept.

'If I can get it down perfectly, that'll make me even better of a ninja. It'll make me stronger for my team...for Naruto-Kun!' She mentally thought, creating more determination to learn to use the bow.

Naruto was the least tired in the group. His endurance and stamina was finally starting to kick in and he was able to spend his entire time practicing his jutsu. After many failed attempts from using too much or too little chakra, Naruto finally was able to create a slightly strong gust of wind with the Great Breakthrough. Now, he only needed to perfect it and make it a stronger jutsu.

'I just need to work on it! More practice, then I'll move on to the next!' Naruto thought excitedly.

"Well...I guess that's it for training. I'll admit, I was hard on you guys, but you all are doing a damn good job." Anko told them with a smile.

All three genin, even Shikamaru, felt joy at their sensei's words.

"Anyway, now it's mission time..." Anko told them with a sigh.

"YES! Finally! First mission dattebayo!" Naruto cheered loudly.

'Hopefully the mission won't upset Naruto-Kun...' Hinata thought to herself. She remembered Iruka's lesson on mission ranks and knew they were going to get a D-Rank. She knew it would be 'too easy' for Naruto, and she was worried for his reaction.

'Damn it...I really wanted to get some rest...' Shikamaru groaned.

"Well...let's go and get this over with..." Anko mumbled with a sigh, leading the way for her genin squad to the Hokage tower. 'Please don't be too easy, please don't be too easy...'

The young Uzumaki had many expectations for his first mission. He had wondered what great mission would he be able to say was his first. An assassination mission of a dangerous criminal? Protecting royalty from S-Class invaders? Infiltration to learn enemy secrets?

Naruto had many expectations and ideas for his first mission. None of them involved pulling weeds.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Naruto screamed in complaint as he pulled up another weed.

"Hey, shut up brat! Wasn't it you who said that gardening was one of his favorite hobbies?" Anko sneered in response as she helped pick up weeds with her team.

"Yeah, but that's different. I like picking out the plants, watering them, and watching them grow. I don't like picking weeds though! I hate weeds!" The blonde roared as he picked up another weed.

Hinata couldn't help but giggle at her crush's rather comedic frustration, but she completely sympathized. She liked growing plants and pressing flowers, so she knew how evil weeds were. She was not enjoying this mission just as much as he was.

Shikamaru didn't even register his friend's comments. He was currently using his friend's loudness as a cover for him to take a break and try and nap.

Despite snapping at the boy, Anko completely understood the boy's disappointment and complaining. She couldn't believe just how boring this mission was. It was worse than she remembered.

'...how many more missions till I can request a C-Rank? Please...come soon...' Anko thought in desperation as she picked up another weed herself.

Days passed since the first day of training. The four members of Team Three eventually fell into routine with the hard work of their first day. Each day, they would meet up at the training ground and begin the training exactly like they did earlier. After training was complete, they would perform a D-Rank mission from the Hokage before being dismissed for the day.

Anko couldn't help but notice that her genin were indeed getting stronger. Physically, the warmups were helping them get tougher and get them more stamina. Their chakra control as a whole was also improving. The tokubetsu jonin took them out to practice water walking during their first week and after a few days, the three were able to get to the hang of it.

Shikamaru was probably showing the biggest signs of development. The boy had went through the most rigid physical program under Anko. Although he was still a 'lazy ass', the boy had indeed improved to Anko's standards. He was getting tougher and his reflexes had improved. His taijutsu was actually getting to the point of being 'decent' to his sensei. When he reached this level, his one-on-one fights with Anko stopped and she spent her time working on his specialty: tactics and planning.

Hinata also grew in her skill set. After days of practice, the girl had picked up a real talent for archery. She grew to really like her bow and arrow set and carried it around with her in a black backpack at all times. The girl's training was making her very good at fighting in long-range and was also improving her vision's distance with constant use of the Byakugan.

Naruto had spent most of his time in his practice sessions working on the Great Breakthrough. Even after he got the jutsu down, he wanted to make it stronger and perfect it. After a few sessions, the boy had managed to get a gust of wind strong enough to knock down multiple trees at once. Even his clones could now perform the jutsu with some ease. The boy was growing very excited and confident in his abilities with jutsu.

Team Three's sensei noticed the growth and development in all three of her students. She couldn't help but feel some pride in their progress. She recognized in the test that the three would be great shinobi, but she never realized to what extent.

'Heh, if they keep this up, they'll be something of legend of someday. That'll make me legendary too, as I taught them!' Anko mentally noted with a laugh.

She continued to watch over their progress and assist in their training in anyway she could. Over time, being a sensei seemed easier and more natural to her. She was getting the hang of things and was able to assist her team in more ways as the days went by.

Days soon turned to weeks. Team Three continued to grow in strength and skill. Their development continued to be more apparent as time went by. Still, the squad had been stuck doing D-Rank missions since their beginning. All three members, even Shikamaru and Hinata, would agree that they were ready for a higher level mission...

"Ah! Back for another mission Team Three?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asks the genin team cheerfully as all four members walk into his office.

"Yessir." Hinata speaks up for her team after realizing that no one else is going to say anything.

The Hokage nods at the Hyuga's words and immediately looks at a list of all the available missions for the team.

"Hmm...well, there are some houses that need to be painted in the southern part of Konoha. And it seems like the Daimyo's cat has escaped again." He mentioned as he looked over the list.

Anko's eyes widened exponentially. 'Shit! Abort mission! Must convince him of something else. Just no more damn cat!'

"Eh, H-Hokage-Sama, d-dont you think we d-deserve a C-Rank mission now? I-I mean, we've done p-plenty of D-Ranks!" Anko asked, laughing nervously.

"Who is Stutters-Chan now, Anko-Sensei?" Naruto asked, teasing his sensei for the sudden stuttering. Hinata giggled in response. "But she's right. Come on Old Man, give us a C-Rank mission already!"

"A C-Rank?" The Hokage asked. "Do you think your team can handle one?"

"Well, Hokage-Sama, my team has done plenty of missions over the past two weeks! They've completed more than enough D-Ranks necessary to request one and I can say that from watching them, they're tough. They could handle one." Anko informed him. Her nerves seemed to go away and she felt more confident that she could get a C-Rank mission allowed.

The Hokage seemed to nod in understanding. He took out another list of missions and started to look at it, to see if there was an appropriate mission to assign to Team Three. Anko crossed her fingers while the Hokage searched.

"Hmm...ah! I think I found one!" He declared as he pointed to one. He then started digging through a scroll with the mission contents in more detail.

Anko and Naruto began cheering loudly at the Hokage's words.

"YES! NO CAT!" She screamed excitedly.

"FINALLY! A REAL MISSION!" Naruto yelled nearly as loud as her.

The boy, in his excitement, immediately latched on to the person standing next to him. That person happened to be Hinata, who immediately turned a dark red and promptly fainted in his arms after a surprised 'meep!' escaped her mouth.

"Oh, sorry about that Hinat-" Naruto started to say before he realized that the girl in his arms was unconscious. "Huh? Hinata? Hinata! Are you okay? Wake up!"

Hinata's fainting only caused Anko to burst out into even more laughter. Shikamaru merely rolled his eyes in response.

'How does that idiot not know that she likes him? Eh, he'll have to learn eventually. Or maybe someone will point it out to him someday. But even then, he'd probably still be confused. Troublesome...' Shikamaru thought to himself about his friend and his obliviousness.

The Hokage couldn't help but chuckle at the display in front of him. 'Oh, to be young again...'

After getting out all of the laughter, the Hokage started to speak to the awake members of Team Three.

"Your mission is an escort mission to Kusa no Kuni. You'll be escorting a wealthy merchant from Tsuchi no Kuni, who was currently traveling in Hi no Kuni to see family. You will take him to the Tenchi Bridge, where you will meet a team of Iwa shinobi. They will then take the merchant and escort him back home in your place." The Hokage gave a brief synopsis of the mission.

'Sweet! Iwa is involved! This isn't some normal boring C-Rank! This is a good one, guarantee!' Anko inwardly cheered.

"Iwa?" Naruto frowned in response. "Why do we have to deal with those punks dattebayo? We could just take him all the way home!"

"For various reasons, Naruto. First of all, this was how the client requested the mission: he already sent out the request to Iwa and Konoha months in advance about the missions, so Iwa already has the mission. Second, Iwa is in Tsuchi no Kuni and it only makes sense that they bring the merchant home themselves. Finally, this mission is one of a few ways that I'm hoping can bridge the hostility between Konoha and Iwa. The war ended years ago and it's time that we look past what happened during it." The Sandaime explained the reasoning.

Naruto seemed to accept the reasoning of the Old Man, but he still didn't seem happy. 'Stupid Iwa...'

"So, when exactly is the mission? And who is our client? All we know is that he is just some rich merchant." Shikamaru asked for the group.

"Your mission starts tomorrow. That's the day your client is expected to leave Konoha by. As for who he is, I will have Anko meet with him in his hotel room after we are done here. The rest of you will meet him tomorrow." Sarutobi informed him.

"Um...Hokage-Sama...what about Hinata?" Naruto asked, his voice with concern towards the girl still passed out in his arms.

Sarutobi let out another laugh. "Just inform of the mission and what you will be doing when she wakes up!"

Naruto nodded in response, still looking at his friend.

"If there are no more questions, then the genin are all dismissed!" The Hokage informed them.

Naruto and Shikamaru said goodbye to the Hokage and their sensei before leaving the room, with Naruto carrying the still passed out Hinata. Anko and Sarutobi watched the genin leave, both laughing at the display.

"Oh, those brats. Something about them..." Anko stated in between her laughter.

"You've seen to taken a soft spot to them Anko. Enjoying your time as sensei?" Sarutobi asked cheerfully. He knew he had kind of forced the position of sensei onto the woman, so he was pleased to see that she was actually enjoying it.

"Well...I don't mind it. They aren't bad kids or anything." The snake summoner shrugged.

"No they aren't." The Sandaime nodded in agreement. "Anyway, on to business. Let's go introduce you to your client!"

The Hokage made the hand sign for the Shadow Clone Jutsu and created one clone. The Clone Hokage led Anko out of the room and directed her to where her client was staying. The real Sarutobi remained behind, dealing with the number one nemesis of his entire life: paperwork.

Nine silhouettes stood atop large rocks situated in front of a large statue. Seven of the silhouettes seemed blurry and almost see-through, as if they were not truly present.

"Zetsu, the Jinchuuriki is leaving his village soon, correct?" One of the figures asked in an authoritative voice.

"Yes." Another figure, Zetsu, responded. Unlike the other eight, this figure took the shape of a venus-fly trap. It then changed its voice before speaking again. "Their mission begins tomorrow. He and his team will be heading to Kusa no Kuni towards the Tenchi Bridge, where they are meeting the other village's shinobi."

"Good." The first figure spoke. He then the turned his attention towards two more figures, standing next to each other. "Kakuzu, Nasumareta, I have a mission for you both. As you two are the closest to the bridge, you will engage the Jinchuuriki after they leave the other ninja. Fight him to test his abilities and see where the Jinchuuriki stands. If possible now, try and capture him alive for the extraction. If you can, then try and pin his 'disappearance' on the other shinobi. The Konoha-Iwa feud is infamous, so it won't seem off that something like this happened."

"Understood." One of the figures replied in a bored, uncaring tone of voice. "Anyway, if that's all the orders you have for me, then I'll be on my way. Later!"

With those words, the figure disappeared from view on his rock.

"Didn't even wait for any more orders...that impatient, obnoxious little brat." The figure that was standing next to him hissed under his breath before he turned to face the leader. "My partner is getting me on my nerves. He has been for the past few days. Expect me to need a new partner, as I will probably kill him very soon and turn him in for the bounty Kumo has on his head if he keeps pissing me off with his impatience."

"That'll be the third one Kakuzu." Zetsu replied nonchalantly.

"We can look into that for you Kakuzu, but for now, just work with him and complete your mission. There are no further orders for you." The leader stated. He then turned his attention to Zetsu. "Zetsu, keep track on the other Jinchuuriki. Find out everything you can about them and their current positions."

"Got it!" The plant-figure replied, his voice back to the way it originally was.

"Konan and I will work on recruiting a new member into the organization, a man who claims to be immortal. Perhaps this would be the best suited partner for you Kakuzu?" The leader asked.

"If he pisses me off, I'll find a way to kill him too." Kakuzu responded simply.

The leader seemed to ignore the man's response and turned to the entire group. "As for the rest of you, you have your individual assignments. The meeting is dismissed until Kakuzu and Nasumareta complete their mission."

With those words, all silhouettes disappeared without a trace.