Mission to the Land of Waves - 2

The following day, Naruto and Gaara had an uncharacteristic interest in how Haku's attempted date had gone as they painted a fence for their first D-rank mission. They were very amused with how it turned out.

"It was awkward, but still enjoyable I think," Haku paused mid-stroke, "But then, we decided to train with senbon and it was..."

"What? Did you poke her eye out or something?" Naruto had a healthy fear of needles after Haku's demonstration on him the day before.

"No, her teammates, they..."

"What about them?" Gaara prompted.

"It seemed that Neji had been training with Lee while we were gone...quite thoroughly," Haku frowned to himself, not sure if he could call the crumpled mess that was Lee an object of actual training, "Tenten was upset about it."

Naruto squinted his eyes, "Well, maybe he was jealous."

The dark haired boy looked to him, completely puzzled, "Jealous? Why?"

"From how you described Lee he seems to be too lively," Gaara suggested, siding with Naruto, "You removed Tenten from their squad, which caused a..." He searched for a description, "Violent imbalance."

"So he probably just went off on the poor guy," Naruto nodded to himself, "You know, just to vent some steam."

"I wouldn't take Neji to really be the jealous-type," Haku admitted, continuing his painting, "He didn't seem bothered when I came looking for Tenten."

Gaara seemed to be deep in thought, "I wonder how much he has improved..."

Naruto looked lost, "Who?"

"Neji," Haku clarified, still up to speed, "Yes, maybe we should train together someday, to test our skills."

"Even after what he did to Lee?" Naruto had somehow become the voice of reason during the conversation.

There was a silence between Gaara and Haku, before Haku spoke quietly, "Maybe it would be better if we just stayed friends. I don't want to cause any problems for Tenten's team."

"It seems to be a little late for that." Gaara pointed out.

"Are you done over there yet?" Jiraiya's voice rang out from the top of a nearby brick wall, where he was beginning work on another one of his novels, "The guy in that yard keeps yapping at you three and it's disturbing my work!"

Naruto threw his paintbrush at the sennin's head, missing him by inches, "It wouldn't take so damn long if you were down here helping us Ero-sennin!"

"I'm busy."

Haku observed an old, toothless man on the opposite side of the fence that they had been painting a bright white for the past fifteen minutes. He seemed inordinately distressed, but his incessant chatter made no sense at all.

The water manipulator paused and watched as Naruto scrambled angrily over to Jiraiya's spot to retrieve his brush. Gaara continued his work while glaring impassively at the fence.

It occurred to him that something was indeed amiss. He quickly realized what the problem was but feared to speak about it.

"What's wrong?" Gaara's voice was monotone against the arguing going on between Naruto and their lazy mentor.

"Well it seems that there's been a mistake..." Haku sighed, though Gaara wasn't much deferred in his work.

"Get up off your ass, old man!" Naruto was tired of trying to motivate the pervert, "You should be helping too! This place is freaking huge!"

"Jiraiya-sensei!"

The toad hermit responded to Haku's partially urgent voice and looked down to him, "What now, Haku?"

Naruto huffed, not pleased that he was so easily ignored.

"Sensei, the man who lives here, I do believe he's been trying to tell us that there's been a mix up," Haku indicated the old man that they had been ignoring.

"Like what?" Jiraiya still didn't seem very interested.

"That we are painting the wrong fence," Gaara answered gruffly, nodding his head in the direction of another fence across the street that looked to be in desperate need of a new coat of paint.

The blonde hurled his brush again in frustration, "Great! Our first mission and we screwed up! Maybe if you were paying attention, Ero-sennin, we wouldn't have wasted our time!"

Still, the sage didn't seem bothered, "It's not my fault you guys got the address wrong."

Naruto and Gaara looked murderous, while Haku seemed more mildly upset that their laboring had all been a waste.

The drab fence was actually starting to look good, apart from some spots that Naruto had missed during his enthusiastic strokes.

The sennin smirked at them, "What's the problem? You've done that ancient buzzard down there a favor. Just paint both fences if your panties are in such a knot."

"We don't wear panties you sick bastard!" Naruto was deeply offended, but his friends were once again more level-headed.

Gaara and Haku had moved along to the opposite side of the empty road, preparing for another round of delightful, menial labor.

"Screw this!" Naruto leapt down from the wall while quickly forming seals, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Twenty clones attacked the correct unpainted fence with replicated paint brushes, again reminding Gaara and Haku what a surprisingly helpful talent it was. Jiraiya merely flipped a page and sighed, wondering how he had survived all those years ago after training his first genin team.

*

Two weeks and 26 D-rank missions later for Squad 2, it was another ordinary, sunny day in Konoha.

"Where the hell is Ero-sensei?" Naruto sat on a stump in the field that they had begun using for their training.

Gaara stood quietly with his arms crossed. A deep frown graced his face.

"He was supposed to be here nearly an hour ago," Haku also found it unusual for the sage to be late, simply because he never had been until that point, "Maybe we should speak to Hokage-sama and accept a mission without him?"

"We don't really need Jiraiya-sensei's help when walking dogs." Gaara agreed irritably.

"Maybe he's just peeping again," Naruto yawned, "He's so in love with his new book, he hasn't even bothered to show us a new jutsu yet!"

It was another fact that bothered them all deeply.

After a short trip to the Hokage's office the three genin waited for The Third to acknowledge their presence.

"Is there any trouble?" The Hokage asked, noting their peeved looks as he took a drag on his pipe.

"Not unless you count the fact that Ero-sensei's gone missing," Naruto answered shortly, "We even checked around the girl's locker rooms! Where the heck did he go?"

The Sandaime sighed, already aware of the situation, "That's right. I apologize for not giving you an earlier notification. I'm afraid you'll be without your instructor for a short while..."

Haku was alarmed, "You know where he is Hokage-sama? Is he alright?"

'Maybe he was useful for once and offered to go on a high-ranked mission...' Gaara speculated, giving him far more credit than he should have.

"He's...alive and well," The Hokage answered, and Naruto looked somewhat annoyed at the news, "Your sensei was arrested late last night actually, for..." He riffled through a pile of papers and read aloud the charges, "One count of trespassing and two counts of harassment." The blonde snorted again, knowing what that meant, "No one has posted bail as of yet. I believe he'll be performing community service once he is released."

"Typical." Gaara was to say, rightfully humiliated that the sennin couldn't pull himself together for his students when it came to his 'research.' Apparently it did get him into trouble once in a while.

"Will we still have missions?" Haku wore a pained look equivalent to being punched in the face.

To their relief, the Hokage nodded, "Yes. Although you will need a substitute for the time being."

As if on cue, the aforementioned substitute arrived.

"You asked for me, Hokage-sama?" A young woman with fierce brown eyes and clad in an overcoat entered the office without knocking, and bumped into Haku on her way in.

"Come in, Anko." The Sandaime turned back to the members of Squad 2, "As I was saying, you are required to have a stand-in instructor until Jiraiya is...fit to return. Since Anko here is the only available jounin at this time she will oversee your missions with you."

The three boys observed the kunoichi who was assigned as their instructor, each with their own unique perspective. Naruto frowned, 'We don't need some weird lady to tell us what to do!'

Anko gave each of the boys a once-over glance, "So I've gotta babysit these maggots huh, Hokage-sama?" She looked amused at Naruto and Haku's offended faces, "How long do you think this will take?"

Hiruzen took another drag, "I can't honestly tell you how long this position will be yours, Anko. At least until Jiraiya is processed, sentenced and then approved to return to work."

She shrugged and Gaara gave her a questioning look, 'Maggots?'

"Why do we have to have some ugly hag to tell us what to do?" Naruto complained and Anko didn't seem very bothered by his description of her at all, "Ero-sennin never helped out anyway, so what's the big deal?"

"Hey, I'm not gonna sit around and watch you three newbies shovel horse shit and scrub walls..." Anko was just as disdainful as Naruto at the moment, "Tell me we can at least have a C-rank mission Hokage-sama! Something interesting? Aren't they about ready for one?"

'She whines more than Jiraiya-sensei...' Haku shuddered.

There was a moment of thought as the Hokage considered the request, again riffling irritably through the scrolls on his crowded desk, "Hm, Squad 2 has completed 26 D-rank missions so far..."

Naruto and Haku were on edge; a long-awaited C-rank mission? It was something they had constantly been asking Jiraiya about during their first week, which he had forcibly argued as: "Too dangerous for you genin brats! Now shut up! You're distracting me!"

Anko frowned, "Psh! 26? That's good! So what do you say, Hokage-sama? I mean, they're with me for cripes sake!"

'Her method of persuasion is...straightforward...' Haku thought to himself, finding that he was slightly intimidated by her forceful personality.

"Yeah!" Naruto decided to lend his voice, "We're ready Hokage-sama!"

"Very well," Hiruzen felt Anko had a point, "A simple C-level mission is still open. I suppose you can have it if you insist on the matter."

Gaara smirked at their good fortune. Jiraiya was too lazy to even consider taking them on a higher rank mission so early on.

Naruto's opinion of Anko had done a complete 180, 'She got us a C-rank mission! This lady is awesome!'

Anko looked pleased with herself and the expressions on the genins' faces.

"You will be guarding a man named Tazuna, a master bridge builder, as you escort him back to the Land of Waves," the Hokage said simply, "This trip should only take a few days at the most," He eyed the boys, "So I expect you'll all put your best effort in for this mission."

"You got it Hokage-sama!" Naruto then turned to his teammates, "This is great! Our first C-rank!"

Anko nodded, understanding the details of the mission.

"Tazuna, I expect, is waiting outside," The Third finished, "Go meet him and leave immediately."