Endless (a naruto fan fiction)

Part 16 The mission

I didn't sleep that night. I couldn't, there would have been nightmares. Plus I had too much to think about.

The next morning, Kakashi had called us to do some lame cat mission and a bunch of other chores, but I could tell Naruto was getting irritated. When we went back to report to the hokage about our mission, Naruto completely went off.

"Ugh! I'm sick of the stupid missions we've been getting. I'm a ninja now, not just some snot nosed brat! I want a real mission!"

Iruka sensei started lecturing Naruto about how you work your way up the chain, but the hokage quickly settled things down.

"Fine. I'll give you a C-rank mission. You're going to be escorts."

"Yes!" Naruto yelled excitedly "Who are we gonna escort? A princess? A king?"

All of the sudden, a drunk man burst through the door, teetering his way over to our group. "These brats are going to take me home?! They're just incapable kids, especially the short one with the stupid look on his face."

"He he, I wonder who he's talking about." Naruto said stupidly. By height, Sauske was tallest. Then sakura, then Naruto, then me. Realizing something, Naruto gasped. "Rin, you're just going to let him call you out like that?"

*sigh* "Naruto, he said his. Would he say 'his' if he were talking about me?"

"But then-" Naruto's face changed from a look of confusion to understanding to anger. He must have gotten that the drunk man meant him. "Hey! You're gonna pay for that."

"Naruto!" The hokage said "You were hired to protect Tazuna, not to beat him up! Now you will escort Tazuna back to the land of waves so that he can finish a bridge connecting it to the main land. Understand?"

They continued their conversation, but I got bored and zoned out until I heard that we were leaving in an hour. And that means that I'll miss my date with Kiba.

We're dismissed and I almost leave to find Kiba, but Naruto talks to me.

"Aren't you coming home to pack?"

"Actually, Naruto, could you do that? I'll meet you at the gate. Just pack" I gesture to my outfit "this. I have, like, nine of them at home."

"Where are you going?"

"Oh, you know, here and there" I tease. I leave before he can say anything else. Ever since I was kidnapped, he hates not knowing where I am, so I know this'll irritate him. I smile just thinking about how he'll freak out.

Kiba is at home again. I land on his window and Akamaru greets me, signaling Kiba.

"Hey" Kiba says, looking up from a book about dogs "I thought our date wasn't until tomorrow."

"It's not, but I have to go on a mission. I leave in half an hour, and it sounds like I won't be back for a while..."

"Oh" he says, and looks a little disappointed. "So then I guess the date-"

"Will be right when I get back. And I'm counting on it, so be ready."

He smiles at my weak attempt at humor, but it's clear he gets that I still want to have a date.

"Well, I've gotta grab something and get to the gate. I'll see you when I get back."

I jump outside and go to my house. Naruto's already gone, but Jynx was happy to greet me when I came in. I quick grab her and head out the door.

I've decided to make Jynx my partner, like Kiba and Akamaru, but to do that, I'll have to train her. And it'll take a lot more work to train a cat. Either way, Jynx seems willing enough.

I get to the gate, where everyone's already waiting.

"Finally! Could you have taken any longer, brat?" Tazuna shouts at me. I'll take this opportunity to have a little fun.

"Do you know how long it would take for me to cut your throat? 2.13 seconds. Stabbing your heart would only take half the time. Cutting you just enough to make you bleed out would be a whopping 27.88 seconds, if the cuts were a quarter-inch deep. A kunai to the brain would be nearly three seconds. The list goes on and on. If you want, I'll show you how fast I can be."

By the time I had finished, he was at least 5-feet further from me, and had a look of fear plastered on his face. I assume he caught my drift and just to confuse him, I gave him my sweetest, most innocent smile.

I guess he won't be insulting me anymore any time soon.

We begin walking, but not even two hours from the gate, there's a puddle. The ground is dry from lack of rain, so why is there a puddle? It's a poorly done ambush, so to mock whoever set it up, I make a big splash in it.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled "what was that for, Rin? You got me we-"

He was interrupted by a man's voice. "Ow. Kid, you just pissed off the wrong guy."

Kakashi was cut in half, a guy grabbed my leg and held me up by it, and the guy who killed Kakashi ran after Naruto.

I kicked the ninja who had me's face with my free leg, but it seemed to have no effect. "That hurt, bitch" he said, stone faced. He swung at my throat, but something knocked him over, causing him to miss and hit my arm. Still, it hurt like hell.

I looked over to see sauske fighting the ninja who had been holding me. He must've been what had made the ninja drop me. I saw the other ninja charging at Tazuna, so I ignored the pain in my arm and made some hand signs.

"Dark world jutsu." I whispered. The ground surrounding the ninja turned black and he stopped running. A tear ran down his face as he stared into space.

"What did you do to him?" Sakura asked.

"That's my Dark world jutsu. It's a jutsu that concentrates all the pain in an area of the world I've been to and transfers it to the victim."

"Where did you get the pain he's feeling?"

"..." It's from orochimaru's hideout. The first time I used the jutsu was by mistake, actually. I was trying to make my pain leave me and flow into the earth, but I ended up reversing the effect. Thing is, it only works on people who can't handle pain.

Although I didn't respond to her, sakura seemed to get it. "I see." She responded simply.

I nodded gratefully and tied up the ninja, setting him next to the other one.

"Okay, kakashi sensei" I yell "You can come out now."

Sure enough, he poofs next to me. I knew he wasn't dead. I saw that attack coming and I'm a Genin. If he had died, I would've been disappointed in his ability.

"K-kakashi sensei, you're alive!" Sakura squeels.

"Hehe, sorry but I had to check a few things, like if it was us or Tazuna they were after." He began questioning Tazuna who explained how Gato was after him and everything.

Then Kakashi tried to make us go back but we ended up continuing the mission. Sauske made fun of Naruto for being too scared to move when the ninja attacked, and, after hearing that he was poisoned, stabbed his hand, made a promise, and almost bled to death.

"You're hurt, too" sauske said to me after all that.

"I'm fine."

"You could be poisoned."

"I said I'm fine." I repeated, but before I could even finish, I dropped to my knees and started breathing heavily. Black dots speckled the edges of my vision.

"Rin-chan!" Naruto came running to my side. "Kakashi-sensei do something!"

"Summoning Jutsu!" Kakashi shouted, and a big brown dog appeared at his side.

"Bull, I need you to take Rin to the village and report back."

"I said I'm fine, kakashi! I don't need to go-" I nearly fainted for a moment, but I forced myself to stay awake. I don't need a damn hospital. I want to protect everyone on this mission, and I can't do that if I don't go. What I need is to protect Naruto.

"Rin" naruto said. I looked up harshly at him, but I settled down after seeing his soft eyes. "Please. Go back and get help." I reluctantly nodded and crawled onto Bulls' back.