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Chapter 7: Puddle

"Where is the target?" Kakashi questioned over the earpiece.

Currently, Team seven was stalking their prey. "Five meters away," Sasuke answered.

"I'm in position," Mikaela informed them.

"I am too!" Sakura said.

"Me too, 'ttebayo!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Alright, go!" Kakashi ordered.

All four kids lept towards the object they were tracking. That object just happen to be a cat. "Gotcha!" Naruto announced with pride as his arms captured the creature. Then the cat began to ruthlessly claw the blonde's face, "Ow!"

Team Seven was able to return the cat, Tora, to its owner, who began to squish the poor thing to death in a hug. "Hah, that's what you get!" Naruto stuck out his tongue, taunting the cat.

"Alright, next mission for Team Seven, babysitting, gardening, trash collecting..." The Hokage went on.

"Nuh uh, no way!" Naruto crossed his arms in an X formation, "I want a real mission, dattebayo!"

Iruka shouted out reprimations at the boy, and then the Hokage went into a lecture on ninja missions and ranks of those missions. The ranks of ninja are genin, chunin, jounin/ANBU, and Hokage. Genin get D and C ranked missions, chunin receive C and B, and jounin/ANBU get A and S. So far, Team Seven had only gotten to get D ranks, which were little more than chores that no one else in the village wanted to do. "And tomorrow, I'm gonna try some more ramen," Naruto was currently talking about his ramen adventures to the rest of his team.

"Are you even listening?" The Hokage questioned.

"Ah, sorry," Kakashi rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"Whatever! I want a real mission! I'm not the same old brat you think I am! I'm a real ninja now, 'ttebayo!" Naruto ranted.

The Hokage processed his words, then smirked, "Very well then, since you put it that way, I'll give you a C rank. You'll be escorting someone," The Hokage said.

There must be some kind of angle he's playing at, Mikaela thought, though didn't voice her weariness aloud.

"Really!?" Naruto exclaimed, overjoyed, "Who is it? Is it a princess? Or a lord?"

"Bring in our guest," The Hokage commanded.

The door squeaked open to reveal a man in the doorway. He held a bottle of alcohol in hand, and had the gut to prove he drank it, his face was also flushed, showing he was intoxicated. "What, a bunch of brats? Tell me this is a joke, these kids can't be ninja, especially the short one with the stupid look on his face," The man said.

"Huh? Who's the short one with the stupid look on his face?" Naruto asked, looking around, only to find he was the shortest one in the room, "I'll demolish you!" He began to run at the old man, only to be stopped by Kakashi.

"Now, now, we can't demolish the client," The teacher chided.

"Name's Tazuna the Bridge Builder, I expect you to protect me with your lives."

Team Seven all currently stood at the gate to the village. "Woohoo!" Naruto cheered, "Field trip!"

"Is it just me, or do you seem more hyped than usual, Naru?" Mikaela asked, smiling at her friend's energy.

"Well, it's the first time I've been out of the village, dattebayo!" Naruto told her.

"Am I really gonna be safe with this brat?" Tazuna wondered aloud.

"I'm a jounin, so it'll be fine," Kakashi informed him.

"Hey! Listen up! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm gonna be Hokage one day, dattebayo! Then everyone will learn to respect me!" Naruto proclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at the beer guzzling man.

"Hah! You'll be Hokage the same day I sprout wings and fly! Even if you were to become Hokage, I wouldn't respect you one bit!" Tazuna exclaimed.

"I'll demolish you!" Naruto growled again.

Kakashi held the blonde back, "I told you already, no hurting the client."

Time passed, it had been a while since they started walking. Sakura decided to speak up to start a conversation, because it was so quiet. "Kakashi-sensei, are there ninja in the Land of Waves?" The pink haired girl asked.

Kakashi then went on a long spiel about ninjas and the nations, which Mikaela stopped paying attention to because she realized he was just reciting things from textbooks that she already knew. "So, I won't have to worry about fighting any ninja?" Sakura asked at the end of his little lecture.

"Yeah, basically," Kakashi gave Team Seven a smile to ease any nerves they had.

Mikaela was busy thinking about how this mission was going to pay more so she'll have more free money to use as she liked when suddenly a pair of ninja appeared out of nowhere and wrapped Kakashi in chains, then pulled so hard they ripped the man to pieces. For a brief moment, Mikaela was in a state of horrific terror. Wait, human bodies don't splinter. She took a closer look at his remains, it was wood! Mikaela was about to release a sigh of relief when suddenly the two ninja rushed towards them. No time to relax!

Mikaela sprinted at one of the two ninja, Sasuke going for the other. The man made the first move, sending a punch at the girl. She evaded by jumped back just so it wouldn't make contact with her face, then she grabbed onto the arm with her left hand and yanked him to her, and sent a kick to his face with her right leg. He managed to dodge by ducking, but she quickly spun back around and threw another kick to his side, which he didn't have time to block. He collapsed to the ground onto his knees, and using the rest of her momentum, Mikaela hurled a punch to the top of his head, which knocked him out, making him fall like a ragdoll. "Kakashi-sensei! You're alive!" Mikaela heard her teammate Sakura shout out.

The young girl looked back to see her teacher holding an unconscious body of the other ninja that she had left Sasuke to take care of. She also saw Sasuke was standing in front of Sakura, who was standing in front of Tazuna. Naruto was over a few feet away, eyes still wide in shock. "Naruto, I'm sorry, I didn't think you would freeze up like that. Good job, Sasuke, Mikaela. You too Sakura." Kakashi said.

"What's wrong, scaredy cat?" Sasuke taunted the blonde.

"Naruto, they're claws are poisoned, you need to get the poison out as soon as possible, for now, just hold still," Kakashi told him, Naruto's eyes seemed to widen even more at this moment, "And Tazuna, I need to speak with you."

Kakashi began to go on about how he knew the ninja were watching them from the moment he saw a puddle on the ground they were hiding as. And how he didn't kill them at the time because he needed to know who they were after. Kakashi concluded by saying how Tazuna had kept all the facts from the Hokage, and how the mission had turned into a B rank. "Kakashi-sensei, this mission is too advanced for us, we should turn back," Sakura said.

Mikaela was considering the information she was given and what the best course of action would be when suddenly Naruto got out a kunai and plunged it into the back of his hand into his wound, startling everyone. "On this kunai, I swear I will protect the old man, and see through this mission!" Naruto declared.

They all stared for a few moments before Kakashi broke the silence, "Naruto, as cool as that was, if you don't stop the bleeding, you could die of blood loss."

Naruto began to flail around in panic. Mikaela sighed, fishing out a roll of bandages, she walked over to the blonde, "Try to stay still, please," She instructed.

Thankfully, he followed her directions and gave her his hand. While wrapping it up, she saw something strange, the wound was already healing itself. "Kakashi-sensei...?" Mikaela called over her teacher.

He strolled to her, and his visible eye widened at the sight. He gave her a look that said 'I'll explain later' before Naruto said, "Um...is everything alright? You guys look really serious."

Mikaela sent a smile to the blonde, "Everything's fine," And she finished wrapping.