Mission To Wave Pt. 1

•2 days later•

Naruto  grunted in slight annoyance as the rays of the morning sun peaked through his bedroom window and glared down on his face. He turned his head away from the light and let his eyes slowly open as he began to think about the last two days.

After sending his parents away, naruto had cried for about an hour before he decided that it was time to head home. He also checked in on kurama to see how he was doing and was quite surprised by what he saw.

When he had entered his mindscape the first thing he noticed was kurama. The fox had seemingly doubled in size, and not only that but his fur seemed just a tad bit darker than it used to be. Also, kurama was asleep and snoring. He had yet to wake up too. Maybe getting the other half of your soul and chakra back made one tired? Who knew?

Naruto got out of bed and headed towards the bathroom in order to shower and get around for his day. While in the shower he thought of the date he had taken hinata on yesterday.

He had taken her out to a local BBQ shop that chojis family owned, then he took her out for a nice walk through one of konohas parks before taking her back home. It was a fun day and both he and hinata had enjoyed themselves greatly.

Once done with his shower, naruto dried himself off and brushed his teeth before putting his clothes on. Looking at himself in the mirror, he gave his reflection a small satisfied nod before putting his mask on and leaving the bathroom, idly snatching amaya up from his room and strapping her to his back before he left his apartment and vanished in a swirl of leaves.

• training ground 7•

Kakashi was watching his students spar against one of his shadow clones. He was very proud with how much the two genin had improved in the last few weeks.

Sakura had done the most improving since graduation. She had managed to master both tree climbing and water walking in a short time thanks to her rather small chakra reserves- which they had managed to get up to normal genin reserves- while sasuke was still trying to get water walking down. She had also began to work on a knew taijutsu style that kakashi had managed to find scrolls for. It was a medic nin style that relied on ones ability to dodge blows or jutsu. It was more of a hit and dodge type of taijutsu created for medic nins. One had to be extremely flexible and fast to even began to learn this taijutsu. But since kakashi wasn't a medic nin, he couldn't help her with it. He made a mental note to find a medic nin to help her with it.

Sasukes progress was going well. He had been training his speed and reflexes along with his reaction time. His chakra reserves were easily high genin to low chunin levels and kakashi had been helping the boy with his fire affinity, giving the boy different exercises to do that would help him control his fire jutsus easier. He had begun to wear ankle weights in hopes to one day get his speed up to narutos level, which could possibly take years as naruto had a good six to seven year head start on the uchiha.

Kakashi couldn't really help sasuke with his taijutsu style right now as any further progress required the sharingan- which he hadnt activated yet- but he had been able to teach the boy a few low ranking fire jutsu which calmed the boys frustration.

Kakashi ket off a lazy yawn as naruto appeared right next to him. The blond silently watched the two genin spar against kakashis clone for a few seconds before speaking up." I think its time for a C-rank mission." He stated, cutting right to the point.

Kakashi hummed in thought as he tilted his head a bit." Do you think theyre ready?" He wondered curiously.

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and nodded." Yeah they've been ready. But I don't think we should get a bandit clearing mission, inari-sama only knows how sakura will react to killing a person so soon." Kakashi had to agree. Sakura wasn't a killer, itd take some time to get the girl to do such a thing. Sasuke on the other hand..well he was definitely willing to kill someone.

"What did you have in mind then?" Kakashi asked the boy.

Naruto shrugged." Maybe a simple diplomatic delivery or an escort mission. Nothing to serious, I just wanna get out of the village for a bit." Naruto admitted with a sheepish chuckle.

Kakashi flicked his eye over to the blond." You know you're a jonin right?" He asked in a lazy tone." Why don't you just take a solo mission?" He questioned.

Naruto put his hand over his heart and looked up at kakashi with puppy dog eyes." You wound me big brother. I don't wanna break up team awesome, remember? Eh?" Naruto nudged the grown man in the ribs a few times.

Kakashi let out an amused snort as he looked back towards his students." It sounds way cooler when I say it." He stated as he began to walk over to his student.

Naruto fallowed after the man with an annoyed look on his face." It's a stupid name anyways." He mumbled with a pout.

"Alright that's enough for the day!" Kakashi called out, getting his students attention. His clone gave them a lazy salute before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

"Whats up sensei?" Sakura asked curiously." Oh hi naruto-kun." She greeted her friend with a friendly wave.

"Sup." Naruto replied with a two fingered salute.

"Alright my cute little genin-" said genin scowled at the nickname."- ive decided that instead of doing D-rank missions, today we'll go on our very first c-ranked mission." He stated cheerfully.

Sasuke smirked. This was perfect. He was getting tired of doing those stupid chores one would call D-ranked missions. He wanted something that would truly test his skills and hopefully this C-Rank would do that. He needed strong opponents to fight in order to truly see how far he had come since graduating the academy.

Sakura on the hand was nervous. She was fine with doing D-ranks even though they didn't really challenge her. She was pretty nervous about going on her first C-ranked mission. What if they were attacked and she froze In the heat of battle? Shed not only get herself killed but possibly one of her squad mates.

Seemingly sensing her hesitation, kakashi spoke up." But don't worry guys, we'll be going on a low risk escort mission. Ya know, to get you guys more experience before we deal with greater threats." Kakashi told them. He could see sakuras face go from worried to relieved." Anyways, lets head to the hokages office to pick up a mission." He motioned them to fallow as he began to walk away.

•hokages office•

Hiruzen watched as team 8 left to do another D-ranked mission. He huffed on his pipe and smiled when team seven plus naruto entered the room." Good morning team seven." He greeted in a grandfatherly tone.

Kakashi gave the man a lazy wave, sasuke grunted with a nod, sakura bowed with a 'good morning hokage-sama' while naruto nodded.

"Whats up old man?" The blond asked in s bored tone before he was punched in the back of the head.

" don't disrespect the hokage like that naruto!" Roared sakura.

Hiruzen laughed softly, getting The pinkette to blush in embarrassment." Its quite alright sakura-chan." He told her, getting a happy nod from the girl." So what will it be today? Another D-Rank?" He wondered.

Kakashi stepped forward." Actually hokage-sama." The silver haired man began." I think its time for my team to go on a C-rank." He stated.

Hiruzen raised a curious brow." So soon?" He asked, getting a nod from kakashi." Alright, lets see what we got." He began to go threw a pile of scrolls that were lying on his desk." Hmm no, no, hmm.. ha! This one should be good for your team!" He said happily before throwing the scroll to kakashi, only for naruto to pop up outta nowhere and snatch the scroll out of the air before opening it and reading the contents.

" hmm, escorting a bridge builder back home and protecting him until he finishes the bridge eh?" Naruto summarized the mission info. 

" sounds easy enough." Sasuke shrugged his shoulders.

Naruto rolled the scroll up and threw it over his shoulder to kakashi who fumbled with the scroll before getting a grip on it and glaring at the back of narutos head.

"Lets do it, whos the dude we gotta escort and protect?" Naruto eagerly asked the old kage.

Hiruzen waved his hand and an anbu appeared in front of the desk with his head bowed." Bring tazuna-san in please." He instructed.

The anbu bowed once more before he flickered away. A moment later the office doors open and a man staggered into the room.

He was a little shorter than kakashi with grey hair that was beginning to thin out. He wore glasses over his brown eyes and had a bottle of sake in his left hand.

"Tazuna-san, this is the team that will be escorting you." The third stated as he motioned towards the group.

Tazuna looked at team seven with a scrutinizing stare." I paid for ninja, not a group of brats and a stupid looking scarecrow!" He stated loudly. " especially that stupid looking blond kid." He pointed at naruto.

Narutos brow twitched in annoyance as both sakura and sasuke snickered at him." Whatever you stupid old man." Naruto waved the guy off." I guess I just wont try to hard if we're attacked, maybe they'll kill you hmm?" Naruto shrugged." I still get paid even if you die." He added.

Tazuna sputtered in shock but before he could reply kakashi spoke up." Alright team, meet at the village gates in thirty minutes. Pack enough for a month trip okay?" He ordered.

"Understood sensei!" Sakura replied happily while sasuke just grunted in understanding.

"Alright, everyone except naruto please leave my office." Hiruzen ordered.

Once everyone was gone naruto looked at hiruzen curiously." Whats up old man?" He wondered.

"I wanted to see how you were doing since everything with your parents." The elder man replied with a small frown on his face." And hows kurama feeling?" He added.

Naruto scratched his masked cheek." Ah, everything alright. I actually feel better, knowing that mom and dad really did love me." The blond eye smiled." And as for kurama, well I don't know." He stated sheepishly." Hes been asleep since he became whole again. I think he just needs rest." He explained.

Hiruzen nodded softly." Keep me updated Naruto." He told the boy.

Naruto gave him a lazy salute." Of course old man, see you soon!" Naruto replied before flickering away.

• village gates•

Naruto stood by the village gates as he waited for everyone else to show up. He was excited about the mission, even though it was only a C-rank. He felt like he hadnt been outside of the village in ages.

"Naruto!" He turned around and saw sakura jog up to him, she had a bag strapped to her back which was full of food, clothes and everything shed need for a month long mission.

"Hey sakura-chan, you excited for the mission?" He asked curiously. He watched a frown grace her face.

Sakura rubbed the back of her neck nervously." To be honest im kinda worried." She replied." What if we get attacked and I cant defend us?" She wondered softly as she looked towards her feet.

She looked up when she felt a hand rest itself on her head and was greeted to an eye smiling naruto." Don't worry sakura-chan." He told her as he rubbed the top of her head." Neither kakashi or I would let you get hurt." He stated confidently.

Sakura gave him a big smile." Even sasuke-kun wont let me get hurt right?" She asked cheerfully.

Naruto deadpanned as he let his hand fall back to his side." You never know with sasuke-chan." He stated." He can get so moody sometimes." He added.

The two heard a grunt coming from their left and looked over to see sasuke walking towards them with a bored look on his face, his mother was walking behind him.

"Don't grunt at me mister!" Mikoto cried out." I told you to be safe and come back in one piece." She stated with a wagging finger as she looked away from her son and locked eyes with naruto. Her face instantly brightened." Ah, naruto-chan!" She greeted him." Sasuke didn't tell me youd be going on this mission with them!" She sent a glare towards her son who just shrugged. She looked back at naruto and smiled." Youll make sure he stays alive right naruto-chan?" She asked.

Naruto walked up to her and smiled." Anything for my favorite uchiha!" He replied with an eye smile." Maybe this mission will help dislodge that stick from his as-" he was smacked in the back of the head by a fuming sakura. He chuckled at her." Sorry sorry." He looked back to mikoto." But yeah, your daughter will be brought back to you in one piece." He stated with a nod. He idly took notice of the annoyed look sasuke had sent him for calling him a girl.

Mikoto smiled at him." Thank you. Oh, are you till practicing with your fire style young man?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

Naruto gulped a bit." Y-yes if course!" He answered rather quickly." But I mastered fire style ages ago, along with water and wind." He explained." But im still kinda working on my earth style, but I can use lightning style relatively well, since kakashi taught ne how to use it." He raised a finger." I just need some more lightning jutsu to master and I should be good to go." Naruto finished.

Mikoto nodded in understanding but before she could speak, sakura spoke up." Whats with all these styles?" The pinkette asked curiously. But before mikoto could answer the young girl, a familiar lazy voice spoke up.

"Theres five elements. Earth, wind, fire, lightning and water." Kakashi stated as he walked towards the group with tazuna trailing behind." Every shinobi has an affinity to any of the five elements and with training they can use their elements to attack or defend. But usually you all wouldn't begin to train your elemental affinity until chunin, though its not against the rules to learn as a genin." He explained.

"You said every shinobi has an affinity towards an element." Sasuke spoke up, a curious look on his face." Does that mean we can have an affinity towards more than one element?" He asked.

Kakashi nodded his head." Some shinobi have two affinities but it's extremely uncommon, to have three affinities is extremely rare but has happened before." Kakashi answered.

Sasuke nodded." But what about when I activate my sharingan?" He asked the older ninja." Wont I be able to use all the elements?" He asked.

"Well anyone can use all the elements but its extremely difficult to use- let alone master- an element that you don't have an affinity for. So when you do activate your sharingan and say copy an earth jutsu. If your affinities not earth than using any sort of earth jutsu will be more taxing on your chakra and itll be more difficult to actual complete said jutsu." Kakashi explained to the young uchiha.

"But if that's true than how come naruto can use all the elements?" Sakura asked in confusion as she pointed to said blond who was idly chatting with mikoto.

Kakashi ket out a small sigh. He knew that sasuke would get extremely jealous over this information, but eh. When did he ever care about what other people feel?" Well narutos a special case." The jonin stated." Narutos rinnegan somehow gives him an affinity towards all five elements." Both genins eyes widened at that." Hes the only known person in all of the elemental nations that has an affinity towards all five elements."

Suddenly naruto appeared next to kakashi." I heard my name being said, what's up?" He asked as he looked from kakashi to the two wide eyed genin." Why do they have that dumb look on their faces?" He asked as he pointed at the two, only for sakura to slap his finger away before pointing at him.

"You have an affinity for all five elements?!?" She asked rather loudly.

Naruto scratched his cheek." Oh that, yeah its cool I guess." He answered with a shrug.

"Hey where'd mikoto-sama go? I didn't get to say hi." Kakashi stated, looking around for the female uchiha.

"She left." Naruto answered before walking past everyone." Alright guys, lets go! This mission needs to get completed!" The boy stated as he marched onwards towards wave country, the others quickly began to follow after him.