Waiting For Their Orders!

Despite the crackling fire that team seven plus tazuna sat around; the night was silent. They decided to camp out in the forest for the night and wait for word from the hokage. There was five sleeping bags sprawled out around the fire, one for each of them.

Naruto sat cross legged next to kakashi, sasuke and sakura were sitting next to one another on the opposite side of the fire and tazuna was on the right side.

Narutos rinnegan eyes lazily passed over everyone as he let out a sigh, tearing through the eery silence." So..." he squirmed a bit as everyones eyes shifted to him." Tazuna, why don't you tell us about wave?" He looked at the elder man who took a large gulp from the sake bottle he had in his hands.

The man wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and nodded a bit." Well before gato came along and messed everything up, wave used to be a beautiful place." He said." Every morning you could wake up, go outside and smell the fresh seaside air. Now all you can smell is death." He grumbled.

Sakuras shoulders seemed to drop a bit at that. Images of the man she had killed flashed inside her mind and she frowned.

Naruto, seeing her reaction decided to change the topic." What about the land?" He asked quickly." If we do end up continuing this mission then we need to know the landscape." He explained.

Tazuna nodded a bit." Well waves mostly forest, but there are some places that are swamps. You have to be careful when walking trough the forest too as we've lost people in them before. They'd be walking over what seemed to be solid ground when they suddenly fall into quicksand and the likes. Very dangerous if you don't know what to look for." He told them." And since we are on the oceanside, its very common for the place to be covered in mist." He added, almost as an afterthought.

"Well that sucks." Kakashi stated bluntly." The mist is practically home to zabuza and with wave being surrounded by water it makes fighting him even harder since he uses water jutsu." Kakashi explained with a lazy shrug though Naruto could tell that the man was indeed worried, most likely running through plan after plan in his head. Kakashi wasn't called a prodigy for nothing.

"Oh come on kakashi." Naruto lightly slapped the mans arm." Why are you so worried? We've taken on tougher opponents before and walked away mostly unscathed." The blond stated.

Kakashi sighed as he leaned back onto his elbows." Maybe, but its not just us in anbu anymore naruto. We have to think about sakura and sasuke here." He motioned towards the two genin who were paying attention to them." They're fresh out of the academy and they aren't freakishly strong like you." He added.

Naruto lightly huffed." Id protect them with my life and you know that you dumb scarecrow." He crossed his arms over his chest." I know that they are new genin and sakuras still struggling with her first kill-" said girl looked down at the ground with a small frown on her face."- but this could be an amazing learning opportunity for them."

"This would teach them that no matter the rank of a mission you have to stay focused and ready for anything. And itll show them that clients lie sometimes." He sent an irked look over at tazuna who had the decency to blush in shame.

"Look, all we can do is wait for hokage-samas orders now." Kakashi stated with a small sigh." But no matter the outcome, im sure everything will work out in the end." He added in a hopeful tone." Now its time for bed, naruto will take first watch."

"I will?" The blond blinked up at kakashi who had stood up." I mean- sure! Yeah, you all get some rest. Ill keep an eye out for any bad guys." He chuckled sheepishly.

•konoha- same time•

Hiruzen was leaning back in his chair while puffing away on his pipe. He just finished up todays paperwork and was so ready to sleep, but there was one more thing he had to take care of.

He looked up at the figure that was leaning against his office window." So tell me what happened again." He ordered calmly.

The figure stepped forward, showing that it was naruto- or at least a clone of the blond. The clone told the older man what had happened so far on their 'C-rank' mission. After the explanation he waited patiently for the hokages reply.

"Hmm." Hiruzen hummed as he rubbed his chin." What would you like to do naruto?" He asked the clone curiously.

The clone ran a hand through its hair before answering." Personally I think you should allow the boss and team seven to continue with the mission." He stated." From what boss understands from tazuna, waves knee deep in shit and were probably the only ones able to help them out." He explained calmly.

The third idly nodded his head." What about little sasuke and sakura? You said they had their first kills. How are they taking it?" He wondered softly.

The clone sighed softly as he took a seat in one of the chairs that were put out in front of the hokages desk." Well sasukes.. normal." Naruto replied with a frown." He wasn't affected at all when he took his first life, it was slightly unsettling and I think he should get scanned by inochi when they return. Just to be safe ya know?"

The third nodded with a frown. It wasn't uncommon for a shinobi to become a sociopath or a serial killer. Their line of work was very stressful and sometimes when you take to many lives you begin to enjoy it. In fact a small number of his anbu were indeed sociopaths and psychopaths. But there were treatments and training courses for those type of shinobi to ensure that their urges and needs werent taken out on konoha and its people. Instead of locking those people up, they were put through a strenuous training program that would allow them to direct their urges towards the enemies of konoha. It was a bit manipulative but hey, they were shinobi after all.

"What about little sakura?" Hiruzen wondered.

"Shes pretty upset about it." Naruto answered truthfully. " I know this will probably effect her for a few days, maybe a week but I know the boss will do his best to keep her from going down that depressing path." The clone told him with a firm nod.

"Good, make sure naruto does help her. Itd be a shame to lose sakura, she has such a bright future." The clone agreed with Hiruzens words. The clone snapped his fingers and Hiruzen could practically see a light bulb turn on above its head.

"Oh yeah, before I go I wanted to ask a favor old man." He stated with and eye smile. Hiruzen chuckled and motioned for him to continue." Well sakura-chan has probably the best chakra control in the village- not including tsunade mind you- and I know she wants to become a medic nin, do you think you could set something up for her by the time we return? I know itll help her a lot." The clone stated with a small smile.

Hiruzen took a small hit from his pipe and stared at this clone with a raised eyebrow." You know shinobi cant start medical training until they are at least chunnin right?" He questioned with a hint of amusement in his voice.

The clone gave the old man a flat look." You get someone to train her and ill get some of bunta-samas famous sake for you." The clone almost laughed when he saw Hiruzens eyes widen, hell he could practically feel the excitement oozing off the elder kage.

"A whole bottle?" The man asked with slightly narrowed eyes.

The clone chuckled." Two bottles." He replied, sweetening the deal even more.

Hiruzen huffed as he leaned back in his chair." Oh look at this." The man picked up a random piece of paper from his desk and looked at him." This random medical shinobi has suddenly decided to train sakura haruno, what a coincidence.." he tried to sound surprised but failed horribly.

The clone burst out laughing at the man. After a few seconds he calmed down and looked at the third." So what about the mission?" He asked curiously.

"I want you guys to continue with the mission." Hiruzen stated, his attitude slipping back into that of a kages." I want you to assassinate gato as soon as you can, impersonate him and liquidate half of his companies money into konohas budgeting account and give the other half of it to the people of wave." He said." That should suffice for tazuna lying to me." He finished with a nod.

The clone stood up and stretched." Anything else old man?" He asked. Hiruzen shook his head no." Alright then im outta here, gonna go mess with the hyugas for a moment before vanishing, gotta get the boss in trouble somehow ya know?" Hiruzen chuckled as the clone vanished from his office.

"What a brat." Hiruzen laughed to himself. Hell even the anbu hidden around the room were shaking their heads.

•with naruto•

The blond shinobi was sitting crosslegged in front of the fire, poking said fire with a stick. He wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings as he had clones stationed everyone keeping an eye out for him.

He heard the sound of rustling and knew that it was sakura. She had been tossing and turning for the past hour while everyone else was soundly asleep.

He heard her get out of her sleeping bag and walk over to him. He looked up at her as she came closer." Cant sleep?" He asked, even though he already knew the answer to that question.

"No." She replied quietly as she sat on the ground next to him and just stared at the fire.

"Wanna talk about it? I promise im a good listener." He stated with an eye smile.

Sakura looked at glanced at him before looking back at the fire, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips." Its just.." she began." Every time I close my eyes I see that guys face." Her emerald eyes began to glisten with unshed tears." I feel so guilty for killing him.." she whispered softly.

Naruto nodded a bit as he poked the fire." Ya know, I had my first kill when I was six." Sakura looked up at him with surprise clear in her eyes. Naruto didn't look at her though, he just kept poking the fire." It was my first mission really as jiraya-sensei didn't wanna do d-ranks so he trained me for the first few weeks after I became a genin and then we went on our first C-rank.

He wanted to get my first kill out of the way and I agreed with him. I didn't wanna freeze up when and if a future teammate needed me to act you know? Anyways it was supposed to be a small c-rank. A simple bandit wipe which wouldn't be that hard, hell I was with a sannin.

But once we got to the location jiraya-sensei told me to do it alone.." sakura gasped softly." I was very worried and nervous not only because id be doing it alone but because that simple bandit wipe turned out to be way more then I expected. The simple little 'camp' was practically a fucking fortress in the middle of a clearing." He sighed softly as he continued with his story.

"We waited till nightfall and I got in. And I killed all of them. First mission and I brutally murdered over fifty people in the span of three hours.." sakura had silent tears running down her cheeks as she listened to her friend speak." I felt so guilty, but I couldn't mourn yet as when I was going through their things I found a basement. It was filled with women, from ten to forty.. they were sex slaves." Sakura looked a bit horrified at that." After that discovery I felt way less guilty about what I did to those fuckers. 

But once jiraya-sensei and I got them all back to konoha.. I went back to hinatas house in a daze, I still felt that crushing guilt for what I had done and I was literally bathed in blood, bout gave hitome-chan a damn heart attack." They both chuckled softly at that." But when I got there I couldn't help but think ' what if it was hinabi and hinata in those girls places?' and I broke down man, fell into hitome-chans arms bawling my eyes out like a baby. After I was given a rather forceful bath I passed out from exhaustion and i didn't dream, no. Instead I saw the faces of every one I killed that night. But with the support of my precious people I got better.."

Sakura used her hands to wipe the tears from her eyes as she looked at the blond next to her and sniffled." How do you get over it though?" She asked softly.

"No one truly gets over taking another life sakura-chan, unless youre a fucking psycho. But thankfully you arent one. And you just have to find something to make that pain hurt a little less ya know? Me? I do a lot of things like train, write and just hang out with my friends. Kakashi reads those dirty books of his and- the point is, people have their own way of coping." He told her with a small eye smile." All we have to do is find a coping mechanism for you." He added.

Suddenly naruto winced as he received the memories of the clone he had sent to konoha." Oh that little fucker." Naruto muttered darkly.

"What?" Sakura asked with a perplexed look on her face.

"Sorry." He waved her off." I just got the memories of the clone I had sent to konoha." He explained." Kakashi." He called out a little louder than usual.

"Sup." Came the lazy reply of the silver haired jonin who was now standing right next to the blond. Sakura almost jumped out of her skin when he suddenly appeared.

"Kami damnit kakashi-sensei, could you stop doing that!" She huffed angrily.

Naruto ignored the pinkette and looked up at the one eyed man." Got our orders from the old man." He began." He said to continue with the mission. I have to take care of gato and impersonate him until I run his company dry." He explained before his brows furrowed." I also need a place to crash once we return home as my clone decided to prank hitome and the girls." He muttered in an annoyed tone.

• with the clone 15 minutes early•

The clone lazily strolled into the hyuga household and strutted right into the kitchen, making sure to turn on every light he passed. Once in the kitchen he took out a few pans and began to fill two large ones with cold water.

Once done filling them with water he summoned two clones who grabbed a pan full of water each and walked over to the door way, they pushed themselves up against the walls on either side of said door way and waited.

The main clone snickered to himself as he grabbed two other pans and began smacking them into each other, creating a loud noise throughout the entire house.

"Wake up! Wake up! Everyone get out here!" He shouted loudly. He snickered again when he heard a few doors open and the sound of people quickly running towards him.

"Naruto? What are you doing?" Came the tired voice of hitome as she, hiashi, hinata and hinabi entered the kitchen. All of them were still slightly dazed from their sleep.

"Well im a clone of the boss." The main clone stated with a smile." And he wants you all to know that he loves you all very much!" He proclaimed proudly.

"This couldn't wait till morning?" Hiashi asked, slightly annoyed with the blond in front of him.

"Nope, love you guys! Hime-chan, you look adorable and sorry in advance." The clone stated.

"S-sorry for what?" Hinata asked with a slight blush, smoothing out her bunny printed pajamas.

"This, now guys!" He shouted.

Before the family of four could do anything they found themselves drenched in ice cold water. They all let out high pitched screams when the water hit them.

The three clones busted out laughing, two of them even fell to the ground before they were destroyed curtesy of two forks which were expertly thrown by a now pissed off hitome.

The main clone stopped laughing and paled drastically as he was met by four byakugan enhanced glares.

"Was it worth it?" Hinabi asked coldly, holding up a steak knife.

The clone stared blankly at them for a few moments before shrugging his shoulders." I regret nothing in this short life of mine." He stated calmly with a confident nod.

"Good." Hinata replied with furrowed brows." We'll be waiting for you to return home, naruto-kun."

And that's all he heard as he was then impaled by multiple thing of cutlery and silverware. He gave them one last smirk before he went up in smoke.

Suddenly the hyuga family was covered in flour. Each of them blankly looked above them and saw another over turned pan that was hooked up to ropes. They fallowed the ropes until they found the end of it, which would've been directly under the clones foot. 

"Hinata.." hitome spoke coldly.

"Y-yes mother?" Said girl replied.

"I believe its time for you to find a new boyfriend as naruto will suddenly die of mysterious circumstances once he returns home." The mother stated with absolutely certainty as she turned around and walked out of the kitchen, headed for her bath.

"Rest in piece naruto-kun.." hinata muttered softly as she too walked off to get a bath.

•with naruto•

"So anyways!" Naruto spoke to sakura and kakashi." We have our orders now. Sakura, try to get some rest tonight. We have a long day tomorrow and youll need your energy." He gave the girl a small eye smile.

"Alright, goodnight." The pinkette got up and walked towards her sleeping bag, idly waving over her shoulder at them.

Kakashi and naruto looked at the fire with furrowed brows." So, tomorrow we do battle with another S-class then.."

"Yup." Naruto replied with a nod." Ill pray to inari-sama that it goes as well as our usual s-class run ins do yeah?" He added.

"That's all we can do I suppose.." kakashi trailed of as he stared at the fire with a small frown on his masked face.