"Sasuke at point B."
"Sakura at point C."
It was silent for a while before they heard, "Naruto here at point A."
Once again, there was another silence before Sakura screamed, "Hey Hinoka! If you just left in the middle of a mission, I'm going to-"
"You're going to do what, Sakura? I told you after you dragged me here that I was only coming because I couldn't miss seeing you guys wearing those cat ears," Hinoka said as she sat in a tree, reading a book.
"You're so-" before Sakura could finish, Sasuke interrupted her as he whisper-shouted, "The target is on the move!"
"Mission capture lost pet cat 'Tora' complete," Kakashi-sensei announced a few minutes later. "We'll return the cat before submitting our mission report."
While Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi-Sensei went to return the cat to the owner, Hinoka headed off to find something to eat.
"Took you guys long enough," she said, closing the book she was reading.
She winked at Sakura, making her even angrier than she already was.
"That mission was so boring!" Naruto exclaimed as they made their way to the Hokage's office.
"We haven't been ninjas for that long, so, understandably, we haven't gotten higher-ranked missions," Sakura replied, though the annoyance in her voice made it clear she was just as tired of the D-rank missions as Naruto.
Soon enough, they were in the Hokage's office as he showed them a bunch of missions they could take, and of course, all of them were D-rank.
"No! No, thank you! As for me, I want to do, like, a more exciting mission! Give us something else!" Naruto yelled, interrupting the Hokage.
Iruka-sensei glared at Naruto as he exclaimed, "You fool! You're still a bottom rookie! At the start, everyone moves up the ladder by gaining experience."
Just as Naruto was about to continue arguing, Kakashi-sensei hit him on the head before smiling apologetically. "Sorry, please go on."
The Third Hokage then went on to explain, but at some point, Hinoka couldn't take it anymore.
She pulled out the dorayaki she had bought as she nudged Naruto, handing him one.
"You guys shouldn't be eating here," Sakura whispered as she nervously glanced between them and the Hokage to see if he had seen them yet.
"It's fine," Hinoka whispered, handing her one.
She looked hesitant before taking it, clearly hungry from all the running. "I guess I earned a treat," she muttered to herself.
Sasuke shot them a look that clearly said, 'Seriously?'
But she simply passed Naruto a dorayaki to give to Sasuke.
Naruto gasped, remembering something as he began, "That reminds me of the time–"
Before they knew it, they had completely forgotten where they were and were eating while Naruto talked. Even Kakashi-sensei was listening to Naruto.
The Hokage cleared his throat, and they all instinctively hid their food, turning back to him.
"Sorry," Kakashi-sensei said once again.
"Old man, you always lecture me! But I'm not that little prankster that you think I am anymore! I want some real mission to do!" Naruto exclaimed.
The Hokage sighed, finally caving in. "Okay, fine, if you insist... I'll have you do a C-rank mission. You'll be bodyguards for someone."
"Really! Who? Who? A feudal lord?! Or a princess?!"
"Don't be so hasty. I'll introduce you now. Could you please come in?"
They all turned to the door, and an old, drunk man with white hair wearing spectacles walked in.
As soon as he saw them, his expression turned sour as he asked, "What's this? Are you sure these brats can protect me, particularly the small one with the idiot face? Are you really a ninja?"
Naruto burst out laughing as he asked, "Who's the smallest one with the idiot face he's talking about?"
They all stepped closer to him, and he looked around, beginning to understand. "I'll kill him!" Naruto exclaimed, lunging towards the old man.
"What good will it do to kill the man you're supposed to be guarding, you moron?!" Kakashi-sensei exclaimed, grabbing his collar before he could get far.
Hinoka smiled as she asked, "Hey, old man, do you really want to provoke the people who are protecting you? I mean, it's not really a smart choice. Like, for instance, what if I suddenly don't feel like protecting you and just happen to be just a second too late to save you, and then boom!"
She appeared behind him, spooking him.
He let out a scream as Hinoka couldn't contain her laughter and burst out laughing. Naruto joined in, completely forgetting he was angry.
"Hinoka! He… he's an old man; that's not funny. He could've—he could've had a heart attack," Sakura said, desperately trying not to laugh.
"S-she's joking, right?" he asked, turning to Kakashi-sensei, completely focused on the wrong thing.
Kakashi-sensei let out an exhausted sigh before turning to Hinoka. "Hinoka, you can't threaten our clients or intentionally be too slow to save them; remember he's paying us."
"Yeah, yeah."
They found out the old man was called Tazuna and was a veteran bridge builder. They had to guard him till he reached his land and completed his bridge.
Not long after, they set off on their journey.
***Hinoka's POV***
Kakashi-sensei was explaining something when suddenly I felt another chakra.
I glanced around, not spotting anyone.
"Sasuke," I said, grabbing onto his arm, "do you–"
Before I could finish my sentence, two ninjas ambushed us from behind, suddenly wrapping Kakashi-sensei with sharp chains, cutting his body into pieces.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed as his whole body began trembling with fear.
The two ninjas were suddenly behind Naruto, but before they could wrap their chains around him, Sasuke threw a kunai and shuriken, jamming the chains to a tree.
He kicked the two, and their chains came off.
And without missing a beat, they went in two different directions.
I forced myself to concentrate as I looked at Sasuke, and we both nodded. There was no time to think about it the fact that Kakashi-sensei was...
I lunged towards one of them, cutting them off.
As they aimed their claw towards me, I slightly leaned back, dodging it.
I continued to dodge and block attack after attack, trying to find an opening before finally managing to kick them in the face, sending them flying back a few inches.
I glanced back, and my blood ran cold as the other one was heading straight towards Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna.
'Concentrate, Hinoka!' a voice suddenly exclaimed.
'Damit!' I thought to myself as I turned my attention back to my opponent, who was inches away from landing a critical hit on me. There was no way I'd be able to dodge in time!
Suddenly, they disappeared.
I whipped around just in time to see Kakashi-sensei stop the other one. Both ninjas were knocked out in his arms.
"Seriously, sensei, couldn't have done that sooner," I asked, letting out a sigh of relief, he was alive.
But why did he fake his death?
"These are Chunin from the Village Hidden in the Mist, known for continuing to fight no matter the sacrifice," Kakashi-sensei explained.
"Knowing that, why'd you leave it to the kids to fight?" Tazuna asked.
"If I felt like it, I could kill these guys instantly. But I had to know who the target of these enemies was."
"What do you mean?"
"In other words, I needed to know who was being targeted, you or a fellow shinobi. The request was initially for protection from gangs and thieves, not ninjas. If we had known the enemies were ninjas, it would have been a B rank or higher-ranked mission. We expected to protect you until your bridge was built, but the misinformation is a concern. This goes beyond our mission scope."
Tazuna froze.
The fear in his eyes was as clear as day.
He had the look of someone who had just been caught, someone whose entire plan had just come crumbling down.