After the mission to clean up the Uchiha district, the team didn't feel like complaining for a few days, mostly because Sasuke was clearly down, and that brought the mood down for everyone.
Despite not being a real mission, the type of exciting one they had all hoped for, this mission had at the very least brought their team a little closer together.
Because it allowed Naruto and Sakura to learn a bit more about Sasuke, and to understand the weight behind his clan name.
While everyone in the village knew about the Uchiha massacre, it was hard to really understand what that meant, more so for children who didn't fully know what the Uchiha had represented.
Adults might notice a drop in business, they might feel the lack of the Uchiha police force, but children?
They might at most notice that one of their classmates at the academy disappeared.
It wasn't until Naruto and Sakura had to weed out every little garden and wash the windows of every house that they finally got an understanding of just how many people had died that day.
Even a full day wasn't enough to clean and weed every house in the district, and if each house represented a family... even Naruto, who didn't do the math, understood that Sasuke once had a massive family.
As for Sakura, who did some quick mental math? She was no less weighed down by the understanding of what had once happened here.
This wasn't a few dozen people; it wasn't even hundreds. No, this was a tragedy where thousands of people had died.
Even though she didn't know those people, just knowing that so many people, people from her own village, had died was hard to stomach.
But in the end, nothing lasts forever, and with a few more days of pointless, worthless missions, Naruto once more snapped.
"That's enough!" he shouted, his face covered in scratches after they once again caught that demon cat, and once again Naruto had felt its wrath.
"If I have to catch that stupid cat one more time, I swear I will beat it up until it runs back to that fat woman every time it sees me!" he roared.
"Alright, alright, I hear you," Kakashi said, clearly a little bit tired of Naruto's complaining. "I'll see if I can get us a better mission."
"You said that last time, Sensei," Sakura shot back. "And you gave us another mission that was just as bad."
"Alright, you got me there," Kakashi said with a sigh. "But this one will be better, I promise."
He didn't get them a new mission the next day; he got them one a week later.
He said he was busy, but none of them believed him, as they saw him plenty of times in the village, just reading his book.
But today, he had a new mission for them.
They gathered at the Konoha gates, and for once, he was only an hour late, not three.
"So, what's the mission?" Naruto asked, all excited now that they were finally getting a real mission.
"This is a C-rank mission," Kakashi said. "You are to escort a bridge builder back to his home in the Land of Waves."
"Bridge builder? That doesn't sound very exciting," Naruto complained.
"It's better than weeding," Sasuke said, not wanting to give Kakashi a reason to cancel the mission.
He had known about D-rank missions, but he hadn't realized just how bad they would be, how massive a waste of time.
It was even worse than when he was back at the academy; he got far less training done. The only reason he hadn't snapped himself was that he had quickly figured out that he could have Naruto use the Shadow Clone Jutsu to speed things up.
He really was enviable, being able to make that many, but even Aiko didn't allow Sasuke to learn the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu, saying he didn't have enough chakra for it yet.
Being a Jinchūriki truly was unfair.
Not that he entirely envied Naruto for that, because every mission just served to reinforce how much the people of the village hated his dumb blond teammate.
The looks, the whispers, those weren't even the worst. No, plenty of people didn't even bother to whisper; they made their displeasure known, cursing the blond to his face until even Sakura felt bad for him.
The fact that Naruto hadn't snapped and buried his kunai in their eye socket was something Sasuke found impressive, because he knew that if that happened to him, he would have to spend a lot of time cleaning up evidence and hiding bodies.
Even Sasuke, for all the elite training he had been given, could never know that the reason they were finally allowed to move on was because Kakashi had seen their progress.
Not in shinobi skill, not even in teamwork, though they had made plenty there.
No, the progress he cared about was the progress they had made in understanding one another.
Kakashi was worthy of being one of Konoha's best. A former ANBU captain, he had long since seen all the signs.
Sasuke's arrogance.
Sakura's ignorance.
Naruto's loneliness.
All three of them had their own problems; they could work together only because Sasuke was smart enough to make it happen. They had the potential, but they still hadn't been a team.
Now, however, after confronting the way Naruto was treated and seeing Sasuke's past, he had allowed them to understand one another far better, and that was why he finally allowed them to move on to real missions.
After all, with Sasuke's skill and Naruto's multiple shadow clones, those two had been worthy of taking on real C-rank missions since the day he first tested them.
But to Kakashi, skill didn't matter; what mattered was teamwork, because even the most skilled, even the best shinobi in the world, could fall if alone.
His father had been like that.
His sensei had been like that.
His own team had suffered from a lack of understanding.
So he wouldn't let it happen to this team.
Not to his sensei's son, and not to one of the last members of Obito's clan.
"Alright, you don't all have to suddenly go quiet like that... It's creepy," Naruto said as he noticed everyone else had lost themselves in their thoughts.
"Baka Naruto, can't you see they are getting ready for the mission?" Sakura cursed, though after weeks together, it was without any hostility.
"Naruto, do try to take this seriously," Kakashi sighed. "While this is still a C-rank mission, it will be our first mission outside the village, and even a C-rank can become a B-rank or even an A-rank if things go wrong."
He didn't mention the fact that he had only accepted this mission because he had looked into their client and found no signs of trouble.
He wasn't an idiot; he knew that while they appeared to be a normal team, it was anything but that. The politics involved with this team were far beyond anything any of the other teams touched upon.
Safety was the most important thing. Nothing could happen to Naruto, nor to Sasuke, so he picked a mission where they were unlikely to even encounter any combat at all.
Much less other shinobi.
"Wow, A-rank! This will be great!" Naruto cheered as he bounced on the balls of his feet, already imagining a grand battle where he would be the hero.
Sasuke could only shake his head, but he had to admit that he too was looking forward to this mission. He had never been outside the village before, at least not as far as he could remember.
Even Sakura, despite her fangirl nature, was excited to see something new.
"I'm here, sorry I'm late," a new, gruff voice said from behind them.
Naruto instantly got annoyed. "What's with you people and being late? There is Kakashi, who is always late, and now you, a bridge builder, are also late!"
Sasuke didn't bother to look; he wasn't the one in charge here. So he didn't care.
The bridge builder was an old man, with a small bottle of sake in one hand and a large bag in the other. He wore a simple worker's outfit, covered in a few spots by sawdust.
He looked the three of them over, not looking all that impressed with them. "Huh? These are the shinobi who are supposed to escort me? They look like a bunch of brats to me, especially the short one with the whisker marks."
This caused Naruto to instantly get angry. "Who are you calling a shorty?"
"I'm calling you a shorty, you little brat!"
"I'll show you a little brat!" Naruto yelled, as he started to charge at the old man.
But before he could do anything, Kakashi stepped in between them, putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Naruto, stop."
"He started it!" Naruto protested.
"I don't care who started it," Kakashi said, his tone firm. "You are a shinobi now, and you have to act like one. Now, calm down."
Naruto didn't want to, but he knew better than to argue with Kakashi when he used that tone, so he just stood there, fuming.
Sasuke watched the exchange, a small, almost invisible smirk on his face. While he wouldn't have snapped like Naruto did, he had to admit that the old man's words had been insulting.
Even more so since he wasn't all that tall himself, and that was before considering the fact that the man would be entrusting his safety to them.
Should something go wrong on this mission, they would lose out on the pay and, at most, get a bad mark on their records.
But for him?
He wouldn't survive that kind of accident.
Sasuke had read enough old stories and notes from the Uchiha clan's archives to know that many an arrogant client had met an unfortunate end at the hands of the shinobi paid to protect them.
These days, even the most arrogant noble would be somewhat kind to the team's Jōnin. After all, if he decided the mission wasn't worth the pay, they would be the ones suffering, and as for reporting the shinobi in question?
They would have to survive first.
This old, drunk man, however, clearly knew none of these unspoken rules when dealing with shinobi.
"You're the client, Tazuna-san, right?" Kakashi asked, ignoring the little outburst.
"Indeed, I am," Tazuna said, taking a swig from his bottle of sake. "And you are the shinobi who are supposed to escort me back to the Land of Waves."
"Yes, we are," Kakashi said. "Now, if you're ready, we can get going."
"I'm ready," Tazuna said. "Let's get this over with. I have a bridge to build."
He didn't wait for a response, as he started to walk, forcing the four of them to follow along.
(End of chapter)
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