Chapter Text
In the Hokage's office stood Team 6, consisting of Namikaze Miwa, who was wearing a light green, racerback tank top over a mesh shirt, loose, dark green, pants that reach halfway down her calf and knee-high shinobi sandals that cover the pants' hemline. She had her forehead protector around her left arm on a standard, blue, band. Namikaze Mizuko, wearing a light blue, V-Neck Criss-Cross Yoga Tank Top, blue shinobi pants and blue shinobi sandal with her Hitai-ate tied around her forehead on a sea-green band and Kurama Isamu, who was wearing black shinobi pants and a black shirt with sleeves that reach just past his elbows, standard, black, shinobi sandals and had his Hitai-ate wrapped around his right thigh. He also had a tantō with a brown blade on his back as a memento of his uncle who had recently died on a mission.
Their temporary jōnin-sensei, Kurosawa Amayah, a kunoichi with pale blue eyes and black hair that reaches halfway down her back and is tied off of her face with her Hitai-ate that she was wearing like a hairband temporary, was standing to their right, wearing a red version of the standard Konoha Jounin uniform, taking over for Inuzuka Hana while she was busy looking after some sick dogs in the Inuzuka Kennels.
Isamu, fed up with the 'missions' that they had been receiving, demanded, "Hey! I'm sick of these bullshit 'missions' that you've been giving us! I want a harder mission."
Minato, seeing his daughters giving him the 'puppy dog eyes', turned to Iruka and said, "hmm...what do you think Iruka?"
"Well...honestly, I don't know...They are only Genin after all, so maybe it would be a good idea to hold off on giving them ha..."
Mizuko said, "Hey, Aniki got given a C-Rank right off the bat. It's been two months now and the hardest 'mission' we've got is trying to catch that damned cat Tora."
Minato thought, 'so, Mizuko-chan wants to try to step out of the shadows and into the light does she?' "Okay, that's two of you, what about you Miwa-chan?"
"I think that it is about time that you acknowledge my strength, Jifu."
Minato sighed and asked, "Tell you what, if Mizuko can respectfully say, 'can we please have a higher ranked mission Hokage-sama', I'll give you your mission."
Isamu and her sister stared intensely at Mizuko who, after sweating up a storm, failing to think of a way out of saying it, sighed and said, "Fine, can we pretty please, with a cherry on top, have a higher ranked mission O illustrious Hokage-sama?"
While Isamu and Miwa fell on the floor, Iruka and Amayah had a sweatdrop appear on the side of their head as Minato looked at Iruka and said, "Well, it was worth a shot." Mizuko just stood there grinning a foxy grin at her father, who continued speaking, "Alright you three, you're in luck, a mission just got in that I think would be ideal for you three." He then shouted, "Haruka, send the client in!"
Thirty seconds later the client, an old man that smelled of sake, entered the room. Looking around he said, "well, isn't this a slovenly bunch?"
Mizuko shouted, "Hey! We're not rocks!" Question marks seemed to appear around Tazuna's head as he stared at the young, light blue haired girl, who asked, "Speak up Jiji, is there something on my face? Because I swear, I washed my face after my twelfth bowl of ramen!"
"Huh?"
Miwa, getting up, said, "Yeah, but then you had another fifteen Mizuko! And there's nothing wrong with your face. That Ossan said 'slovenly', it means 'really laid back'."
"Oh!" Mizuko said, bringing her index finger of her left hand up to her mouth, "I get it now, because you two were lying on the floor."
Tazuna looked at Miwa and said, "your friend is really rather slow on the uptake, isn't she?"
Miwa sighed and said, "Well yes, but you did get one thing wrong."
"Really? What's that?"
"She's not my friend, she's my sister," Miwa said as she saw her sister draw a kunai from her pouch attached to her right leg and exaggeratedly creep up on the Master Bridge Builder.
Minato, seeing his daughter trying to murder Tazuna, said, "Mizuko, no matter how justified both your mother and your brother would see it, you can't murder the client."
Tazuna, said, "Huh?" as he turned to see Mizuko holding a kunai, being held back, while she tried to kill him.
Minato said, "And Tazuna, please try to remember, despite their age, they are shinobi."
"Huh, maybe so, but I can't see any guarantee that they will all come back alive."
Amayah, talking for the first time, said, "As the Hokage said, despite their inexperience, they are shinobi and therefore ready for that possibility. In any case, should they be unable to protect you, that's why I'm here. Besides, you should be proud, you're about to be guarded by the Hokage's daughters and the heir to a clan of genjutsu masters, plus, I'm quite powerful myself."
"Humph, fine then."
Minato smiled, saying, "Well, if that's settled then you can all leave my office now."
"Very well Hokage-sama," Amayah said, "Alright you three, meet up at the north gates in about half an hour."
The three Genin simultaneously said, "Hai, Amayah-sensei!"
Half an hour later the five people that were headed to the Land of Waves met up at the northern gates of Konoha. Amayah said, "Alright it's great that you all made it here on time, now I can brief you on the mission in more depth than what you were told in the Hokage's office."
"Uhh...Amayah-sensei,..."
"Yes Miwa?"
"I was wondering. Why wouldn't the Hokage give us all the details in his office, surely it is more secure than the middle of the street."
"Well, you know the old adage 'the walls have ears'?" Miwa nodded, "Well, even in the middle of Konoha there are, in the words of more than a few Nara's, troublesome people."
"I see," Miwa said, effectively ending the conversation.
"Alright now then, the mission is actually to escort Tazuna back to the Land of Waves and continue to protect him until such time that the bridge has been completed and our services are no longer necessitated." The party of five then left through the large Northern Gate, headed to the Land of Waves.
XXXXX
Three hours into their journey Mizuko and Miwa were having a competition for who got to be walking before the other, whilst still keeping pace with the Bridge Builder. Amayah called out, "Mizuko, stop trying to walk in front of your sister, remember, we're on a mission to protect Tazuna-san," Miwa smirked at her sister being admonished, "As for you Miwa, stop provoking your sister."
Mizuko quickly winced before grinning, scratching the back of her head, giggling as she shrugged, she said, "Sorry!" causing her sister's eye to start twitching.
Amayah sighed, thinking, "Just what am I supposed to do with them? Mizuko is just as bad as her brother, and it doesn't help that Miwa likes to provoke her, how does Hana-chan manage it?" She turned to
Isamu and asked him, "Hey, Isamu, any idea how Hana manages to keep those two focused on the mission instead of annoying each other?"
Isamu sighed and said, "Yeah, sensei usually tells them that if they don't calm down then she'll either tell their brother about whatever they're doing at the time, or, failing that, she'll prevent them from having ramen for a month."
Amayah asked the ever intelligent, "Huh?"
"What? It's not that far-fetched when you think about it. They can go through half of Ichiraku Ramen Stand's stock by themselves. From what I've heard their brother, whoever he is, has achieved that by himself on a number of occasions."
Amayah sighed and thought, 'Well, neither of those options will work for me. The first one might have, except Naruto and I stopped talking when I left the Hunters.' Then her eyes widened slightly as she saw a puddle of water in the middle of the road, but kept on calmly walking down the road as if she hadn't spotted it.
When Mizuko and her sister had stopped their little race she felt something was off. She frowned and tilted her head as she thought, 'What is this feeling? It's almost the same one that I have when I use Suiton: Heisui Bunshin(5)...ah well, I'm probably imagining it,' and then she continued on walking, completely ignoring every sense that was telling her that something was up.
Isamu, who had taken to imitating his sensei by channelling his chakra to his nose, scrunched up his face at the foul odour he smelled due to his increased sense of smell. Isamu, seeing that Amayah was not taking much notice of it, forced himself to keep walking as if nothing was wrong, but keeping an eye on the puddle anyway.
Miwa didn't ignore the rather obvious ploy; instead she channelled Raiton chakra to her feet and stepped on the puddle of water, frying the two Chūnin level shinobi within it and causing them to appear in a cloud of smoke with steam coming off of them. Amayah, seeing what Miwa did, sighed and said, "Miwa, at times it is better to just let things happen."
"Huh?" Miwa asked, "But I just defeated the bad guys, right?"
Amayah sighed again. "Yes, you did, but as a result we are unable to learn anything from them. Do you understand?"
Miwa sighed and said, "Hai sensei."
Amayah sighed, thinking, 'She doesn't get it at all, does she?'
"Now look, suppose for a second that those two," she pointed at the smoking bodies of the unconscious shinobi, "weren't after the client but after us instead. After all, it isn't unheard of for shinobi of different villages to attack each other when they come across each other."
"Well, yes...but..."
This time Tazuna spoke up, saying, "Uhh...I'm sorry, but the young 'un is right in this case." Amayah turned on the client and glared at him, her face screaming 'talk now or I'll inflict massive amounts of pain before finally taking your life'. "Alright, alright, I'll tell you everything. After all, from this point on the lack of knowledge would only hinder you in your mission."
"Thank you," Amayah said, irked at the clients reticence.
"Yes, well I'm sorry about lying to you, but you see the Land of Waves is a only small country, and our economy relies mainly on fishing exports. But recently a man named Gato came and took over all of the fishing companies and sells the fish we catch at sub-standard prices. This caused the Land of Waves to become poor and impoverished. The bridge that I'm building is a threat to his control over us and recently he's been killing off my workers to dissuade me from continuing. When that failed he hired some ninja to kill me instead."
Amayah's blue eyes seemed to be gray, reflecting the storm of rage at the client's deceit. In a stressed tone, she said, "If the mission relates to what is in a village or country's personal interests then it would usually be classified as an A-Rank mission."
"Yes, I know, and I would have requested it too, were it possible. You see, as I said, our country is currently racked with poverty and we simply cannot afford a higher-ranking mission."
"I don't care. I should just leave you here for whoever it is Gato has hired to finish you off."
Tazuna's eyes widened at the concept and, fearing for his life, forced tears to well up before saying, "Oh, please don't go! If you leave then my daughter will have no way to fend for herself and she'll end up on the streets with my cute grandson. Oh dear lord, my grandson would be so distraught and would never be able to trust another shinobi for the rest of his life."
Mizuko, seeing Amayah start to turn around to walk back to Konoha, said, "Sensei, what was the purpose of you agreeing to take us on this mission? Wasn't it to let us get some 'real-world experience'?"
Miwa, picking up on her sister's reasoning, said, "Yeah, if we're meant to get some 'real-world experience', wouldn't this suit the bill much better than some simple guard duty?"
Isamu said, "Yeah, please sensei!"
The three Genin then chorused, "Pleeeeaseee!" Amayah turned back to see her Genin pleading with her to continue the mission, causing her right eye to start twitching, every bone in her body screaming 'leave now and don't turn back', but Isamu clinched it by saying, "Even if you do go back sensei, we won't."
Amayah growled and spat out, "Fine then. But don't blame me for any injuries you three get."
The three Genin chorused, "Hai-sensei!"
Amayah groaned, thinking, 'Just what did I get myself into, agreeing with Hana's request,' she sighed before turning back and heading off in the direction that they were originally going.
Meanwhile Tazuna was mentally doing a jig as he thought, 'Yes! They fell for it!'
XXXXX
Meanwhile not too far away a blonde haired man in a Short-sleeved, blue, high collared cloak with forest green flames along the bottom of it, walked through the forest with his four legged companion by his side. He said, "Well Gisei(6), I've got a feeling that we'll finally get him this time. Then we can finally go and give Mizuko-chan her present."
XXXXXX
Despite this starting with the Land of Wave mission, it is very different to its canonical counterpart.
- Namikaze = Waves and Wind, Miwa = Harmony
- (2) Namikaze = Waves and Wind, Mizuko = Water Child
- (3) Kurama = Nine Lama, Isamu = Bravery
- (4) Kurosawa = Black Swamp, Amayah = Night Rain
- (5) Suiton: Heisui Bunshin = Water Release: Calm Water Clone
- (6) Gisei = Deceiving An Enemy – a twin-tailed Gray Fox saved by Naruto from the three Haimaru brothers when he, Itachi and Hana were starting out on the same Genin team.
- Itachi graduated at the normal age.
- Naruto, Itachi and Hana are all the same age(21)