Chapter Text
When Katsumi Namikaze decided to become a ninja, she thought she would be going on big adventures, stopping evil kings, and saving handsome princes who would then offer to marry her. But instead, she was stuck painting fences and picking up trash left by lazy people, and the worst of it was the chase she just had with Tora, the daimyo's wife's demon cat, who was just getting crushed in a giant hug by the said lady. Katsumi and her two other genin teammates, Sakura Haruno and Satsuki Uchiha, had the same singular thought:
'You deserve it.'
At the same time, their lazy, perverted, gravity-defying haircut of a sensei, Kakashi Hatake, was having a conversation with the third and current Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had to leave retirement after the death of Katsumi's father, Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage.
They seemed to be discussing which D-rank mission they would send their team next.
It had already been a little over two months since they became Team Seven after the closer-than-wanted bell test, becoming one of the few female-only genin teams in Konoha's history, if you remove their jonin sensei, of course.
And after these two months of painful D-rank missions, Katsumi had had enough. The Hokage was in the middle of describing the potentially most boring mission ever when she spoke up—well, more like shouted.
"Jiji, come on, these missions are an absolute waste of our time. Aren't there any real missions that we can do? We'll take anything that isn't picking up what the villagers are too lazy to do themselves," the blond girl shouted, strangely out of character. She was usually calm and formal, a lot like her father. She also tended to use nicknames to familiarize situations in her favour.
But while the outburst was amusing to Kakashi, it less than pleased the chunin at the mission desk, their academy sensei, Iruka, who tried to answer calmly to her outburst.
"Katsumi, as much as you may cry for a harder mission, the ninja rank is clear and has been worked on for genera-." "But that's boring," she interrupted Iruka and continued in the same breath.
"Please, Jiji, I promise we can do it. Please." Katsumi almost begged the aged Hokage while using what he was certain was a variant of the transformation jutsu to make her eyes bigger and more innocent, although as she got older, it started to lose some of its efficiency, but it was still enough to sway the soft heart of Hiruzen, who glanced at Kakashi.
"Well, your words on the matter, Kakashi? As Hokage, I am inclined to believe they are not ready, but the final word is yours." Hiruzen said entirely with his Hokage voice. This was a matter of ninja, after all, his ninja, and the word of the white-haired man before him would affect the lives of the three young girls who composed Team Seven." Kakashi was swift to answer the matter after turning a page of his Icha Icha book.
"My cute little genin are more than ready for their first C-rank, but if you're still worried, I could accept the inclusion of one more member of your choice, Hokage-sama," the jonin said with a disinterested voice, probably saying the last part just to reassure the aged Kage that, yes, the heir of the Fourth Hokage and the last loyal heir of the Uchiha clan would be safe regardless. Kakashi never intended for it to be taken seriously.
With a moment of thought and a nod, Hiruzen finally spoke, "Very well, Team Seven, composed of Jonin Kakashi Hatake, Genin Katsumi Namikaze, Genin Satsuki Uchiha, and Genin Sakura Haruno, are granted permission for a C-rank, as long as they agree to be accompanied by a ninja of my own choosing." The Hokage said formally, while the team, mostly Katsumi and Satsuki, as Sakura was a bit relieved that they would be aided by another powerful shinobi, and Kakashi didn't really care, were annoyed by this but begrudgingly accepted the terms with a collective 'Hai Hokage-sama.'
The Hokage nodded at their acceptance and fished into the pile of non-accepted C-ranks for a suitable one, eventually settling on a simple escort mission to a neighbouring country.
"Team Seven's mission will be to escort and protect the bridge builder Tazuna to his homeland of Wave; there, you will stay and protect Tazuna until the completion of his project. Upon completion of the mission, you will return immediately." The chorus of 'Hai' that followed was all Hiruzen needed to hear for him to ask the client to be brought to the room.
Whatever expectation the team may have had was almost immediately crushed when Tazuna entered the room, a bottle of sake at his lips, with the stink of the alcohol following him shortly. Tazuna, a brown-eyed and grey-haired old man with a beard, was wearing a sleeveless brown shirt with pants of the same colour, separated by a dark purple obi and a towel hanging around his neck. His glasses were barely hanging at the bridge of his nose, threatening to, but never, fall from his drunken swaying.
"What is this? I asked for ninjas, and you sent me three brats, and not even a single one that ever dirtied themselves in the dirt before." Needless to say, Tazuna's barely disguised insult of the three young kunoichi wasn't well taken, but before any of them could make him taste their feminine fury, Kakashi decided to step in. "I promise you, Tazuna-san, that my three genin are perfectly capable of handling any bandits that may try to attack you, and if not, I will be more than able to handle any threats on the way."
Kakashi's words were met by a simple grunt of acceptance from Tazuna, who then left the scene as quickly as he had gotten there. After their drunken client had left the scene, Kakashi turned towards his cute little genin, of whom Katsumi was pouty, Satsuki looked annoyed, and Sakura looked a bit sad. They would get over it; after all, it won't be the last client they will have to protect that they don't like. Only Kami knows how rare likeable clients are. It was all a skill to not put a kunai between their eyes, one they would learn quickly.
"Mah mah, don't let it get to your little heads; go back home and get ready to head out at 8 am sharp. Prepare for at least one month out of the village, understood?" At that, his team answered positively and quickly went to get ready for tomorrow. Just as Kakashi was ready to leave, "Kakashi, may I speak to you in my office for a few minutes? It is regarding who I will send to accompany your team." The Third Hokage said seriously, and it was clear to Kakashi that arriving late to this appointment would be unfavourable. At the simple nod of the one-eyed cyclops, both he and the Hokage left in a Body Flicker.
When they arrived in the Hokage office, Hiruzen immediately signalled his ANBU guard to leave. Once they were alone, he activated a privacy seal so that no information discussed would leave this room by accident. Just these actions made Kakashi suspicious. If the Hokage wanted to send any regular Chunin with him and his team, then they wouldn't even have left the mission desk, but the relocation and the silencing made him narrow his list of possible suspects that would accompany him.
The tension was palpable as the third Hokage made no move to start the conversation, almost like he was still judging his own thoughts. "So, Hokage-sama, what is rummaging in the old head of yours?" Kakashi attempted to lift the mood just a little bit, and it worked partially, gaining a small smirk from the veteran kage, which quickly disappeared as he spoke, "I was thinking that he would accompany you and your team on this mission; it would do well to make sure that he is capable of handling himself." It didn't take long for Kakashi to catch on to who he was talking about, and Kakashi wasn't the most certain about it.
"Are you sure he is trustworthy enough to be let outside of the village? How can you be sure he won't grab the first chance to run away?" Kakashi didn't want to seem like he was disrespecting the Hokage, but it was a pretty high gamble, and if there was a single chance that this kunai could stab them in the foot, Kakashi would rather not throw it.
Hiruzen understood perfectly what worries were troubling Kakashi, and he couldn't help but feel them also, but he knew well that bottling him would cause a disastrous result if a war were to break out any moment soon. "Yes, Kakashi, I am sure of my decision. It may be risky, but we need that risk to be taken. If anything is to go wrong, you and Katsumi both know the hand signs needed to keep him in check." There was certainty in the aged Kage's voice. Yes, he was certain that the boy had been taught how to behave well enough.
Kakashi sighed. If the Hokage had already made up his mind, then he could do nothing but accept it, so with a nod from Kakashi, Hiruzen deactivated the silence seals, and the ANBU quickly regained their place in the four corners of the room. With that, Kakashi quickly used Body Flicker and returned home.
The next day: Katsumi's apartment
It was 7 am when Katsumi left her bed, she excitedly ran to the bathroom for her morning wash, making sure to wash her spiky blond hair that reached her shoulders and every single crevice in her body, after making sure she was all clean she almost jumped out of the shower and went dry herself, tying the towel around her body as she brushed her teeth, after finally becoming dry she quickly dressed up in her ninja clothes, which consisted of a mesh undershirt, a black t-shirt to cover it up, a pair of black ninja pants with holster on each leg as she was ambidextrous, she also had a blue pair of ninja sandals and on top of all of this was a white jacket that reached to her tibia, a jacket very similar to her father worn to honor him, after dressing up and making sure her hair were perfectly dry and tying her leaf headband, she went to the kitchen of her apartment, which was located close to the Sarutobi Compound, making it a pretty luxurious space of living,
sure it was a bit lonely sometimes but she could just go outside and everybody would try to be her friend, she often had to force people to let her pay the full price of anything she bought because everyone was trying to give her discounts on everything or even for free sometimes, just because she was the fourth's daughter, when she reached the kitchen she made herself a simple cereal bowl, even if she was alone most of the time and she mostly didn't know how to cook, women of the Sarutobi compound would come to her apartment to help her with cooking dinner and other house chores, it was already 7:30 when she was done eating her breakfast and so after a short stretching session, she took her bag she had prepared last night and went to meet her team.
Uchiha compound
Satsuki was up by 5 am as usual, she went on to stretch and train until 6:30 am after which she went to take her morning shower, her body aching and growling from her training with an empty stomach, but she knew that she needed to train under straining conditions if she wanted to ever defeat him, "Itachi" the name slipped through her lips with venom as she looked at herself in the mirror, her chin length straight black hair a dirt filled mess, she quickly turned the shower one, the falling water a thankful grace to mask the heavy lack of sound coming from the ghost compound, she made sure that no dirt were left in her hair by the time she was done, once she was clean and she had dried herself the time was 7 am, she took the time to bandage her early blooming chest so that it wouldn't get in the way of her movements,
The haunting silence had returned to her ears, something she tried to mask as much as possible by turning on lights so that she could maybe hear them buzzing and turning on the radio and the TV at higher volumes than anybody would put them. The only goal was that there would be noise as she dressed. She made sure to pick her ninja clothes while shuffling them as much as possible, in the only hope of destroying the ever-present silence from her life. Her clothes consisted of a navy blue shirt with a low collar with the Uchiha fan on the back of the shirt; she wore white pants that reached barely under her knees with high blue ninja sandals and a kunai pouch on her right thigh. She brushed her hair out of the dried mess into a small duck-butt-like shape; she found it cute, but she would continue to say it's natural because she would rather die than admit that fact. After making sure she was all dressed at 7:20, she brushed her teeth, tied her headband, grabbed her backpack and her breakfast, in the form of a tomato and a nutritious bar, and started to head towards Konoha's gate to meet her team and start her first C-rank mission.
Haruno Household
Sakura was nervous, like really nervous. It was her first big mission out of the village. She had already spent multiple hours last night trying to figure out what was best to bring for the mission. She, of course, brought a few spare dresses and a few self-care products, except that she had brought the strict handbook necessity: spare kunai, medical supplies, and all that. Right now, she was in her shower, making sure her mid-back-length pink hair was silky smooth and clean for the mission and that her skin was glisteningly smooth too. Once she was out and dry, she dressed in her usual red qipao dress with short sleeves that closed together with a zipper in the middle. She also wore a pair of tight dark green shorts with a kunai pouch on her right side, and a pair of blue ninja sandals covered her feet.
Once she was all dressed at 7:10, she brushed her teeth and then went to the kitchen, where her mother, Mebuki, was making her breakfast in the form of some cut avocado and some eggs, while her father, Kizashi, was at the table drinking his morning coffee with a buttered toast. He lifted his eyes once he saw her. "Morning, honey, have you slept well?" her father asked her. She sat next to him as she answered, "I slept fine, but I'm still a bit nervous; that's all." She answered with a small smile. Her mother didn't take long to add her piece to the conversation as she placed a plate in front of Sakura and Kizashi, the same breakfast for all three of them, with the exception that the avocado was replaced with bacon on both Mebuki and Kizashi's plates. "It's okay to be nervous; it's your first big mission as a ninja. I'm sure even your sensei was nervous on his first mission. All you need to know is that you're going to be fine, and if anybody wants to harm you, you'll kick them back crying." Mebuki said comfortingly to her daughter in the hope of easing her nerves, which Sakura was grateful for. They ate in a happy silence. When 7:40 hit the clock, Sakura had already finished eating, so she tied her headband on top of her head to keep her hair together. She grabbed her backpack and said goodbye to her parents, walking to go meet her team to start the first big mission of her life.
Konoha's main gates
Satsuki was the first to arrive at the gates; noticing this, she simply went and lay against the open gates to rest a bit so that she could have all her strength for the mission. Just a few minutes later, Sakura arrived with Katsumi in tow; they had met on the way there. Short greetings were exchanged before Sakura and Katsumi joined Satsuki on the wall to wait for their sensei and their mysterious aid chosen by the Hokage.
A few minutes pass and 8am hit, but no sign of their sensei, five more minutes passed and still no sign of neither the sensei or their client Tazuna, at 8:10am they heard the sound of walking, all three genin looked over to only see their client Tazuna approaching, looking sober this time, "where's the tall and scrawny one" Tazuna asked as he arrived and noticed that only the three kids were there, they simply shrugged with Katsumi speaking up, "he's often late, but we were hoping he would forget it for the mission, but it seems like not" she said, sounding a bit exasperated, at least they didn't have to wait any longer as just 10 minutes later at 8:20am, they could see Kakashi approaching and while Tazuna seemed happy, the genin were apprehensive when they saw that their sensei was with four ANBU black ops, they would be surprised if the Hokage had sent ANBU to help them on their mission but that foolish notion disappeared when they saw Kakashi's serious expression in his single eye, their sensei was never serious.
When Kakashi arrived closer, he forced a small eye smile on his face, trying to seem calmer than he was, which he would normally pull off easily. He decided to break the tension as much as possible before they had to reveal their "guest." He didn't want them to overreact, especially Katsumi. "Yo, it seems you all arrived early. Sorry for the delay; getting our guest member took more time than we thought." The jonin of the group said a bit nervously but still reduced the tension a minimum. "So, who did the Hokage send to help us? I don't think he decided to send four ANBU members." Satsuki was the one to speak, "If only," were Kakashi's thoughts; they would need to do this whether he liked it or not.
"Well, team, let me introduce you to—" As he spoke, he stepped to the side to reveal a pale-skinned boy, a boy that Katsumi's mind subconsciously seemed to recognize immediately, filling her with a primal feeling akin to fear. The boy looked no older than them, if not younger. He had exotic, flat red hair that reached to his shoulder, and a pair of exotic purple eyes that were filled with innocent curiosity when they looked around him, almost like it was his first time seeing the outside world, and with his skin tone, it was not hard to imagine it being true. Three whisker-like markings covered his cheeks on each side of his face. He was wearing a dark red battle kimono that reached to his calf, with drawings of what seemed like waves on it, but the red tint made it look like waves of blood. A pair of black ninja sandals covered his feet, and a black choker covered part of his neck, a choker of which only Kakashi and the ANBUs knew the true purpose.
The boy's gaze stopped looking around him and focused on what was in front of him, his purple eye changing from innocent wonder to focused attention. A grace seemed to take over his posture before he smiled at them with a small smile that looked as if every muscle of it were pulled perfectly under his command, as if he chose exactly which of his muscles would work to pull that smile off. The mysterious boy then finally spoke, with a voice that both ran a chill down their backs and at the same time sounded like a lullaby that would put a baby to sleep.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Team Seven. I am Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki."