So I was in a decent mood and decided to be nice, I did a massive update for all the updates I did on my personal site. I am sure that there will be flames, I was told not to post here anymore by a lot of people with the newest installment of TNK because my personal site is my priority but w/e. I was feeling generous I suppose. If you want the link to my personal site where all these stories are continuing, since on here is unlikely, PM me for it.

Chapter 6: Joint Missions Make Competitions

Team 9 was summoned to the Hokages Mansion for a mission, though there was a rumor from there sensei that this would be a joint mission. Naruto wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of people he had never worked with being on a mission with them. When they were standing there Sarutobi looked at them, "As you have all heard you are going to be doing this on a joint effort mission, though I didn't tell you who you would be going with for a reason."

Naruto looked back over his shoulder when he heard the door click from the deadbolt. As he looked back he saw that the door was opening and saw silver hair. He sighed, knowing full well what team they had been paired with. He was giving Sarutobi a bit of a glare, the old Hokage must know what this was going to entail for them. The rest of Team 9 then looked back and saw Team 7 standing there. The Jounin-sensei of Kakashi Hatake and his 3 Genin of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Neji Hyuga.


This made the blond teen with a senbon in his mouth sigh, "This is going to be a very, very long mission.."

His brown haired kunoichi friend nodded her head in agreement. When the yelling subsided a little the Third Hokage explained the mission to them all, "Okay, the mission is a simple escort mission for this man."

The Third Hokage pointed to the side door as it opened and an elderly man walked into the room and looked at them all, "... why are there so many of them?"

Sarutobi smiled, "Well.. you told us that there is a possibility of this becoming dangerous so I wanted to make sure that there was extra protection. I am paying the difference for this myself. I want to make sure that we don't lose any of our future heroes or that the mission isn't a success."

The elderly man nodded his head as Sarutobi looked at the two teams again, "This is Tazuna, he is the bridge builder for the Land of Waves. He has hired you all to escort and protect him at the site. Apparently there is a Mob boss there that is causing some serious issues for them. I figure that with 2 Jounin and 6 Genin you are well enough prepared for anything. Does this meet your standards or not Tazuna?"

Tazuna nodded his head then the Third looked at the teams, "You all need to gather your gear then meet at the front gate in twenty minutes, is that understood. Kakashi, do not be late do you understand?"

The silver haired Jounin gave a sigh and a small nod then his team all walked out as Team 9 stood there still. Gai had started yelling with Lee about the power of youth then Naruto watched as they hugged and stood in some weird pose. Naruto rose his eyebrow at this as he shifted the senbon in his mouth, "Not that this isn't really awkward or anything but I am going to go and get my things. You coming TenTen or are you going to stay and watch... whatever the hell this is?"

TenTen was looking at them closely, wondering if there was something going on between them then walked off with Naruto. She looked over her shoulder as she was leaving at the creepy and disturbing scene behind her. As she looked back ahead of her she ran and caught up to Naruto, "So.. you still haven't told me what the Yamanaka Heiress was talking to you about that one day."

Naruto shook his head at her, "You have a serious problem with gossiping do you realize this?"

TenTen made a irritated sound then saw Ino up ahead of them waiting, "HEY INO!"

Ino looked over at them and gave a small smile, "Hey TenTen, Naruto."

Naruto shifted the senbon and nodded his head at her then TenTen did what TenTen always seemed to do, meddle. TenTen grabbed Ino by the arm, though it looked like a friendly gesture Naruto knew she was really doing it so that the young kunoichi wasn't able to run away. TenTen smirked, "So.. what were you talking to Naruto about the other day Ino?"

The young kunoichi blushed a little, "I don't know what you are talking about..."

TenTen smirked at the blush on her face, "Oh don't be all shy Ino, its okay if you want to get with Naruto."

Her blush got worse as Naruto shot his senbon into TenTens neck making her flinch and yell out in pain. Naruto put another senbon in his mouth, "Behave TenTen."

TenTen glared at him as Ino gave him an appreciative look then TenTen took the senbon and pointed it at Ino, "Tell me blonde."

Ino gulped as she looked at her, "I asked him if he would help me train was all."

TenTen looked over at Naruto who nodded his head at her, "I have been helping her train for the last couple weeks since she wants to impress the Uchiha boy for some reason."

TenTen looked back at Ino who had a small blush, "Sasuke-kun is great is all, so he needs someone great as his girlfriend."

The brown haired girl looked at the blond haired girl, "So.. you were getting help from last years number one rookie genin who isn't to bad on the eyes and your worrying about the stuck up Uchiha? Damn you have problems."

TenTen released Ino from her grasp then tossed the senbon away, "Come on Naruto, lets go get our things ready for the mission."

He nodded his head and they went to walk off but Ino gave Naruto a quick kiss on the cheek, "See you when you get back Naruto-kun."

He smiled then nodded and walked off after TenTen, "So.. I am not to bad on the eyes huh?"

She rolled her eyes at the comment then picked up her speed, "I was just trying to teach her a lesson was all, don't read into it."

Naruto smiled a little as they got home and grabbed their gear and then started towards the front gate. As they were walking he was debating if he should tell TenTen or not, she was his best friend. When they arrived and saw that they were first Naruto decided he should, it had been weird to hide it from her. Naruto shifted the senbon as he always did as he looked over at her, "There is something that I need to tell you TenTen."

She made an acknowledging sound as she examined her summoning scroll to make sure she had all of her weapons with her. Naruto sighed, "Ino and I are kind of dating."

She looked up, her attention now centered on her blond haired friend, "I KNEW IT!"

Naruto sighed at her loud outburst, "At first she wanted me to train her so that she could impress Sasuke and somewhere along the lines she just stopped caring about him. She started being all nervous and blushing a lot around me so I asked her why she was but she asked me if I was dating you."

That made TenTen sigh, "Why.. why does everyone think I would date you?"

Naruto smirked, "Maybe its because I am easy on the eyes."

He heard a growling sound the put his hand on the wall and used chakra to pull himself out of the way of her leap at him. She just looked up at him with a glare, "I TOLD YOU NOT TO READ INTO THAT!"

Naruto smiled as the rest of the people showed up, even Kakashi was on time. They started on their mission, getting to the land of waves with no issues but TenTen had an odd feeling again when they were on the way. Especially when she thought about Naruto and Ino being together, 'Why is he dating her? She is a year younger then him. Why do I even care.. if he wants to date the damn Yamanaka slut let him. Wait.. why did I just think she was a slut.. am I jealous? I have to just be upset that she is taking away someone really important to me.. he is my best friend after all.'

Her eyes returned to Naruto as they were in the boat heading towards the land mass. He looked focus as he always did on missions, though he didn't really want to be one when they were younger he was definitely becoming a very skilled ninja. The idea made her smile a bit, glad that things were looking up for her friend, 'Guess I have to find someone then too..'

TenTen looked at the other ninja in the boat that were their age. The Uchiha was irritating to their entire team, he thought he was Kamis gift to the shinobi world when he really wasn't. Lee was well Lee, though he was staring at the pink haired kunoichi in their boat quite a bit. Then there was the Hyuga who was just sitting there quietly. She went and sat down next to him, "Your Neji right? I heard that you tied with Sasuke for this years Number One Rookie."

Neji just nodded his head at her, "Yes, it is weird that they put us on the same team."

TenTen remembered a conversation involving their team along time ago, "Well Naruto and I were the top of each gender in our graduating class but Lee was the bottom of all since he can't mold chakra. Perhaps they were compensating for your pink haired teammate."

Neji nodded his head, "That is a good possibility, she is rather useless in the field and her obsession with Sasuke makes her less observant then she usually is. Since the Uchiha has yet to awaken his Sharingan as well it makes him cocky but not as useful as he could be which gets annoying as well. What about your team?"

TenTen looked back at Lee, "Well as I said, Lee can't mold chakra but neither can our sensei so they are both extremely skilled in taijutsu, speed and strength. Naruto was last years number one male rookie and he is extremely skilled with a bow and arrow. My dad said that Naruto is a wind affiliate so when he can learn to control his chakra a little more and use wind style moves he will be even more deadly with it. He is also skilled in taijutsu and ninjutsu. I am more of an all around weapon user and summoning, but I know taijutsu and a small amount of ninjutsu."

Neji nodded his head, "Sounds like I will have some other Genin on this mission that will be of some use then."

TenTen nodded her head then Naruto sniffed the air, making all of them look at him. Neji was eying Naruto closely, "What is he doing?"

The brown haired kunoichi shrugged, "Nothing out of the ordinary for him, he has heightened senses though no one knows why or they won't tell us why. He can smell just as good if not better then the Inuzuka, he has great eyes and can hear for far distances. It is why he is so good at hunting, we never have to bring food on missions because he hunts everything for us."

Naruto put his hand up, signaling everyone to be quiet. He sniffed the air a couple more times then turned his head and started to listen. There was something in the water moving quickly towards them. Naruto hit his summoning marker and tied ninja wire to the end of the arrow before shooting it into a tree that was 100 yards ahead of them. He gave the wire to Lee, "Get us to the shore Lee, double time."

The bowl cut Genin nodded his head and within a couple seconds they were on the shore and Naruto was watching the water closely. Suddenly 4 figures appeared in front of them and all of them looked at the Konohagakure ninja as they looked right back at them. Finally one of them spoke, "Look what we have here, fresh meat."