"Naruto, you can't just-"
"No!" Naruto held her arms before her in an 'X' shape and made a sound that reminded me of a game-show buzzer. "No way, no how. I don't care what you say to me Jiji, I'm not doing it anymore. I'm done, finished! I'm not going on another crappy D-rank mission even if it kills me."
...
The ageing Hokage appeared to be more amused by my blonde teammate's adamant defiance than anything. "Come now, Naruto." Setting the scroll on his desk Sarutobi leaned back into his chair, eyes twinkling merrily as he looked on his surrogate granddaughter, an indulgent smile clear on his lips. "D-rank missions can't be that bad."
Naruto just crossed her arms and sent him a baleful look. "I delivered porn Jiji."
Sarutobi couldn't quite restrain a wince.
"Ah, I suppose you did." He relented with a reluctant nod after a moment before levelling Naruto with a hard stare.
"But sometimes Naruto, being a ninja means doing work you don't want to do. The life of a shinobi is not always a glamorous one. While, yes, there may be times that we are sent on dangerous or even exciting missions, more often than not you'd find yourself assigned to jobs that you may find… distasteful, to put it mildly.
Even so, it will be your duty as a ninja of the Leaf to complete those missions regardless of your personal feelings. As a young kunoichi, it's best that you learn this lesson here and now rather than out in the field."
Despite the solemnity the words were delivered, Naruto appeared unconvinced as she crossed her arms and sent the Hokage a disappointed look. "To your home." she said, "I had to deliver porn to your home."
The Hokage had the good grace to blush at that.
Yeah, I didn't think he completely thought things through when he assigned that particular mission to us.
Behind the Hokage, sunlight poured through the row of windows and filled the room, illuminating the office and granting us a breathtaking view of Konoha. Being one of the highest structures in the village meant that we could see almost everything from here. Something that Shikamaru, as usual, was all too happy to take advantage of.
From where he stood to my left, on the opposite side of Naruto, the lazy genuine was slouched over as he blankly gazed out the window, clearly unwilling to muster up the effort, let alone the interest, to get himself involved with the conversation. Instead, the slouching boy was lost in some daydream as he stared at the clouds drifting by.
As for the 'responsible' leader of Team 7, he was leaning on a wall not too far behind us, flipping through the pages of his latest book while occasionally releasing a creepy giggle. Kakashi hadn't even glanced up as Naruto continued to reject the Hokage's offer of missions, too engrossed in his book to bother, most likely all too willing to leave it up to Sarutobi to deal with her.
While all this was happening, I remained quietly standing by Naruto's right side, forcing myself to remain still and not fidget least I brought undue attention to myself. It wasn't that I felt uncomfortable in the Hokage's presence, far from it. Due to my proximity to Naruto, I had ended up spending a lot of time around the old man, so much so that any nervousness I may have felt speaking to the leader of the village had long faded away. Besides, Sarutobi had such a grandfatherly air about him that I would have felt right at home in his presence even if I had been a green awe-struck Genin meeting him for the very first time.
So no, it wasn't Sarutobi that was bothering me, rather it was the lack of Danzo that had me so on edge.
A small part of me had expected him to be here, standing by the Hokage as his plans unfolded just as he wanted. In hindsight that was absurd. Danzo was never the type to act out in the open. He was the kind who stuck to the shadows so much that you could never know for sure if he had a hand in something or not.
What made it worse was that I knew that he could have been hiding in here with us and I would never know it. There were so many hidden panels and niches in the Hokage office that an entire squad of ninja could be hidden in them and we'd never be the wiser. Actually, there probably was a squad of hidden ninjas in here with us. The ever-present yet never seen Anbu squad that guarded the Hokage day and night were no doubt hiding somewhere over our heads, but as they were always here they didn't count.
I itched to activate my Byakugan at the thought of Danzo being nearby, to open my sights to any hidden dangers, but I couldn't. Not here, not when I was in the Hokage's office standing before the man himself, not without a good reason.
So left with no other option, I stood by Naruto's side and tried my best to keep my emotions off my face.
It was at times like this that I was truly grateful for the apathetic mask that all Hyuuga's seemed to instinctively know how to wear. Had I been into any other clan, the blank face I wore might have been seen as a sign of nervousness, but as a Hyuuga, it was just considered part of our natural expression. Our own version of a 'resting bitch face'. And I shamelessly took advantage of that fact to help me hide my nerves without appearing out of character.
"-But Jiji, I want to do something more amazing. Not babysitting or delivering someone's porn. So find us something more ninja-like or else we're not doing it. And don't try to trick me, Jiji," Naruto pointed an accusing finger at the man. "I know my rights." A self-assured smirk grew on her lips as she smugly crossed her arms in triumph. "You can't make us take a mission unless we want to. Hikaru said so, so it must be true."
Even as I fought the urge to face-palm, I couldn't quite keep the reluctant grin from making its way to my lips. Only Naruto would try to put my comments on the law – that of a mere Genin – above that of the Hokage himself.
After shooting a quick glance to the blonde, I turned to look at the Hokage to gauge his reaction, and it was clear that the old man must have felt the same way I did because he glanced my way, one of his eyebrow arched, and we shared a look of mutual amusement at the absurdity that was Naruto.
After a second Sarutobi shook his head and turned back to Naruto, hands steepled before him in an attempt to cover his smile. Not that it did any good, what with the way his eyes seemed to all but light up with hidden amusement from under the brim of his hat.
"Is there nothing I can do to convince you to take this mission Naruto?" He asked, nodding towards the mission scroll sitting on his desk, but Naruto refused to take it and shook her head adamantly. The old man gave a theatrical sigh as he picked up the scroll. "Very well then, if you insist on it that strongly I'll grant you a C-rank mission instead."
"Jiji, I already said – wait, what?" Naruto cut herself off in the middle of her tangent as she registered what he said.
A tiny quirk appeared on one corner of his lips, "I said you've won Naruto. Your team has already completed the minimum required D-ranks new Genin teams need to qualify for their first C-rank. I suppose if you feel so strongly about it then there is no harm in granting you a C-rank."
Going by the look of stunned disbelief that was plastered on Naruto's face, I don't think she actually believed she would get her way despite how stubbornly she fought. Slowly, the reality began to sink in and her expression was replaced by a wide elated grin.
"YAHOO~~!" Leaping in a fit of joy, Naruto threw one fist into the air before spinning to me. "You hear that Hikaru? We're getting a C-rank mission! A C-Rank! We're going to be doing real Ninja stuff, like rescuing a princess, or fighting an army or -"
"It is a shame though," despite the soft tone, Sarutobi's voice still managed to be heard over Naruto's chattering. He looked down at the green and black mission scroll held in his hands. "After all the trouble I went through preparing a B-rank mission for you, only for you to reject it."
I swear you could hear a pin drop from how quiet the room suddenly became.
Naruto, who had frozen in place mid-celebration, stiffly rotated her now pale white face towards the Hokage. "...Say what now?"
"And here I was so certain you would have wanted it." Sarutobi carried on speaking to himself, pretending not to notice Naruto's reaction as he looked over the scroll in his hand. He let out what was clearly a fake sigh.
"But I suppose there is nothing I can do about it. As you had so adamantly pointed out to me, I cannot force you to take such a dangerous B-rank mission."
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