"Team 7, reporting for a mission Hokage-sama." Kakashi lazily drawls out.
"Hmm... I have a C-rank here Kakashi-kun. Do you think your team is ready?"
The Hokage thinks we are ready for a C-rank mission? That is pretty cool! Finally, no more D-ranks. About damn time someone recognizes our talent!
"You have done a lot of D-ranks. And 13 Tora retrievals." The Hokage says after reviewing our mission records one more time.
That's right everyone, catching Tora is a Team 7 specialty. That cat is in love with me. The longest it has taken us to get Tora is two hours which is still half the time of the next team.
"I suppose they have done enough D-ranks. Sure, Team 7 accepts the C-rank mission. What is it?"
"It's an escort mission to the Land of Waves." The Hokage tosses Kakashi a mission scroll.
No. Please no. Any mission but that one.
"Tazuna! Come inside and meet the team that will be escorting you." The Hokage calls out.
It is official, this world hates me.
*Hiccup*
A drunken Tazuna staggers into the room. I hate my life, of all the damn missions I could get it just had to be this one!
"Who's my team? These runts? Ha! I bet kittens are more dangerous than these kiddies! Pink hair. What kind of ninja has pink hair? You sure you are smoking tobacco, Hokage?" The first words out of Tazuna's mouth are insults.
Must refrain from maiming the client. Must refrain from maiming the client. Must refrain from maiming the client.
"I assure you, my team and I are more than capable of handling a simple escort mission. After all, I am one of the best jonin in Konoha. I could take this mission alone without a problem." Jeez Kakashi, can you get any more modest?
Actually it is probably for the best that Kakashi is going. If we were any other team he wouldn't be there to go up against Zabuza and I don't know how the other jonin would hold up against him. I hate that Kakashi and Team Seven come as a package deal, that means I have to face Zabuza too.
"Fine." *Hiccup* "When we leavin?"
"I don't know about you Kakashi-sensei, but I vote at least noon tomorrow. That should give the client enough time to sleep off his hangover." I sassily say.
"Great idea Alvarcus! Meet at the front gate tomorrow at noon. Pack for a week."
The Land of Waves mission. The first true challenge of Team 7, and there is no Naruto. Aw crap, that means I have to pick up the slack. Sorry team, we might be dead.
...
Later that Night, at Alvarcus's House
"Kaa-san, tou-san I'm going on my first C-rank mission tomorrow." I wonder how they will take this news. Probably badly.
"A C-rank? So soon? Isn't it a little early to be getting those missions?" Kaa-san looks scared.
"I thought so too, but Kakashi-sensei says we are ready. I trust him to keep us safe."
"You remember my condition for becoming a shinobi correct?" Tou-san asks me.
"Of course. I do not get to die."
"Good. Make sure you come home to us."
"I will. Well, I'm going to go to sleep. I'll need to be at 100% tomorrow." I head upstairs and pause right outside of my door. I want to hear what they say now that I'm out of the room.
"A C-rank. Alvarcus is going on a C-rank. This could be the last night we see him. I don't want to lose our son." Kaa-san tearfully says to tou-san.
"He'll come back to us. I know he will."
"What if he comes back and isn't our Alvarcus anymore? What if this changes him? Fujita, what if he kills someone?"
"He will always be our son. Nothing will change that."
"I don't want to be the mother of a murderer."
"I don't want to be the father of one! Namika no matter what he does he will always be our son. Shinobi, baker, thief, librarian, murderer. He will always be ours no matter what he does.
What kind of parents are we if we turn our backs on him? What kind of parents are we if we abandon him because he did something wrong? We are the ones who let him become a shinobi, we can't turn our backs on him now."
"I know. I know we should be there for him, but how are we supposed to help him? We don't know anything about shinobi! The only one we do know is…"
"You have to remember our son isn't him. No matter how similar they are they're not the same person."
"I can't help but see him in Alvarcus. They're just so similar!"
"He is our son, not that monster."
Who is this person? Which shinobi do my parents know? This isn't the first time they've talked about this mystery person, they compare me to him an awful lot. Always when I'm out of the room though, like they don't want me to know. Like they are afraid if I know I won't be me anymore.
They've never said his name but they always sound afraid when he's mentioned. Could he be where my parents fear of shinobi comes from? And how the hell am I similar to such a "monster?"
So much for being at 100% tomorrow. I'll be running their conversation through my head for hours.
...
Front Gate, the Next Day, Noon
"Dammit Kakashi-sensei! Where are you? You can't be late for our first C-rank mission!" Sakura does have a good point. What kind of jonin is late for his student's first C-rank mission?
"Want to bet about when he shows up?" I suggest. We might as well make a game out of this.
"Heh. Kids betting. They start earlier every year." Tazuna mumbles under his breath. We all ignore him. I think that might become a trend for this mission.
"Okay. I say not for another hour!" Sakura eagerly bets.
Sasuke thinks for a few seconds then bets, "It will after five minutes but under an hour."
"Five." I boldly bet.
"Five what Alvarcus?" Sakura asks in annoyance.
"Four. Three. Two. One."
"Yo. Am I late?" There's Kakashi! Yes I won!
Everyone is staring at me. Why is everyone staring at me?
"Guys? I know I'm handsome, but staring at me like this is weird. My parents say I can't date until I am 30 so get any strange thoughts out of your heads."
Sakura recoils like she was slapped with a fish. "NO! Sasuke is the only one for me! I just wanted to know how you knew Kakashi was coming."
"Me too. How did you know I was coming?" That's Kakashi's serious tone. Did I do something wrong?
"I dunno. I just had a feeling in my gut, and a shinobi needs to trust their gut." Maybe I am a sensor? That would be pretty cool actually. Oh and I can test it really soon too! I can try to sense the Demon Brothers today. Hopefully before they try and kill us. Because they are going to try and kill us. Great, I have that to look forward to.
"Well now that we are all here let's be off! No point in wasting time!"
"That's rich coming from you sensei."
And so we set off, venturing outside of Konoha for the first time. I'd like to say that it was a big moment, one of realized ambitions and future dreams. It wasn't. Not even remotely. It involved paperwork.
"Kakashi Hatake, gennin Team 7 and our client Tazuna are leaving on a C-rank mission to the Land of Waves."
Kotetsu and Izumo looked up from their game of cards. Kotetsu shoved a form at Kakashi. "There. Fill that out. Then you can leave." After scribbling on the form (I am not even sure Kakashi tried to write any words) we head out of the village.
Fresh air! Lush green forests! Huge trees! It was practically the same thing as inside the walls of the village.
"Alright team. Let's get moving."
Off we went to our first real mission. Our first mission that goes horribly wrong.
...
Walking as a group was rather entertaining.
"So," Tazuna drawls out, "you kids are ninja?"
"The correct term is shinobi or kunoichi. Ninjas do not exist." Leave it to Sakura to correct such a common civilian error. They are practically the same thing.
"Sorry miss-know-it-all, not all of us live in a big fancy village. I still can't believe the Hokage gave me you runts." Is Tazuna trying to provoke us?
Alright. He is just asking for this. Slowly, very stealthily in hopes Kakashi does not notice what I'm doing, I attach a string to Tazuna's left foot. I give the string a tug causing Tazuna to trip over his own feet. Perfect!
"AAIIIEEE!" He fell flat on his face. It was beautiful!
THWACK
"Ow ow ow! What was that for Kakashi?"
"Bad Alvarcus. We don't do that to clients."
"But he deserved it!"
"Deserved it or not, we are hired to protect him. In fact why don't we all just stop talking?"
"That is easy for you to say. You just want to read your book in silence."
"Just because of that, take point Alvarcus." Ah great. I let my mouth get ahead of me.
Without speaking, I switch spots with Sasuke. We have a diamond pattern formed around Tazuna, with me at the front, Sasuke at the left, Sakura at the right and Kakashi in the rear. Wonderful. Now I can't prank Tazuna anymore.
Sunlight glints off of a puddle in the middle of the path. Could this be the Demon Brothers? How can I find out? I don't feel anything coming from the puddle so maybe this isn't them? How many puddles can we come across on our path? It can't be that many, this has to be them.
The puddle is twenty steps away. Ten steps. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. I pass the puddle. Nothing happened? Is this not the Demon Brothers?
The sound of clinking chains resonates through the air.
I spin around. There they are, The Demon Brothers. They already have Kakashi wrapped up in their chains. How did I miss that?
"First one." The Demon Brothers yank on their chain gauntlets and shred Kakashi into a chunky paste. One of them sprints towards me and throws a kunai at my heart while the other engages Sasuke.
"Second one." The rapidly approaching shinobi says eagerly.
Like hell! I am not going down that easily!
...
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