"This way," Rezaa directed his team.

They dashed after him, trusting in his sensitive nose.

"Target sited," Shao confirmed.

This was Naruto's signal. The boy dashed forward quickly and within moments the target was captured.

Tora the cat yowled in protest as Naruto pressed her against him.

"Good job, my cute little genin," Kakashi said when they brought the cat back to her owner.

"Ne, Kaka-sensei, don't you think we're ready for bigger missions now?" Naruto asked.

It had only been a few weeks since they received their team assignments so neither Rezaa nor Shao were expecting anything to come of the request.

"Ma, we can ask Hokage-sama," Kakashi replied, nevertheless.

Rezaa was sure that his father was just humouring the boy and had not expected Naruto to harass the Hokage into them into giving them a C-rank.

The Hokage sighed and gave in to Naruto, "As it happens, there is one mission that is available for a genin team with jonin sensei. However, another team has also requested it."

"What?" Naruto whined, stretching the word to have more vowels than it did, "Can't they wait for the next mission?"

"Aw, c'mon Naru-chan," a voice said from behind them, "are you really going to try to steal my mission?"

Naruto whirled around and grinned at his oldest friend, "Ben-chan! Are you asking for the mission too? Maybe we can do it together!"

"Ah, that is not how it works, Naruto-kun," Kakashi told his student.

"Well, why not?" the other sensei asked, "I see no problem in sharing a mission." The blue-haired jonin rose an eyebrow at Kakashi with a teasing smirk on his lips, "Unless you have a problem with it?"

Kakashi's visible eye twitched, "Of course not."

"Well, in that case," the Hokage sounded very tired all of the sudden, "Team Four and Team Seven will share the escort mission to the Land of Waves."

"Land of Waves?" the other sensei asked.

"Is that a problem with that?" Kakashi asked him in the same tone that he had been questioned.

"Of course not," the sensei smiled, "It's just.. interesting."

He motioned to his students, "Come on then, chibi-chans, we've got a mission to prepare for."

Rezaa watched as a grinning blond–Naruto's friend–, a brooding Uchiha, and a pink-haired civilian-born girl followed the man outside of the administration building.

"Who is he?" he asked his father.

"Gaia-san is just another jonin sensei," Kakashi said.

"Are you related or something?" Naruto asked.

"Why do you ask that, Naruto-kun?"

The blond gestured to his face, "Well you're both wearing eye coverings."

Shao sighed, "That's not a sign of being related. They look nothing alike."

"I knew that!"

"Then why did you ask such a stupid question?"

Kakashi and his son traded glances as they quickly fled the building, leaving the Hokage to deal with the squabbling genin.

—

"First C-rank?" Ibiki asked.

"Yup, it's gonna be awesome!"

The man crossed his arms over his chest, "What's the assignment?"

"Escort mission to Wave," Benetto told him.

"Awesome," Ibiki said in a deadpan voice that let the boy know that he thought it was anything but.

"Try not to miss me too much!" Benetto called out as he grabbed his pack and rushed out the door.

Ibiki huffed and closed the door properly after the exited boy.

Benetto sprinted to the village gate just in time to see the silver-haired kid on Team Seven drag along their sensei.

"He was trying to take de-tours," he explained.

"Let's go then," their charge–a drunk bridge builder from Wave Country–said impatiently.

The two teams marched off with both senseis in front, the bridge builder behind them and the genin flare out next to and behind the bridge builder.

---

"Puddle," Benetto remarked in confusion. Hadn't it been at least two weeks since it last rained?

Suddenly, a metal gauntlet on a chain shot towards the genin, scraping up his arm as he dodged. Another one shot out of nowhere and they wrapped together around Kakashi, pulling tightly around him until he burst into bloody pieces.

"Kaka-sensei!" Naruto called out in shock as the remains of his sensei dropped to the ground.

Two Kiri nin jumped at them, using chained gauntlets as projectiles.

In unison, both Uchiha brothers jumped into action, pinning the chains to a nearby tree with shuriken before each taking on one of the enemies with a kunai.

Shao's opponent dodged him, claw-like gauntlet outstretched towards Benetto, who had positioned himself in front of their client.

Before the shinobi could reach his student, Gaia jumped forward and intercepted the enemy, gutting him with his katana in the process.

"You okay, chibi-chan?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, sensei," Benetto was already wrapping up his arm.

They looked to see that Kakashi–alive and in one piece–had put the other mist shinobi in a chokehold before breaking his neck.

"Kaka-sensei, you're okay!" Naruto exclaimed.

Rezaa nodded sharply, "He used the body replacement jutsu. There was no scent of blood, just a visual illusion."

"Wow, you have a really good nose, huh?" Benetto asked.

Rezaa nodded again, "It's a Hatake trait."

"Hey, I don't think we ever introduced each other properly. I'm Benetto and my teammates are Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke," he motioned at his respective teammates.

"I am Rezaa. This-"

"Ben-chan and I already know each other," Naruo interrupted, "We were in the same orphanage together!"

"Yeah, we go way back," benetto agreed.

"Hn, I'm Uchiha Shao," Shao introduced himself.

"I've heard of you," Benetto told him reluctantly, "I think everyone has."

Realizing where the conversation was going, Gaia started herding the genin forwards, "Let's get moving," he told them, "We're not frozen in place after all."

His students, having heard this phrase numerous tie, rolled their eyes but started forward.

"Hold on," Kakashi stopped them before turning to their client, "You never said there were ninja out to get you, otherwise this would have been a B-rank at the lowest."

"Well, what difference does it make? You saying you can't deal with a couple of rogue shinobi?" The bridge builder argued.

"Gaia and I are jonin, of course, we can. But we'd also be putting our students at risk."

"We can do it Kaka-sensei!" Naruto insisted.

Shao nodded, "You don't have to turn around on our account. We won't be a hindrance."

"Well, with the two of us there, we should be just fine," Gaia smiled, closing his good eye in what seemed to be a copy of the Hatakes' famous eye-smile.

"Maa, okay then," Kakashi agreed before turning to his genin, "If any of you gets seriously injured, you're doing D-ranks for a year."

"Hai, sensei," the three chorused.

"Well, then," Gaia urged, "Let's get going. We're not-"

The genin wandered off before he could finish, dragging their client with them.

"So, you're Sasuke-kun's brother, right?" Sakura asked.

Shao nodded, "Yes, I am."

Sakura squealed, making Shao move back slightly in surprise.

"Can you tell me what kind of girls Sasuke likes?" she asked with big hopeful eyes.

Shao blinked, looking past her to his glaring brother.

"I'm pretty sure he's gay."

Sakura's smile fell while Sasuke scoffed, "I'm not gay, you are!"

Shao hummed, "Possibility. Not sure yet."

Gaia seemed amused at the genin's antics while Kakashi pointedly ignored them, opting to read his book instead.

"Aren't you supposed to be on the lookout for enemies?" the bridge builder questioned.

"Maa, we'll be fine."

The bridge builder looked from the porn-reading sensei to the one giggling about the squabbling twelve-year-olds.

He was definitely going to die.