The Prodigy | Naruto Fanfic

Chapter Four 💫

I buried my face into the pillow, and grimaced. It was way too early, I knew that even before I opened my eyes. How? It was still dark out. It was approximately three thirty, by the position of the moon, but I wasn't sure. I looked down at myself, and saw Sasuke's jacket. I needed new clothes.

I stared at my feet and tried my best to remember why I was sleeping on a roof. Ah, right, Naruto can't keep his gas to himself. The only thing I was missing were my ninja sandals, so I jumped down to the ground.

It was quiet in his house, so I assumed that they were all still sleeping. I slowly opened the door, thankful it didn't creak. I didn't want to wake them up, after last night I don't think I can handle how annoying some of my teammates are.

My shoes were right beside the door, so I grabbed them and slipped back outside.

I felt as if I was missing something else, besides clothes.

  Oh, right. I needed food.  Jumping from roof to roof, I swung into a run down bar. It looked closed and empty, but inside it bustled with life. I've seen Lady Tsunade here a few times, back when Landon took me to gamble.

He always beat her.

Walking around, I felt more at home here than I did on my street. I must have known over half of the people here, and they were all nice.

"Old lady Fumi, how are you?" I walked into the 18+ bar, and she sighed.

"Did the bouncer let you in again? Honey, it's three in the morning. Why are you awake? You're young, you should be sleeping and getting ready for missions!"

"I am. I have one in thirty minutes." I said, and slid onto the stool. "Dango, please!"

"You have such a sweet tooth." The old lady chuckled. "I'll be right back." She ducked under the thin piece of cloth dividing the bar from the kitchen, and I hummed to myself.

The other regulars of the shop nodded at me drunkenly. This may look like dumpling shop, but it was actually a hidden bar. It didn't sound like much, but the irregular location caused it to be the large hot spot for alcohol-craving travelers.

"Here you are, sweetie!" She gave me the dango, and I popped it in my mouth. "It's still warmf!" I said happily, and she chuckled again.

"What mission needs you awake this early?" She asked, and I furrowed my eyebrows.

"There's an old drunken man that's narcissistic enough to believe anyone would try and rob him when he builds some dumb bridge." I waved my hand, and she just smiled sweetly.

"You're protecting someone from other ninja? Isn't that a B or A Rank mission?" She seemed very surprised.

"Oh, no. Just the general civilian robber. That's a C Rank." I said, and she nodded her head in understanding.

"Thank you for stopping by, Saya, but I think you should head back now. You know I'd hate to make you arrive late to your first C Rank mission!" She closed her eyes and waved her hand in goodbye. I nodded and shoved money onto the counter, bowing.

"No, thank you!" I waved back and stepped out the door.

I walked calmly on the roofs of different buildings. From up here I could stare at the busy village, but stopped once again when I heard a faint mew. Oh my gosh! A kitty!

I followed the sound to find a small kitten in a tree. I could see it through the branches, and looked at the edge of the roof that my feet were on.

Was it about to fall? I couldn't reach it.

Pouring chakra into my legs, I took a deep breath and leaped across the chasm between the tree and roof. I grabbed a sturdy branch, and pulled myself up. I gently plucked the kitten off of the branch.

It was cold, and shaking. I held it close to my chest, walking carefully to the meeting place.

"Saya, you're late. Why are you holding a cat?" Sakura asked, and I chose to ignore her. Instead, I yawned.

"Why are you late, Snowball kid?" He glared at me.

I shrunk back, and Kakashi stepped in between us. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"All that matters is what's ahead. Saya needed extra time to boost her ninjitsu's so that she's better prepared to defend you."

It was clear to team seven he was lying, but Tazuna bought it.

The man grumbled to himself under his breath.

It was a long and grueling day, and having something hot and fuzzy in my arms made the slow walk the the village hidden in the waves worse.

It hadn't rained for weeks, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I was really thirsty. When I thought about it, the kitten is probably worse off. I fed it all the water from my flask.

I saw a puddle, and started towards it.

Wait. A puddle?

My teammates and I watched as the puddle slowly morphed into two ninjas, and I didn't hesitate to throw a kunai into each of their shoulders, an area that generated a lot of pain in the receiver.

They grew angry and slid chains towards me quickly.

Shifting the kitten to my left arm, I ducked under the chains. Kakashi was behind me, and I assumed he jumped. Sakura screamed, probably in terror.

I rushed at one of the guys and Sasuke ran at the other. The man couldn't react well with a kunai in his shoulder, and we engaged in a taijutsu battle. I focused on him completely, because it was hard to fight with one hand. Finally, I managed to kick the kunai deep into his shoulder.

He shouted in pain, and I kicked him with a chakra induced leg. He flew into a far tree, breaking the ones in front of it. After that, he didn't move. Did I go overboard?

I turned just in time to see the other ninja rushing at Sasuke, who was guarding Sakura, who was guarding Tazuna. I couldn't get to them in time.

However, Kakashi did. Kakashi pulled the attacker into a headlock, standing boredly in front of Tazuna. He turned behind him, towards Naruto. "Sorry I didn't come right away, Naruto, I didn't think that you'd freeze up like that."

Naruto didn't say anything, he just looked down at the ground. Kakashi turned to Sakura and Sasuke. "Good job, Sasuke. Nice instincts. You too, Sakura." Sasuke just huffed, but Sakura swelled with pride.

Kakashi turned to me. "That was well done, Saya. Way to exploit his weak spot." I smiled.

"Thank you, sensei!" I said happily.

"Now, Tazuna." Kakashi narrowed his visible eye. "We need to talk."

Tazuna looked very worried, and I wondered why.

Kakashi tied the man up, while Tazuna said; "Why did you substitute yourself for wood? How did you know where they were?"

I answered the second one, just realizing the answer. "It's very hot outside, and it hasn't rained in a few weeks. Puddles don't just magically appear."

Kakashi nodded. "And, I had to know who the ninja were after. Us, or you." Tazuna's eyes widened. He definitely didn't expect Kakashi to be this clever. "Had you said this was guarding from other ninjas, even genin, this would be a B Rank mission. Guarding from rouge ninjas is probably an A Rank."

"Yeah, sorry, we're not qualified." Sakura inputted, and I scoffed.

"Speak for yourself." I said.

"Yeah, this is fun! Believe it!" Naruto backed me up .

Tazuna's eyes widened. "So you'll help me?"

"Depends." Sasuke deadpanned. "Scaredy cat over here's got poison in him. It could be lethal, so we might have to go back, get him to a nurse."

"No!" Naruto said, glaring at his hand. "I'm not going to be the downfall of our team! I'm going to be the hokage, dammit! That's why..    ..I'm willing to do whatever it takes to be the best ninja that I can be!" He stabbed his hand with a kunai, allowing the poisoned blood to flow out.

"Yeah, Naruto, that was cool and all, but if you keep losing that much blood, you'll die." Kakashi said.