Sarutobi looked over the stack of paperwork in front of him. “Kakashi, what is this?”
Kakashi glanced up from his book. “Paperwork?”
“What is the paperwork about?”
Kakashi took the top sheet and glanced over it. “…oh.”
The Sandaime kept his tone professionally neutral. “This is the list of damages incurred by your team. On a C-rank mission. Do you know what the paperwork for a typical C-rank mission is?”
“Typical C-rank missions are not ambushed by high rank missing-nin.”
“Why didn’t you turn back when you saw what you were up against!?” Sarutobi demanded.
Kakashi hid behind his book. “Naruto made a speech.”
Sarutobi sighed. As much as he advocated the Will of Fire, in quiet moments he had to admit, to himself if no one else, that it could cause its fair share of problems when applied by a hyperactive unpredictable knucklehead. “And bringing an S-class missing nin into the village, publicly and apparently willingly?”
“Another speech.”
“And an Ice stylist requesting asylum?”
“Well that’s Zabuza’s fault,” Kakashi said.
Sarutobi rubbed his forehead and groaned. “I’m going to delegate this paperwork. And on a completely unrelated note, I have your next five D-rank missions.”
Kakashi had an idea that it wasn’t unrelated at all.
As it turned out, the missions were not going over all the paperwork.
Well, not all of them anyway.
Naruto groaned. “Kakashi-sensei, how much longer do we have to do this?”
“We’ve been at it less than an hour, dobe,” Sasuke snapped.
“And it’s your fault!” Sakura added.
Naruto stood up and wiped the sweat from his brow. “Easy for you to say, Sakura-chan. You got the easy job!”
Kakashi quirked an eyebrow in agreement and looked to the client. “He has a point.”
Tazuna rubbed his chin. “If you complete the mission in time, I don’t mind. You’re already well ahead of schedule.”
They were back at the unfinished, damaged bridge. They were actually doing two missions at once; Kakashi and Sakura were filling out paperwork while Sasuke and Naruto fixed the bridge. Although as it turned out, Sasuke was doing most of the actual fixing. He and one of the workers were mixing mortar and filling in the gouges and holes made by the recent ninja battle, then Sasuke would quick-dry it with a fire jutsu. His Sharingan was almost constantly active, hunting down even the tiniest cracks with its superior visual acuity. Naruto, meanwhile, had been put to work assembling new parts of bridge. His fabricate hijutsu melded supports together without welds or rivets, as if the bridge had simply been cast fully formed. The lack of joins made it extremely strong, however Naruto’s talents were used sparingly. Tazuna was worried that if the bridge didn’t have some deflection, if it was built too strong, it would break instead of bend when placed under strain. Naruto didn’t get that, but he did as he was told and after every fabricated joint he’d assemble the next one normally, using his raw strength to replace one of the cranes. Between the two ninja, the project was proceeding at nearly double the usual pace.
Kakashi was pleased. Ordinary D-rank missions were good for teaching teamwork, but this was turning into an exercise in bloodline abilities that was hard to get outside combat.
And they’d need the edge soon, he had no doubt…
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(Posted Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:20)
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