Chapter 7 – Instinct and Annoying Missions
Kakashi watched them go.
Naruto storming ahead, waving his arms and yelling "TEAM SEVEN, DATTEBAYO!" loud enough to scare birds. Sakura chasing after him, scolding. Sasuke walking a little behind, hands in pockets, pretending he wasn't part of the noise.
The bells at Kakashi's hip jingled softly as the clearing emptied.
He let out a quiet breath and pushed his hands into his pockets.
"Dodged it, huh…" he murmured.
He wasn't thinking about the bells. He was thinking about that moment.
Clone behind Naruto. Fingers ready. The familiar stance.
One Thousand Years of Death.
He knew exactly how close he'd been. An inch. Less than that. The kind of prank that hurt like hell and made a point all at once.
Naruto shouldn't have had time.
From Kakashi's perspective, it had gone like this:
Clone appears behind the kid. Fingers ready. Naruto tense but too slow. The poke goes in—
And then, in that tiny sliver of an instant before impact, Naruto's body moved.
Not a proper dodge. Not planned footwork. More like his entire body spasmed in the right direction at the last possible moment.
The clone missed the sweet spot, and Naruto reappeared behind it, jabbing those ridiculous fingers into the clone's backside with wild, panicked enthusiasm.
Kakashi's real body, hidden underground, had felt the timing.
"…It was like he jumped sideways out of dying," he thought.
Too sharp. Too sudden. No technique. No conscious strategy in those blue eyes. Just raw, screaming instinct.
He tilted his head, watching Naruto's orange back get smaller on the path.
"With his chakra reserves, his intuition might sharpen at the edge of danger," Kakashi mused. "He felt threat and his body reacted. Like an animal flinching away from a killing blow."
The surge he'd sensed at that moment had been odd too—Naruto's chakra spiking and then dropping harder than the movements alone should have cost.
But then… Naruto's chakra was always a mess. Way too much, all sloshed around with no control.
He shrugged inwardly.
"Overreacting with chakra when he panics," he decided. "Not surprising for someone like him."
Whatever it was, it hadn't felt like a technique. Just a kid on instinct, jerking away from something his whole being decided was "death."
Kakashi's visible eye crinkled.
"But he did dodge," he admitted silently. "Inches from getting wrecked, and he still slipped away. Hm… interesting."
He let his gaze follow all three genin.
"The loud idiot with scary instincts, the talented avenger, and the girl who hasn't realized what she's good at yet," he thought. "This is going to be… troublesome."
The wind tugged his hair.
Then he pulled his book out, flipped it open, and wandered off after them.
Team Seven had passed.
Now came the annoying part.
He had to keep them alive.
---
Naruto jogged between Sakura and Sasuke, hands laced behind his head, grinning like his cheeks might crack.
"TEAM SEVEN, DATTEBAYO!" he yelled again, just because it still felt good.
"Stop shouting," Sakura groaned. "My ears are going to fall off…"
Sasuke didn't look at him, but he didn't speed up to leave him behind, either.
The training ground slowly disappeared behind them as they walked back into the village. The streets were busier now—vendors calling, shop shutters open, people moving to and from work.
Some villagers glanced at Naruto's new headband with surprise. Some still gave him the same old looks.
Naruto grinned wider anyway.
He tilted his head back, watching the pale numbers hovering in front of his eyes as they walked.
7700 → 7800 → 7900
Every few minutes of just walking and arguing made the number creep up.
He still didn't like numbers. But this one, at least, finally made sense.
"Chakra," he muttered under his breath. "It goes down when I do crazy stuff… and back up when I'm being lazy… that's actually kinda awesome…"
"What're you mumbling about now?" Sakura asked.
"Nothin'!" he blurted, nearly tripping. "Just thinking about how cool I am!"
"Idiot," she sighed.
By the time he split off toward his apartment and flopped into bed that night, headband still on, the number had climbed steadily back to where it liked to sit.
7900 → 8500 → 9300 → 10000
He fell asleep smiling.
---
The next morning, Naruto burst into the Hokage's office with all the subtlety of a thrown brick.
"ALRIGHT! TEAM SEVEN REPORTING FOR SUPER AWESOME MISSIONS, DATTEBAYO!"
Iruka, standing off to the side with a clipboard, flinched. "Naruto, don't shout in here!"
The Third Hokage exhaled a thin stream of pipe smoke, eyes crinkled with amusement.
Kakashi appeared in a late swirl of leaves behind the team, lifting a hand lazily. "Yo."
Sakura bowed politely. Sasuke stuffed his hands in his pockets and eyed the rows of mission scrolls with a faint, hungry look.
Naruto planted his feet in front of the old man's desk.
"Give us something big!" he yelled. "Bandits! Evil organizations! Super dangerous spy stuff!"
Iruka smacked him on the back of the head. "You just became genin, Naruto! You start with D-rank missions!"
Naruto made a face. "Booo…"
The Hokage smiled. "You must learn to walk before you run, Naruto. For now…"
He glanced at a mission scroll.
"…You will do chores, errands, and simple tasks for the village."
Naruto slumped like someone had popped him.
"Chores…?"
Kakashi's eye curved. "Perfect for you."
"HOW IS THAT PERFECT?!"
It didn't matter. The scroll was handed over.
And so D-rank hell began.
---
"COME BACK HERE, YOU DEMON CAT!"
Naruto dove and skidded across the grass, fingers brushing the tip of a brown ribbon tied around a cat's ear.
Tora—fat, striped, and furious—let out a shriek and launched herself off a tree, claws flashing. Naruto's face became an emergency landing pad.
"GYAAAAAAAH!"
He rolled across the ground, clutching his nose. The chakra number in front of his eyes didn't care about cat scratches. It stayed high and smug.
10000
Sakura winced. "Naruto, you scared her! Move slower!"
"Hard to be gentle when she's trying to EAT MY FACE!" he yelled back, muffled by fur and pain.
Sasuke stepped in smoothly, quiet and focused, cutting off the cat's escape route. Sakura cupped her hands, moving in from the side.
Naruto gritted his teeth and forced himself up, moving slower this time, palms open.
"Easy… eaaasy… nice demon furball…" he muttered.
For a second, it almost worked. Tora paused, ears twitching, muscles bunched—
Naruto's instincts screamed she was about to bolt.
His fingers twitched.
If I just… stop everything for a second…
The thought flashed through his head fast. His hand tightened.
But then he saw Sakura and Sasuke moving carefully too, eyes focused, almost in sync.
If he froze the world, he'd be the only one doing anything. Again. And this was just a stupid cat.
He swallowed the urge.
Tora did try to bolt.
Sasuke lunged. Sakura grabbed the ribbon. Naruto threw his arms around the cat's middle.
There was scratching. There was screaming. Mostly Naruto's.
But a minute later, Team Seven trudged back into the Hokage's office, Naruto covered in claw marks, holding a violently squirming Tora.
The Fire Daimyo's wife squealed, rushed forward, and crushed the cat in a bone-snapping hug.
"TORAAAA! Mommy missed you so much!"
Tora went limp with suffering.
Naruto stared, dead inside. "We risked our lives… for that…"
Kakashi scratched his cheek behind the mask. "Get used to it."
The Hokage chuckled.
"Excellent work. Next mission—"
Naruto threw his hands up.
"AGAIN?!"
Next mission came anyway.
Weeding fields.
Helping an old man carry boxes.
Chasing a runaway child who thought ninja were "free ride toys."
Naruto used Shadow Clones way too much on all of it.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
10000 → 5000
A dozen Narutos popped into existence in a cabbage field and immediately started arguing about who had to pull the biggest weed.
"You do it!"
"No, you!"
"Shut up, we're the same guy!"
By the time the weeds were gone and the clones poofed, the chakra crashed back into him like a weird tidal wave.
5000 → 10000
Naruto flopped onto his back in the dirt.
"Urrrrgh… I feel like I got hit by a truck…" he groaned.
Kakashi's shadow fell across him.
"You'll never grow if you keep burning all your chakra on chores," the jounin said lightly. "You're supposed to learn efficiency."
Naruto squinted up at him.
"…That mean I get less work if I use less chakra…?"
"No."
"Then what's the point?!"
The days blurred.
Mission. Complain. Mission. Complain harder.
Chakra going down in big chunks with clones and back up again whenever he crashed on a bench or on his bed or even on a rooftop while Kakashi "mysteriously disappeared" mid-work.
He started noticing how it felt when the number was low. Heavy arms. Sluggish brain. The stubborn part of him hated that feeling.
So he started watching the number a little more, just for himself.
When it hovered high, at 10000, he'd grin and pick a fight with training posts or sprint across rooftops.
When it dipped after too many clones—
10000 → 6000 → 4500
He'd feel it in his bones.
He never told anyone, of course.
It was his secret. His trick.
Everything Stop Thingy. Chakra number. All of it.
Outside, life looked normal: the loud dead-last doing dumb things, his cool teammate insulting him, Sakura yelling, Kakashi reading.
Inside, Naruto was watching something no one else could see.
---
One afternoon, after yet another day of dog-walking and trash-carrying, Naruto stormed into the Hokage's office with Kakashi and the others trailing behind.
"Old man, this is ridiculous!" Naruto slammed his hands on the desk. Papers jumped. "We're ninja, not delivery boys! Give us a real mission already!"
Iruka flinched. "Naruto! Show some respect!"
The Hokage sighed, pipe in hand, and looked the boy over—scratched, scuffed, headband slightly crooked, eyes burning.
"You're still new genin," he said. "D-rank missions are appropriate for your level."
Naruto scowled. "We already caught that demon cat like five times! I've been kicked, scratched, bitten, and I think one old lady threw a sandal at me! Come on! We're Team Seven!"
Sakura grabbed his sleeve, hissing. "Naruto, stop!"
Sasuke watched quietly, but he didn't speak up to agree with the Hokage. That was something.
Kakashi didn't say anything either. He just looked bored. Maybe a little amused.
Naruto leaned forward, knuckles white on the desk.
"I'm not saying we should get some super S-rank thing," he said, voice rough but serious. "But give us something that's actually a ninja job! Please!"
The room went quiet.
Iruka opened his mouth to scold him again, but the Hokage lifted a hand.
Hiruzen studied Naruto's face for a moment, then glanced at the mission board.
"…He does have a point," the old man murmured. "Endless D-ranks can only teach so much."
Iruka blinked. "Hokage-sama?"
The Hokage smiled faintly.
"Very well," he said. "Team Seven will receive a C-rank mission."
Naruto's eyes lit up so bright the chakra number almost looked dim next to them.
"C-rank—?!"
Sakura looked panicked. Sasuke's eyes sharpened, interest finally showing.
Iruka frowned. "Hokage-sama, are you sure? Naruto is still—"
"A C-rank suitable for beginners," Hiruzen cut in gently. "Bodyguard duty. You will protect a client until he reaches his destination."
Naruto's heart hammered.
A real mission. Outside the village. Like an actual ninja.
He could feel his chakra humming under his skin, even though the number stayed steady.
10000
The Hokage nodded to a nearby chunin.
"Send him in."
The door slid open.
A scruffy old man with a bottle in one hand and a huge, annoyed frown on his face stumbled in. His clothes were travel-worn, his beard unshaven, and he looked at Team Seven like they were particularly disappointing vegetables.
"This is my protection?" he grumbled. "The brat, the pink girl, and the moody one? And that scarecrow?"
Naruto bristled. "HEY! Who're you calling a brat?!"
The old man snorted.
"I'm Tazuna," he said. "A master bridge builder from the Land of Waves. Try not to die before we get there."
Naruto grinned, fire burning in his chest.
"Try not to slow us down, old man," he shot back.
Sakura groaned. Sasuke smirked faintly. Kakashi sighed behind his mask, but his eye… didn't look displeased.
The Hokage watched the exchange, pipe smoke curling lazily around him.
"Your mission," he said, "is to escort and protect Tazuna until he returns safely to the Land of Waves. Do not underestimate the dangers outside the village."
Naruto's hand curled unconsciously, just a little, feeling the invisible weight of the number hovering in front of him.
10000
He didn't know what was waiting out there. He didn't know how much chakra he'd end up burning. He didn't know if he'd have to use the Everything Stop Thingy again… or what would happen if he did.
He only knew one thing for sure.
He wasn't going to run.
He wasn't going back.
He straightened, grinning so hard his cheeks hurt.
"Alright!" he yelled. "Team Seven's first real mission! Let's go, dattebayo!"