Son of the Sannin(Back)

First C-Rank Mission, Part I: Clash in the Rice Fields

What could possibly go wrong?

Placed on one of the shelves among a couple books, a vase, photographs and other ornaments, there were two pictures that decorated the living room of the Senju Residence. Both of them were pictures of a group of four people, consisting on an adult and three children.

The first one was a picture of Naruto, Hinata, Haku and Kurenai. Hinata was in the middle, with Naruto at her right and Haku at her left, and Kurenai behind all of them. Everybody was smiling: Naruto had a foxy grin while he gave the camera a thumbs up. The others' smiles were more subdued, but they still radiated happiness nevertheless.

The second one was a picture of Sakura, Karin, Sasuke, and Shizune. Sasuke was in the middle, with Sakura at his left and Karin at his right, both forcefully hooking their arms around his, as well as pulling the boy to their respective side. Behind them was Shizune, with either hand on both Sakura and Karin's shoulder. The three girls were warmly smiling at the camera, while Sasuke had a sour expression, as if saying "kill me".

It was tradition for the newly formed teams to take a picture of the first day they're formed and be given as a memento for both students and sensei. Tsunade spent quite some time looking at those two pictures after waking up. The one with Naruto reminded her of her old picture of Team Sarutobi, which was in black and white due the technology of the time. The one with Shizune made her regret not taking on a Genin team. Jiraiya often mentioned that training a Genin team was an amazing experience.

Sure, she had trained Shizune, but the young woman's upbringing was everything but normal.

"Mom? Breakfast is ready!" Kaida shouted from the kitchen.

"Coming!"

As expected, everybody except Jiraiya, who had already left about an hour ago, was sitting at the table, eagerly eating breakfast before getting ready for the day. Tsunade sat her usual seat, where a couple of slices of toast with strawberry jelly were placed on a plate, and an apple close to it. Shizune was eating a bowl brown rice, while the kids were eating cereal.

"So, today is your first day as a real ninja, and as a Jonin-sensei," Tsunade commented after taking a bite from her toast, while looking at both Naruto and Shizune. "How do you feel?"

"I can't wait to get my first mission! Dad told me that he had something already prepared that befits my skills!" Naruto cheered.

Tsunade and Shizune exchanged a look. There was a glint of pity on the young medic-nin's eyes, while Tsunade's gleamed with almost sadistic joy. They didn't trade words, but they understood each other perfectly.

"I think I should tell him..."

"No way! Let him find it by himself, just like everybody else."

"Well," Naruto emptied his bowl, brought it to the sink and quickly cleaned it. "I'm going to meet with my team for my first mission!"

"Be sure to tell us how it went!" Tsunade said as he waved him goodbye.

"Boy, this sucks!" Kaida protested as she crossed her arms. "Naruto-niisan goes to do missions, while we still have to go to the Academy!"

"Trust me, Kaida-chan, if I were you, I wouldn't be jealous of Naruto in the slightest," Shizune replied as she finished her meal. She also brought her bowl to the sink. "I better get going too, I would hate to keep my team waiting. It's going to be bad enough when they find out what kind of missions they are going to do."

After waving Shizune goodbye, Hagane looked at her mother, puzzled.

"Mom, what's wrong with the missions Naruto-niisan and Shizune-neechan's team are going to do?" the white haired kid asked.