Dosu's Great Escape

Chapter Five: Failure

The Third Hokage was a stern-looking old man, clad in white and red with the symbol of his village on his hat. He clenched a pipe between his teeth as he looked over the reports, then to them. Kin did her best not to show weakness.

"I am dissatisfied with your conduct on this mission," said the Hokage.

"What, but we completed it," said Zaku.

"True." said the Third Hokage. "But in the process, you killed twelve people and their horses. Not to mention injured a passing pedestrian. We also had to divert ninja to repair the road and clear out any traps."

"You wanted us to kill them," said Kin. "That was the mission."

"The mission was to secure the cattle." said the Third. "While you did achieve that, we would have preferred to do it without ending the lives of twelve young men."

"Well, you should have said that before you sent us on this mission," said Kin.

"There is also the matter of the man who was injured." said the Third. "The Leaf Village prides itself on avoiding collateral damage. As things stand the price for his healing will be coming out of your payment.

"Anko, I expect you to make sure these children fully understand the ways of the Leaf Village. Ensure it is by the next time they go on any C-ranks."

Anko bowed. "Yes, Hokage."

This was just great. Just when Kin was getting used to things now, they were back to D ranks. She'd wanted to learn that snake technique.

As they walked back, Zaku had his hands in his pockets. "This is the worst. Now we're going to be stuck doing C ranks for weeks."

"Lord Orochimaru would never have given us this kind of demotion because of crap like this," muttered Kin.

"He probably would have laughed," noted Dosu.

"Tell me about it," said Zaku.

And then they ran into Naruto outside their apartment. He was like a puppy, except you couldn't cut him into pieces without being charged for murder. And they couldn't kick him for the moment.

"Hey, guys! How'd the mission go!" called Naruto.

"Oh, hey Naruto," said Kin. "Not well. There was an... accident. It wasn't our fault, but we got blamed for it."

"Oh, sorry about that," said Naruto. "I get blamed for things all the time. I remember one time there was a crop failure, and people blamed me for it.

"Still, once I ace the test tomorrow they'll have to acknowledge me! Believe it!"

"I have a question," said Dosu.

"What is it, Dosu?" asked Naruto.

"Students graduate at the age of twelve, do they not? But you are eleven," said Dosu.

"Well yeah, though I'm almost twelve," said Naruto. "But if you're a really good ninja you can graduate early! That's what I'm going to do!"

"Of course," said Dosu.

They made their way into their apartment and sat down, throwing off their packs. For a moment, there was silence.

"So what do you think he'll score?" asked Zaku.

"I'd say... D-," said Dosu.

"Failing grade," said Kin.

"Yeah," said Zaku.