Okay peeps, here is the next chapter, a little bit shorter, but I felt you guys would prefer to have a chapter come out rather than not, so here goes. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Just Following Orders by ShadowedNara

XxX

Chapter 9

Routine C-rank... Almost II

Naruto and Yin were once again forced onto the defensive as Ruiga had them being chased by a bubble of water that housed upwards of 20 piranhas, each with their minds firmly set on devouring some human flesh.

The two genin sprang from tree to tree, switching between jumping through the branches to sprinting along the ground, doing whatever they could to try shake their opponent. But Ruiga was following them, catching up even, and he was keeping his jutsu trained on the redhead and pale blue-haired girl. Naruto squinted his eyes through the foilage and found that they were coming up on a small dam, something that could prove useful despite the fact that their opponent was a suiton user, and a better one than Naruto at that. But the redhead still had one trick up his sleeve that he'd learned back in Uzushio, and damned if he didn't think it would do the job of finishing off their opponent.

"Hey Yin, I've got an idea," he muttered softly as they leapt to another tree, Naruto making sure that their pursuer couldn't catch wind of their plan. "If we can lure him out onto the water's surface, I think I might be able to finish this!"

Yin frowned thoughtfully before glancing back, watching as their opponent gained a few more metres on them. It wouldn't be long before they were caught. "Okay, when we land on the water, I'll get rid of the sushi chasing after us, then I'll leave Ruiga to you!"

Taking one last giant leap from a tree, Naruto and Yin landed on the surface of the water, rounding their bodies as fast as they could to face their opponent and his horde of piranha that were right on their tails.

Ruiga smirked from his position. He was now more than close enough to finish these two off. Time for his babies to get that meal they so rightly deserved. "Now you're mine! Rip the flesh from their bodies my beautiful piranha!"

The sphere of water housing the piranha neared the two genin and was seconds away from devouring them before Yin's voice filled the clearing. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!"

The fireball was a decent size, nothing compared to what more seasoned Uchiha could do at Yin's age, but impressive nonetheless, as it did its job of frying the sphere of water as it rocketed straight into the torrent of flames. A cloud of steam rose into the air as the flames boiled the water, the piranha being sent back to whence they came in the process.

The steam didn't dawdle for long, and before long the surface of the water was once again cleared for all to see. Ruiga's smirk dropped slightly as his pets were sent back to their home, internally reeling from these brats hurting like they did. Though his eyes widened as he spotted the redhead going through more hand seals. "What are you—"

"Suiton: Daibakuryū no Jutsu (Water Release: Great Waterfall Flow Technique)!" Naruto quickly grabbed Yin by her arm and dragged her away from the dam, landing back on the surrounding land as a massive whirlpool quickly began sucking Ruiga into the depths of the water. His hand was the last thing to be seen as the raging waters continued on, Naruto concentrating with his hands in the Ram seal. He waited another half a minute before releasing the jutsu, letting out a large breath and dropping to his knee. "Well that worked better than I expected…"

Yin grinned from her position and patted Naruto on the back, observing his work with an appreciative eye. "Nice one! I didn't know you could make a whirlpool! You never did that in training once!"

Naruto chuckled softly as he slowly got back to his feet, dusting his arms down. "Well it was a little something I was saving for an occasion such as this. I can't believe how well it turned out—"

It seemed the redhead had spoken to soon though, as no sooner had the words left his mouth, did another much larger sphere of water shoot out from the dam, though this time there was something a lot bigger residing within, Ruiga's head popping out the top of the sphere so he could breathe. The man himself was riding atop a massive shark, and before Naruto or Yin could react, he had smashed right through the both of them, the shark's rough skin peeling flesh from both genin at the points of impact.

"The piranhas from before aren't my only pets, though I do prefer them for a bit of a lighter touch," the man explained slowly, grinning from ear to ear as he floated above the dam in the sphere. "But you guys have forced my hand, and I had to bring out something a little bigger. An extra 50 teeth bigger to be precise!" Ruiga laughed maniacally as he passed the genin again, knocking both of them to the ground once more and removing another layer of skin from the knock.

Naruto's clothes were getting ripped to shreds, and Yin's arms were slowly starting to redden with blood. If they didn't do anything soon, it was no telling how long it would be before he just decided to stop playing around and have the shark eat them in one go. In a desperate attempt to do something, anything, Naruto ran through three quick hand seals before firing off another jutsu. "Suiton: Hahonryū (Water Release: Tearing Torrent)!"

The torrent of water raced at the sphere of water enshrouding the shark and Ruiga, and the widening of the man's smirk did nothing to alleviate Naruto's hopes. The torrent of water struck the sphere with all the force of a wave, though the water was merely absorbed into the sphere before being discharged from the back, ensuring that the sphere remained the same size.

Ruiga laughed loudly from his position, his eye glinting with arrogance. "That was a nice try, but it seems you're all out of tricks if you're resorting to using that again!"

"Don't count me out yet!" Yin shouted, running through hand seals herself before landing on the Tiger seal and exhaling sharply. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!"

The ball of fire once again raced towards the sphere of water, kicking up another massive cloud of steam. When it eventually dissipated, it revealed Ruiga on the ground in a crouch, his shark squirming on the ground as it looked for oxygen. Their opponent quickly summoned another sphere of water and enclosed it around the shark, glaring hatefully at the pale blue-haired girl as he once again hooped atop his large fish. "Tch, that's going to get annoying fast. I guess I'll have to deal with you first then."

The man directed his shark at the duo of genin and knocked Naruto to the ground again before running through hand seals again and finishing on the Tiger seal. "Suiton: Suiten Hōfutsu (Water Release: Water-Heavens Convergence)!" Globules of water quickly rose up from the ground once again, converging on Yin's position and covering her form in water just as before. Ruiga laughed in childish glee as he directed his shark at her. "This is it for your friend! She's nothing but shark bait now for my magnificent pet!"

Yin watched in horror as the shark approached her sphere of water, and her eyes found those of her distressed redheaded teammate who could do nothing but watch from his downed position. He would never make it here in time to help her, no matter how fast he was. She mouthed a quick 'I'm sorry' to her teammate before closing her eyes.

"Raiton: Denkō Noroshi (Lightning Release: Lightning Signal Flare)!" A bolt of lightning flashed into existence and struck the sphere of water that Ruiga was in along with his shark, the sphere lighting up in an array of colourful sparks of electricity as the lightning jumped around and electrocuted anything and everything within the sphere.

Ruiga's sphere of water eventually collapsed, the man himself not being able to hold the jutsu any longer as his body convulsed uncontrollably, visible jolts of electricity sparking through his body in the aftermath. The shark had long since dispelled and returned to its home, though Minato was sure that it was going to be dead on arrival.

That was of no consequence though, and he hurriedly rushed to Yin who dropped onto the ground in a puddle of water, taking in deep breaths of air. She'd been more prepared this time to not swallow any water, though she'd been under for a while, so she would've started swallowing water soon if it wasn't for Minato's intervention. She would've drowned, though the shark would've likely ripped into her before that point. She shuddered at the thought. 'I really hate sharks…'

Minato gently patted her back as he knelt next to her, noticing the deep red gashes along her arms from her encounter with the shark. "Are you all right? Your arms look pretty bad. We should get you over to Naruto before it gets any worse."

The girl nodded her head in agreement, Minato gingerly helping her to her feet and directing them over to their redheaded teammate who had been restraining their target, who was evidently still alive, though he was very much unconscious. Naruto had used his chakra scalpels to sever the man's muscles in his legs and arms, as well as his fingers to make sure that when he woke up he wouldn't be trying anything funny.

As Minato and Yin settled beside the redhead, they were a little confused when he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and held his arms out to them. They noticed the bite marks that were running up and down along his exposed forearms. Naruto had to embarrassingly admit that once he'd found out what he could do, he hadn't had any ability in medical ninjutsu and had abused his ability quite thoroughly. He'd had no idea the bite marks would remain, but it was something he found out later with quite a shock.

It didn't matter though, they had to go find their sensei, and he had no time to heal them individually with medical ninjutsu. While his Heal Bite was more chakra intensive, it was at least three times faster than healing with medical ninjutsu, and he'd be able to heal both Minato and Yin at the same time like this. "Quickly, bite into my forearms, it will heal you quicker than I'd be able to using the Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique)."

They looked at him sceptically, though a nudge of his head at his arms defused all doubt and they both bit down as softly as they could on the redhead's forearms, immediately feeling the rush of healing chakra. Minato's and Yin's eyes widened respectively as their wounds literally fizzled away before their eyes. It was amazing.

It was replenishing their chakra reserves as well they noticed after a few seconds of biting down, though one look at their redheaded teammate told them that it was rather rapidly depleting his. His eyes were slowly drooping, and he looked to be blinking back unconsciousness. Naruto noticed their stares and smiled tiredly. "Don't worry about me guys… I just used up a lot of chakra in that fight… I'll be fine."

The redhead reached into his back pouch and as quickly as possible popped a soldier pill in his mouth, crunching down on the tablet and relishing in the restoration of chakra. It didn't restore all his chakra, not even half of it, but it would be enough to heal his teammates and keep him on his feet. Naruto gently tugged his arms away, watching as his teammates got the hint and stopped biting down.

Yin glanced at her arms and grinned in amazement, flexing her fist and feeling as if she hadn't just fought an entire battle. "Whoa, I feel incredible! Is this just because of your chakra?"

Naruto nodded absently, rolling his sleeves back down one by one. "Yeah, it's a healing ability I discovered while back in Uzushio. Pretty neat huh?"

There was a smile on Naruto's face, though it didn't reach Minato. The blonde's eyes lingered on his teammate's forearm, specifically where he himself had just bitten down, and watched as the bite mark, his bite mark, quickly darkened in shade, joining the myriad of bite marks that were scattered all over the redhead's arms. It caused the blonde to frown, though he said nothing on the matter. For now at least. "We should go find Jiraiya-sensei and see if he needs any back-up, though I'm sure he should be dispatching of his opponent by now."

Yin nodded before glancing over her shoulder at their unconscious captive, jerking her thumb in his direction. "So what are we gonna do about him?"

Naruto got to his feet slowly before removing a scroll from the inside pocket of his poncho. "Just leave that to me." Pulling out the blank scroll, Naruto held it between his fingers before running through six hand seals, ending on the Boar seal and slamming the scroll onto the ground, unfurling it in the process. "Uzumaki Fūin Shiki (Uzumaki Sealing Style)!"

A line of kanji shot out from the scroll and encircled Ruiga's prone form, the seal spreading out in a circle around his body on the ground before flashing a brilliant white, dragging the man into the scroll and settling down onto the blank paper, the seal now clearly transcribed on it. Naruto pocketed the scroll and dusted his hands, grinning at his two teammates. "Well, let's go find Jiraiya-sensei."

Yin looked to Minato who seemed to be quite awe-struck at Naruto's use of fūinjutsu again, and she quickly snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Come on Minato, you can beg Naruto to teach you later. We still have a mission to complete."

That seemed to snap the blonde out of his reverie, and he nodded at her in thanks. "Let's go."

With Jiraiya…

Jiraiya frowned across at the man standing off on the other side of the clearing, rubbing away the trickle of blood that dripped down the side out of his mouth. 'I don't know what that was, but he somehow managed to hit me with some kind of invisible force. And whatever it is, it's stopping my Hari Jizō (Needle Jizō) from hitting him as well,' he thought absently, glancing at all the strands of hair turned needles lying about the clearing. However there were none directly around Renga himself, as if he had some kind of transparent barrier protecting him. 'Well, let's see how that barrier of his fairs against some heat!'

Jiraiya quickly summoned a shadow clone to his side, the pair of Jiraiya's hurriedly running through hand seals.

"Gamayudan (Toad Oil Bullet)!"

"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique)!"

The clone-Jiraiya expelled out a long thin stream of toad oil from its mouth, while the original ignited it with the fire jutsu, combining to form something a lot more devastating than a typical fire jutsu. The flames ignited the highly flammable oil, and a crushing wave of heat pulsed out around the immediate clearing. Jiraiya didn't hold the jutsu for too long, and his shadow clone dispelled in a puff of smoke when it was no longer necessary.

When the small cloud of smoke dissipated from the area, it revealed a profusely sweating Renga standing with eyes slightly widened, though that quickly gave way to a fierce scowl as he huffed angrily. "How—how dare you?! That's it! No more pussy footing! I'll destroy this entire forest if I have to, I don't even care about that stupid package anymore! Now, it's personal."

Jiraiya watched curiously as the furious Janin formed multiple ice discs, though these were able to be seen by the naked eye, attributing to their actual density and size. 'What's he planning?' He found out soon enough as the ice discs quickly lined up one behind the other, each disc a little smaller and thicker than the one before it, almost like a lens. '... oh dear sweet Kami, did I manage to piss him off that much?'

The answer to Jiraiya's unasked question came in the form of a highly concentrated energy beam that shot down towards the earth. Though the attack itself missed his position by several metres, Jiraiya was still flung back from the ensuing shock wave and shaking of the explosion, dust and dirt being kicked up into the air in the wake of the attack.

When the dust cleared, Renga cackled madly as he noticed Jiraiya looking a little worse for wear, and began manipulating the discs again, looking to finish this. "I'll begrudgingly admit that it's not the most accurate, but it makes up for it with destructive power. And with the sun shining as high and brightly as it is today, I'm happy to report that there's a one-hundred percent chance of your death!"

Another concentrated beam of energy rocked the earth, setting several nearby trees and bushes on fire, and this beam happened to be a lot closer. Jiraiya collided with the trunk of a tree as he was yet again violently thrown away from the explosion, prompting him to massage his head softly. 'Fuck, well this is annoying. I can't exactly take the sun away from him to stop his jutsu...' Jiraiya's eyes widened as a sneaky grin spread across his face. 'But I can take him away from the sun.'

Jiraiya quickly created a shadow clone under the cover of the cloud of dust, sending it out towards the right to draw Renga's attention. Feeling the memories of the clone flood back to him a few seconds later, Jiraiya dashed out towards the left, right in Renga's blind spot. The man most likely still had his barrier up around him, so a frontal attack would be useless, but Jiraiya had something a little better in mind. Renga's eyes found Jiraiya just as the man was a few metres away from closing in on his position, but before the Kumo nuke-nin could react, Jiraiya's palm slammed against the ground as a massive seal array spread out from his palm, covering the ground beneath Jiraiya and Renga as well. "Gyaku Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari (Reverse Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind)!"

Both men were sucked into the seal array, and plunged into total darkness. Renga's eyes widened in fear, and he suddenly heard more than felt something slimy up against his hand. It made his stomach curdle, and his breathing quickened in pace as he began to panic. "Wha—what the fuck is going on?! Where am I?!"

A soft chuckle was heard throughout the darkness. "Allow me to explain," Jiraiya's voice cut in through the darkness, Renga's head whipping about frantically to pinpoint it while beginning to sink into whatever he was standing on. "I've summoned you into the oesophagus of the great fire-breathing toad from Mount Myōboku. I'm afraid to say that in a few minutes, you'll be ingested, living the rest of your measly life in the gastric acid of this toad while it digests you. I trust you'll have a great time."

Then everything went deathly silent, and Renga's efforts to escape were all for naught as his screams slowly died down to nothing, his body being enveloped within the inside of the oesophagus. With another hand seal, Jiraiya reverse summoned himself back to the clearing where he'd left from before, Renga no where in sight. "I guess it's for the best. Hopefully my genin are still in salvageable pieces."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Jiraiya-sensei," Yin drawled sarcastically, dropping down into the clearing with her other two teammates.

Jiraiya noticed that Yin and Minato looked completely fine, not even a scratch on them save for the state their clothes were in. They were ripped and torn in more places than one, and Minato was missing his hitai-ate. Naruto looked relatively fine as well, though he was swaying slightly on his feet, and Jiraiya took a swing in the dark to guess that the redhead had probably exhausted himself healing his teammates.

Naruto stepped forward then and handed Jiraiya a scroll, the man unfurling it to find two unique storage seals emblazoned on the paper. "Two nuke-nin, sealed and ready for your delivery sensei."

They'd made a quick detour to subdue Minato's opponent, who had been completely covered in iron sand. It was likely the man had suffered death from suffocation, as the iron sand was so tightly packed around his form.

Jiraiya nodded proudly with a grin on his face, though that quickly gave way to a frown as Naruto bucked forward, his eyes half-lidded. "I'm just gonna... rest my eyes for a bit sensei... 'ttebayo..."

Jiraiya chuckled as he pocketed the scroll, gently picking Naruto up and placing him over his shoulder. "You guys did a great job. I'm proud of you three. I'll tell you what. When we get back to Konoha, I'll take you guys out to eat, my treat."

Minato smiled genuinely, nodding his head at the white-haired man. "I like the sound of that sensei."

Jiraiya nodded before patting the package still strapped to his side. "What do you say we quickly go drop off this package and split huh? I've had enough of Kusa no Kuni for a while."

Yin giggled from her spot, adjusting her sword on her back before deciding to lead the way. "I couldn't agree more sensei. The sooner we get out of here the sooner we can eat you out of your wallet," she chirped cheerfully.

Jiraiya paled, though with both his genin there he knew he wouldn't be able to go back on what he'd said before. Minato grinned mischeivously from his spot beside Yin, his arms folded across his chest. "I'll be sure to let Naruto know first thing once he wakes up. I can only imagine how excited he'll be."

Jiraiya grumbled softly to himself as he followed his two not-so-cute-anymore genin. "You three are down right evil you know that?"

Back in Konoha, half a week later...

"So, how's your team?" Naruto asked his cousin as he and Kushina sat in the kitchen of Mito-baa's home. "I haven't really had a chance to ask you since... everything that's happened."

Naruto had returned with his team from the Kusa mission a couple days ago, and by the time he got back Kushina was up and moving about as if nothing had ever happened to her. Naruto had been ecstatic to hear it, and he'd immediately used the money he received for his last mission to take her out for lunch.

Their supposed C-rank had been bumped up to an A-rank, and the pay had been bumped up accordingly. To top that off, the two bodies of the nuke-nin they managed to capture awarded them with a nice little bounty bonus, so Naruto was feeling slightly elated at the moment. Despite their rotten luck with their mission, things had taken a turn for the better, and he was currently feeling on top of the world.

Kushina slurped at the tea that was cradled in her hands, glancing off through a nearby window at the softly blowing sakura trees outside. "They're all right I guess. They're nothing special if that's what your asking, not like your team at least. Well, we are a squad with two females and one male, so I guess we're special in that regard." Kushina waved her hand about in a non-commital manner, shrugging her shoulders at the same time. "Akane is your typical girl, doesn't seem to care much for being a ninja, but she's not totally clueless. Daichi seems a little more enthusiastic about being a ninja, though his skills a sorely lacking. He wasn't one of the bottom ranked people from the Academy for nothing. As for Hinoko-sensei, well... she's a Hyūga in every sense of the word. She can be a little stuck up sometimes, but I think I'm finally managing to break through that hard external shell she's put up 'ttebane!"

Naruto chuckled at that, sipping at his own tea. "Yeah well, you always were the more destructive of us two, so I imagine you could break down any shell she's put up."

Kushina glared weakly at him, though didn't move to engage him with her fists. Even though she looked as normal as ever before the sealing, her body was still adjusting to the new chakra entity that was stuck in her belly, and her body ached something fierce. "You're so lucky I'm still incapacitated, otherwise I would've been over there knocking some sense into you."

Naruto chuckled again as he watched her from the other side of the table. "Don't I know it. That's why I'm using this opportunity while I still can." With that said, Naruto took one last sip of his tea before depositing it in the basin, walking back past Kushina and rapping her softly upside the head as he past her. "Well, look at the time, gotta run 'ttebayo! Team training and stuff you know!"

Kushina went white eyed after he knocked her in the head, and she held a fist up to him dangerously from her seated position. "I won't forget this Naruto! I hope you know that!" She stared into her cup after the sound of the front door closing echoed through the quiet house, swirling the remaining liquid inside a little. Her lips formed into a small soft smile though as she realised her idiotic cousin had succeeded in uplifting her mood. She'd been quite sullen that morning, and he must have noticed. "Idiot," she muttered weakly, her smile still in place.

Okay guys, so that wraps up the C-rank mission gone wrong for this part of the story, I hope you guys enjoyed it. I hope my fights were all right, so let me know what you guys thought!

Just a heads up, there's going to be a time-skip after this, after which there will be a pick up in the action. I have a serious question to ask you guys, one that I need you to answer, so here goes... I'm gonna give it its own line and everything:

After the time-skip, I need to hear from you guys if you'll be fine with me having them as chunin by that time, or if you want me to write up a chunin exams after the time skip. I feel it will be a bit redundant, though let me know your thoughts.

After the time-skip, things will be kicking into overdrive, because we'll have the anticipated kidnapping of Kushina (the reason I'm not having her kidnapped right now is because she was just sealed, I doubt anybody really knows that and it will take them a while to figure out. By the way, when Kishi says she was kidnapped for her special chakra, I'm going on the assumption that by that they meant biju chakra, i.e. she's a jinchuriki, that's why they wanted to kidnap her). In my mind, the kidnapping from Kumo was also something that sparked the beginning of the Second Shinobi War, which it says in canon was started by Konoha. I feel they would start a war with Kumo for them trying to steal a jinchuriki as a breach of the armistice they had after the First Shinobi War, so I hope that makes sense to you guys, let me know if you need me to explain it further.

Otherwise, that's a little sneak peek of what's to come a little later, so I hope that encourages you to carry on reading! Also, side note, I'm gonna be writing finals soon at Uni, which means no writing fanfiction because I need to focus on passing this year. Yipee, I'm so excited, can't you tell! But yeah, that being said, I have nothing left to say, so be gone.

P.S. Do you guys like your bacon drizzled with maple syrup?

ShadowedNara