Sarah didn't expect that being a Konoha ninja could be so boring. All her team ever did was errands around the village, nothing cool or exciting like she had been told or read in the books. Of course they were still fresh out of the academy Genin, despite graduation being LITERAL weeks ago; Sarah expected to go on a more entertaining mission by now, not chasing some damn cat around the village!

     It's a miracle that Tora the cat liked her so much, otherwise this mission could've taken them a while to finish. Naruto was all covered up in scratch marks, pouting as the group walked back to the Hokage Tower to return Tora back to his owner. Sarah was greatful for the paycheck she would be receiving from this; she planned on heading out later to buy some herbs.

     Or..WAS.

     "Jiji I want to do a more exciting mission! Give us a different type of mission!" Naruto exclaimed as he flat out refused a D-Ranked mission.

     "Naruto-" Sarah was about to say something but was stopped by Kakashi.

     "You fool! You're still a freshly-ranked Genin! You can't just expect to move up the ladder so quickly without gaining experience from these missions!" Iruka responded as he chastised Naruto.

     "But it's been nothing but boring missions so far!" Naruto continued before being knocked onto the ground by Kakashi.

     "Knock it off."

     "Naruto, it seems that it's necessary for me to explain to you what a mission is..Listen to me; Requests pour into the village everyday. They range from babysitting to assasinations..." The Hokage explained.

     Sarah dozed off about half-way through his explanation. She wasn't particularly in the mood to hear any of this, especially since she's already read about this in a book. Hopefully this will knock some sense into her blonde-haired teammate.

     "You always lecture me on everything, Jiji. I'm   not the same prankster kid you thought I was; I'm a Genin of the Hidden Leaf now! I'm not a child anymore!" Naruto scoffed as he childishly crossed his arms and turned his back from the Hokage.

     "Naruto, you can't just disrespect the Hokage like that!" Sarah exclaimed.

     "Hmph!" Naruto responded.

     The Hokage chuckled, "Alright fine, since you insist...I'll have you take on a C-Ranked mission. You'll have to be bodyguards for a certain someone."

     "Yay!" Naruto cheered as he quickly turned around, "Who is it? A feudal lord? A princess?"

     "Calm down," Hiruzen said, "I'm about to introduce him."

     An old drunken man stepped out from the door nearby Hiruzen, clutching a bottle of alcohol in his hand as he stared unamused at Team Seven. Sarah could tell that this man was incredibly shady just by judging his posture; she wouldn't announce this to everyone of course, as she wanted to figure out what exactly the man was hiding. Curiosity was soon about to kill this cat..

     "What's this? They're all a bunch of super brats, especially the short one with the stupid looking face. Are you really a ninja?" The man spoke up.

     Naruto looked back and forth between Sarah and Sasuke, trying to figure out who he was talking to. Eventually he came to the conclusion that the old man was specifically singling him out, his face dropping down from excitement to annoyance. Sarah quickly restrained Naruto with one of her glyphs, incasing most of his body in ice.

     "I'll kill you!" Naruto shouted at the old man.

Sarah slammed her fist into Naruto's skull, "You can't just kill the man we're suppose to protect! Idiot!"

The bridge builder scoffed before introducing himself, "I am the master bridge builder Tazuna. I expect you all to provide me super protection until I'm able to get back to my country."

"Hai!" Team Seven said as they all dashed off to their respective living quarters to gather their things for the mission.

Sarah was quite excited to finally be able to travel outside of Konoha. It would be her first time exploring this new world, she's going to have to make every minute of this count.

Pulling out a large storage scroll from underneath her bed, Sarah made sure to pack everything she would need for this trip: kunai, clothes, food, shuriken, seals, and something new she was currently working on. Throwing the seal onto her back, Sarah walked out of her apartment and rushed off towards the gate area where her teammates were there waiting on her.

"Let's go!" Naruto excitedly shouted as he raised his arms up in the air.

"What are you so excited about?" Sarah asked the blonde. She had a rough idea as to why, but she wanted Naruto himself to confirm his reasoning.

"It's because I've never left the village before," Naruto responded as he looked around.

"Are you sure I'm really going to be safe with this brat?" Tazuna asked as he pointed at Naruto.

"Don't worry, I'm a Jounin," Kakashi responded in a calm tone.

"Old man, don't you doubt me! One day I'll become Hokage and make you regret those words, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed as he pointed at Tazuna.

"Even if you did somehow become Hokage I still won't respect you," Tazuna responded.

Kakashi had to quickly retrain Naruto before he could lay a hand on Tazuna. Eventually the blonde calmed down and the group continued on their journey. Naruto kept asking questions regarding different ninja villages, Kakashi answering every one he could. Sarah already read about this stuff in a book; she needed to be prepared on different village cultures in case something went bad and she needed to stay hidden in a different village.

Kakashi assured them that there wouldn't be any combat on their mission, but Sarah felt that something was off. Withdrawing a seal from her bag, Sarah tossed it at a nearby puddle of water. Suddenly two masked ninja came out and charged at the group, ensnaring Kakashi in their trap. The two ninja then tugged on the weapon, seemingly severing Kakashi apart.

Naruto and Tazuna were freaking out, meanwhile Sarah jumped into action. She quickly pulled out two kunai from her bag and threw them at the two ninjas, forcing them to dodge as Sasuke went in for a counter attack, pinning the chain of their weapon onto a nearby tree with a kunai and stepping on the duos faces. The chain connecting the duo to their weapon snapped, causing the ninjas to fall onto the ground.

The two ninjas got up and headed towards Tazuna and Naruto, claws stretched out ready to kill. Sarah quickly slammed her fist into the ground, creating a crater beneath her that trapped the two ninjas in slabs of rock and dirt. Before the two ninjas could escape Kakashi appeared behind them and knocked the duo out with a swift hand to their necks.

"Wow, Kakashi-sensei is alive!" Naruto said as he stared at the Jounin in admiration.

Sarah already figured he was alive long before anyone noticed. He merely used a substitution jutsu to avoid getting severed to bits. But why did he wait until now to save them?

Sarah gritted her teeth, "You bastard! Were you going to let those two ninjas just kill us?"

Kakashi nervously laughed as Sarah cracked her knuckles, "Nah, I was merely using that as a way to test your skills. Nice job by the way, Sasuke, Sarah."

"That still doesn't change anything!" Sarah exclaimed as she lightly punched the Jounin in the chest, "Asshole!"

All Tazuna could do was internally rejoice that the Jounin was still alive. Meanwhile Naruto is struggling with the fact that he was useless in battle while his teammates were out there fighting for their lives. Sarah offered some form of comfort to him in the form of a smile, Sasuke was busy taunting Naruto for freezing up in the midst of battle.

Sarah quickly pulled out an anti venom from her scroll and administered that into Naruto's wound before healing him. Luckily enough the poison wasn't that deadly or else Naruto would've been a goner.

Kakashi used the chain from the two ninjas weapons and tied the duo around a tree. Sarah was still pissed at Kakashi's fake-out, stating that it was scummy of him to abandon them like that. The older man didn't seem to care, instead focusing on the journey to the Land of Waves. Tazuna already confirmed the real stakes of the mission; stating that those assassins were sent after him by a man named Gato. This simple C-ranked mission turned out to be more complex than she originally thought.

At least she'll get paid a hefty amount in the end.

- Genin Days (4): The Land of Waves -

     Sarah had now just decided that she really...really hated riding in a boat. She and her team were riding in a boat alongside Tazuna across the river, slowly crossing into Wave Country territory. Sarah looked up and noticed a giant bridge right nearby, admiring how magnificent it looked from her viewpoint.

     "Wow, it's huge!" Naruto exclaimed before getting shushed by one of the boat workers.

     "Be quiet before Gato or one of his workers finds out we snuck you in here."

     That quickly shut Naruto up. Tazuna looked up at Kakashi and started to speak.

     "I want to talk to you about the mission. You're right: this job is most likely outside your duties. It turns out that a super dangerous man is after my life."

     "Super dangerous man?" Kakashi raised his eyebrow.

     "You've probably heard his name before: a wealthy man by the name of Gato," Tazuna responded.

     "Gato? From the Gato Company? He's said to be the world's few extremely wealthy people," Kakashi said.

     Tazuna nodded, "Yes.. Offically he runs a large shipping company, but in secret he sells drugs and other illegal items. He uses other ninjas and gang members to take over businesses and countries. He's a very nasty man."

     Tazuna then went on to explain how Gato took over the Land of Waves and why he wants to get rid of him. Sarah dozed off halfway through his explanation, already coming to that conclusion long before they even arrived to this point. Why else would random assassins come out of the woodworks and target an alcoholic bridge builder?

     "So..those ninjas were hired by Gato?" Sasuke asked.

     Tazuna nodded.

     "Well that explains a lot," Sarah said as she stared down at the water.

     "What I don't understand is why did you hide that fact when you hired us?" Kakashi asked him.

     "My country is extremely poor and we couldn't afford enough for a B-Ranked mission.."

     Sarah zoned out again as Tazuna made some    ridiculous joke regarding his eventual demise. Eventually the group made it to land and hopped off the boat. Sarah looked around and noticed how run-down this place looked.

     "Definitely influenced by Gatos reign," she thought to herself.

     Sarah quickly snapped out of her thoughts as Naruto threw a shuriken into a nearby bush. A small white rabbit hopped out, running away as the group just glared at Naruto. Kakashi already had a feeling that something was about to happen.

     "Everyone get down!" He shouted as something large came flying directly at their direction.

     Sarah ducked as she watched a large sword land into a nearby tree, a man appearing directly on top of it.

     "Cha?!? A member of the Seven Swordsman is here?!? We're so dead!"

     "Well if it isn't the Hidden Mists missing nin Momochi Zabuza," Kakashi said as he held Naruto back from attacking, "Everyone get back, this man is on a completely different level."

     Sarah already knew that, hence why she wasn't even bothered on interfering with the fight. She could feel the power imbalance between them and the missing ninja. He was one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, holder of the executioners blade. How were they suppose to go up against someone like him?

     Kakashi slowly placed his hand on his hitai-ate, glaring directly up at Zabuza. Sarah internally sighed - already knowing where this was about to go. Little did she know, things were just about to get a whole lot more dangerous from here