"You, Pipsqueak over there, Oi" Yori sighed. He was without a doubt referring to her, seeing as they all had received endearing nicknames not too long after departure. Naruto growled slightly under his breath, she was sure that she was the only one who heard it- maybe Kakashi because he was jounin and former Anbu- because she was walking beside Naruto.

They were little more than halfway to their destination, and despite the bridge-builders presence, the trip so far was rather uneventful and pleasant. Camping with her team and sleeping under the stars reminded her of academy days and training with there was the fact that she had done her best to master field cooking and their meals weren't that bad- something Naruto bragged about for her, much to her embarrassment.

The only blemish on an otherwise ideal trip was their client. Yori supposed that in itself was training- ninja were contract workers, someone had to hire them to do a job. A mission was a mission and you are to do it personal feelings aside, as is the ninja way. Man but that didn't make Tazuna the bridge builder any less annoying. He would whine and moan almost non-stop, drinking from his flask what she had no doubt was alcohol. Intermixed with water as it was, she was still surprised he didn't get dehydrated. He also smelled, and commented on their size, and age, and whatever else he could think of. In their rotation around him, it was a blessing to be as far away as possible- being in the lead was never a more coveted position.

She remembered numerous times she had had to hold Naruto back. His personality really was not one geared toward patience. She knew restraint would come with age though, and that was what reassured her- at least she hoped. Sighing and brushing her hand down Naruto's arm in a comforting gesture, she finally looked over at their client. He had taken to whistling at her to get her attention when she had initially ignored him. She knew that he wasn't really a bad person- but damn if his personality wasn't initially repulsive.

"Yes, Tazuna-san?" she asked looking over at him, her cool gaze was met with one of hazey curiosity; oh this was not going to be fun at all.

"Say, you lady Shinobi sure have a lot to choose from, huh?" He had a slightly lecherous look in his eye now, and Yori felt vaguely creeped out as well as confused. She knew she should know what he was referring to but it eluded her- and she was sure she didn't really want to know. She unconsciously moved herself closer to Naruto. Pressing her side against his.

Despite her lack of response, Tazuna kept on talking, as was the usual. "I mean, on this team there are three guys and one girl, pretty good odds if you ask me" he laughed at his own joke, and Yori felt her face flame up. How immature.

"I'm sure when you're older you won't want those numbers to change for anything- if you know what I mean" At this his laughing got even more boisterous. Yori didn't in fact know what he meant, but she had a suspicion and she didn't like the topic of conversation. Naruto was ready to snap beside her. She grabbed his hand however and simply pressed her side more firmly into his. Her blush refused to go away and she looked firmly at the dirt before her.

Technically she was on rotation and should be making her way over to the opposite side of the group, but she felt that a little longer with Naruto would be acceptable. If only to hold him back from mauling their client. His growling had only become more pronounced as Tazuna kept laughing. His hold on her hand was white-knuckled. Surprisingly it was Sasuke that snapped this time; it was a first for sure and she looked up shocked.

Thankfully for Tazuna, Kakashi was there to prevent Sasuke from doing any damage. His fist was about three inches away from Tazuna's face where Kakashi had grabbed it, and oh man, if looks could kill- she was thankful he hadn't activated his sharingan, because if that was the case looks could kill. Tazuna fell on his bottom and instantly started complaining, varying from how much he had paid for this service to how nobody appreciated his humor.

Yori looked over at Kakashi to see the man had a finger in his ear, and was ignoring the bridgebuilders existence. Opting instead to move on, leaving the civilian to catch up or be left behind. Sasuke was also moving ahead, she tried to catch his eyes, but he was ignoring her completely. How confusing- of all the annoying things the client had said, that was what had set him off.

Yori looked over again at Naruto, who had a firm hold on her hand still- although not as tight- to see he had a smirk on his face.

It was some hours later, when the sun was approaching its zenith in the sky, that she saw it. The prophesized puddles in the middle of the road despite the fact that it had not rained for days. It was extremely suspect as the relatively shallow puddles would have had an entire days worth of sun bearing down on them with no shade from nearby trees. Yori felt herself tense minutely and she looked at their sensei. She observed as he continued on as though everything was normal; the way he met her eyes for a brief moment though alerted her that the puddles had not gone unnoticed.

Unfortunately, judging by the complete lack of reactions coming from Naruto and Sasuke, they had not noticed a thing. It was either that or they were very good actors. Yori was willing to bet on the former. While Naruto was very good at poker, he did not have a very good poker face. The civilian bridge builder was obviously oblivious. Yori followed Kakashi's lead and pretended as though nothing was amiss. Naturally, just as she remembered, Kakashi gravitated toward the back of the formation. Yori was sure to subtly put herself between the puddles and her unwitting teammates. She was less worried about Tazuna as strategically she knew that the rogue nin would try and take the bigger threats out first. As far as they were concerned, once the body guards were out of the way Tazuna was a sitting duck. And they weren't wrong.

Almost out of nowhere, the rogue nin jumped into action. Attempting to take out the largest threat first, Yori watched in mortified fascination as deadly barbed chains wrapped around her sensei and seemed to rip him to pieces. Even knowing that he would never be eliminated so easily, Yori couldn't look away from the gruesome sight. The sound of ripping flesh and the smell- her adrenalin spiked and it was as though her senses were sharpened and time slowed down. She refused to dwell on the sight of her seemingly mangled sensei, pulling out a kunai she remained focused on the enemy, watching for their next move.

Instantly, in what felt like eons but was less than a second, the rogue nin pivoted and headed straight toward her teammates. She saw as Sasuke pulled himself out of his stupor and braced himself for battle, but Naruto was frozen. Apparently the enemy saw that as well, and while one went for Sasuke who was standing directly in front of Tazuna, the other made a beeline for Naruto. Yori's body moved with a speed and ruthlessness she did not know she possessed.

She could feel her chakra eagerly respond to her call. From training in the academy to even before that, practice exercises for chakra control had always come as simple as breathing to her. She theorised it was because of her dreams that she was from another world where chakra did not exist, thus making her hyper aware of its existence. She never flaunted her ability, and assumed that because her control was so fine she had small reserves. Small chakra reserves could be a fatal handicap for a shinobi.

Focusing on her limbs Yori directed a portion of her chakra to both her legs to give her the boost of speed she needed. Flashing herself in front of the frozen Naruto, she stuck herself to the ground and braced herself with her right foot, and propelled her chakra covered fist into the mask covered face of her attacker. Feeling blood spray her face as he was flung back, Yori followed him. Propelling herself behind the stunned man he had no chance to protect himself from her in his dazed state. In a split second, Yori whipped her hand toward the side of the rogue nins head, as if she were about to slap him. When Yori's hand hit the man's head she focused on her chakra and pushed. Imagining it as though it was a white intangible wave, she felt it flow from her body into the rogue nins.

The man hit the ground and laid motionless. Yori only paid enough attention to ensure that he was no longer a danger, before focusing on the next threat. Sasuke thankfully was still standing, and while ruffled looked no worse for wear. Kakashi was standing next to him, holding the battered form of the other rogue nin. Relaxing from her crouched position and returning her unused kunai to her pouch as it was no longer needed, Yori turned toward the shell shocked Naruto.

Quickly approaching his side, Yori fluttered around the boy, "Are you ok?!" Checking for any injuries, Yori assured herself that her golden headed sunshine was alright. As she was lifting his arms and checking his sides for any hidden wounds, he grabbed her wrist and stopped her in her tracks. They locked gazes, and he looked dead serious. Gulping he said

"Yori, I…" Naruto looked so conflicted she was about to ask what was wrong when her sensei interrupted.

"Yori, Sasuke, good work. You evaluated the situation and reacted accordingly. Sasuke you followed the mission objective and protected the client. Yori, good job noticing the puddles and protecting your teammate. I'm going to have to ask where you learned your chakra control and what technique that was." Yori jumped and folded in on herself at the attention. Pulling one arm up to scratch at the back of her neck and kicking the firmly packed dirt of the road.

"Naruto, I'm very disappointed with how you handled the situation. Not only did you put yourself in danger, but in having to have one your teammates come to your aid, you put them in danger as well." Kakashi gave a sigh and a shake of his head as he said this. Yori's attention shot straight to Naruto in concern as the boy flinched.

"Dobe" Muttered Sasuke. And for once, Naruto did not immediately jump to a loud defence. If anything the boy seemed to recede into himself in contemplation. It was the lack of reaction to this insult that alarmed Yori more than anything. Before Yori could think to say anything, a rather obnoxiously loud sound of a clearing throat was heard.

"Ah-hem! What I don't understand is what took you so long to come to the rescue! I paid good money for this protection!" Tazuna grumbled. It was rather… unpleasant. The man was roughly brushing dirt off of himself from where he had fallen back onto the road in shock and fear. Pulling out his flask about to take a drink, the man was stopped in his tracks when Kakashi responded with an obviously saccharine smile beneath his mask.

"Well I could have handled them easily at anytime, however I wanted to see who their target was. If this was a random attack, or if they were targeting someone in particular. Now sir, if I may ask why it is there are rogue ninja of chunin rank pursuing you?" The so called master bridge builder seemed stumped. Gulping loudly the man stuttered. Kakashi moved on, again placing his attention on the students in front of him.

"Unfortunately the rank of this mission just went up. If there are rogue nin involved this assignment is B-rank or higher. Meaning it is out of your jurisdiction, my cute little genin. What we need to do is contact the village and inform the Hokage of this change of events." Kakashi was tying up the two incapacitated nin to a sturdy tree as he was speaking. Undoubtedly he would include the location of the nin in the letter to the hokage he was just talking about. That way they could be taken to the TI department and relieved of all their secrets.

"What?! You mean we won't be finishing this mission?!" Naruto exploded. Yori almost jumped at the outburst. If anything she was relieved that the blond was no longer quiet.

"We got this far, we can take it!" The blond continued. Yori looked at Sasuke to see his reaction and was not surprised. While outwardly he was trying his best to appear as though he was disinterested and unaffected, Yori could tell he agreed with Naruto's words.

"Well Naruto we could continue if I deemed it appropriate; however, I am not sure if you could handle it." Once again Kakashi gave the boy a pointed look, to which Naruto reared back.

cliffhanger. actually i just don't have anything else written lol. but I've had this for a while so i thought might as well post it, those of you who made it this far, congratulations on your perseverance.