Strongest Shinobi

The following days had been quite peaceful. There weren't any attacks happening in the vicinity, no S or A-rank missions, no crazy massacres and to top it all of, the little village bullies had stopped bullying Naruto. Though Izana had a hand in it as well, the honor of this feat was mostly Sasuke.

Whenever someone came to bully Naruto, Sasuke acted as a S-rank bodyguard for Naruto. This would mostly be because they had become a little closer to being friends due to the combined training exercises both of them were doing, along with that Sasuke would get praised for a job well done when he reported his day to Izana.

It was always a delight to see the two of them act like kids their age, playing around and having silly bets concerning candy and what not.

Izana had been a bit bussier though, even if it had become a more peaceful. Izana had been asked to join his previous 'temporary' team on a mission. They had been tasked to escort a aquiantance of the Fire Daimyo. The place he was going was near the Land of Rice, which was godsend for Izana, as he planned to meet with the leader of the village of Sound. Once the part came up for him to act as a fill in to make the escort mission go smoother, Izana immediately accepted.

Izana had packed up all he needed, while he kept his rations and other weapons in portable sealing scrolls. Izana looked a bit nostalgic at the scroll. It had been a gift from Kushina. He had been very happy with it, though at that time he didn't really need to use it that often, so it had been collecting dust for a while now.

Putting the scrolls away, Izana hugged Mikoto as a goodbye and left a message for Fugaku and Sasuke so they too would know where he was going. Izana Shunshined from the house and went towards the gate, where Ren and Miyu were already waiting. Their Jonin captain had changed, as he had been caught up in an unfortunate accident and was currently recuperating. The other team mate they had gotten was also recuperating, as both he and the captain were the only ones who had been severely injured this last mission. Because Miyu and Ren wanted to save up some hard earned money to buy a get well gift, they had been tasked by the Hokage to go on a mostly risk free mission. To be sure of that, Izana and another captain were tasked to fill in the missing spots.

The Jonin wo was for now filling in was a man named Hatake Kakashi. They had met him during the chunin exams and he was only filling the jonin position for their team during this mission.

Right now, Izana and the others were waiting for their captain to arrive. This whole waiting thing had a sense of deja vu, as during the chunin exam, they also had to wait for the instructor.

Kakashi finally appeared as he waved at them in an easy manner.

"Your late, captain!"

Miyu said, as she angrily stamped her feet.

"Ah, sorry, sorry. Did you wait long? I was helping an old lady with her groceries, it won't happen again."

Izana shook his head, while Ren snickered at the poor excuse. There was no way he would be so late just helping an old lady. He most likely just forgot the time, or he was immersed in doing something else.

"Well, let's introduce ourselves." Izana said as he stepped forward.

"Uchiha Izana, Chunin. Currently accompanying team 8 on their escort mission. Aptitudes: Genjutsu, Kenjutsu, Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. Special traits: Sharingan."

Izana said, as he showed his three Tomoe Sharingan.

"Wow! That's so awesome Izana-kun! You already have a three tomoe." Miyu said as she looked at the glowing crimson eyes.

"It would be difficult not to have it at this level, after what happened."

Izana said as he deactivated his Sharingan.

"Alright! Me next. Sarutobi Miyu, Chunin. Aptitudes: Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. Specialities: Nonthing particular, though I am practising Medical ninjutsu."

Miyu said in a energetic tone. She had changed a lot since the last time. She had become a lot more talkative and was a bit more cheerful. It was good to see she was doing fine, Izana thought.

"I guess I'm next. Inuzuka Ren, Chunin. This is my Nin-ken Nero. Aptitudes: Taijutsu. Specialities: I'm good at tracking, as well as sensing presences with my nose and Nero."

Ren said as he pointed at the young wolves dog. It was half its expected size, though it still had the large sized paws most pups had. It barked in reply to Ren's words.

"Etto, nice to meet you. I'm your temporary captain, Hatake Kakashi."

Kakashi said, not bothering to tell them his aptitudes. Not that it mattered very much, as he was a lot more experienced than them.

"Our employer should already be waiting for us, so let's go." Kakashi said as he walked towards the meet-up location.

'Whose fault is it that we're late?'

That was what Izana could infer from Miyu's face, and she was not bothering to hide it.

Walking on, they soon met up with the employer, who was already surrounded by a few other escort teams. There was also the personal guards of the employer, so the employer would be relatively safe during the trip.

"Who are these kids!? I asked for an experienced escort, not some kids who have stopped weaning some weeks ago! Get me a better team!"

The man inside the palanquin yelled, though they couldn't see what he looked like.

Izana ignored the furious employer. He had dealt with a lot of people like him. Besides, Kakashi would deal with it, as he was their current captain.

"You don't have to worry about that. The Hokage personally sne this team to guard you. I can assure you they are up to the task." Kakashi said, his laidback attitude nowhere to be seen.

Right now, he was active and confident, a Kakashi who was doing a mission.

"It better be. I am risking my safety."

The employer said, huffing angrily, but he still accepted the decision.

"Let's go then."

Like that, the group left towards their destination, a little village which for now didn't have a name. It was small, barely big enough to be called a village. The employer was out to visit some friends of his family.

Because the employer was a friend and adviser of the Fire Daimyo, there was a high chance he would get targeted by the daimyo's enemies. This was also the reason for the major amount of guards.

Though there were a lot of guards, more than twenty for such an small protection target, they were all spread around. It was formed in such a way that there were multiple protection circles around the planquin.

If there was an enemy, they would know.

Because of this, the journey towards the Land of Rice went without any problems. There were no ambushes and the few bandits they came across were dealt with in a quick manner by the other guards.

Izana never had a mission that had so little to do. Still, he kept up his guard, as enemies always targeted when the guard was lowered.

As they arrived at the intended location, the unnamed small village, enemy Shinobi finally attacked. There were more than a dozen, which were all decent in strength. About Chunin level. There were three genin, seven chunin and two jonin.

We all went on the offensive, while Ren and Miyu guarded the palanquin with Kakashi guarding the rear.

As both enemies and allies fell, Izana would attack whenever an opening was clear. He didn't have a lot to do, as the enemy didn't seem to have known there were so many of us.

Like that, the enemy was quickly dispatched, while our side had minimal loses. There were a few with serious injuries that had to be tended to, though there were only two who had lost their lives.

After delivering the employer to his destination, Miyu and Ren finally let go of their tension.

"Ah, this was draining. Keeping up your guard for the whole day with barely any attacks." Miyu muttered as she rubbed her shoulders.

"Nothing to do about it. It's better than to be ambushed out of nowhere while heavily outnumbered." Ren replied as he rubbed Nero's belly.

While Ren and Miyu continued to chatter, Izana left the room. The mission wouldn't continue until a few days after. Then they would need to escort the employer back. In the mean time, Izana could drop by the village of Sound.

Izana went to find Kakashi. Seeing him inside the room, Izana knocked and didn't wait for an answer as he immediately entered.

"Kakashi-san. I will be out for another mission in the in between time."

Izana reported as he saw Kakashi intently reading a book.

Seeing the familiar cover of the book, Izana couldn't help but smile faintly. 'It seems like Jiraiya-sensei has tainted yet another person.' Izana thought. He really didn't know what people like about these books.

"An investigation mission, right? Jiraiya had already mentioned it."

Kakashi replied as he moved a page.

"Report back in three days. That is the maximum time allotted to the investigation. Be careful not to be discovered."

Izana nodded and left the room. Once outside, Izana quickly left towards the village of Sound.