Thanks for the speedy responses guys :) And I've very recently promised to commit to more regular updates, so lets cross our fingers~ Enjoy~

~4 hours later~

"YOU TWO ARE LATE!" The blonde and pink haired Genin screamed in unison at the silver haired duo as the last of their group hung back and observed the scene unamused.

"Well you see" the masked girl began.

"They were repainting the buildings the route we took" her look-a-like continued.

"And there were too many open ladders"

"We couldn't risk possibly walking under one"

"So we had to take the long way around"

"YOU'RE LYING!"

"Anyway, let's get started on today's mission"

~Flash forward~

"So, I know I'm new to this whole ninja thing, but this isn't exactly the kind of 'mission' I thought we'd be doing" I stated absently leaning on my designated rake and swiping the fringe from my sweating forehead.

"Exactly! See, Kida gets it! We should be fighting rogue ninja and rescuing damsels by now!" Naruto cried out in response, also straightening up from his rake work.

"Well, I don't know if I'd go that far-"

"Believe it!"

*sigh*

"Well, Naruto's an idiot. But you wouldn't know this yet Kida, cause you skipped the academy..." My fellow female teammate began explaining the mission rankings, that Kakashi kind of already explained, but I thought I'd let her go anyway. "And that's why us Genin have to do missions like these" She finished looking to me to make sure I understood.

I sighed again, been doing that a lot today... been doing that a lot since I got to this village... maybe it's something in the air? "Eh, fair enough I guess." I replied leaning heavier against the rake handle and crossing one leg over the other as I angled against it.

I didn't mind this girl, I was a bit worried at the beginning that we wouldn't get along cause of all the glaring, but I guess it's hard to hate on someone when they've been hospitalised, twice. And she's actually really smart which really breaks things up from my time spent with Naruto.

"Hey 'silent brooding type', you got any input to this conversation" I swung my gaze to Sasuke, who worked a bit distantly from the rest of us, he had been digging his hoe into the ground a bit too violently to be considered healthy.

His black eyes glanced up to meet mine with a blank expression. "I feel no need to contribute to this pointless conversation, we should all just keep working to get this done and go home for the day." Was all he decided to grace us with before slamming his hoe back into the compacted earth.

I sighed heavily again and glanced around at the scenery before us. The field we were in was bordered by thick wooden fence posts, which I leant my katana on so it wouldn't get knocked while I worked, and tightly strung chicken wire. It obviously hadn't been cultivated for at least the last 2 years, so the ground was hard packed and came up brittle. It was pretty small for a crop field, but evidently big enough that the farmer didn't want to do it himself. But from what I saw he was pretty old, maybe the tough earth would be too much for his brittle bones.

Beyond this field, there was an expanse more with already flowering crops in them, and beyond those just the surrounding mountains. It was a clear day, sunny with a cool breeze.

I looked to my team mates, Sasuke was still hacking away, Sakura scraping her tool along the surface, Naruto digging one massive hole with the hoe he had swapped with Sakura for, and Kakashi no where in sight and hadn't even for the last two hours...

Sighing again, I began hacking and scraping my rake across the dirt once more, we had gotten half way done in the last three hours hours...

I kept glancing back at Naruto as Sasuke, Sakura and I moved our working line forward, while he stayed and kept working on his hole. "Hey Naruto, I think that particular patch has been abused enough, come on up here." I suggested to him, just wanting to get this done now.

"I think there's something under here!" Naruto replied, increasing his digging speed.

"Just leave it, it's probably either buried scrap metal or a water main"

"I'm just gonna dig it up and see what it is."

"Naruto, if you dig it up and it's a water main, it's gonna be really unfortunate what happens." I had stopped raking to seriously convince him to cease his escape into the earth. Oh I really hope it's not a water main...

"Maybe you should listen to Kida, Naruto, you don't know what it is so you should just leave it." Sakura thankfully backed me up, hopefully the blonde would listen to his crush.

But alas, I am left dissapoined...

"Come on Sakura! Where's you're sense-of-curiosity!?" He spoke between hacks, sending each strike deeper into the soil.

"It's curiosity that killed the cat!"

"But satisfaction brought it back." I finished the saying for her as she gave me an 'you're not helping' look. "A bad time?" I shrugged, leaning again on my rake.

"Naruto, stop being an idiot and help us finish this mission instead of digging some stupid hole." I stared in surprise at Sasuke who had stopped his work and willingly made an input.

I heard Naruto's mixed grumblings in response to this. "I'll show him.... I'm not an idiot... there's probably treasure under here.... and he's not gonna get any..."

Umm what? I stared puzzled at the enigmatic blonde in the midst of his useless rambling.

The sound of metal clashing against metal rang through my ears as Naruto's hoe came down in another rushed swing.

Oh no...

"Naruto stop!" I yelled this time, dropping my rake and stepping towards Naruto, determined to physically stop him from making a dastardly mistake.

But I was too late. Naruto had quickly snuck in one last blow and with that, our fates were sealed...

A white rapid stream of water shot skyward, reaching several metres into the sky before plummeting down again and soaking the brown earth, and Naruto and I along with it. I was still in motion to get to Naruto causing me to slip in the now muddy terrain and fall face first in the muck.

I heard a strangled yelp coming from Naruto that suggested he had been brought down just like I was. I got to my feet again, slipping slightly but remaining upright this time. "Naruto! Are you ok!?" I yelled over the fast rushing water that was coming down heavy on us.

"Yeah I'm fine! Blagh" Naruto's voice was gurgled slightly making me cringe at the thought that maybe some mud had gotten in his mouth.

I began slipping my way closer to the live stream, determining that the current wasn't pressurised enough to break skin or bruise, all the while yelling to Sakura and Sasuke who had hopefully remained out of the 'crash site'. "Sasuke! Sakura! Find a way to turn it off! There's gotta be a knob or something somewhere!"

"O-ok!" I could barely hear Sakura's response now that I was so close to the water source. My shins were coated in thick, dark brown mud from slipping on to them on the way. I could make out Naruto's orange blob-ness on the other side.

"Uhh, what do we do!?"

"I dunno, just try to block it off I guess! Maybe slow down the flooding!"

"I got it! Shadow clone jutsu!"

Suddenly, ten Naruto's were climbing over the fountain trying to block the water back in the pipe. One shot up and was carried off with the stream into the sky before hitting the ground and proofing away in a cloud of grey smoke. Make that two...

I though back to my encounter with Naruto on the roof, and my square off with Iruka in the woods before mimicking the hand signs I now knew and focusing my chakra. It surged through me and peaked as I yelled "Shadow clone jutsu!" Causing 7 copies of myself to appear around us before jumping onto the pile of Naruto's and almost completely blocking off the stream except for a few small trickles out the side gaps.

I stared across the rumbling pile at the real Naruto who, just as I had predicted, had mud coating his mouth and a bit on his teeth as he grinned widely back at me. I began shaking my head at him as breathless chuckles racked my soaked body. "D-damn it Naruto."

"Sorry Kida, I thought it was treasure"

Suddenly our clones stopped shaking with the assaulting water pressure and we slowly allowed them to start dissapearing just as our fellow Genin joined us again.

"Sasuke found it! He found the turning on and off knob along the fence line!" Sakura spoke enthusiastically as she reached us, avoiding the quite large puddle of mud that Naruto and I were still angle deep in.

"Water main." I stared between them meaningfully. "I called it."

In response, one grinned, one sighed, while the other made a small 'hn' noise.

"Well, what happened here?" Kakashi decided to finally grace us with his presence now that the conflict was solved.

"Welllll..." Naruto began guiltily scratching the back of his head.

"The water main burst. It could have happened any time" I finished for him, he shouldn't get in trouble, he's just a poor helpless idiot.

Kakashi stared at me, which I returned calmly, before he looked passed me at our other team mates looking for confirmation. Which I'm guessing he got because he nodded and looked a little... overly pleased.

"Well, I guess all this waters done the job for us, soil should be easier for the farmer to cultivate now." Kakashi spoke looking around at the sloppy part of the field that we had yet to dig. "Good effort team, let's call it a day." He finished turning around and beginning the walk back towards the village, Sasuke and Sakura following, while Naruto and I used each other's stability to escape the slop without slipping in it again and before grabbing our stuff and running to catch up to our team mates.

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