Skin

"This is the worst mission ever."
A loud crack of thunder sounded nearby, punctuating Naruto's words. He glowered off into the dreary forest, barely grimacing when a blinding blue flash illuminated the whole scene a few seconds later.

The roof over their heads provided very little protection, and despite his misery Naruto was glad not to be the tallest object around. Nevertheless, the storm dumped what seemed like gallons of water onto him, making his spiky blonde hair lie somewhat flatter and soaking through his chuunin vest, shirt, and pants.

Nearby, Sasuke stood silently. If the storm bothered him in the slightest, he said nothing. His spot was even leakier, and the black hair fell wet and sleek around his face, shining in the sudden illumination of each new lightning-strike. His fingers were getting cold, had been cold for a while, but he didn't let go of his grip on the kunai in his left hand.

Contrary to their expectations, becoming chuunin had mostly failed to make life more interesting. C- and B-rank missions were less boring than D-rank, but still far from exciting for the most part. More than anything they were assignments like these. In this case they were guarding a feudal lord's treasure house under the expectation of an attempted burglary that night.

Between them and slightly behind, closer to the door, Sakura shivered. She could barely feel most of her body at that point, but knew better than to make any significant movements like trying to warm herself up by rubbing her arms or walking around.

The thunder sounded right overhead. She couldn't help letting out a tiny scream. Sasuke glanced back at her but said nothing. Naruto was grumbling again.

"What kind of a dumbass would want to go outside to rob someone on a night like this?"

"The kind who knows no one else will want to be out to intercept him." Sakura, ever the strategist, snapped back. Naruto looked mollified.

Sasuke nodded. "We can't let our guard down, especially under these conditions. There'll be a fog when the storm ends, which will give us a major disadvantage."

Naruto sighed and leaned against one of the termite-eaten wooden posts supporting the overhang, apparently not considering that it might be a bad idea. "I wonder where the Hell Kakashi is."

In the four years since they'd become a team, the initial skepticism and even antagonism had nearly dissolved. They occasionally still snapped at one other, but even Tsunade had to comment on how well their teamwork accomplished missions. Naruto had matured the most of all, growing a full two centimeters taller than Sasuke and spending more time quiet than jumping around screaming about being Hokage. The ambition was alive and well, of course, but he had gradually come to realize that everyone who mattered understood it.

Thoughts of the rank and of winning Sakura's heart with his good looks and powerful jutsu warmed him now. At sixteen he was more popular than he ever could have imagined, at least with the village girls. Many people still hated and feared him despite the fact that his repeatedly risking his life for Konoha should have demonstrated that he was a person quite separate from Kyuubi. But that was mitigated by the fact that there was always someone to enjoy a date and something after with, even if Sakura still treated him like an annoying little kid.

There had been the girl with the purple hair last night...he didn't remember her name for one reason or another, but that had been nice. A slow smile spread over his face, a smile that caused quite a few hearts to drop into quite a few stomachs as it lit up the handsome face with its whisker marks that unknowing kunoichi liked to trace with their fingertips. Yeah, it'd be good to have her here right now, although he'd have to hide her under a blanket so Sasuke wouldn't steal her...

"Watch out!" It was Sasuke's voice, but Naruto and Sakura had already noticed. Something that sparkled with a small flame whizzed past them, and all three jumped off the porch and into the storm. A moment later, a loud explosion rocked the whole area as though mimicking the persistent thunder that still sounded once every couple of minutes.

Staying together had become second instinct. They found one another, backs pressing together, kunai and shuriken still drawn. Through the rubble of what was left of the porch and storage shed beyond, they saw four or five dark shapes running towards the now-exposed chests laden with gold.

This was his specialty. Sasuke couldn't help smirking as he watched threacreaching into the back of his vest and pulling out Kage Hyuusha. The Shadow Windmill unfolded with only a hint of glimmer from lightning before he pulled back and threw it with all his might.

It moved silently in the darkness, coated metal as stealthy as any good ninja themselves could be. The thieves saw and felt nothing as it cut them down, leaving them lying amongst the treasure they had sought to steal. Sasuke ambled over to the ruined structure, looking at the supine forms: one, two, three, four, five.

Sakura couldn't help falling intr olr old habits. "Sasuke-kun! You're so cool!" Her voice was unnaturally high-pitched, enough to make him sigh inwardly. Naruto glowered at Sasuke.

Always showing off. Geez.

"Do you suppose that was just a distraction?" Sakura spoke again, this time in a normal voice. Sasuke shook his head, inwardly relieved. He nudged one of the still forms with his foot.

"These are just amateur thieves, like we expected from reconnaissance. The treasury will have to be moved now, anyway."

Naruto frowned. "I didn't think they'd have a bomb..." That had been unexpected, and perhaps a bit too sophisticated for amateur thieves. Yet the way it had been thrown right into the treasure room instead of just to kill the ninja guarding the building suggested the user had no idea what they were doing. Sasuke shrugged, leandowndown to hoist a bag over his shoulder. The feudal lord would undoubtedly complain that they had failed and assign them the task of moving it all.

"Either way, our job here is done."