Chapter 6: Journey to the Wave, Part II

The group made camp in a clearing near a waterfall that night. After the two masked ninja, they had not been attacked by anyone. Naruto had been amused by the way Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna gave him a wide berth after that. Obviously, they had not wanted to come near him and his foul smelling concoctions. Naruto had declined the dried ninja rations Kakashi had handed out and instead had caught some fish from the river. This river hosted a species of fish not found in his village. So after catching the fish, he had cooked it, making sure to position his fire in such a way that the smell would reach the Uchiha prick and his fan girl. His efforts were soon rewarded as Sakura quickly excused herself, feigning tiredness, but not before her eyes had gone wide and a small amount of droll had escaped from her mouth. Sasuke did not move, but his nose twitched around madly. After he had finished his dinner, Naruto lay back on the grass, enjoying the cool breeze that was blowing. He gazed wistfully at the river, but knew that he could not practice while the others were around. Sighing, he got up and opened his pack. Might as well set up some traps, he thought. After Kakashi had told them a little more about Gato earlier that day, he too had come to the same conclusion as Kakashi. They would be under attack pretty soon.

Kakashi smiled to himself as he watched Naruto set up his traps. The traps would be nothing more than a minor inconvenience for a jounin level ninja, but at least they would give the group ample warning. Getting up, he went over to Naruto to ask him where he was laying his traps so he would not get caught in them. From what he had observed over the past few weeks, Naruto seemed to favor stealth over everything else. Kakashi wondered if Naruto would not have been better of in another team, like team 8. His team was designed to be a direct combat team. While Naruto could prove a difficult adversary in places like forests, he would be a sitting duck on open grounds. Anyway, his stealth skills made him better suited for reconnaissance missions. He definitely would talk to the Hokage. Maybe he could swap Naruto for Chouji, who was built for raw power than stealth. After the traps had been set, he turned his thoughts to his remaining students. Sasuke was doing pretty well, as was expected of him. Sakura too was coming on pretty well, and had increased her chakra reserves by half as much but she lacked greatly in combat department, especially ninjutsu. Seeing as how this mission was turning out, he would have to start giving her instruction on some basic elemental jutsus. Too bad Naruto had such poor chakra control. He knew that the boy had huge chakra reserves. If the team swap request was denied, he would have to find a different way to teach him. The conventional methods seemed to fail when it came to Naruto. He went back to his sleeping bag, Sakura having taken the first watch.

The next morning, they reached a small harbor from where they took a boat to get across. Once across, they had to walk across a forest to reach the village. As they walked through the forest, Kakashi was on full alert. The forest was an ideal place for an ambush and he could expect ninjas who were stronger than the last two. A faint rustle was all the warning he needed as he turned and bore the others to the ground, causing the shuriken aimed at them to sail above them harmlessly. "Hatake Kakashi" said one voice. "The famous copy ninja of Konoha" said another. A third voice spoke "No wonder the demon brothers were defeated". Then a fourth voice intoned "But you will perish here once and for all". Four ninjas emerged from the trees, wearing identical garb and carrying various assortments of weapons. Crap, cursed Kakashi. He knew who they were. These four were missing-nins who called themselves the Quadra Butchers: Akira, Kobayashi, Kira and Morita. Individually, they were not much of a problem, but each of them complimented the others flawlessly, thus creating an extremely dangerous team. His only chance was if they split up between him and the genins, which would enable him to take them out one by one. As if reading his thoughts, one of them spoke up "Forget the kids. Let us finish Kakashi first". They charged as Kakashi pulled up his headband to reveal his Sharingan and shouted "They may have backup. Protect Tazuna at all times and do not try to help me".

As Kakashi clashed with the missing-nins, Naruto knew they were in trouble. These guys were obviously better than the ones they had encountered before. Naruto was in a quandary. I can't use my potions in case Kakashi gets hit too. If I rush in to fight, Kakashi will only get distracted. Gaaaahhhh! What to do? Such were Naruto's thoughts as he frantically tried to rack his brains for a solution. It then hit him. I can't take them on, but my traps can. The least I can do is break them up to give Kakashi some openings. With that, he quickly slipped away into the trees. Once he was out of sight, he preformed the familiar hand seals "Kage Buushin no Jutsu". Around 50 Narutos poofed into existence. Each of them immediately dispersed to his allocated task. As they feverishly labored to set up the network of traps, all of them had just one single thought running through their heads I'm so dead if Kakashi dies, for he knew that Kakashi was their only hope of survival.

Meanwhile, Sakura and Sasuke had taken up defensive positions around Tazuna. Sakura was visibly trembling as she watched Kakashi go all out just to keep himself alive. The Quadra Butchers had excellent team-work, giving their opponents absolutely no openings. Sasuke too was trembling, but with rage. How does Kakashi possess a Sharingan? He is not an Uchiha. Is a bastard? Did he steal it form somebody? Why hasn't he told me about it? Neither of them had noticed the absence of Naruto.

Kakashi was panting heavily. The Butchers certainly lived up to their reputation. While they had not been able to touch him, he was growing tired from the strain of using his Sharingan to keep up. He shook his head as he dodged another blow. He would have to end this soon, before he ran out of energy. Just then, he heard Naruto shout "Kakashi sensei, duck" He threw himself flat without hesitation as a hail of shuriken sped by him. He caught sight of Naruto frantically waving at him. The shuriken storm had forced the Butchers to break of, so he took this opportunity to run, instinctively knowing that Naruto had set up traps and he would fare better without having to face all four together. As he reached the trees, Naruto threw a handful of smoke grenades to give them some cover then signaled Kakashi that he should follow him silently.

Meanwhile, the Quadra Butchers had given chase. They charged ahead, confident that their opponents would not try to ambush them. After all, they had forced the famous Copy Ninja Kakashi to run like a scared rabbit. It was this carelessness that led Kira straight into one of Naruto's traps, a cleverly disguised exploding tag. Muttering an oath, he jumped back, only to land into a spot where another exploding tag set of. That explosion not only knocked the wind out of Kira, but also released a hail of kunai. Kira had dropped to the ground but the other three were forced to jump to avoid them. Too late, they saw that the only "safe spots" had been booby trapped as well, this time, with mines. The resulting explosion flung them away like rag dolls. The explosions were not designed to kill, but rather to incapacitate. The resulting series of explosions had sent Kira's ears ringing. He never noticed Kakashi sneaking up on him till he felt a kunai going through his heart. The next to die was Kobayashi, who failed to dodge a trademark Kakashi Chidori. Seeing their comrades' fall, the other two threw their smoke bombs and vanished. Kakashi cursed loudly. He was low on chakra and had shut of his Sharingan to conserve energy. By the time he activated it again, Akira and Morita were gone.

Sakura's heart soared on seeing Kakashi trudge back to their hiding place. He looked worse for wear, but did not seem to be carrying any wounds, at least not any serious ones. Standing up, Sakura waved at him and was rewarded by what seemed to be a smiling Kakashi (It's hard to say for sure with that mask on)"Kakashi sensei, are you all right?" she asked. Kakashi nodded to indicate that he was then sank to the ground in relief. He had not been pushed this far for a long time. I need to set a training plan for myself. I must be growing soft if I feel tired after such a short battle, he chided himself. "What happened to those four freaks?" asked Sasuke. "Too are dead, the other two got away" replied Kakashi. Sasuke drew himself up and said "Where did you get the Sharingan? How come you have it only in one eye?" Sasuke's tone was accusatory. Wearily, Kakashi shook his head "Not now Sasuke. We need to get Tazuna to safety first. We can talk later when we are at a safer location" Sasuke glared at him for a few moments, then nodded and turned away. Kakashi got up and signaled the group to move out. "Naruto, you lead the way. That way, we won't fall into one of your traps. By the way, you did a terrific job back there" he said. Naruto grinned and took the lead. "Sasuke, Sakura, keep a watch out for enemies, and what ever you do, do not deviate from Naruto's course. I do not want to be the one to be picking up what's left of you if you accidentally step into his traps" Kakashi warned. Sakura paled as she nodded. Sasuke grimaced and glared at the blonde, who just yawned. For some reason, that seemed to anger Sasuke even more. Tazuna was visibly trembling as he was carried by Kakashi, who had decided that the sooner they reached Tazuna's home, the better.

After nearly four hours without incident, a very tired jounin arrived at the village with his team and client. Tazuna quickly took them to his house. They were greeted by a pretty looking woman by the name of Tsubami, who turned out to be Tazuna's daughter. Seeing that Kakashi was almost on the verge of collapsing, she quickly took him to the guest room and prepared a pallet for him. Kakashi was fast asleep within seconds. Naruto followed suit, having been tired out. "Do you wish for something to eat" asked Tsubami. Sakura nodded eagerly, so did Sasuke, for they were ravenous. The two kids were directed to the washroom where they could get cleaned while Tsubami prepared some food for them.

After having finished his meal, Sasuke walked out alone, and for once, Sakura did not feel like following him. She knew what he was feeling, for her thoughts were along similar lines. They had not been of any use during the battle. In fact, it was the dead-last Naruto who had turned the tables with his clever traps. A part of her hated Naruto for upsetting her Sasuke-kun, another part wondered how an idiot like him could come up with such tactics. Then again, he had done something similar during the bell test as well. Was Naruto really the idiot everyone saw him to be, or was he deliberately hiding his true capabilities? If the former were true, then how would you explain Naruto's behaviour back in the forest? If it were the latter, then why would he disguise his abilities from his team mates? Sakura never once stopped to consider the fact that she had always ignored him and scoffed at him, never considering him to be a part of the team.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was destroying trees with well placed fireballs. He was frustrated that he had not been able to help Kakashi in any way, while that idiot Naruto had. After a few more trees had fallen to his rage however, he calmed down. Naruto hadn't shown any combat skills. All he had done was place traps. That only indicated that he was a good tactician. So what? Nara Shikamaru was considered to be genius of the once-a-century kind, but he wouldn't last more than a minute against Sasuke. Yes. There was nothing to be angry about. Naruto was still dead last. But he promised he would thrash Naruto within an inch of his life in their next sparring match to show everybody how weak Naruto really was. That thought made him feel better as he started walking back to Tazuna's house.

To say Gato was angry would be an understatement. He was furious. First the demon brothers had failed. Now his men had discovered the bodies of two of the Quadra Butchers outside his door and no sign of the other two. The cowards had failed and then fled. He took a gulp of whiskey to calm him down. He could not allow the bridge to be completed. Obviously, that old fool Tazuna had managed to hire some pretty strong ninja. He grinned manically, and then began to laugh. Hearing their boss laugh, the guards rushed in too see if he had lost his mind. "Err... are you all right boss?" one of them asked hesitatingly. Gato rounded on him. "I will be, pretty soon. I've got a job for you." He took out a fat envelope from his desk. "Deliver this to Momochi Zabuza"