Chapter 7
So far it had now been three days since they had had left the leaf village. They all were making a good time to wave country and were expected to be their by the end of the week. The mission was proving so far to be no sweat or that was until now. As they were walking Naruto had noticed two puddles on the side of the road. With his good sense of smell he knew that was no water with the odor coming from it. Looking over at the rest of his party he knew he wasn't the only one that had noticed. Both Sasuke and Kakashi gave him a look that they both had noticed. Then he looked down at Momo and gave him a nod of his head with a fox like grin on his face.
"Momo you better be quick."
"Why should he be quick?" asked Sakura.
"Momo just has to piss and shit." When Naruto said that both Kakashi and Sasuke were both trying to not to let his words effect them.
"Naruto, you could have said he has to go to the bathroom. And what the hell is he doing! He should be doing that in a bush or were no ones going to see him." Sakura had said that while pointing her finger at Momo, who had just peed in one puddle and was now going dodo in the other.
It seemed at that moment everyone got in to action when the puddles started to mold into two different beings. As the squad surrounded Tazuna they noticed the enemy ninja were wearing mask and had claws on their hands. Looking into their eyes they could tell the two weren't happy at what had just happen to them. Who would if animals went to the bathroom on you?
"Your fox is going to pay, once we've kill all of you," said one of the masked men.
"Touch the fox and your the ones that are dead," said Naruto with a hard look. It was one that meant that he was very serous, but the two ninja's didn't seem to listen.
Instead the two ninjas began to come straight at them. Kakashi retaliated and went towards them, but they attacked him and sliced him apart. Sakura thanking that he was dead, cried out for their sensei. Sasuke and Naruto knowing what had happened nodded to one another and went right at the enemy, while Momo and Sakura protected Tazuna. As they got closer, Naruto could smell something when the guy he went after swiped at him.
"They've got something on their claws." Sasuke nodded and went back to trying to defeat his opponent.
Then with a few more kicks and punches along with a couple of jutsus, Sasuke was able to knock out his opponent, while Naruto killed his with the guy's own poisonous claws. When everyone realized what he had done they didn't know what to say to the boy. It was at that moment that Kakashi came out from where he was hiding and observed of the scene that had went on. He knew Naruto had no choice if they wanted to complete their mission. The partner to the one who died will soon have to go as well.
"Tie him up. He's will eventually end up with the other after we get some information." He had said to Sasuke, who did as he ordered.
"But couldn't we just let..." said Sakura.
Kakashi shook his head. "We can't let him go or just leave him here to escape. He could make things more dangerous for us. He could come back and kill us, He could kill some one to let him go and then come after us, or he can run back to his boss and get reinforcements to come kill us. The only thing we can do is get info from him and then end his life. If you can't handle this than there is no point for you to being a shinobi."
"I understand."
"Good. Now from what I've gathered we were just obstacles in their way," said Kakashi looking at the bridge builder.
"Who are they and why do you suspect they are after him sensei?"
"These guys are the Demon Brothers. They are ranked in the bingo books as missing-ninjas with the skills of high chuunin or jounin. In the book it says they are more than likely hired to kill people, so the answer is who hired them and why they want to kill Tazuna."
"How did you learn about them being in the bingo books and how did you get a hold of them?"
"If you had my aunt you're forced by her to read all the different bingo books out there. She's even in a few of them. What is written about her in them would be an understatement. She far worst when it comes to enemies. If any one came up against her they would regret it and wished they were dead before they die a slow, scary and painful death."
"Enough you two, we have more pressing matters." Then Kakashi turned back to Tazuna. "Explain."
Tazuna knew it was no use to hide what was really going on any longer. "As you know I'm a bridge builder from a small village in the wave country. We are not rich people and we are growing poorer each day. In order to reverse this is to connect wave to the main land by building a bridge. But with how things are going for us in wave right now, it is very difficult for everyone in trying to finish building the bridge. We barely have enough to pay for you people to protect me until it is finish.
"See the reason we have become so poor in the first place is because of a man name Gatou. He is a power hungry man that wants total control of all of wave and will do everything to keep get it. He doesn't care if he has to pay people to kill anyone in his way. And at the moment he see this bridge as a threat once it is finished because then he will be unable to have his total control over us any more. We will then be able to come back and start over from the pain that man has caused us and people we lost."
After they had taken all of this in, Kakashi spoke once more. "Then this mission should be an A ranked mission. You should have never have thought of deceiving us and now you have put us in more danger. Since we were assigned to a C rank, this mission in now voided and unable to ..."
"No," said Naruto. Everyone looked at him wondering what he was going to do. "Even though the situation has change, we can't just head back now. When the old man fines out about the change, it will more than likely take longer to figure out the situation in wave and by that time things could be worse. More than likely Tazuna could be killed and the only chance at finishing this bridge could end up in smoke. Since were here we might as well complete the mission and inform the old man of what is happening." Tazuna even though he didn't look it was hoping they would stick with him until the bridge was finished.
"I'm afraid we can't do that Naruto."
"Why not? We're not a weak group. Sakura had the top score in the Academy, even though she really hasn't put it to good use in the field just yet. Sasuke is the same, but we both know he could last longer than anyone else in the class besides me. Me, I know what to expect. I'm sure you know what I have completed in my record. Last there is you, Kakashi. Your consider one of the best in the village and you have trained under an important man, was well known in the village. We can do this." Then Naruto was silent for a second, before a smile appeared on his face. "Besides I just don't like the idea of ruining my record just yet."
Before anyone could say anything, Sasuke began to reply. "Why don't we just vote?"
Kakashi seemed to think it over on whether or not it would be a good idea to continue and if they should vote on it. He knew what was going on in wave was really a serous matter that needed to be taken care of. Naruto was right that if they waited things could become even worst than they were now. "Even though I'm not liking what I'm about to do, but I guess will have to vote. Knowing that Naruto wants to continue, Sakura, Sasuke what are your votes?"
Sasuke thought about the answer. If he didn't do this it would mean that he was chickening out and showing that he would never defeat his brother along with showing that he was weak. Now if he did stay and complete the mission, he could be able to gain more power would be very beneficial to him in the future. That and that he wanted to surpass Naruto in abilities. If he could beat Naruto then there was a greater chance that he could beat his brother.
Then some thing began to bother him. Flashes of what he learned the day this mission began came to him. He was no fool. Just from those little flash backs he knew maybe he should follow Naruto's instructions on where real power came from in a person. He was ready to see for himself if his brother was wrong on how to gain power. Naruto beliefs in things showed him things that were hard to really believe were happening to him. He had woken him up in a way from the pain that he kept on living day in and day out.
This didn't mean that he was going to act any differently than he was now, if what Naruto said were true. It just wasn't in him to just start acting like something that wasn't him. But at least he would get a better understanding of what he was believing now might not be the path he should be taking. Plus that fact that now he was starting to believe he was no better than his brother.
Finally coming to his decision, he spoke. "Continue."
Sakura in the beginning didn't know whether or not to continue. So whatever Sasuke would do she would do. She knew it was wrong for her to think that, but she was just so in love with Sasuke that she wanted to at least prove herself in his eye. "If Sasuke says continue, then so will I."
Kakashi knew that Sasuke had reasons as to why he was going to continue on with this mission, but with Sakura to him seem to know nothing of what she was getting into. "Sakura, continuing a mission just because someone you like is going to do it isn't the right answer to say. Do you even know what may happen if you continue? Do you except that you or one of you teammates may lose their life? This mission has just become a serous matter and there can't be any mistakes."
That seemed to wake up the girl a little that this mission could be the last for one of them and seeing how it was she wasn't exactly very well trained as the others. Sure she had improved at least some from what she learned from Kakashi in the last week, but still not enough. If she went on this mission it would either mean that she had improved thanks to Kakashi or she failed knowing that it could be her fault for not doing what she should be doing in the first place.
With a feeling of uneasiness Sakura had come to here decision. "I want to continue. I want to do what's right, even though I know the consequences of might happen."
Kakish didn't know whether he should be proud to have a team like them or whether he should beat the living life out of them. He knew that he shouldn't continue on with a mission like this with just his students. He knew that Naruto would more than likely be fine on something like this, but he wasn't so sure about the other two. They had never been on a mission like this, but if they at least all survived this mission then they knew what to really expect in the future of being shinobis. Plus it would be a good learning experience.
"Fine, but if we fail it won't be just your fault, but mine as well. We could lose our lives. We also could more than likely be punished for what I'm about to do now, since it is way out of the rules. So don't think I'm going to go easy on any of you from here on out. If we're going to survive this you three will need a lot more training than what I've been doing now. Also we will have to inform the Hokage of are decision of continuing this mission." Then Kakashi turned to Tazuna. "Since this has turned into an A ranked mission we will be expecting you to pay the rest of the amount need in the future."
"Of course," said Tazuna very glad to know that they we're going to get rid of the problem that had been hurting his home country. Plus he was no fool. He was willing to take any help where he could get it. At first when he saw these people he thought there would be no help at all, but watching them he had this feeling that things would work out fine for his home country. At this point it didn't matter that they would have to pay later for any inconvenience that his home country had caused for Kohana.
Then at that exact moment the only enemy ninja alive that they had captured woke up. Hearing the man groan in pain, Kakashi went up to the tied up man. He then pulled out a kunai. Hearing Kakashi coming up to him with a weapon in his hand, the man instantly quieted down and began glaring at them all. Everyone knew what was about to happen, but they didn't think their hostage would be the one to speak first.
"How? How did you know we were there?"
"It's pretty obvious when there hasn't been any rain in the last few days. There shouldn't even be puddles on the ground with how warm and sunny it has been. If you and your brother are so good you should have known that your jutsus wouldn't work well in this situation," said Sasuke.
"Plus the fact that you both couldn't even cover up your smells good enough for me and my pet to not smell you both," said Naruto putting in his little two cents in.
Then Kakashi stepped in. "Now I believe you should tell us everything we want to know. If you don't tell us, I guess we'll have to go to plan B."
"Screw you! I'm not going to tell you anything. You'll just have to kill me like my brother."
"Pity and I thought we could do this the easy way." Kakashi brought up the kunai ready to begin some of the torture in getting what they wanted to know.
It was then that moment an idea came to Naruto. "You know we could always send word to the ANBU to pick him up and bring him back to the village where Ibiki could have his fun with him. I bet you Ibiki could make him squeal, since he said he would rather die than talk."
Kakashi seemed to think about that for a minute. Then he put the kunai away be for doing a powerful sleep jutsu on the man. "It might be best if we did just that. I suspect the Hokage would probably prefer to hear it from him or Ibiki better. There could be a possibility that he might tell us lies just to get us to end it all. Plus the longer we wait here, the longer it would take to get your bridge built. Also it wouldn't be good to be found here if whoever hired him sends back up to find us."
"So if were going to leave him here and continue to Tazuna home, then how are you going to make sure that this guy doesn't get rescued by someone?" asked Sakura.
"The jutsu I used is one that is used in the ANBU, so they can bring back people to be interrogated in the village. Almost every member of the ANBU uses it and knows of it. Even what I'm going to use next is something that they would know instantly on where I plan hidding him from those that we do not want to find him. So wait here while I take care of this and send out both messages."
After that Kakashi picked up both the sleep hostage and the dead man. Then he went in to the bushes to hide them, while they waited and tried to see what he was going to do. Only Naruto was able to see what he was doing with his good eye sight. He could even hear a few of what words Kakashi was using for a jutsu to hide both bodies for the ANBU. When he was done, Naruto didn't feel the need to watch Kakashi write two messages for the ANBU and the Hokage. Instead he observed the area they were in to check if something would happen.
It wasn't long that Kakashi had finished his business and returned to the group. With a little talk to telling them that things will become more difficult now, since they all knew how complicated things were going to be. Kakashi then set a plan for them to protect their client better. Naruto would still stay in the lead, but Sakura and Sasuke would both take a side each should someone come at them from the side. Kakashi stay to the back of the group for just in case the enemy came at them from behind. Momo this time was instructed to travel around the area to find any threat that may come to the group and inform them before anything should happen.
After that incident several days ago nothing major happened since then. Just to be safe they decided to go a little out of their way to confuse the enemy. They even made sure to have two people watches at night for more safety. They all knew that the closer that they reached Tazuna's home village the more dangerous the mission was becoming. Kakashi suspected that the reason nobody had came was that the enemy probably thought that they were all dead and were waiting for news from their comrades.
On the final day of the journey to Tazuna's home village everything was going smoothly. They were even lucky enough to getting a boat ride to the island with fog in the area as coverage. They were even able to get more information on things that had happen since Tazuna had been away from his home. At one point in the journey they all had gotten the chance to see a part of the unfinished bridge that Tazuna was to finish. Both Naruto and Sakura were both pretty impressed by it and how big it was.
It was only later and a little bit after they reached the island that something major happened. Once more they were in their formation when Momo appeared out of nowhere in front of Tazuna growling into some bushes. As soon as he heard his pet Naruto intantly sent a kunai into the bushes, but before the kunai made a noise in both Naruto and Momo were looking in completely different area, while almost everyone was looking at the bushes around the tree that the kunai had hit.
As Sakura search the bushes, she came across the rabbit, which was scared stiff from almost being kill. She then became ticked that Naruto would do something like that to animal. She was about to yell at her teammate, when Sasuke covered her mouth with one of his hands and pointed at Naruto. When he saw that it was a rabbit, he instantly took a quick glance at Naruto to prove that something was up. Kakashi seem to be the only one to know that the rabbit had been used in a substitution jutsu, but soon got back to the problem at hand.
At that exact moment both Kakashi and Naruto rushed to get every one down on the ground. Naruto pushed his teammates down, while Kakashi went to Tazuna. Momo knowing what was to come had flatten himself to the ground right as a huge long sword came out of the trees behind them like a wind mill into a tree in front of them. Then suddenly a man appeared on the sword looking down at them. His face was covered in bandage from the nose down, so his eyes and up was free to see. He even wore a head band with a scratch through the symbol that told them he was a missing-nin.
"Who would have guessed that I had been a little surprised when I hadn't heard a thing from the demon brothers, but now seeing who defeated them I'm not so surprised. I finally got to meet the Great Copy Ninja. Now putting that aside, I'm going to need you to hand over the Bridge Builder or I won't hesitate to kill your little genin with you." The man had a deep rough voice as he stared down at them coldly with his arms crossed over his chest. It was obvious that the guy was trying to scare them.
"Oh so you've heard of me and here I thought that no one knew me," said Kakashi being his aloof self. "I've been wondering who the enemy hired. Rumor had it that you've been trying to raising money so you can finally complete the one mission you never finished and seeing as you've been hired by this Gatou, it seem the rumor is true. Also I except flattery and all, but I'm afraid you will have to thank my pupils for taking out your lackeys. And finally I'm afraid I can't hand over Tanuza to you like you want us to."
"Really," said the man not to happy to know brats could defeat his men.
Looking at them, he couldn't really see anything really impressive about them. They just looked like babies to him, but then again when he looked at Naruto there was something that bothered him about the kid. He at first hadn't expected them to have a well trained fox in the group when he first observed them. With one growl from the fox, the boy was on him in less than a second with his eyes and sending out one of his weapons coming for him. If he hadn't substituted himself with the rabbit, he would most likely have been injured. But even still using the jutsu the boy seemed to know where he was at and so it was really no use hiding anymore.
"It's a pity that you won't just hand the Bridge Builder over. Then again I'm not planning for any of you to leave hear alive." He had said coming back to the present. This time his voice had been harsher and colder than before, but now it seem he was letting out his killing intent.
"Who…who is he?" asked Sakura a little scared, but luckily not showing it even though her voice gave her away.
"Zabuza Momchi. He was a former Mist ninja, but now a missing-nin. He is also know as the Demon of the Mist because of killing his whole class when it came to a particular exam years ago in his village," said Naruto not looking scared at all or letting his eyes off the enemy.
"You know your stuff boy. It's a shame that you have to die here."
"Who said I'll be the one to die," said Naruto. At This point Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Momo were now protecting Tazuna while Kakashi was in front of them. "You're the one that's out numbered."
"That's never stopped me before," spoke Zabuza appearing in between the genin and Tazuna in a stance that showed he was prepared to draw his sword any second.
Both Kakashi and Naruto seemed to know that the Zabuza that appeared was a water clone. The others had their eyes widen when they had heard Zabuza's voice so close to them. Just to be safe the little group separated, but Momo made sure to stay close to their client, while most of them kept their eyes on the clone. Naruto seemed to be the only one looking in a particular direction in the trees. Then suddenly a somewhat fog seemed to appear slowly in the clearing they were in.
"It seems that I'll have to use this," said Kakashi, who now seemed to be looking in the same direction as Naruto, but keeping his sense out for what the clone might do. The next thing Kakashi did was pulled up his headband so now his Sharingan was now showing.
"I feel so honored that I get to see your sharingan," spoke the clone. His voice seemed like there was amusement inside it.
"Well you should be because it will be the last time you see it."
"Are you so sure?" spoke the real Zabuza coming straight at Kakashi just as the fake one disappeared.
"Protect Tazuna," said Kakashi blocking Zabuza's sword from hitting him. All the genin nodded and surrounded the bridge builder as they watched the fight between Kakashi and Zabuza.
At the moment Zabuza was swing his sword around with so much precise and accurse, but Kakashi managed to block all the attacks. Then Kakashi began to use a jutsu. Soon it became apparent of what type of jutsu, when they saw the tiger symbol which was most offend seen in fire jutsu attacks. Then the next thing that happen fire balls were coming out of no where and headed for Zabuza. As soon as one of the balls hit the other man, he seemed to pop like a balloon full of water. Then Zabuza appeared out of no where to attack Kakashi from behind, but when the sword came down on Kakashi, he too popped like a balloon.
As time went on, the attacks between Kakashi and Zabuza became more intense. Kakashi was sporting a couple of cuts and bruises from Zabuza's sword. Looking at their enemy, he had the same cuts and bruise here and there from when Kakashi had used a kunai. But he also had couple of burns on his arm from a few jutsus that used fire attacks. It looked to them that Kakashi was winning in all.
Then suddenly Kakashi had mad a big mistake when he jumped into the near by water to avoid being hit by an attack. Just as Kakashi came up from under the surface, he felt himself being surrounded by a weird type of water. That's when he realized that he was being lifted inside a sphere of weird water that was now attached to Zabuza's hand. It was then that Kakashi noticed that he couldn't move at all in side the sphere.
"Try all you want, but you won't be able to get free."
While this went on Naruto mumbled quietly to Sasuke. "I'll go set Kakashi free. I've got this feeling he might set a clone or some thing at us. You watch out. Sakura and Momo can protect them if he does send a clone over here. Plus I've already switched myself with a clone."
"Where's the real Naruto at?" Sasuke ask in an even more quieter voice.
The clone Naruto caught it. "Look at the water," was all that was said.
Going back to watching what would happen next, it began to become apparent that Naruto was proving right in his thoughts. Another clone began to form out of the water and head straight for them on the intent of killing them. At this point they all could hear Zabuza's voice. "Now Kakashi, you can watch your brats die." It was at that second that Sasuke moved away from the group and straight for the clone.
Then the clone spoke when Sasuke was coming at him. "I would of thought the other boy would come at me, since he seems to know where the real me is all ways at."
"He is," said Sasuke before destroying the clone and then going back to protecting their client.
When Zabuza hear that he automatically started looking around. Kakashi did the same. Then in a second a shuriken was thrown out of no where. Seeing this Zabuza used his free hand to grab it out of the air. He was about to say 'You have to do better than that boy,' but finally noticed the second shuriken that had been hidden in the first one's shadow. Thinking fast Zabuza jumped into the air to miss being cut in half by the weapon. Then quickly Zabuza scanned the area for the real Naruto, but stopped when he heard a popping sound behind him.
Everyone automatically looked behind their enemy to see the shuriken pop back to being Naruto, who instantly throw two kunai's at Zubuza's back. "You really should watch behind yourself more often."
Almost everyone was quite impressed by Naruto's ability to figure a way to set Kakashi free. Zabuza obviously didn't seem to know what else to do, but let go of the sphere that held Kakashi to block the incoming attack. Using some of his chakra Naruto landed safely on top of the water as he stared at Zabuza. Once Kakashi was free, he quickly moved to be slightly being in front of Naruto just in case the enemy attacked the boy and so he also could recover a little from being inside of sphere with no air to breath.
Just as Zabuza finished blocking the attack, he had to block another attack that came out of no where from two different directions. As he once more became busy, Naruto mumbled something to Kakashi. "Tazuna is hidden with Momo. Sakura and Sasuke know now that they are switched now with clones. There seems to be another person hidden in the tree watching all of us. I don't know if the new person is with him or not, but just in case I'm keeping where Tazuna is hidden from everyone."
"Good," mumbled Kakashi.
"Do you need more time to recover or do you need my clones to distract him a little longer?"
"No you've given me enough time to recover. Head back over to Sasuke and Sakura. Also keep an eye out for that new person just in case. In form them if you need to." Naruto nodded. Just before he was going to return to the others, Zabuza stopped him.
"Nice little distraction, kid."
"Thanks I just knew you were going to like it. Maybe I should of put a few exploding tags on a couple of them, then it would be a little more enjoyable."
"To bad you're going to die now knowing that you couldn't use them."
"I don't think so. Your fight is with my sensei." Then Naruto disappeared into bunch of leaves blowing into the wind, before appearing next to his teammates in a poof of smoke.
As he left, Kakashi prepared himself for anything that might happen. Then suddenly Zabuza began to do hand signals for a water attack. "I guess I'll have to wait to kill the kid then." What Zabuza didn't know was that Kakashi had just activated his sharingan and was copying the jutsu. There was also an add bonus that would soon confuse the other man to the point his sanity would be in question at what he was seeing.
Watching Kakashi as he began doing the signs to his water type jutsu he soon slowed a little in making his signs. Every signs he made Kakashi did the same. Then suddenly a shadow figure started to appear behind the other man. The longer he looked at it the more clearer it became and then the shadowy figure turned into himself. In his mind he was thinking, 'What the hell is going on? This has got to be some sort of trick.' Trying to not allow what was going on bother him, he went on to finish his jutsu, but then it was to late.
Just as Zabuza was going to say the name of his attack and let it loose, Kakashi let loose the same jutsu that he was going to do. Out of the water straight for Zabuza came a water dragon ready to swallow him. Another problem had then arisen for their enemy, when he tried to move to avoid the attack. He couldn't. It was like he was stuck to the spot he was in. All he could do was try to guard his body from the impact, even though he was going to still suffer great damage from it.
After the attack hit him with so much force, Zabuza mussels were feeling like shit. By the time he was ready to counter with another jutsu, Kakashi had another water jutsu coming at him. Using more water from the lake, Zabuza was thrown in tidal wave of water and then smacked dabbed into a tree. From the force of hitting the tree he could feel several of his bones cracking under the presser. As the water lessened, Kakashi then showed up in a tree he had hit.
In pain and hurting pretty badly, Zabuza manage to ask, "Can you predict the future?"
"Why yes I can, Zabuza."
Then Kakashi stood up and grabbed kunai from his poach. Just as he was about to give their enemy the finishing blow, two senbons came out of nowhere and into Zabuza's neck. Everyone watching hadn't had became unsure, until the stranger who had stay out of the situation appeared in front of them. Still not letting their guard down, they watch the stranger next moves and some even knew what he was. He was a hunter ninja from the hidden village of the mist by the mask he was wearing.
"Thank you," said the masked figure. "I've been tracking him a while. Every time I've gotten close to finding him, he seems to be one step a head of me. I'm grateful that I got a good lead this time and that you people here were able to get hold him long enough for me to get him. Now I must take care of this matter."
Just as he said that both Kakashi and Naruto knew something was very strange. It got even stranger, when the hunter ninja began to lift up Zabuza's dead body. Surprisingly it was Sasuke, who voiced his opinion about what he had learned from Kakashi. "I thought Hunter Ninja's rather get rid of the body's of the ones they are after as quick as possible once their target is killed." It was more like a statement than a question.
The Hunter Ninja seem to stiffen a little, which almost all of them noticed. Sakura and Tazuna, who was still hidden with Momo, were the only ones that didn't really have a clue really. They were more thankful that they didn't have to worry about Zabuza or so they thought. All three of the male leaf village ninja had just gotten their answer. It didn't take long for someone to realize that saying something that is actual fact and getting a reaction told them that this Hunter Ninja was in league with the man he was supporting on his shoulder. So if they were in league they knew Zabuza was most likely not dead, even though he very much looked it.
"You would be correct about that. This also means that Zabuza is still alive." Hearing this Sakura tensed a little but knew what to do, she made sure to look calm as she could and stood in front of the clone Tazuna to make sure their new enemy didn't know there was a clone, while Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi each got into a stance.
At this point the Hunter Ninji just stayed quiet not saying a word looking through his mask. To them he seemed to be thinking on weather it would be a good idea to go up against them. It was only when the Hunter Ninja brought one his hands up that they knew that their new enemy was getting ready to leave. Both Sasuke and Naruto were already in go mode to attack, but as soon as they were about to close in, the Hunter Ninja was already gone.
Naruto instantly stopped as did Sasuke. Then Naruto with his three great senses began searching the area for their enemies' location or hiding spot. Nothing came back to him. He couldn't even see them, hear them, or smell them in the area. Looking back at the rest of his teammates, who had been watching him for any signs that told them he had found their enemies, he shook his head.
"They're gone."
"What do you mean they are gone?" asked Sakura. "They couldn't have left that quickly."
"She's right." Sakura seemed to beam that Sasuke agreed with her.
"They could," said Naruto. "He more than likely left as soon as he touched Zabuza and before leaving made sure to switching themselves with clones. Just having the hunter's clone talking to us helped distract us so they had time to get away and we wouldn't know which way to look for them. Even my sense of smell seems to have not helped me, which tells us…"
"That Zabuza's ally is not one opponent to take likely in the future," finished Kakashi. "I suspect that with the injuries that Zabuza retrieved from me and the few he got from Naruto that he'll be out for a while and probably won't be coming after us until he's at least fully healed. My guess is between one to two weeks at the most that he will be back with the masked boy. But this does not mean to let your guard down while we are here and it also means that I may have to up some of your guys' training faster than I originally plan to start them."
Each one of them nodded knowing that even though they agreed to finish this mission, they knew what the cost would be if they left, died, or were unable to succeed in this mission. They were growing to realize the dangers of every action they may have on the lives, other lives, or even the world. So they knew that things would get more complicated. They didn't care if they suffered as long as the mission was completed. They were willing to go great lengths to do what they had to do. Also they were just beginning to grow a bond between teammates and willing to start protecting one another to the point it just could not end here.
Kakashi could see it and something in the back of his head was telling him that everything was probably going to turn out just fine once all this was taken care of. Who was he kidding he was one who went with the flow, but it would seem he his mind couldn't get of the fact that everything would be fine. Shaking himself out of that weird feeling, he thought it would be best that they got going again.
"We should be going. Naruto where is…"
"I'm right hear," said Tazuna coming out of the trees and shaking a little of the grass from his body with Momo close behind. "The Kid thinks fast, but I'm grateful for all you have done. If you follow me it won't be much longer until we reach my home." Quickly retrieved their things they all followed him.