"Naruto"- normal speech

'Naruto'- thought

Naruto- jutsu name


Charter 6

Wale mission- part 3- Ready to set sail?

His vision was all blurry at first. His head hurting him as if a rock hit him, but Hatake Kakashi managed to pull himself together and could see a lot better. He looked around, finding himself in a room. It wasn't exactly a luxurious looking one, but who was he to complain? He tried to sit, but his body was aching. Just then he remembered his fight with Zabuza, the assassin rogue-nin from the Hidden Mist Village, and losing consciousness. So clearly someone took him and started to look after him.

His train of thoughts was stopped when the door opened and his students came in along with Tazuna and a young woman with long, black hair. The Copy-cat ninja felt relieved when seeing them. He guessed that the genins must have taken him to the bridge builder's house. He tried to sit again, but Sakura ran over and prevented him from doing so.

"Kakashi-sensei. You need to rest." young kunoichi said with concern. Still, Kakashi tried to do what he tried. But then the older woman stepped in and made the silver-haired jonin lay back.

"Mr. Kakashi! You pushed yourself too hard out there so you'd better take a rest NOW!" she shouted out the last word so loud, the jonin paled a little. Tazuna quickly whispered something to her ear and she calmly walked out the room.

"Please forgive my daughter" the old man started. "Tsunami happens to have… a temper at times." Team 7 sweat dropped. A temper? "Still, I thank you, Mr. Kakashi. For getting us here. But we still have a job to do."

"You mean that shipment, right?" Kakashi asked, though he knew it's obvious.

"Yes. I'd like us sail out tomorrow morning. That way, we'll be back here in about four days." Tazuna explained. Of course he was going to explain the details later. But for now, he left the Leaf shinobis to themselves.

"Kakashi-sensei? Mind tellin' us how did 'cha handled that Eyebrowless Freak?" the blond knucklehead asked in his usual loud manner way. Kakashi turned to face students.

"There was a hunter-nin, who took Zabuza. And I think he was an imposter."

"Huh? Why's that?"

"Because the real one would have taken care of the body on the spot right there, lad. So since our jolly good fellow Zabuza is still horsing around, guess I'll have to train you properly for our next encounter with him."

"Ha! What for? We did fool him back then." Naruto laughed. But then he noticed a serious look on Kakashi's face and quickly calmed down.

"True! But he won't be so clumsy with us next time. Now he knows what to expect, so he will be better prepared. That's why tomorrow I'm going to teach you something new." At the sound of that, the prankster got all excited, while Sasuke smiled and Sakura giggled. Their jonin-sensei was eye-smiled seeing their reaction.


Unknown location

Zabuza finally regained his consciousness. He couldn't move yet and was in pain, but at least he lived. He looked around the dark room of his hideout and spotted the hunter-nin imposter. His partner has saved and was attending to his wounds right now.

"Nice work. You took me outta there just in time."

"Indeed. However I had to hit your pressure points and get you into a death-like state to have a good excuse to take you away." The masked kid answered with a lot of concern in his voice. He was wrapping some bandages on the assassin's arm, when they all heard someone enter. They looked in the direction of the door and noticed a short man elegantly dressed, with long brown hair, moustache and sunglasses. He was obviously furious at Zabuza.

"What the hell, Zabuza?" the short man asked, "I hired you to kill Tazuna, not get nearly killed!"

"Relax, Gato." The Demon of the Mist answered him calmly, not intimidated, "I wasn't expectin' one of the most powerful shinobi from the Leaf to be with him. Fortunately, I did think fast enough ta use that ta learn more 'bout 'im. So next time we meet, I'll be the one standin'." Gato looked unimpressed. He was about to hit the former Mist-nin, but then he felt his arm being broke by the fake hunter-nin. The short man began to curse under his nose and was about to order his men to kill the kid but was stopped. There, before his big nose, was a kunai pointed at him.

"You will not touch master Zabuza. Am I clear?" The killer's sidekick said intimidating the short man. Gato nodded. Once the kunai was taken away from him, he stood up, turned away and took his leave. Clearly he wasn't satisfied with this. How dare that kid… he broke his arm. Pure rage was visible on the gangster's face. He so wanted to kill the brat for raising an arm on him. Yet he was smart enough to collect himself. He wouldn't stand a chance against a shinobi after all, would he? No. he would rather wait for the right time and then have his payback. Soon enough, Gato and his escort were gone. Zabuza chuckled.

"Nice one, kiddo. That should teach that raccoon-tall idiot not ta be messin' with us." The killer continued to chuckle when a sudden felling of pain attacked him. His young comrade began to act quickly. "Heal me as fast as possible. I wanna kill both Kakashi 'n' Tazuna painfully as possible. Also I wanna repay that blond for in humiliating me."


Late afternoon, forest, near Tazuna's hut

Team 7 followed their team leader through the forest for several minutes now. The three genins were wondering what their sensei was going to teach them. Though the one-eyed jonin was far from rested, he knew he needs to train them in order to prepare them to fight Zabuza and his friend. Of course, the first time he tried to get out of bed, his body refused. But it was far better than the second, when Tsunami nearly hit him with his frying pan. But he did get to rise up and take his students to toughen them up.

Finally, Kakashi stopped in the middle of a small field with three similar trees, which surprisingly looked like made out of stone rather than wood. The jonin went to analyze them more closely. His students were however confused. Why was their sensei studying the trees? Was it for their training at all? Maybe he just loves to study trees. It wasn't long until the silver-haired ninja returned to them, giving each one of them a kunai.

"Okay than, kiddies." he started, "Now we will do a good exercise for your chakra control." He noticed all three of them raise their eyebrows in a questioning look. Sakura raised her hand.

"Um, Kakashi-sensei? How is that going to help us exactly?"

"Well, since you really wish to know… By improving your chakra control, you'll basically be able to conserve more chakra during battle. You see, as you all are right now, you're using too much chakra, literally wasting it, while performing jutsu. With this exercise, you'll be able to safe more and therefore last longer in battle. Understand?"

"Kakashi-sensei? How exactly are we supposed to improve our chakra control? That is… what kind of exercise EXACTLY are we to perform?" the blond knucklehead asked. Sakura had a look of annoyance hearing him ask that, but then again he had a point. The basic training they were doing back in academy, the 'Leaf exercise', was a good one. But when they needed that, they were just learning how control chakra in the first place. Now they really needed something to help them control it more precisely. Kakashi just coughed at that.

"Well now, that's really simple, lads. This exercise is called 'Tree climbing exercise'!" He paused for a moment to take a good look at their faces. They were looking at the not-really-one-eyed-jonin as if he was a complete idiot who fell on his head and hit an anvil the day he was born. He gave them an eye-smile, showing he expected that kind of reaction from them. "Now, now. I know how that sounds. But believe me. It's a bit different from climbing a tree for you will all have to climb a tree without using your hands."

Kakashi made a 'ram' hand-seal and gathered some chakra, explaining that gathering it to the sole of the foot is the hardest. Soon, his feet began to glow blue and the jonin-sensei was walking upwards the tree like on ground itself. After a few more seconds of his performance, he gave the genins a sign to start the exercise. Each of them began by running towards their tree, though Naruto had to run from a smaller distance since Kakashi feared the fox-container would otherwise ram the tree down. After a dozen of minutes, the results were indifferent. Naruto climbed up about six feet. Sasuke was doing better since he was almost half way to the top. Surprisingly Sakura was performing perfect. She reached the top by the second attempt, as by the first one she got distracted with Uchiha's lost of attachment. The pink-haired was the weakest in the team when it came to stamina or strength, so it is natural that her chakra control should be near perfect if not THE perfect. An hour has past since the exercise began and only the boys continued, since the silver-haired ninja found that his female student no longer needed to trouble herself. The boys would sometimes stop their training to ask Sakura for any tips on this exercise or to ask her what they were doing wrong. Naturally they were making a lot of them learning that too little chakra wouldn't stick them to the surface of the tree properly or at all, while too much- would blast them off. Hatake was happy. Not because of their progress of chakra control, but of their team work. Especially the brunette boy, who usually lets himself be taken by his superiority complex, was now more open.


Sunset. Tazuna's house.

Tazuna and his daughter were sitting by the table along with his two shinobi guardians. Namely Kakashi and Sakura. If you're asking where the rest of Team 7 is, well, they're still training. You see, Naruto and Sasuke have decided to turn the exercise into competition, as they grew tired of it. That was about seven and a half hour ago. To think they would be this determined. Tsunami was of course mad that she couldn't serve dinner yet. The Leaf-jonin had a bad feeling about this. The chills. Luckily she quickly cheered up when the boys finally returned. They both were sweaty, dirty and tired so badly, they had to support one another to reach the house and not collapse.

"We're back" Sasuke called. Soon enough everyone was eating. Man they were hungry. The two boys in particular. They were eating each for ten men. Kakashi was laughing seeing them. It even made him remember his days as a kid. Even the bridge builder joined him. Tsunami wasn't paying really much attention to them, as she could understand their hunger, but Sakura, well, was more than disgusted. Of course, as she had it in her habit, she kept accusing the blond for being a pig, even though the Uchiha was far from better mannered himself.

When everyone was finally done with their meal, Tazuna took this as a proper moment to talk with Kakashi about the incoming days. They talked about it for hours. In the talk, the jonin learn that the shipment was really a shipment, not some operation to get rid of Gato. Tazuna explained that the shipment most likely will depart the next day morning and arrive at sunset the other. It was about three ships mainly with the materials for the bridge and some other supplies like food, medicine etc. but what had the middle-aged man worried was that there could be pirates on the waters if not Gato's thugs. This shipment happened to be more important when Tazuna told them that this is the LAST shipment they could afford, as well as the bridge materials were for the final stage of the construction. Kakashi knew that the people of Wave were in deep trouble, but this… He had no idea they were just this desperate. On the other hand, this just explained even more about the bridge builder's earlier actions and silence.

"Very well, Mr. Tazuna. We shall join you then and sail out to meet with the shipment and protect it." The Leaf-nin said. Tazuna was quite shock and happy to hear that the shinobi he hired were willing to actually assist him. Each of the genins showed him they were also ready to help out. They were all fired up, especially Naruto. And then…

"You should all just give up!" a voice stopped their thoughts. Everyone took a look in one direction to see a small boy, much younger then the genins, who was glaring at them.

"Oh, 'n' why would we do that kinda thing, pipsqueak?" Naruto asked him in his usual way, returning the glare. The brat's glare has just hardened.

"Because you will all just die! Only idiots are so willing to sacrifice themselves for nothing!" The child yelled back at him. Naruto grew actually angry at the boy's believes. Before he could talk back, the nine-year-old ran away to his room and shut the door.

"I am really sorry about my son's behavior. Inari's just… difficult." Tsunami said apologetically to the ninjas. Then both her and her father explained that in the past, a man from outside the Wave, Kaiza, arrived and saved Inari's live. The man grew close to all of them, especially the boy, who saw a father figure in him. They were a happy family, until Gato arrived. Kaiza organized a small defiance group to chase the gangster out, but failed miserably, ending up as an example to all who would try to defy him. After hearing that story, the blond eased off a bit upon his opinion of Inari, but he was still mad at him. He was so mad, he didn't even care when Kakashi decided to take Sakura and Sasuke to with him and Tazuna.


Early dawn. A few miles off the coast.

The boat was really fast. Kakashi just couldn't believe when the boatman said they should meet up with the shipment by late afternoon. Then again, they departed really early in the morning. The Leaf-nin took a look at his students, just before Sakura managed to ask a question.

"Kakashi-sensei. You know Naruto wasn't truly paying attention when you said he's staying?"

"Oh, no need to worry there, dearie. I did let Naruto know about our plan before we got to bed."

"Yeah? How?" Sasuke asked. As the jonin with the gravity-defying-like hair was about to answer, they all heard something that sounded like "Dammit, sensei! How could ya leave me here? I wanna go too!" The two students were giving a questioning look to their sensei, who was sweat dropping.

"Oh my. What a strange wind people have here."


Several hours have past already and still the ships with the supplies were nowhere to be seen. Tazuna was getting pretty worried now. They kept their course for the island from which the shipment was to set off, the Rich Rat Island. The bridge builder hoped that the ships simply had a delay. The sun was about to set, when finally they could see the island. The middle-aged man guessed correctly and was actually happy about it. But what troubled him now was why the delay. When the group of the ninjas from Konoha and their client finally reached the shore, they immediately ran to the docks to find the leader of the group. Tazuna quickly found that person. To Kakashi's surprise however, it wasn't a man with disgusting appearance who would stink of alcohol. No! It was a young, beautiful woman, with short, white hair, yellow eyes, wearing green baggy pants, wooden sandals and a short, blue, almost unzipped jacket. At that moment, the silver-haired jonin was quite pleased he wasn't a pervert, for the bridge builder's pervert-sense took the better of him when he saw her perfect cleavage and paid the price for his act. The woman noticed the shinobi and gave him and his student a big grin, surprisingly similar to Naruto's.

"So, Old Drunk, I take it these guys are with you?" she asked the older man while keeping her eyes on the ninjas.

"Well… um, yes. Indeed they're with me, Chika. These people are here to help us." Tazuna said. He was still in pain after that strike of hers. She kept analyzing Team 7, apparently trying to find something suspicious. Finally, she turned to the bridge builder, giving him a hard glare. Then she turned to face Kakashi, who certainly got surprised with her glare. Did she found something she didn't like about them?

"You! The guy with a fore-head protector for an eye-patch! You think you're tough enough to fight off a big group of pirates, who terrorize these waters for decades? Huh!"

Kakashi got a little nervous now. That woman may have an extremely attractive appearance, but she was no push over. For some strange reason, he felt real small and powerless now. He just nodded to her question, hoping it would be enough for her. His students however couldn't believe what they saw. Chika was no shinobi, and here, just before their eyes, their sensei was acting like a pitiful man. The woman walked a little closer to the jonin, raising her arm up. The silver-haired man shut his eye quickly, as if expecting an attack. But what he got was a big, hard clap on the shoulder, which made him loose his balance. He couldn't believe what he heard the moment before that clap. A loud laugh. "I like you, man. You sure know how to respect a woman with authority when you see one. Haha." Chika reached her hand out and helped Hatake get on his feet. Soon after that, she returned to Tazuna. "Alright, you Old Drunk. Sorry we're not on the way, but we had some trouble getting the last load on the boat."

"Boat?" the Leaf-nins were surprised. They though they were going to travel with a ship. Only now did they notice that instead of big tanker-like ships, there were just big, wooden boats. About twenty of them. And they were painted blue. Kakashi quickly came to realize, that it must be for stealth. After all, how else would they be able to get the supplies to Wave without getting caught?

"So, I take it Gato must know about you?"

"Right you are, you one-eyed hottie. That's why I for one am glad to have some shinobi for extra protection, even though we won't probably need more."

Sakura and her teammate were taken off by surprise by the comment. Kakashi? A hottie? Sure, they did see some women staring at their sensei strangely, but this is the first time someone called him a hottie. Was he really that GOOD looking under that mask of his?

"Anyway, are you ready to sail off?" the leader of Team 7 asked. Chika nodded and commanded her crew to prepare.


Meanwhile. Somewhere in Wave.

"The shipment will probably be here by tomorrow night. I want it disposed of before it reaches the shore of my country. Is that clear?" Gato yelled, hitting his cast on the table. The shadowy figure simply gave a sickly smile, showing three normal, human teeth, while the rest of them looked like bear ones.

"Doncha worry 'ere, land lover. Me and me boys will handle them little fishies before ya know it."

"Well I'm countin' on it. I certainly am not gonna take any chances with that Tazuna guy's bridge being finished even if he'll die."

"Like I said, Gato. I ain't no fool who can't do their job right. When I do them bloody part of the job, I DO them as bloody as possible." The man said, as his right eye began to glow unnatural purple, giving the gangster the creeps.


A/N. Well next time, your gonna get some sea battle. The next chapter won't be focusing this time just on Naruto, maybe. well, see ya.