The group had walked for hours, when suddenly they passed a water puddle. Neither Sakura, Sasuke nor Naruto took any notice of it, but Kakashi briefly looked at it - Yuuki as well. They then looked at each other, nodded, and continued as if nothing was wrong. Then, only seconds later, the group was suddenly attacked by two dark clothed ninjas. Their headbands revealed that they were ninja from the Hidden Village of Mist. The two men caught Kakashi in a chain that went from one arm to the other's.

"Huh!? " Kakashi gasped, acting surprised.

Sakura gasped, "What!?" Her green eyes wide with shock.

"First one! " The ninjas yelled and pulled - tearing Kakashi into pieces of bloody flesh. Sakura screamed in horror and Naruto yelled as well, also horrorstruck. Sasuke and Yuuki both kept a cool head, focusing on the enemy. But then, as the ninjas appeared behind Naruto, saying, "Second one. ", Naruto froze in shock, only able to tremble as the Ninja approached him.

Sasuke and Yuuki eyed each other, then attacked. Sasuke threw a shuriken, nailing the ninja's chain to a tree and then a kunai to make sure it stayed there, and with that, the two men was immobilized. Naruto was still gaping, his mouth wide open as the Uchiha landed on each of the ninja's iron-covered hands. He then kicked them both in her faces, breaking the chain in the process. The ninjas quickly regained foothold, and as of them charged towards Naruto once again, the other went for Tazuna. Sakura, also frozen with shock, demanded her body to move. She finally got in front of Tazuna, yelling, "Stay back, mister! "

Sasuke looked towards Sakura, the ninja running towards her with incredible speed, though Yuuki called out, saying that she had him... And then, with no time to perform a justu or really any other option, she got in front of her pink haired teammate, ready to take the blow in her place. Yuuki narrowed her eyes, readying herself for the pain of the iron claws... though the claws never reached her. Her father had prevented it, stopping the ninja by catching his neck with his arm. The ninja gasped in pain and everyone looked up to see Kakashi - alive and well - with both enemy ninjas under his arms, unconscious. He even had a bored expression on his face, as if this was no different from chasing cats in the woods like they had done just days ago.

"Hey. " He greeted his team with his usual bored eyes.

"Kakashi-Sensei! " Sakura yelled out in happiness, "you're alive! " Sasuke's eyes twitched a bit. What a show-off, he thought.

Naruto could do nothing but to look towards what should have been the remains of... but, instead of bloody flesh and body remains, pieces of wood lay on the ground. Kakashi-Sensei used the replacement technique?

"Naruto, " Kakashi said, turning his head to look at the boy on the ground, "sorry for not helping out right away. I got you hurt... "

"I didn't think you wouldn't be able to move. " He added, walking towards Yuuki, Sasuke and Sakura, "Anyway, Sasuke, Yuuki, good job both of you. Sakura, you too. "

Naruto was dumbfound... I... couldn't do anything... But both Sasuke and Yuuki were able to fight in their first real battle... Naruto looked at the white haired girl as well as at the raven haired boy. None of them were talking, they both had a rather aloof facial expression as well, and a calm attitude... Naruto was awestruck. They weren't afraid at all? ... Are you saying they helped me with that calm face and without soiling their clothes at all?!

It was true; neither Yuuki's nor Sasuke's clothes were soiled - they looked perfectly fine. Naruto couldn't believe it...

Sasuke then turned around, eyeing Naruto.

"Hey. Are you hurt... Mr. Scaredy Cat? " He said, smirking at the blond.

"... SASUKE! " Naruto yelled, furious, and about to jump at the Uchiha.

"Naruto! " Kakashi suddenly said, stopping him mid-action, "there's poison on these guys' nails. We need to take out the poison right away. "

"Huh, what? " Naruto said, sounding a bit worried, looking at his hand. The wound was bleeding...

"We have to open up your wound and leech out the poisoned blood. Don't move that much, or the poison will spread through your body... By the way, Tazuna-san..."

"W-What is it? " The man stuttered. Yuuki eyed the bridge builder suspiciously, but stayed silent and waited for her father to voice her own thoughts.

"I need to talk to you. " Kakashi said.

Kakashi had tied the enemy ninjas to a tree, and everyone stood in a half circle around them, listening as he explained: "These guys are Chunin-class ninja from the Hidden Village of Mist. They are ninja known to keep fighting no matter what the cost. "

One of the men - no one were able to tell which one since they had their mouths covered up with those odd, dark masks - spoke with a low voice, "how were you able to detect our action? "

Kakashi was about to explain further, but Yuuki beat him at it:

"Easy. It hasn't rained for days, and it's sunny today - have been all day. So a water puddle shouldn't exist, and it was therefore very obvious. You should've gone with a different method, idiot. "

"...Exactly. " Kakashi agreed, nodding. Again, he was struck by a feeling of pride - something that had happened quite frequently since he met his daughter. Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto, as well as Tazuna, all looked at Kakashi and Yuuki with wide eyes. They hadn't noticed a water puddle at all...

"Why did you let the kids fight when you knew that? " Tazuna asked the jounin, confused.

"We're not kids, Tazuna-san. " Yuuki said, looking at the man with her purple eyes. Tazuna flinched under the white haired girl's hard gaze, and looked at the jounin instead. Kakashi looked at him, also with a hard gaze, and even though it was small, Tazuna thought there was some kind of similarity to the two ninja's way of looking at him. He could just be imagining it though...

"If I was up to it, I could have killed these two in the blink of an eye, but I needed to know who the target for these two was. "

"What do you mean? " Tazuna asked, still not understanding. Yuuki sighed, and said:

"In other words, were you being targeted or was it somebody from our group? "

"We have not heard anything about you being targeted by ninja. Your request was to protect you from armed groups like gangs and robbers. This is a mission that's above a B rank. Our job was to support and guard you until you completed the bridge. If ninjas are our enemy, this mission would have been an expensive B rank. " Kakashi said, looking at Tazuna, "It looks like you have your reasons, but it troubles us if you lie in your request details. This wasn't part of the mission. "

"This mission is out of our league, so... let's quit! " Sakura said simply,"we need anesthesia to take out the poisoned blood out of Naruto, too. We need to go back to the village and see a doctor! "

Yuuki mentally rolled her eyes; Haruno was such a stupid coward, she was scared out of her wits, just like that Uzumaki. Naruto held his hand loosely with the other, looking at it as if it was something strange or unfamiliar. He then turned to Kakashi, awaiting answer...

"This sure is a burden. Let's go back to the village to cure Naruto. " Kakashi said, scratching his neck.

Naruto gritted his teeth, then, suddenly, out of nowhere, he stabbed his hand with his kunai, flinching in pain as the blade went deep into his skin. Everyone looked at him in surprise. Even Yuuki hadn't seen this coming.

Why am I so different... Why am I always...

"Damn it! " Naruto yelled.

"Naruto, what are you doing? " Sakura yelled, stepping forward.

"I should be stronger..." he said, his back towards the others, "I've accomplished lots of missions and I've practiced techniques every day... I'm never going to do something that will require someone to help me. I'm never going to be frightened and try to back out of things! I'm not going to lose to Sasuke. Or Yuuki-san. I vow that to this pain in my left hand. I'm going to protect the old man with this kunai! " Naruto turned around, grinning at the group. Yuuki looked at the boy, somewhat amazed by his... determination. And right then, she decided that she did, in fact, like him. Not in any romantic way, but the boy's ocean blue eyes gave off such a feeling of trustworthiness, determination and motivation that just being close to him would give her hope. She grinned as well, smiling at him with her eyes.

"The mission is still on. " Naruto said, grinning.