The Mists of Wave

Naruto landed in front of the village exit as was instructed by his sensei, the blonde still had about twenty minutes before it was time for departure, but since he did not really need to pack, he had very little to do other than wander around the village and changing into more suitable gear for a mission, though he did have a few bowls of ramen, so that was a little productive, thought the blonde with a contented grin. "Oi Naruto, how is it going?" asked a voice, and he turned to see Kotetsu Hagane, along with his eternal partner, Izumo walking towards the gates, and both were waving their arms at the blonde.

"Eh?" asked Naruto incredulously as he looked at the two chuunins entering the gate stand. "You two are in charge of this gate?"

"Yeah," said Izumo with a small sigh as he took his seat. "Mr. Carefree here wanted to have a snack of Dango but is too darn afraid of Anko-san, so he had to drag me there with him," said the bandanna wearing man before he took his seat next to his partner. "By the way where are you going? You look like you are about to go to a war."

"But isn't someone supposed to be here at all times to monitor if any unwanted activity is—" the blonde was cut off as Kotetsu held his hands up.

"Dude, I have told you before, never recite laws in front of me, they make me nauseous," he said as his partner rolled his eyes before looking at Naruto with a little admiration in his eyes.

"I don't even know how you remember things that you read in a book all those years ago, and word for word too, unbelievable." Izumo was probably the less carefree of the two and actually cared about his career unlike his friend and partner, Kotetsu, and they both knew Naruto well enough because they were the ones that tested Naruto a few years back under the orders of the Hokage himself to see whether he was a capable fighter that could hold his own against an enemy. The kid, as they called him back then, had passed with flying colors and knocked both the chuunins out in less than ten minutes. Though they should have been embarrassed that a ten year old had bested them, the duo had waved it off as a fact that he was the apprentice of the Sandaime himself; it was what should have happened. "Hey what are you laughing about?" he asked suddenly as he saw the blonde trying to hide his amusement by trying to keep a straight face but failing miserably.

"T-that he is afraid of…of," the blonde howled with laughter once more as he pointed at Kotetsu, before taking deep breaths to abate his amusement. "That you are afraid of Anko-chan," he finished before snickering again.

"WHAT? What is there to not be scared of her, you tell me. Not only does she always smile at you like she is about to kill you, but on top of that her weird attitude about certain things and her crazy aura should scare the heck out of you. But, Naruto, you play around with her like you two are having the time of your lives, and most of the jokes that you two keep making at each other don't even make sense!" huffed out the brown haired man as he looked at Naruto like the guy was nuts.

"Well for starters if you knew her as well as I do, you would easily be able to tell that even though she has a tough attitude, she is a big softie inside, and the fact that she is like me, an outcast, helps me relate with her just that easily," clarified the twelve year old, making the two chuunins look away from him guiltily. Even though the two chuunins never held any ill-will towards the jinchuuriki of Konoha, they were not exactly the nicest to him. In fact, much like other civilians, they used to blatantly ignore him before they actually came to know him better personally, and were some of the few people with a rank of Chuunin that knew his status as the apprentice of the Hokage. If all was considered, Naruto would probably consider them among the few friends that he had.

"Hey Naruto, is that you?" a feminine voice reached the stand and Naruto turned around to see the jogging form of Sakura, she also happened to have quite a heavy bag on her shoulders. Naruto also waved until he got elbowed in the stomach by Kotetsu.

"Hey, what was that—" again he was cut off as Izumo whispered to him.

"Who is the lady friend dude?" he asked as he wiggled his eyebrows and a suggestive smirk spread on his face.

"Guys, she is my teammate, remember I told you, I got in Team Seven?" said Naruto as he made a face at Izumo, sometimes he never understood why they made fun of people that actually had girlfriends or were in relationships. Shouldn't the joke be on them that they couldn't find someone to love them like the others who did?

"Well does she like you?" asked Kotetsu as a sly smirk started to form on his face.

"No, she likes someone else," replied the blonde just as he felt the chakra signature of Sasuke landing somewhere behind him.

"Let me guess," Izumo began as he seemed to be looking at someone else. "That guy has black hair, black eyes, and usually wears a dark blue t-shirt, and white shorts?"

"Yup, the one and only Uchiha Sasuke," replied the young jinchuuriki in a bored tone.

"Hey, I had heard that the guy was mentally unstable, how did he get allowed into the shinobi program at all?" wondered Kotetsu, loud enough for only Naruto and Izumo to hear, but low enough that nobody farther away could.

"Hmm, don't know," muttered Izumo with a shrug, and even Naruto did not know the answer to that.

"Well where is your mission at Naruto?" asked the bandanna wearing man.

"In Wave country, have you been there before?" this time it was Naruto's pink haired teammate that answered the question. "Hello, my name is Sakura Haruno by the way," she introduced herself, as she extended her hand towards the chuunin guards.

"Ahh, Sakura-san, my name is Izumo," replied the man as he took the younger girl's hand and gave it a quick shake.

"And mine is Kotetsu," responded the other one once he had shook her hand too. "I don't really know much about the Wave though, never really been there before. But, there are some things that I know about the small country."

"Any information would be helpful, Kotetsu-san," said Sakura with a hopeful smile, and even Naruto nodded, there were very few things that he had read about Wave country in the books he was given by Jiji, they were mostly about Fire Country, and the Hidden Leaf's history.

"Well, I know that they really have very little economy to talk about unless the fish trading companies, but almost all of them are owned by Gatou Corporation. As you must already know, Gatou mostly deals with exportation through water routes, so Wave makes a perfect candidate for them because they have no inland route to other countries, though if you ask me, their government should have taken major steps to build bridges connecting to the elemental nations, at least that way, the commoners, and peasants would have a way of selling their wares without having to have them go through Gatou's checks. That man is a quality class seller, anything he exports are of the best quality, and as a result only the wealthiest of people can buy wares that are coming from his company. The only candidates I can think of are extremely high level shinobis, the Daimyos, and other men of very wealthy businesses and jobs. Well, if I really had to say anything at all, Gatou Company is the only one that is holding Wave up, without them, Wave would have collapsed into total poverty a long time ago," Kotetsu stopped talking a little bit before continuing. "So is this your first C-Ranked mission?"

"Yeah," replied Naruto, a little too nonchalantly for his female comrade's liking.

"Are you not worried Naruto?" she asked in an apprehensive voice, it was not unheard of that genins were severely injured in these missions, though only rarely.

"Eh, not really Sakura-chan, we have Kakashi-sensei with us, remember?" he said as he gave a wide grin to which the green eyed girl could only shake her head. It seemed there was nothing that could make her blonde friend afraid or nervous, but then again, that was what she liked about him; he was like this unshakable pillar of brightness that no amount of darkness could subdue.

"So Naruto where is your stuff?" asked Sakura, as she noticed he had no backpack with him.

"Well, I have all the things I need right here," replied the jinchuuriki as he pulled out a small pocket-scroll for Sakura to see.

"B-but that can only hold like a few kunais and that's it, it cannot hold your clothes and other things that you might need," said the pink haired girl a little distressed.

"But, that is on the regular scrolls, you see, I modified the storage seal on this one, so now it can hold a lot more," responded the blonde as he gave a self satisfying grin to his comrade, though it looked like she didn't buy his statement at all.

"Eh? How can you do that?" asked the Haruno with new interest in her tone. That could save her a lot of trouble in the future.

"Uh…simple fuuinjutsu?" he said confused as to how anybody can not know that, but now that he thought about it, even Sasuke was carrying a backpack with him.

"Fuuinjutsu? Like the old sealing arts?" asked Sakura again, the more she learned about her new teammate, the more of an enigma he became.

"Yeah, I learned that from my Jiji when I was very little, and it is very useful," said the blonde to her a little proudly, though she could understand why, it is rumored that learning Fuuinjutsu is not only time consuming, but one has to have an astute understanding of how the physical world works to understand how the seals fundamental functionalities.

"That is very impressive," she muttered, not loud enough for Naruto to hear, but still that was an accomplishment that she knew none of her other classmates could boast of.

"Ne Sakura-chan, why is you backpack so big?" asked Naruto, genuinely surprised that she was carrying a full sized travel bag, but ninjas when going on missions were only supposed to take the bare minimum required, not pack like a tourist. Yet his views were not shared by his comrade as a vein appeared on her forehead and she began to leak killing intent without even knowing that she was.

"What do you mean?" she almost growled, but Naruto could already tell that arguing with her could result in him ending up at the hospital.

"N-nothing at all, just curious Sakura-chan, just curious," he replied frantically before giving one of his trademark grins, and that seemed to calm her down a little bit, making the blonde give a sigh of relief. Man, Sakura-chan could be scary sometimes!

"Well Naruto what are you wearing?" she asked as she seemed to notice his clothing for the second time today and had to agree that he looked very…handsome. The dark orange tight fitting leather jacket, that ended just at his waistband, along with a black t-shirt, and off white pants, tucked into what appeared to be heavy leather boots made him look very dapper, and since he was tall, he pulled it off quite well.

"Oh do you like it?" he asked in a genuinely pleased voice. "See this jacket was given to me by Aunty on my birthday, and these boots were given to me by Jiji. My…friend Ko got me this shirt, he says I look good in black even though orange is my favorite color." Sakura nearly giggled when he said his favorite color was orange, but she smiled nonetheless, it was almost miraculous how his eyes lit up when he thought she liked his clothes, like an oceanic blue light-bulb. And the way he smiled, she could not understand it, but somehow it made everything brighter. She did not know Naruto Uzumaki that well, but she knew one thing. She could trust him with all her heart.

"Yes, I really like that jacket, but why do you always have wear orange? I mean sure it is your favorite color and all but it is also a very visible color, don't you think as a ninja you should wear a more…subdued colors?" asked the girl who wore anything but pink and red, but the blue eyed boy knew better than to point it out to her in that fashion so he took a different route as he explained his reasons for wearing orange.

"Well…um you see Sakura-chan it's like how you always have a little of red or pink on your clothes, or how Ino-chan has purple, or Shikamaru has green," said Naruto, and Sakura could not argue, they always did have the aforementioned colors on them all the time, even Sakura's own clothes were mostly varying shades of red, pink, or a combination of both.

"Hmm, I guess you are right," muttered the kunoichi until her other teammate landed next to her making her jump, startled.

"Good morning to you too," said Naruto in irritation, not fazed, neither amused by his theatrics, as he patted Sakura's back to calm her down.

The Uchiha just gave a derisive snort towards the Haruno before inclining his head towards the road. The blonde jinchuuriki turned to see Kakashi-sensei, along with their client heading their way, and even Sakura straightened up, she still had not forgotten the insult that the old man had landed on her so blatantly less than an hour ago. It seemed that the bridge-builder was little more sober as he strolled up the street towards the exit of Konoha, and was speaking to Kakashi, when his eyes landed on the trio of genin and he stopped speaking as he ran his eyes critically over the young genins that were now charged with his protection, against the vilest, wealthiest, and possibly the most powerful man he had ever known in his life!

"Hmm, Kakashi, you never answered my previous question before," he grumbled his eyes still affixed on the smaller forms of genins in front of him.

"And what question was that?" asked Kakashi, still not catching on to the older man's frame of thought, as he was too busy trying to discern how in the world will the kunoichi in their group keep pace with them with that extravagantly large backpack of hers?

"That why do I get a bunch of brats for my money?" he said, the anger and desperation in his voice was audible to the trained ear, but to a certain Kunoichi, it was just another insult aimed at her. Sakura, however, had calmed down in the last hour enough to understand that their client had obviously never hired shinobis before, and as a result did not know what they were and were not capable of, and it was not completely unheard of that newly promoted genin teams getting C-ranked missions. After all she knew that Gai's team had done more than a few C-ranked missions over their time serving Konoha as genins, and as far as Tenten's words were anything to go by, genins are more than qualified to handle the hurdles that these missions seemed to pose. Taking long breaths, that was taught to her by her sensei not too long ago during the meditating sessions that he had them run through, she quickly calmed herself and decided to take the insult in stride and show the old man exactly what she was capable of when the time came.

"Tazuna-san, I would be careful of what I am saying," said Kakashi, in an uncharacteristically serious voice as he looked at the glasses wearing man from Wave dead in the eyes. "These 'brats' as you call them have been trained in the arts of taking lives from others since they were just able to walk, and it comes to them just as naturally. And if you are still doubting them, then do not because I am also going there with them, and I am Jounin of the Hidden Leaf, one of the strongest and most revered shinobi villages in all the elemental nations, known well for their supremely powerful military forces, forces consisting of shinobis such as them and me." Tazuna gulped visible before taking an involuntary step back from the man he assumed to be a laid back and easy going Jounin until now.

"Well, shall we get going then?" asked the orange wearing genin breaking into the building tension between his sensei and his client, something that could lead to very unwanted consequences if taken too far.

"Yes, let's get going," responded the mask wearing shinobi, almost comically back in character as he gave them eye-smile, that his students had come to understand as a gesture of amusement, before leading the small group out of Konohagakure.

SOMETIME LATER ON THE ROAD TO THE DOCKS OF FIRE COUNTRY

At first only Kakashi noticed it, but soon enough Naruto also saw the puddle of water on the ground a few feet ahead of the group. "Really, of all the things they could choose to make a genjutsu of, they come up with a puddle of water in a place that had seen no amount moisture for quite some time?" wondered the blonde, before shaking his head slightly. The Jounin in the group was quick to act as he slowed down enough to let his genins overtake him, placing Tazuna squarely behind Sasuke and Sakura, while placing Naruto right behind the man, and had himself bringing up the rear. Every genin noticed the odd maneuver of their sensei but refrained from mentioning it. Naruto turned and gave Kakashi a meaningful questioning look, and when the masked shinobi returned his question with a curt nod, his suspicions were confirmed. Sasuke frowned, even he had noticed the climate around the place, the cracked earth, the dry temperature, and this definitely was not a place for a puddle of water. Subtly he pulled out a kunai and hid his hand in his pocket before anyone noticed it.

Sakura was really enjoying watching the scenery around her, and for once it was a change of sights for her to not only see tall towering trees everywhere, but various kinds of smaller plants as well. Both sides if their road was covered with shrubs, tall grasses and plants, in fact there were very few trees like the ones that surrounded Konoha, and that also explained the high levels of dryness this place seemed to suffer. Yet, she did not think the puddle of water to be out of place for it could be some other fluid, left by wild animals that no doubt inhabited this place. As Naruto passed the puddle, he clearly sensed the chakra signatures inside, yep these two were amateurs at best, not even able to suppress their signatures enough and trying to assassinate a group that consisted of a Jounin of S-ranking notoriety like 'Kakashi of the Sharingan'. The silver haired man, on the other hand, formed a seal discreetly as he passed the puddle, he could almost smell the intentions of the rogues under the genjutsu, and true to his intuition, the pair attacked as soon as he passed the puddle.

"KYAAA!" screamed Sakura as she saw two masked nins wrap her sensei in a razor sharp chain, that was connected to the oddly shaped claw-like gadgets that both the rogues were wearing on one hand each. The chain connected them to each other because it was attached to each of the gauntlets.

"One down!" shouted one of them before both of them jumped in the opposite directions, and the pull of the chain cut the masked man in three distinctive pieces, blood splattered everywhere and a deathly silence descended on the clearing.

"Hey, where did that blonde punk disappear to?" asked a masked brother as the other observed the area carefully before shrugging.

"Probably ran off, too scared to do anything," he responded before his eyes locked onto the man that was their target. "Get that old man!" he shouted before rushing towards Tazuna. Sasuke and Sakura got into action instantly as Sasuke pulled out a kunai and countered the chain that was speeding towards his client. Sakura got in front of Tazuna with a kunai ready in hand and a determined expression on her face. This was the client that her sensei just gave his life to save, no matter what her personal opinion of the man was; she was going to see to it that no harm came to him as long as she was alive.

"Which is probably not much longer," muttered the terrified kunoichi to herself as she saw one of the rogues grab Sasuke by the high collar of his shirt and fling him off, where he landed with a loud thud. The kunoichi saw her teammate rising, but then her attention shifted towards her opponents, and they were already moving towards her much too fast for Sasuke to reach them in time. Steeling her resolve, she stood her ground as her foes approached, her lips pressed in a thin line as she saw them throeing the chain at her once more.

CLANG!

The pink clad Kunoichi's eyes widened (if that was possible) even more, as her orange loving friend landed in front of her, his crouched form was enough to fill her with hope of survival. Naruto ceased the flow of wind natured chakra into his kunai as he saw his intended purpose was accomplished. The chain now lay in three separated pieces on the ground, and his opponents stared at the blonde with stunned look on their faces, though the masks they were wearing hid that from view. The Demon Brothers exchanged looks with each other, there, stood a simple genin from Konoha, yet he had been able to destroy the weapon that they were most proficient with, in one single swing of a kunai.

"Hey Gozu, he is just one little boy," hissed one of them to the other. "Let's take him out!"

"Sasuke, you ready?" asked Naruto as he sensed his teammate coming to stand next to him.

"As always dope," he muttered, though there was no sarcasm in his voice at the moment.

"The let's finish them," the blonde uttered, matter-of-factly before both the genins were upon their opponents. Sasuke attacked in a flurry of tai-jutsu and weapon adhesive combinations that his opponent could barely follow, much less react appropriately to defend himself in any manner. Gashes appeared along his body, yet there was little he could do as his opponent's relentless onslaught continued before he got a double footed kick right to his, sending him sliding on the ground, where he stopped knocked out cold. Naruto, on the other hand, attacked his opponent with the combination of Monkey Fist and Toad Katas, and there was very little that his opponent could do to defend himself against a specialist such as Naruto but to wither his freakishly strong attacks. In a few seconds he landed on his knees, before falling face-first on the dirt, consciousness flown from him moments ago.

The raven haired genin turned to see his teammate looking around the forest as if expecting to see someone coming out, though he could guess what the blonde was looking for. Kakashi had gotten out of the attack with a replacement technique, but had cast a simple genjutsu over the log to keep the amateur rogues under the impression that he was indeed dead. The whipped around as soon as they heard a sob come from their last teammate only to smile at the sight, well for Sasuke it was the way he smirked but still gave it off as a not-derisive, sarcasm less smirk, while a small grin touched Naruto's features. There was Kakashi as he was on his knees patting Sakura's head, while the genin nodded as tears streamed down her face. Finally after a few minutes Sakura had calmed down and regained her composure enough that the boys also joined the group as their sensei gave them both an approving look. "Very impressive Naruto, Sasuke. You two handled the situation quite well, and both of you are finally getting the hang of teamwork. Good job," he said to which Sasuke just looked away but Naruto's smile turned into a frown as he looked over to see the old man.

"I think you have a few questions to answer," he said as he looked at his client's eyes directly.

"Yes, I believe so too." Kakashi supplied as he came to stand behind his student in a supporting manner. "Our mission was a C-Ranked, in other words we were to protect you from street thieves and bandits at most. But you have shinobis after you that alone make it at least a B-Ranked mission. This was simply and escort and protection mission until you completed the bridge, but this requires the expertise of shinobis that are above the rank of genin, and as a result also requires more money. I am sure you had a reason for lying, but whatever it is, we are now operating outside the boundaries of our duties." With every word the silver haired man said, the more and more Tazuna realized his fault in all this, along with the guilty feeling that because of him, three kids' lives had been put on risk. That was not something that he could live with in his conscience, especially when he had a grand-child himself.

"Then we are not ready for this mission," quipped in Sasuke, he also knew that if something of this sort occurred in the field, the ninja had full rights to deny their client services and return to the protection of the village. "Let's return, we will need medicine for Sakura's and my wounds; we should go back to Konoha and take her to a doctor."

"Hmm," thought Kakashi, as he put his index finger to his chin. "This might be too much, but…" before Kakashi could continue, it was Sakura that spoke up.

"No," the kunoichi almost shouted, before calming down once more to speak. "I will protect the bridge builder. We are continuing this mission!" said the pink haired girl with determination that none of them could deny, before pulling out a kunai and neatly slicing the skin just above her cut.

"Uhh…Sakura what are you doing?" asked the Kunoichi's sensei as he realized that she was letting the blood flow out of her body for no reason.

"I am…just making sure that…I have no poison in my system from where their chain cut my arm," responded Sakura before putting her hand over the cut to staunch the flow of blood.

"Oh, good observation! Sasuke you should also do the same just in case," Kakashi said as Naruto knelt in front of Sakura and pulled out a scroll.

"My leg was wounded because I landed on the stones over there, I did not get cut by their chain," Sasuke said, as stoically as usual but he did pull out a small first aid box from his bag and wrapped his wound in bandages. On the other hand, Naruto pulled out a rather large first aid box from his scroll and started to thoroughly clean and then wrap Sakura's hand in clean white bandages. Once all that was done he put the box back on the scroll and sealed it with a single seal, before putting it back in his pocket.

"Thanks Naruto," said the kunoichi with a little smile as her blonde friend stood up.

"No problem, Sakura-chan," he said as a usual grin came to his face. "Though what you did there was pretty brave." Naruto stopped talking but his admiration for his fellow teammate and friend grew because he remembered his Jiji's words very clearly. "When someone is in dire need, one must never turn their back on the human, for our emotions and attachments to others is what make us humans different from wild animals, that live by instinct and only for themselves." She gave him another grateful smile in response but said nothing as she too stood up, though the effort in doing so was clearly visible on her face. "Are you alright?" asked the blonde immediately as he saw his teammate stumble a little bit, though no-one other than him was with her.

"I-I am fine Naruto," she said with a sigh, though she was feeling a little cold.

"If you have made up your mind, let us keep moving, it will get darker in a few hours, so unless we hurry we will not reach there by tonight," called Kakashi. Naruto nodded, before picking up Sakura's back-pack, much to the Kunoichi's surprise, before hurrying after his sensei while slinging it up over his shoulder. They reached a small dock near the borders of Fire Country soon enough and quickly boarded a small boat as the man started canoeing them towards Wave Country. As the boat started gliding, Tazuna beckoned Kakashi to get to the back of the boat where the two could talk out of the genins' earshot, well out of earshot for two of them since a certain blonde could easily hear them due to his heightened senses. The Jounin complied with a nod, before getting up from his place and joining Tazuna at the back. "Will you tell me what is actually going on in Wave now?"

"Yes, I know what I did was wrong, but you four have decided to help me out so I will let you know the whole truth about what you are getting into before it is too late. If you decide to go back after hearing this, then I will not stop you," the bridge builder paused, but when Kakashi prompted him to continue, he did. "As you already know, Gatou Corporation is the only thing that is holding our economy from sinking but there is a catch behind this. That man, Gatou, is actually the reason why Wave's economy is in such a bad position right now."

"Wait a second, Gatou is helping Wave, how is it that he is the reason Wave is in poverty? I thought that was your government's fault," said Kakashi, after all he knew a little about the country, they were under the jurisdiction of Fire Country now that made Konoha responsible for any shinobi related business that Wave might have.

"Gatou is only showing that he and his corporation is trying to help our country, while in reality all it is doing is stifling our economy, and controlling our people through fear and an iron rule of tyranny. I and the people from my village are the only ones that are standing in his way because we are actually trying to oppose him by building a bridge to the largest trading post in one of Fire Country's biggest shipping points. That way, not only will we have free reign to export our products, but we do not have to go through Gatou's extremely high standards of quality, and our goods will be cheaper, but will not be the worst that is available. Once our people have established a name for themselves and this country, we can capitalize on profits and eventually our economy will become stable and our country will flourish and rise out of poverty, but that is only possible if we can oppose Gatou long enough to finish the bridge that we are building. But Gatou already knows, and he sent those hired Shinobis to take my life, and let me assure you, he has even more dangerous ones under his command, that he will no doubt send once we reach Wave. But as of now, you are our only hope." The bridge builder fell silent as he let the Jounin mull over what he had said before he scratched his head.

Kakashi knew that he himself, and if need be, Naruto was more than capable of most that Gatou could throw at them, but that was nowhere near the truth when Sasuke or Sakura was considered. While they were at Wave, he would need to vamp their training up so that they could at least stand a chance against Chuunins, Sasuke could already go toe to toe with most of them, and with a little more he would be more than a match for a few, but Sakura would need extensive and intense course before she could catch up. And Naruto…well for now he would leave the blonde to train by himself as he wished because skill-wise the boy was nearly on par with Kakashi himself. "Tazuna-san, for now we will stick around and do as much as we can but remember, we are going against protocol to help you and your country but if something happens to us, especially that black haired boy, you will have to answer to Konoha, and I can assure that it will not be pleasant. Let me ask you this one more time, are you still willing to accept our help?" The bridge builder's eyes sparkled as he heard the Jounin's decision. Naruto was pleased as he heard his sensei's decision but the thoughts of his vulnerable teammates made him more than a little apprehensive to follow through with the plan.

"I think you already know the answer to that," he said as the mists cleared a bit, and the massive structure of an unfinished bridge came into their view.

"Whoa," said Sakura in awe as she looked at the looming view of the rather large island come into view. "Is that Wave?" she asked in a hushed voice as she turned towards the back of the boat where the bridge builder and her sensei stood. Tazuna nodded, as the boat came to a stop at the pretty much deserted dock near the unfinished bridge.

"So how far is the village?" asked Naruto after they got off the boat and started making their way towards Tazuna's house where they will be staying while they protect him as he worked on the bridge.

"Only a couple hours' walk," he said and got silent nods before they set off once more, this time the group was far more silent than when they started.

"Everybody, be alert and pay attention to your surroundings, we might get attacked once more," Kakashi declared before continuing his thought process silently. "If they attack us again, this time it will be Jounin level shinobis, of that I am sure." The silver haired Jounin's thoughts were interrupted as Naruto tugged at his sleeve. "What is it?"

"Do you see that rabbit hiding in the bushes?" whispered the blonde confusing his sensei a bit before he looked around and noticed a white rabbit nibbling on grass behind a hay bush.

"Yeah I see it why?"

"What season is it now?" Now that Naruto brought it up did it hit Kakashi, those specific rabbits change color depending on the season, in spring they are grayish while in the winter they are usually snow white. This rabbit was most likely caged up, only to be used by shinobis for special purposes, but mostly these kinds of animals were only used for replacement techniques.

"Replacement?" asked the Jounin with a raised eyebrow.

"Most likely," responded the genin.

"Do you sense anything?"

"No, but if he or she is a Jounin, I am sure they are suppressing it," Naruto said and Kakashi could only nod.

"And doing a darn good job of it too," thought the Sharingan bearer, with a grimace.

"It is no wonder that the Demon Brothers failed," muttered a mask wearing voice as the group of Konoha shinobis along with the old bridge builder passed under the tree where this man was hiding. "Against Kakashi, Gozu and Mizu stood no chance." He slowly drew his sword, time to make his grand entrance.

"There," Kakashi noticed the movement in the tree. "Everyone get down!" he shouted as he almost felt the large spinning shape that came towards them before he saw it. Naruto frowned as he saw it coming before he realized that it was not an overly big shuriken, for that matter it was not a weapon meant for throwing at all. He quickly stood up, and at the right moment extended his hand before snatching it out of the air, as if that big of a weapon weighed nothing more than a wooden stick to him. As soon as he got a good look at the sword in his hands his eyes widened before his face darkened with worry.

"Eep!" Sakura nearly shrieked as she saw the size of the Zanbatou that Naruto was now holding, they way it was thrown was meant to cleave someone in two. Whoever was using it is out here to kill.

"This is Kubiriki Bocho," he said without hesitation as he looked up directly towards the masked Jounin's only visible eye.

"Zabuza Momochi?"

"Who else do you know that even owns a sword like this?" asked Naruto.

Zabuza almost sweat dropped as he was about to use the replacement technique with that rabbit to land exactly on top of the sword as it buried itself onto a tree, but that damn blonde just plucked it off without any problem. Who the hell was this kid?

"You can come out now Zabuza," Kakashi called as he looked at the tree where the former Mist assassin was hiding. Without any hesitation, it seemed, a man with no upper body clothing jumped down from a tree not too far from them. He was wearing a Mist head band that was put on lopsided intentionally. He also had wrappings around most of his face; the only parts that were not covered were his eyes. It was not a surprise that the man was heavily built and very well muscled, considering the sword that he wielded, and wore camouflaged arm warmers and regular dull colored pants with the same leg warmers that finally ended in shinobi sandals.

"Everyone get back," said Kakashi, the warning tone evident in his voice as he took a step towards his opponent who was scrutinizing them silently. "This one is on a whole different level," he said as he pulled his hitai-ate up revealing his Sharingan, which immediately put the last member of the Uchiha clan on edge.

"How did he come to possess the Sharingan?" wondered Sasuke, the man was clearly a Hatake, and no Uchiha had only one Sharingan eye. "Maybe it was transplanted, but now is not the time for such questions." Filing that away for a later time, Sasuke opted to watch the movements of the Nin that had clearly put not only Naruto but Kakashi on the offensive as well. This was the real deal.

"You three," the Jounin of Konoha said as he was clearly indicating his students. "Protect Tazuna-san with your life that is you mission; do not let him get near the bridge builder."

"You must be Kakashi of the Sharingan," came a gravelly voice, nobody needed to see to know that it belonged to Zabuza. "Sorry but…that old man is mine."

"Zabuza…first you will fight me."

"Ah, I already get to see the famous Sharingan? I feel honored," the former Swordsman of the Mist said sarcastically as the skin around his eyes crinkled, he was smiling.

"When I was a member of the Mist's top Assassination squad, I got the Bingo book that had information on you. The man who has copied over a thousand techniques, the Copy Ninja Kakashi."

"Wow," thought Sakura as she looked at her sensei with new eyes. "I never knew Kakashi Sensei was such an amazing Shinobi, maybe I should be more respectful to him while we are doing training exercises."

"Well, let's end all this useless talk, I have to kill that old man," he said as he got into a fighting stance. He quickly formed a seal and replaced himself with that rabbit, before landing perfectly on top of the water across the road from them. As soon as he landed he went through another small set of seals before his chakra spiked. "Hidden Mist technique." A heavy fog rolled in, covering almost everything and limiting vision to only about a foot in front of the person's eyes, but more importantly, Zabuza was not where he was standing just moments ago, he had used the fog to disappear and cover himself with the surrounds very cleverly.

"Well, at least I know he will be coming after me first," thought Kakashi before remembering what was known about his opponent in the Bingo book. "Momochi Zabuza, as a member of the Hidden Mist Assassination Squad, he is known as an expert in the art of silent killing." No one even notice his presence before they are dead, and the Sharingan does not help pierce this fog. I hope they are careful and alert like I asked them to. "And this mist is only getting thicker."

"Eight choices," suddenly Zabuza's voice echoed around them from everywhere.

"What?" muttered Sakura a little confused.

"Lungs, Liver, Spine, Clavicle, Neck, Brain, Kidneys, or…the Heart. Hmm, which should I go after?" Just as he stopped speaking, an overwhelming amount of killer intent flooded the area; much too potent an amount for any genin to counter, and Sakura nearly swooned while Sasuke, it seemed completely froze up. His eyes widened as he felt the amount of killing intent go even higher, making his whole body vibrate with the thrum of the chakra in the air.

"W-What an incredible amount of chakra, it feels as if I will die if I even make the slightest mistake. This is driving me crazy…the killing intensity of a Jounin level shinobi; it is as if the life is being squeezed out of me. Damn it, I can't take it anymore, I'd rather die and get it over with…" Sasuke's line of thoughts ceased abruptly as he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey," said Naruto in a serious voice as his blue eyes met the obsidian black of Sasuke's. "You see our sensei there? Have some faith in him."

"Yes Sasuke," said Kakashi, snapping the young Uchiha's attention towards his Jounin sensei. "I will protect you guys, even if I have to put my life on the line to do so. I do not let my comrades die." Kakashi gave Sasuke one of his genuine smiles, now that the masked was not covering more than half his face; it actually looked pretty well on him.

"We'll see about that!" echoed Zabuza's voice before he landed smack in the middle of the genins that were trying to protect Tazuna. "It's over," he shouted as Naruto felt the sword being jerked out of his hand, but the blonde was already on the move. He pushed Tazuna on the shoulder as hard as he could, sending him tumbling away from the assassin before grabbing Sakura around the stomach and jumping away from his foe, putting more than a little distance between himself and the sword wielding rogue. He saw Sasuke had moved out of Zabuza's range as well, on the opposite side. But suddenly the Zabuza did something completely unexpected. He drew back he arm before throwing the sword as powerfully as he could in to the mist where it quickly disappeared from view.

"What in the world?" muttered Kakashi, he was there stabbing the man with a kunai until he suddenly realized what happened. The clone burst into water. A Water clone, so now the real Zabuza has his sword back.

"Sensei, behind you!' Sakura shouted as she saw the rogue appear behind her teacher, ready to chop him in half, and before Kakashi could react that's exactly what happened. Sakura looked on in horror filled eyes as he was cut in half, before he too burst into water.

"A water-clone? Don't tell me he was able to copy my technique even through this mist?" thought Zabuza as his eyes grew wide when he realized his own technique and tactic were used against him.

"Don't move," said the copy ninja Kakashi coldly as he held a kunai to the rogue ninja's throat and pressed a little bit drawing blood just to emphasize that he was going to kill the Mist Assassin if he made the wrong move. "It's over."

"Yatta, go Kakashi-sensei!" cheered Sakura, that was until she heard Zabuza chuckling humorlessly and stopped a little confused.

"Hehe, you think it's over?" he asked, his voice was deadly serious. "You don't get it do you, there is no way you can beat me just by copying my own techniques. I am impressed though, when you talked with your student there, you had already replaced yourself with that clone, while you watched me from within the mist. But…I am not that easy to fool either," this time the voice came from behind Kakashi and the Zabuza in front of him burst into water. "Now you die," Zabuza said as he expertly brought his sword in a wide arc, but Kakashi was quicker, as he ducked under the blow, but Zabuza probably saw that coming as he gave Kakashi a powerful kick, sending him sliding against the grass and into the water where he went under with a loud splash.

"Sensei!" Sakura shouted as she saw her teacher getting knocked down into the river.

"His taijutsu is also very impressive," thought Naruto though he knew that he would outclass the assassin in that department, but the rogue definitely outdid him on the water affinity techniques. Kakashi came out with a splash though he looked like he was struggling.

"This water, it feels unnaturally dense," thought Kakashi before his eyes widened. "Of course, Zabuza's element was water; he had infused his chakra in this water too, damn!" Kakashi's evaluation ended just a tad-bit slower than his opponent who appeared behind him with an almost gleeful grin on his face.

"Hah, fool! Water Prison Technique!" Kakashi was suddenly encased in a perfectly spherical ball made of water.

"Damn it, how could I let this happen?" thought Kakashi in frustration as he saw Sakura, who looked just about ready to break down in tears, and even Sasuke looked uncertain as to what he should do. Tazuna looked like he was going to pick flowers for a brave hero's death and Naruto…where did he go? Before he could look farther, Zabuza started speaking once more.

"You may have been trying to escape to the water, but that was a big mistake. Water is my favored element Kakashi, and now I have you in one of my special Mizu techniques, the inescapable prison of water. You know in here you can hardly move, and the density of this prison is so high that using chakra is nearly not an option, but you are welcome to give it a try. Sit tight, I will take care of you later, first I have to take care of your kids and then the old man. Water clone technique!" A clone rose out of the water, before walking towards the genins ominously.

"Wearing forehead protectors and acting like ninjas…you kids have not even faced your first kill. You know what? A real ninja is someone who had played many games of tag with death. In other words, you are only a ninja to me if you are good enough to be listed in my bingo book." He locked his eyes with the pink haired girl; he supposed that would be the easiest target out of the three. "You little punks should not be even referred to as ninjas," spat Zabuza in a disgusted manner before looking back at the girl, who looked like she was just about ready to have a nervous breakdown. Oh well, too bad for her. He charged, blurring into action as he sped towards the genin, aiming a kick that had taken the head off many well built men, how much of a resistance could a little girl pose?

THWACK

What happened was actually not surprising, though; the effect had Zabuza more than a little disturbed. Instead of having a dead genin in front of him, he had a very pissed off one, and for his credit, he had taken a direct hit from the Mist assassin and hardly showed any sign that it had affected him other than sliding back a few feet. "That was brave of you kid, trying to protect your teammate and all," said the water clone of Zabuza in an amused voice as he paced in front of the blonde genin. "But remember this boy, heroes only end up dead," he sneered as he pulled that massive zanbatou off his back. "And you, you are not even a ninja…" before he could continue, the blonde charged at him once more, not only surprising the clone, but his teammates as well as his sensei.

"Naruto!" screamed Sakura as soon as she saw her friend charging towards this dangerous ninja without any forethought of what might happen to him. Though she did not realize it yet, she had come to care for her teammate and friend a great deal in the short amount of time that she had known him, and his constant habit of putting himself in danger for his friends' sake only made him that much more…endearing?

Even if the assassin was caught off guard, his reflexes were toned to their highest capabilities and another kick sent the blonde sliding back once more. "Hey, you eyebrow less freak, put this in your bingo book," the young jinchuuriki said hoarsely as he put back the headband that Zabuza had knocked off his forehead the first time he had kicked the blonde. "The man that will one day become the Hokage of Konohagakure," a grin stretched on his face as he lifted his head and his sparkly eyes met the black pupils of Zabuza and he pulled the final knot on his forehead protector. "Uzumaki Naruto!" with this, his hands blurred as he ran through hand seals at the speed that even surprised the missing Nin, and before the clone could even react, it was cut in half, and to Zabuza it did not even look like the kid had put any effort in doing so.

Hey guys, sorry for the week late update, but if it is any consolation (I doubt it is) I was in Vegas for about six day. So anyway, finally Naruto is in Wave, and he is about to take on Zabuza! Yea, good stuff. As always ideas and opinions from readers are always welcome and if you would like to discuss the story in farther detail, just send me a quick P.M. Loved the reviews I got, so please keep them coming. Poll about Zabuza's sword still stands, though soon it will not. And please, please, please don't forget to review.

Thanks,

Tanneal.