Author's Note: Here is the next chapter. Hope you guys like it. I apologize for the long wait. Things have been hectic in personal life, and I haven't had much moxxy for writing lately.

Chapter 11: A Reason To Fight

Naruto met with the rest of his squad at the main gate. Tazuna hadn't arrived yet, but the group didn't have to wait very long for him. He had affirmed himself with a simple traveling pack and he had ditched the bottle for the time being. He took a deep breath and purposely strode out of the village without a backwards glance, squad 7 closely in tow.

It didn't take long for the group to enter the forest that surrounded the village and they made good time through the green canopy. It was a hot and dry day, and Naruto wasn't the only one wishing for a little bit of rain to bring some much needed moisture to the land.

As they were walking, Naruto noticed something odd. He knew that it hadn't rained in many days, but right off to the side of the road, before the tree line, there was a rather large puddle. Naruto looked at Kakashi, intending to say something, but the silver haired jonin almost imperceptibly shook his head, and Naruto kept his mouth shut.

All of a sudden, there was a loud rustling in the forest off to their right. Naruto's senses went on high alert, and he pinned where the sound was coming from and sent some shuriken into the brush. Immediately, the rustling stopped and Naruto wasted no time in investigating.

When Naruto reached the area, he found a white bunny there and shook his head. As he turned towards Kakashi to let him know that it was a false alarm, he saw that there were two ninja standing behind Kakashi. Before Naruto could say anything the two ninja struck, catching Kakashi unaware. The chain between the two ninja sliced right through Kakashi, leaving a gorey mess.

"We're here for the bridge builder. Stand aside and you can go on your way." One of the two spoke. Without needing to say anything, the three genin surrounded Tazuna, who was as pale as a sheet. Naruto found himself directly facing the two ninja. They were robed with dark colors and a metal mask over their mouths. Their headbands showed the sigil of the Village Hidden in the Mist, but there was a deep gouge going through the center of the metal headband, marking them as rogue ninja. That meant that they were even more dangerous because they wouldn't care who they killed that got in their way.

"So be it. You've chosen death." They said and blurred towards the three. Before the pair had gone more than five feet, they were stopped by none other than Kakashi, who used their surprise to mangle the chain connecting the two.

"You've picked the wrong squad to mess with. Go back to wherever it is you came from, and we can forget this happened." Kakashi said calmly. Instead of answering the two simultaneously pressed a button on the metal gauntlets that held the chain between them and the chain fell to the ground, useless. In the chains place were wicked looking metal claws. One of the two faced off against Kakashi and the other sped towards Naruto and the others.

Naruto rushed to face the man. The two met, one with sharp metal claws and the other with a sharp kunai in hand. The broke apart and Naruto created some Shadow Clones to circle the ninja. They all attached simultaneously and the man crouched and started spinning viciously, quickly dispersing the ring of clones.

Naruto used that moment to attack himself and he managed to jab his kunai into the gut of the assailant who dropped to the gound, but in the process, he felt a tiny nick on the back of his hand. After a second, it started to burn as if a thousand fire ants were biting him simultaneously.

"Naruto, you need to open the wound. There was poison on the claws of their gauntlets, and if you don't let it drain out of your system, you will die." Kakashi said, also having finished incapacitating his opponent.

Naruto stayed still for a moment. His limbs felt frozen and he was left with one burning thought.

'Why? Why should it matter if I'm dead? People would probably be happy, so what's the point?' He thought to himself. Then, all of a sudden, a bright image burst through the dark thoughts that had gathered, whisking them away with barely a glance. It was Kiba. An image of Kiba smiling in joy, another with his face set in concentration, the triumphant look he got when he accomplished something difficult. Kiba, looking at Naruto with such adoration that it left the whiskered youth breathless. He knew then that he had something left to fight for. He wanted to keep Kiba safe and happy for as long as he possibly could. And he knew that he couldn't do that if he was six feet under.

With a determined cast to his visage, Naruto brandished a kunai and dug the point of it into the back of his hand, squeezing the skin enough to allow the blood to drop off of his hand. He let it continue until he started feeling light headed and then quickly and efficiently cut a strip of cloth and bandaged his hand. When he registered the people around him, he found that they were all starting at him.

"Well, let's get moving." Naruto said and was about to take the lead but was stopped by Kakashi.

"First things first. Tazuna, you have some explaining to do. These two ninja are well known. They are in the bingo book and go by the name of the Demon Brothers of the Mist. They are high level chunin ninja and much more advanced than what my team should be handling on a C level mission." Kakashi said while methodically tying the brothers up against a tree so that they couldn't cause any more harm.

"You and your villages... You rob people of every penny! My town couldn't even come close to affording a B rank mission. We could barely afford a C rank. I'm doing what I have to do for my family and my friends and their families. I won't apologize for that." He said with a stubborn set to his jaw.

"Regardless, you shouldn't have gone for a rank lower than the one you need. These are the types of things that can lead to people being killed senselessly." Kakashi said and Tazuna broke eye contact.

"So, what now? Are you going to abandon the mission and leave my town to rot?" Tazuna asked bitterly.

"I'll leave that up to my squad. After all, it's their lives that will be in danger as well." Kakashi said and looked at the three members of squad 7 in turn, finally resting his eye on Naruto.

"I can't speak for my teammates, but I for one think that we should finish this mission. We took it on, and it would be dishonorable if we were to abandon someone when they need us." Naruto said, surprising himself by speaking first, and both Sakura and Sasuke nodded their heads.

"I agree. A ninjas life is full of danger, and it does no good to try to run from it. We've been hired to do a job and, no matter how hard it gets, it would be a disgrace to the title of ninja to just quit." Sakura said.

"Agreed. So we continue, master bridge builder." Sasuke said. Tazuna bowed his head but he wasn't quick enough for the group to see the great emotion on his face.

"Thank you. You are the only hope we have of being happy." He said softly.

"Let me send a message to the village to let them know to collect these two. There is a bounty on them, and I think it only fair that you guys should split the reward." Kakashi said, but Sakura was shaking her head.

"I for one didn't do much. It was you and Naruto who took out those two. You should keep the money." Sakura said. Sasuke looked a bit disgruntled at that, but he didn't say anything against it. The interaction caused Naruto to shift uncomfortably. The last thing that he wanted was to become the cause of dissension within the squad for something as trivial as money.

"Well, we'll have plenty of time to discuss it. We still have a ways to go before we hit the Land of Waves. Lead on Master Tazuna." Kakashi said and the group was once more on their way.

They had no more encounters throughout the day, though that did little to settle their nerves or drop their guards. They decided to stop off at an inn alongside the road to bed down for the night around dinner time. After the group had eaten, Kakashi took all of the squad out to the back of the inn.

"As we know now, this isn't going to be a walk in the park. I don't want any unnecessary actions from any of you that would result in someone being hurt. That being said, inaction can cause just as bad, if not worse, outcomes in the end. I think it's time to show all of you a bit of chakra control. You can use chakra on the bottoms of your feet to pretty much get anywhere that you want to if you know how much to use. Too little chakra, and you simply won't 'stick' to the surface. Too much will cause you to damage the surface. I'll demonstrate walking up the side of this tree, and then I want you to use kunai to mark the highest point that you get. I don't want you to get discouraged though. It's a difficult technique to master, but one that is invaluable in terms of chakra control." Kakashi lectured and then walked to the base of a large tree. He gathered chakra to the bottoms of his feet and walked at a leisurely pace up the side of the tree.

Naruto followed, already having mastered that technique long ago with Hiruzen. Kakashi nodded his head in approval. Sakura went next and, apart from a minor scare where she started slipping from too little chakra, she made it to one of the top branches with no problem. Sasuke however took one step on the tree and as he was shifting to go to the next step, he applied too much chakra and a perfect indentation of his shoe print was permanently etched into the wood, which caused him to fall back to the ground, but not before he managed to reach up as far as he could with his kunai to mark his spot. He did a poor job of hiding his anger at being the only one who wasn't able to get it on the first try.

"It's a good start. Sakura seems to have an innate ability to control her chakra well, and Naruto has recieved special training. The fact that you were able to start getting up the tree is a good sign. Keep working at it and you will get it down in no time. Now Naruto, a word if you please." Kakashi said. Naruto was confused, but he followed his sensei regardless.

"What's up?" The blond asked. Kakashi threw a critical glance at him before focusing on the horizon, seeming to watch the sun set. He was silent for a handful of heartbeats before he seemed to gather his thoughts.

"Back there, I wasn't sure if you were going to even try to get the poison out of your system. I was worried about you. What happened?" Kakashi asked kindly. Naruto's initial reaction was to disbelieve the fact that Kakashi might have worried about him, but he instinctively knew better than that. He took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh.

"In all honestly, I almost let the poison take its course. I got to thinking about why I should save myself. Most people would be happy that I was gone, I've been a nuisance to them since day one. I don't contribute to the continued well-being of the village. But... one thing saved me. I thought about Kiba. I want to be able to protect him from as much as possible. I want to be there to see him smile again. I may be selfish for wanting something like that, but it kept me going. It gave me a purpose." Naruto said with a carefully neutral voice.

"I'm glad that you found a reason for fighting. Maybe, one day, this team can be a reason too. I may not have known you for very long, but you are an important person to me. You are my friend. You are a part of my family now." Kakashi said sincerely, clasping a hand on Naruto's shoulder. He let it linger there for a moment and then he walked off, leaving Naruto to his thoughts.

The Hokage Mansion

"I have an important mission for you. It seems that Squad 7 has run in to some trouble. They are out on a C rank mission, but they encountered the Demon Brothers of the Mist. I'm worried that there may be others who are even more dangerous than those two coming. I need you guys to get to the Land of Waves as soon as possible and give Squad 7 some reinforcements. Maybe it's just an old man being paranoid, but you don't live as long as I have as a ninja without trusting your gut." Hiruzen Sarutobi said.

"You can count on us, sir." Hinata, Shino, Kiba and Kurenai all said in tandem.

Author's Note: A short chapter after a long wait, but I have some ideas that I want to implement that will take at least one if not two chapters to come to fruition. Thank you for reading, and if you liked it, leave a review on your way out. I'll try to update a bit faster this time.