Chapter Twelve: Ambush! Adventures by the Roadside

They made their way out through the great gates of Konoha and into the forests beyond. The gates themselves were nearly fifty feet high and made of solid stone. On their backs were packs filled with the supplies and equipment they would need on the journey. Sasuke was silent, as always. Sakura wasn't talking much either.

Naruto though was overjoyed. He cheered aloud as he made his way out. 'Yeah! Alright!'

'What are you getting so excited about, Naruto?' asked Sakura.

'This is the first time I've ever left the village.' said Naruto, looking around. 'I'm a traveler now, believe it!'

'Hey!' said Tazuna. 'Am I supposed to trust my life to this runt? He's a joke.'

Kakashi laughed. 'He's with me, and I'm a jonin, so you don't have to worry.'

'Hey!' roared Naruto. 'You're the one who hired us in the first place! If you wanted top of the line jonin, you should have bought an A ranked mission! And one of these days I'm gonna be a jonin! I'm going to be Hokage!'

'Hokage are powerful and wise.' said Tazuna as they walked. 'You are puny and brainless. The day you become Hokage I'll sprout wings and fly.'

'Shut up!' said Naruto. 'I may not be ready to be a Hokage yet! But one day I'll be one!

'Good,' said Kakashi, 'you can start by not threatening the client.'


Ino was feeling guilty. Very guilty in fact. She'd seen what a horrible time of it Naruto had, and she'd used the fact to manipulate him. It hadn't started that way. She'd just been thinking about the new power she found she had. Ever since she'd gotten out of the seal, she'd felt filled with the stuff. It was addicting.

That had made her confident. She suddenly had the urge to get stronger, no matter the cost.

And she thought that maybe she could use shadow clones. And then all kinds of ideas of what she could do with them came to mind. Then when Naruto had approached her asking to come with them, she'd had her chance. All she'd had to do was promise to tell him some harmless information.

Except she'd cheated him. She hadn't told him about it. And even if she had, it wasn't a fair trade.

She'd been thinking about how to pay him back. So over the night, she'd spent her time compiling information. What she had in mind would be way better than the original deal. They'd be even, right?

Now she just had to get to him before he left Konoha.

She sprinted with all her might and found Naruto by the gate. He seemed to be quarreling with the client. 'Hey, Naruto!' she called.

Naruto looked up. 'Ino? What are you doing here?'

'Sorry, I just realized I forgot to tell you about the secret of my new technique.' said Ino. 'And it was kind of a lame secret anyway. So I made you this.'

She offered him a binder. Naruto took it. 'What is it?'

'My family is big on intelligence gathering.' said Ino. 'What I've just given you is a complete documentation of all the basic techniques which the various clans in Konoha use. With this and a little prep work you could learn how to beat anyone in our class.'

'Wow,' said Naruto, 'thanks Ino. But uh... I'm not sure I want to read all that.'

'Naruto,' said Sakura, 'how do you ever expect to improve if you don't read?'

'Hey,' said Naruto, 'I can learn by doing.'

Was he seriously going to make all her work for nothing? Time for a bit more manipulation. It was for his own good. 'Oh well,' said Ino, 'I guess I'll just give the book to Sasuke then. I'm sure he'll get some use of it-'

It was amazing how quickly Naruto snatched up that book. 'What are you talking about? I can handle a bit of reading! I'll beat that jerk Kiba no matter the cost!'

'Hey, will all of you half-pints stop flirting and get over here!' said the old man. 'I'm not paying you to talk.'

'Shut up old man!' said Naruto. 'We'll leave when we're ready.'

'I guess that's my cue to leave.' said Ino. 'I'm kind of jealous. I'm not getting a C rank mission of any kind.' Then she turned and walked off.

That balanced out her karma. Didn't it?


Thus began their journey. As they walked, Sakura found curiosity coming to her. 'Say, Mr. Tazuna. Your country is the land of waves, right?'

'Yeah?' asked Tazuna. 'What of it?'

'Kakashi sensei,' said Sakura, 'there are ninja in that country too, aren't there?'

'No.' said Kakashi. 'There are no ninja in the Land of Waves. But in other countries, there are hidden villages. Each with their own different customs and cultures where ninja reside.'

'Um, Kakashi sensei…' began Sakura.

'To the people of this continent the existence of shinobi villages means strength.' said Kakashi. 'Military strength. In other words, that's how they protect themselves and maintain the balance of power in the countries. The ninja villages are not controlled by any government.'

'Sensei…' said Sakura.

'They're independent and have equal status.' said Kakashi. 'Now a small island like the Land of Waves has natural protection from the sea. So there is no need for a ninja village.'

'Sensei…' said Sakura, letting frustration slip into her voice.

'The five ancient lands that possess Shinobi villages are the lands of Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind, and Earth. They each occupy vast territories. Together they are known as the five great Shinobi nations.'

'Sensei!' shouted Sakura.

'The land of Fire has the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the land of Water the Village Hidden in the Mist. The land of Lightning the Village Hidden in the Clouds, the land of Wind, the Village Hidden in the Sand, and the Land of Earth, the Village Hidden in the Stones. Only the leaders of these Hidden Villages are permitted the name Kage. Which means-'

'SENSEEEEI!' roared Sakura, her voice echoing throughout the land.

'Do you have to shout?' asked Kakashi with a wince.

'We already know all of this!' said Sakura. 'We have lived in this world our entire lives! The only one who doesn't know is Naruto, and that's because he never pays attention in class!'

'Well I'm saying it for his benefit.' said Kakashi. 'Where was I?'

'The Kages.' said Sakura.

'Ah yes.' said Kakashi. 'The five Kages are Hokage, Mikage, Ryekage, Kazikage, and Tsukage. These are the leaders. The five shadows who reign over thousands of ninja. Understand?'

'Sorry, I was reading Ino's book. What were we talking about?' asked Naruto.

Kakashi didn't seem angry. In fact, Sakura had the feeling he was smiling as he put a hand on her head. 'Well, anyway, there are no ninja battles in a C ranked mission. So you can relax.'

'Then we're not going to run into any foreign enemy ninja or anything like that?' asked Sakura in relief.

'Not likely.' said Kakashi.

There was a bird call overhead as they made their way along the path. Sakura looked around curiously. But she saw nothing. As they pressed on they crossed a bridge over a river that was very low.

'Wow,' said Sakura, 'we probably wouldn't even need the bridge, huh sensei?'

'Probably not.' admitted Kakashi. 'It hasn't rained in some time, so the rivers are all a bit low in this heat.'


They walked onward for a few more days and the heat only became worse. On the third day, Sakura noticed something strange. A puddle in the middle of the road? But it hadn't rained in weeks. Maybe there had been someone carrying water running down this road. Yeah, that was probably it.

She pressed on to catch up with the others. Then there was a low sound of footfalls behind them. Sakura turned around just in time to see two black-clad ninjas surging towards Kakashi with a sharp chain.

'What?!' said Kakashi.

The chains were wrapped around him in an instant and tightened. Then there was an explosion of blood. Kakashi sensei was dead. Sakura let out a scream despite herself.

'Kakashi sensei!' cried Naruto.

Then the ninjas were behind him as well.

'Now it's your turn!' cried one.

Sakura drew out her kunai, but Sasuke was faster. He hurled a shuriken which knocked the chain back and pinned it to the tree. Sakura got out her weapon as Sasuke landed on their arms. They were trapped in place; she had to move now.

Her arms were shaking. Her heart was beating harder than it ever had. She couldn't move.

Then it was too late. Sasuke kicked them both in the face. Yet the chains disconnected from their gauntlets and one turned to rush at Tazuna, the other at Naruto. Naruto froze in place. This wasn't like Anko where she was playing around. These men intended to kill them. Sakura could feel their intent.

Sakura charged. And at that moment Naruto charged as well. Team 7 and the two ninjas rushed at each other, kunais in hand.

Then Kakashi sensei was there. His hands gripped both ninja by the throat. 'Hi.' He said.

'Kakashi sensei!' thought Sakura. 'He's alive! Of course, he must have used a replacement jutsu to fake his own death!'

'Naruto,' said Kakashi, 'sorry I didn't help you right away. I didn't mean for you to get hurt. I just didn't think you'd freeze up like that.' He approached them. 'Good job Sasuke. Very smooth.' He looked to Sakura. 'Sakura, while I'm glad you did something, you should have taken a defensive stance. These are experienced ninja and in a head to head fight, they probably would have killed anyone of you. And even if you had been able to defeat one, with no one protecting Tazuna they might have accomplished their objective.'

'Right.' said Sakura. 'Sorry, sensei.'

'Hey,' said Sasuke, 'you're not hurt are you Naruto?'

Naruto looked up. 'No, I'm fine...' Then he hissed and clutched at his hand.

'Let me see it.' said Sakura, coming forward. 'I should be able to heal this.'

'Wait.' said Kakashi. 'Stand still. These ninjas have poison in their claws. We need to take it out of you quickly. You have to open the wound and remove it. It's in your blood, so don't move around. That spreads the poison.'

Naruto looked on his hand, and Sakura realized he'd been scratched. He looked at itand there was fear in his eyes.

'By the way, Mr. Tazuna.' said Kakashi in a cold voice.

'Yeah, what?' asked Tazuna.

'We need to talk.' said Kakashi.

Without saying anything else, he tied the ninja up around a tree and then looked to Tazuna. 'These are chunin from the Village Hidden in the Mist. Their specialty is a relentless attack. They keep fighting no matter what the sacrifice.'

'How did you know about their ambush, Sensei?' asked Sakura.

'A puddle.' said Kakashi. 'On a clear day. When it hasn't rained in weeks?'

Sakura flinched. She should have told him.

'In that case,' said Tazuna, 'why'd you leave it for the genin to do the fighting?'

'I could have taken them out quickly.' admitted Kakashi. 'But then I'd have learned nothing. I had to know who their target was and what they were after.'

'What are you getting at?' asked Tazuna.

'This;' said Kakashi, 'I wanted to know if they were after us, ninja attacking ninja. Or if they were after you. The master bridge builder. When you put in your request, you asked for standard protection, from robbers and highwaymen. You didn't say there were ninja looking for you. Hunting you down. If we knew this, it would be a B rank mission or higher. Our task was simply to get you to your destination and protect you while you finished building your bridge. If we knew we'd be facing ninja, we'd have staffed for the cost and charged for a B mission.

'Apparently, you have your reasons, but lying to us is not acceptable. We are now beyond the scope of this mission.'

They were so dead if they kept going. 'We're genin.' said Sakura. 'This is too advanced for our level of training. We should go back. And I think we need to treat Naruto's wound and get the poison out as soon as possible. Back in our village, we can take him to a doctor.'

Kakashi looked at Naruto keenly. Then up again. 'Naruto's hand could become a problem. I guess we should go back to the village.'

And then Naruto stabbed himself in the hand, opening the wound. He turned away, groaning in pain.

'Naruto, stop that!' said Sakura. 'What are you doing?' She rushed forward.

'I'm bleeding out the poison.' said Naruto.

'Naruto, you idiot!' said Sakura. 'You could bleed out! Let me see that hand!' Sakura took the hand and focused her healing jutsu on it. Gradually the skin knit back together as the muscle mends. Quickly. Way too quickly in fact. 'That's weird.'

'What is?' asked Naruto.

'I can't heal people this quickly.' said Sakura.

'I think that's enough Sakura.' said Kakashi as she came forward. 'No need to dwell on things. What's important is that Naruto was all right. Now the question is; should we head back?'

'No way!' said Naruto. 'Naruto Uzumaki is no quitter! You don't have to worry about me, guys, I'll be fine! Let's go!'

He looked to Tazuna. 'Well Tazuna, Naruto certainly seems to want to keep going. However, Naruto isn't the only member of this group. So I suppose I should ask each of you what you think?'

'I already told you sensei.' said Sakura. 'We barely survived our run-in with those chunin. Things could get even worse soon.'

'And you Sasuke?' asked Kakashi.

'I'm sick of D ranks.' said Sasuke. 'I'm going.'

'Well that is two against one Sakura.' mused Kakashi. 'I suppose we'll continue on then. Relax Sakura, for all we know, these chunin might be the absolute best they had.'


This was the kind of meeting the man hated most. Once he had been one of the most trusted servants of his village and the most feared. Now he was merely feared, having long ago left that place behind him to seek mercenary work. And yet of all the employers he'd worked for in his mercenary career, he hated the man before him the most. A fat, arrogant and honorless businessman with no strength of his own. Without all his money he'd be dead in a week.

And yet this worm thought he had the right to talk down to him.

'You failed? You failed?!' roared his employer. 'What is this, amateur night?! I paid big money for you! Are you telling me that someone like you seriously took out Tsunade!'

Zabuza drew up his sword and put it to the speaker's throat. The small man at once shrank back in fear. He was trembling. A pathetic little monster, wasn't he?

'Stop whining.' said Zabuza. 'This time, I'll go personally. This sword will be the last thing he ever sees.'

'You sure about that?' asked a man. 'Apparently, Tazuna has a high-level ninja guarding him. And since your first attempt failed he'll be expecting you. Waiting. Watching. It'll take someone with very advanced skills.'

'Who do you think you're dealing with?' he asked. 'I am Zabuza Momochi. The Demon of the Hidden Mist.'


Authors Note:

And this officially marks the spot where The Hunt for Tsunade crosses over with How to Dispose of a Body. And I lied when I said I wouldn't be updating again. It turns out that I'm not going as soon as I thought. I misread the calendar.

Also, I'd like to thank some of my reviewers for pointing out that Ino's manipulative streak made her somewhat unsympathetic. I'm trying to avoid Aesop Amnesia in this story. But I feel I could have handled some of the character arcs better.

Oh well. Live and learn.