The next day Naruto, Kakashi and the others rose a few hours after dawn to the sound of a crackling fire and the smell of cooking meat. As they looked over, they saw Adam sitting next to a fire, keeping tabs on a spit with rabbits on it, and talking quietly with Zabuza.

As they walked over Adam turned around and smiled at them, "Hey guys, sleep well?" he asked.

"Yeah, fine," said Kakashi, answering for all of them, "When did you wake up?"

"About nine o'clock yesterday morning," Adam answered with a smile, "Shrrgnein left at about 2 this morning, saying he needed to look after his pack. Want some breakfast? I also got some orange juice from the trees around here and some little extras for a salad."

"Wow…" said Naruto, his mind going straight to his stomach.

"Yeah," said Adam, "I got enough for everybody, so pick what you want and leave what you don't. If you want something else, I got some other stuff in my bag."

"Such as…?" asked Sakura, looking at the small backpack.

"Just some dry cereal and milk. You're a vegetarian, hey? That's why I packed it. Here, catch."

He tossed a small packet of cornflakes and a small container of milk over. He dug around a bit more and found a wooden bowl and spoon. He passed those over to.

"Thanks, Adam," said Sakura, tearing open the packet and emptying it into the bowl.

"No worries," said Adam with a smile. He then looked at Kakashi, "I went through your maps last night. At the rate we're travelling, we should get to Tazuna's town by about noon. I've been thinking though…"

"Always a serious problem…" said Zabuza quietly from across the fire, lifting the bandages he wore around his mouth to eat.

"Protecting Tazuna from thugs and bandits would be easy, right? A simple C-Rank mission, yeah? Aren't the Oni brothers and Zabuza Ninja? Chunin and Jonin level, respectively. Wouldn't that make it at least a B? I think he's got some explaining to do."

"I've thought about that too…" said Kakashi, looking over at Tazuna, "Well, Tazuna? What do you have to tell us? Lying isn't a good idea, especially to the people who are assigned to protect you."

"Our land is very poor," Tazuna began, "even our lords are poor, and I have no money at all, so we had to say it was a C-Rank, otherwise we never would have been able to get it at all. I apologize for lying, but it's the only way I could have survived."

"I see…" said Kakashi, looking at Adam, "Well, we'll have to figure out payment later. Right now, we need to get moving. C'mon."

The rest of the trip passed uneventfully, until about half past twelve, they arrived at Tazuna's house.

"No offence, Zabuza," began Adam, "But it think it would be better if you two went into hiding, you know, because of the Hidden Mist Demon reputation. Oh, I almost forgot, here's your other half a million yen for protecting Tazuna. Goodbye."

"I understand," said Zabuza, "I owe you my life, Adam. If you are in need of aid, call on me, and I shall help in any way I can." When he finished, he leapt away into the trees, Haku close behind.

"I bet you never expected to hear that, Kakashi," said Adam with a smile, knocking on Tazuna's front door.

The door opened and a woman face appeared there, "W—who's there?" she asked in a quavering voice.

"It is the Ninja from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, who come with Tazuna," said Kakashi, taking the lead.

"Oh, thank god!" exclaimed the woman, flinging the door open and rushing into Tazuna's arms.

"This is Tsunami, my daughter," he said awkwardly, gently turning her around and leading her back inside.

"I never would have guessed," mumbled Adam, following him inside.

"No," Kakashi whispered, "You would have already known."