Chapter Nineteen: Arrival in the Land of Waves
A low mist hung over the land of waves as the boat cut through the waves. Naruto leaned against the back of the boat, peering out into the sea. The vague outline of the bridge they were here to build came before him. It was pretty darn big, wasn't it?
How did ordinary people build something like this? It would probably take a lot of work from Tazuna. Looking to the old man, he saw he was gazing inland warily.
"Tazuna, where to next?" asked Naruto, at last, looking to the bridgebuilder.
"Once we make landfall, we'll make for my house," said Tazuna warily. "It's at the edges of town, and my daughter and grandson will be waiting for us.
"I'll be relying on you if any more of those Akatsuki show up."
"You can count on us, of course," said Kakashi, before looking to Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. "Remember the formation we set up?"
On they went, and soon they came to the edge of a town. Making their way through the Land of Waves, they found the dock nearly abandoned. Here and there you could see fishing ships moored. The buildings here were run down. Several of the stores seemed to have very limited inventories from the windows.
Tazuna led them past this dreary sight, pulling his cloak closer around him. Soon enough, they were making their way out of the main town. "We'll head through the forest for a bit," said Tazuna. "I know my way well enough, and it may shake off Gato's men." Privately, Naruto doubted this would do no good, but Kakashi seemed to like the idea.
"Naruto," said Kakashi. "I want you to create a lot of shadow clones and use them to scout things out."
Naruto nodded and made the hand signs. In a poof of smoke, thousands of him appeared all around him. Soon enough, there were hundreds of his clones making their way through the woods. Now he had to wait for them to get back.
Naruto hated waiting.
He had the feeling that they were going to be attacked soon, and everyone else was thinking the same. Sakura was walking just a bit closer to Sasuke than normal, Sasuke kept glancing around. Tazuna kept his hat low as if hoping he'd be overlooked. Kakashi-sensei was pretending to be unaffected. But his eyes were darting around now and then, trying to pierce the thick foliage.
It was wet and cold, and soon they came to many pools of water that stood around them. They were cool and clear, but they only made the mist thicker.
"I hate this," said Naruto.
"Hate what?" asked Sakura.
"I don't want to fight the Akatsuki," said Naruto. "But waiting around here waiting to be attacked is even worse."
"Well," said Sakura. "Maybe we won't be? Gato could have bankrupted himself hiring just one Akatsuki."
"Let's hope so," said Kakashi. "But we should keep a keen eye out anyway."
Naruto froze up suddenly. Memories shot through his mind from some of his clones, then another. Kakashi turned to him at once. "What is it, Naruto?"
"It might be nothing," said Naruto. "But I keep on seeing these weird animals. They look like they are made out of clay, but they're alive and...
"They're coming this way, fast."
"Get ready," said Kakashi, drawing a kunai. "The Akatsuki are coming."
"What do you mean?" asked Sakura.
"One of the Akatsuki is named Deidara. He utilizes white clay animals animated with chakra to create explosions," said Kakashi. "Apparently, he's something of a mad bomber."
More memories came to Naruto. Several of his clones were disappearing, and he saw a hunched and cloaked figure. "Um, Kakashi-sensei..."
"What is it?" asked Kakashi.
"This hunched over a cloaked guy is killing my clones," said Naruto. "He's using needless."
Kakashi shifted and looked around. "...We can't fight two S ranked ninja at once. Naruto quickly created shadow clones with our shape and a lot of chakra. Do it now and have them make camp. Make them act like us."
Naruto nodded and quickly obeyed. "Yes, Kakashi-sensei."
"Now, into the river, quickly," said Kakashi.
Quickly, Naruto made his decoys, and the group leaped into the river. The cold water soaked Naruto's clothes as he went underwater. Tazuna was quickly hidden within the ferns by Kakashi, who used some jutsu to help them fade in.
"Do you think we can stop them, Naruto?" asked Clone Sakura.
"I don't know, Sakura, that Tobi guy was incredibly hard to beat," said Clone Naruto.
"Speak for yourself, loser," said Clone Sasuke. "I could have defeated him easily! My defeat was totally your fault and had nothing to do with my own carelessness. It was you."
"But I beat Tobi," said Naruto. "All you did was get beat up."
"Quiet Naruto!" shouted Kakashi. "You are an inferior and worthless person, and Sasuke is the only one of you three students I care about!"
"...Naruto, you might want to work on acting classes," said Kakashi, after a moment.
"And Sasuke doesn't act like that!" said Sakura.
Naruto gave her a flat look.
And then dozens of clay beetles and birds surged out of the trees and landed. At once, they exploded. The reeds flew around them as the water moved in waves as flames surged outward, burning the grass.
Nothing was left.
That had been fast.
Out of the trees came a man with long, blonde hair like how Ino wore. His clothes were a black robe with red clouds. With him was another, the hunched over guy.
"Man, I can't believe Tobi had so much trouble wiping out these guys," said Deidara. "You sure we're not operating below our paygrade, Sasori, my man?"
"We do the missions we're assigned. Check for bodies," said Sasori, voice low.
"There wouldn't be any," said Deidara. "Not with that kind of firepower."
"Check the area anyway. Once we've done that, we'll return to Gato and report our success," said Sasori. "Hurry it up."
And so began the waiting. Deidara sent his clay creatures flying about, or scuttling over the ground. One of them came within inches of Naruto's face, but moved on without seeing him. Sakura caught her breath as Sasori made his way nearby.
At last, Deidara came back. "Alright, no sign of anything. Looks like we've wiped them out. It's a shame, I expected better from Copycat Kakashi."
"Fine then," said Sasori. "Let's go. I hate keeping people waiting."
When they were gone, they made their way into the blackened grass. Tazuna wiped the mud off. "That was a close call."
"Not close enough," said Kakashi. "I get the feeling those two weren't particularly interested in finding us."
"Maybe they're phoning it in," noted Tazuna. "I'm probably far below their usual paygrade."
"Well, if they were, their loss is our gain," said Kakashi. "We shouldn't have trouble anymore until they figure out they botched the mission."
"Yes, but I have to get to work," said Tazuna. "As soon as we start building the bridge again, they'll come after us again. I think we can count on that."
"Perhaps, but now that we know who we're facing, we can make a plan to deal with them," said Kakashi. "Come on, we've got to go. Before the mist clears."
And so they headed out.
The group saw no more sign of the Akatsuki, but they hurried on. As they did, Naruto thought it had all been too easy. He had several clones watch their back, and he would have sent out more.
"Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto. "Want me to send out some scouts to look for Sasori and Deidara?"
"Not at the moment, Naruto," said Kakashi. "If you did spot them, they'd probably spot you. Then they'd know we were alive."
"Come on, it's not much farther now," said Tazuna, walking with a fast step. "We should make it soon."
About thirty minutes later, they arrived at Tazuna's house. It was a large, two-story affair and well built. It was half-built on top of a platform near the sea. Moving toward it, Tazuna put aside his cloak and raised a hand. The old man knocked on the door, and it slid aside. Beyond, Naruto saw a beautiful, blue-haired woman. She sighed in relief when she saw them. "Tazuna, you're here at last. When you were late, we thought..."
"I'm fine, Tsunami, where is Inari?" asked Tazuna.
"Upstairs," said Tsunami. "He's sleeping."
Looking up, Naruto realized that it had gotten dark while they were traveling. How long had they been at this? Looking around, he realized Sakura and Sasuke were tired. He wasn't at all. Come to think of it, Naruto had always had a lot more endurance than most people.
"Well then, best not to wake him," said Tazuna. "These are the ninja I went to bring back, they've already saved my life several times."
"Welcome, I'll make you supper, if you need it," said Tsunami.
"That would be much appreciated," said Kakashi. "We'll have to make a plan here."
Soon enough, they ate a meal of seafood that was really good. From there, they sat around the table and ate hungrily. When they had finished, they cleared their places, and Kakashi sat around it.
"Now, it's only a matter of time before Deidara and Sasori find out what's happened," said Kakashi. "When they do, we'll need a strategy to beat them."
"What do you have in mind, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura.
Kakashi considered things. "...I'm going to have to deal with Sasori. He was a master with poisons and tends to use waves of projectiles. I don't think any of you would be able to evade his attacks.
"Only Sasuke would have a chance with his Sharingan.
"Naruto, Sasuke, you'll have to deal with Deidara if we end up facing both at once."
"What? Us?" asked Naruto. "Are you sure they can take him?"
"With proper strategy, yes," said Kakashi. "Your kamikaze clones could be used to counter Deidara's own abilities fairly well. And your clones can detect ambushes ahead of time. With Sasuke for help, I think you might stand a chance.
"In any case, this is the worst-case scenario.
"Team Guy should be arriving behind us anyway. With luck, we won't have a run-in with them until Guy is here."
"Perhaps I could stay away from work until they do," said Tazuna. "Stay in hiding."
"Unfortunately, that may not be an option. I suspect that Sasori and Deidara only pretended to fall for our deception," said Kakashi. "At the very least they may at least suspect we are alive. They must have some other reason for going ahead with this. Working for Gato may be only a pretense.
"Still, you are right, Tazuna.
"It will also give me an opportunity to train up my students a bit more."
"What about me, sensei?" asked Sakura.
Kakashi glanced at her. "In the case of a battle, I'll need you to stay by Tazuna if something happens and make sure he makes it out alive. To be honest, I'm not sure you'll be able to help in a pitched fight. But having someone on hand to protect Tazuna in a critical moment could save the whole mission."
"But sensei, are you sure we can beat Deidara and Sasori?" asked Sakura. "They're both S ranked criminals. I read about Sasori he... he's a legend in the Sand Village. My mother used to tell me not to be bad, or Sasori would turn me into a puppet."
"I know," said Kakashi. "However, even an S ranked ninja can lose to an inferior opponent if they get careless. Combat isn't all about chakra and bloodlines. A large part of it is in preparations and the mindset of the one going into things.
"I won't lie to you if we do fight Sasori and Deidara before Team Guy gets here, we could all end up dead. I will do everything in my power to make sure that you all get out alive, but mistakes can be made.
"If we were going to back out, we should have done it on the road.
"This is what a ninja has to deal with. Just remember that a few months ago, Team Guy were just as inexperienced as you. You can do this. I wouldn't have let you come this far if I didn't believe in you.
"Now, it's up to us to prove me right."
Sakura nodded. "Yes, Kakashi-sensei."
"Good, now let's get down to the guard details," said Kakashi.
Great, more prep-work.
Naruto had only been on this mission for a little while, and he was already sick of it.