The next few weeks were filled with training with Kakashi, training at Sasuke's house, or doing D-rank missions. The three of them weren't as upset with their low level missions as they were in the past because now they used these chances to work on their training. Sakura would use her medical skills to make poisons that targeted only the weeds that they were trying to remove; Sasuke was working on his chakra control by walking on air when they walked the dogs, though he made sure that he was low enough to the ground that it actually looked like he wasn't walking on air so that Kakashi wouldn't notice; and Naruto walked with his eyes closed when they went to go and get water from the river for the soils, but Kakashi didn't notice this either because when Naruto was younger he would walk with his eyes as far closed as he could that still allowed him to see. He didn't want to walk like that then, but it was the only way to insure that he would not get dirt in his eyes when rocks and mud balls were thrown at him, and if he kept his eyes narrowed he would have to focus on only what was just before him and not the evil glares of the villagers that surrounded him. However, this limited there training and they soon got very bored of doing the same things over again. So when they saw a drunken bridge builder walking along the streets of Konoha their faces lit up with excitement, but they knew that first they'd have to convince the Hokage to give them this job.
They went to the Hokage tower to get their next mission and they were told that they would have another D-rank mission and they immediately began to complain. "We've been doing nothing but D-rank missions this whole time," whined Naruto.
"Yea," pouted Sakura, "We've already learned all that we could from these missions."
"We cannot improve if we are kept at the same place when we are above that area," Sasuke added in.
As the three of them complained the Hokage began to laugh. "Do they always gang up on you?" he asked Kakashi.
"Only all the time," said Kakashi as he rolled his visible eye.
"That's not true," said Naruto as he was usually the first to contradict him.
"Only when our choice is better than yours," said Sakura as she was usually the one to explain their point of view.
"Which is most of the time," said Sasuke as he was usually the one to say the smug remarks.
"Thank you for proving my point," said Kakashi as the Hokage began his laughing again.
Finally, when the Hokage was brought back from his fits of laughter and his coughs for air were over, he turned to Kakashi to ask, "Do you think that they are ready to move on?" Kakashi only nodded as he pulled out his own book. He, himself, was pretty bored of all these missions and was surprised that the students had not complained yet. He was beginning to assume that he might be the one to have to beg for a higher mission. "So be it," said the Hokage as he turned back to the students, "Since you are so determined I will give you a C-rank mission. You are going to be bodyguards on a journey. Send in our visitor." He nodded to the door and all of them turned to see a drunken old bridge-builder that they knew to be Tazuna.
"What the?" he said, "A bunch of little snot nosed kids," then he took a drink from his sake, "And you, the little one with the idiotic scars on his face, you really expect me to believe that you're a ninja," and another drink from his sake, "I am Tazuna. A master bridge-builder from my country. I am building a bridge there that will change our lives so I must get there safely even if it cost you your lives." He looked up at the kids and was amazed to find that the one that he insulted was not angry but the Hokage, the man next to him, the man standing near the kids, and the two other kids were glaring daggers at him.
"Before you go around insulting other people," growled Sakura, "You should take a look at yourself. What man gets drunk in a rich village when his own is on the verge of death and is depending on him?"
"You should think twice before insulting the people who could accidently let one of the attackers slip past them and mortally injure you," threatened Sasuke.
It seemed as though they were going to continue, but before they could Naruto said, "I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it Sakura, Sasuke." They both looked at him and then sighed in resignation. Naruto smiled at them before turning to the bridge-builder and saying, "My name is Naruto. This is Sasuke, and Sakura. And that's our jounin-sensei Kakashi. We will be your guides back to your home." But Tazuna was still shocked and so he didn't say anything to answer him.
Even the Hokage, Iruka, and Kakashi seemed shocked, but Kakashi got over it rather quickly and turned to his students to instruct them. "We will meet at the gates in 15 minutes. Get ready and then go there."
"We all know it will be an hour before you get there," smirked Naruto before the three of them left.
"How do you do that?" asked Iruka.
Kakashi sweat-dropped, "You get used to it."
An hour later everyone was at the gate getting ready to head off on their first C-rank mission of this life time. They walked along the road with Naruto leading the way, Sasuke and Sakura on either side of the bridge builder, and Kakashi behind them. They walked for a while with Tazuna insulting them, Naruto smiling, and Sasuke and Sakura glaring throughout the whole walk. No one took any notice that Naruto had needed no directions as they kept going throughout.
Kakashi looked over as they passed a little puddle, but passed it easily. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura stopped and turned to face the little puddle and Naruto walked calmly over to stand in front of the bridge-builder. "You can come out assassins," said Sakura. Kakashi's eyes widened as their ninja knowledge impressed him again.
However the assassins did not emerge from their hiding place and it annoyed Sasuke. "That is such an easy disguise to see through," he said, "It hasn't rained in days, there's no lake near enough to make a puddle, and the morning mist wasn't strong enough to leave behind any water. Such an amateur mistake." These words seemed to anger the assassins as they jumped out of the water and moved forward to attack them. One moved towards Sasuke and the other moved to attack Kakashi. The one who attacked Kakashi was successful, but the one who went for Sasuke was met with defeat. "Amateurs," he said again before he and Sakura launched themselves towards the assassins.
Naruto just stood watching his friends fight with the demon brothers. He didn't bother to move into a defensive position since he knew that there was no way that the two brothers would be able to defeat Sasuke or Sakura. He almost smiled at the fear that Tazuna was emitting because Tazuna was seeing the power of his teammates and could no longer insult them. He didn't care if the man insulted him as he had been insulted all his life in both his lives, but he hated to hear people insult his friends. The only reason he had said nothing about it to Tazuna was because he wanted to show Tazuna that he should respect his friends.
It was only a few moments before both of them were out cold and Sakura called for Kakashi to come out of his hiding place. "We know you're up there sensei." Kakashi came down and clapped his hands together in applause. "That was very dangerous," Sakura scolded him, "If we had been any other team of genin we could have very easily died."
"Ah, now you know I wouldn't have allowed that. If you had been in any danger at all I would have jumped in to save you," answered Kakashi with his smile. The bridge-builder couldn't tell that he was smiling, but with all the time that the three genin had spent with him in the future they could read even the slightest change of expression on their sensei. Even at this moment they watched as his face made the slightest of movements towards suspicion. "Besides I had to know who their target was, and what they were after," his suspicious eye turned to the bridge builder who acted as though he knew nothing about the attack.
"What are you getting at?" asked Tazuna.
"This," said Kakashi as he turned to him, "I wanted to know if they were after us, ninja attacking ninja, or if they were attacking 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-ranked 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 were going to be fielding attacks from enemy ninja we would have staffed differently and charged for the cost of a B mission. Apparently you have your reasons, but lying to us is not acceptable. We are now beyond the scope of this mission."
"If we were as weak as most genin," said Sakura calmly, "we would have to go back at this moment."
"But we aren't just any genin," said Sasuke as he finished tying up the two amateur assassins.
Kakashi looked at them curiously, but he didn't say anything to contradict them. "Alright!" said Naruto happily turning back towards the village that they were heading, "Now that we've got that out of the way let's get going."
"You three don't get the seriousness of this do you?" growled Kakashi. He seemed to be a lot more serious in this time than he did in both the past and the future. Although he still kept to his Icha Icha Paradise and read it whenever he thought his attention was not necessary.
Naruto turned to the bridge-builder, "It seems that you are going to have to tell us why you're being attacked before we move on or Kakashi will make us go back and leave you here."
Tazuna sighed. "It seems I have no choice. No. I want you to know the truth. Like you said, this is beyond the scope of the original mission. The one who seeks my life is a very short man who casts a very long and deadly shadow."
"A deadly shadow?" asked Kakashi, "Who is it?"
"You know him. At least I'm sure you've heard his name before. He's one of the wealthiest men in the world. His name is Gato,"
Kakashi seemed surprised at this, but the three genin only stood and watched the conversation occur. "Gato? Of Gato transport? He's a business leader. Everyone knows him."
"Gato is a very powerful man from a famous company, that's true, but below the surface, with the same ruthless methods he uses to take over businesses and nations, he sells drugs and contraband using gangs and ninja. It was one year ago when Gato first set his sights on the land of waves. He came to our island and used his vast wealth to take control over our transports and shipping. Anyone who tried to stand in his way simply disappeared. In an island nation a man who controls the sea controls everything. Finance, government, our very lives, but there's one thing he fears. The bridge. When it is complete it will join us to the land and that will break his control. I am the bridge-builder."
"Oh I get," said Sakura, "and you couldn't tell us because Gato has pretty much made you into a poor nation."
"Yes," he agreed, "and if you end the mission there will be no bridge. They'll assassinate me before I reach home, but don't feel bad about that. Of course my sweet little grandson will be upset. He'll cry, 'Granddad. I want my granddad.' Oh and my daughter will condemn the ninja of the hidden leaves, denouncing and blaming you for abandoning her father and living her life in sorrow. Ah, well, it's not your fault. Forget it."
"There's no need to bribe us Tazuna-san," said Naruto with a smile.
"We already said we'd help," added Sakura.
"And bribing people to do what you want is very low," mumbled Sasuke.
Kakashi shrugged, "I guess I can't say no if my students don't want to go back." So again they turned and Naruto led them to the land of waves.
I'm really sorry about not getting this up sooner. first the computers broke, then i got writers block, then when my sister's computer somehow fixed itself i had a whole bunch of homework because it was the end of the semester, and then when i finally finished all that stuff i had writers block again. that's why this chapter isn't all that good. anyway, i don't think i mentioned it earlier, but i welcome flames. i like to know how to make my stories better.
p.s. don't get mad at me when tazuna makes fun of naruto's scars because he doesn't know anything about the kyuubi. he only says that because he thinks naruto did it to himself as a fashion statement or a way of getting attention. sort of like a kids these days thing.