CHAPTER 4 "The journey the land of waves"

Mission Office

"Aaah, my precious Tora-chan! I missed you so much!" the wife of the Fire Daimyo, Madam Shijimi, yelled out as she hugged her cat tightly in the Missions Office, despite the cat looking like it was choking to death. "You had me so worried, my little baby!"

"No wonder it ran away..." Naruto muttered, three scratches across the bridge of his nose, and many more on his hands. Sasuke had three on his cheek, three on his neck, and about as many on his hands as Naruto. "I would, too."

"Hn..."

"Kind of makes you pity it..." Sakura mumbled, having no scratches on her.

"Now... Kakashi's Team Seven," the Hokage said as he was looking over the documents in front of him, "your next duty is... hm... babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping in the neighboring village, and help with the potato digging... You can also-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, gramps," Naruto said suddenly. Everyone save for his team stared at him in utter shock for daring to interrupt the 3rd Hokage. "You and I both know that this team is stronger than any Genin team you have! We shouldn't be doing this crap!"

"I agree," Sasuke said, crossing his arms. "I think this is an incredible waste of valuable resources."

After all, besides team training, coming up with strategies and combinations, all they had been doing since graduating was D-ranked missions.

"You idiots!" Iruka barked, sitting next to the 3rd Hokage, who just sighed. "You are just rookies! Everyone starts off with the simple duties and work their way up!"

"I don't give a crap! We're not everyone!" Naruto barked back. "We get these crap missions I wouldn't even force academy students to do! This is not ninja work!"

Suddenly, Kakashi's fist bopped Naruto on the head, accompanied by the Jonin saying, "Quiet, you..."

"Naruto-kun, it seems I have to explain to you what these duties are all about," the 3rd Hokage said, puffing on his pipe. "Listen, every day-"

"We get all kinds of requests from people, ranging from babysitting to assassination, we rank the missions, and blah, blah, blah," Naruto said, his arms crossed. "But you've told us that Genin get both D- and C-ranked missions! I know we're fresh out of the academy, but you know as well as I do that, we can handle a C-rank. Right, Sasuke,"

"Hn."

"I-I think so..." Sakura said.

"I apologize..." Kakashi mumbled, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. The 3rd Hokage, however, looked thoughtful and hummed while puffing on his pipe. He interlaced his fingers in front of his face and smirked.

"Very well. If you want it that much, I'll give you a C-rank, and we'll see how you do. It's an escort mission of a certain individual," the 3rd Hokage announced, which visibly surprised Kakashi and Sakura, while Naruto and Sasuke smirked. "I'll introduce the client now. Hey! Will you come in here?"

The door to the Mission Office slid open, revealing an old man who, judging by the scars on his hands, must have been a carpenter or something like that. In his hand was a sake bottle, and he took a swig from it as he looked them over.

"What's this? They're all a bunch of super brats," the man said, a drunken blush on his face. "Especially the girl. She looks like she couldn't hurt a fly. Are you really a ninja?"

Sakura flinched and ducked her head. Seeing that she wasn't about to give a retort, Naruto and came to her defense, glaring heatedly at him.

"Could kill you five times over before you could even blink, you old fart," Naruto said coldly, and Sasuke looked at Kakashi.

"Sensei, can I show him?"

"Killing the person, we're supposed to protect would cause us to fail the mission," Kakashi said simply, but Sasuke didn't need to show him. They'd gotten their point across, judging by how the old man barely suppressed a flinch. He coughed into his fist.

"Anyway, I am the super bridge builder, Tazuna. I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."

The Next day, 5:00 AM

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura walked towards the south gate of the Hidden Leaf, Packed and ready. Naruto and Sasuke had everything in a scroll each, and Naruto had sealed Sakura's pack in another scroll, so no one was carrying any luggage.

While they were on way, Naruto found some water on the road. Naruto was quickly in alert position. He then threw few shurikens on the water puddle and two ninjas emerged from the water. One of them was severely wounded by the shurikens of Naruto.

The other one countered Naruto with his kunai. After exchanging some blows, Naruto jumped back.

"You are better than your comrade who could not even dodge my shurikens."

"You little brat, I will show you who is better" the ninja said. Sasuke tried to help his friend but kakashi stopped him and said "I think he could handle this on his own."

"You are not worthy of my time, let's just finish this quickly" Naruto said. Then he weaved some hand signs and said "Wind Style: Wind scythe" and two wind blades slashed down the ninja into 3 pieces. The Blood of the ninja splashed on the hands of Naruto as he killed him. The other injured ninja was trying to move but his limbs were punctured from the shurikens.

He asked Naruto "How were you able to know that we were here?"

"I am a pretty good sensor so I had already sensed your chakra from a mile away" Naruto said. He didn't realize that his hands were shaking as this was his first kill but he managed to maintain his composure. He then tied the ninja to a big tree.

'Impressive, he sensed these guys before me' Kakashi thought.

"You didn't have to kill him, and you also knocked the other ninja. How will we know that whom he was up to, to us or our client?" Kakashi said.

"Believe me I will just need a few seconds to gather all the Intel necessary and the … unnecessary ones too" Naruto said as his hands were still shaking but this time Kakashi and Sasuke noticed it.

"Are you alright, Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, I am fine just give me a minute so that I can get over with this" Naruto said as he realized that his hands were shaking.

"This is a part of our job, sometimes you must have to kill in order to survive and protect your comrades" Kakashi said.

After few minutes Naruto was back to normal, "Alright, let's get to business." Naruto said.

Naruto stood in front of the ninja and touched him with his finger. "Mind reading jutsu"

'And I thought I was the copy ninja.' Kakashi thought.

After some time, Naruto regained consciousness, and there was a look of excitement on his face.

"If we proceed this mission, we would have to fight against the rogue ninja of the Hidden Mist Zabuza Momochi, one of the 7 legendary swordsmen of the mist and the wielder of the executioner's blade. These ninjas worked for him and were here to assassinate the bridge builder" Naruto said.

Rest of his team was shocked when they heard the name of Zabuza, including Kakashi as this was supposed to be a C rank mission but after the given situation this mission was clearly a B rank mission.

"So, are you going to explain?" Kakashi asked the bridge builder. Tazuna was in a state of panic.

"There is no need for that, I will search through his memories too" Naruto said. Then he appeared behind Tazuna and touched him with his finger, "Mind reading jutsu". As Naruto said that Tazuna lost consciousness but was standing in front of Naruto. After a few seconds, they both regained consciousness.

"Sensei, it turns out that a business tycoon is after his life." Naruto announced

"Business Tycoon?" Kakashi repeated, raising his only visible eyebrow. "Who?"

"The wealthy shipping magnate... a man named Gatou." Naruto said.

"Huh?! Gatou, from that Gatou Company?" Kakashi asked, his eye widening in surprise. "He's said to be one of the world's few extremely wealthy people."

"Yes... Officially, he runs a large shipping company," Naruto said with a nod. "But secretly, he sells drugs and other illegal items using ninja and gang members to take over businesses and countries. He's a super nasty man. It was about a year ago when he set his eyes on the Wave Country. Through money and violence, he quickly took control of the country's shipping industry. Gatou now has a monopoly on all business traffic in the country. The only thing he has to fear now is the completion of the bridge."

"And... because Tazuna is building the bridge to the mainland... he won't hold a monopoly anymore..." Sasuke concluded, to which Naruto nodded.

"So, those ninjas were hired by Gatou?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto nodded.

"But what I don't understand is... if you knew ninja could be after you, why did you hide that fact when you hired us?" Kakashi wanted to know.

Tazuna sighed. "The Wave Country is super poor. Even the Daimyo has no money. Of course, we don't have much money, either... Not enough for the expensive B-rank mission. Well... if you quit the mission now, I will definitely be killed... But... don't worry about it!" Tazuna said with a bright smile on his face. "If I die, my cute, ten-year old grandson will just cry for a few days! Oh, yeah, and my daughter will live a sad, sad life, hating Konoha ninja forever. But it won't be your fault! Not at all!"

Kakashi twitched at that, scratching the plate on his head band. Then, he sighed and smiled at Tazuna, saying, "Well, I guess we have no choice. We will protect you, at least until you get back to your country."

Tazuna smiled and thanked them profusely, but they could all see the victorious glint in his eyes.

"You guys go ahead; I will join you shortly" Kakashi said and the group started moving again.

After a few seconds, they heard Kakashi yelling "Chidori" followed by the scream of the other ninja they left behind. Then they set off, Kakashi in the front, Sakura and Tazuna in the middle, and Naruto and Sasuke bringing up the rear.

The group managed to make their way into Wave Country without encountering any more enemies. However, Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi were always on alert, their senses sharp. As Naruto had said, his shaking had stopped, and he was ready for anything.

Author's Note

This is the start of the Land of Waves Arc. There will be 5 chapters for this arc. Also, Naruto did his first kill, and this is nothing, you guys will a new face of Naruto and how he treats his enemies. And it is going to be an action-packed arc and Naruto will get an awesome ability too.

Don't forget to write a review.