17. My holidays have begun, but I do have holiday classes… These are just all excuses, but I hope to be posting this before my first class on the 2nd of November.


Dear Sami (Guest),

I'm so glad someone caught it. (sweatdrop) It was meant to be a slow burn to carry across our chapter to show the transitioning… Thanks for the review!


Gray hair with a widow's peak, wire-rimmed glasses and a sake bottle in hand.

A green sleeveless shirt tucked under a simple obi, towel hung around his neck.

If not for the pink flush across his face, Sasuke would have been inclined to think that he was just another hard-working family man.

"Eh. They're all kids, shinobi-san."

His speech isn't slurred the slightest, so Tazuna-san must have high alcohol tolerance.

Sensei gives his patented eye smile.

"These are my genin, Tazuna-san. Don't worry, as this is a C-rank, I, as a jonin can handle everything in our mission purview."

The elderly man scoffs at them once more, before lambasting them with natural civilian belief of their rights as the client.

"Huh! I expect you all to guard me with your lives as I build my bridge!"

Sasuke bristles, but Naruto beats his chest with his fist.

"You can count on us, Jii-chan! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage, and I never go back on my word, believe it!"

And it's 'us', not 'me', if he were any less attached to his team, even he, would have scoffed at this declaration, but Sasuke's just happy.

Sakura only smiles from her spot between them, and sensei just lightly nods.

"The Hokage is the number one ninja in the village, isn't he? I'll believe it when I see it."

Funnily enough, he and Sakura are the ones taking offence when Naruto brushes off the hidden insult.

Surely, somewhere underneath that smile, Naruto must feel pain as well.

As they begin walking forward, down the path of yellow earth, unmarred by wheel or animal marks, it begins to drizzle.

"Ahh! It's my first time going out of the village! This is so exciting!"

And he brushes it off.

"Ne, ne, Tazuna-san, Tazuna-san!"

"What is it, kid?"

"Why did you come to Konoha?"

He arches an eyebrow.

Why?

Sasuke isn't the only one confused.

"What do you mean, kid? I came to get ninja to protect me and my bridge of course."

"Don't you have ninjas where you come from? The Land of Waves?"

And in his mind, Konoha is his whole world where his family had been, but now Itachi-nii is somewhere, lost in the big wide world, facing that orange masked man, he almost panics.

But sensei's voice is warm.

"That's a good question Naruto."

They look up at him.

"The Land of Waves has no ninja of their own. While as you may know, there are ninja villages else where, like the Village Hidden in the Sand of the Land of Wind, the Land of Waves doesn't have a ninja village of its own. And that's why Tazuna-san came to our village for ninja."

"That and the fact that I came here to get building materials as well."

Naruto turns to look at Sakura.

"Then Sakura-chan, did you supply materials to Tazuna-san?"

Sasuke wonders why.

Why does he ask these kind of questions here?

And he almost wonders… why he never asked things like this in the academy?

But Sasuke knows, that Naruto can hardly be blamed for things out of his control, and that it was a given.

Who would have bothered to answer those questions?

He looks at their reflection in the small puddles, wondering.


Their chakra slides easily against each other's.

Transformation is queer like that.

Have no eyes but being able to see, having no hands but feeling the metal gauntlets, and no physical form now, but distinctively aware of the chakra signatures approaching their points.

"And so, since the Land of Waves is smaller and remote, it doesn't fear foreign influence too much. Thus few, to no ninja are ever in it's vicinity. You won't have to worry about any ninja battles during this mission."

"Target confirmed..?"

"Probably wrong, Meizu. Don't be so eager. Why would the bridge builder hire a genin team."

They surface, briefly, after the signatures pass them without a second glance.

"It's them, Gozu."

Just a fleeting response, and Gozu rises out of their puddle.

He follows his brother's lead, moving first for the one with the flak jacket.

The gentle sound of the chain extending, the rip of fabric as it gives to the blades on the chain.

Resistance as the prey attempts to struggle, and blood spraying as they yank on the chain's end.

Efficiency before pleasure.

"One down…"

He smiles under his gas mask, hearing his brother's low growl.

Meizu was always the kind to play with his enemies over killing them.

They launch themselves at the bridge builder, but the orange kid multiplies, and they lose sight of the rest of the genin team.

Detaching their gauntlets, they whip the kusari around, ripping through clones, clones, and only more clones.

It's infuriating.

But both chains are closing in on that area of the field, and he smirks.

"Nowhere to run now!"

Shuriken and kunai whistle through the air, they dodge swiftly, but just as they get within arm's reach, they are unexpectedly jerked back.

Looking back, they pull uselessly at their gauntlets threaded through, and against trees by chains not so unlike their own.

Those blue chains shorten, and they're tied back to back.

Clones dissipate and they can see their targets again.

"Why do you kill?"

Green eyes look at them instead.

Ah, the girl uses chains like us.

He laughs, the mask distorting that into a harsh noise.

She walks towards them, rightfully cautious.

His attention is split between the girl and her teammates, and more importantly, his target.

Just a step closer…

He readies his replacement technique, and his brother readies his hidden blade.

But she stops.

"Why do you kill?"

"Aren't you a ninja, girl? We ninja kill to survive. That's why we kill."

She takes another step, and he smiles.


She registers the pull on her chakra even as it revolts, refusing to be moved, in the next moment, she's whisked away.

The second chakra is too strong for her to resist, and it's a sense of almost betrayal, because that chakra is familiar.

"Maa, Sakura-kun. Be more careful next time."

He never calls her -kun unless he's feeling patronising.

The enemy ninjas are out cold, she notes.

Her eyes flicker over to the shredded pile of logs where his bloody heap had been.

There are spots of blood on the floor, though.

"Kakashi-sensei! You took a really long time getting back!"

Naruto hurries over, Sasuke at his heels, loud voice hiding his worry.

Sensei only gives them another eye smile.

"I'm sorry, I got lost on the path of life. No one's hurt, right?"

"You're hurt, sensei."

Sasuke gives Sakura a meaningful glance.

She cocks her head at him, and sensei relaxes slightly, complying as she bids him to stand still.

Sakura extends her chains, and he eyes them curiously, almost suspiciously, until they glow green.

"Most medics would have told me to strip by now."

Her eyebrows crease, "This is hardly surgery. My chains can tell me what the wound is like in 3D anyway."

He chuckles, and she frowns harder still.

"Sensei, there's poison."

Ah, and she can neither risk ripping a chunk out of his arm when there's the threat of enemy ninja looming of their head, nor leave the poison in.

"My, looks like I was too careless. It's a good thing those two carry their own antidotes on them, isn't it?"

Sasuke rummages through the pouches of the pair, tossing over a couple of greenish vials.

"The dark green one, Sakura. I've been hit by this poison before, don't worry too much."

Naruto hangs about them.

"But sensei, how did you know they would attack us?"

"I didn't know Naruto-kun, that's why I got hurt. But the main question for us now, is, Tazuna-san, why are there ninja targeting you?"


One sob story, and a determined pledge ringing in his ears, they're all on a boat, moving through thick mist.

"Tazuna-san, it's safe for now, until the bridge comes into sight."

Their client gives their boatman a curt nod, before turning to them.

"I will… tell you my story. The story of the Land of Waves. We were a small fishing village, we depended on the sea for travel. We farmed simple things in the small plots of land we had. We had troubles on occasion, Kaiza, my son in law, was our village hero, our chief per say. Life was good. Until Gato came along."

He notes carefully, how the boatman's grip around his oar tightens, before prodding, gently.

"Gato?"

His mind turns, trying to recall where he heard that name before.

"Shipping Magnate Gato. Of Gato Company. Currently the marine company with the greatest capable tonnage. He's one of the richest people in the world. His wealth was last estimated to be in the ten billion range, inclusive of assets, it would be near a trillion."

Tazuna nods in agreement.

"Pink is the hair of the next Haruno heir. It seems I was not played for a fool by the passing merchants. But that, Haruno-san, is only the surface of his wealth. His fortunes come from underground, using gangs and ninja to smuggle contraband goods. In addition to that, he also does take overs of companies to ensure his monopoly, even countries as and when he pleases."

Naruto pipes up, only just remembering to keep his voice down, "And so now he's tryna take over Wave? He sounds like a horrible geezer. Can't anyone stop him? What about that Kaiza guy?"

It's vaguely amusing, how well the mist hides them, but how suspicious shadows, shaded pink and yellow would look.

The water is dark, the air is thick, there isn't a single bird's cry.

Only the sound of soft waves, lapping against the side of their boat, and a far off shore.

"When Gato first set foot on our island and began implementing his rules via violence and money, Kaiza stood up to him. But his status as a hero made him a target. Gato had his executed in front of everyone in the village, in front of even Inari."

"Your grandson?"

So it's Sasuke that makes this apt inference, he would know personal loss the best amongst them three.

Tazuna-san only looks out into the mist, his silence a clear answer.

"The bridge is coming into sight," our boatman murmurs, so everyone turns to look.

A looming structure, stilts slightly more than a metre higher than the water's surface.

Planks roughly five metres wide, maybe more.

It's an inspiring display of Wave's courage and determination.

A symbol of hope their client chooses to pursue even when he's there, wondering if he should order his team to abandon this mission.

Nah.

I think I won't do that.


And so I failed pathetically, it's 15 of November and I'm really really sorry.

Question was whether to struggle through the episode and finish it, and so I didn't…. O~O

Thus, this is marked as an interlude of perspectives other than Sakura's, because I was told that it's nice to read non-Sakura POVs.

As to why: Mello(w), it's how I feel reading through this chapter, given that that's what's on my youtube autoplay now, and it's been a year and 4 days since our first chapter, hmm, it's an apt feeling.

I think I better not make any more promises, because I'm so lazy nowadays I sleep through the afternoon and don't study.

Thank you everyone, for staying with me as I write.