Chapter 11: Hiding in plain sight

As a team, they decided to continue with their mission but Kakashi sent one of his dogs to the nearest out post to have the demon brothers collected, while Pakkun ran back to Konoha with a report for the Hokage, asking for at least two chunin as back up with the expectation that they might be facing a higher-level ninja soon after stepping foot in Wave.

Kakashi was now at the point of the group, with Sasuke at the back and Naruto and Sakura on either of the client's sides. Sasuke could see that Kakashi was more alert even though he still had his book open in front of him. Naruto was also hyper-aware of their surroundings, his eyes constantly roaming the area and he wasn't responding to the client's attempt to get a rise out of him or Sakura's attempt at a conversation.

In the day since the attack, they had made it to the boarder crossing to Wave, where it seemed the client had arranged for a boat man to take them across without stopping at the official port.

"Kakashi-sensei? If there are hired bounty hunters after us, then they are more than likely capable of working out where a civilian would sneak a boat in under the cover of mist. I think we need to dock in a location that is pre-scouted. I can go ahead of the boat and see where we can dock and then lead you in. That will reduce the chance of an ambush waiting for us. To further confuse the enemy, I suggest having Naruto use his shadow clones and henges to create diversion. Having one copy land at the planned docking point, plus four others." Sasuke suggested before they could board the boat. She didn't trust that a man who had the island on lockdown, wouldn't know the best places to sneak in and out or have people stationed and waiting for word.

"Do you believe that you are capable enough at water walking to travel that distance, scout the land, return and lead us, and still have enough chakra to fight if necessary?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, my chakra output efficiency is enough that I could do a full day of training while on water. This would be the equivalent of a half day's training. If I eat a protein bar when I ronde with you, I will have enough energy." Sasuke confirmed. She knew that Kakashi couldn't leave the client if there was the possibility of facing a high-level ninja, otherwise he would be doing the scouting ahead, but the plan was viable and she had the skill to escape a threat.

"Very well, I will lead the boat out to one mile from shore exactly 31 degrees from the north point. We will wait for you there for one hour. Twenty minutes before that hour mark, I will have Naruto send out eight decoys so they all doc before us." Kakashi decided. "Naruto, can you get a shadow clone to henge into something simple that Sasuke can carry so he can alert the team to any changes?"

"A Sharikan okay?" Naruto created the clone.

"A Senbon would be better if you can go that small?" Sasuke disagreed. Her Sharikan brace was completely full, and an excess Sharikan would stick out. However, the Senbon was smaller and so she could put more than the typical number provided into each brace.

"Sure." The clone smiled before changing his shape with a light puff. Sasuke reacted quickly and caught the Senbon before it could hit the ground.

"When I pull you out, transform back so I can talk with you. Otherwise, please remain as a Senbon." Sasuke requested before carefully tucking the Senbon into her bicep-brace. "Sensei, I'll see you in an hour."

"Supress your chakra as much as you can. I don't want you being spotted." Kakashi nodded his head.

"As you wish, Sensei." Sasuke bowed to her sensei before stepping onto the water and running in a straight line to the island. It was an eight-mile run, so she set her pace to a low genin so she could make it in time without draining herself.

As she approached the shoreline, Sasuke took a deep breath and dropped below the surface of the water until she was a step away from the island. Her lungs started straining for air, but she ignored it as she reached out to assess the area. Once she was as sure as she could be that no one was there, she rose from the water and took a step onto the shore while taking a deep breath. The area that she had come out was deserted of life, simple a thin strip of clearing that led into a loose cluster of trees. Within the concealed grove, she pulled out the Naruto-Senbon and held it up.

"Tell sensei I found a safe place to dock the boat which is concealed. It's laterally directly from the point of contact from Konoha. I've checked the surrounding area, no hostels or signs of life. I'm going to do another check, within a 20km search diameter before returning." With her report made, she threw the Senbon to the floor so it would dispel and the original would get the memories.

Sasuke looked around the area to make sure that where she had come out was a safe place. There wasn't anyone in the area around her, and around twenty metres to the right of where she came out there was an outcropping of trees which they could use to conceal the docking of the boat. Doing a second check of the area, Sasuke returned to the water and concealed within it once more until she was as far out as she could get without breathing. Once she returned to the surface, she headed in the direction Kakashi told her he would be.

Once she was close enough to the north point of Wave she felt Naruto's shinning chakra signature which he hadn't managed to suppress. Since she could feel his chakra, she was able to pinpoint their exact location and home in on them. The boat was sat, concealed, within a thicker portion of mist.

"Sensei." Sasuke spoke, even though she knew the man would have been alerted to her approach before she got within sight of the boat. Instead of getting into the boat, she stood outside of it but rested her hands on the top.

"Did you fall in?" Kakashi's eyebrow made a journey to his hairline.

"Purposefully. I didn't want to be seen approaching the coastline encase there was someone there who I didn't notice." Sasuke explained. "I've done a wide sweep of the area, there was no sign of anyone within the area or tracks indication that someone had been there recently."

"Do you feel up to leading us?"

"I'm fine, sensei. My chakra levels are at more than 75%. I'm good to lead the boat. Daiki, you good following me if I'm outside of the boat in this mist?"

"You sure you aren't going to run me into dry?" Daiki, the gruff man who had volunteered to make this dangerous journey, returned Sasuke's question with snark.

"I don't think I could if I tried. I'm going to try and stick to the areas of heavier mist, to keep us under cover. It's easier to spot a slow-moving boat compared to a fast-moving child." Sasuke return. "Sensei, you okay with this?"

"I'm going to be between the boat and land, just encase." Kakashi assented to the plan, getting out of the boat and nodding to show that they were ready.

The journey to the land went without incident. When they reached land again, Sasuke remained with the boat while Kakashi did a quick assessment of the area to make sure that there was no one in the area. By the time he had returned, the boat man had left unwilling to be with their group while on land.

"Okay, if there is an enemy waiting for us, we should hopefully get forewarning when they attack one of Naruto's decoy's so we know what we're dealing with. However, we will remain alert encase they are not waiting at the coast, but rather closer to the client's home." Kakashi said, using a serious tone that he so rarely spoke with in their presence. "This is no longer a C-Rank mission, but a provisional B-rank with potential to be A-rank. If I tell you to full back and protect the client only, do so. You aren't trained enough to face off against the enemy that it is possible we will be facing. Sasuke is my second."

Sakura looked terrified at the serious turn their easy mission had taken, while Naruto looked nervous and guilty. Likely because, when he had been faced with combat, he had frozen. Sasuke had already, technically, faced combat and all it's consequences. She knew what it was like to take a life and see a life taken. Although the type of fighting she was now in, was different to what Jane had faced, the coping strategies and the impact on her psychic was the same. And so, even though she knew she was likely to be facing an enemy far stronger than herself, she wasn't as affected. She was cautious, and watchful, but she wasn't nervous or fearful. Unfortunately, given the unknown situation they were facing, she couldn't think of anything that she could say in that moment to help her team mates. She was going to have to hope for the best, and if something went wrong, pick up the pieces.

"Sensei, what formation do you want us?" Sasuke questioned, happy to take the position of second as a temporary for now, although she was hoping in time that was a position Naruto would take. She was good at planning and strategy, assessing a situation, but she didn't have Naruto's ability to instantly come up with new plans while in the field. More often than not, she had to take a few seconds to a minute to come up with a plan if a situation changes exceptionally which was sometimes time they couldn't afford. Naruto didn't need those precious few seconds and with more training he could be exceptional at leading missions and battle situations since he could adapt.

"Form A. If we face an enemy combatant you move into Form D." Kakashi decided.

Both formation A and D placed Sasuke at the point, so she took the brunt of most attacks if someone tried to get to the client. Naruto, in both formations, was in the defensive point which would allow him to grab and move the client if a threat was presented. And since he had a natural sensing ability which Sasuke had been helping him with instead of the learnt ability Sasuke had, he also had a greater range and natural feeling for threatening signals. He also didn't have to consciously sense the area, like Sasuke did. Both formations also allowed Sasuke and Naruto to more easily move into their joint attack and defence formations. Once Sakura had gotten better with her physical strength, it was more likely that they would use formations C and B which depended on the third teammate to shield the client, while Sasuke and Naruto deflected and defended from attacks.

They had barely set of, following Kakashi who had gotten the co-ordinates from the client, when Naruto stiffened.

"Clone group two has contact with the enemy." Naruto reported.

"Description?"

"Big ass sword." Naruto reported. "They made a lot of mist to try and hide, and then attacked. He was fast, and when I saw him he was covered in bandages on most parts of the body."

"Sensei?" Sasuke breathed, she recognised that description from the bingo-book.

"A-Class missing nin." Kakashi confirmed her suspicion. "Zabuza Momochi, the demon of the mist. Naruto, make a clone and pop to relay this information to the others." Once Naruto had a clone standing ready to listen, Kakashi continued. "Zabuza is a missing-nin from Kiri, and holds one of the seven swords of the mist, Kubikiribōchō. He is extremely strong in regards to upper body strength, he is also fast and considered very skilled with the assassination technique. When he next engages a clone group, try and get an assessment of his fighting technique. I've never faced him, nor do I know anyone who has. Does he use broad swings with the sword, or can he block close combat with a Kunai? When resorting to taijutsu, how does he fair? Try and mimic my fighting style as best you can. You've seen me fight, use that for as long as you can."

"Hai Sensei." Naruto and his clone agreed before the clone popped to rely the message.

"Naruto, let me know as your groups are engaged. Hopefully, we make it to Tazuna's house before he locates us and we can set up some defences." Kakashi ordered.

"Of course, sensei." Naruto nodded agreement.

The rest of their journey went in silence, with only Naruto to report a group being taken out, every now and then. They lost groups 1, 4, 7 and 8. This was an odd collection of groups, since that meant Zabuza wasn't finding them in order. He was going back and forward across the island, which means he'd likely passed by their group and not noticed them. This inability to find them, indicated that they didn't have a chakra sensor on the team, nor did they have a tracker. Although they were covering their tracks, the teams Naruto sent out where only doing the bare minimum which made them easier to find.

From the point that they docked on the island; it was nearly three hours till they reached Tazuna's home which was isolated from the closest village. There were another three villages, plus the daimyo residences which was a whole village by itself. According to the last reports, there was around 8500 residence on the island, but considering how much had changed there was a good possibility that statistic was no longer reliable because of the 'bandits' Gaito had hired and also because of the death of the residence due to the tight control the man had on the island – Sasuke highly doubted that Tazuna's son was the only one murdered as an example.

Tazuna's house was located on the edge of a large lake, in a clearing which was quite large, and led to a thin layer of trees that than led to the forest. A good majority of the island was covered in tress, with large clearings throughout, which was where the villages and small groups or single houses were located. The house looked weather beaten, but was standing strong – even the side which was stood on the water was holding strong. Despite the beaten conditions, it seemed Tazuna's building experience managed to keep his house up. Since they were on a lake, that also meant they had access to fish and so their presence wouldn't put a strain on the family since they can get their own food. Having the house in such an open area, presented both good and bad defence options.

Being so open made it easier for an enemy to throw a full scaled attack, and yet it also gave them a line of sight to see if an attack is coming. But it gave the opponents somewhere to hide while looking at them, potentially without them noticing if they were good at hiding – hunter-nin or ANBU level hiding. Being in such an open place gave them space to fight if necessary, and they could set up traps outside the perimeter of the house which wouldn't endanger the family if they incidentally ran into them.

"Naruto, traps around the entire perimeter. Sasuke, go with him and mark all the places he sets them up so I can see if there are any potential gaps and so the family knows where they are. We won't be able to trap them in their house if they need supplies from the village." Kakashi stopped Sasuke and Naruto from entering the home, while Sakura followed the client inside.

"Level?" Naruto questioned, pushing away his uncomfortableness about the likely answer he was expecting.

"5." Kakashi confirmed is thoughts. "Sasuke has additional supplies if you aren't carrying enough to cover the area. I want it ten metres deep."

"Hai sensei." Naruto and Sasuke confirmed together before heading into the forest.

Sasuke let Naruto take the lead since he was the expert in these things. Once they were in the woods, Naruto set to work. Level 5 traps meant that they were set up to kill, not detain, injure or slow down. Sasuke remained silent as Naruto worked, even when he ran out of supplies, instead silently handing over her own kit. It wasn't as creatively stocked, but it was enough for Naruto to finish trapping the area. Before they could go back to the house, Naruto stopped them.

"Sasuke, I want to tell you that next time… I fight by your side." Naruto said determinedly his hands balling into fists. "You needed me, and I wasn't there. You've put a lot of faith into me, and you believe I can be a good ninja. You believe I can reach my dream of Hokage – no one's ever believed in me before. And I know that you were the one who gave me those notes during school. If it wasn't for you, I never would have graduated despite what Iruka-sensei said. You have my word, Sasuke, I won't let you down again."

"I know Naruto." Sasuke placed a hand on his shoulder. "I trust you to have my back."