In less time than the proposed time, somehow Kakashi was not late, everyone was already gathered near the main exit of the village. The older ninja was talking to the watchmen and handing out the team's village exit forms, where their permission was and the expected time they were going to be gone. The bridge builder, his client, was standing a bit aside, still watching the children with a suspicion that they would not be able to handle it, which annoyed them greatly.

The trio, holding back from picking a fight with the client (that would not be nice), decided to open a map and see the path they would take to their destination. To see what interesting things they would see along the way. And since it was an escort mission they were theorizing about the best places for the (possible) bandits to ambush. Something that the sensei suggested they do (ninjas must always be prepared!).

Of all of them, the most nervous one there was Naruto. The boy seemed to expect that at some point someone was going to show up and tell him he couldn't go. Danzo thought it was a bad idea, but that the experience would make him grow, he just complained that it would affect his training plans. He made him promise that he would try to meditate and focus on his own chakra during the days he would be away since one of the goals was to make the boy's chakra control improve.

"We can go." the Hatake announced, calling everyone together. At this, the youngsters put the map away and began to head for the gate with the builder. Just as they were about to pass through it, they noticed that one member was missing.

"Hey, Naruto, let's go!" Sakura shouted, and the group turned to see what the problem was. The boy blinked and returned to reality.

"I'm coming!" he shouted back and ran to them. With each step to the gate, the blond could swear that he could hear every beat of his heart, his mouth was dry with nervousness and he was almost sure that his fingers were shaking a little. He didn't know what would happen when he stepped outside. When he was almost there, he stopped again, hesitating a little. Then he closed his eyes, swallowed hard, took a deep breath, caught his breath, and ran through the gate. As soon as he got over the walls and took another breath it seemed as if the world stopped around him and everything around him exploded in color.

After walking a little the pink girl, who, since there was nothing interesting to look at at the moment, decided to chat with the builder, asking about his work and the bridge he was building and that they should protect as well. Sasuke was listening to what the man was saying with curiosity, although he tried to keep an indifferent face. From time to time the pair stopped to look at the third member of the team, who for some reason looked around as if he had never seen a tree in his life.

Some time had passed, and they had walked a long way, and could no longer see the village. Strangely enough, they crossed paths with some puddles of water, although it hadn't rained for a few days and it was sunny that day. Imagine their surprise when two unknown shinobi emerged from them and promptly attacked and destroyed the Jounin with chains attached to each one. Without even having time to breathe the enemies moved on to the nearest target, which happened to be the blond.

"...!" by pure instinct the boy took a few steps back and avoided a fatal blow, receiving only a scratch on one hand that was raised to protect himself. The enemies seemed a bit surprised that he had managed this, as he seemed distracted, but they advanced again.

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted, and with trained precision managed to pin the chains to a tree with a combination of shuriken and kunai. "What do you think you're doing, you idiot?" he pushed the other away from the threat while kicking both of them. He just didn't expect that they would break free of the chains and go towards the others, where Sakura and the builder were, to the terror of the first, who was holding a shaking kunai but determined to fulfill her task of protecting their client.

Fortunately, a Hatake Kakashi emerged intact and stopped the two, holding them both and immobilizing them. Only stopping to calmly check the condition of the others when he made sure that the two shinobis were securely fastened to a tree nearby. That's when he saw the surprised and amazed faces that he was still alive and showed up on time (well, almost on time according to Sasuke, the blond almost died after all). He soon went about his business in order of priority.

"Naruto, you'll need to bleed this hand, their weapons were certainly poisoned," he said seriously, looking at the younger boy, who paled a bit at the idea. "Then we'll discuss your concentration on your surroundings. Now take care of that hand immediately, before the poison spreads."

"All right." the smaller boy took a kunai from his pocket and, unsure of how much to cut, stuck the knife in his hand harder than it really should have been. Frightening everyone with the amount of blood that came out.

"Naruto, you idiot!" the dark-haired boy complained.

"Don't scare me like that, baka!" the pink girl complained.

"You exaggerated." comments the Hatake approaching to check the wound, which quickly healed, which did not surprise the older man due to the knowledge about the fox and its influence on the blond's body. "But everything will be fine." said more for the benefit of the others.

"I'm sorry." the boy spoke clumsily, he himself didn't know what had happened in the last few minutes, he didn't even know how he managed to deflect in time when his mind was blank.

"Sasuke, Sakura you acted very well. Congratulations." he praised the pair, slightly proud of their actions.

"Thank you, sensei!" Sakura glowed with the recognition, while Sasuke just stretched and straightened his posture pompously.

"Tazuna. You owe us some explanation." he turned sternly to the builder. "Those ninjas were clearly focusing on you. Which makes this a mission well above the level that had been established and what you paid for. Protection against ninjas is something level B and above, totally different from protection against bandits and simpler threats. It is not a mission made for genins." he indicated his team. "Your initial implication about them being small now makes more sense."

"I-I know, it's just that..." he began to admit half hesitantly. "My country is going through difficulties. The money I had for this mission was all the money we could collect to ask for help..."

"And the lie and the lives of my students don't matter because of that?"

"No, that's not what I meant! I really didn't expect Gatou to hire ninjas to stop me from finishing the bridge. Usually, he only has bandits and common mercenaries at his disposal." he explained quickly.

"Gatou? That famous merchant tycoon?" Kakashi stops surprised, not expecting his involvement.

"He himself," he confirmed. "He took over our country by controlling the waters and the maritime trade. Now almost everyone who is not a nobleman or has some other way of earning an income has a hard time putting food on the table," he said seeing that everyone is paying attention to what he is saying. "He feels that his domain is being threatened by the bridge, so he wants to stop me from completing it. We are almost done with it, all that's left is to connect the two halves, that's why I was in the Land of Fire and came to ask for Konoha's assistance. If you don't help us I'm afraid we will be trapped in his tyrannical hands forever. Please don't give up on the mission, it will only take a week at most to complete!"

"Sensei, we can't abandon him like this. We can help!" Sakura said, turning to the platinum one.

"If more threats like those two appear you are able to handle them easily, you are an elite Jounin, you were even a captain of Anbu once. You're strong enough that most of those opponents are nothing to you. My brother told me." Sasuke argues. "If they're just bandits we can handle it, you wouldn't accept the mission if you didn't think so."

"We don't have to go back to the village because of me. You said it yourself that I'll be fine, I'm not feeling anything strange. Look," he showed the wound that was already practically healed, to the shock of his colleagues (and the client) who had never seen someone heal so quickly.

"Do you think you can handle it if more ninjas show up?"

"If we work as a team we can manage, if not we will at least hold them off long enough for you to come and help us." she wasn't going to let fear paralyze her, after all, she had decided to become a ninja and had entered the academy for this.

"It was for situations like this that you taught us those formations and made us review and correct the basic fighting style of the academy, right? All we need to do is follow them and watch each other's backs. Getting experience is important in a ninja's career." the Uchiha pointed and shrugged trying to give the impression of indifference although he didn't want to miss the opportunity to do a higher-level mission and be able to brag to his brother afterward.

"I won't be a deadweight again. Definitely!" the blond declared, he also didn't want to know what would happen if they went back to Konoha now, he didn't know if he wanted to go back, if leaving the mission would have some bad repercussions or something. He wanted to explore more outside, he didn't know when and if he would have the opportunity again! What if they never let him go out like that again because of what he was? "And you always talk about it being wrong to abandon teammates, but wouldn't it be the same if we abandoned someone who is asking for our help?" faced the older man who was surprised by the words.

"Okay." he smiled, but then became serious. "But if at any time you look like you can't handle it, we'll be back. Don't think that your life is disposable."

"Thank you very much!" the old man spoke extremely appreciative of their decision.

They moved on after this, returning to their journey. When they finally reached the shore, there was a boat belonging to an acquaintance of Tazuna's waiting for them, so that they could return as discreetly as possible, away from the official routes and taking advantage of the thick fog that was at that time, so thick that it was barely possible to see an inch in front of them. The fisherman guided them out of pure habit and knowledge of the waters surrounding the island. By coincidence, they passed close to the bridge that was being built and were amazed by its gigantic size.

In the meantime, both residents of the island explained further how things were with Gatou's control ov er them. How he approached it with his company out of pure greed and took power initially through commercial treaties, which for being an island it lived purely by sea trade. And that is why the idea of other possibilities that the bridge brought was a threat to him, and why he wanted to kill the engineer responsible for the work, preventing its completion. And because of this, they had to go as unnoticed as possible, to gain time and go as safely as possible. So the boat only docked at a pier far away from the harbor, well hidden and out of sight, but not obvious or not used enough to be suspicious.

"Thank you, Isamu. Your help and courage will surely help our country out of this misery soon, my friend!" the builder thanked him.

"Good luck with the bridge. We are all counting on you to clear the way!" the fisherman answered back before pulling away and mingling with the other boats in the distance.

"If we follow this trail we'll reach your house in no time, right?" the Hatake looked at him to confirm the direction to be followed.

"That's right, if we follow it, my house will be visible a few minutes after we pass through the trees. My house is near the river, so as long as we can hear the sound of running water we'll be fine. Please take me back to it safely. I'm counting on you." he asked the ninjas in front of him humbly.

They quickly followed the path cautiously in an attempt to avoid another ambush. Naruto particularly looked around frequently, sometimes making strange faces, the reason for this no one knew and they chose not to ask, at least he was paying more attention than before. Until one moment he, out of nowhere, focused in one direction and threw a shuriken, scaring the hell out of them.

"Naruto, what was that?" Sakura was the first to say something.

"There's a presence there!" the blond defended himself, not knowing how to explain what he had sensed.

"It's just a white rabbit. That's strange." the Uchiha, who had come closer to check it out, said.

"Don't go throwing weapons like that without thinking straight." Kakashi scolded, but without any heat in his words. Stopping to analyze the bizarre fact that it was a white rabbit and that this species only looked like this in winter. "Stay alert," he said softly, just so his companions could hear, while he looked around more carefully, looking for the threat. "Get down!" he shouted seconds before a huge sword came flying and whirled towards them. It stopped when it struck a tree in the opposite direction from where it came from, and in the blink of an eye, an unknown shinobi was standing on its handle.

"Momochi Zabuza, nukenin of the Mist Village." recognized from the Bingo book, a book that contained information about nukenins, criminals, and enemies of the village, each having their own version. The genins tensed at the jounin's tone, it was an obvious warning to them.

"Hatake Kakashi, the famous copycat ninja of Konoha." the stranger, named Zabuza, watched the white-haired one carefully, knowing the fame and stories the other possessed. "Independent of this I must warn you... This old man's head is mine."

"Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, don't try to enter the fight. He's on a totally different level compared to the ones before. He's a jounin like me." he clarified as he straightened his posture for the inevitable. "The goal and focus of you are only to protect our client, understand?" he looked quickly at the younger ones just to confirm that they understood, they nodded positively and positioned themselves around Tazuna in one of the formations the elder had taught them in case they had to go on the defensive. "Your opponent is me, Zabuza. Leave the children out of this," he said, as he prepared to lift the bandana from his eye to reveal his other eye.

"I'm someone worthy of having the Sharingan right from the start like this? I feel honored." the enemy spoke, already turning towards them.

"Sharingan?" Sasuke startled briefly before he remembered. 'That's true, my brother told me that he possessed an eye, even though he was not an Uchiha. If I remember correctly my father spoke that he is one of the few with that honor, that it was a gift that should be respected.'

'Our sensei has a Sharingan even though he is not from Sasuke's clan? I didn't know that! How amazing!' Haruno looked at her teacher in amazement, he was stronger than she expected.

'Why does this term make me uncomfortable now?' the blond thought confused, it was not the first time he heard about the famous red eyes with tomes.

"I wonder if all the rumors about you are true. Did you really copy 1000 jutsus?" he inquired curiously, totally ignoring the brats.

"Why don't we stop talking and you come to find out for yourself?" he replied with a wry smile but remained totally alert.

"You're right, I need to kill the old man." he agreed, and in less than a blink of an eye he was already on his way, forcing everyone to retreat, and the sound of clashing blades resounded in the clearing. The Hatake had intermediated the sword with a kunai. "But first I will have to deal with you." he went to the river and made a few seals with his hands before declaring. "Ninpou: Kirigakure no Jutsu!" in an instant a fog had formed over the whole area, thicker than the one they had passed by boat earlier.

"Everyone gets down!" Naruto exclaims suddenly, pushing the builder along with him.

"It seems you have sharp instincts, kid. What an inconvenience. I'll have to get rid of you too," he kicked the boy aside, but the other two genin, already armed, stood in front of the builder. The adult looked at the scene with disdain before grabbing the child he had thrown away by the neck. "I wonder what you would choose if you had to choose between your own life, the life of the one you are protecting, and the life of your colleague..." he tightened his grip a little on the blond who gasped in shortness of breath and pain, the other two looked at the scene in horror, divided on what to do.

"Don't touch my students, you bastard." Kakashi emerged between them, released the boy, pushed him to safety, and stabbed the shirtless man in the liver, which dissolved into water. Which soon escalated into one fighting the other, sometimes blocking the blades and sometimes stabbing each other before getting frustrated that it was a replacement or a water clone, but until then both not spending much chakra, waiting for the opponent to do it first. Seeing that the current strategy was not working both started an exchange of taijutsu blows, but where one attacked another defended, when it was the opposite the other redirected the blow. While one possessed more brute strength the other had the agility and versatility to use that strength against him.

"Sensei wasn't kidding. They are completely on another level." Sakura commented, approaching and helping the blond to stand up, taking advantage of the adults' distraction.

"Are you okay?" the raven of the team asks as the two approaches each other.

"I'll be fine, but I think this is going to become purple," he said a little hoarse from the pressure that had been put on his throat, although it was capable of fading fast too, he never stayed hurt for long.

"Do you think he'll win?" the pink one looks at her companions nervously, as they all paid attention to the battle in front of them. "Shouldn't the Sharingan help him get the upper hand in the fight? Doesn't the doujutsu help to predict movements?" she remembered what she had read in books.

"The Sharingan helps, it copies and predicts the movements and techniques used as well. But we can't forget that he is fighting to protect us, so this must be more difficult than an ordinary fight. So much so that he is preventing any of the nukenin's attacks from coming our way." the Uchiha explained, but not knowing how to answer the first question, he only hoped that the answer was yes.

"Do you have a Sharingan?" Naruto asked the ravenette.

"It hasn't awakened yet. As far as I know, it usually needs some triggers and very strong feelings," he told a little frustrated, after all, at his age his brother already had all three tomoes!

Intending to surprise the enemy with the use of his own element, the Hatake broke the exchange of blows and jumped towards the river, but as soon as he landed he realized that there was something strange, because his foot sank into the water when it certainly shouldn't have. And in that millisecond of distraction, Zabuza emerged at the Leaf Village ninja's side and trapped him in a prison of water, from which the jounin was unable to get out if the latter's wide eyes were any indication.

"Sensei!" the genins scream in terror, what should they do now? The sensei always said that they shouldn't abandon their companions and that it was very important, so why was he signaling them to run away and abandon him?

"Time to end this make-believe of being a ninja." decrees, without moving from where he was holding the large water orb, making a seal with his free hand and creating another Mizu bunshin, which went towards the young ninjas.

"No!" Naruto denies it. "We're not playing!"

"Oh? No? So you think you can defeat me?"

"We don't have to beat you. You only trapped our sensei in a trap because you know you can't beat him."

"Naruto is right." Sasuke widened his eyes understanding his colleague's idea. "We don't need to win against a jounin, just free Kakashi-sensei." he spoke low.

"Plan A?" Naruto suggested, looking at them both with a brief smile, they smiled back at him and agreed. "Tajuu Kage bunshin!" he announced after making a seal and hundreds of clones appeared, surrounding the renegade ninja's clone, who was taken completely by surprise that a genin knew this technique and was able to make so many clones at once without dying in the process. Even the other two were amazed, but they had to focus on their role in the plan. "Attack!"

After all the blondes shouted together, they jumped on top of the water clone while he was still surprised. When those on top of him were thrown away, they each picked up kunais, one imitating the other, and threw them in his direction, who dodged several before being caught off guard again when some contained exploding seals. The adult clone was also confused by the other two apparently doing nothing, just standing there smiling at him for some reason, which made him annoyed and irritated by the audacity of a bunch of brats.

"Now!" one of the blondes proclaimed, taking advantage of the dust and distraction the explosion had caused. This time their target was the real body of the renegade, who had not expected such courage and intelligence from the children. With a seal, he created and spat a water ball in the direction of the kunais to slow them down and disable the bomb papers. This also destroyed several of the clones that were closer to the edge and that had not been affected by the explosion before.

"We..."

"...got you!" a pair of blondes proclaimed coming up from where two other kunais were passing by his side, they had been thrown and because they weren't even going to touch him, he had ignored them. A second wave of smoke one of the blondes revealed himself as the ravenette as they both spun around to kick and stab the nukenin who was forced to release the white-haired ninja.

"Fucking brats!" he growled with rage, especially since one of them managed to scratch him near the eye. "But I guess it's my fault for underestimating you. Now you're going to die!" he ran towards the blond, who was closer, and who had been the first to get in his way ready to drop a kunai on the boy's head.

"No, Zabuza. You're the one who's going to die." Kakashi informed stopping the weapon with his own arm and shoving another one into his opponent's abdomen before kicking the exact same spot. "Nobody threatens my team."

"Arg!" the renegade spat blood and hit a tree, but before he could recover, he was pierced and stuck with more kunais, thrown with strength and precision enough to trap him there. But before the Hatake could get close enough to strike the fatal blow, giant needles practically appeared on the nukenin's neck, so fast they were thrown.

"That's right. He had to die." announced a new stranger wearing a porcelain mask with the symbol of the Mist Village.

"An Oinin from Kirigakure, a hunter of renegade ninjas," Kakashi speaks for the benefit of the genin who were looking at the newcomer with suspicion and apprehension while approaching to check if the other was really dead. "He came after Zabuza's head I presume." he nodded after confirming.

"That's right. I must thank you for your assistance in killing him." the masked boy replied and in an instant appeared near the body after the jounin had joined with his own group. "Thank you, but now I must leave to destroy the body." he disappeared, in fact carrying the body along, leaving behind only the blood on the ground and on the tree as proof.

"We survived!" Sakura sighed with relief, she was responsible for keeping guard with an illusion of the ravenette while the other two freed the professor.

"You did well." Kakashi praised the group. "But the next time I order you to run, you'd better obey." -he oscillated.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke approached, looking worried at the adult.

"I'm fine, the Sharingan only drained a lot of my chakra, the blood loss and the time I spent without breathing in that bubble don't really help." he clarified with a smile to relax the smaller ones. "With a little rest, I'll be fine."

"We are already close to my house. Let's go." called the builder, who helped the youngest adult to walk there, as it was obvious how much effort he made to stand up and not scare the children.

Arriving at the house they were greeted by his daughter, who was clearly relieved to see her father alive and had brought help from ninjas. For the next two days, they rested from the journey and battle before the teacher decided it was time to train them more because his instincts told him that the situation had not yet been fully resolved and they would need all their strength soon.

Notes:

So, what do you think? Was it good? It was a complex chapter to write because there was no reason to change Zabuza too much in my story, but I couldn't copy the original either, so I hope I found a balance.
Let me know what your favorite parts were and what you found most interesting!
Remember: feedback is always good and welcome, I love to know what you think and your theories for what comes next. Questions are welcome too, although I won't answer them with spoilers, of course!
Hope to see you in the next chapters!
See you next week!