Alrighty, then! Much gratitude to all who reviewed. Thank you so much. Without further ado, back to the story...

The old man was introduced as Tazuna, the bridge-building expert. Team 7 was to escort him back to his country and guard him while he finished his bridge. Heck, anything was better than the babysitting-shopping-digging missions they almost went on. If it wasn't for Naruto opening his mouth about it, that's exactly what they would've been doing right now.

It was during the warmest part of the afternoon that Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi, and the old man Tazuna were walking down the main path through the forest, heading for the docks at the country's shoreline. It was a long trail, so they all had plenty of time to talk amongst themselves. Tazuna acknowledged that he was from Wave Country, and Kakashi explained that they didn't even have ninja there. It was too small. Then came a long-winded explanation about the five major countries of fire, water, lightning, wind, and earth, as well as their hidden villages; Leaf, Mist, Cloud, Rock, and Sand. Among other things.

Afterwards, the five travelers walked in silence. At least a full hour went by and not one of them said a word. Kakashi caught himself staring at Naruto more than once. /Ever since that first training mission, he's been acting normally. I haven't sensed anything unusual from him... Oh, well. With any luck, it was just a fluke. Nothing worth remembering.../ But he remembered the eyes. Oh, yes. To a shinobi that carried his particular ...'advantage', eyes were the measure of his opponents. They were what told him about every important aspect of the individual. In most everyone, they told all. But not these eyes... The jounin still wasn't quite sure just what it was about them, but he couldn't get them off his mind. And that could be a dangerous distraction.

Sasuke was being quiet for a different reason. He was still stinging from his humiliating defeat at the hands of his instructor. Over and over again, he played it back in his mind, trying to figure out what he could have done differently. He sprung that trap just like he planned, and he almost managed to grab one of the bells by forcing the jounin to use both his hands in blocking, while he still had one free. But even that didn't work. Finally, he pulled out his 'trump' card, and used the Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu. He could tell that he had caught the older man off guard, but the bastard still topped him. He used Doton Shinjuuzanshu no Jutsu and pulled the Uchiha underneath the ground, leaving only his head above the surface. It had taken the black-haired shinobi a total of 9 hours to get all the sand and dirt out of his clothes after that.

Even though she really didn't do any fighting, Sakura had her own bad memories from that test. She'd been hit with one of Kakashi's Genjutsu early on, which caused her to see Sasuke as a broken, bleeding rag doll. The kunoichi had been able to force that memory from her head ever since, much to her own relief.

They continued on for another few miles, passing a lone puddle of water in the shade of one of the trees. Once they were a good distance away from it, however, a pair of dark ninjas rose out of it, as if they were made of it. Both had long, raggedy black hair, and both wore the same type of masks over their faces. They were dressed in black, with outer garments covering intricate armor and weapons underneath. And both shinobi wore personalized forehead protectors, each with the same insignia in the center; four wavy lines, arranged in a square pattern. Ninjas of the Mist village.

Their attack speed was incredible. The first ninja hurled his partner a good distance, landing right next to the stunned group of travelers. A barbed chain was drawn between them, and with lightning speed, they managed to wrap it around Kakashi. Then, with a single pull, the chain appeared to, literally, rip the Jounin to shreds. "First one."

To say the least, none of them knew what to do. The only one who had been in a real battle before was now in many pieces on the ground. Sakura stepped back, a look of terror all across her face. Naruto stepped forward, still unable to believe what he had just seen. "Kakashi-sensei!" It couldn't be... of all people who should've seen that one coming...

Any and all thoughts ceased in the next instant. The two assasins had appeared directly behind Naruto. "Second one." And the blonde just froze. He had thought that he would do better in his first real battle, but now that he was here, ...well, it was not what he expected. He could hear the sound of the massive chain as it sliced through the air, coming to take him the same way it had taken his sensei. He could hear the hiss from the masks. Time seemed to stand still, ...and for only the second time in recent memory, Naruto's world faded into darkness.

Sasuke, seeing his opening, leapt into action. He pulled a shuriken and a kunai, together, and threw the shuriken first. The weapon hit the chain in midair, pining it to a tree. The kunai followed, acting as a nail to fasten the smaller weapon down. The chain was rendered useless. Both assasins stared at the trap for only a few seconds, trying to process this. Then, even while Sasuke was still in the air from his jump, ...something moved. In a flash, one attacker had been knocked away by a savage punch to the face, and the other recieved a foot strait to his gut, knocking him slightly upwards; and whatever had hit them had moved fast enough to cause a small cloud of dust to form.

The first shinobi stood back up, holding his face where the mask had been knocked off. Realizing that he was now up against someone he couldn't see, he jumped up out of the cloud. In the air, he saw the old man, then landed and renewed his attack. The other ninja did the same; their primary objective was the old man. In the next instant, the pair had dashed over to charge their target from both sides. Poor Sakura had no idea which one to guard against first. Sasuke had landed in the dust cloud and still had not emerged. It looked like the end.

That was when Naruto burst out of the dust cloud. He ran at a speed that surpassed the attackers', allowing him to easily catch up. He landed a kick to the ribs of the closest assasin, sending him flying up and over, then he dashed around the trembling two, grabbed the second assasin by one arm, and used the momentum to swing him around so that he connected with his partner in midair. The sound of cracking bones was clearly heard.

Now, keep in mind that, from start to finish, this scene occured in about 15 seconds.

The attackers were now crumpled up in a pile in the middle of the clearing. Sasuke was still standing where the dust cloud had long since passed on, while Sakura and Tazuna stood in the same place as when the whole thing started. All of them gaped, stunned, at the blonde boy who was hunched over, breathing hard from his sudden exhersion.

/That's much better. This body's not nearly as slow or weak as it used to be.../

Ever since the first test, the spirit of Senshi had made it a point to leave Naruto to fend for himself in his missions. All he did was assist in the development of the muscles and nerves, thereby increasing both physical strength and response time. After all, he did prefer hand-to-hand combat. He only interferred this time because the boy froze up, and would have died otherwise.

"Impressive." A familliar silver head emerged from the trees. "Looks like the Uchiha has a decent rival."

Sakura gasped, "Kakashi-sensei? But we thought that you were..." She found herself unable to finish her sentence.

Sasuke shook himself awake, then looked over at where Kakashi's 'remains' had landed. What lay in the grass were several slices of a log. "He used the replacement technique."

The Jounin slowly walked over to Naruto. Without a word, he looked into the boy's eyes. Yep... they were back. Once again, Naruto's eyes were narrowed and harsh, not to mention a lighter blue. /Just what is this?.../ He made a mental note to bring this matter to the attention of the Third when they got back.

xxxxXxxxx

About two hours later, the shinobi had loaded onto their boat and began heading towards the Wave Country. This time, the silence between them was more akward than anything. After the attack, Kakashi discussed a few things with Tazuna, revealing that things would get much more complicated, now that he knew the old man was being targeted by ninja. This was not part of his contract, after all. Mostly, though, they were all kind of ...afraid to bring up Naruto's little outburst.

Sasuke, meanwhile, was having his own private battle. /A decent rival? HIM! That's not possible! How could he, 'dead-last', suddenly become Super Ninja! GAAH! First Kakashi-sensei makes a total fool out of me, ...now the village idiot is showing me up! What the Hell? I'm the one who's supposed to become stronger, not him! I'm the one everyone calls the 'prodigy', not him! .../ The Uchiha sat in the boat, holding his head. /This just can't be happening. .../ He looked over at the blonde sitting at the front of the craft. /...How did he do that, anyway? He's gone through the exact same training and missions as the rest of us... Unless... he's secretly training himself.../ Sasuke sighed and leaned back, trying to put it out of his mind. He glanced over one more time at his new 'rival.' /I will not lose to you, Naruto.../

Well, that was fun. Now we see that Senshi's presence is making a difference, and it's starting to take it's toll on Sasuke. Looks like the tables have turned, ne? And yes, I do remember about Kyuubi. Trust me, he will make an appearance before this story ends. ;)

Please read & review! I can't finish without reviews!