New and Improved
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in it.
A/NAuthor's Note
"blah" talking
time lapse
Chapter 4: The Great Naruto Bridge-Part 1
"Oh, my cute little Tora-chan! I was so worried!" Madam Shijimi, the Fire Country Lord's wife, cried.
Team 7 had completed another one of their missions; locating Madame Shijimi's missing cat. They had been doing only D-class missions since they graduated 2 months ago.
I don't blame it for running away, Naruto thought, she's practically hugging it to death.
When she left, the Hokage gave them their next mission. They were all D-class ones.
"Damn you, old man! Can't you give us some better missions. How are these crappy D-class missions gonna help us?!" Naruto yelled.
"You just became a genin!" Iruka argued, "You should be glad you even get a mission!"
Naruto and Iruka argued for a while before the Hokage explained their method in giving out missions.
"I know all of those things but the D-class missions you give are so boring and easy!" Naruto reasoned.
Thinking it over for a moment, the Hokage decided to give them a C-Rank mission.
"I want you to protect a certain individual," he announced.
"Who?" Shikamaru asked.
"You'll see, please come in," the Hokage called.
An old man with white hair entered. He carried a large book bag and was drinking out of a sake bottle.
"This are my bodyguards! A bunch of brats! The shortest one doesn't even look like a ninja! Look at that stupid face!" he complained, leaning against the doorframe.
Naruto pretended to get mad and charged at him, "I dare you to say that again, old man! I'll kill you!!!"
Kakashi held him back, "What's the point of killing the person you're supposed to protect, idiot."
Naruto stopped and stood in-between his two teammates who were looking irritably at him.
"Who are you anyways?" Sasuke asked.
"I am the super expert bridge builder, Tazuna," he informed them.
Then in a more serious tone, he added, "I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."
When the introductions were over, the shinobi went home to pack while Tazuna waited for them at the Hokage Monument.
At home, Naruto decided to change into a brown musle shirt. On top of that, he wore an army patterned jacket with matching pants. He also wore dark brown boots.
He also took 3-dozen kunai, 2-dozen shurikens and 1 giant shuriken. Putting them on various parts of his clothes and body, he set off to meet his team.
They were talking when Naruto spotted a puddle of water. It hadn't rain for many days now, there couldn't have been any water.
Keeping his guard up, he looked at Kakashi. They locked eyes for a moment before looking away. Both knew the other noticed.
Soon enough, two chains surrounded Kakashi and cut him into pieces. Two masked shinobi weild the chains and rushed towards the others.
Sasuke and Naruto met their attacks while Shikamaru stayed back to protect Tazuna.
Naruto used a roundhouse kick, followed by a left jab that sent his enemy flying. He appeared behind the man and kicked him into the ground. The chuunin fainted from the blow.
Turning around, he spotted Sasuke next to Shikamaru, both of them guarding Tazuna. The other enemy ninja's chain was just centimeters away from beheading them.
Damn! I'm too far away!... he thought, trying to somehow stop the attack.
He started to run but stopped when Kakashi intervened.
Kakashi grabbed the chain and knocked the ninja out and tied them both to a tree. Then he ordered the genins to guard them while he and Tazuna had a little chat.
Outside of hearing range, Tazuna confessed and explained his dilemma.
Using his sharp hearing, Naruto heard the whole thing. When he heard the part about the assasins, he decided he shouldn't tell the others what he heard.
When Kakashi returned, they continued on their way.
Later that day
Naruto spotted a flash of white from the corner of his eye. Deciding to be cautious, he threw a shuriken at it.
Both Sasuke and Shikamaru took out a kunai and gathered around Tazuna.
Kakashi went to check while Naruto told them that he saw something white there. The jounin came back with a white snow rabbit.
Shikamaru eyed it suspiciously before looking around. How was there a white snow rabbit in the middle of summer? It must've been used for experimenting...
Up in a tree, a man watched the group. No wonder the Demon Brothers1 couldn't defeat this group. They have copy-ninja Kakashi...
A minute later, he sent a large shuriken at them. Naruto ducked instinctively while Kakashi told the others to do so, too.
Looking up, they all spotted the afforementioned man standing on a zanbato embedded in a tree.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Hidden Mist's Missing-nin, Momochi Zabuza," Kakashi stated.
Naruto was about to attack Zabuza when Sasuke grabbed his shoulder.
"Stay back, dobe. Don't you want to see how he does against him," he whispered harshly.
Naruto pouted but agreed, the 3 genis grabbed their charge and jumped back a few feet.
This will be difficult, Kakashi thought as he reached up to lift his forehead protector. Zabuza is very high-ranked.
"Oh, I'm flattered. You're going to use your sharingan eye on me," Zabuza sneered.
Sharingan? Sasuke thought, clearly surprised. How can he have the sharingan? It can't be...
He stared as the red, 3-branched eye of the sharingan gleamed in his teacher's eye, bringing back painful memories.
In front of him, Zabuza jumped off his zabato and onto the water. He performed a series of seals and used Hidden Mist no Jutsu.
He disappeared and the others looked around cautiously when fog started coming in heavily.
"Be careful," Kakashi warned, "I will do my best to protect you all, but I can't use the sharingan perfectly."
Suddenly, a voice was heard, it taunted, "Nine choices. Liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart and jugalur. Which one should I go after?"
The others were surprised.
Damn, I can't find the source of the voice, Naruto thought, and it's getting hard to breath, too.
Kakashi concentrated, closing his normal eye, he started performing a jutsu.
Naruto followed but at a slower pace. The air wasn't as heavy anymore. Shikamaru had already done it and was doing it for Tazuna.
Turning, he went to help Sasuke when he saw him shaking violently. Oh no, he's wide open for an attack, Naruto thought, trying to calm his friend down.
Kakashi also noticed and told everyone that he wouldn't let them die. Then he smiled at them through his mask.
At that moment, Zabuza decided to attack.
He leapt at Tazuna but Kakashi caught him before he did any damage. Zabuza turned into water and another Zabuza attacked Kakashi.
Kakashi turned out to be a water clone, too. The real Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza and held a kunai at his neck.
Kill him you idiot!!! Naruto mentally screamed. Kakashi was listening to Zabuza when he could have slit his throat and got this over with.
Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Naruto threw a shuriken at Zabuza's neck. The man turned into water upon contact.
The real Zabuza heaved his zanbato at Kakashi from behind. Kakashi was surprised but managed to dodge it in time. However, Zabuza didn't give him any time to think and sent him flying from a kick in the gut.
Kakashi fell into the water and when he got out, Zabuza imprisoned him within his water prison.
While holding the prison, he also sent a water clone to kill Tazuna and the 'brats'.
"Don't you feel helpless, Kakashi? Seeing as how you can't do a thing while I kill your charges," he taunted.
Seeing the clone, Naruto hand signaled Sasuke to stay behind and Shikamaru to attack. He stood in the middle, both backing Shikamaru up and protecting Tazuna since Sasuke was still in his paralyzed state.
The ponytailed boy crouched into position, determination in his eyes.
"What a cocky brat. No matter, he'll be easy to kill," Zabuza told Kakashi.
Knowing that his students were strong as a team and individually, he whispered, "Don't be so sure, I have faith in them."
Shikamaru waited for the bunshin to attack and when it did, he re-enforced his kick with chakra and destroyed the clone.
Somewhat surprised that a genin could defeat could defeat his clone so easily, Zabuza made some more. They all met the same fate. But one managed to kick Shikamaru in the chest, before Naruto took revenge.
Then Naruto yelled out, "Sasuke, catch!!!" Naruto got out his big shuriken and tossed it over to Sasuke. Running down the hill, he watched as Shikamaru took the defensive.
Sasuke, who finally got over his paralysis, threw Naruto's large shuriken at Zabuza. It was time for battle formation B.
Smirking, the older man dodged it. However, Naruto was swimming under him and aimed a kick straight up.
It sent him flying and also caused him to loose his hold on the prison at the same time. Now free, Kakashi pounded him.
When their battle was almost finished, several needles pierced through Zabuza's neck. A young hunter-nin appeared and took his body away. (I don't want write the battle because it takes too long and it's the same as in the story)
"Aren't hunter-nins supposed to destroy the body after they killed them?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah..." Kakashi answered.
Opening their eyes wide in shock, they looked for the boy. However, it was useless, he was gone.
"Damn," Kakashi murmured before collapsing. Naruto caught him before he reached the ground.
TBC
Chapter Preview
"I know that you don't have chakra," Kakashi stated
"I don't?" Naruto asked.
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