Visibility was low and an eerie quite settled upon the Team 7 and their client as they climbed into a small boat. They had entered the Land of Waves and were moving through the dense fog that surrounded it. The entire group was on edge. It had been a few days since their encounter with the Demon Brothers and Kakashi was worried that it wouldn't be long before more shinobi came after them. As their boatman paddled them forward, a large bridge came into view and Naruto couldn't help himself.

"It's huge!" The boy commented loudly before being silenced by the boatman and his own teammates. He then had to cover his mouth to avoid from speaking further and drawing attention to the small group.

"Mr. Tazuna," Kakashi then began to ask. He wanted to clear a few things up before he and his team put themselves into any more jeopardy. The reaction of the boatman was enough to confirm Kakashi's suspicions that Tazuna knew more about the people after him than he let on and Kakashi wanted that information. "Before we proceed any further, I need to ask you something. Why are these people after you? If you don't tell us, the mission ends when we drop you ashore; regardless of how my students feel about the matter," Kakashi stated sternly.

Tazuna braced himself before telling the group his story. He informed them of the significance of his bridge and how it would affect the shipping tycoon Gato's bottom line. Kakashi was surprised that someone like Gato was so invested in the black market; however, Tazuna continued to describe the horrors the man was capable of. He also informed the group that the Land of Waves had almost not wealth left as a result of Gato's monopoly on trade. That was the reason he could only afford a C rank mission instead of a B or an A. He didn't mean to drag a bunch of kids into his business; however, he and his compatriots could not spring enough together for a team of adults. He also told them that if they simply abandoned the mission then he would be dead before he reached his home.

"But don't feel bad about that… of course my sweet grandson will be upset. He'll cry; 'grandad, I want my grandad!'" Tazuna whined. He also informed the group that his daughter would blame all of them for his death.

Naruto began to feel bad about the concept of dropping the mission after Tazuna's display; however, Tayuya and Sasuke felt differently.

"How pathetic; you're trying to guilt trip a bunch of ninja," Sasuke said coldly.

"Yeah, you act like we would be so easily swayed. You realize we do this for the money right?" Tayuya said plainly. She was actually bluffing as she didn't give a damn about the money; however, she didn't want Tazuna to get the wrong idea about why they were helping him.

"Tayuya! I get Sasuke being a heartless bastard but I expected better from you! We already agreed to continuing the mission earlier remember!" Naruto yelled at her.

"Shhh! Quite you idiot! Did you forget we're trying to be sneaky!" Sasuke said as he reprimanded his teammate. He also made a mental note to get him back for his insult later. Tayuya then pulled Naruto into a headlock and gave him a nuggie.

"Yeah, dumb ass. Shut up for a sec while the grownups talk," Tayuya said before whispering into her cousin's ear. "I'm not that heartless but we can't just let this guy think that we're pushovers who will just do whatever he asks because he pouts about it," Tayuya finished and Naruto nodded in understanding.

"Fine. We should still finish the mission though. We can't have this guy's family going around and saying the Leaf Village is fickle and drops missions just because they get more difficult," Naruto said.

"Agreed, besides… we could use a challenge," Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Says one of the brats who was falling apart after killing an enemy ninja," Tazuna jabbed. Sasuke just gave the man a half-hearted glare in response.

"I don't see you defeating any ninja, Mr. 'important' bridge builder," Tayuya replied causing Tazuna to lower his head in shame. "Regardless, we want to finish this mission for our own reasons and not because we feel bad about your situation," Tayuya finished as she crossed her arms.

"I guess that settles it, you're stuck with us for now Mr. Tazuna. The mission continues," Kakashi said.

After that, a silence settled among the group once more. Eventually, they managed to reach the shore and proceeded toward Tazuna's house. Along the way, Naruto became eager to prove himself and began looking for any sign of adversaries. He then heard some movement from the bushes and threw a kunai into them. He thought he looked very cool; however, his team just looked at him flatly.

"Naruto… maybe don't just throw knives at things recklessly," Kakashi stated as he pulled the bushes apart to reveal a white rabbit that was scared within an inch of its life.

"Oh no! Poor bunny!" Naruto said as he grabbed the rabbit and began to caress it in an attempt to apologize.

"Good going dude, you nearly killed a cute little forest creature," Tayuya said as a large sweat drop formed on the back of her head from Naruto's embarrassing display. For his part, Sasuke just pinched the bridge of his nose and wondered how Naruto could be half-decent at combat and yet so clueless normally. Kakashi on the other hand took a moment to examine the rabbit and concluded it was a domesticated one; likely used for substitution purposes.

"Heads up guys, we aren't alone," Kakashi said as he deduced their next foe was about to show themselves. It was then that a giant cleaver-like swords spun towards the group at a blazing speed. Tayuya and Sasuke were able to force Tazuna to the ground to get out of the way while Kakashi and Naruto dodged. The blade then embedded itself into a tree after which, a large figure appeared standing atop the handle.

"Well well, if it isn't Zabuza Momochi," Kakashi stated as he calmly approached their foe. Naruto shook from anticipation as he saw this as his chance to make up for his pathetic display earlier. Tayuya saw what Naruto was thinking and motioned for Sasuke to cover him in case her cousin did something stupid. She decided to squat down low to the ground to provide earth-style support if needed. Sure enough, Naruto began to run towards their new adversary and Sasuke followed him; however, they were both stopped by Kakashi who explained that Zabuza was a jonin and that they needed to stay out of his way so he could deal with him. He and Zabuza engaged in some light banter where it was revealed that Kakashi possessed the Sharingan.

"Sharingan? That sounds familiar but… where have I heard that before?" Tayuya wondered as she observed her sensei closely. Sasuke was also intrigued and confused by Kakashi's apparent possession of his clan's dojutsu. He didn't know how that was possible unless Kakashi was related to him somehow… but if that were the case… then why didn't Kakashi perish with the rest of his clan. He would have to confront his sensei about it later; however, Sasuke realized he needed to focus on the present if he wanted to survive.

"Now quick! Tayuya, shield maneuver!" Kakashi ordered.

"Roger!" Tayuya said as she began weaving hand signs. Naruto and Sasuke immediately knew what was happening and retreated to her and the bridge builder. Once they were all grouped together, Tayuya created an earthen dome around them.

"Hmm… impressive kid you got there Kakashi. Almost a shame she'll have to die unless you hand over the bridge builder," Zabuza said as he cast his mist jutsu to coat the battleground in an even denser fog than they had moved through earlier.

"Not on your life Zabuza," Kakashi said as she revealed his Sharingan and the two proceeded to spar.

Inside the dome, the others could barely hear what was going on outside and it frustrated Naruto to no end.

"Gah! Tayuya! Can't you make it so that we can actually hear what's happening!"

"Sure Naruto, lemme just add some holes and make the walls all nice and thin for you so you can hear," Tayuya said sarcastically.

"Really?! You mean it?!"

"No! What kind of shield would this be if I made it easy to break?!" Tayuya yelled.

"Shhh! Shut up you two! I'm trying to listen to the fight," Sasuke said as he had an ear to the wall. Naruto shortly joined him in listening while Tayuya stayed near Tazuna in the center of the dome. She was ready to make repairs to it in case their enemy decided to take a potshot at them.

"What can you guys hear?" Tazuna asked quietly as he wanted to know how Kakashi was faring.

"Just the sound of blades meeting; nothing much yet," Sasuke stated.

The group then sat in silence for a while as they waited for something to happen. Eventually, things went quite right before Sasuke and Naruto heard a loud splash and the sound of moving water.

"What was that?!" Naruto asked Sasuke who only shrugged in response. Neither had any clue about what they had just heard. "Gah! We can't just sit here and do nothing!"

"Shut up and let me concentrate Naruto. I'll make a mud clone and have it slip outside to see what's happening," Tayuya said as she cloned herself. The clone then moved through the wall as if it were liquid and stood outside to observe what was happening.

"Oh, one of the runts has come out to play?" Zabuza asked as he held Kakashi in place with his water prison jutsu.

"Oh shit!" The clone said as she became aware of how dire their situation became.

"Such foul language. I should teach you some manners," Zabuza said as he created a water clone. The clone leapt towards Tayuya's at lightning speed and it could not react fast enough to avoid getting cleaved in two. Zabuza was surprised to find the girl's body began to melt back into mud and deduced it was a clone the whole time. "Sending a clone out instead of your real self? Smart; however, I doubt you have the chakra reserves to keep doing that up while also maintaining this wall," Zabuza said as he lightly swung his sword at the dome and sliced a chunk out of it. The dome immediately repaired itself; however, Tayuya flinched inside as it took a great deal of chakra and concentration to repair the only thing standing between them and certain death.

"Fuck! We can't do anything against this guy, he's a monster! He captured Kakashi sensei!" Tayuya shouted as she braced herself to repair the wall once more. She was sweating from the exertion and she kept having to repair the wall after every swing of Zabuza's sword lest he be able to chip away at it. Naruto grew concerned with his cousin's state.

"She can't keep this up forever, we have to do something!" Naruto said as he looked towards Sasuke.

"I doubt we can match a jonin in real combat… our only option is to free Kakashi," Sasuke replied. He thought for a moment about how they could make a plan to do that. They had never come up with such a plan before and even he was struggling to think of something they could do.

"Hey Sasuke, I have an idea," Naruto said suddenly and began whispering his plan into Sasuke's ear.

"Hmm… that's not a bad idea if we can pull it off… the only problem is that we need to leave the dome first. Think you can give us a hand with that Tayuya?" Sasuke asked.

"I think I can manage that," Tayuya said with a smirk. She didn't know what they were planning but the devious look on Naruto's face and the fact that Sasuke was agreeing to do it was enough evidence for her that it was a good idea. "Normally I'd make a tunnel for you guys but I can't at the moment so I'm just going to open and close the front of the dome real quick. You better move your asses as fast as you can when I do!"

"You got it," Naruto said as he transformed into a large shuriken. Sasuke then picked him up and gave Tayuya a thumbs up to open the dome. After she did, he dashed out and leapt into the air. He threw a demon wind shuriken he retrieved from his own bag and then threw Naruto afterwards and prayed their plan would work.

Sure enough, the blades went right past Zabuza's clone and headed straight for his main body. Just as expected, Zabuza caught the first shuriken and was forced to leap over Naruto; however, the duo had planned for this and Naruto quickly transformed back into himself to throw a kunai at the Mist ninja. This caused Zabuza to release the jutsu he had captured Kakashi in to dodge.

"You damn brats!" Zabuza yelled. He was about to throw the shuriken he caught at Naruto but was stopped by Kakashi.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Tayuya! Excellent work! You kids did great now leave the rest to me!" Kakashi said as he prepared for battle. He had tried to conserve his chakra in his earlier battle; however, he realized that was a mistake and this time he was going to go all out against Zabuza. Naruto could tell they had the upper hand now and was giddy with his success.

In mere moments, Kakashi and Zabuza sprung into another fight and Naruto and Sasuke watched in awe as the two prepared the same jutsu resulting into two massive water dragons clashing above the shinobi as they continued to mirror each other's movements. Eventually, Zabuza lost his composure and fell for Kakashi's genjutsu, allowing Kakashi to push him back with a water vortex. Once Zabuza was stunned, Kakashi threw several kunai at him and they hit his arms and legs.

"What the?! C-can you see the future?" Zabuza asked with fear in his eyes.

"Yes and this is your last battle," Kakashi replied before readying his kunai. Unfortunately, before he could strike, two senbon stabbed into Zabuza's neck and the ninja slumped to the ground. It was then that another Mist ninja revealed himself and Kakashi recognized the boy as a tracker ninja from the Mist Village. Naruto was shocked that such a tough opponent was defeated in a single blow and was getting all worked up over it.

"Hey Naruto, don't worry about it. The only reason that ninja could do that was because Kakashi already beat him first so don't sweat it," Sasuke said as he could see his comrade was about to have an outburst. This did help Naruto calm down as he had started developing feelings of inferiority upon seeing such skill.

"Your friend is right. You all have my thanks for helping take down a dangerous rouge ninja from my village," the masked shinobi replied.

"Oh… in that case, you're welcome!" Naruto yelled excitedly.

"How the Hell do you always have so much energy dude?" Tayuya said as she and Tazuna approached the group. Unfortunately, Tayuya had used more chakra than she anticipated and as soon as she got close to her friends, she collapsed. This startled Naruto, who ran over to her.

"Tayuya! Tayuya! Are you okay?" Naruto panicked.

"Don't worry loser, she just used up her chakra. She'll be fine," Sasuke said to reassure the anxious blond. He then went to pick Tayuya up; however, he was stopped by Tazuna who offered to do it for him.

"Helping carry her is the least I can do after putting you all through this," he said as he picked her up and placed her on his back.

With Tayuya's situation sorted, the group then faced the tracking ninja once more who proceeded to pick up Zabuza's corpse and made a motion to leave. "Sorry but I must be off, this body holds secrets of my village and I must guard them."

"Wait. Why not dispose of him here and now then? Isn't that what tracking ninja are supposed to do?" Kakashi questioned as he became suspicious of the shinobi's motives.

"That is usually the case yes; however… I'd rather not have foreign shinobi present while I operate. I appreciate your assistance but I hope you can understand my caution when dealing with the very same shinobi I'm supposed to guard this body's secrets from," the boy replied.

"That is understandable," Kakashi said as he placed his headband over his Sharingan. "Sorry for holding you up."

"It is no problem, farewell," the Mist ninja then disappeared in a swirl of wind.

"His words made sense in theory but I've worked with tracking ninja before and they don't normally care about who is present for their work… so is this just a special circumstance or… is something else going on here?" Kakashi thought as his team regrouped. He then looked at his students and realized they were exhausted from the day's events and could use a rest. "Well, no time to worry about that now. Got to get these kids somewhere safe."

"Alright guys, let's head ou-" Kakashi began before he saw his world turn black and fell to the ground.

"Kakashi sensei!" Naruto yelled out as he approached his teacher. Sasuke ran over as well and together they checked his vitals.

"He seems okay. Probably just used up his chakra too," Sasuke said with a sigh.

"That's a relief… wait a minute! Now we're stuck carrying him!" Naruto complained.

"We'd be dead by now if it weren't for him so I think it's fair that we carry him to Tazuna's place, right?" Sasuke said with an annoyed look on his face. "You really are an idiot sometimes, Naruto" The young Uchiha thought.

"Yeah I guess you're right… but what if we just dragged him instead? Then when he wakes up he'll be covered in mud!" Naruto chuckled before Sasuke hit him on the head.

"What happened to the 'real ninja' who put childish pranks behind him?" Sasuke asked sarcastically.

"Ow ow! Okay, okay! We'll carry him… he better not be too heavy though," Naruto whined as he and Sasuke picked Kakashi up and the group slowly made their way to Tazuna's house. Once they arrived, they were greeted warmly by Tazuna's daughter and Kakashi and Tayuya were given mats to sleep on so they could recover from the battle.

After a few hours, Tayuya woke up and was able to move around again. Some time later, Kakashi also woke up; however, he was in a much worse state physically speaking. He and the others discussed what had transpired and Kakashi thought long and hard about his suspicions. He thought that the most likely outcome was that Zabuza was alive and dropped that bombshell on his team and Tazuna's family.

"Here's the truth, Zabuza is alive," Kakashi stated sternly.

"No way!" Naruto yelled.

"Hey Sasuke, I thought you told me Kakashi had checked his pulse when I woke up," Tayuya asked as Naruto threw his fit.

"He did check it so I don't understand what he's getting at either," Sasuke replied.

"That tracking ninja must have put him into a temporary death state… the weapons he used and his actions don't make sense for killing but do make sense for tricking us into letting them go," Kakashi concluded.

"Shit… that means we'll have to fight him again. Dammit," Tayuya sighed as she leaned backwards. Naruto on the other hand was excited to have another shot at the guy and he was relieved that the Mist ninja didn't one-shot a guy who gave them so much trouble. "So what are we going to do if he shows up again? We barely survived the first time," Tayuya asked Kakashi. "And now you're down for the count thanks to using that freaky eye of yours."

Kakashi chuckled before saying, "I can still train you. I'll prepare you all for fighting against him."

Tayuya's eye twitched at this response, "Are you serious? How is a little extra training going to help us against a jonin?"

"Well think about it. The only reason we succeeded the first time was because of you genin's teamwork. You all have grown a lot since your academy days. After all, Tayuya, Sasuke, you two each took down a chunin by yourselves and Naruto, your strategy outsmarted a jonin today. I never told any of you this before but I think all three of you are already at chunin level and this mission has proven that. With a little more training, you'll be giving Zabuza a run for his money," Kakashi stated with a smile. His speech gave his students confidence and they were excited by their prospects now.

"So you noticed Kakashi sensei? Now things are going to get better dattebayo!" Naruto stated proudly.

"No they aren't! Nothing is every going to be good!" A voice suddenly declared from behind the genin. They all turned to see the small child who had joined their conversation.

"Who the fuck are you?" Tayuya asked.

"Tayuya, you should watch what you say around children," Kakashi scolded.

"Fine… who the ever loving fuck are you?" Tayuya asked again with a smirk. Kakashi simply face palmed as he realized he was fighting a losing battle with her. The child; however, simply ignored them and ran to his grandfather.

"Inari! Where have you been?" Tazuna asked as the child hugged him.

"Inari! That was very rude. These ninja protected your grandpa on his way home," the boy's mother reprimanded.

"Aw it's okay I'm rude to them too!" Tazuna said with a hearty laugh.

"You shouldn't be," Tayuya grumbled.

The child then turned to his mother and said, "Don't you see these people are going to die. Gato and his men will come and find them and wipe them out!"

"What did you say brat? Listen here, do you know what a super ninja is? Well that's me only a lot better! I'm gonna be Hokage! This Gato or whoever is no match for a real hero like me!"

"Super ninja? Dammit Naruto why do you have to be so lame," Sasuke thought.

"Naruto… the kid probably doesn't even know what a Hokage is… why do you always have to bring that up," Tayuya thought with a sigh.

"There's no such thing as a hero. You're just full of stupid ideas!"

"What did you say?!" Naruto yelled as he began to stomp towards the child. Tayuya wordlessly held him back so he wouldn't embarrass himself by assaulting a child.

"He's not wrong there," Sasuke joked at Naruto's expense.

"Dammit Sasuke, not now!" Naruto yelled to his teammate.

"If you want to stay alive you should go back where you came from," Inari said before walking off.

"What an asshole," Tayuya said as she let Naruto go.

"I'm going to go teach him some manners right now," Naruto stated as he stomped up to where Inari went. Tayuya and Sasuke followed him to make sure he didn't actually beat up a little kid. Kakashi hoped that they would approach the situation with level heads… he trusted Sasuke to do so; his other students however… he wasn't so sure about.

When the three genin of Squad 7 arrived at Inari's room they saw the door was open a crack and decided to take a peek inside before confronting him. There they saw him crying over a picture while wailing about his father. They presumed that was why he was acting this way. The kid must have lost his dad to Gato's men. They could relate as all of them had lost both of their parents; however…

"So that's why you're acting like a piece of shit, huh? Gato killed your dad, right?" Tayuya asked as she stepped into the room.

"W-what?! Leave me alone!" Inari said as he turned to face him.

"You're pathetic you know that?" Tayuya continued.

Inari gasped at her having the audacity to say such a thing. She didn't know anything about him and here she was acting like his pain was no big deal.

"How dare you?! My father-"

"Got himself killed trying to be a hero and your whole world shattered, right?" Tayuya cut him off as she leaned against the door frame with her teammates behind her.

"Huh? Well… yeah… how did-"

"Just a guess… but you know what? At least he died doing something. Can't say the same of you. You're just a hopeless little kid who won't amount to anything because you're a coward who can't stand up to anyone."

"You take that back right now!" Inari yelled at her.

"Make me," Tayuya said as she glared at him.

"Uh… uh…" Inari stuttered before he began to cry again. He knew he couldn't stand up to some ninja so there was nothing he could do.

"Jeez kid, if that's all it takes to make you cry then you really are hopeless," Tayuya said as she turned to leave. Before she did; however, she said, "by the way… in case you thought you were special or something; both of my parents were killed right in front of me when I was two."

Inari gasped after a minute as it took him some time to process what she said. He looked at her in astonishment.

"Yeah, and my parents were killed the day I was born. At least you had a dad for a while and you still have your mom," Naruto added as he also began to leave.

Inari remained completely shocked but he was not prepared for what he was about to hear next.

"Both of my parents were killed when I was seven. Along with my aunt, my uncle, my grandparents and every cousin I ever had. My whole clan was slaughtered and yet I'm still here to protect you and your grandfather so the same doesn't happen to you. You should show a little more respect," Sasuke finished as he turned to leave as well.

Inari couldn't believe it. All three of them had gone through even more than him and yet they were still able to fight? They still hadn't given up. What did that make him then… pathetic that's what. They were right. He slumped down and continued to wallow in his own pity for the rest of the night.