The day after Team 7's final test was without a doubt one of the most disheartening days of their entire lives. About half a decade spent learning the way of the ninja finally amounted to the equivalent of being a neighborhood good Samaritan except paid and for the entire village. Kakashi had to make Sasuke promise to train with Naruto after their first job was done to calm him down. He even took all three to Ichiraku since Sakura wanted whatever Sasuke wanted, and Sasuke was too much of a downer to like anything. The two had to watch Naruto interact with people who actually appreciated him, which they couldn't help but find odd.
Ever since, the team would take some time afterward to train or go over tactics. Kakashi was often busy helping Sakura and her fundamentals while the boys went at it without academy regulations holding them back. That unfortunately led to the current situation of Naruto nearly breaking Sasuke's arm in a hold he mistakenly thought he could shimmy out of.
The blond raised an eyebrow at a crack followed by a choked breath. "Oh shit." He let go and stood up from their positions on the ground to dust himself off. "Does this mean I win?"
Kakashi body flickered over. "Sasuke, when your opponent has you in a full hold, you're not going to get out." He knelt down and reset the boy's elbow, causing him to grunt. "I recommend stabbing, but that's out of the equation in sparring." Picking him up to his feet, he stood up. "Just don't get caught in a hold if you value both your life and the ability to use hand signs in short notice."
"Why don't they teach that in the academy?" Sasuke asked, taking in deep breaths.
"Picture what just happened to you but with actual broken bones and crying." He looked from him to Naruto. "After watching you two fight a few times, I think I understand your main failings; you two are so used to each other you've fallen into roles: attacker and defender, when you should be both." He crossed his arms. "Naruto, you're too aggression focused when your bouncy footwork is fantastic for defense." He glanced at the other. "Sasuke, you're too defensive when your flat-footedness is perfect for heavy blows and efficient strikes. Naruto's stamina is superior to yours, so being defensive will only wear you down, though your flat-feet does conserve stamina." He gave an eye-smile at their contemplative faces. "You're reacting to each other more than trying to win over the other."
Naruto hummed before glancing at Sasuke. "Can you still fight?" He smiled at a nod and lifted a fist inches from his lips, letting the other rest by his hip. When they resumed their footwork, he weaved away from a surprise punch before hopping back from a low kick. "Nice!" He closed in for a punch but was forced back again by another kick that scraped his thigh.
Sakura watched Kakashi walk away from the two towards her. "They're really on another level, huh?" She gulped. "Naruto already beat a chunin."
"Mizuki was below average as far as chunin go, but he is around that range. Sasuke too." He chuckled at her shaking. "Relax. It takes more than just taijutsu to become a chunin or a good ninja. Those two need to fight more than just each other to get better."
"Can I do anything they can't?"
Kakashi hummed. "I guess I can try teaching you a little trick right now. Remember that image of Sasuke dying you saw at the practice field?"
Sakura smiled, trying hard not to blush. "The one I fainted at?"
"Yeah, I can show you how to do that." He made the snake and rat hand signs. "Make sure to be close but not touching your target. Think about your worst fear and it'll draw theirs out. A basic genjutsu. Useful as a distraction, which is all you really need." He eye-smiled. "Try it on me."
"Is that...okay?"
"I know you're going to use it, I know how to break out of genjutsu, and I already know what I'm most afraid of. Go ahead." He gave a nod of encouragement as she went through the seals. When he saw the faces of his dead comrades, the Fourth Hokage, a red-haired woman, and a dying Team 7 looking at him with disgust, he gave a thumbs up. "Nice job." He made a hand seal and the image disappeared. "That was the Death Mirage Jutsu belonging to the Demonic Illusion line of genjutsu."
"Who the hell named it that?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, but he probably used it on someone who was terrified of dying." He took out his new copy of Make-Out Paradise. "Now let's work on your taijutsu."
Sakura sighed before putting her fists up.
It was another afternoon training with Team 7.
The four of them were back in the at the mission assignment desk within the ninja academy. They were getting paid for retrieving the Fire Daimyo's wife's cat. She was choking the life out of it but only Sakura really cared. The Hokage and Iruka sat behind desks along with other officials.
Sarutobi held out and looked over a scroll list. "Next on the agenda is hel–"
"So help me!" Naruto yelled and stepped forward, making Kakashi restrain him from behind. "If I'm sent out to help one more ungrateful cunt who can't even be bothered to do anything themselves, I'm going to tie them up and burn their house down with them in it!"
Iruka slammed his hand down on his desk. "You are in the presence of the Hokage and Madam Shijimi! As a genin, you are restricted to D and C rank missions for you to build up your skills, so you'll be ready for the B and A rank missions!"
"Bullshit! Simple fucking chores! I killed Mizuki, dammit! Doesn't that mean anything?!" Kakashi shifting his hold from an armbar to a choke only made him angrier.
"Let him go," Sarutobi commanded. He frowned as the boy stumbled forward and stopped. "You did me a service by stopping Mizuki, but I will not give you nor your team special treatment for it. This what all of your peers have been doing."
Naruto took a deep breath and sighed. "Then at least give us something, old man. How are we supposed to get any better if we don't actually have real experiences?"
Sarutobi took a puff of his pipe. "You're not wrong. Since you're so determined, I'm going to give you a C rank mission: you'll be bodyguards on a journey."
"Really?" Naruto began bouncing on the balls of his feet, to the discomfort of his teammates and joy of the old man. "Is it a princess?! A feudal lord?!"
"Don't get your hopes up." He looked to a side-door. "Send him in!"
The door slid open for an old man, bottle in hand and pack on his back, to walk out. "What the? A bunch of snot-nosed kids?" He resumed downing the bottle.
"Ah fuck," Naruto said, voicing his teammates' thoughts as he usually did.
He took another gulp and lowered it. "I'm Tazuna, a master bridge builder, and I must return to my country, the Land of Waves. I'm building a bridge there that will change many things, and I expect you to get me there safely, even if it means giving up your life."
"You heard the man!" Sarutobi yelled. "Get to it."
Dejected again, Team 7 obeyed their highest office, escorting the man to the front of the village gates with no incident.
Naruto jumped in joy when they were more than some distance out. "We're leaving! We're leaving!" He turned to the mostly confused party. "We're actually leaving!"
"Only for a while," Kakashi said. The grimace on the boy's face as realization struck made him worry.
"Am I really supposed to entrust my life to this runt?" Tazuna asked.
"You're right." Naruto smirked. "I'll just walk out of the way when the bandits come and let them make you mincemeat, limp-dick geezer."
"Naruto, we're being paid to protect him." He looked to the stunned man. "You do want him to protect you, right?" A nod gave him exactly what he wanted. "Good! Let's get going."
They ventured further along the path. While everyone else was focusing on the road, Naruto's eyes wandered. It really was something he was unused to. The lack of any giant walls in the distance made him feel like he could run around forever. Best of all, there was no one other than bridge builder around to give him that stupid look everyone else had.
"So long as you live in that village, you will always be despised."
It was some time before they crossed a strange puddle. The oddity of it fell beneath all but one of their notice. Several more feet down the road, Kakashi was bound by bladed chains and apparently torn apart with no blood to be seen by two men wearing respirators using odd claw gauntlets.
Naruto, hearing a rattling chain behind him, jumped back and spun to kick the closest to him in the side of his face. A shuriken thrown by Sasuke stopped the other from rushing him and lodged the chain in a tree. While he socked his in the jaw, he saw a kunai secure the shuriken's hold by embedding itself in the tree through the shuriken's singular hole.
They dislodged the chain from their gauntlets, circled around, and made a charge for the bridge builder, who Sakura was now guarding with her body, only for Kakashi to snatch them by the necks, choking them unconscious with only one arm each.
"Hey," Naruto protested.
"You already got two good hits in. Do you really think he would've put up much more of a fight?" For emphasis, he dropped their limp bodies. His one good eye turned to Tazuna. "When you put in your request, you asked for standard protection against common thugs." He kicked one. "These are ninja with the Hidden Mist Village. They went straight for you after thinking I, the main threat, was gone. They even laid in wait in the form of a puddle, in an area where it obviously hasn't rained in weeks. If we continue on, we're likely to encounter even more enemy ninja, elevating this into a B rank mission."
Sakura swallowed a lump in her throat. "We should go ba–" The unfazed expressions of her two other squad-mates told her that was not an option in their eyes.
"Come on, pink forehead." Naruto grinned. "Don't you want to make that bitch Ino jealous?"
That's all he needed to say.
"Well, duh!" She blushed at her outburst. "I mean, I don't want to die, but I do want to see her squirm."
Kakashi laughed. "Then it's settled. We're in this until the end." He resumed walking yet paused when the sound of flesh being cut open reached his ears. Turning his head, he saw Naruto knelt over and slitting the throat of one of the chunin.
They all stared at him, so he stared back. "...What?" He stood up and held the bloodied kunai loosely in his hand, the wrist part of his sleeve covered in blood. "We weren't seriously just going to leave them here, right?" He stepped towards the other one but a kunai throw from Kakashi skewered the chunin's throat.
"Come along," the jonin said. He was debating between sparing or carrying them along to interrogate when they woke up. The Hidden Mist didn't take failure lightly, so they were screwed regardless. If they were missing ninja, they were dead men walking too. Naruto's decision was tactically sound, as they could've followed to attack again or escaped if left strung up, but his casualness was disturbing.
And so they journeyed onward. It took some time until they arrived at the closest thing to a border, the body of water keeping the Land of Waves isolated from the mainland. The ferryman that took them on a boat was a shady sort, but he knew Tazuna, and they were unfamiliar with the location.
Naruto's eyes widened at the partially made huge structure supported by massive pillars sunk into the river. "Holy shit!"
"Quiet down," the ferryman whispered as loud as he could. "Why do you think we're traveling in this mist? Rowing instead of using an engine?"
Kakashi looked to Tazuna. "I need to know who is after you before we meet the pier. If you don't tell us, I'll have to end the mission after we drop you off."
"...The shipping magnate Gato," he said.
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "You say that name like we should know it."
"He's one of the richest men in the world," Kakashi elaborated.
"And he's also a corrupt, drug-trafficking crime lord," Tazuna spat. "He cut off transportation and shipping to the Land of the Waves a year ago, bleeding our wealth out and having anyone who tried to stand up to him killed. But, if we complete the bridge, his hold over us will be shattered."
Sakura raised a hand to her chin. "Why become a crime lord if you're already rich?"
"Why not?" Naruto asked.
"So," Kakashi said, ignoring them both, "you claimed it was a C rank mission because you lacked the money in a last desperate hope."
Tazuna nodded. "If you leave me alone, I'll be assassinated before I can complete the bridge. Nothing to worry about; my grandson will only cry his heart out for his beloved grandfather. And my daughter will blame you for abandoning her father in his time of need." He waved it off. "Oh well, it's not your fault."
"And people tell me I have a shitty attitude," Naruto grumbled.
Sasuke maintained his usual cool expression, though he felt the urge to twitch his brow. "We were already going to continue with the mission."
"Take it as incentive," Kakashi said with an eye-smile.
They eventually made it out of the mist to see the Land of the Waves proper, a not-quite connected landmass with rivers snaking throughout the entire thing. Trees with snake-like trunks sprouted from the water. It was a beautiful sight most of them appreciated. Tazuna's friend left right after they stopped at the pier. Trouble steered its head when they were far in to a forest path by a river.
Naruto looked to a bush on their right, frowned, drew a kunai from his pouch, and threw it. "We're not alone." He put his fists up and walked towards the foliage with Sakura in tow, Sasuke covering the bridge builder with Kakashi.
The pink-haired girl cooed at the sight of a shivering white bunny with a kunai implanted in the tree behind it, centimeters away from a vital spot. "It's just a rabbit."
"Damn, I was aiming for its head." He raised an eyebrow at her worried expression. "What is up with you guys?" He heard the others approach while he took the kunai out and back into his pouch.
"A white rabbit?" Kakashi asked. His eye narrowed. "Let's step back into the clearing." Feeling the implicit tone in his voice, the three surrounded the bridge builder without showing they were on guard. He took point as the most qualified ninja and looked around. The faint sound of leaves being cut some ways from their back told him all he needed. "Get down!" He ducked while the others dropped, all avoiding a swift group decapitation. Looking up, he saw a bandage faced man standing on the hilt of a bizarre, brutal-looking giant sword embedded into a tree. Everyone else stood up as he did. "Well, well. If it isn't Zabuza Momochi, the rogue ninja."
"Finally, someone else to fight!" Naruto punched a fist into an open palm and walked forward, but Kakashi blocked his way with an arm. "Oh, come on."
"This man is beyond your current level of ability." He put his other hand on his forehead protector. "And if I have to worry about you four, I have to go all out."
Zabuza shifted to look down properly at the other jonin. "I suppose this is an honor." He lifted his hairless brow at the red eye with three commas overlapping a ring around the pupil. "Never seen the Sharingan up close."
The beast in Naruto stirred when he saw a glance's worth of it from his position. "Disgusting thing. Power through deception, weakness, and thievery. An unworthy successor."
"Manji formation!" Kakashi ordered, snapping Naruto out of it.
The three genin got in front of Tazuna with their kunai out. Under their team leader's orders, they stood by and watched. Kakashi seemed to be doing well at first, saving them from Zabuza and his concealing mist. But one well-aimed kick and a jutsu put the silver-haired man in a water prison over the lake.
"This is the Copycat Ninja, huh?" The Hidden Mist shinobi asked while performing a one-handed Water Clone Jutsu, his other maintaining the steel-strong water.
"I underestimated you...and just how rusty I am," Kakashi admitted. He was debating trying to break out with his signature jutsu, but Zabuza likely knew to keep his Water Jutsu unpurified, and he was on top of a large body of water.
Naruto hand sealed a dozen other hims into existence. "Alright, lets go!" They cheered and drew shuriken from their pouches.
"Run away!"
"Tell me that after you beat No-Brows!" One Naruto said. "Oh wait," another chimed in. "You're his prison bitch!" They threw their weapons.
Clone Zabuza shielded his body with his awkward-looking sword as he advanced. "I don't know whether to kill you first or last."
"Naruto! Keep at it!" Sasuke drew a shuriken of his own and narrowed his eyes at the openings in the sword. If he could put a kunai through a shuriken, he could put a shuriken through what was meant for a human head. The stream of weapons made his indistinguishable, letting it puncture the clone's leg with no attempt to maneuver out of.
Zabuza, seeing the throwing weapons focus on him, jumped back more than a few feet and started making hand signs to deal with the released Kakashi, who started copying him.
Sakura felt useless and angry at that fact, so she made the two hand signs their leader taught her. She was out of the range he said was necessary. However, she remembered the silver-haired man looked her in the eye when he did it. There must've been some other measure to determine range, even if she didn't know it. "Come on." She whispered, concentrating on the distant dots of Zabuza's eyes. "Everyone's scared of something."
For the briefest of moments, the Demon of the Mist paused at an agonizing scream that should've been impossible. "Ha–" A dragon composed of water crashed into him as realization struck, driving him into a nearby tree.
"Yeah!" The Narutos cheered. "Get fucked!"
Kakashi drew a kunai from his pouch and prepared to finish the fight before two needles beat him to it. He kept the kunai up as he approached the body, rightfully cautious. "Hunter-nin," he said upon sight of a young figure wearing a Hidden Mist Anbu mask on a tree branch.
Naruto's clones disappeared when he approached with the others. "What the fuck was that!?" He pointed a finger at the stranger. "Who the hell do you think you are!?"
"Calm down, Naruto," Kakashi said, leaning over to check Zabuza's pulse with his free hand. "The fight is over. He's dead."
"Because this asshole swept in after we did all the work!"
He patted the blond on the head, which calmed him a little. "And you did good." He smiled at the other two. "All three of you did!" Repositioning his forehead protector to cover his Sharingan, he focused on Sakura. "I'm surprised you were capable of using that genjutsu from that distance. Excellent chakra control."
"Are we not going to talk about this douchebag?" Naruto asked, pointing his thumb at the young man taking hold of Zabuza's corpse.
"That's a hunter-nin," Sakura began. "They're ninja specialized for tracking down other ninja that have gone rogue." She raised an eyebrow as the subject in question disappeared with a body flicker. "But they…" She drifted off as her vision grew wobbly. "They do–" She fell into Sasuke's waiting arms.
"Chakra exhaustion," Kakashi informed before any could panic. "Extending a short-ranged jutsu to a great distance, however simple, means expending more chakra to do so." He pointed to Naruto when the Uchiha tried to pass off the girl. "Sakura has great chakra control but low reserves to draw from."
Naruto shook his head when offered her. "You're fulfilling one of her dreams right now."
"And you can make shadow clones," Sasuke said, frowning.
"Come on, don't you want to reward her for doing something?" He smirked. "I'm doing it right now through you."
Kakashi cleared his throat. "Our mission isn't over yet. The bridge-builder needs to complete his bridge."
"All of you can rest at my house," Tazuna said. "We're not that far now."
They reached the dainty fisherman's shack shortly after. Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, defaulted to her maternal instincts at the sight of an ill child. Sakura was tucked into a futon with a warm towel over her forehead and a cup of tea in arm's reach in a matter of minutes.
"Ka-Kakashi," Sakura called out. "Something was...weird about that ninja." She whined in exhaustion.
He, sitting some ways from her against a wall, nodded. "You noticed it too, huh? He didn't dispose of the body right then and there according to protocol. They even used needles, ones that weren't long or thick enough to pierce deeply."
"Zabuza is probably alive," Sasuke said, narrowing his eyes.
Naruto scoffed. "I knew something was wrong with that asshole. At least this way, we get to kill them both." He scowled as they gave him looks. "Okay, what is it? You've been looking at me like… like…" Gritting his teeth, he clenched his hands into fists.
"Come with me," Kakashi said before rising from his seat.
Pursing his lips, the boy followed his team leader out and on to the pier. "What?" He grumbled as they went to the farthest end towards the forest. "What?!"
Kakashi spun around, his eye baring no emotion. "What are you thinking behind your anger, right now? Where is this actually coming from, and what is it you really want to ask me forgoing all of it?"
"Oh fuck off, lazy ass one-eye! Shouldn't you be preparing for Zabuza's conjugal? Neither one of you should be satisfied after last time."
"You insult others to feel better about yourself." His eye narrowed. "Your attitude serves to defend your ego, affirm it, attract attention, and vet the people around you. Except you're so used to having it on, you continuously test everyone who even somewhat accepts you, people who just want to see you happy." As Naruto stepped back, he stepped forward, pressuring him. "When you are happy, there is little left of that attitude, and it's as if an entire different person was wearing your skin." He knew his observation was perfect when the boy's back hit the wall of the house and he began shivering. "This is the real you."
"Oh, I like this one."
"Shut up!" Naruto grimaced before slumping down. He looked away from his one-eyed gaze. "...Am I really that awful to be around?" A head pat made him flinch.
"We're just concerned you may actually well and do something disastrous in the future off impulse. You are grating at times, but it's that quality that's gotten you this far." Kakashi gave an eye-smile. "It's what led to the three of you helping me get the drop on Zabuza."
The Nine-Tails growled as Naruto's face became a rosy pink. "At least it might be fun watching him die."
"Oh, just shut up." Naruto blinked at the realization he responded aloud again.
"I mean it," Kakashi said. "Now, let's go back inside. There's a training exercise I want you and Sasuke to perform before we're attacked again." He led his genin back to the shack.
Inside, Naruto raised an eyebrow at a confused Sasuke. "You look like some–" He stopped himself. "...You look shit."
The Uchiha made a face as Kakashi gave a thumbs up of approval at the babiest of steps. "Tazuna's grandson came by, told us we're going to die, and went into his room."
"Colorful kid," their sensei said. "I've got a training exercise for the two of you. Since Sakura already has excellent chakra control and is suffering from a lack of it, just going to be you boys." When Sasuke stood, he started leading them out. He glanced at Tsunami. "I leave her care in your hands." A nod from her relieved his worries.
They walked out into the woods but not too far they couldn't rush to Tazuna's residence in short notice. Kakashi showed them he could walk up trees without his hands and instructed them to do the same. Both dejected faces when the wood exploded beneath their feet made him laugh. When he saw them starting to improve somewhat without his pointers, he left them to their own devices. Seeing who could get farther and last longer became a competition, just like their taijutsu practice. It even extended to dinner after Kakashi came back from town-shopping with Tazuna.
Sakura's eyes wandered over to a ripped, hung picture as she sipped her tea remedy. "Is that pictures supposed to be torn?" She looked to a frozen Inari. "You've been looking at it all throughout dinner."
"It's my husband," Tsunami answered flatly.
Tazuna stared at his empty plate. "They used to call him a hero in this land." He didn't look up to watch his grandson scramble out of the kitchen. Neither did he look when his daughter ran off after him.
"What happened?" Sakura asked.
The old man told them about Inari's adoptive father, Kaiza. He saved the boy from drowning and taught him how to live. Unfortunately, he wasn't prepared for anything close to Gato, and he was publically executed for everyone to watch, including Inari. He'd been sad and crying ever since.
"Does that remind you of someone?" The beast chuckled.
"Pathetic," Naruto said. He sat unfazed as their eyes turned to him. "Dying over people who wouldn't do the same for him. Even if you build that bridge, you'll still have problems if you're pushed around so easily. The problem with your country is something other than Gato."
Tazuna hummed. "You're not as dumb as you look, kid. Even though you do look like something from a carnival with that getup."
"What's wrong with orange?"
"It's the jacket." Sakura scoffed and then coughed. "That white collar is a fashion disaster."
"The bagginess makes it easier for people to grapple," Sasuke commented and immediately regretted.
Kakashi gave a wistful sigh. "To be a young genin obsessed with being fashionable again."
"This coming from the guy wearing a mask and using his forehead protector as an eye-patch?" Naruto shot him a look. "Ever hear of trying too hard?"
"It's not my fault I am too beautiful and require a convenient eye-patch."
Shaking his head, he rose from his chair. "I'm going to go practice more."
Sasuke finished what was left in his bowl and followed without a word, leaving an envious Sakura alone with the amused silver-haired men.
The two competed in tree climbing until the sun was more than down. First thing they did the day afterward, excluding eating breakfast, was tree climbing. Naruto attempted small talk with every fall in the methodology he saw employed by 'normal' people. To Sasuke, it was like a feral cat attempting civil conversation.
"Leaf Village is toasty compared to this damp shi–" He stopped and took several other breaths. "Shimmy place?"
"You don't have to hold back. It's just the two of us," Sasuke finally responded. "Would rather see you jump out another window than hear you talk about the weather."
Naruto groaned. "Oh thank fuck! Another second of that and I was going to slam my head against the tree." He frowned. "Why do I get the feeling I'm going to hear a lot about that window thing?"
The Nine-Tails roared in laughter at the memory.
"Because you are the first student to ever jump out of it after failing a graduation test. Years of being the class punk loser no one wanted anything to do with and almost everyone was afraid of." Sasuke almost cringed at the memories of their final two days. "Then you were a nervous wreck that couldn't even speak. And the day after, you were smiling like a brat playing with a new toy. It was too surreal."
Naruto stared out into the open blue sky, fantasizing about escaping in it once again. "...I killed Mizuki."
"Heard you the first time and the dozen times after that." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "How long do you expect to ride off it? Zabuza is a far greater opponent, and he likely won't be the last."
Naruto shook his head. "That's not it… Or that's the point?" He grumbled. "He was nothing, but it felt like such a relief."
"...Really?"
"Like things were finally changing for better in my life." Picking himself up, Naruto took a deep breath. "But now it's gone."
Sasuke followed his lead. "What about the other Mist Ninja?"
"Like throwing away the trash. He was more Kakashi's, not mine. Just not the same." He prepared to take off but saw the other boy still lax. "What?"
"Why are you trying to be different? You don't owe anyone else anything."
"No shit." He laughed for a few seconds before lifting a finger to scratch his whiskered cheek. "I don't know really. Kakashi pointed out some things that made me feel weak, so I wanted to prove him wrong."
The smallest of hums murmured in the Uchiha's throat. He turned to the tree and prepped his kunai. "You haven't called me a 'gloomy cocksucker' since the bell test."
"My mistake…" Naruto gave an earnest smile. "Thanks, Sasuke." His smile faded at the other young man's disturbed expression. "Is it really that bad?! Oh, come on!"
"That is what putting others above you gets you. Just like it was in orientation and graduation day: happy, angry, or frightened, there is always some part of your existence that is somehow wrong."
Growling, he took out his own kunai and dashed up the tree, driving Sasuke to do the same.
They rose and fell together over and over again, only taking breaks to attend to their natural needs. Sun gave way to moon and vice versa. For entire days they competed with each other over what was a basic shinobi exercise and ability. Little but enough changed between them since their academy days.
AN: I really didn't mean to zip through Wave, but it just happened as I wrote along. I forgot how much of the arc was about exposition, even though it sets down themes and concepts that last to the end of the series. Pretty sure we've all read about Zabuza being the edgiest boy, chakra control, Inari being a brat, and what happened to his adoptive father enough times.
