"The Holy Log sayeth to the man, hearken to me and ye will be delivered from death"

- The Book of Log

C15: Wave After Wave (Pt.2)

The sun had yet to cast its warm sight upon the chilly morning, let alone the ninja at the gates of Konoha leaving them bereft of even its protection against the cutting Spring winds. The fifteenth of March was a day Naruto had mixed feelings for. He had been anticipating it for a while, sometimes with excitement whilst other times with gloom. It was the day his team and him were due to set out for their mission to the land of Waves.

The blond tightened the hood of his jacket as he waited. Their client hadn't arrived yet, even though it was already time making him somewhat nervous. Enough time had passed that the rays of the sun started their march across the fields creating numerous shadows all over the ground. He could see the man begging them to stay. He remembered Sensei's despondent gaze as he looked at his headless body. The disappointment he had in himself at being so…

"Naruto, are you okay?" Sakura asked with concern, her pink hair dancing in the wind.

She was dressed as always, a red blouse with bandages wrapped around her hands. She wore her hiate as a hairband and had dark green trousers with her ever-present utility-belt around her waist. Pouches hung from them, but she also now had a new waist pack to go with them along with an extra band around her right leg with a few scrolls embedded into them. The waist pack had a symbol on it, a sake cup with the yin-yang symbol at its centre. It also had blood stains on it which looked like they'd been only recently washed off.

Naruto ignored the blood, more interested in the symbol. It gave him something else to think about.

Symbols associated with sake and healing are…

He remembered that Sukunahikona was the god of sake and healing, so it made sense. It wasn't used that often which is why it didn't connect in his head; medic ninja normally used the kanji for doctor. Thinking about it, the blond remembered the law which stated that only qualified medic-nin could use that symbol which made her usage of what he assumed was the generic medical symbol for civilians apt.

I guess her hospital placements were pretty useful and that bag's been tried and tested.

"Naruto's been moping more and more every day, I'm not sure why you're acting like it's anything new," Sasuke answered for him.

The blond noted how his dark-haired teammate had a few more bandages around his arm than usual and that they were wrapped tighter than before. He assumed that his training was going well then, if he was practicing deadlier Jutsu now. Otherwise, he was Sasuke as usual with his blue short-sleeved shirt with the Uchiha crest emblazoned on its back, white shorts and arm warmers. He at least, unlike everyone else, seemed to wear their hiate the way they were meant to be. Across his forehead.

This is why he was friends with him.

"Thanks guys."

Sasuke faked surprise, "Wow and sarcasm too? Are you sure you're okay?"

"Shut up."

Kakashi raised a hand and they all became quiet.

"Naruto, here." He threw him a scroll, "Burn them quickly before Tazuna-san arrives."

Naruto opened the scroll and out came exactly two hundred and fifty-six scrolls. He knew that because he'd burnt them all in rapid succession, years since childhood of burning through books made him quite adept at such things. He got different amounts of EXP for each Jutsu, it seemed to calculate it roughly based off ranking, although he assumed that rarity also had something to do with it.

"How did you get these many scrolls? I don't think that ninja normally leave so many scrolls lying around and the library didn't have these many. Is there a second library?" asked Sakura unsurely. Her voice seemed a bit strained.

"I made them myself," said Kakashi, "I know, I know. How did I manage to do this being such a busy bee? Fret not, fret not. I can't ignore my cute little genin, now can I? Who else is there to take care of them?"

"Two hundred and fifty-six scrolls are a lot, sensei," said Sasuke surprised at how many scrolls tumbled out of the storage scroll, "The Uchiha clan, and we're an actual clan, has about-"

He stopped himself from finishing off his sentence.

"Sorry, that's a clan secret which we aren't supposed to share."

Naruto felt slightly put-off, he now felt interested in finding out how many they had.

"Yeah, well. What can I say?" He eye-smiled at them, "I am a genius after all. Not everybody has the sharingan and even of those who do, not many have seen as many Jutsu as I have and almost none of them are skilled enough to write detailed enough scrolls that could let someone else learn from the Jutsu they copied off others."

Sakura looked at Kakashi, her tired eyes wide with shock, "So you weren't lying when you said that 'Rumour has it that the one illustrious and bedazzling Hatake Kakashi has copied over a thousand Jutsu' in your bingo book?"

Kakashi waited to see the looks of interest in Sasuke and Naruto's faces, after which he responded, "If anything, they're an undercount. The library was actually started by an Uchiha after Konoha formed who retired from fighting to pass on his knowledge to all future shinobi. He felt strongly about what Konoha meant to all of us, a chance for peace and prosperity through teamwork and cooperation."

Naruto hmmed feeling more at ease with the new knowledge in his head as he quadruple-checked his inventory, filled with enough rations to help them wait out a month-long blizzard if necessary.

"The client is here. Great, let's start." Their sensei eye-smiled at them, "Diamond formation, I'll take point, Sakura can take back, Naruto the left and Sasuke to the right."

Naruto walked. They weren't going fast at all. Tazuna was as drunk as he was before, but he figured it was worth assessing just how much.

"Tazuna-san, how are you doing?"

The man looked at him slightly disconcerted, "I'm doing alright gaki, you're a strange one, ain't ya?"

The man rubbed his head nervously. He had almost no slurring in his speech, but the stench of alcohol burnt Naruto's nostrils and gave away his terrible drinking habit. Losing control willingly was stupid beyond belief, he felt.

He continued walking in his side of the formation trying to distract himself by basking in the glow of the dry morning sun. The leaves looked dry and the trees gently shook in the now calm day.

It was pleasant.

Puddle

Naruto remembered being confused the last time he was here. Objects never showed up, but now he knew that henge did. Two men appeared almost as if on cue when Sasuke's kunai sailed through the air.

Name: Gozu

Level: 26

Health: 100%

Chakra: 100%

Rank: Nukenin (Access to the [Grand Bazaar]; -60 REP to [Ninja Villages]; Max Scroll Ranking: S-Rank; +15% Stealth)

Meizu had identical stats to his brother. Focusing on their mugshots told him the same things as last time. They tried assassinating the Mizukage and both coordinated their attacks, using poison claws and a shuriken chain.

Dangerous foes who he needed to be careful around. So far, his attempts at using ninjutsu was poor. The two hundred and fifty-six scrolls he'd just obtained though, made it somewhat easier. He knew how to manipulate wind and water now. Lightning, earth and fire were still not very useful though, although at least now he wouldn't hurt himself. Even though the bulk of jutsu that he'd received from sensei were lightning and fire, it seemed like negative levels took a lot of EXP to reduce.

He shuddered to think about how he'd have gotten out of the negative levels without the scrolls. Having only ever been able to cut a leaf under Kakashi-sensei's instuctions, it was pretty cool being able to form a gale of wind now. He clapped his hands and yelled, "[Gale Palm]"

Sasuke spat out a fireball towards the gale he'd produced, merging with it to create something greater. His gale was starting to peter out, but Sasuke using it to fuel his own fireball was pretty smart, Naruto felt.

He saw a shadow in his periphery and immediately substituted out of the way, his training with Tenten kicking in and it was good timing too because he'd just managed to dodge their shuriken chain.

He looked at Sasuke who he realised was the real target of their attack. He held up his wind-chakra charged kunai and substituted with the Uchiha.

Gozu stopped his attack in surprise and then fell over.

Naruto saw Kakashi standing right behind him cracking his knuckles, "Ah, that was a good work out."

He held Gozu's by his collar and handed him to the blond, "Just kidding, these kids aren't even worth the effort. Tie him up."

The blond dragged the black caped man to the tree Sakura was busy tying up his brother to, "That happened, so fast! I could barely come up with a strategy in time."

"It was pretty funny, I'm not gonna lie," said Sasuke who appeared from behind her, "I wasn't expecting Naruto to substitute himself with me, but well."

"Well, what?" Naruto was curious, "What was so funny?"

"I fell down onto Meizu's head, who appeared right underneath me. I'm pretty sure I snapped his neck."

Naruto touched his neck, feeling sympathy for the man.

At least, it was a quick death.

"Then why are we tying them next to each other?"

"Sensei said that it would make him talk faster," answered Sakura as she finished tightening a knot binding the corpse's feet.

They finished tying up the men and the trio stood back to admire their handiwork.

"This is so messed up," muttered Sakura as she took into account that they had just tied up a man with his dead brother, "The first thing he'll see is his dead brother's face,"

"Poor Gozu," Sasuke poked his cheek, "This would definitely traumatise me forever if it was my brother,"

Naruto wondered how everyone was coping so well. His [Gamer's Mind] let him focus and that took his thoughts away from the fact that they just ended someone's life. He may not have been the one to do it, but he'd inadvertently caused it.

"Why are you three not looking fazed?"

Kakashi stuck his head out from behind the tree as he spoke.

"I don't want to raise a bunch of psychopaths," He looked at all three of them closely, "Naruto I understand. He's always been a weirdo, but he's showing the most emotion right now which concerns me immensely,"

Sakura looked at Sasuke who looked straight back at her.

"Well-" Sakura looked slightly sick now, "We had an off this weekend, right?"

They nodded, encouraging her to continue, "Mmm-well, I went with mother to a village because one of the people there knew how to make a propulsion system for projectiles. Some bandits attacked the village and I helped out with healing the injured because I'd done a few days in the hospital and I couldn't just stand back and watch…"

She stopped, "I was in way over my head. The person everyone went to for healing didn't even have chakra! She was experienced though. She knew how to treat people using herbs..."

She looked at Meizu's vacant face, "There were so many amputations, so many people who died in front of me, so many-"

"That's enough Sakura. You don't need to go on," softly said Kakashi.

Sakura looked a little green as she took out a bottle from one of her many pouches and drank a little from it before continuing, "I can barely keep any food in, so I liquefied some food. It tastes like trash, but it… it works."

She looked resolute as she tightened her grip on her medic bag, "I don't want to feel so helpless ever again."

Naruto was shocked. Her mugshot and her general appearance didn't seem abnormal at all. Sakura usually stayed up late, carving puppets or pursuing the other litany of interests she had, so he hadn't thought to question her fatigue levels.

I should have noticed that something was up

Sasuke looked shocked, "Are you okay? That sounds pret-ty traumatic."

Sakura looked taken aback, but then she quickly flattened her features, "I don't need your pity or mocking, but to answer your question," She looked at him straight into his eyes, "I'm fine."

Naruto wasn't expecting Sasuke to ask her that and in such a manner. Many of his books told him that people don't like being asked if they're okay after they tell them about a traumatic incident because the answer is self-evident. The way he said it also made it seem like this was nothing serious and maybe even a normal occurrence.

"Well, I guess it's my turn then?" Sasuke looked at his sensei who nodded curtly, "Tou-san told me to kill a prisoner we have holed up in jail when I said that I wanted to seriously train."

He paused when he saw the horrified expression on Sakura's face and the hint of disgust on Naruto's. Even Kakashi-sense looked a little disgusted.

"Ah, great. That was supposed to be a clan secret," Sasuke began to look worried, "Dad's going to kill me.

Naruto didn't expect his best friend to find that the most worrying thing about extra-judicial killing was that his dad might find out, "Sasuke, that sounds completely insane and illegal. Why are you not the least bit concerned about the people you killed?"

"People die every day," Sasuke looked hurt, but also oddly determined, "We live in a privileged shinobi village, the largest and richest in the entire world. To do that, we take jobs that others could do. They are left with nothing and so, are poor. They fight and they die."

"My dad's the head of the Konoha Military Police and he knows a lot about these things. Like Sakura's village, it is pretty common place for bandits to raid and kill people. We need to get used to the fact that the world sucks and everyone's out to get you and so we need to be prepared," Naruto made to interrupt, but Sasuke continued in a louder voice, "It is also perfectly legal because dad told me that the Second Hokage gave the top clans full control over their premises."

Naruto was slightly impressed.

"See!" Sasuke folded his arms, "I can also talk like you and nii-san."

Naruto quickly ran through the legal documents of Konoha and did in fact find one which gave the signatories unlimited control over their territory.

"If you doubt that such a document exists, consider the Hyuga. Those white-eyed psychos enslave most of their clan using that disgusting caged bird seal."

Naruto's eyes widened in understanding, "Didn't Mikoto-obaasan tell you not to spend too much time with your dad? Those words are absolutely disgusting and discriminatory. They may use seals to control the branch family, but calling them 'psychos' is uncalled for. Everything has nuance, although it may be hard to understand at first."

Sasuke looked down and mumbled an apology.

"Anyway… it isn't as bad as it sounds. He was on death row anyway, tou-san gave me some time to decide if I wanted to give him a swift death or let him…"

Sasuke wasn't sure how to finish the sentence.

Kakashi nodded, "For the worst, we torture them till they die, even if they don't yield any information."

Sakura looked between the two of them, "What is wrong with Konoha? I thought we were better than the other villages."

Kakashi decided to intervene, "We do not accept 'evil' missions. It sounds a bit vague, but our founding fathers enshrined in our law the 'Don't be evil' clause as a major deciding factor in what missions we take as a village." He paused to look over at Tazuna who he put into a genjutsu before he'd shunshin'd behind the tree, "Of course, the council, clans, merchants and clients have all tried to exclude different types of missions from that clause, but ultimately we have a reputation for being a good village because we don't do things like genocide and kidnappings."

Kakashi signed to Naruto

HOSTILE-DETECTED

Naruto mentally primed himself, running through all the Jutsu he had at his disposal and how he could possibly use them in the fight that was to come. The fight that had killed him once before.

"While others do," continued Kakashi without missing a beat.

Naruto heard it before he could see it.

"DUCK!"

Naruto shunshin'd with Meizu's body.

"Well, well. What an interesting conversation your team were having," drawled a man who had bandages wrapped like a mask around the lower half of his face. He stood on a sword that was embedded into the tree, "It is a pity Meizu is dead, but no matter. He served his purpose well."

Naruto took in his killer's appearance. He was tall and muscular, reasonably muscular unlike Guy-sensei. He had short spiky black hair, was shirtless and wore baggy pants.

"I can see why Konoha was grown weak. Tools should not be encouraged to think…" He looked pointedly at their sensei, "You must be new to this Hatake."

He jumped off his sword and pulled it out of tree, "I'm here for that man," He pointed at the sleeping Tazuna, "I respect your strength, Kakashi of the Sharingan eye,"

He gave the genin a once over, "So if you leave him here, I will spare the children."

"Protect the bridge builder and stay out of this fight. I taught you teamwork and how to fight. I have another lesson for you," Kakashi moved in an instant.

Naruto heard the clang of kunai against blade.

"Learn when to retreat,"

"You gave me enough time to prepare for our fight, Hatake," said a clone of Zabuza who had appeared to the right of their sensei.

As the clone swung his sword to cut through him, he substituted with a log. From the shadows of the forest around them walked out another Zabuza, arm outstretched with an orb of water inside which their sensei was trapped.

Naruto watched as Sasuke launched a fireball which was immediately quenched by a jet of water Zabuza launched. Sakura stood guard over Tazuna.

"Still trying to play ninja?" The blond could tell that he was enjoying this.

Naruto knew he had to fight, he had trained hard with Tenten and his team for this moment.

He ran at a Zabuza and feigned an attack with his kunai and shot out a gale of wind. At the exact moment he sent out the gale, he could feel kunai slicing at him.

That Zabuza fell and turned into a puddle.

Naruto heard Sasuke jump up above him and fire shuriken after shuriken at the real Zabuza who calmly deflected them with the pommel of his sword.

"Do you think wearing a headband makes you ninja?" The man looked slightly crazed as he stared at the two boys, "When you've hovered between life and death so many times that it doesn't faze you. Then, you may be called a ninja."

The blond looked at the pattern and remembered that this was part of one of the tactics they discussed. He joined in on throwing shuriken at the man and threw a specially prepared oil bomb, courtesy of Sakura.

"When you've become so deadly your profile is entered into my bingo book, then you may have earned the title ninja. But to call upstarts like you ninja…"

Zabuza batted the bomb away, thinking it to be a normal paper ball bomb.

"Is a joke."

To his surprise, it exploded and drenched him in oil distracting him momentarily.

In that split second, Naruto transformed into a fuma shuriken on fire. Without having maxed out his henge, he knew it would have been impossible to simulate the fire burning on the shuriken. Sasuke threw him at Zabuza at an angle which he easily side-stepped.

"You're just brats who can't even throw a shuriken right,"

Sasuke charged at Zabuza who grabbed his punch and kneed him in the stomach.

Naruto managed to focus using his [Gamer's Mind], ignoring the vertigo and keeping his henge steady until he was just about to hit the ground. At that point, he dispelled it and threw a wind gale powered kunai at the Zabuza clone.

The clone made the mistake of trying to search for Naruto, not expecting him to be the shuriken. The kunai went for his hand and in an attempt to avoid it, he let the Jutsu go, freeing Kakashi-sensei who acted like nothing had just happened.

"Good job kids," He eye-smiled at them and punched the clone, disintegrating the clone almost instantly. He then turned to look calmly at Zabuza who looked offended at having been fooled by them, "Now leave the rest to me,"

They vanished in a flash and traded blow after blow. Naruto could barely make out how many times they clashed, but as quickly as it started, it stopped.

"I guess I'll reveal my secret weapon," said Kakashi looking barely fazed as he lifted up his hiate to reveal the light red glow of his sharingan.

Zabuza looked like he was starting to sweat, "The sharingan?"

"Ah-" He looked at Zabuza with great sadness, "So you know about it… already?,"

"What do you take me for?" Zabuza looked angry, "I am one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, the most elite squadron of Kirigakure, how would I not know who you are Kakashi Hatake? I know all your tricks,"

Kakashi looked slightly bemused, "But did you know that I can see into the future?"

"Of course I-" Zabuza looked confused, "Wait, what?"

"The Sharingan bestows upon its wielders many tricks, one of them is the ability to see into the future," Kakashi eye-smiled at Zabuza the same way he did when he made them walk through the crocodile swamps of training ground forty-four to practice their water-walking, "These eyes can see everything Zabuza,"

"The Sharingan has-" Kakashi finished off Zabuza's sentence, "no such ability because I have faced it before,"

Zabuza looked surprised, not expecting Kakashi to know about his previous encounters of the Uchiha kind.

"Well, you've never faced me!" said Kakashi with a look of determination on his face.

Zabuza started forming handsigns.

Kakashi imitated him.

Zabuza stopped, "What you're doing is just copying. Nothing original."

At the same time, they both said, "You can't beat me, you monkey!"

Zabuza's eyes widened in shock, distracting him for a split second, letting Kakashi finish the handsigns first, "Suiton: Giant Vortex"

The water shot up from underneath Kakashi and formed a loop around him, after which it seemed to fill and gush out like a tennis ball ricocheting off a racket, except the net of the racket was invisible.

The massive wave of water crashed into Zabuza blowing him backwards. Kakashi ran behind him in pursuit with Sasuke and Naruto following behind him, enraptured by the fight.

Is this what it takes to be a good ninja? Being able to summon a mini-flood on command?

Naruto turned his head to see how Sasuke was reacting to all of this. The grin on his blood splattered face said it all, "This is awesome!"

He seemed to have no fear. It looked like the blood dripping from his busted lip did nothing to deter his enthusiasm.

Naruto looked back to the fight to see a hunter-nin standing on a tree branch and Zabuza lying on the floor with a senbon sticking out of his neck. His status said unconscious.

Name: Hunter-nin

Level: 86

Health: 100%

Chakra: 100%

Why are masked people so weird?

"You were right, it was his last battle," the figure shifted its head ever so slightly towards the duo who were soon joined by Sakura and Tazuna.

Kakashi-sensei approached the body and felt its pulse, "No vital signs,"

He turned to look at the hunter-nin who bowed its head and thanked him.

"I've been tracking Zabuza for a long time, waiting for the chance to finally take him down." deadpanned the ninja.

"By your mask, I assume that you're a hunter-nin from Kirigakure?"

The ninja straightened its back, "Impressive." It paused, "You're well informed."

It looked at the team, lingering on Tazuna for a brief second before continuing, "I must deal with the remains, there are many secrets in this body. They must not be allowed to get into the wrong hands, please excuse me."

The hunter-nin shunshin'd away.

"He seemed quite young, almost our age maybe," mused Sakura out loud.

Kakashi-sensei shrugged, "Wouldn't surprise me." He paused to look at them properly, "There are kids who're stronger than me, being ninja expect the unexpected."

Sasuke looked at Kakashi-sensei's sharingan questioningly.

"That's a story for another day, Sasuke." He turned towards Tazuna, "We haven't completed our mission yet. We still have to get the bridge builder… to his bridge"

Naruto laughed as if on reflex, the other three looked at him concerned about his sanity.

"What? It was funny, get it? Cause it's a play on words and-"

The blond stopped when he saw the look on Sasuke's face, "Nii-san's horrible humour is rubbing off on you isn't it? I should have never introduced him to you!" he lamented.

Tazuna laughed nervously, "Sorry, I caused all this trouble for yeh, but you can rest in my house when we get to the village.

He was greeted with Kakashi's stone face, "Tazuna-san, we need to talk." He continued, "When you put in your request, you asked for standard protection from robbers and highway men. You didn't say that there were ninja looking for you, hunting you down." He paused, "If we knew this, it would be a B-rank mission or higher. Our task was simply to get you to your destination and protect you while you finished building your bridge. If we knew we'd be fielding attacks from enemy ninja, we would have staffed differently and charged for the cost of a B-ranked mission."

Tazuna looked down, trying to avoid Kakashi's piercing gaze.

"Apparently, you have your reasons, but lying to us is not acceptable. We are beyond the scope of this mission. Genin?"

Naruto wanted to continue. The quest he'd received for doing this mission's rewards were too great.

"I'm happy to proceed, sensei."

Sasuke hmmed with confusion.

"I'm not sure if we should continue Kakashi-sensei," Sakura spoke up, "This is beyond us, if someone else as strong as Zabuza comes we put ourselves at risk for little gain."

Kakashi-sensei looked at Sasuke trying to see if he'd give his two cents.

"Why are you willing to break the rules for this" Sasuke turned towards the blond, "Naruto?"

Naruto looked contemplative, trying to hide his internal panic at trying to justify his position without resorting to lies.

"Do you get quest rewards?"

… how is he figuring these things out?

"I'm right, aren't I?" Sasuke's eyes gleamed, "Spill it, I want to know exactly what you get from finishing this quest."

Kakashi didn't look amused.

"Naruto..." The blond looked at Kakashi, "Is this true?"

The blond avoided his judging look.

"We'll discuss this later," He turned towards Tazuna, "If we're doing this, I need more details before we continue."

Tazuna sighed and sat down on the floor cross-legged and began wearily, "Like you said, this is beyond the scope of the original mission. The one who seeks my life is a short man, one who casts… a very long shadow,"

"Who is it?" rapidly shot out Kakashi.

Tazuna wiped the sweat from his brow before continuing, "You know him, or at least I'm sure you've heard his name before. He's one of the wealthiest men in the world, the shipping magnate Gato."

"Gato?" Kakashi sounded shocked, "Of Gato Transport? He's a business leader, everyone knows him…" their sensei's eyes narrowed.

"I know him," said Naruto. Everyone ignored him.

"He is a very powerful tycoon from a famous company, that's true, but below the surface with the same brutal methods he uses to takes over businesses, he subdues nations. He sells drugs and contraband using gangs and ninja."

Tazuna seemed almost lost, staring into the distance, "It was one year ago when Gato first set his sight on the Land of Waves. He came to our island and used his vast wealth to take total control of our transport and shipping. Anyone who tried to stand in his way just… disappeared. In an island nation, a man who controls the seas control everything! Our finances, the government… our very lives!"

He stopped and looked boldly at Kakashi, "But there's one thing he fears, the bridge. Once it is complete, it will join us to the main land and that will break his control."

Tazuna got up and determinedly started walking, "And I am the Bridge Builder."

Kakashi-sensei continued the conversation, keeping pace with him, "If you knew that Gato would send ninja after you, why did you hide that?"

The man looked down at his feet, "The land of Waves is a small and impoverished nation. Even our nobles have little money. The common people who are building this bridge can't pay for an A or B ranked mission. It's too expensive, if you end the mission when you drop me off there will be no bridge. They'll assassinate me before I reach home."

Tazuna looked at Kakashi-sensei with a smile, "But don't let that affect your decision. Of course, my sweet little grandson will cry and my daughter will condemn Konohagakure, denouncing and blaming you for the death of her father and living her life in sorrow. Oh well, it is not your fault. Forget it."

"I guess we'll keep guarding you, so don't worry," said Kakashi, noticing his three genin lapping up the man's sob story and already in formation, trying their best to not look like they were obviously listening in on their conversation.

Their sensei took a few steps and keeled over.

R&R (Suggestions and advice are always welcome!)