"Sensei!" Naruto yells, horrified. How could Kakashi sensei be taken out so easily?
"Hehehe," one of the enemy shinobi is laughing gleefully.
Naruto turns to see the two enemy ninjas flying through the air, heading straight for him. Frozen to the spot, Naruto just watches as the two enemies land behind him, throwing one of their long chains over his head, to catch him. An instant later, Sasuke pulls out a shuriken and throws it at the chain, sending it flying towards a nearby tree. Then she sends a kunai after the shuriken, firmly attaching the chain to the tree. Sasuke leaps into the two shinobi's wrists and in one fluid motion, flips onto her hands and kicks them both in the head. The force of Sasuke's kicks pulls the chain out of the enemies' wrist guards. However, both shinobi recover from the kicks and run off in opposite directions while Sasuke drops to the ground.
Naruto is still frozen in fear as the two enemy shinobi circle around him to where Tazuna is standing with Madoka. One of them changes direction and lunges for Naruto, while the other continues towards Tazuna. Madoka shields Tazuna, a kunai in his hand. Sasuke appears beside Madoka, ready to help him defend Tazuna. Naruto tries to force his body to move, but he is too afraid and the shinobi attacks him.
Then out of nowhere, Kakashi just appears taking out the two enemy shinobi by simply grabbing one under each arm. "Sorry I didn't step in sooner," says Kakashi sensei cooly. "But I didn't think you would freeze up like that, Naruto." Then he turns to the other and adds, "Good job Sasuke, you too Madoka."
Naruto feels ashamed of himself. How could he freeze like that? Madoka was willing to use himself as a human shield and Sasuke saved Naruto like it was nothing. But Naruto was worse than useless!
"Hey!" the unexpected sound of Sasuke's voice causes Naruto to jump in fright. "What's the matter, feeling scared, chicken?"
Angry and humiliated, Naruto turns ready to fight Sasuke.
"Naruto!" snaps Kakashi sensei. "Now's not the time for fighting. Their claws were poisoned. We need to clean that wound as soon as possible. If we cut it open wider it should drain out with the blood; but for now stay as still as possible to stop the poison from spreading." Kakashi sensei dumps the two enemy shinobi on the ground and ties them to a tree. "So Tazuna," says Kakashi sensei conversationally. "We need to chat."
"Ahh…" Tazuna stares guiltily at Kakashi sensei.
"See the thing is, when I saw a puddle on the ground on a nice, hot, sunny day I got kinda suspicious," Kakashi sensei continues conversationally. "Word of advice, boys," he adds over his shoulder two the two enemy nins, "If you're going to pretend to be a puddle, do it on a rainy day. Afterall, the only time you would find a puddle on a day like this is if a couple of Mist ninjas or Rain ninjas were waiting to ambush somebody. Well, it turns out that these two were waiting to ambush one of us, but which one? I simply had to know. After all, they are rogue ninjas. The infamous chunin-level demon brothers, I could've been after anyone. So I let them attack to find out who they wanted to kill. Turns out it was Tazuna, right boys?"
"Ah, yeah," one of the rogue Mist ninjas says. "We were sent to kill the old guy, why do you ask? I mean, he has the biggest gang boss in the area after him."
"You are really talkative, aren't you?" says Kakashi sensei. "Is that why they kicked you out?"
The Shinobi wisely shuts up.
"So Tazuna, why did you request protection from bandits and highwaymen instead of rogue ninjas?" asks Kakashi sensei, as if he were speaking to a little kid. "I mean, you hired us to protect you from C-Rank threats, not B-Rank threats. Sorry, but if you're going to get attacked by shinobi, we are not contractually obligated to protect you. But if a squirrel attacks you, we're all over it."
"But you protected me this time!" protests Tazuna.
"This time I was figuring out who their target was. Next time, don't count on it."
"Since we're not qualified for this mission," says Madoka, sounding worried. "Can we quit and go back to the Leaf? We don't have the proper equipment to treat Naruto."
"Well, this is quite the complicated situation," says Kakashi sensei goodnaturedly. "On the one hand we could take on a mission that is clearly B Rank at least, probably A Rank, or we could go back the Leaf village and get that poison out of Naruto's system."
Naruto cannot stand it any more. He pulls out a kunai and stabs his hand, right where the injury is. Naruto grits his teeth and lets the blood drain out. Hopefully this gets rid of the poison. Sparky flies down from his excursion for food and starts squawking in distress at the blood dripping from Naruto's hand.
"I'm not going to stand by uselessly like that again," Naruto promises himself. "There's no need to turn back sensei," Naruto announces. "I am fit for duty!"
"Really?" says Kakashi sensei, "because it looks to me like you have a gaping hole in your hand that needs wrapping up before you pass out from blood loss."
"AHH!" Naruto screams in terror and drops his kunai. "I don't wanna bleed to death! I still have to be the Hokage!"
Sparky flies around squawking in distress.
"Calm down Naruto," Kakashi sensei says, kneeling down in front of Naruto and beginning to bandage his hand. Naruto calms down in time to see the look of surprise on Kakashi sensei's face that is only there for a brief moment. Naruto wonders what Kakashi sensei is surprised about.
Ultimately, Naruto doesn't really care what Kakashi sensei is surprised about. It probably doesn't matter anyway. Grownups find the stupidest things surprising. What Naruto is interested in right now is what it is about Kakashi sensei that is so familiar. It's something about his scent. Ah well, Naruto has plenty of time to figure it out, now that he is in no danger of bleeding to death.
"Stop whining, fatso," says Zabuza Momochi to his employer, Gato the generic evil businessman. "As soon as those leaf scum show their faces on that bridge, I'll kill them all. But I'm going to do it my way, understand? If you get all antsy, I might just kill you instead."
Gato the Generic Evil Businessman pales and takes a step back, as he should. "But the enemy hired shinobi of incredible skill! And now they they have defeated the demon brothers, they will be expecting another attack!"
"Then we will have to observe their preparations while we make our own," smiles Zabuza's apprentice Haku sweetly.
"Good plan," agrees Zabuza. "No unnecessary fighting, just a good old fashioned ass-kicking."
"But there are four of them and only two of you!" protests Gato.
"I thought I told you to stop whining," growls Zabuza, putting on his very best 'Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Hidden Mist, Wielder of the Executioner's Blade Evil Grin'. "I am the shinobi here, not you. Now shut up before I kill you."
Team Seven sit quietly on the boat Tazuna hired to take them across the river. Thick mist surrounds them, making Madoka feel uneasy. "Is this kind of fog normal?" he asks. I can barely see a thing."
"This fog is pretty normal," says the rower. "We'll be able to see the bridge in a few minutes. Then after we've passed it we will be in the Land of Waves."
The team watches the fog for any sign of the bridge. Soon enough, a dark shape appears in the fog. As they get closer they can make out the shape of a giant bridge.
"Woah! It's huge!" Naruto shouts in surprise.
"Hey, keep it down!" snaps the rower. "From this point on we need to move as silently as possible. "I'm even going to turn my engines off and row!"
Madoka nearly bursts out laughing. He only called the rower that because the boatsman wasn't rowing.
Naruto claps both his hands over his mouth and makes an effort to keep silent. Sasuke just looks mildly annoyed. Or is that her resting face? It's hard to tell with Uchihas…
Still, muses Madoka, it would be bad if Gato caught them out on the ocean.
"So, ah, about this 'Gato' you keep talking about…" Kakashi sensei says nervously. "He wouldn't happen to be Gato of Gato shipping and transport? The multi-billionaire who monopolises trade routes and is hailed as the richest man in the world?"
"Yes, he is," confirms Tazuna. "To most people, he looks like your average businessman. But underneath he is a double-crossing, contraband dealer who hires gangs of rogue shinobi to watch his back and remove threats. He takes over other companies and ends up running the countries they were based in. He never does anything unless it will bring him profit and he does not care who dies or falls into ruin as a result of his schemes."
"So he's a normal businessman, then?" says Kakashi. "Just with shinobi at his back instead of thugs. Nice."
"YOU MEAN ALL BUSINESSMEN ARE LIKE THAT?!"
"Just the really rich ones; there's no need to shout," Kakashi sensei says. "So how long has he been a problem in your country?"
Tazuna shakes his head and Kakashi sensei. "Sorry," Tazuna says. "It's just hard to imagine there are more people out there like Gato. A year ago he came to the Land of Waves under pretence of business. It wasn't long before he had taken over our entire marine transport and shipping industry. He controls us completely - the only thing he fears is my bridge being completed. Once it is finished, we will have a means of trade that he cannot control."
"I see," says Madoka thoughtfully. "As the main bridge builder, you are his main target if he wants to stop the completion of the bridge."
Naruto looks as if he is not quite sure what Tazuna is talking about, but Sasuke is frowning in annoyance.
"So Gato sent those ninjas," continues Madoka, holding his chin in concentration. "What is the likelyhood of him sending more now that these ones have been defeated?"
"Pretty high, I'd say," Kakashi sensei says. "But I'm guessing you don't have money for a B Rank team, do you?"
Tazuna shakes his head.
"Then you better hope whoever else Gato hired is not out of our league."
Snapping out of his flashback about the conversation they had with Tazuna after the encounter with the Demon Brothers, Madoka stares grimly towards the far shore. Hopefully they will not meet any more enemies.