"When are you going to deal with those Leaf ninjas?" Gato demands.
Zabuza gazes down upon the fat little businessman in disdain. "You know, I have already said I will not attack those Leaf ninjas until you tell me why the bridge builder needs to die. All he is doing is building a bridge. Get over it."
"That bridge is a threat to my business!" snaps Gato.
"So that is the problem," says Zabuza's apprentice, Haku, smiling. "You do not want ordinary people to earn their own livelihoods."
Zabuza feels proud of his apprentice. She is very smart, and good at pretending like it's perfectly normal to do whatever thing it is she is doing that is not normal at all. Like openly challenging a man who could literally order the entire criminal underworld to tear them limb for limb and have the criminal underworld ask how painfully they should do it.
"See?" says Zabuza. "Was that so hard? Now we know why you want the bridge builder dead, so we will start planning our attack. Now get out before I use you as a drill post."
"I'm beginning to doubt your reputation," says Gato, probably expecting to annoy Zabuza.
"Are you?" says Zabuza, raising a non existent eyebrow. "Doubt it all you want, but that doesn't change the fact I have a sharp sword and know how to use it."
Gato takes an involuntary step backwards. He is sweating Zabuza notes out of interest. It seems that despite his feigned bravado, Gato is just a scared little man. Zabuza pulls out his sword, The Executioner's Blade, and points it at Gato. "Get out so I can plan my attack."
Gato leaves while he can still lay a claim to his dignity.
"So what do you want me to do?" asks Haku.
"For now, just spy on them," says Zabuza. "We won't attack for a week. Give Gato plenty of time to fret and decide to turn on us. Then we can kill him and take all his money."
"That is very sneaky, Zabuza," says Haku, with about as much emotion as a tea cup.
Kakashi sensei escorts Madoka and Tazuna to the half built bridge. After making sure there are no enemies about, he heads back to the forest to supervise Sasuke and Naruto's training.
After Kakashi sensei leaves, Madoka quickly gets bored. He kinda wishes he had stayed and trained some more, but in truth he mastered tree climbing a year ago. Madoka sighs and patrols the bridge a few times before sitting down out of the workers' way and observes them.
"Tazuna, can I speak with you?" one of the workers asks.
Tazuna looks up from his board-laying and asks, "What do you want, Giichi?"
"I've been thinking…" the man says nervously. "I want out. I don't want to do this job anymore."
"WHAT?" Tazuna shouts, sounding more surprised than angry. "WHY? Why now?"
"Tazuna, we've been friends since we were kids," says the man. "I really want to help you, but I don't want Gato to put a hit out on me as well. If we don't stop this project, we could all lose everything! Please...just give up on the bridge."
Tazuna takes his time replying. Finally, he says, "I cannot do that. I'm not building this bridge just for myself. This is for everyone; this is going to pick our poor country up out of poverty and put us on the map! I can't stop, or our little land won't have a future."
"But we're talking about our lives here!" protests Giichi. "If we are killed, what future will our island have anyway?"
Tazuna turns his back to the man and says, "It's afternoon already. Let's call it a day." then he turns slightly and adds, "You don't have to come back Giichi."
Hiding in the framework of the bridge, Haku smiles. It seems the bridge builder is not about to give up on his bridge. That is good. Maybe this land deserves to be saved if there is still someone who has hope.
Haku sneaks away from the bridge to spy somewhere else.
Sasuke is getting sick of falling off her tree. Her hair has come loose and she had to stuff her ribbon into her kunai pouch. Sasuke decides to ask Tsunami to cut her hair for her. Sasuke is getting too old to wear a bow anyway.
Sasuke looks over to see how Naruto is doing and sees Naruto walk up to Kakashi sensei, sniff him a few times and ask, "Kakashi sensei, I can't get the hang of it, can you help me?"
Whatever it is Kakashi sensei says Sasuke does not hear. She is slightly annoyed by this, since she could've used some help. Naruto grins and runs back to his tree and renews his practicing. Kakashi sensei pulls out the second Make Out Paradise and starts reading. Sasuke wonders what the second book is about and resolves to steal and read it at the first opportunity. She already 'borrowed' his copy of the first book, got caught with it four times and grounded each time. The first time she only two weeks and a warning, but the other three times she got four weeks added to her sentence each time.
On second thoughts, maybe Sasuke ought to return book one first, he is less likely to notice if she only steals one book at a time.
Shaking off these distracting thoughts, Sasuke goes back to practicing the tree climbing exercise.
Madoka accompanies Tazuna into town. As they are entering the shopping center of town, Tazuna decides to tell Madoka; "Tsunami asked me to pick up a few things for dinner."
Madoka tries to care. He really does try to care. It doesn't work so well. Madoka gives up trying to care about what Tazuna has to say and goes back to wondering how his parents would react if he dyed his hair bright green. It would probably shock them less than when they discovered their son had pink hair. Not that Madoka wants to dye his hair green. But it is fun to plan ways to practical joke her parents. Some of that washout dye would be perfect. But where to get some? Naruto would know, Madoka realises.
Madoka is jolted out of his musing when he feels someone tug on the back of his pants. He turns to see a scraggly looking child standing behind him with a hopeful and pleading look on his face, and his hands up turned. Feeling sorry for the little kid, Madoka gives him some sweets. The kid is ecstatic.
As the little boy runs away, Madoka takes a proper look around him and sees the desperate state of the town. That little boy isn't the only child begging on the streets. What is wrong with this town? He wonders.
Tazuna sees the look on Madoka's face and says, "It's been this way since Gato came. The only way to change this is to build that bridge and get rid of Gato."
"Assassination is always at least B Rank," says Madoka. "But if he attacks you, I'll be all over it."
Tazuna sighs. He has come to expect such responses from Team Seven, and Madoka is having just as much fun with it as Kakashi sensei.
Madoka follows Tazuna into the grocery store and tries not to let anyone see how depressed the empty shelves make him. What kind of grocery store has barely anything in it? He wonders if the Land of Waves will be able to support his team food wise. Hopefully Naruto brought plenty of instant ramen, or the team might have to politely go hungry. Seriously, there isn't enough food in this whole shop to feed Naruto for a day, let alone all of Team Seven - Sasuke can pack away a lot for such a small girl. It's actually kind of cute the way Sasuke shovels down her food with an intense look in her eyes and a slight blush on her nose, Madoka thinks, and immediately wonders where that thought came from.
Madoka shrugs and wonders how Naruto and Sasuke's training is going.
Naruto and Sasuke are running headlong up their trees. Naruto falls down first, cutting a mark into the tree as he falls. Sasuke keeps on climbing for a couple of meters before falling as well. She falls more gracefully than Naruto, bouncing between the two trees on her way down instead of just falling like a loser. On the way down, Sasuke can't help noticing how high Naruto's marks are climbing. Sasuke lands on the ground, feeling miffed about how fast Naruto has been catching up since he talked to Kakashi sensei.
Kakashi sensei left a while ago to scout around the village, leaving Sasuke and Naruto to train. For this reason, Sasuke cannot ask Kakashi sensei for help. But she could ask Naruto.
But Naruto is a pain in the neck.
A pain in the neck who steals her Daddy's attention.
But if Kakashi sensei told him something that will help…
Sasuke makes up her mind and approaches Naruto. "Um, Naruto…" Sasuke says, a little uncertainly.
"What do you want?" snaps Naruto, who looked as if he had been deep in thought.
Emboldened by Naruto's annoyance rather than deterred by it - Sasuke feels annoying Naruto is an achievement - Sasuke asks, "What did Kakashi sensei tell you?"
Naruto stares at Sasuke in surprise and then grins and says, "Why should I tell you?"
Sasuke scowles her angriest scowl.
Naruto glares right back.
After standing there in awkward silence for a short while, Naruto finally says, "He told me to concentrate and try to feel the tree and how much chakra I need to stick to it."
"Oh," says Sasuke. She hadn't thought of it that way.
"So…" Naruto clasps his hands behind his back and rocks back and forth on his heels. "Can we be friends now?"
Naruto has been trying to get Sasuke in his little gang for as long as she can remember. She gives him the same answer she gave every time since the first. "No way!"