You people thought I died, didn't you? Or that the fic had died? Well sorry to say that's not the case. I'm back with another chapter.

But still I'm sorry for this absence. I was busy the whole February with exams and most of my March was taken away by an assignment. But now I'm back. With the start of a new semester, the things will slow down a bit and will give me more time to write.

Now, for people who forgot what happened in the last chapter (That's everyone I guess), every team was sent onto a C-rank mission which quickly escalated into something else. This one will only be a small advancement in that department.

As a warning in the beginning, the Omake at the end of this chapter may be a bit gruesome for some people. Especially fans of Sakura and Sasuke. So please skip it. If you do not want to read it, there will be another warning before it starts.

Onto some reviews,

bloody dragon fang, TheWateringWizard, GunBlade2018 – Thank you for your reviews. TheWateringWizard I feel you there.

Happy Guest – First of all, I didn't know you can change name while reviewing like that. Well at least that differentiated you from the others. Sasuke would have come back to the village after killing Itachi? Nah, I don't think so. And even if he did, what then? Should the village have welcomed him with open arms? After he joined the guy who killed the Third Hokage? The fact of the matter is Sasuke's life is no more tragic than many other shinobis. But they definitely endured it better. You say Kakashi had the ANBU to rely on. But Guy realized that the ANBU was pushing him even further into darkness. What really got Kakashi out of his spunk (Though not fully) was the presence of Minato. Sasuke could have got past his tragic life similarly, and he already had Naruto and team 7 for that. But no, he acted as if the whole world had wronged only him and the world was living at the expense of his pain. That is what I hate about Sasuke. And the series in general, as how much it revolved around Sharingan and Uchihas.

Ben Walker1 – Maybe you are right. But this is another direction the story could have went. Honestly, I'm writing this story for myself and posting it because I thought there are a few other people who may have thought alike. But you are wrong in one part. Sasuke was never a main character in my story. The only reason he was in spotlight for these many chapters is because I wanted to take him out of the picture as fast as possible.

Okay then let's move on to the chapter. But first, it should be quite obvious by now that I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 17: Enemies ahead!

Outside the bandits' hideout with Team 10

Ino was currently doing one of her least favourite activity. Waiting. She was waiting on her Sensei's signal. She looked around a bit before looking at her teammates and found someone missing.

"Hey, where did that Tofu guy go?" She asked.

Shikamaru who was sitting on a rock doing the same as Ino but more willingly, answered her, "He said nature called."

"It has been a while though." Chouji managed to say between his munching of the chips.

Just then they heard a commotion coming from somewhere below them. All three of them looked down from the hill they were on and saw the topic of their conservation getting dragged by three people, most probably bandits.

"That's Tofu!" Chouji exclaimed.

"The bandits captured him? What are we going to do now?" Ino asked worriedly.

She looked at Shikamaru, who was now sitting on the ground cross legged with his eyes closed and fingers cupped in a peculiar fashion.

He opened his eyes after some time and declared, "The enemy is a gang of bandits with lots of men. They have a hostage and three forts. And beyond that there's the citadel." He paused for a moment before continuing, "Well it will be troublesome, but it seems we'll have to go after them ourselves."

His teammates couldn't find any fault in his statement and nodded.

Citadel

The three bandits that caught Tofu brought him to their leader.

"Boss Baji, we brought the deserter." One of them said.

"Good, you can go now." said the leader of the bandits, Baji.

As soon as the three goons left, Tofu relaxed himself. He freed himself from the rope that had his hands tied easily. "Fuu! That hurt." He said patting his shoulders.

"Welcome back my friend." Baji greeted.

"Those men of yours, train them better. Remember I'm a very valuable informant." If Baji didn't know better, he would have thought Tofu was threatening him.

"Sorry, they have been trained to be suspicious even if someone gives the right password." Baji explained nevertheless.

"Well, better safe than sorry I guess." Tofu admitted.

"So, do you have information for me?" Baji asked wanting to know every kind of danger that he could be in, just like a strategist.

Tofu laughed, "Yeah, the village hired ninja, just like you thought."

"Hmm, and how strong are they?" Baji asked again.

"It's just a 4-man cell with a Jounin and three Genins." Tofu replied.

"A single team? Get rid of the Jounin and the Genin would fall. They won't be a problem." Baji summarized.

"Yeah. And the Jounin isn't even with the Genins." Tofu agreed.

Baji raised an eyebrow curiously, "Oh! And why's that?"

"He is looking for a way to get here without passing by the forts." Tofu answered.

Baji chuckled, "That's what I'd do too. But if they don't anticipate the traps along the way, then they'll be on nothing more than a suicide mission."

"Unfortunately, one of them already thought of that." Tofu said seriously.

Baji turned and raised an eyebrow.

Tofu continued, "He's a Genin named Shikamaru. And he already assumed that there'll be traps."

"Hmm, so a Jounin bypasses our forts and is alert for traps while trying to find a way inside huh? As if I could be defeated by such a predictable strategy." Baji boasted.

Suddenly a bandit came in yelling.

"Boss! Three shinobis are here. They somehow managed to get past all of our forts!" He exclaimed alarmingly.

"What!?"

Meanwhile in Degarashi Port – Jirocho's House with Team 8

Just like Naruto had said, his team had joined him in 10 minutes. They were quite amused to see the other six people drag Idate away with them, all with scary looks on their faces.

Once the greetings were exchanged and everyone was seated, Jirocho started, "Okay, well you already know who I need you to guard. But let me tell you first what this race is all about." He continued on reciting a story of how long ago a major storm had hit the port and to stop it, people had offered special jewels called the Ryuko jewels to the Todoroki shrine. That one tradition changed into a festival over time that is repeated every four years. But recently the celebration had taken a terrible path because of the feud between the Wasabi and the Wagarashi families, two gambling organisations, over the control of Degarashi port. To stop this, the district Minister suggested on using the race as a means to decide who controlled the port for the next four years.

"And that's where we are now. Unfortunately, after we sent out our missive to you, we got some updates. Just like the last time, we got rumours that the Wagarashi family has hired Shinobis again." He ended.

"Shinobis! But that will make this at least a B-rank mission, more depending upon the Shinobi they have hired." Kurenai exclaimed.

Jirocho nodded, "I am aware, and I am willing to pay for it, even extra if you want, but this time it's important for the Wasabi family to win. Ever since the Wagarashis came into power, they have increased the taxes on everything, set high prices on the products. Their thugs come and harass the towns people, demanding shopkeepers to give away their items for free." Jirocho bowed his head and continued, "Please, lend me your strength to win the race this time around, I beg you."

Kurenai was conflicted. This was probably more than what her team could handle. But on the other hand, the client was bowing his head and there was no time to send for another team. If she decided to not take this mission it would count as a failure.

"I guess since we are already here, we will give our best." She decided against her better judgement.

Team 8 was looking around the town while also looking for the shinobis hired by the Wagarashi family. Naruto was assigned the additional task of guarding Idate, mainly because of his potential flight risk. Kiba, Akamaru and Sakura were paired up, since Kiba and Akamaru were the main sensors. Kurenai, being a Jounin, was scouting on her own. She would have liked to keep all her Genins together, instead of scattered like that, but Idate needed to be watched, and Naruto was the only one capable enough to match his speed as well as find him if he disappeared again.

"Boss Jirocho is a big man around here. He shouldn't have to bow or beg to some Shinobi wannabees." Idate said.

"Well, yeah he didn't exactly need to. This was a mission and we would have seen through it anyway. But if it wasn't for him, I don't think many people would come and help you out if you asked." Naruto answered him.

"Believe me, if I wanted an escort, it definitely wouldn't be the weak shinobis from the Leaf Village." Idate retorted.

Naruto scowled at him, "This is the second time you have looked down upon Leaf shinobis. Why do you hate us so much?" He asked.

Idate gritted his teeth, "That's none of your business."

"Well since we ARE Leaf shinobis and we are stuck escorting you, it will become our business." Naruto pushed on, willing to know the reason.

"Tch! I said it's none of your business. Now stop following me." Idate said before walking off faster.

Naruto sighed. He couldn't do anything more than ask right now. "Maybe sensei will know something." He thought before following.

Curry of Life shop with Team 3

The young but not so 'Youthful' member of Team 3, Tenten had somehow finished the extremely spicy curry. She had also somehow persuaded her 'Youthful' teammates to take some rest in the shop itself. They agreed to it, but mainly because Neji was still out of it.

After Neji woke up, he asked for a less spicy curry, since he possibly could not finish the concoction that his teammates called 'The Curry of Life'. Thankfully he was able to get a less spicy curry to eat and fill himself.

Since everyone was now ready, Guy decided it was time to map out the plan for the mission, "As you know, our mission is to take care of the bandit group which has taken over the Katabami Gold mine. Today we will do a recon of the place and try and locate where their boss, Raiga Kurosuki is. I cannot remember exactly who he is, but I have heard his name a few times whenever I was on the field. So, we must be careful in dealing with him. Additionally, we now have an extra objective. We have to find Karashi and rescue him from the unyouthful bandits." He explained in a tone completely unlike him.

After getting nods from his students, he stood up and announced, "Okay! Let's go!"

Katabami Gold mine

Just like any gold mine, here too people were coming out with the raw ore of gold one after another and then going back to fetch more. Unlike every other gold mine though, there were people in black cloaks shouting commands to the miners. That was the sight which greeted Team 3 when they arrived at mine.

Now having someone to supervise a work like this was not new, it was the way these people in black were treating the miners was what set them apart. Like right now, there was an old man who couldn't take the load of ore and had dropped them to the ground. Now a normal supervisor would let a worker rest or at least let others help him up. Instead the people in black were just glaring at him and forcing him to pick everything up by himself again.

The whole team was getting infuriated at the way the bandits were treating the miners but had to hold themselves for now. For Lee though, it was getting less and less bearable.

"Guy-sensei, we must help those people!" He exclaimed.

"We should finish our reconnaissance before we make a move, Lee." Neji interjected before his sensei could reply.

"Ya, hold your horses." Tenten followed up.

"Your teammates are right, Lee. We should finish gathering information before we act like that." Guy mirrored his other students, before continuing, "But I think we now have all the information we can get from here." He said while giving a thumbs up to Lee.

Lee's eyes shone bright before he said, "Right, Leave this to me Guy-sensei." and leapt off.

"That's right, pick 'em up. Or do you want to have your funeral?" One of the bandits told the downed old man.

"N-no, please. Not that. I'm sorry." the old man apologized, picking up the stones with haste.

The bandit was laughing at the man on the ground when suddenly his eyes grew wide and he slumped to the ground, courtesy of the punch to his gut by Lee. Before the other bandit could react, Lee had already gotten behind them and chopped one on the neck and punched another in the stomach effectively knocking them out.

He waved to his team, who joined him shortly. He turned to the old man who was still on the ground and said, "You are alright. Fear not."

The old man instead of looking relieved looked even more frightened than before, "Are you crazy? Dear gods, what have you done!"

Tenten thinking that it was just the shock running through him, tried to help him by giving him some water, "Here you must be thirsty."

The old man didn't take the water, instead slapped with away and out of Tenten's hand.

"Hey, what's that all about?" Tenten yelled.

"You got to do to me just what you did to them. Hurry, hit me, beat me to the ground!" The old man requested.

"Huh, are you feeling Okay?" Tenten asked.

"If you won't, then I will do it myself." He said before starting to hit his own face.

Lee managed to stop him from hitting himself anymore, "What is wrong with you?" Tenten asked.

"Don't you see? If I'm not injured, they would think I was behind it. And that means they will give me a funeral." The old man cried.

At that very moment, a gong was heard which scared the old man even more.

"That gong. What does that mean?" Lee asked.

"Is it some kind of alarm?" was Tenten's question.

"N-no. It's summoning everyone to a funeral." The man answered.

Team 3 confusion about that statement was voiced by Neji, "A funeral?"

"That's right. If any of us displeases Raiga, the leader of the clan, then as punishment he arranges a funeral, in which the guilty person is buried alive." The old man explained.

Team 3 was shocked to hear that. While cruel things like that were not actually uncommon in the unforgiving shinobi world, it was still something else to hear it actually happening. Even a veteran like Guy, who went through a whole war, was shocked. It just cemented the fact the whoever this Raiga was, had to be stopped. But even now he couldn't exactly remember the significance of the name. He should be able to remember someone who apparently liked to bury people alive.

The old man carried on his explanation, "Then Raiga gets very sad. He bows his head and weeps over the coffin as if he just lost a dear friend."

"That gong. Whose funeral are they ringing it for? It can't be yours can it old man?" Neji inquired.

"No. I heard they caught Rokuske this morning." The old man answered.

"Rokuske?" Lee asked not knowing who it was.

"He is a villager, who escaped here to get help from one of the hidden villages." The old man elaborated.

Team 3 looked at each other and nodded. It was decided. They had to save whoever this Rokuske was.

On the way to Wave Country with Team 7

Kakashi was now regretting his choice to go forward with the mission. First, it was the surprise entry of two Chunin level missing ninja. Even though his students took care of them relatively, their appearance pointed to more danger. Then Tazuna explained about Wave's situation. Apparently, it was currently under a tyrannous rule of the shipping magnet, Gato the owner of the company Gato transport. A year ago, he seized all the shipping businesses in the Land of Wave using gangsters and ninjas and was now in control of the whole country. He used his wealth and power to silence any opposition against him. But the bridge Tazuna was building threatened his monopoly of transport in Wave and hence had sent ninjas to take Tazuna out.

This told Kakashi that more trouble was inevitable. And sure enough, just after crossing the sea via a boat while taking extra care not to make enough noise to alert anyone, they walked right into an ambush.

Or that is what he wanted their enemy to think, because unfortunately for the enemy, his team had two sensors in it, one of whose sensing ability can be classified as purely cheating in the ninja game. Namiko had sensed the ambush before they even set their foot on the island that was Wave country. Unfortunately for them, the enemy was blocking all their paths inside the country, so they had to go through the 'Ambush'. The only advantage they had was they knew how many enemies there were and their positions, which was a lot of information to have before an imminent ambush.

The enemy being unaware of it tried to intimidate them by some show of strength. It almost did work, what with the huge sword and all. And his Genins also acted almost exactly how he told them to. He had instructed them to act surprised, to let the enemy underestimate them. It was no big deal for Shino, since no one could actually see or know what he was thinking anyway. Sasuke's usual act of arrogance was normal too, even though he had changed a bit. Tazuna, even while he was told to act, could not control his fear in front of the imposing man standing on a sword that as tall as the man himself, so all good there. Now if only Namiko could stop from overacting it would be good.

"Kyaaa! Sasuke-kun, save me!" Namiko yelled while hugging Sasuke's left hand tightly. Sasuke was trying to act indifferent but it was difficult for even him to ignore the soft feeling of his arm being pillowed by something soft. Or two somethings. Kakashi was trying hard to not sweatdrop as well as nosebleed, "As expected of Tsunade-sama's daughter. Though Kushina-san was no slouch in that department either." He thought.

Even their enemy's eye was twitching, "Copy Ninja Kakashi, I think you should choose your students correctly. A girl like that will not live long in this shinobi world." He said.

Kakashi turned his bored looking eyes on him, "Don't worry about her. You should instead worry about yourself, Demon of the Hidden Mist, Momochi Zabuza." He said seriously, even though on the inside he was relieved, "Phew! He bought it!"

The enemy, Zabuza, had appeared on his huge swords after it had almost cleaved everyone in half when he had thrown it and it got stuck on a tree. He was a tall man with black spikey hair. He wasn't wearing any shirt and his baggy pants had the same strip pattern that Haku's outfit had. He had bandages that hid half of his face, similar to Kakashi.

"Oh! So, my reputation is known to you as well. How convenient. So, I guess you will comply and hand over the old man. That way I won't have to hurt your students." Zabuza threatened.

"Now that is a problem. I cannot hand him over to you. It seems we are at an impasse." Kakashi shrugged him off easily.

"There is no impasse here. If you don't comply, I will just have to cut down every one of you." Zabuza said while crouching down on the sword handle he was standing on.

"That is not going to be as easy as you think." Kakashi said while reaching for his forehead protector which was hiding his left eye. He pulled it up and opened his eye showing the distinctively red pupil bearing three black tomoes, signature to the Uchiha clan's Sharingan.

"Ohh! Looks like I get to see the Sharingan in action. This is an honour." Zabuza said sounding impressed. "During my time in Kirigakure, we had standing orders to eliminate you on sight. Our Bingo book stated you as 'The Man who copied a thousand Jutsus – Kakashi the Copy Ninja."

Sasuke looked at Kakashi, "And I still don't know HOW he got that Sharingan in the first place." He thought.

Zabuza looked at Sasuke and continued, "You shouldn't wear the mark of your clan so openly, Uchiha. Many out in the field have a bone to pick with your clan. You will be easy pickings for them."

He then looked at Namiko, who was still clinging to Sasuke's arm, trying to act scared, "I didn't think Tsunade Senju's daughter will be like this. While not many people remember or recognize the mark on your back, but those who do will come for you as well, Senju. And believe me, the Uchiha has it better in that regard since he only needs to fear for his death. For you however…"

He chuckled at bit before saying, "Quite the setup you have there, Kakashi. An Uchiha and a Senju on the same team. Sadly, it won't stay as such for long." He hopped onto the water surface of the lake that they were standing by and made two hand signs using both his hands, one close to his chest while the other straight up, "Ninja art: Hidden Mist Jutsu"

A thick mist started forming around everyone, limiting sight to barely arm length.

"Team! Manji formation. Protect the client. I will deal with him." Kakashi's voice sounded over the mist. He was standing ahead of the team, almost not visible due to the mist. However, his team still complied and stood protectively around Tazuna.

Sasuke at the front and Namiko and Shino on the sides. Sasuke, since he was already recognized as an Uchiha, activated his Sharingan, "Tch! This mist is so thick, even the Sharingan cannot neutralize it." It didn't help him much in the Mist though.

"This mist has so much chakra in it, its overloading my senses." Namiko thought, "But the guy who cast it has even more chakra, so I just have to concentrate."

Shino was experiencing issues of his own, "My comrades are getting agitated by this much chakra in the air. I have to keep them in control."

"Stay sharp everyone. Zabuza Momochi is the ex-leader of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. He is especially proficient in the art of silent killing." Kakashi warned.

"Silent killing?" Namiko was unaware of the term.

"As the name suggests, it happens in an instant without a sound or warning of any kind. It's so fast, you pass from this life without even realizing what happened." Kakashi explained.

They waited tensely for Zabuza to show up, all while the mist was getting thicker. At some point, the Genin lost complete sight of their sensei, making it seem like they were alone.

"Eight points." Zabuza's voice suddenly came seemingly from all directions, startling the Genin. "Larynx, Spine, Lungs, Liver, Jugular, Subclavian Artery, Kidneys, Heart. Now, which should be my kill point." Zabuza counted the vital points, using scare tatics to scare his opponents. For newly minted Genins of Team 7, it almost worked.

Almost, because as soon as Zabuza finished speaking, Kakashi released a blast of raw chakra, dissipating some of the mist making him visible to his team again.

"All of you calm down. I will protect you. I will not let my comrades die." Their sensei declared reliving some of their tension.

But Zabuza didn't want that to happen, "I wouldn't be so sure." He said, suddenly appearing in the middle of the formation the Genins had made, "Its over."

But before he could make any move, Kakashi appeared in front of him jamming a kunai in his stomach. Oddly, instead of blood coming from Zabuza's wound, clear water flowed out of it, before he himself dissolved into water.

"Sensei, he is behind you!" Namiko's warning fell short in time as Zabuza had already swung his sword and cleaved Kakashi in half. To Zabuza's surprise however, the Kakashi he cut turned into water as well.

"A water clone! Impossible, he copied my jutsu in that instant?" He thought.

In his surprise, he couldn't react as Kakashi moved behind him and placed a kunai to his neck, "Now it's over." Kakashi said.

Land of Sea with Team 11

Genins of Team 11 were intercepted by their sensei on their way to their Inn. They informed her about their interaction with the bandaged girl.

"I see. Good work on getting that information. I also heard about people being 'spirited away'. Honestly, sounds like someone is kidnapping them. This complicates the mission." Anko said, 'And it warrants HIS presence even more.' She thought ominously.

"Well, we can check on her later. Right now, let's see if we can meet this 'Demon of the Ocean'. I've borrowed this skiff. We will head towards Mother Island and see if we can find the Demon." She told her students. This was a dangerous endeavour since the enemy was practically unknown, but it was necessary.

On the way to Mother Island

"Umm, Sensei, its already dark. Don't you think it is dangerous to look for the demon right now?" Hinata asked. Fighting in dark was no problem for her because of her Byakugan but doing so on water surface against an unknown enemy? She was not that confident.

"You are right. But we only have this night to look for it. Tomorrow after successfully completing the mission, we will officially have no reason to stay any longer. And frankly if the mission tomorrow goes smoothly, I would rather not put you three in any more danger. I would just request a higher-level team to solve the village's demon problem. But as long as we are here, we have to try and get to the root of the problem." Anko explained.

"In ROOT, we were always taught to stick to the mission objective and complete it with utmost efficiency, neutralize any hindrances." Sai intoned his old teaching.

Anko smiled at him, "Well, this is not ROOT. Leaf village helps their clients as much as they can. We- " She was interrupted by their skiff rocking violently.

Haku, who was rowing the skiff, tried to move the oar, "It's stuck. We must have hit a rock or something. Sai, help me get it free."

Sai moved up to help when Anko warned her students, "Eyes front, everyone. We have bigger problems ahead of us."

And it was indeed a bigger problem. There was a whirlpool right ahead of them, pulling them in, almost perfectly positioned.

"Change course, Hurry!" Anko ordered.

"Wait, let me help as well." Hinata offered. She went to help them, but before she could something wrapped around her pulling her off the boat.

"Shit!" Anko cursed. "Striking Shadow Snakes." She yelled throwing her left arm as if to grab Hinata. Snakes came out of her sleeves, chasing after the caught Hyuuga, but was unable to grab her before she was pulled into the water.

Anko clicked her tongue and jumped into the water to save Hinata.

"Sai, it's hopeless. Leave it." Haku said.

Sai nodded and both jumped off the skiff onto the ocean water, using water walking skills to stand on top of the water.

Anko similarly floated to the surface and stood up with Hinata in her arms, "Showing themselves now. Be alert you two, we are being targeted from underwater."

Both nodded their heads. "Sensei, what happened to Hinata-san? She shouldn't have been knocked out so easily." Haku asked.

"Don't know. But she seemed to have lost a lot of chakra from what little I can sense. To this to have happened so fast. Whoever and whatever did this, can suck chakra really fast." Anko explained looking away when she sensed something.

"Sai, here hold her." Anko ordered. She handed Hinata over to Sai and ran towards the whirlpool. The same tentacle-like thing from before shot towards her and wrapped itself around her midriff. Anko smirked 'Gotcha' she thought before running through a few hand signs, "Fire Style: Fire Dragon Jutsu." She yelled and blew a huge ball of fire and lit up whatever the tentacle thing came from.

After the fire died down, she saw what looked like a burnt figure of a human. But it soon turned into water and broke down. 'Water clone!' She thought but couldn't react fast enough before something warped around her neck, choking her.

That something ended up being an arm. The person that arm belonged to, came up behind her and said smugly, "You let your guard down."

"Well yeah, but so did you." Before Anko's calm reply could register in his mind, he let out a scream. His arm slacked on reflex as well as due to it suddenly going numb, letting his prisoner go. This was all because Haku was able to numb his shoulder with an accurate ice cold senbon to the muscles.

Haku could not celebrate his victory however, as while the enemy in front of him retreated from Anko, he was instead grabbed from underwater. Taken by surprise, he could not struggle enough to get free before he was dragged underwater.

"Crap! There was another one! I… am losing...chakra…" Was the only thing he could think before he lost consciousness because of lack of chakra as well as air.

Anko dived underwater again to look for Haku, 'Damn! There's no visibility here.' With no success so she surfaced again. She was greeted by the sight of an unconscious Haku with two men standing over him. Before she could make any move to take him back, one of them started going through some handsigns, "Time to put all that Chakra I absorbed to good use.", He said before calling, "Water Style: Furious Current Jutsu." A vortex formed around Haku, sucking him in, while both enemies vanished in a water Shunshin.

"Great. This complicates things a lot." Anko lamented.

OMAKE STARTS HERE, YOU CAN SKIP TO THE AUTHOR NOTES DIRECTLY BY SEARCHING 'OMAKE END'.

OMAKE 7 (This is in the canon setting)

Team 7, consisting of Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke with Kakashi as their Jounin sensei, were escorting a bridge builder back to his home in the Land of Waves.

Seeing that this was their first mission outside the village, Kakashi was walking at the complete back, so as to stop any surprise attack from behind. Naruto, because of his usual energetic self, was walking the first followed by their client, Tazuna, with Sakura and Sasuke on his two sides.

That was when Kakashi noticed a puddle on the road. He was aware that it had not rained in the past few days, so a puddle on a road under bright sunlight was unnatural. But he had something in mind for whoever was hiding in it.

As soon as he crossed the puddle, two shinobi equipped with a chain connected to the gauntlets on their hands popped out of the puddle and tied him up. Before he could use any jutsu to save himself, they yanked the chains from both sides, shredding him to pieces.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura yelled horrifically.

Sasuke immediately jumped into action. The enemy ninjas tried to wrap him in the chain as well, but he fired a kunai that nailed the chain to a tree. This forced both of them to unclasp the chain from their gauntlets. One of them went to engage Sasuke, while the other one went for their target, Tazuna.

While Sasuke was engaged with one of the Shinobis, Naruto decided to stop gaping at their appearance and stop the other one that was heading towards their client. He ran at him with a punch aimed at him but was swatted aside like a bug, getting a scratch on the back of his hand because of the clawed gauntlet.

The ninja continued towards the bridge builder, who was being protected by a shaking Sakura. He came close to them and pulled his arm back intending to run it through Sakura. Sakura closed her eyes in fright. Fortunately for her, at that moment, Kakashi, who was supposed to be dead, appeared and stopped him by putting him in a headlock, while the other ninja was already in his grasp.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said again, but this time in relief.

"Hmm…Good work on defending the bridge builder Sakura. And you too Sasuke. But why didn't you help her when your opponent was already down?" Kakashi asked.

"Hn! She is a ninja. She should be able to take care of herself." Sasuke replied.

"Well, you are not wrong, but if she was not able to protect the bridge builder, we would have failed our mission. If you would've helped her, the chances of Tazuna dying would have been less." Kakashi explained. Just then Naruto came up and joined them. Kakashi looked at his wounded hand and said, "Naruto, these guys probably had their gauntlets coated in poison. I think we need to go back to the village and get you checked."

Tazuna looked shocked, "What? But what about me? You were supposed to escort me to my home."

Kakashi looked straight at him, "That was the mission, no? But nowhere in the mission it said that it will involve Shinobi. That makes it at least a B-rank mission, which my team is still not ready for. But since you are our responsibility, we will take you back to the village. The Hokage will assign you another mission with the proper rank with appropriately skilled Shinobi."

Tazuna was not happy to hear it, "But I don't have any money to pay for a higher-level mission. Please, I'm begging you. You see our country…" and he went on to explain how his country was going through a tyrannous rule of a shipping lord and the bridge he was making was the best hope for them.

Kakashi shook his head, "Even if you say that, with one of my genins probably poisoned and the mission being the level it is, I cannot let them go further on this mission."

Naruto seeing that he was the reason everyone was being held back, brought out a kunai and stabbed his wound, letting the blood flow out to eject the poison, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I never back out and never give up." He exclaimed.

Kakashi looked at him shocked before he said, "That is good and all, but now you can die of blood loss." Which caused Naruto to go into a fit of hysterics.

"I think the dobe is right. We took care of these goons, we will probably be able to fight whoever more there is." Sasuke said.

"Yes, if Sasuke-kun is with us. No one can defeat us." Sakura said, who seemed to not have realized that if it was not for Kakashi, she would have already been dead. But she still somehow was able to show determination in her eyes, even with that half-assed reason.

Kakashi sighed. "Okay, I guess we can continue. But on the condition that you let me take care of the Jounin these guys are following."

They had crossed the waters between the Land of Fire and Land of Waves and were now on the way to Tazuna's home.

Naruto, in an effort of outshine Sasuke, was on a lookout for ninjas to take down. Suddenly Naruto sensed something in the bushes and threw a kunai. After some time when nothing came out Sakura got irritated, "Naruto-baka, don't scare everyone just because you want to look cool. Even if there was someone, it would be years before you can sense them before Sasuke-kun could."

Meanwhile, Kakashi went into to the bushes to look at whatever Naruto had thrown the kunai at. What he saw was a normal rabbit. Well normal for anyone who didn't know much about rabbits. "A snow rabbit. But the colour. They only have white fur during winter, when the days are short and little sunlight. This rabbit was raised indoors away from sunlight. Which can only be for one purpose. A substitution jutsu. So, they are already here."

Suddenly Kakashi sensed an incoming projectile and warned his team, "Look out!" before ducking to avoid it.

The projectile turned out to be a huge sword, that stuck to the tree after passing over him. As soon as the sword stuck, a tall man appeared standing over the sword handle.

Recognizing danger, Kakashi immediately sprang to his feet, "Team up! Manji formation! Protect th-"*THUCK* THUCK* He stopped on hearing those sounds. Those were the sounds he was very intimately familiar with. Those sounds always reminded him of one thing. Failure. And the fact that there were two of them, scared him to the core.

He slowly turned to see what made those noises, hoping it was not what he was thinking. But what he saw gave him mixed feelings. He did not know if he should have felt relieved that both the sound came from a single source or horrified that the source was most definitely one of his students.

When Kakashi had given the warning, Naruto was already on the ground, trying to pacify the rabbit he had scared. Sasuke immediately went into action and tackled their client to the ground. Unfortunately, Sakura did not have those fast reaction speeds. So, what greeted Kakashi was Sakura's face with pure surprise and horror etched on it. But what was worse was that Sakura's face was unnaturally lying between the heels of her feet. Sakura's torso and her lower body were not connected anymore. The huge sword had cleaved clean through her mid-section.

"Only one. And that to a fake ninja. I was hoping to get the bridge builder and be done with it. But I guess that's some less trash to care about. Not that I cared about her in the first place." Zabuza said not caring about what he just did.

Kakashi did not register Zabuza's words. He was currently reliving his past, "Again. I let one of my teammates die again. And this was one of my students. I should have gone back before. This is my fault." His thoughts were spiraling deep down.

To be continued

OMAKE END

AN:

And that's it. I know I had decided to move this Omake from the last chapter to this one, but I made a mistake in not putting the part with Demon Brothers in it.

There's not much to say after this, just that it is very difficult to match the timelines of the missions. I had to cut short Team 8's mission to fit the timelines. The only reason Team 11's mission is the last instead of Team 7's is because most of it happens in the night while all the others happen during day time.

But anyways sorry for the late update but expect the next chapter to be fairly close. Till then, Ja ne'