Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto the anime or manga. This story is based off the world of Naruto. All rights go to Masashi Kishimoto.
Chapter 9 - Mystified
"This is Sasuke, arrived at point B."
"This is Sakura, arrived at point C."
"This is Naruto, arrived at point A ttebayo!"
"You're slow Naruto! Come on! Ok, team seven… Huh? The target has moved again, damnit! After it!"
"Okay, he's there!"
"What's the distance to the target?"
"Five metres out. I'm ready to go ttebayo."
"I am, too."
"Me too."
"Ok… GO!"
The three Genin jumped from their positions and surrounded the target. "I got you!" Naruto said, restraining a large brown cat with a ribbon on its right ear. "AH! You little bastard, stop scratching!" Naruto screamed as the brown cat was using Naruto as a scratch post.
"Does it have a ribbon on its right ear? Is it our target, Tora?" Kakashi asked from his radio.
"It's the target for sure," Sasuke said, looking away from the scene.
"Yosh. 'Operation Capture Tora the lost pet' complete," Kakashi said in his bored expression.
"That mission was pathetic," Naruto said with an irritated tone.
Mission Administrations Room
"Oh, my cute Tora-chan is all sleepy. I was so worried about you!" a plum woman cried out happily, hugging the unconscious cat.
"Yeah… poor Tora ran into a tough tree while we tried to capture it. We hope he recovers soon," Kakashi said.
"Hehe, that cat is getting what he deserves," Naruto whispered to the team. The cat pissed him off to no end. 'Thank goodness I knocked that devil cat out, my face would have been shredded!' he thought afterwards.
Watching how the woman squezzed what little life was still in the cat, Sakura sighed. "No wonder he ran away," she said quietly.
"Now then, Team Seven's next mission. Hm… babysitting Yojyu-sama's boy. Grocery shopping at the neighbouring town. Helping dig up potatoes at-" Hiruzen would have continued.
"Jiji, give us something better, we're too good to dig up potatoes," Naruto said interrupting the Hokage.
'There's some truth to that,' Sasuke thought, agreeing with his teammate.
'I knew he was going to do this soon,' Kakashi internally said.
Iruka, who was sitting beside the Hokage slammed his hands on the table, "You idiot! You're still a novice ninja! Everyone needs to start with the easy missions to gain experience!" Iruka shouted towards Naruto. The Hokage just stayed quiet and covered himself with his large pointy hat.
"Gaining experience!? Yes, because cleaning a kitchen for a newly made mother will help defend myself. We've only been doing dumb missions for like two months! OW!" Naruto said, then being punched in the back of his head, courtesy of Kakashi.
"Cut it out," Kakashi said, looking down at Naruto.
"Naruto!" the Hokage said. "It looks like I need to explain to what missions are."
"Jiji, I know what missions are," Naruto said with the cross of arms.
"Really, well then you understand why I put you on them. Listen, a lot of clients come to this village every day. They request tasks from babysitting to assassinations. On the request list, a variety of requests are listed on it. And they are separated into ranks A, B, C, and D according to difficulty.
I only give S-rank missions to my must trusted, skilled and experienced ninja. In this village we separate the people into Jōnin, Chūnin and Genin to their abilities.
We use the ninja with the appropriate abilities to higher rank missions. And, if we complete the mission, we receive a fee from the client. You have all become Genin just recently, so D ranked are best for you," The Hokage lectured.
"So yeah, I was doing all that with a cup of ramen in my hand. I couldn't believe I didn't spill out one noodle," Naruto told Team Seven, completely ignoring the Hokage.
"Listen to me you little fool!" Hiruzen shouted with a raised fist.
Kakashi put his hand behind his head, "I'm so sorry Hokage-sama," he said with as much emotion he could muster, which was very little.
Naruto turned around to face the Hokage, "Do you not trust your ninja Jiji? Give us a harder mission and we will prove that we are capable of completing it," he said, looking into the Hokage's eyes.
Kakashi started rubbing the back of his head. 'I'm so going to get scolded later…' he thought sadly.
Hiruzen grinned at this, 'What a cheeky brat,' he thought. "Fine, I understand!, "the old man said, suprising all of Team Seven. "If you insist. I will allow you to take on a C ranked mission. It's to escort a certain person," The Hokage told the group.
"Really!?" Naruto exclaimed, not believing his ears. "Who?" Naruto asked immediately.
"Don't get so hasty. I'll introduce him now. Can you please come in now?" The Hokage said loudly.
The door opened slowly as team seven moved their heads to see who they were protecting.
"What? They're all kids!" said an elderly man with grey hair and a beard. He wore white rimmed glasses and a white rope wrapped around his forehead. He wore a sleeveless green top with a big backpack on his back and a towel wrapped around his neck. His eyes were heavily dulled, and he had a bottle of cheap sake in his hand. The man drank from the bottle and let some of the sake spill off his mouth. He leaned against the doorframe for support. All of it created a slobbery mess of a man. A terrible image for the public.
"Hey, is the smallest one there with the idiotic face really a ninja?" he asked.
Naruto knew it was him that was being talked about. "Is the old drunk man with the idiotic face our important client?" Naruto asked, with his thumb pointing at the buzzed man.
"Don't insult the man you're supposed to escort, idiot," Kakashi said as he put his hand on Naruto's head, pushing him down.
The man drank some more before looking at the group, "I am the bridge builder expert Tazuna. Once I have returned to my country, the Land of Waves. I will have all of you protect my life with yours while I complete the bridge," he said.
"Alright. Team seven meet Tazuna and I at the main gate in an hour. Prepare for a month's travel," Kakashi said as he left the room, followed by Tazuna. Sakura and Sasuke left afterwards and Naruto stayed behind.
"Naruto? Shouldn't you be packing?" the Hokage asked Naruto.
Naruto twirled around and walked up to the Hokage. "Any news on Nii-chan? I haven't heard squat since he left two months ago ttebayo," Naruto asked.
Hiruzen shifted his eyes so they looked at him for a moment. "He's doing good. I received a message from the leader he is working for. She says he has been amazing and actually wrote a little note at the end that she wouldn't mind keeping him afterwards," he said with a grin.
Naruto was confused. "But he's a part of Konoha. He can't be a part of her group," he said.
Hiruzen and Iruka laughed at Naruto's innocence. "Naruto. You'll understand when you're older," Iruka said.
Naruto stepped back. "What? Who is she anyway?" he asked.
"Her name is Terumī Mei, the rebel leader currently fighting in the Land of Water," Hiruzen answered. "In the last letter, the war seems to be nearly over. I wouldn't be suprised if we saw him one or two weeks time. You two might meet up with each other on the way home, wouldn't that be a pleasant surprise. Going through the Land of Waves from the Land of Water would be the quickest way to get home for him."
"Ah yes! I can't wait to see Nii-chan. And rebels? There's a civil war going on?" Naruto asked with a hint of confusion, this was the first time hearing such information.
"Yes rebels. I'm sure you'll find out more later when he comes back, but I should remind you that you have an important mission that you should prepare for," Hiruzen said.
Naruto nodded and ran out of the mission room. He exited the Hokage tower and went straight towards the Uzumaki residence to pack up gear. Running across the roof tops of the buildings and taking the shortcuts made life much easier for Naruto. If he took the "normal" path, he would take twice if not triple the time to reach his home.
Reaching his house grounds, Naruto went straight through the front door and climbed up the stairs. He entered his room and began to sort through his piles.
"Alright, everything I need should already have been sealed in… here!" Naruto said as he took out a small backpack from his closet.
The backpack was already filled with weapon, medical, food and domestic supplies for any type of long-term missions. "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. God, I love that saying," Naruto said.
After checking that everything was inside, he went into the study. Naruto knew his older brother was very cautious when going on missions, so he would take down all the gossip and latest news to do with a region or country whenever he went on a mission. Naruto said that he was just paranoid but Kotaro said he rather be paranoid than die and it's a great skill to have.
Naruto entered the study to see what information was there to prepare himself for. Naruto looked up to the map of the mainland above the desk. He saw that the Land of Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning and Earth all had different colours, red, blue, green, yellow and brown respectively with the rest of the countries in white, black lines showed borders of both region and country.
Naruto went on his tippy-toes to find the Land of Waves. "There it is. It's between the Land of Fire and Water. Not really that big," Naruto commented.
Naruto also saw a strange sticker on top of the Land of waves, and then noticed other stickers over other places on the map. Four of them in total, each having the symbol of a suit of cards. Over the Land of Waves was the suit of Spades. The Capital of the Land of Fire had the suit of Hearts. The Capital in the Land of Honey had the suit of Clubs and finally Capital of The Land of Earth had the suit of Diamonds.
"What are these? Why would Nii-chan put them up there?" Naruto wondered.
Naruto looked away and went over to a small shelf filled with scrolls. He scanned through and saw a symbol of the Land of Waves, "Bingo," Naruto said.
Naruto took out the scroll and opened it. It was brimmed with information. Naruto read through it briefly to see what the story was with the island nation.
"Economy is falling. People are becoming restless according to some civilians in the Land of Hot springs…
That's not good. Anything else?
Found an information broker in the Land of Waves. His codename is Spades. Not his real name, supposedly it's impossible to find out. Spades told me that there were three others that go by codenames as well. Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs. These four are the main information brokers in the Mainland. I wouldn't be surprised if Jiraiya has one, if not all of them as contacts for his spy network. It would be very surprising if he had none of them as contacts.
Spades is a nice man so far, from what I can see from my two meetings with him, but he warned me about the other three, especially Hearts. Apparentely this person has a deadly ability. I don't know if it's a man or woman. Let's just hope I never get on their bad side. This is a tough world we live in.
All four also work in the drug trade business. Spades didn't look like he took any drugs whatsoever, he must just produce and sell. A dirty business but it works for him. I will stay wary of him, but the man knows stuff that he shouldn't, too much stuff.
At least he is a reliable source of information at a reasonable price. It made me realise how naïve I was that this world was just about ninja, samurai and the normal people, but no I was dead wrong, it also includes gangs and mercenary groups in the underworld. The last warning he gave me were of this mercenary group that wore black cloaks with red clouds on them. He said I might get recruited some time soon if I continue to flaunt my ass around the Mainland. I took his crude advice into consideration.
Damn… That's a lot of stuff to process. Is this the same Jiraiya I learnt in the academy? From the look of the date Nii-chan wrote at the end, this was written right after he got promoted to a Jōnin. I'd better bring this with me, so I won't forget any of it," Naruto said before putting it into his backpack.
Looking around, there was nothing left for him to do or pack. He was ready. "I better get to the gate, I don't want to keep Sakura or Sasuke waiting for me," Naruto said as he left the study and then his house.
Main Gate
Team seven met up with Tazuna at the main gate an hour later. Surprisingly, Kakashi was on time for once. 'He's usually late for everything by two hours,' All the Genin thought when they saw him.
Naruto led the group out of the village and turned around. "YOSH!" he cheered out, putting his arms up. "Let's go!"
"What are you so excited for?" Sakura asked.
Naruto was moving his head side to side, taking in all the views, "Because, I've never been outside the village for a mission before," Naruto exclaimed looking excited.
Tazuna, who was wearing a straw hat, asked "Hey, will a kid like him really be capable of this mission?" he asked.
Naruto's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance and Kakashi just chuckled, "Don't worry about him. He's much better than he looks. And I, a Jōnin, will be accompanying you. There's no need to worry," he said.
Naruto just kept replaying Tazuna's words repeatedly in his mind. He crossed his arms, 'This old man is such a pain. I need to say something!' he thought with crossed arms and a twitching eyebrow.
"Hey you, old man. Don't underestimate ninja. Some things great things come in small packages. One day, I'll become Hokage of this very village. The name is Uzumaki Naruto. Remember it!" Naruto said as he pointed his finger at Tazuna.
"The Hokage is the best ninja in the village, right? I don't think a guy like you can become one," Tazuna insulted.
Naruto was now real mad, "If a drunk like you can become a "Expert bridge builder", why can't I become the Hokage. When I become the Hokage, you'll have to say sorry for all this," he said.
"I won't kid. That is, even if you become the Hokage," Tazuna gruffly said as he walked off from the group.
The remaining members of Team seven could have sworn that steam was coming out of Naruto's ears. The group followed the bridge builder after Naruto calmed down. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by two pairs of eyes.
The Land of Fire, South-Eastern Countryside
Naruto was looking up in the sky. It was clear with small white clouds moving across. There were cries coming from the local bird of prey. Like the past week, the sun was beating down hard to the ground. Naruto looked down and saw the light brown that is the dirt.
'Hasn't rained in a while... my plants better not die,' Naruto mused. A toad croaked, annoyed from the rising heats.
"Naruto?" Kakashi asked.
"Sensei? Something wrong?" Naruto asked.
"I only it noticed now, but why is your backpack so small?" he asked.
Naruto smiled and patted his back pouch, "Everything I need are in this. I sealed them away, so I don't have to worry about a big bulky bag ttebayo," he explained.
Kakashi just nodded with an eye-smile, moving back to the rear of the group.
"Hey, Tazuna-san…" Sakura said.
"What is it?" Tazuna asked gruffly.
"You're from the Land of the Waves, right?" she said.
"What about it?" he asked.
"Kakashi-sensei, are there also ninja in that country?" Sakura asked the one-eyed man.
Kakashi turned to face her, "No, there are no ninja in the Land of waves. But while the culture and customs of other countries may be different, other hidden villages and ninja do exist. To the many countries that exist on the mainland.
The existence of ninja villages is the equivalent some of the country's military powers. But the villages aren't under control of that country. They are supposedly equal in position. On a small island nation like the Land of waves, where it is hard to be influenced by other countries, there is no need for a ninja village.
Among the countries that have a ninja village. Since the five Lands of Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind and Earth occupy a large mass of land and their powers are immense, they are known as the Five Great Ninja powers. Land of Fire's Hidden Village of Konoha, Land of Water's Hidden Village of Mist, Land of Lightning's Hidden Village of the Cloud, Land of Wind's Hidden village of Sand and finally, the Land of Earth's Hidden Village of Rock.
Only the leader of each hidden village can carry the title of 'Kage'. Hokage, Mizukage, Raikage, Kazekage and Tsuchikage. These are the ninja that reign over the tens of thousands of ninja that exist in the countries throughout the world," Kakashi explained in detail to his Genin.
Sakura brought her arms to her chest and her fists were clenched, "Wow, so Hokage-sama must be a great man!" she said.
Naruto grinned, knowing how great his Jiji was from watching a spar between him and his older brother. 'Boy those were epic spars,' Naruto thought.
"Oi Sakura, you just doubted Hokage-sama, didn't you?" Kakashi said with a teasing tone.
Sakura shook her head side to side repeating no repeatedly.
Kakashi just chuckled and patted Sakura's head. "Don't worry. We won't have any ninja battles in a C ranked mission," Kakashi reassured.
"Then there's no need to worry about meeting a foreign ninja then," Sakura said happily.
"Of course," Kakashi said then proceeding to laugh.
"But it isn't just those ninja we should be worried about Sensei, there are other dangers hiding for us like gangs and ninja from minor villages," Naruto said with his hands in his pockets.
Kakashi sighed, "Naruto, stop worrying. This will be all smooth sailing, trust me," Kakashi reassured him.
The party moved on and walked for a few hours. Team seven and Tazuna walked over a wooden bridge to get to the other side of a clear river. They entered a dense part of a forest and were walking through the dirt path. Naruto was taking in his surroundings, he truly felt at peace. The sun was shining, the birds were singing. Wild flowers were beginning to bloom. The trees had dark foliage covering their bark and body, providing shade for the local wildlife. A snake hiss could be heard in the tall grass.
Naruto looked ahead of him and saw a dark blue puddle. 'What the?' he thought immediately. Naruto looked at Kakashi with a questioning gaze.
'Nice Naruto!' Kakashi thought, giving a slight nod to Naruto as the group continued onwards. Kakashi looked and Sasuke prepare himself for the upcoming ambush. 'That's two out of three. That's a passing grade!'
The group went past the puddle and Naruto felt anxious. He then heard a stomping noise come from behind and then he looked. He saw two men clad in camouflaged gear, mainly focused in black. And some strange chain was flying with the men around their metal gauntlets. The chain wrapped around tightly against Kakashi's body.
"What!?" Kakashi said, his voice filled with shock.
Both men pulled on the chains and shouted, "First one!". Shreds appeared in what used to be Kakashi's body. All the Genin were shocked.
As the shreds landed on the ground, they made loud rickety noises. 'Kakashi used a log for a substitution!' Naruto thought quickly, seeing the shreds build up and form a dust cloud.
Sakura screamed, seeing her Sensei being killed. Naruto was scared. His first real battle was happening right now. Then, the two men appeared behind Naruto, crouching slightly. "Second one!" they shouted.
Instincts overwritten Naruto's body as he went on his hands and lifted his feet in an instant and kicked them square in the jaws, similar to when a horse buckles. 'What the hell!?' both men thought as they were sent in the air. Naruto then jumped by bending his elbows and using his hands as feet, then took out a kunai and launched himself to the man on his left.
Sasuke at that moment jumped into the air and took out a shuriken and kunai, he skilfully threw the shuriken at the wavering chain and it stuck to the tree. With his kunai, he threw it in the shuriken hole, making full use of his accuracy, securing the two enemies to the tree.
Naruto successfully pinned the man down, using his feet to make sure the man can't use his hands. With his kunai, he put the blade to the man's throat. "You!" he shouted to the one near Sasuke, "Try anything funny and your partner dies!" Naruto said with a serious voice and face.
Sakura, who stood in front of their client with a kunai in her hand, and Tazuna paled at the threat. 'Where did the goofball go?' Sakura asked herself.
Kakashi appeared in the middle of the group. "Wow great work team!" he said in a cheery voice.
"Sensei? What? How? When?" Sakura repeatedly asked.
Kakashi waved her off and pointed to where he died. Sakura looked and saw bark and wood flesh. "A replacement!" she said shocked.
"Sensei. What should we do with them?" Naruto asked, his serious voice still being used.
Kakashi stared at the scene, 'Their instinct and skills were superb,' he thought.
"Leave him awake. Disorient him," Kakashi ordered. Naruto took the kunai away, rotated it to the blunt end and smacked the man wearing a Kiri forehead protector on his forehead. The man's eyes moved violently, and he groaned in pain.
Naruto stood up from his position. He looked at his right and saw Kakashi do the same to the other one. Naruto suddenly felt a huge stinging pain on his left hand, he looked and saw a gash in it.
"Must have been from his glove, that was careless Naruto. It's poisoned, you have to clean out the poison or you'll die... Anyway, Naruto and Sasuke excellent job. Sakura, you too," Kakashi said as he wrapped ninja rope around the two men and tied them to the tree. "Anyway Tazuna-san. We need to talk!" Kakashi said sternly.
Naruto took out a fresh kunai and stabbed his left hand, "Naruto! What the hell are you doing!?" Sakura shouted out, the self-inflicted attack got her out of her frightened daze.
Naruto just laughed, "I don't have an antidote, so I need to either stab it out or suck it out ttebayo. This way is faster!" Naruto said as he got the last of the metallic poison out of the back his hand.
Naruto took out his water bottle and squirted water on the wound, cleaning it. He then took out a bandage from the small medical pouch that Kotaro made for him and wrapped his hand with it. "See Sakura, good as new!" he said happily.
"These guys are Chūnin class ninja from the Hidden Village of the Mist. These are ninja known for fighting no matter what the cost," Kakashi told the group.
'Just like the ninja from Iwa,' Naruto thought as he dusted his trousers.
"How were you able to detect our action?" the masked ninja asked.
"My cute little Genin here and I knew it hasn't rained for the past few days, and it's sunny today. So, a puddle of water shouldn't exist," Kakashi told the two men.
"Why did you let the kids fight when you knew that?" Tazuna asked.
"If I was up to it, I could have killed these two in the blink of an eye. But, I needed to confirm two things. I needed to know who the target for these two was," Kakashi answered.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Tazuna asked him.
"In other words, were you being targeted or somebody from our ninja group? We have not heard anything about you being targeted by ninja. Your request was to protect you from armed forces such as gangs and robbers. This is a mission that's a B rank. Our job was to support and guard you until you completed the bridge.
If ninja are the enemies, this mission would have been an expensive B rank mission. It looks like you have your reasons, but it only troubles us if you lie in your request detail. This wasn't part of the mission," Kakashi told Tazuna with his cold lone eye staring at him without a blink.
"This mission is way out of our league," Sakura pointed out. "Let's quit!" she said.
Kakashi turned to Sasuke and Naruto, "What about you guys?" he asked.
"Hn. I rather to do the mission. Digging potatoes is not worth my time," Sasuke said.
"Naruto?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto stayed silent for a few moments. 'Sasuke and I can handle guys like these guys no problem, I'm afraid for Sakura though but this could help her,' Naruto thought as he looked at the tied-up ninja. "Let's keep going… this kind of thing is going to happen often ttebayo. Might as well get used to it," he said confidently.
The Land of Fire's Sea Channel
Team seven and Tazuna were currently on a small wooden boat with a small motor engine at the back. The fog was extremely thick that the ninja couldn't see five meters in front of them. The waters were only slightly choppy as the man at the back of the boat rowed the boat. A mixture of a dull grey and purple surrounded Team Seven and Tazuna.
"The mist is so thick, I can't see what's ahead!" Sakura said.
"We should be able to see the bridge soon," The rower said as he did his work. "If we move along the side of the bridge, we'll be at the Land of Waves."
Naruto who was sitting in the front was trying to find it. On the right, a dark outline appeared. Pillars were now noticeable and cranes holding steel beams can be seen. "It's huge!" Naruto said a little too loudly.
"Hey, be quiet! We're using a boat and hiding in the mist. That's why I'm rowing instead of using the engine," The man quietly hissed out. "In other words, if we get caught, we'll be in big trouble!".
The Genin were shocked of how scared the man was. "Tazuna-san," Kakashi said getting the attention of the elderly man. "Before the boat gets to the pier, there's something I need to ask you."
Tazuna stayed silent, "The identity of the ones who are after you, and the reason they are after you. Or we can call off this mission off when you get ashore, Tazuna-san," Kakashi said.
"It looks like I have to tell you the full story. I mean well, I would like you to hear my story. As you said, this mission is most likely out of your job description. An extremely terrible man is after my life."
"An extremely terrible man?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes," Tazuna replied.
"Who is he?"
"You should have at least heard of the name. Marine transportation billionaire, Gatō."
"Gatō!? The one from the Gatō company? He's one of the richest men in the world."
"The very same. He is the president of a marine transportation company on the outside. But underground, he uses gangs and ninja to smuggle drugs and contraband goods. He also does nasty jobs like takeovers of other companies and countries. A year ago, he set his sights on my country, the Land of Waves. He entered the country using violence and money as his shield. And he quickly took over the Island's sea traffic and transportation.
On a group of islands like the Land of Waves, controlling the sea means ruling over the wealth, politics and people of this Island. And the one thing Gatō is afraid of is-"
"Your bridge," Naruto interjected.
Tazuna nodded, "Yes. It is the completion of the bridge that has been under construction for quite some time," he said looking at his project.
"I see. So, you as the one building the bridge became an obstacle to him," Sakura deduced.
"Then those ninja were sent by Gatō," Sasuke added.
"But I don't understand. He's a dangerous man who uses ninja. Why did you hide the fact when you came to us?" Kakashi asked.
"Sensei, he said he's controlling the country. If he had to resort to us, it means the country is dirt poor ttebayo," Naruto said crossing his arms.
"He's right Kakashi-san. And I didn't know he was going to send ninja. All I've seen is his thugs doing his dirty work, not any ninja.
The Land of Waves is a really poor country. Even our Daimyō does not have much money. And we don't have much either. We don't have the money to request for an expensive B rank or above mission.
If you quit your mission after I land, I'll be killed for sure while I go home. But there's no need to blame yourselves. Only my cute eight-year old grandson will cry, and cry, and cry some more. And my beautiful daughter will just hold a grudge against Konoha ninja and live a lonely life. But don't worry, it's not your fault," Tazuna said.
All of the team seven members groaned. "I guess it can't be helped. We will continue the escort mission," Kakashi said.
Tazuna just grinned like a kid at a sweet shop, "Oh? That's good to hear," he said happily.
"We're almost there," The rower said. "Tazuna, looks like we haven't been noticed yet."
"Thanks!" Tazuna said to the rower.
The boat followed on ahead and it went into the tunnel closest to the bridge. The boat moved through the tunnel. Once the boat exited the tunnel, Team seven and Tazuna were at the Land of Waves. The fog was cleared, and sunshine was pouring down on them.
They all jumped off the boat once it docked. "This is as far as I go. Later," The rower said.
Tazuna smiled at the man, "Sure. Thanks a lot," He said. The man turned on the boat engine and then flew off into the distance. "Yosh! Now take me home," Tazuna asked the ninja.
"Sure, sure," Kakashi said as the group moved from the dock and into the town. As they were walking, Kakashi was musing to himself. 'If they were to attack again, they should send a Jōnin level ninja instead of Chūnin level ones,' he thought as they moved into one of the forests.
The group moved for thirty minutes. 'What was that?' Naruto thought as he threw a kunai to his left, scaring the rest of the party.
"Naruto! What the hell are you doing?" Sakura screamed out.
"Hey you midget! Don't scare me like that!" Tazuna shouted at him.
Naruto moved to where his kunai was. He saw it was just above the head of a snow rabbit. "Shit! I must of mistook it for an enemy ninja!" Naruto exclaimed as he ran over and grabbed his kunai and then proceeded to hug the rabbit better.
'That was a snow rabbit. But what was with its fur. They only have that colour of white in winter where the days are short. That means it is a rabbit that was raised inside, a place where the sun isn't a factor, a replacement technique?' Kakashi thought. He turned his head to a nearby tree, 'So one has appeared now,' he thought after.
Zabuza was eyeing the ninja in front of him wearily. "I see. Ninja that are on the same level as the demon brothers could never handle this guy. Konoha's copy ninja, Kakashi of the Sharingan is there, this could get fun," he said. He then vanishing away.
Leaves crunched and swirled in the air. A sharp but heavy whisper was increasing in volume. The sound was frightening and chaotic.
Kakashi felt a tickle sensation from his ears. He gasped before turning to his team. "Everyone duck!" Kakashi shouted to the group. A large blade whirled in the air and nearly cut off the heads of Tazuna and Team seven.
The sword stuck itself into a tree, nearly chopping it down. Then a Zabuza landed on the hilt of the sword. Zabuza wore blue lined pants and cow print leg wraps. He was shirtless with a sword belt wrapped around his neck and he had similar cow print arm wraps covering his forearms.
"He's-" Kakashi said eyeing him up.
"Momochi Zabuza," Naruto answered, remembering Kotaro's lessons on the seven ninja swordsmen and Zabuza's face in his Kotaro's bingo book.
"Ah, it seems like your kid knows who I am, Kakashi," Zabuza said.
"Oh, my, my, so you are Momochi Zabuza, the exiled ninja of the Hidden Mist," Kakashi said as he moved closer to the swordsman. Naruto moved a bit closer but Kakashi's hand blocked his path. "You're in the way. Stay back, everyone," Kakashi ordered. Naruto didn't like it, but he complied, jumping in between Sasuke and Sakura.
"I'm guessing you are Kakashi the Sharingan user then," Zabuza said. Kakashi didn't react but Sasuke had to take another look at his sensei. "I'm sorry, but I'll need you to hand over the geezer," Zabuza demanded.
'Kakashi is going to use his sharingan. Nii-chan said it makes him stronger. How strong is this Zabuza?' Naruto thought as he moved back slightly.
"Everyone, form the swastika formation. Protect Tazuna-san. Don't join the battle. To not to interfere with the battle is teamwork," Kakashi ordered as he lifted his forehead protector off his left eye, revealing a red eye with three tomoes. "Fight me," Kakashi said provoking Zabuza.
"I'm honoured that I can see the sharingan I've heard so much about," Zabuza said turning around.
"What's this sharingan?" Sakura asked.
"Sharingan. It is the power the eye generates. One who use dójutsu are said to have eye powers that can see through all genjutsu, taijutsu and ninjutsu and cancel their effects. But that's not the only ability the sharingan possesses," Sasuke told his team mates.
"You're correct. That isn't the only thing. The scary part is that the sharingan can understand how an opponent's technique works and then copy it," Zabuza said. Suddenly the area filled with mist.
"When I was in the Hidden Mist's assassination squad, your information was listed in the bingo book I carried, asking for your capture, an A-rank threat at thirteen years old. It also noted this… The man who copied over a thousand jutsu. Kakashi the copy ninja," Zabuza said staring down at Kakashi.
Naruto's eyes were fixed between the two heavy-weights. "Let's cut the chit-chat here. I have to kill the geezer right away," Zabuza said as he crouched on his sword.
The three Genin immediately gathered around Tazuna and pulled out their kunai. "But Kakashi, it looks like I have to defeat you first," he said as he pulled his sword out of the tree.
Zabuza landed on a lake nearby and started to flow his chakra through the water. "He's there. And he's standing on water?" Sakura exclaimed.
'He's embedding lots of his chakra into the water,' Kakashi thought as his eyes were stuck on the former Kiri ninja.
It was only moments later that Zabuza disappeared from the Konoha shinobi's eyes.
'He disappeared!' Naruto thought with cold sweat running down his neck.
Kakashi walked towards the lake, "Sensei!" Sakura cried out.
"He'll try and kill me first, but-"
"What is he?" Sakura asked, interrupting him.
"Momochi Zabuza. He was in the Hidden Mist's ANBU, and was known for his silent killing techniques. Just as the name implies, it's a killing technique that's executed in a flash and carried out in absolute silence. It's possible that you'll be dead before you even realised it. And I cannot use the Sharingan to its fullest potential. So, don't let your guard down. But if you fail, you're only going to die," Kakashi said in a bored manner. "The fun has already begun."
The air was getting heavier around the ninja and Tazuna, "The mist is getting way too thick," Naruto said quietly to the others.
"The Land of Waves is surrounded by ocean, so a mist can often emerge," Tazuna pointed out.
"No," Naruto said sternly, "This is all him," he said as he kept glancing in all directions. "He's putting his chakra into the mist and air."
It was as Naruto said. Eventually, the mist grew so thick that Kakashi disappeared from his students.
"Sensei?" Sakura tried calling him.
"Eight points," an eerie voice in the mist said.
"What was that?" Sakura asked.
"The larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, collarbone, kidney and heart. Now which vital organ do you want to get struck at?" Zabuza said, scaring the Genin and Tazuna.
Kakashi focused his chakra and let it envelop his body, he then exerted it out, pushing the mist away, blowing air into his team and client.
Sasuke was having terrifying thoughts run through his head. Memories of the bloodlust resurfaced from his past. His clan's downfall, it was too much for him. Sasuke gripped his kunai as hard as he could and brought it to his throat. It rested on his skin, so very close to the flesh.
"Sasuke. Don't worry, I'll protect the three of you with my life. I won't let anyone on my team die," Kakashi said with a reassuring expression on his face.
'This is like what happened with Nii-chan and Mizuki, but that was all him. I nearly felt sick on how much Nii-chan wanted to kill Mizuki!' Naruto thought, remembering one of his worst memories.
"I don't know about that. This the end," Zabuza said as he appeared in the middle of the formation, his humongous sword resting on the back ok his arm, ready to cleave the Genin and Tazuna.
All four were shocked by the appearing act. 'I have to act now! Or my friends will die!' Naruto thought as he crouched down and swung his kunai in a large arc with speed, aiming towards the open gut of Zabuza.
A scream of pain came from Zabuza as the kunai dug into his flesh, the group and Kakashi were stunned to see how quickly the little blond reacted. When Naruto took out his kunai, blue liquid came out of the gut.
"Water?" Naruto thought as Zabuza turned into a puddle of water.
"You're pretty good brat. Now! Kakashi Die!" Zabuza said as he swung his huge sword at frightening speeds.
He chopped Kakashi in half and Kakashi's insides spread across before turning into water, "Water Clone jutsu, but how? Did he… copy it? In this mist?" Zabuza thought as a kunai was put beside his throat.
"Don't move, this is the end," Kakashi said in a cool fashion. The Genin around calmed down, thinking the threat was over. This lasted until chuckling was heard.
"This is the end? You don't understand. You can't defeat me with just your imitations. I can assure you of that. Hehehe, but you're pretty good. I see you copied my Water Clone when you said, "I won't let anyone on my team die."
By making your clone talk as if it was the real one, you diverted my attention to the clone. While the real one used the mist to hide and observe my movements. However," a new clone of Zabuza appeared out of thin air, "I'm not that easy to defeat," he said in husked voice.
The clone in front of Kakashi dispelled into water. Kakashi quickly turned his head and saw Zabuza was already beginning his swing. He ducked hard and just missed the huge blade that would have cut him in half.
The sword kept going in a circle motion until it dug into the ground. Zabuza switched hands from right to left to hold the sword and used his right leg to kick Kakashi hard, sending him into the air. "Now!" Zabuza said. While grabbing his sword with his right hand, he dashed at unbelievable speeds.
Zabuza put a foot to ground when he saw small shines coming from below, he slowed down just in time. "How stupid!" Zabuza said as he jumped onto the lake behind him, dodging the caltraps.
"Sensei… was kicked away!?" Sakura said in a frightened tone.
Sasuke was keeping a keen eye on the enemy, "His Taijutsu skill is superb too," he said.
Kakashi emerged from the water soaked to the bone. "What's with this water? It's so heavy," Kakashi said.
Zabuza jumped behind and did the hand seals Snake-Ram-Horse-Hare-Ram-Horse-Hare and then spread out his palms "Idiot. Water release: Water prison technique," Zabuza said.
A large sphere of water surrounded Kakashi and trapped him in. "Shit!" Kakashi said before he was fully restricted by the jutsu. 'I thought I could use the water as cover, but it turned out to be a big mistake on my part,' Kakashi thought.
"Hehe, you fell for it. This is a special prison that you can't escape from. You give me a hard time when you're moving. Now then Kakashi… I'm going to finish you off later.
First, I'm going to get rid of them. The three of you have your forehead protector as if you think you're ninja. But a ninja refers to someone who has gone through numerous life or death situations. In other words, you can call yourself ninja once you appear in my bingo book. You three aren't ninja," Zabuza said as he disappeared into the mist again and punched Naruto in the gut, making him fly back. "You three are just kids," Zabuza ended.
"Get Tazuna and run!" Kakashi said from the prison, surprising his Genin. "You can't win against him! He can't move as long as he has me trapped in this prison. And he won't be able to use any clones once you get away from him! Run away!" Kakashi shouted from the water prison.
"We have to do it," Sasuke declared as he ran at Zabuza throwing kunai and shuriken straight at him.
Zabuza with one swing of his sword, knocked them all away. Sasuke jumped while Zabuza swung and was heading towards him.
"This is it!" Sasuke shouted with a kunai in hand, directly aiming for Zabuza's chest.
"Too easy," Zabuza said as he raised his right arm. Sasuke's eye widened and he struggled to breathe, his throat in the grasp of Zabuza's firm grip. Zabuza threw Sasuke away and Sasuke skidded far, making a dust cloud behind him.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screamed out, watching her crush travel through grit and dirt.
"Sasuke got… done in one move…. This is a Jōnin, a real ninja," Naruto gritted out not liking the situation at all. Naruto tried getting back up from his punch, but as soon he put his left hand to ground, a stinging pain shot up his arm. 'Fuck, that hurts! This pain… I have to do something quick!' Naruto thought as he stood up and moved towards Zabuza.
"Idiot! Stop you idiot!" Kakashi said from his prison.
"Naruto! What are you thinking!?" Sakura said with her hands in her hair.
"Hm, idiot," Zabuza said with an amused voice.
Naruto stopped hallway and had a grin on his face, "Now then, let's go wild!" he said getting his body ready for a fight.
Zabuza could only laugh, "You seem to be quite confident, but do you even have a chance for victory," he chuckled out.
Kakashi was now shouting, "What are you all doing!? I told you to run away! The outcome of this battle was decided when I got caught! RUN! Our mission is to protect Tazuna-san. Did you forget that?"
Naruto turned his head around,he eyes were focused on Tazuna the old drunk.
"Don't worry, I caused all of this in the first place. I won't say that I want to survive no matter what," Tazuna said as he turned his head up, "Sorry, everyone. Fight as much as you want," He finished.
"Hn. That's how it is," Sasuke responded.
Naruto looked at Zabuza with a grin, "Are you ready?" Naruto asked.
Zabuza started laughing, and was laughing hard. "You sure don't learn, do you?"
"What?" Naruto asked with a hint of irritation.
"Still pretending to be ninja? When I was your age, my hands were already soaked in blood," Zabuza said looking at his right hand.
"The Demon Zabuza," Kakashi said looking at his jailor.
"Oh? It looks like you heard of me."
"A long time ago, the Hidden Mist was known as the Village of the Bloody Mist. In that village, there was an obstacle that existed to become ninja," Kakashi stated.
Zabuza turned his head, "So you also know about the final test then."
"Final test?" Sakura asked.
Zabuza lightly laughed, "Students killing each other. Friends who have eaten from the same pot are separated into groups of two and are forced to fight each other to the death. This is done with friends that have helped each other, shared their dreams and competed together," he told the group.
"That's awful," Naruto said with a paled face.
"Years ago, the Hidden Mist had to go through reformation, because in the previous year a monster appeared that finally decided it," Kakashi said.
"A reformation?" Sakura asked. "A reformation… What did that monster do?"
"A small boy who had not even gained the right to become a ninja killed more than a hundred of the recruits that year. And killed them without hesitation," Kakashi told the group.
Zabuza's eyes were darkened until he looked up into the sky, "That day was fun," He said. Next moment, Sasuke was elbowed in the gut and skidded on his back. Zabuza wasn't finished as he elbowed the same spot again but had the hard ground as support, making it more painful. Sasuke's mouth opened wide and he coughed up blood. Zabuza put his left foot on Sasuke's chest and pushed hard. "Die," Zabuza said as he tugged the hilt of his sword.
"Shit!" Naruto said before he formed the cross hand seal. 'Shadow Clone Jutsu,' Naruto thought.
Tens of Narutos appeared around Zabuza and Sasuke, "Oh, shadow clones? And you made quite a few kid!" Zabuza said, looking at all the new Narutos.
All the shadow clones pulled out a kunai, "Let's go!" they all said in unison and jumped into the air. They closed around Zabuza and attempted to stab him.
Zabuza swirled on the spot swinging his huge sword, hitting all the shadow clones in one motion.
Sakura and Tazuna were wide-eyed at the useless attempts, "It's impossible! You can't beat a guy like him!" Tazuna said, terrified.
All the Narutos skidded across the ground and puffed into smoke. 'I can use this method to beat him now,' Naruto thought. "Sasuke!" Naruto shouted as he threw a folded Fúma shuriken at Sasuke.
Sasuke instinctively caught and noticed something about it when caught, 'I see, I see what you want to do Naruto! It's pretty good,' Sasuke thought as he got in position. Sasuke unfolded it, "The Fúma shuriken, the shadow windmill," Sasuke said.
"A shuriken won't work on me boy," Zabuza said.
Sasuke ignored him, jumped high in the sky and threw the shuriken. The shuriken flew around the clone Zabuza and headed towards the real one, "I see. You're going after the real one this time. But it's too easy," he said catching the shuriken in his free hand. A second shuriken came into his visage and headed straight towards him, getting dangerously close. "Another shuriken was in the shadow of the first shuriken?" Zabuza said surprised.
"That's the Shadow Shuriken Jutsu," Kakashi said, equally surprised.
'A second shuriken was in his blind spot!' Sakura thought in shock.
"No!" Zabuza said as he jumped over the shuriken. "It's still too easy for me," he said with open eyes.
The shuriken barely went any further as it puffed into Naruto, revealing to be a transformation. This shocked the whole party apart from Sasuke. Naruto dug his foot into the ground and rocketed to Zabuza's back. He plastered a seal tag with the Kanji of fire on it. Naruto jumped back and formed the Ram hand seal and released the seal. Fire exploded on the back of Zabuza's back. Zabuza was in intense pain and shock that he took his right hand out of the water prison and jumped into the lake.
Zabuza jumped back out immediately, steam coming off his back on where the tag was and started spinning the Fúma shuriken he still had, "You damn kid! I'm gonna kill you!" he shouted as he was about to throw the shuriken. The shuriken stopped dead in its tracks as blood was sprayed into the air. Zabuza looked down and saw Kakashi blocking the shuriken with the back of his gloved hand.
Kakashi stared at the swordsman with a critical eye. "Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cried out happily.
"Naruto, your plan was impressive. You have all sure grown," Kakashi said.
Naruto grinned, "At least it worked," Naruto said as he looked at the two Jōnin.
Sasuke smirked, "It was just luck," He said.
"How could you say it was luck!?" Tazuna said, he couldn't believe his ears.
'But being able to pull off such nice teamwork in a situation like this is… those two never got along once too,' Sakura thought amazed.
"Heh, I just lost myself temporarily and cancelled the water prison," Zabuza said.
"No. You didn't cancel the technique, you were forced to!" Kakashi said looking at Zabuza. Zabuza narrowed his eyes on Kakashi, "Let me tell you that the same move won't work on me twice. What are you going to do now?" Kakashi taunted.
"Sakura, don't let you guard down," Sasuke said as both he and Sakura moved in front of Tazuna. Naruto knew he wasn't needed so he jumped back to his teammates.
Zabuza folded the Fúma shuriken and applied pressure so the four blades dug into Kakashi's hand. Kakashi groaned in pain, having enough of it, he swung his right hand and arm away. The shuriken flew away from both men. They stared each other then jumped away from each other.
Zabuza started a long line of hand seals. Kakashi used his sharingan and started to copy them. The two deadly ninjas did forty-four hand seals, ending it on Bird. 'Water release: Water Dragon bullet,' they both thought as two large water dragons came alive from the lake water and spun around each other.
The two dragons then launched themselves at their respective targets, they crashed into one another halfway and sprays of water went everywhere, acting like a wild storm. A small tidal wave went over the bank and flowed towards the Genin and Tazuna, their lower halves getting soaked with cold water. The dragons kept fighting in the air, their bodies crashing and their large jaws chomping each other.
'He formed that many seals in just a few seconds, and copied them perfectly,' Sasuke thought impressed.
'Their hands were moving so fast!' Naruto thought as he kept a keen eye on the battle.
Under the dragons, Zabuza and Kakashi were having a battle of strength, Zabuza's large sword against Kakashi's kunai.
'Something's weird… What's going on? The sharingan is supposed to be an ability where the user memorizes the opponent's technique and copies it. But, the technique was executed at the same time. Did he...?' Zabuza internally spoke. "This guy!" he said and then jumping back. Kakashi copied his movement down to a started to jog in a curved direction with Kakashi mirroring his every movement. He stopped where Kakashi stood, growing annoyed.
Zabuza put his left hand up and did a one-handed ram seal with his right. Kakashi still moving just like him. "He's moving just like him! And with such perfect timing!" Tazuna said shocked.
"What's going on Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, keeping Tazuna still on the ground.
Sasuke kept silent as he eyes were glued to the action, ignoring those beside him.
'This guy. My movement is being perfectly...'
"Predicted by him," Kakashi said as he finished Zabuza's thought vocally.
'What? He knew what I was going to say in my mind? Damn this guy…'
"Has such unpleasant eyes, right?" Kakashi finished Zabuza's thought again.
"What you're doing is just copying. Nothing original," Zabuza said with widened eyes.
"You can't beat me, you asshole!" the two men said at the same time, freaking Zabuza out.
"I'll make it so that you'll never open that copycat mouth of yours again!" Zabuza said out loud as he went through some hand seals. He stopped when a dark figure appeared behind Kakashi. 'That's… me? That can't be. Is he using a genjutsu?' Zabuza thought.
'Water release: Great waterfall technique,' Kakashi thought as his sharingan eye's tomoes started to spin, going faster and faster till all you could see was a black circle.
"Wha… What!?" Zabuza said surprised, as water built up around Kakashi and shot in his direction, sweeping him up and putting the intense pressure on his body. "This can't be!" he shouted before being completely swallowed up by the water.
'I was the one who tried to execute the technique… but I couldn't keep up with him!' Zabuza thought hastily as his body was being pulled by the incredible currents in Kakashi's jutsu.
The water shot past the lake and headed inland, it was uprooting small trees and was digging up the ground. Water was pushing the Genin and Tazuna, making it hard for them to keep balanced.
Kakashi ended the jutsu and the water settled down. Zabuza was revealed as his back was against a tree and he looked worse for wear. Four kunai flew through the air and stabbed him in the arms and legs. He yelped in pain. Kakashi was on a branch above him, "This is the end," He said.
Zabuza turned his head, to see the copy ninja, "Why?" he asked. "Can you see into the future?"
"Yeah," Kakashi said, not blinking. He put his kunai, "You're going to die," He declared.
Blood spat up in the air as two senbon needles dug deep into Zabuza's throat and neck muscles. Zabuza's eyes went whiten and he collapsed on the ground. All of Team seven and Tazuna gasped and looked up to a tree in the distance to see a figure wearing a robe and a mask, with the symbol of the Mist on the top.
"It was true. He did die," The masked ninja said after a chuckle.
Kakashi jumped down and landed beside the still body of Zabuza. He put his fingers on his jugular vein to try and find a pulse. "He really is dead," He exclaimed. He then looked at the masked ninja.
"Thank you very much. I was looking for a chance to kill Zabuza," The masked ninja said.
"That mask… If I remember correctly, you must be a hunter-nin from Kirigakure."
"You are very well informed. I am from the pursuing unit that hunt down exiled ninja," The masked ninja said.
'From his height and the sound of the voice, he must not be that different or older than Naruto or the others. And he is a hunter-nin. He's no ordinary kid,' Kakashi thought as he eyed the boy up.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked as he eyed up the masked ninja.
Kakashi stood up from his spot, "Naruto. He's not an enemy," Kakashi said.
"I know that! That's why I'm not asking. He killed Zabuza. He was so strong, even you struggled against him. But he was killed so easily by a kid like us. We look like idiots!" Naruto said.
Kakashi walked over to Naruto, "I understand where you're coming from, that you can't believe it. But this is real!" Kakashi then patted Naruto's head, "In this world, there are kids that are younger than you… and stronger than me," Kakashi said, getting grunts from both Naruto and Sasuke.
The masked ninja body-flickered to Zabuza's body, picked it up and put it over its shoulders. "Your battle ends here for now. I must dispose of the corpse. It's a body filled with secrets. If you'll excuse me," he says and body-flickering away with a gust of wind blowing where the person once was.
"Glad that's over. But, our mission hasn't ended yet. We need to get Tazuna-san back to his house," Kakashi droned out.
The old man started to laugh shakily, "Sorry about that everyone! Let's just rest at my house," he says.
"Yosh! Let's cheer up and go!" Kakashi said as he leads the group out of the woods. Five steps in, his whole body shook, and his lone eye stretched. He began to fall forward, the whole group noticing and gasping, and collapsed on the ground.
"What happened?" Sakura cried out, running to her sensei.
"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked with a voice full of worry. "Kakashi-sensei!?" he cried out afterwards.
Hours Later
'I used my Sharingan too much… crap,' Kakashi thought as he was lying down in a comfortable futon.
"Are you okay, Kakashi-san?" a pretty woman with black hair asked, two bangs on either side of her face, wearing a pink and red top and a blue skirt.
"No, I'll barely be able to move for a week," he replied, looking similar to a fresh corpse. His skin was pale and his lone eye wanted to be shut tight forever.
"Then you shouldn't move around for a while then."
"Fine. Thank you, Tsunami-san," He said making himself more comfortable.
"Sensei is awake!" Naruto said happily as he could. After he said the words, Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna entered the room.
"The Sharingan is amazing, but it puts a lot of strain on the body, I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing," Sakura said.
"I'm sorry guys," Kakashi said sadly.
"But you defeated such a strong ninja. We should be okay for a while," Tazuna said in a cheery voice.
"By the way, who was that boy with the mask?" Sakura wondered.
"He had the mask of a hunter-nin from a special squad from the Hidden Mist's ANBU," Kakashi answered.
"Special squad?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah, their job is to erase any evidence that a ninja was alive. A ninja's body will give away the secrets of jutsu and chakra of the village it was in, any specific medicine that was used on a body, along with various other things. For example, if I die, the secret of the sharingan will be examined. And with the worst-case scenario, there's a possibility that any technique, including the Sharingan, will be stolen.
So, pursuing ninja will killed exiled ninja who have abandoned the village and dispose of the Ninja's body. And stop any secrets of the village from being revealed. They are specialists in this field," Kakashi explained to his Genin.
Kakashi looked at their faces and saw Naruto's was all scrunched up, "Naruto, what's wrong?" he asked with a yawn.
The focus was on the blond, Naruto was hesitant to answer but he needed to say it to get it off his chest, "I've been thinking about how that hunter-nin killed Zabuza. I think Zabuza is still alive," he answered grimly.
Everyone gasped at his conclusion, "But Kakashi-sensei said he was dead. Do you not believe him!?" Sakura said loudly, only calming herself down recently from the scariest event of her life.
"Naruto. Explain," Kakashi asked as his eye focused on his student.
Naruto gulped from all the attention, but he needed to ease his mind. "Zabuza is supposed to be a former elite ANBU, yet he died by two senbon needles in the neck ttebayo. The neck has few muscles so it's easy to go into a deathlike state if hit in the right places," Naruto told them of his views on the whole mess.
Tazuna was first to speak up, "Don't you think you're overthinking it. Your sensei said he was dead and he looked it too," Tazuna said trying to convince himself.
"Yeah I bet Naruto is just trying to scare us!" Sakura said with a raised fist.
Kakashi thought over what Naruto said, 'His older brother is an expert in medical ninjutsu and his preferred throwing weapon are those annoying needles. It makes sense how Naruto came to that conclusion, some of his older brother's medical knowledge rubbed off onto Naruto,' Kakashi thought. "Naruto, I'll have to agree with you," he said surprising the group.
"Sensei! You can't be serious!" Sakura said.
"No… now that I think about it. Naruto's point makes sense, too much sense. We'll have to assume he is alive. It'll better prepare us. And we can assume the hunter-nin is also a fake. But don't worry, if he's alive, his body won't work properly for some time. He has a week minimum to move around normally, I guess. That nasty burn you gave him Naruto will hamper his recovery," Kakashi said to the group, getting uneasy body movements and a slight glare from Sasuke. 'He doesn't like the fact Naruto played a bigger part in the fight than he did,' Kakashi thought as he closed his eyes.
In the Forest
Deep within the misty forest, a distance away from where the intense battle between Kakashi of the Sharingan and The Demon Zabuza. The masked person was preparing to their procedures to the body of Zabuza. The masked person took out a pair of scissors, "I have to cut the cloth on his mouth, and make him cough up the blood first," the masked ninja said as the scissors approached the mask of Zabuza.
"I can do that on my own," Zabuza said as he grabbed the forearm of the masked ninja and used his free hand to pull off the mask covering his mouth.
"Oh? So, you came back to life already."
"Damn, you're so rough!" Zabuza said, pulling the senbon needles out of him by himself.
"Zabuza-san, please don't take those out so roughly. You'll die for sure."
"Hm. How long are you going to wear that fake mask? Take it off."
"I forgot because it's been a while since I used it last," The person said as they took off the mask, to reveal a feminine face with dark brown eyes. "It was also nice to use it to pull off that act. But if I didn't save you, you would have been killed for sure," the girl said.
"You didn't need to attack my neck like that if you wanted me in a death-like state. You're such a cruel girl Haku."
"I couldn't help it. I didn't want to scar your body, Zabuza-san… And it's easier to aim for the neck since it has fewer muscles," she said. Zabuza tried to move up but grunted in pain, "You won't be able to move for a week or so. But maybe you'll be able to move soon. After we get that burn treated up."
"You're pure, clever and not tainted at all. That's what I like about you. That damn blond kid. I underestimated him," Zabuza gritted out.
Haku blushed at the compliment, "I'm still a child so… Ah look. The fog has cleared."
"Yeah…"
"I can handle him but… Will you be okay next time?"
Zabuza had a sure look in his eyes, "Next time, I can deal with that Sharingan," He declared.
Tazuna's House
"Sensei, I think we should quit the mission, this is way too much for us," Sakura whispered to Kakashi.
"I wish I could Sakura but I'm in no condition to move right now. And if we abandon it now, it'll look bad for Konoha and only worse things will happen to Tazuna and the people of the Wave. I'll send a message to Konoha for reinforcements," Kakashi responded.
Sakura nodded and gave her sensei some space, but she still felt that they should go back home.
"Sensei, what's wrong?" Naruto asked.
"Ah… I just remembered that pursuing ninja only need to bring back the head of the target not the whole body…" Kakashi said sheepishly.
Sakura grew a tic mark, "Sensei, that would've been good information back in your fight. So, Sensei, how are you going to prepare for this before it's too late? You can't move for a while," She asked.
Kakashi proceeded to laugh. "I'm going to make you all go through some training," he replied.
"Wait, even if we train, it's not going to be very helpful. Since the enemy is a ninja that you, Kakashi-sensei the Sharingan user, had a difficult time with," Sakura pointed out.
"Sakura, who saved me when I had a difficult time?" Kakashi asked. "You three are growing at a rapid rate," he said with an eye-smile.
"Ah, Sensei, you know your stuff dattebayo. Now things are getting interesting," Naruto said.
"No, it's not," A young voice said.
Naruto and Sakura turned around and Kakashi moved his gaze to a young brown-haired boy wearing overalls and a white hat with two horizontal stripes going all around it. "Who are you?" Naruto asked.
"Oh Inari!" Tazuna asked.
"I'm home, grandpa!" Inari happily shouted as he ran and gave a hug to his grandfather.
Tsunami came over to the hugging males, "Oi Inari! Say hello to our guests. These are the ninja that escorted grandpa," She sternly said.
"It's okay. Right, Inari?" Tazuna said.
Inari looked at all the ninja, "Kaa-chan. They're all going to die. There's no way a person can win by going against Gatō," Inari said with no emotion.
Naruto just laughed, laughed hard at the statement. "Really ttebayo? Just you watch. At the end of this I'll be some kind of hero to you," Naruto said with a confident grin.
Inari covered his eyes with his cap, "A hero? How stupid. There's no such thing as a hero," he said grimly.
Naruto's face immediately soured, "What did you just say!?" Naruto asked with a hint of anger, surprising Sakura so much that she put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him.
Inari ignored him and walked out of the room after saying, "If you don't want to die, you should go home," he said.
"Where you are going, Inari?" Tazuna asked.
"I'll go watch the ocean," Inari said bluntly.
The room was silent and had an awkward atmosphere. "Sorry about that," Tazuna said looking back on the ninja.
Kakashi looked at Naruto, 'Seems the kid has hit one of Naruto's nerves,' He observed.
Naruto left the room and began to climb the stairs, still fuming on what Inari said. "Damn brat! What does he know about heroes. I'll teach him a thing or two," He gritted out.
Naruto was closing in on Inari's bedroom, he stopped once he heard sniffling and small cries. Naruto's anger completely disappeared, and he looked through the small gap between the door and door frame. 'He's crying? What for?' Naruto wondered.
Naruto peeked through to see Inari on the windowsill looking out the window to see the clear ocean. "Tou-chan…" he cried out quietly.
'That's why,' Naruto thought as he felt bad for the boy. 'Who is this Gatō and what does he want?' Naruto thought as he went away from Inari's room and back downstairs.
~ 0 ~