Chapter 39 – Mission in Nami no Kuni II
"Talk"
'Think'
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto sensei.
Next day
"Report" ordered Kakashi to Naruto and Tenzō.
"We went to interview the victims. None of them believed that Tazuna-san had anything to do with it" said Naruto.
"The general populace also did not believe that, except for a few. For the record, those who believe that Tazuna-san is in cahoots with the bandits just moved here recently, specifically, after the building of Great Konoha Bridge" reported Tenzō.
"Boy, Tazuna-san sure is popular, huh" said Naruto with admiration.
"What do you mean?" asked Noriko.
"Most people that we spoke to thought highly of Tazuna-san. Apparently he's the man behind Great Konoha Bridge" answered Naruto.
"Eh? I thought it was the Daimyō who proposed for the bridge?" questioned Noriko.
"Yes. But it was Tazuna-san who designed, purchased materials, supervised and built the bridge. The rumour was, the Daimyō wants to build a wooden bridge because of the costs and it can be done quicker. However, Tazuna-san made a case that it's more cost effective in the long run to build a proper one" explained Tenzō.
"Then why it's not called Great Tazuna Bridge?" asked Noriko.
"Apparently, Gatō sent a lot of thugs to disrupt the construction and when it was on the verge of finishing, he hired nukenin to kill Tazuna. Luckily, the Hokage kept his words and send Konoha shinobi to protect Tazuna and the bridge. I heard when the nukenin attacked, Gatō was there too, that's why he was dead" answered Tenzō.
"That's why when the bridge was finished, Tazuna decided to name it after Konoha" said Naruto before asked "So, how about you guys? Find the bad guys' camp?"
"Yes. We could not find it from the attack sites so Kakashi-sensei and I had to search the nearby forests and warehouses. Currently, they are in an abandoned warehouse in a forest 5 kilometres north from here" answered Noriko.
"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Naruto, raring to beat the bandits.
"Well…when we were there, I got to take a look at them. All the attacks indicated a brain which none of them appeared to possess" explained Noriko.
"Huh?" asked Naruto.
"She meant, these bandits may be hired by a third person. If we took out the bandits, the third person can just hire more hence our efforts will be a waste. Either that or the third person will just wait until we're gone then hired another group of bandits" explained Tenzō.
"How are we going to find the third person?" asked Naruto.
"We wait until they make their move. In the meantime, we stake them out. At the moment, three of Noriko's kage bunshin are there with one of my ninken. After this, we'll arrange schedule for the stake out" replied Kakashi.
After that, it was decided that Kakashi and Naruto formed a team while Noriko and Tenzō formed another team.
One of the bandits finally made a move after five days. Kakashi signed that he'll follow the bandit while Naruto remained watching the warehouse and sent a kage bunshin to inform Noriko and Tenzō of the new development.
"What?!" the three of them yelled in surprise when Kakashi informed them of his findings.
"So, how do you think we should deal with this?" asked Kakashi.
"We need to inform Tazuna-san and the villagers. Their safety is important"
"We have to evacuate them in stages so not to tip the bandits off"
"Do you think one of the villagers could be in cahoots?"
"I don't think so. There is no sign to that"
While Noriko and Tenzō were bouncing ideas, Naruto was thinking when he suddenly yelled "Aha! I got it!" then he giggled.
"What?" asked Noriko impatiently.
"Why don't we use his plan against them?" said Naruto, still giggling.
"Explain" said Kakashi.
"Well, we let the bandits come and …" said Naruto of his plan.
Three days later, it was early morning when the bandits appeared in the village and the leader yelled "ATTACK!".
The villagers just looked at them and continued with their business. This puzzled the bandits 'Why aren't they running?' they asked internally.
One of them hit one of the villagers when he suddenly went poof and the bandit was left in a smoke.
"WHAT?!"
"One of the housewives threw kitchen knife and hit a bandit on his forehead, while the other 'poked' a bandit which crumpled him to the ground. Another villager hit with a piece of wood while one elderly man backhanded the other bandit.
The watching bandits were shocked! An old man that can give a powerful backhand! Housewives that can kill! This is no ordinary villagers!
Few of them began to retreat when they saw the bridge was guarded by a humongous white tiger. The tiger was growling fiercely at them and one thug peed in his pants.
"Going somewhere?" the runaway bandits turned their heads before felt a few hits on their bodies and felt their world blackened.
End Chapter 39
Henge no Jutsu – Transformation Technique
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clone Technique
Nami no Kuni – Land of Waves
Ninken – Ninja Dogs