Previously:

"What!?" Kakashi said as his eye widened in surprise upon finding himself suddenly restrained.

"Huh!?" Sakura gasped.

"What's this!?" Naruto asked as Tazuna gasped in alarm.

"One down." The enemy ninja said as they pulled the chain taught. Their eyes widened in horror as they watched the bladed chain slice clean through Kakashi's flesh and bone.

Chapter 10: Two Down

It had all happened so fast, that before the four genin even had time to register what had just happened, what was left of their teacher was already hitting the ground with a sickening thud.

"Kyaa!!!" Sakura screamed as April furrowed her brow and grit her teeth.

"Ka…!!! Kakashi-sensei!!!" Naruto yelled breaking out into a cold sweat, too horrified by what he had just seen to move.

"!!!" April gasped in alarm when the enemy made their next move.

"Two down." The Mist ninjas said ominously as they reappeared behind Naruto, preparing to loop their chain around him next. April and Sasuke immediately sprang into action. Securing the chain would not only save Naruto, but it should keep them from moving right away since it was attached to those gauntlets on their arms. She launched herself into the air as she drew a shuriken and kunai, throwing the shuriken to pin the chain to the tree before they could pull it taught, followed by the kunai through the hole in her shuriken to make sure it stayed secure and wouldn't be pulled loose.

"!!" The enemy ninjas gasped in surprise and alarm.

'I'm stuck!' One of them realized when he tried and failed to yank the chain back as Sasuke landed on their arms and took advantage of their immobility to throw his legs out behind him while holding onto the gauntlets and deliver swift and powerful kicks to both of their heads simultaneously. Sasuke then pushed himself forward to move out of the way as April came back down and slammed the heels of her feet into their locked elbows with enough force to break their joints.

'W… Wow!!' Naruto thought, stunned, as the enemy grunted in pain. As April pushed up off them into a flip, the mist ninjas quickly released their gauntlets from the chain so they could get away before any further damage could be done.

"!" April said, furrowing her brow when they suddenly shot back away from her and Sasuke. The arms wielding their main weapons, the gauntlets, had been rendered useless, so the mist ninjas each pulled out a wicked looking kunai. "Move your ass, Naruto!!!" She shouted while she was still in the air, throwing more kunai at them.

"Uwaa!!!" Naruto yelled in surprise and alarm when the two ninjas easily deflected her kunai this time and flew straight past him, making a beeline for Tazuna.

"!!" Sakura and the old man gasped in alarm.

'He's coming…!!' Sakura thought, breaking out into a nervous sweat as they headed straight for their client. She was the closest one. 'I have to do it!!' "Sir, get back!" She shouted as she threw herself between Tazuna and his attackers, gripping a kunai tightly in her sweaty hands.

"!!" Tazuna exclaimed with wide eyes as Sasuke and April whipped their heads around and saw the trouble they were in. The moment her feet touched the ground, April took off like a shot after him, and the two genin just barely managed to slide in between them and the enemy to form a shield as the two ninjas thrust their kunai forward to attack. April braced herself for impact, but it never came. At the last moment, a flash of silver, green, and navy swooped in and pulled the enemy back.

"!!" Everyone gasped.

"Guah!!" The two enemy ninjas cried out in pain as Kakashi clotheslined them and used the crook of his bended arms to choke them unconscious in one swift and fluid attack.

"Yo." Their fully intact teacher greeted them calmly. Naruto just stared at him, stunned.

'Thank God…!!' April thought with a huge sigh of relief. 'We've been saved!'

'Kakashi-sensei's… alive!?' Sakura thought, feeling immensely relieved. The way he saved them was so cool!

'Tch. Show off…' Sasuke thought, unimpressed.

"Geez, that was pretty mean of you, Sensei… That substitution jutsu was so realistic that I was beginning to worry." April told Kakashi, holding a hand to her forehead. Did he have to take so long to help them?

"Ah!!" Naruto gasped in realization. "Then, that was…!" He glanced over at their sensei's 'remains'. He could now clearly see that what they had thought was flesh and blood was really just a sliced up log.

"Ah, sorry for scaring you like that." Kakashi apologized with a wry smile. But those ninja were chūnin level, so he had to make it convincing. "Naruto, sorry for not saving you right away. I got you injured. I didn't think you would freeze like that." He added before turning back to the others. "Anyway, good job, Sasuke and April." He praised the main stars of the show. That was some nice teamwork. "Sakura, too."

'I couldn't so anything…' Naruto thought as a bead of sweat slid down the side of his face. Even when April shouted at him, he still couldn't get himself to move in time. 'Yet he… It was his first real battle. Wasn't he scared at all?' He wondered, furrowing his brow as he stared at Sasuke. 'He looks as if nothing happened, and he doesn't even have a speck of dust on him. He even helped save me…'

"Hey!!" Sasuke called out when he noticed Naruto's staring. "You all right… scaredy cat?" He asked mockingly.

"!!!" Naruto's face twisted in anger and embarrassment as a vein throbbed on his forehead.

"Naruto!" Kakashi said firmly, interrupting before it turned into a fight. "Save it for later. Their claws are soaked in poison. We have to remove it quickly."

"!" Naruto and April gasped in alarm. She hadn't been worried because it was a minor and shallow wound, but now…

"What do we do?" She asked, clenching her fists.

"We have to open up the wound and release the poisoned blood from Naruto's body." Kakashi explained calmly. "Don't move much. The poison will spread." He instructed Naruto before addressing their client. "Tazuna-san."

"What is it?" Tazuna asked nervously.

"I need to talk to you." Kakashi stated seriously.

"These guys look like chūnin class ninjas from the Village Hidden in the Mist." Kakashi said once they had finished tying the their enemies securely to a tree. "These shinobis are known to keep fighting no matter what the cost.

"How were you able to detect our movements?" One of them asked, glaring up at the Hidden Leaf jōnin.

"On a sunny day like this, when it hasn't rained in days, there isn't going to be a puddle." Kakashi replied matter-of-factly. He had known what they were up to the moment he spotted it.

"Oh, so that's how they snuck up on us so fast… They used a technique to move through the puddle the same way you used one to move through the earth during out bell test?" April asked.

"Correct." Kakashi said, giving her a pat on the head for figuring it out. Once she knew something was possible, she was very quick to adapt to the situation.

"If you knew that, why did you let the brats fight?" Tazuna asked.

"If I had wanted to, I could have killed these two instantly, but… There was something I needed to find out." Kakashi said, glancing sideways at him. "Who these two were after."

"?" Tazuna frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Meaning… Were they after you, or one of us." Kakashi clarified, furrowing his brow. "We haven't heard that there are shinobis after you. Our mission was to simply protect you from thieves or gangs. This has now become at least a B-ranked mission. This was supposed to be simple protection until you completed the bridge."

"…" Tazuna remained silent as he looked down with a grim expression on his face.

"If it was known that ninjas were after you, this mission would have been set as the more expensive B-rank." Kakashi continued. "I'm sure you had a reason, but it causes problems when you lie about a mission. We are now operating outside of our duties."

"We aren't ready for this mission. Let's quit!!" Sakura said nervously. "We will need medicine for Naruto's wound. We should go back to the village and take him to a doctor…"

"I agree." April said, surprising her fellow genin. She didn't want to quit, but she was worried about Naruto. "I think getting proper treatment for Naruto should be our first priority now. Meanwhile, it'll give us a chance to hear more details from Tazuna-san in a safer environment. We can decide what to do next after that."

"Hmm…" Kakashi said thoughtfully, glancing from the girls to the wounded Naruto. That was a pretty sound analysis. "This might be too much… I guess we should return to the village to treat Naruto's wound." Naruto furrowed his brow and grit his teeth.

No way was he going to be their reason for quitting!! He grabbed one of his own kunai and stabbed his wounded hand.

"!!" Sakura, April, and Tazuna gasped as everyone stared at Naruto in astonishment.

'Why is there so much of a difference?' Naruto wondered. 'Why am I always… Damn it!!!'

"Naruto!! What are you doing!!?" Sakura demanded incredulously.

'I should be becoming stronger…' Naruto thought, remembering how he had been training everyday since becoming a genin. 'I've completed many missions and even practice my jutsu everyday by myself and with April. I'm never going to need saving ever again… I'm not going to be afraid and try to run… I won't lose to Sasuke… I swear it on this pain in my left hand.' His wounded hand was trembling from the pain as blood flowed down his kunai and dripped onto the ground. "With this kunai… I'll protect the old man. We're continuing the mission!!" He declared with determination burning in his eyes.