Author's note; Okay everyone, I have a couple of things to say. 1, I'm absolutely sorry for not updating like I promised. Life smacked me in the face and depression set in so hard I couldn't concentrate to work on anything. 2. I worked on an original work this spring and finished it this summer and it had taken most of my concentration to get it done when I did. 3. I started school back in May and three of my four classes are now over, and they were the ones I studied almost non stop and then I got 2 infected teeth that ended up needing to be removed a couple weeks ago.

But! Here's good news. I've updated and I've got chapter 5 started and I should have it up in a few days. After chapter 5 is done, I'm going to work on Roller Coaster to get that chapter done and load it up as soon as I can. I only have a math class now and then a three week break before I'm back to the next semester of school and I'm taking 5 classes, so I don't know how I'm going to write a whole lot during that time, but I will try my best.

Again, I'm sorry for my long silence. I hope to update as soon as I can later this week. Love you all for putting up with me! :(

Chapter 4

Protect the Bridge Builder! Pt 1

Kakashi was beyond frustrated with the teamwork that his team was presenting him with … Sakura wouldn't leave Sasuke alone and Sasuke wouldn't stop pestering Naruto into telling him how he does his fighting styles and Naruto just ignoring the two completely because they're loud and annoying unless it really calls for them to work together.

Right now, they were standing in front of the Hokage, who was staring at the team with anger present in his features, the only thing playing in his head was how he wanted to knock sense into Naruto's two teammates. It was apparent that he was annoyed beyond words, and was about to say something when the air in his office started getting heavy and had an edge of an icy chill to it.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Hiruzen asked the blonde, who now didn't need to train with his eyes covered anymore after having mastered his new style in just two months with on and off training with the kage bunshin no jutsu, so his eyes were glaring back at the Hokage a little hardened as it was clear he was pissed off.

"Sasuke, Sakura, if you two don't shut up I'm going to freeze you two in a block of ice and throw you in the ocean with cement blocks tied to you. I swear, your bickering is seriously pissing me off." Naruto said instead of answering the Hokage.

And with that, Naruto's two teammates were silent and standing still, but it took a moment for the tension in the room to lift away, which meant a lot to Hiruzen and Kakashi.

"Okay, now that I have everyone's attention, I've come to the decision that … since your teamwork is in much dire need to improve, you'll be taken off missions for two weeks-" Hiruzen started talking until there was a screech that made his head spin.

"You can't do that! Our teamwork is better than what you really think!" Sakura said, the one that screeched.

"For once, she's right!" Sasuke agreed.

"And … I'm sorry jiji, but they are, we may not look it, but we do get our missions done quickly, we work together, and we get everything we're supposed to get done, done without a complaint. It's just our time together off missions we need to work on." Naruto said, though he hated to admit that the other two were right.

"I, was thinking maybe a C-ranked mission might get their heads out of their asses and actually listen for a change." Kakashi said, which in turn earned him a glare from Haruno and Uchiha, Naruto knew he was right, so he didn't bother with a glare or to turn around.

"I'm going to agree with you on this one Kakashi … so, your new mission is to escort a master bridge builder back to his home in the Land of Waves and guard over him until the bridge is complete. It's about a month or so long mission, since bridge building also depends on weather." Hiruzen said.

"I think that will do jiji." Naruto said, and his grin was back full force. He was just happy to be traveling and getting away from the village for a while.

"If Naruto is agreeing on this, then I will too." Sakura sighed, though she didn't think her mother would be all that glad though.

"Same here." Sasuke grunted, the thought of spending that long with these three was going to be annoying, but at least he can get some training in with Naruto… if he could get himself to ask instead of demand training from him all the time.

"Then it's settled, come on in Tazuna." Hiruzen said, and a moment later, the door to his office opened and a man, probably a decade or so younger than Hiruzen, walked in slightly off balance, a sake bottle in hand and a pink tint to his cheeks as he glared through his glasses at the team that was going to be taking him home and guarding him. But the moment his eyes laid on the short blonde kid, a tick formed in his right temple as his eye twitched.

"You have got to be kidding me? This is who's going to be escorting me home?" The old man said, and Naruto's grin faltered, but not all the way, you could still see it, but barely.

"I assure you, they are more than capable of protecting you." Hiruzen said, but neither he nor Kakashi were prepared for what was going to happen next.

"You will not be drinking around me, do I make myself clear?" Naruto said, and his words were dripping with so much malice and anger that his entire team -including Kakashi- stepped back from him.

"Drop, the sake bottle, or I will make it explode in your hand." Naruto threatened, his grin completely gone as he glared at the old man in front of him, both of his water jugs on his hips open.

"I don't have to listen to a little brat like you." Tazuna slurred, completely oblivious to the fact that Naruto's team and sensei backed away from him because of his drunken state.

Immediately, water from Naruto's jugs flew out into the open air and surrounded Tazuna and nearly froze completely.

"Now, I can either freeze you while you're alive, or I'll boil you alive, which will you chose? Drop it or die?" Naruto snarled.

"Release him now Naruto Uzumaki!" Hiruzen yelled loudly as he shot up from his chair, slamming his hands on the surface of his desk as the surrounding shinobi in the room got prepared to restrain Naruto, even though they were beyond terrified of the child.

It took another moment before the bridge builder finally managed to release the sake bottle before Naruto smiled -though it was sinister- and put the water back in his jugs, grabbing the sake bottle before it hit the ground and spilled the rest of its contents on the floor.

"This was all you had to do, now, you will not drink while I'm in your presence, but, if I smell alcohol on you either when I'm near you, I will light your clothes on fire." Was all the blonde said, causing the bottle in his hand to explode before he left the room, knowing full well where they're supposed to meet before leaving for the mission.

"What the hell is that kids' problem!?" Tazuna roared when they were all certain that Naruto wasn't close enough to hear. "He should be in a mental asylum!"

"That's exactly where he came from, but normally … he wouldn't have attacked you if I reminded myself to have you not bring that to my office." Hiruzen sighed heavily, rubbing the bridge of his nose in irritation and frustration. "And as you're aware, I'm not obligated to tell you the reasons, it is up to Naruto himself to tell you his reasons why he did what he did."

"We'll all meet at the main gates in half an hour to get a head start to the Wave country." Kakashi states to the remaining squad members before they nod and leave fairly quickly.

xxx xxx xxx

About half an hour later, Team 7, along with Tazuna, met up at the front gates and their client was aware enough to let himself sober up before meeting the team, not wanting to get on Naruto's bad side since he didn't want to die just yet.

"Alright, everyone know the mission is to get Tazuna safely home and to guard him, his workers and his family until the bridge is completed. And it's going to take two days to get to the shore, since the Land of Waves is an island. So it should take us most of the day to get there without any problems." Kakashi says once he knows everyone is paying attention.

"So, since the Land of Waves is an island surrounded by water, they aren't a ninja village, correct?" Sakura asked when they started walking towards their destination.

"Indeed." Kakashi nodded, his one good eye wandering between Naruto, who was at the front of the group, and towards Tazuna, who decided it'd be best to put as much physical distance as he could away from Naruto and still be inside the group. He would have chuckled, but finding that their client was scared of Naruto at the moment, it was probably best that he kept his opinions to himself for now.

"So, Kaka-sensei, have you been to the Land of Waves?" Naruto asked when he decided that the silence between the five of them was too much.

"No, I haven't." Kakashi said as he shook his head, and that was the last of the conversation for at least an hour or so, mostly because Naruto wasn't bored until then.

"Good God, if we would just travel the way I want to we would already be there by now!" He groused before falling flat on his face with a groan.

"Get up or we'll walk on you." Sasuke huffed.

"Step on me and my swords will cut your feet off." Naruto chuckled before he lifted his feet above his head and balanced on his hands. From there he continued to walk on them.

"Walk like a normal person moron." Sakura shrieked before moving to knock him off only to see that he stopped moving. "Naruto?"

"Kakashi-sensei, may I have some fun?" Naruto asked, which got everyone in the group to blink at him in confusion but Kakashi.

"In a moment you can." Was all Kakashi said before suddenly he was wrapped in spiked chains.

The next moment happened too quickly for anyone to get a good grip around it. At least Sakura and Sasuke went over to protect Tazuna when they got over the sudden shock of seeing Kakashi being ripped to shreds. Naruto on the other hand, just grinned before pushing himself up into the air and landing on his feet in stance for his earth manipulation.

"Demon brothers of the Hidden Mist village." He said, the grin still in place.

"Hey, just a little heads up, their claws have poison on them. It reeks so even I can smell it." Kurama noted to let Naruto know about it.

"I already know about that, but thanks for the heads up." Naruto said out loud with a scoff, to only grin wider and pull a scroll out of his pack. After opening it to the first seal and freeing his hand from the confines of his sleeve. He bit his thumb and summoned from the scroll his jugs of water. After putting the scroll away and the jugs on, which he was surprised he had time for anyway.

"And you guys are supposed to be aggressive fighters. What's the deal with giving your enemy time to get his weapon?" Naruto smirked, and opened the jugs with a pop.

"Heh, don't worry your pretty little head you little creep. We'll do something about that right now." One of the brothers said with a chuckle before they both went into action. Charging at the blonde and aiming to wrap him in the chains like they did with Kakashi.

"Hn, we'll see about that one!" Naruto yelled with enthusiasm for finally getting a real challenge after so long.

Before he could get caught, Naruto swung his arms forward, releasing the water from his two jugs and surrounded himself with the water before freezing it to form a cocoon of solid ice around himself just in time for the chains to start surrounding him, only for the chains suddenly be attached to a tree behind them with a shuriken and a kunai.

"What the?" The other brother gasped, just as the ice wall melted back into water in a few blinks of an eye and refroze once the two demon brothers' were encased from the shoulders down.. But before the water completely froze, they used the substitution jutsu to escape and appear across the clearing a couple meters from the blonde.

"Who the hell is this kid?" The younger brother asked the other. Their attention completely focused on Naruto, who's grin took a more sinister appearance that made them take a few steps back.

"Sasuke, interrupt my fun one more time, I'll kill you." Naruto said before he cracked his neck and took a deep breath. "And I'd stay back if I were you, I might accidentally freeze you with them."

Without a second thought, Sasuke decided it wasn't worth his time to piss Naruto off more than he seemed to be. So he went back to guarding Tazuna with Sakura before the three of them took for the trees for cover.

"Now that they're out of the way, I'm going to make sure I have fun with you. So keep me entertained." Naruto smirked before he brought his hands up, the water following suit before forming a pillar of ice in front of him and shot out pebble sized ice pellets towards his opponent. Making them quickly dodge the ice bullets -as Naruto sometimes calls them- though they weren't able to dodge them all when some lodge themselves into their shoulders through their armor that held the gauntlets.

Just then, when the barrage of ice bullets ceased, Naruto charged them head on and, instead of water or ice, shot a wall of fire towards the brothers.

"We need to corner him somehow!" One of the brothers' said as they somehow dodged the fire wall and took cover in the trees.

"We need to immobilize his hands, that seems to be his weakness." The other one said, until a blast of wind this time cut down the limb the two brothers were occupying. Forcing them to land on the ground in the clearing where the fight started.

"Immobilize my hands? I don't need my hands to fight. But I'm in no mood to teach you all of my tricks so we'll need to cut it short. No more hide and seek. I hate that game. And watching chuunin from Mizugakure running around like headless chickens is starting to bore me. I thought you would be a challenge, seeing as you're from the famed Blood Mist Village." Naruto shrugged before putting the water back in his jugs. Then jumping into the air, he slammed his feet into the ground when he landed and shot the two brothers into the air.

When the brothers got close to the ground, Naruto extended his hands out as water from his jugs shot out and froze around the brothers' as a restraint and they landed with a thud on top of each other.

"Good job Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura." Kakashi said as he walked out of the woods with a few claps.

"You stupid jounin! We could have seriously been hurt!" Sakura howled angrily. Clearly she was upset at how Kakashi made them all think he died.

"But you're all safe, aren't you?" Kakashi shrugged, just in time to hear Naruto rearranging the two brothers so they were face to face. And it already seemed that they were both thawed from the blocks of ice and tied to where they couldn't move. But there was something off about it, and Kakashi was the first to notice something was off about how they were restrained, because they would have been able to break the ropes used.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Kakashi asked a moment later, but it was like Naruto couldn't hear him.

"Now, which one of you two is the man with the plan, hm?" The blonde asked as he squatted down next to the two demon brothers.

"Like hell we'll talk to a two-bit brat like you!" The oldest snapped before spitting at the blonde's feet.

"I thought you'd say that." Naruto smirked before putting a hand on the youngest brothers' head on his left. "Now, you get to see what I did to my first therapist."

The others in the clearing became confused instantly, especially Tazuna, Sasuke and Sakura. But Kakashi on the other hand, became suddenly aware of what he meant and tried to stop him, only to be too late when the Mizu ninja suddenly started steaming. Screaming loudly in agony until he suddenly blew up a moment later, sending blood, gore and the ninja's attire everywhere in the clearing, where as most of the blood landed on the oldest Mizu ninja and Naruto.

"Now, you're next, but I forgot to use lightning on him, maybe I can freeze you alive instead. Then use lightning to completely destroy you." Naruto chuckled, as he turned to the last Mizu ninja.

"No! No! I'll tell you everything! Just don't kill me!" The ninja yelled, causing Naruto to smirk again.

From there, while Kakashi tried to calm down Sakura, who was in hysterics at what Naruto did without event thinking, the Mizu ninja told him everything. How they were sent to get rid of the bridge builder, about Gato, Zabuza, about everything he knew. But that still didn't spare his life, because when he was done spilling everything, Naruto put a hand to his head and instead of making him explode like the previous one, he froze the ninja solid. Then took one of his blades from his back and struck the sculpture, causing it to shatter into millions of tiny pieces.

"I thought we weren't going to extremes, Naruto, without my consent!" Kakashi bellowed at the blonde as he started cleaning up most of the blood and gore mess with a couple clones no one saw him summon.

"I did my job, eliminated a threat after getting information out of them. I hope you paid attention to what that Mizugakure ninja said." Naruto said as his clones started piling the body parts into a pile in front of him.

"I heard every word, and don't think you're getting out of that conversation either, bridge builder, but Naruto, you should have at least gave me enough time to know what you were doing so I could put them in a genjutsu. They did not need to witness that." Kakashi snapped, he was obviously not in a good mood anymore.

"No more talk, let's get going before someone walks in on this mess and freaks out." Naruto said, only to light the entrails on fire before walking towards his teammates. All of whom expected to see a blood soaked boy only to see that all the blood that was on him completely gone. "Ikuze!"

Kakashi could only sigh heavily before looking at the bridge builder, who appeared pale still along with Sasuke and Sakura, though Sakura had finally managed to calm herself down at least enough to stop screaming and only cry silently. He was going to have to suggest therapy for her if she wasn't able to move past what she witnessed the blonde do by the time this mission was over.