Chapter 5
(Cue 'James Bond' theme song)
"Is the target in sight?" asked Minato-sensei over their radio headsets.
"Roger that." replied Sasuke.
"Ok, GO!" ordered Minato. The 3 ninjas expertly restrained their assigned target; the pet cat of the Fire Lord's wife...
"Target acquired, mission accomplished." stated Hinata, as the scared cat maimed Naruto in the background.
"Allright, now let's go collect our reward, shall we?" Back in the Mission Briefing Room, the Fire Lord's eccentric wife nearly suffocated the poor kitty with love.
"Oh thank you, thank you! I'll make sure this doesn't happen again! Come along kitty, it's time for your facial." The gang had to restrain their laughter when they heard the cat's fear-ridden 'meow'. The Third Hokage entered the room and handed Minato a new mission scroll.
"For your naxt mission, the Yamanaka Flower Shop has requested that-" Naruto cut him off, yelling, "Damn it old man! All we've done for the past month and a half is 'rescue' that stupid cat and help people clean their yards! Isn't there anything a little bit more, oh I don't know, relevant to an actual ninja's job description!?"
"Naruto, how dare you speak to the Hokage like that! Apologize, now!" scolded Minato-sensei. Sasuke and Hinata were going to join in, but they had to agree with Naruto. They were beginning to very much, greatly, unquestionably, unanimously, inevitably dislike this mundane repitition. The Third Hokage smiled and put his hand up to stop Minato-sensei.
"It's ok Minato. I understand the boy's plight. As a matter of fact, I think I know the perfect C-ranked mission to send you on."
"A C-ranked mission!? Are you serious!?" the whole group shouted together.
"Yes, a C-ranked mission. It just came in, actually. A man by the name of Tazuna has requested help. He is a bridge builder, and needs a group of ninja to escort him to his newest project and help him finish."
Naruto began jumping for joy, and even Hinata and Minato-sensei showed some relief in their faces. Only Sasuke seemed to be annoyed by the mission.
'Why would a bridge builder need NINJA escorts? Something just doesn't add up here...'
"Allright gang, does everyone have their stuff?" asked Minato-sensei. Naruto was wearing his usual orange outfit, complete with a matching orange backpack filled with weapons. Sasuke wore his black training jumpsuit, with his weights and red weight sheaths on top. Over all that, he wore his usual blue Uchiha shirt, then a baggy (but NOT falling down) pair of black, stonewashed jeans, and black ninja shoes. He brought his big, dark blue backpack filled with all his strange gadgets and knick-knacks. Hinata wore her usual get-up, and packed modestly, bringing a few extra sets of clothes and some medical supplies and scrolls. Of course, the bridge builder was all ready.
"Ok, since the Land of Waves isn't so far away, and we don't really have a faster way to travel right now, we'll just go walking. Tazuna, you lead the way. Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata, you stay behind him, I'll stay in the rear to watch over everything." The gang got into formation, and everything was going swell until about an hour into the journey, when they were ambushed by two Mist Village ninjas. The enemy ninja threw poison tipped chains at Tazuna, who was too scared to move. Minato pushed him out of the way, but not before the chains got to Minato.
"Sensei!" the 3 Genin called out. Of course, the only thing the enemies hit was a log that appeared in the sensei's place. Surprised that they didn't hit him, they weren't able to see him sneak up behind them with 2 kunais in his hands...
SLASHH!
The 2 ambushers fell onto the ground, cold and dead. Minato turned to Tazuna.
"I think you've got some explaining to do." stated Minato, seeming quite angry. Tazuna looked very nervous, and reluctantly began to explain, "Well, you see, there's this tyrant who's taken over the Land of Waves. His name is Gato, and he is suffocating the life out of my poor village. This bridge I'm building is the last hope for my land. Gato is trying to stop me from finishing the bridge. I even heard he's sent an S-class missing-nin to kill me! That's why I went to the Leaf Village for help, but I can't afford the funds for an A-ranked mission, so I lied and said it was only C-ranked. Please you have to understand, I'm growing desperate! I need your help!" pleaded Tazuna. After hearing his story, the kids didn't really care about the mix up, they wanted to help anyways. Minato-sensei thought for a few moments, then continued on.
"Let's keep going, I want to be in the Land of Waves before nightfall." replied Minato-sensei, much to the delight of all those who heard him. The gang pressed on, until soon they cam to a lake, hidden by a thick mist. An old fisherman was kind enough to row them across the lake to the other side, the Land of Waves. It was at this point that Minato-sensei pulled the ones nearest to him down, yelling, "Get down!" to the others, as a mysterious sword the size of a man flew threw the air and impaled itself horizontally to the tree ahead of them...