I had a vocation recently so I decided to cut this chapter short and send it to my beta before going on vocation. Didn't want to make you wait longer than necessary. I received it back some days ago but can post it only now.

By the way, I decided to answer reviews by PM instead of posting it here. I won't answer 'good fic', 'great chapter' 'update soon' and so on, because I really can't see a reason writing a PM with 'thank you' each time. I'm really grateful with your support and feedback though. If there will be many reviews with similar question, though, I will both put the answer here and via PM.

EDIT 14/04/2013: Thanks for my reader reviews I spotted some name spelling mistakes at the end of the chapter. Damn spellcheck, I swear to any deity above that I corrected them before uploading the chapter, but somehow fanfiction still screwed up with the file. If you spot any mire errors, please inform me.

Happy reading now!

Chapter 10

Entering Nami no Kuni

Previously

With a final shout of "Ethereal Shinra Tensei!" the sphere increased in size and power. The earth beneath him trembled and crumbled, nearby buildings collapsed from the sheer pressure from the gravity (they were half-destroyed by the fire, anyway) and Naruto found himself floating in the middle of the gravity sphere, which was easily pushing the fire back.

As quickly as it came, the fire disappeared. Looks like the little two headed beast ran out of breath.

OoOoOo

"I won't allow that to happen again!" Alicia shouted, anger and fear evident in her crystal clear eyes.

She raised both of her hands, which were now bow-free, in the air and extended her one wing to its full size. With a final shout of "STAY AWAY!" a large, blue, transparent dome appeared above the heads of the civilians and ninjas, which seemed to be made from the shells of tortoises.

A second hadn't even passed before the two headed beast crashed into the dome, heads first.

OoOoOo

"Katon: Ao no Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

"Fuuton: Daitoppa!"

Half the Naruto's let out a stream of fire from their mouths, while the other half created a gust of strong wind. Both fire and wind mixed, creating a large, deep blue, focused stream of blazing fire which was quickly approaching the two headed beast.

OoOoOo

The light and body of the beast exploded like a firework, but instead of a colorful fire, thousands of shining, rainbow colored-like substances emerged from the body, flying and circling in the air. It had a shining head, or sphere, and a long, rainbow colored tail trailing behind it. They were making a weird, faint sound, but there were so many of the pyreflies, that the sound was like a song; like a cry. It was truly beautiful.

Naruto noticed that all that was left of the two headed body were these pyreflies.

OoOoOO

Another cougar, a black one, stepped out from the shadows and bowed to Naruto, "'Till the next time you summon us, Senn'o'sanah. It will be an honor to tear into the flesh of your enemies alongside you."

OoOoOo

"Okay then. I'll write to Hokage-sama now and tell him that we accept the mission. I'll also tell him that Alicia will come alone," Kakashi said. Seeing Alicia's sad look, he said "Don't worry, we will give you some directions. And you'll see us again before you know it."

Alicia nodded and smiled a bit. "Thanks. I actually didn't want to go to any mission for a while anyway."

Kakashi pulled out ink and a blank scroll from his pocket and started to write. "We will leave once I finish the letter. Prepare."

Everyone nodded and started to pack their things.

Now...

"Kurenai-sensei," Kiba called out to his red-eyed sensei "She's waking up."

Everyone stopped. Kiba, Shino, Kurenai and Tazuna, the bridge builder, were in the middle of the road, surrounded by thick forest and thin mist. A small town could be seen some miles ahead. Both boys of Team 8 were carrying an unconscious, now slowly waking, Hinata on self-made stretchers.

To tell the truth, everyone was injured – Kiba's clothes were torn in some places, and he had some blood on his face. He also had one or two broken ribs, which made breathing difficult. Shino shared the same fate. Kurenai, on the other hand, had more open gashes on her body and she was heavily panting. Tazuna, the bridge builder, had the least injuries of all of them – he only had some bruises on his arms and face.

Kurenai approached Hinata, who was slowly waking up. Beside some broken ribs, bloody lips, a deep cut on her right side, and being unconscious, Hinata looked much better than her other two teammates.

"Hinata," Kurenai called gently as she pulled a strand of Hinata's hair away from the girl's slowly opening eyes. "How do you feel?"

"M-My head h-hurts..." Hinata quietly whispered. "It's l-like someone s-smashed my head against a wall."

"It's not far from thetruth. Looks like she has some small memory loss." Kurenai thought and then said, "Try to sleep, Hinata. When we reach the village, we'll treat your wounds."

"Y-You don't look too well y-yourself, Kurenai-sensei," Hinata replied.

Kiba sighed. "Always worrying about others more than herself..."

"Indeed. She puts the well-being of her teammates above her own health," Shino added. "A true teammate."

"Isn't that what I just said?" Kiba asked harshly, and then mumbled, "Sorry."

"Apology accepted. All of us are tired with various injuries and it's only logical that we get annoyed easily," Shino replied.

Kiba's eyebrow twitched but he didn't give an answer. Meanwhile, Tazuna was silently observing the scene.

"Don't worry about us, Hinata, we'll be alright," Kurenai reassured Hinata. "Just try to get some sleep."

Hinata nodded. "O-Okay," and closed her eyes, immediately falling unconscious.

Kurenai stood up and narrowed her eyes dangerously at Tazuna. Despite her injuries, the bridge builder flinched at her stare.

"This is your fault," Kurenai began harshly as she addressed Tazuna "You gave us incorrect mission information and we got ambushed by two chuunin ranked missing ninja just a few miles away from Konoha. Thanks to Shino's and Kiba's quick reflexes, we were able to defeat them, but we still received some injuries. Despite you lying to us, we still decided to continue the mission. We thought there wouldn't be any stronger opponents. But then we met Zabuza Momochi! A high A-ranked missing ninja from Kirigakure, former Kiri ANBU, nicknamed 'Demon of the Mist'. Only thanks to Hinata's bravery and teamwork, Shino and Kiba are alive now and I managed to catch him off guard."

"Kurenai-sensei, I don't think this is the best time and place to argue about that," Shino said. "No matter what, we still need to get to the village."

Kurenai looked at Tazuna for a long time. The tension was almost visible in the air.

Kurenai backed off. "Yeah, I know. Sorry," she then looked at Tazuna once more. "I really hope the back up team arrives quickly, and pray to any god you believe in that we all leave this place alive. If not..." she trailed off, leaving the threat hanging in the air.

"Lead the way, Tazuna," Kiba said, with no manners in his voice.

"H-Hai," the man stuttered, and led the way to the village.

-Hi no Kuni, East-

1 and a half day has passed since Team 7 received the new mission. The members of Team 7 now found themselves in a small port city near the river. It was late at night now, and a cold breeze could be felt from the river's side.

"Nami no Kuni should be across the river. The Wave country is actually an island separated from the mainland," Kakashi explained to his genin.

"How do we get across? There are no boats nearby," Sasuke asked. Actually, the entire port village was deserted. It looked like no one lived there for a long time.

"I dunno," Kakashi shrugged "Any ideas?"

His question was answered with dead silence and some crickets chirping.

"Thought so. It's pretty late now; we should get some sleep," Kakashi continued. "We'll think of something in the morning."

"Before going to sleep, we need to find where to sleep," Sakura deadpanned.

"Right. We can make a tent in one of the deserted buildings. That way it will be warmer and will protect us from the cold wind," Kakashi said and led his team to one of the nearest buildings. After some minutes of checking it out, he said to his team, "This one will be fine. Set up the tents. Oh, and don't forget about the night watch. I will take the first and the last shift."

"Hai," Team 7 replied in unison and started unpacking.

"I hope Kurenai-sensei's team is alright. It's our new mission to assist and help them," Sakura said.

"Don't forget about our secondary mission – we need to get those two Kiri missing-nin who escaped ANBU," Sasuke added.

"I wonder how they escaped Leaf's ANBU team," Sakura wondered aloud.

"Apparently, those nuke-nin weren't there when ANBU arrived. They somehow escaped before the team arrived," Kakashi explained. Sasuke looked at Kakashi and couldn't help but be surprised – Kakashi's was already set up and the man himself was reading his orange book.

"What?" Kakashi asked when he saw Sasuke's surprised look.

"Nevermind," Sasuke replied and got back to setting up his own tent. "We still need to get over that river."

"We'll think of something tomorrow," Sakura said.

"I wish I had a flying summon," Naruto thought as he set up his own tent. "It would make things easier."

"Life isn't easy, kit,"Kyuubi replied.

"How right you are," Naruto answered as he laid down in his tent. "When it's my watch, I will send a bunch of Kage Bunshins to scout the area. Maybe they will find some hidden boat or something else what may be useful."

"Don't forget about training - you still need to finish that gravity jutsu. And make some of your clones practice that flower growing technique of the Nature Path. You haven't used Kage Bunshins lately despite it being your favorite jutsu,"Kyuubi said.

"Being a favorite jutsu doesn't mean you have to use it whenever you can," Naruto replied. After a minute of thinking, he continued "I also need to practice fighting with the multiple visions. Argh, multiple field vision is so annoying."

"But you can't disagree that it's pretty useful. By the way, how many field visions you can do now?"

"For now, I can make only three additional field visions with my Kage Bunshin. I don't think I will be able to do four for a while."

"Well, three is useful too."

"Right. I'm going to sleep now, need to get as much rest as I can before going on my watch. Goodnight, furball," he said to Kyuubi, then shouted the same to his teammates (shouted because he was already in his tent) "Goodnight, guys. Wake me up once it's my shift."

"'Night," he heard three voices replying.

Naruto heard Kyuubi sighing, but he didn't see the fox's eyebrow twitching "Goodnight to you too, Senn'o'sanah."

Now it was Naruto's eyebrow time to twitch his eyebrow in annoyance.

-Next morning-

It was an early, gloomy morning – large rain clouds covered the sun, promising rain any minute now, and the cool breeze from the sea didn't do anything to cheer up this gray morning. Team 7 has just finished breakfast and were now packing their things.

"So, Naruto," Kakashi called the blonde boy as they left the house where they were staying in "Find anything last night?"

"Huh?"

"I sensed that you made a bunch of Kage Bunshins," Kakashi explained.

"Oh, right. You spoiled all the fun, Kakashi," Naruto said as he grinned "I wanted to reveal what I found after someone asked 'How will we cross the river?'"

"I take it you found a boat last night?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto nodded happily, "Yep! It was well hidden in one of the houses. Me and my clones had to drag it out and carry it to the shore," he explained "The boat's quite old but it's sturdy enough to get us to the other side."

Thanks to this news, Naruto managed to brighten the mood of of his teammates.

An hour later, Team 7 found themselves on the other side of the river, in Nami no Kuni. They stepped out of the boat and noticed that the shore, and the forest ahead of them, was encased in a thin mist.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "This is no natural mist. It's slowly dissipating, but it is certainly filled with chakra. Stay on your guard."

The three teens of team 7 tensed up, but otherwise remained and seemed quite calm. After 15 minutes of silent walking along the road, deeper into the forest, they came across a clearing near a river.

The mist was almost gone, so team 7 stopped and surveyed the area.

"Looks like some kind of battle was fought here," Sakura commented.

Indeed, the clearing in front of them had certainly seen better times – some of the trees were destroyed, some had deep cuts on them. The entire ground was filled with large puddles, the aftermath of a large Suiton jutsu. Naruto, with his sharpened vision, saw that some puddles had dead bugs in them. Besides the puddles with the bugs, there were also some small craters, which looked as if someone tried to drill through the ground. Shuriken and kunai were scattered around the field – some were embedded in the trees, some were laying uselessly on the ground.

"Judging by the drill-like craters, it must be Kiba's Gatsuuga. And those bugs are Shino's," Naruto thought. "We're close to Wave City then."

"Looks like Kurenai and her team got into another fight," Kakashi voiced Naruto's thoughts. "I hope they're alright."

"Do you know where the city is?" Sasuke asked his squad leader as they resumed walking.

"Yeah. I've been here before, when I was still a chuunin," the man answered.

"How far 'till we get to the city?" Sakura asked. She really wanted to meet her academy friends and check if they were alright.

"Not far. About an hour or so, and we'll be there," Kakashi replied.

"Let's hurry up then," Naruto said urgently. "I wanna know what happened here and if everyone's alright."

"You worry about others too much," Sasuke said. "They'll be fine. Kiba and Shino are no pushovers, besides they've got Kurenai with them, who, I want to remind you, is a jounin."

Naruto didn't comment on that. The rest of the way they went in silence, Naruto guarding the rear, Kakashi the front, Sasuke and Sakura the sides. If there was a battle nearby with unknown victors, it was better to be safe than sorry.

After an hour, just like Kakashi said, team 7 reached Wave City. The genin of team 7 were shocked at what they saw as they walked through the streets – tattered and destroyed buildings; poor and hungry men, women and children begging on the streets; half empty stores with old food. The town clearly had seen better times.

"Why would anyone live here?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto looked at the faces, eyes, of the people he passed by – they were hopeless and sorrowful.

"It's their home," Naruto answered. "They have nowhere else to go."

He had been in the same situation once in his life – when he was kicked out of the orphanage. He didn't have anywhere to go to ask for help; he was always hungry and thirsty, and he had to sleep on the streets. He didn't hate the civilians, he never did, but at one point, he had wanted to leave the village. But he never did because Konoha was his home, and besides he didn't have anywhere else to go. Though everything changed for the better when he met the Ichiraku family and when Sandaime Hokage had found him.

"What happened here?" Sakura couldn't help but ask.

"We need to find Kurenai and her team. They will know better," Kakashi said.

"And how are we supposed to find them?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto grinned "Easily. Let's just ask around. It's a small town, probably someone knows a man named Tazuna. If they don't know him by name, then probably they will know him by his reputation as 'the bridge builder'."

Speaking of the bridge – the first thing team 7 noticed when they entered the town was the big, unfinished bridge at the right side of the town. It would be finished in about two weeks time.

"You're searching for Tazuna?" Someone asked from behind them. The group of ninjas turned around and saw a beautiful young woman in front of them. She had long, dark blue hair and she wore long, dark blue trousers with a pink jumper with a pink collar. "Who are you?"

"We're ninjas from Konohagakure, here to assist our other team," Kakashi replied and his genin stayed back and watched, "And you would be...?"

"Oh, where are my manners?" the woman chuckled. "I'm Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter. You're here to assist Kurenai-san and her team, right?"

"Aren't we lucky today!" Naruto exclaimed. "My ideas are the best ones!"

"No, we were just lucky that she overheard us," Sasuke deadpanned.

"Sasuke, you always have to spoil Naruto's fun, don't you?" Sakura said, as she sighed.

"Well, someone has to do it," Sasuke replied.

"Some friends you are," Naruto said in mock-hurt voice.

Tsunami chuckled at young ninjas' antics. "Kurenai-san said that Konoha will send a strong team as a backup. I don't want to be rude, but aren't you a little too young to be this 'strong backup'?"

Naruto waved his hand dismissively, and said, "Nahh, don't worry, we get that a lot lately."

"Yeah. We're pretty strong," Sakura answered seriously and Tsunami couldn't help but be a bit surprised at her tone. "Remember, a ninja's greatest weapon is deception."

"That was my line," Naruto muttered but, of course, no one heard him. Or they pretended they didn't hear it.

Sakura continued. "We can seem like kids to you but, despite that, we can deal with a threat without any hesitation."

"R-Right," Tsunami stuttered a bit. She didn't believe a girl that age could sound so serious and deadly. She quickly hid her shock and said "Follow me then. I'll get you to our house."

In complete silence, the group of five people slowly made their way to the east side of the village. Along the way, team 7 noticed more poor people and empty stores. That was when Sakura decided to ask about it.

"Tsunami-san," she called. "Why is this town so... for the lack of better word, poor?"

The woman sighed. "It wasn't always like that. Years ago, Wave City was a prosperous town. But then Gato and his thugs came."

"Wait, Gato? As in Gato of the Gato Company?" Sakura asked.

Tsunami nodded. "Yes. He came here some years ago and took control of the Land of Waves' shipping routes and created a monopoly by isolating the country from the outside world, preventing free import and export and turning it into an impoverished, hunger-stricken country in the process."

"Why didn't you stand up against him?" Naruto asked,

"We tried some years ago, a brave-" Tsunami paused here for a second, a single tear running down her cheek unnoticed by anyone. "-man led us. His name was Kaiza. Gato publicly executed him to show what would happen to those who stood up against him. Kaiza's death immensely demoralized the people of Wave, to the point that they no longer had the courage to stand up to Gato."

"This Kaiza. Was he someone important to you?" Naruto asked, and when he saw Tsunami lower her head he quickly added, "S-Sorry if the question is too personal."

Tsunami shook her head. "No, it's okay." After a brief pause, she continued, "Kaiza was my husband and stepfather to my son. Our family, especially my son, Inari, suffered the most after his death. Me and my father have overcome his death and found some courage to stand up against Gato. The courage which Kaiza inspired. Inari, my son, is still in emotional pain, though. Forgive him if he seems a bit rude," she finished, remembering what happened last night when Kurenai's team and their family were having dinner together.

"Kaiza was really brave, huh? And everyone loved him..." Naruto wondered, lost in his thoughts. He didn't even notice Tsunami's small smile.

"Why is this bridge so important anyway? Why would it be Gato's target?" Sasuke asked.

"Nami no Kuni is separated from the mainland by the sea, thus only sea trade is allowed which is heavily controlled by Gato, who in turn is keeping all the money to himself and leaving the people of Nami no Kuni in poverty," Kakashi explained, and Naruto continued Kakashi's train of thought.

"If Tazuna-san manages to complete the bridge, then it will allow much more trading to be done between Nami no Kuni and the mainland, which in turn means that Nami no Kuni will get more money which is not controlled by Gato. The bridge is a real danger to Gato's corrupt business," Naruto finished.

"So the bridge is very important to the country's survival," Sakura stated.

Tsunami nodded. "Seeing what kind of mess we are in now, father found the courage to start this project. He wanted to give hope back to the people, to save them from this poverty filled life."

"A great goal," Naruto said. "Just like me," he muttered.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh never mind..."

"Right. Anyway, we're finally home," Tsunami said as they approached a large home which was built over the inner city river. Naruto noticed that the home wasn't far from the actual bridge. He also noticed that unlike other homes, this one looked new, clean and in good condition. It was big enough to host a large number of people.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Tazuna-san himself 'upgraded' his home," Naruto thought.

"I think father is working at the bridge now," Tsunami said as she unlocked the door. "He usually spends his time at the porch."

They entered the house and noticed that it was just as clean and good-looking on the inside like it was on the outside.

"Tsunami, is that you?" came a voice, which belonged to an old, but energetic sounding man, from inside one of the rooms in the house.

"Yes, father, it's me," Tsunami shouted back as she and team 7 took off their shoes. "I thought you were at the bridge now. Didn't see you outside."

Team 7 and Tsunami made their way across the hallway and entered what seemed like the kitchen. Unlike the hallway, the kitchen was not empty – a large table with some benches and chairs, some simple looking shelves which held dishes, a medium sized fridge and an oven at the end of the room, made up the furniture in the area. Naruto also noticed that a single picture hung on the wall. It was a picture of Tsunami, a young kid and an old man, which Naruto assumed was Inari and Tazuna. A piece of the picture was torn and Naruto assumed it was the father of Inari.

"Bah, I decided to take a day off and have a chat with these ninjas here," Tazuna answered as he waved his right hand, indicating two other persons at the other side of the table "They were quite interested in the country and the bridge."

Naruto finally looked at other people in the room. And he wasn't surprised at what he saw – Kiba sitting opposite from Tazuna with his puppy Akamaru resting on his lap, who stared dumbfoundedly at team 7, and Shino, who was sitting next to Kiba, his hands in his jacket's pockets and was curiously observing team 7. Both boys, just like Tazuna, had a cup of tea in front of them. A small plume of smoke was coming from the tea, which meant that the tea was still hot, which in turn meant that it was made only a few minutes ago.

"I see you brought some guests with you, Tsunami," Tazuna said as he narrowed his eyes and observed the other ninja in the room, "Want to introduce us?"

Tsunami sheepishly chuckled. "I forgot to ask for their names," She then looked questioningly at Kakashi, the oldest from the new group.

"Sorry for not introducing ourselves when you did. I was thinking about life just then and after seeing such a stunning woman, all my manners ceased to exist," Kakashi said, and Tsunami chuckled and even blushed a bit. The rest of team 7 couldn't help but roll their eyes at one another at the 'Kakashi style' excuse. "I'm Kakashi Hatake. The blonde guy here is Naruto-" , here he paused a little and looked for a second at Naruto, thinking about something. He then continued, "-Uzumaki. The girl with the coat is Sakura Haruno, and the black haired guy is Sasuke Uchiha."

"Nice to meet you," Tsunami said.

"Likewise," the members of team 7 answered.

That was when Kiba regained his composure. Or should I say, lost the common sense. "WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING HERE?"

"They are your back-up. At least they said so," Tsunami answered.

"Back-up? Some fresh genin, just like us, a back-up? Are you kidding me?"

"Be logical, Kiba," Shino said calmly, though he doubted Kiba has ever been logical. He doubted Kiba even knew how to be logical in the first place. "If Hokage-sama sent them, then there's a reason for his choice."

"I don't care!" Kiba continued his shouting, "We were expecting a team of chuunin at least, given the situation we're in. And what do we get? A dead last idiot, a pink haired fan-girl, and some emo who doesn't talk much!"

Kiba didn't even notice Naruto's eyes flash in anger, or the fact that Sasuke's and Sakura's hands were now balled into fists. He didn't even feel the small tension which was building in the air. Shino, on the other hand, saw it.

"Kiba-" Shino tried to calm down his friend, but he was interrupted.

"Only Kakashi-san is useful here. Because of that damn old man Hokage, our mission will fail! "

When he mentioned the Hokage, the tension in the air quickly rose and turned into a small, controlled KI. Before he knew it, Kiba was blown away from his seat and smashed against the opposite wall, making some cracks in it. Kiba hissed in pain. He looked at at the group of newly arrived people, and finally saw the anger in their faces, even Kakashi's barely visible face was angry, though it was well hidden and controlled.

Kiba, still being on the wall, finally looked at Naruto. He felt that most of the KI was coming from the blonde boy. Naruto's bangs were covering his eyes and his right arm was extended, his palm aimed at Kiba's chest.

"Never, ever talk that way about my friends, especially my teammates. And insulting the Hokage means you're not entirely loyal to the village, though I'm sure you didn't mean it that way," Naruto finally raised his head and looked in Kiba's eyes with a no-nonsense facial expression "Never decide the outcome of the mission before it's actually finished. Never judge people by their appearance or marks in school. Deception is a ninja's greatest tool and you, Kiba, should have known that."

Naruto lowered his hand and along with that, Kiba fell to the ground. The KI instantly vanished.

"You can come out, Kurenai-san," Naruto said, after a brief silence.

Said woman appeared from behind the corner with a crutch under her arm.

"He deserved it," she said, as she approached team 7. She glanced at Kiba."How many times have I've said not to judge people by first looks or impressions? How many times have I repeated to you to think about what you say?"

"Well, no harm's done," Naruto said. "I can understand why he thinks so though."

"I hope it's alright that Hokage-sama sent us," Kakashi remarked.

"Seeing for myself what they can do, it's perfectly fine," Kurenai answered, and smirked. "I still remember how your genin humiliated you."

Kakashi hung his head. "I'll never hear the end of it."

"Humiliated?" Kiba asked when he finally stood up. His back still hurt. He moved over to the table and sat down in his previous place, still a bit angry.

"It's a story for another time," Kurenai replied.

Naruto noticed the cracks on the wall and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about that," he apologized to Tazuna.

"Nahh, it's alright. If I can build bridges, I can surely repair some wooden wall."

"Let's take a seat and I'll quickly debrief you," Kurenai offered.

"I'll make some tea for our new guests then," Tsunami said and disappeared further into the kitchen.

Team 7 and Kurenai found some chairs and sat down at the table. Kiba and Shino remained in their places and waited for the debriefing to start, each thinking how Naruto could throw Kiba back with a single wave of his hand.

"He must have learned new tricks," Kiba thought dryly. "We will show him his place later, Akamaru."

"By the way, where's Hinata? She's on your team, right?" Sakura asked.

"That's right," Shino answered. "She was injured on our way here, and is now resting upstairs."

"I hope it's nothing serious," Naruto said.

"She'll be fine," Kurenai promised. "One or two days and she'll be like new. She is a tough girl, though she herself doesn't realize it."

After a brief silence, Kurenai started the debriefing "This was supposed to be a simple C ranked escort mission. Our client was Tazuna-san here. On our way to Nami no Kuni, we were ambushed by two C and B ranked nuke-nin, marked as the Demon Brothers."

"Demon brothers?" Sasuke asked.

"Two brothers, missing ninja from Kirigakure. Became missing-nin after stealing some important jutsu scrolls and information from Kiri and fleeing the country," Naruto explained.

"Both of them are chuunin and always work in pairs. Before defecting from Kiri, one of the brothers was a C ranked ninja whereas the other was B ranked," Sakura finished in explanation.

"Which means the mission was automatically raised to at least a B-rank," Kakashi stated. "Did Tazuna-san here know about these missing-nin? It's quite strange that you were ambushed so close to the Konoha. It's also strange that it was you and no one else."

"In fact, yes, he knew," Kurenai said, as she shot a small glare towards Tazuna. "When I questioned him, he revealed to us that he was targeted by Gato. Gato is-"

Kakashi interrupted her. "Sorry, but don't bother telling us about Gato and why the bridge is so important. Tsunami-san already told us that."

"Right. I'll skip that, then," Kurenai replied "Tazuna-san didn't know that Gato had hired some mercenary ninja, but he had his suspicions. So he decided to hire some ninja as well. The country doesn't have it's own ninja village so they had to ask for help from their neighbors, and Konoha was the closest ninja village. But, as you have probably seen, the country is very poor and doesn't have any funds to pay for a high ranking mission so they had to lie. When those missing-nin showed up on the mission, as you mentioned, was automatically upgraded to at least a B-rank. Thanks to my genjutsu, Shino's bugs and Kiba's taijutsu, we were able to quickly defeat them."

"What about Hinata?" Sasuke asked.

"As sad as it sounds, she was petrified from fear at facing enemy ninja. It happens to all rookies," Kurenai answered.

"Didn't happen to us though," Naruto thought.

After hearing that much, Kakashi asked "After learning the truth, why did you continue?"

"Tazuna-san here made my genin pity him, and they insisted on carrying on the mission. At the very last moment, I agreed and thought that we won't face any stronger enemies. I was ready though, and kept my guard up. I also sent a message to Hokage-sama with a request for back-up."

"I see. What happened next?"

"Then..." Kurenai sighed and lowered her head "Then we were ambushed by Zabuza Momoichi."

Team 7's eyes widened. "Zabuza Momochi?!"

Kurenai nodded sadly. "Yes. Zabuza Momochi, a high A-rank missing ninja of Kirigakure, former ANBU. Thanks to Kiba's wish to prove himself, we managed to survive the surprise attack. While my genin protected Tazuna-san, I was dealing with Zabuza. The former Kiri ninja used Kiri's famous jutsu – Kirigakure no Jutsu. It was easy to dodge his attacks, but it was almost impossible to launch a counterattack."

"How did you defeat him?" Sasuke asked.

"For one moment, he abandoned me and went for my genin and Tazuna-san. Thanks to Hinata's byakugan, Hinata noticed the attack before anyone else. She didn't have time to warn anyone, so she pushed Kiba and Shino aside, thus saving them from a lethal blow."

"Wow. I never thought she could be that brave." Sakura replied.

Kurenai nodded again. "I was surprised as well. But," there always were that 'but'. "By saving Kiba and Shino, she got in the way of Zabuza's sword, and received a nasty injury. Zabuza was also quite surprised by the girl's bravery and I used that one moment of surprise to trap Zabuza in a heavy genjutsu."

"Did you kill him?" Naruto asked.

"No."

"What?!" Kakashi exclaimed. "Why?"

Kurenai sighed again. "I didn't have a chance. The moment I put the genjutsu on him, a Kiri hunter-nin appeared and killed Zabuza by throwing some senbon needles in man's throat. Or so I thought."

"What do you mean, sensei? You said you killed him," Kiba asked, confused.

"I thought so at the beginning. I thought about it very hard yesterday and realized that first," She raised one finger, "senbon needles are not used to kill a person." now a second finger was raised, "Secondly, the hunter-nin should have beheaded Zabuza right there on the spot, not take him away, despite the fact that ninja from other villages were nearby."

"But you checked his pulse! He was dead!" Kibble objected.

"Senbon needles, you say?" Sakura asked, and after Kurenai nodded, she continued, "I've read somewhere that when using senbon needles and striking at the right pressure points with them on the human body, it's possible to put said human in a near death state. It means that the person will seem dead, even the pulse, when actually he's quite alive."

"Correct, Sakura," Kurenai said with a smile "But there's downside, though."

"What kind of downside?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi took up from where Kurenai ended. "If someone is put in a near death state, then it will take about a week or a bit more to fully recover."

"Which means that we will encounter Zabuza and the fake hunter-nin again in about a week," Shino concluded.

Kurenai nodded. This situation was very serious. "Let's not forget about the Demon Brothers. They most probably went back to Gato."

"Which means we are up against Zabuza Momoichi, a high A-ranked nuke-inn, a fake hunter-nin with unknown abilities, C and B-ranked brothers, and Gato with his goons," Naruto mused. "I suppose we won't be as lucky as in our previous mission, right, Kakashi?"

Kakashi shook his head. Both Kiba and Shino wondered why Naruto didn't call him sensei. They also wondered why Kakashi didn't say anything about it. Even Kurenai didn't mention it.

"What's our course of action?" Kurenai asked Kakashi.

Kakashi thought about it, occasionally glancing at his team and Kurenai's team. He finally answered, "Once the time comes, the genins will handle the Demon Brothers and the fake hunter-nin, while we will handle Zabuza. That way we can finish him off quickly before assisting the genie."

Kiba, being impulsive and brash as always, said, "Are you sure that's the wisest course of action? We barely managed to fight off those Demon Brothers, we won only because they didn't expect much of a fight. This time they will be more prepared and more dangerous. And let's throw in that hunter-nin. I don't think three more genins will make any difference."

Naruto couldn't understand what Kiba's problem was. Why was he so against them? Kiba was so out of character from the moment they announced that team 7 is their back up. Naruto thought that Kiba would be the first one to jump into danger despite how strong the enemies were. It seemed his first two real fights made him realize that it's not a game. Kiba must had realized that one mistake might cost him his life and probably even the lives of his teammates.

Fortunately, Shino came to the rescue, being logical as always. The boy put a hand on Kiba's shoulder and said calmly. "Kiba, we don't even know what team 7 is capable of. It would be logical if we could find out about their abilities before making any decisions. Our chances for victory would be much greater if we work as a team."

"Yeah, Kiba. You don't even know what we are capable of," Naruto added.

Kiba scoffed. "I still think there won't be much difference."

"Kakashi," Sasuke called his team leader. Kiba and Shino noticed that Sasuke didn't call him sensei and no one said anything about it. "What about if we-" he abruptly stopped and looked at Kurenai. He then asked, "Kurenai-san. How serious are your injuries?"

Kurenai frowned, but answered nonetheless. "Nothing serious. I'll be alright by tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Why?"

"Kakashi, what do you think about a sparring match? You and Kurenai-san versus me, Naruto and Sakura? Full strength." Sasuke asked.

Kakashi beamed at the idea. You could actually see stars in his one visible eye. Naruto and Sakura were surprised about this request.

"But Sasuke," Naruto objected "What about 'revealing our full abilities during the chuunin exam'?"

"If we want to successfully complete this mission with minimum injuries or casualties, then we will need to show Kurenai-san's team what we are capable of. It will shut Kiba up so he won't cry anymore about failing this mission," Kiba's face became red at this statement but he was wisely keeping his mouth shut. Sasuke continued, "Hopefully, it will also inspire them to work and train harder in the future."

"That's actually brilliant, Sasuke," Sakura happily commented.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "Hopefully after the display of our strength, they will be more than eager to work with us. The less hate and distrust between our teams, especially Kiba, the better we'll work together."

And Kakashi finished "AND maybe after the sparring match, they could learn something from you!"

Naruto sweat-dropped. "Erm, no, Kakashi. We won't teach them anything, but we'll be more than happy to provide them with some pointers, right?"

Sakura and Sasuke nodded, though the former did so reluctantly.

Kiba was so red from either anger or embarrassment, no one knew which one, and he angrily thought, "They talk like they're sure they'll win. And Kakashi is behaving like it may just happen. I bet those idiots won't be able to even leave a scratch on Kurenai-sensei and Kakashi-san."

"So what about it, Kurenai-san?" Sakura asked eagerly.

Kurenai smiled. "I would be more than happy. Let's do it the day after tomorrow. I'll be perfectly fine by then. I'm really eager to see Sakura's genjutsu and some of team 7's unique skills."

"It's settled then," Kakashi said. "I also think that starting after the sparring, we'll need to train your team a bit, Kurenai. We need to make them ready for their fight."

Kurenai nodded. "What about your genin?"

"They can take care of themselves," Kakashi replied "Unless they need my help." Kakashi looked at his genin and they simultaneously shook their heads. "Thought so. Well, now that everything's decided, what should we do?"

Kiba just stood up from his place and left the dining room, going upstairs. "What's his problem?" Kakashi asked.

Kurenai shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe everything that happened is catching up to him. Well, I'm going to check on Hinata."

"I'll go with you, Kurenai-san," Sakura said as both women stood up and left the dining room, both chatting about something. Probably about genjutsu, Kakashi thought.

"I'll go and lay down for a bit," Sasuke said "I need to think about something. Tazuna-san, can you show me my room please?"

"Right this way," Tazuna said, leading the way.

"What about you, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"I'll go and check the area. Maybe ask some animals in the forest if they know anything," Naruto replied and stood up.

Kakashi nodded "Don't be late getting back, please."

Naruto smirked, and replied cheekily as he left the room. "Yes, mom."

When Naruto left the house, he gazed into the poor city and thought sadly, "This is going to be a long week..."

END!

I hope you liked the chapter. Sorry for the shortness though.

Next chapter - some Itachi, Alicia entering Konoha and meeting Hokage, some Orochimaru and Kabuto, and of course, team 7 vs Kakashi and Kurenai fight.