A/N: Apparently, quite a lot of people want Zabuza dead and yet Haku alive. Anyway, I don't think Minato would actually…um leave Haku alive for her to fall in love with him because he is a battle hardened shinobi after all… Please reply to the poll soon. *whine*
Rixxell Stryfe- I'm so sorry. Quite a few want Zabuza dead so… and not many want Haku to fall in love with Sasuke.
Vitorhugo0- That's so complicated. I really don't like complex things so… I think I'll just make the Edo Tensei ineffectual if Orochimaru tries it. I just really don't understand the thing with all the souls.
Chapter 9: Wave
Minato was tuning out what his sensei was saying, instead focusing on the bridge builder. His body movements signalled that he was nervous about something, but nervous about what? He had a Jounin to protect him from bandits if they were the ones after him and if three Gennin couldn't handle it, a Jounin could take care of them without breaking a sweat, especially one of Kakashi's calibre. Minato kept all his senses on high alert in case anything were to happen.
Suddenly, the presence of two Chunnin level ninja assaulted his senses. He continued walking nodding at what Kakashi had just said, discreetly checking around for the source and uncovering a genjutsu in the process. The puddle on the road was very suspicious since it had not rained in weeks and the sun was grilling the earth at full blast. He glanced back at his sensei and noticed a twitch in his muscles. 'So he knows. Good.' Minato thought, casually placing his hand over his weapons pouch as he walked by the puddle seemingly without a care in the world.
Minato let his eyes gravitate over to his team mates at the helm and saw Sakura conversing with Tazuna whereas Sasuke was glancing back at the puddle. 'So he knows too? That makes my job easier.' Minato mused, applauding his team mate's attentiveness. The surface of the puddle rippled and a figure emerged. The battle had begun. Two ninja burst out of the genjutsu, wearing breathing masks and each wielding a gauntlet each connected by a spiked chain. The symbol on their head bands were scratched through, signifying their nuke-nin status.
One of the ninja used his partner as a springboard and somersaulted over Kakashi, binding the Jounin. All of Minato's instincts told him to move. To go save his former student just like he did on that mission, but he forced himself to watch as Kakashi struggled, his face a mask of surprise and panic. Kakashi struggled to break free, grunting with the effort. "Do it!" one of the ninja instructed, and the two of them yanked on the chain in opposite directions, the spikes on the chain slicing Kakashi into little pieces.
Minato felt Kakashi's chakra spike and chuckled inwardly at his sensei's antics while outwardly calling out to his supposedly dead sensei as pieces of what he knew to be logs hit the ground. Sakura screamed in horror, seeing her sensei cut into little Kakashi bits. Sasuke's face remained stoic and calm, analysing the situation. The two Chunin appeared behind Minato chuckling menacingly saying "Now it's your turn" Minato smirked. They were clearly underestimating him. He launched himself at the two Chunin and engaged them in battle.
Kakashi was watching his three Gennin, intent on gauging their skills and how they'd fare in a real battle and also find out who the assassins were after, killing two birds with one stone. Sakura had thrown herself in front of Tazuna, kunai in hand, protecting him while Sasuke tensed his muscles, ready to engage the Chunin. So far so good. Then his gaze swept over to Naruto and mentally berated the boy for freezing up, when the blond turned around and smirked at the two Chunin, clearly amused about something. That was when Kakashi's heart nearly stopped beating. For those few seconds, his sensei had been the one smirking on the battlefield in all his former glory. Naruto rushing the two Chunin snapped Kakashi from his stupor. Kakashi realised he wasn't breathing and took a deep breath before diverting his attention back to the battle.
Minato ducked under the spiked chains as Sasuke whipped out a shuriken and a kunai and flung the shuriken in one fluid motion, pinning the chain to a tree, before firing the kunai in quick succession, reinforcing the shuriken. The two Chunin were yanked together into the middle where Minato was. The latter slammed his hands onto his opponents' heads and drove their heads into the ground, reinforcing his attack with chakra, knocking the two nuke-nin out.
Sasuke walked over but Sakura stayed at her post in case their assailants were not truly out of it. Minato jabbed a few pressure points to keep them immobile for good measure. Just then, Kakashi jumped down from his hiding place, startling everyone but Minato and Sasuke. "Good work you guys. I'm proud of you three. You showed teamwork, initiative and your ability to respond in a battle. I could've taken them out easily but I didn't. Anyone know why?" the Jounin of the group questioned.
"Was it to see who he was targeting sensei?" Sakura chanced.
"Correct. Sasuke is an Uchiha so naturally there would be people after him but they didn't attack him, they attacked Naruto. But they have no reason to attack him, so we have to assume they wanted to take us out to get to the person we were protecting which is you Tazuna." The silver-haired man concluded, gazing intently at the old bridge builder. "Now. Tazuna-san. They're Chunin from the Hidden Mist. Their specialty is relentless attack which means they keep fighting no matter what the sacrifice. When you came to us with your request, you asked for standard protection from robbers, highwaymen and bandits so why are there ninja after your head? Now, if we knew this, we would have assigned more experienced and better ninja. You may have your reasons but lying to us is not acceptable. We are now beyond the scope of this mission." Kakashi stated, glaring intently at the old bridge builder and causing very noticeable nervousness in the old man.
"I guess we should go back…" Kakashi sighed. In a last bid to get the team to complete the mission, Tazuna launched into a long winded sob story about his family and his village which Minato tuned out, not wanting to be swayed and putting his comrades in danger in a momentary lapse in judgement.
"Naruto!" a feminine voice drifted through the haze, causing Minato to turn around to face his team mates.
"What?" he asked, baffled.
"We've agreed to continue the mission so get moving!" Kakashi called to him. Only then did Minato notice that the bridge builder and his team had advanced and he was still where the two nuke-nin had been tied up.
"Sorry." Minato apologised, jogging up to them.
"You have to be more alert or you're going to get killed you know?" Kakashi loosely reprimanded.
"Why the sudden change in heart?"
"Blame the sob story. And your team mates."
"Gennin have no power over a Jounin."
" Touché."
"You've changed."
"What?" Kakashi rounded on his blond student but he'd already stalked off to join his team mates in the row boat.
Kakashi shrugged it off and stepped aboard and the boat pushed on towards the Land of Waves. Fog soon engulfed them and with it came silence. All they could hear was the water slapping against the sides of the boat and their own breathing. "Tazuna-san. I need to ask you something before we reach the pier. Who are the men after you? And I need to know why. If you don't tell us, we'll end this mission the moment we drop you ashore." Kakashi asked, his voice carrying on the wind.
"You know him. At least, you should've heard his name before. He's one of the wealthiest men in the world. The shipping magnate, Gato." Tazuna finished mysteriously.
"Gato? Of Gato transport? He's a business leader. Everyone knows him." Kakashi echoed, a shocked look on what could be seen of his face.
"That's true, but beneath the surface, he uses ruthless methods to take over businesses and nations. But he also deals in drugs and contraband using bandits and ninja. He set his sight on our country and took total control of our transport and shipping. Anyone who went against him were dealt with. But to an island nation, the one who controls the seas controls the nation. But the bridge I'm building will break his control." Tazuna concluded.
"So those ninja in the forest. They were working for Gato." Sasuke said.
"But if you knew that, then why lie to us?" Kakashi continued.
"Because the Land of Waves is a small and impoverished nation. Even the nobles have little money so we can't pay for anything higher than a C-rank mission." Tazuna said and mad one last play on their conscience with the reactions of his family should he be assassinated. Minato tuned all this out as well, not wanting to let his emotions get the better of him in a mission, not hearing Kakashi agree to keep guarding Tazuna. When they finally set foot on dry land again, the rower bid them farewell and wished them good luck.
"Take me to my home in one piece." Their client commanded. As the wooden houses by the sea fell away to reveal forests, Minato fell back before stopping completely. He put a finger on the ground and sensed a presence that the level of a Jounin somewhere in the bushes. He whipped out a kunai and released it in the direction of the presence, only to feel its chakra spike and be replaced by something more like an animal. The group turned around with startled looks on their faces before Sakura strode up to him and smacked him over the head for startling them. "But there was someone there I swear!" he whined childishly.
"Yeah right! Quit acting like a child!" she shouted as Kakashi moved through the bushes to uncover a white rabbit with a kunai knife centimetres above its head.
"Now look what you did!" she rounded on him.
"It's white!" Minato said, losing the childishness and suddenly jolting with rapt attention.
"Who cares if it's white?" Sakura shouted in confusion, but Minato was not listening. He had dropped to a crouch and was pressing his finger to the ground, his face set in a look of concentration.
"Naruto, what are you doing?" Kakashi asked, looking over his shoulder, the rest of the group giving him curious looks.
"Nothing, sensei. Don't mind me, I'm just checking the direction of the wind." Minato said in a sing-song voice. Kakashi felt something vying for attention at the back of his mind, but he couldn't picture his sunshiny student lying to him, so he pushed it out of his mind.
"Um… Okay. So anyway. The rabbit's pelt is white, but it's not winter," began Kakashi
"Meaning it was bred indoors," Sasuke continued.
"and can be used for Kawarimi." Sakura gasped. Just then, Minato felt the same presence approaching at a high speed.
"Get down!" he shouted, dragging Sakura and Tazuna to the ground with him, Sasuke following soon after. Kakashi's eyes widened and he hit the dirt, sensing the presence as well. Just as Kakashi's body made contact with the ground, a giant zanbatou exploded out of the forest and embedded itself in a gnarled tree. 'How did Naruto sense him before I did?' Kakashi wondered as a figure landed on the sword.
"Momochi Zabuza. Demon of the Hidden Mist." Kakashi named the figure posing on the zanbatou. Minato pulled out a kunai, bracing himself for the battle that was to come.
A/N: I don't know how to spell zanbatou so someone please help me. I know most of this chapter was canon (I was copying from the show. American Naruto is not exactly very… you know… but I couldn't find anything else to work with so please bear with me.) The fight will be in the next chapter and the poll is still on so please put in your votes. I will try my hardest not to make the next chapter too canon-ish. I thank you all for supporting my story. Please review. Thank you.