Hello, everyone, I back with the next chapter of "The demon and the ghost"! Hope, I didn't make you wait for too long?

* Review response:
eclipseX, Elemental Dragon Swordman, one can always hope. =) Jokes aside, there surely will more developments in that relationship in the nearest future. Not this chapter, though.
akkyou no Yami, bahish, her (you're talkin' 'bout Kagerou, right)? Not likely. Fuuma aren't that strong clan after all to just banish one of their strongest (and most loyal) ninja. She'll more likely be an envoy of the clan in Konoha if I decide to add her into the story/pairing. As for Tayuya... Dunno, will decide when I get there.
Still Not Dead Yet, yes, Sachiko was in state of shock and couldn't think properly of a way of defending herself. Naruto and Kyuubi's yoki... Why not there (he had a reason: one of his most precious person was attack and couldn't defend herself), especially since he won't have a nine-tailed incident in the wave...
jinlai, OBSERVER01, thank you!
shankstar89, who doesn't like them, eh? Unfortunately, no limes/lemons until they are at least fourteen...

* Jutsu list:
Fuuton reppushou - (C-rank) Wind style: gale wind palm - strong gust of wind sent towards his target. When acting in conjunction with another thrown weapon, the wind can increase its power and deadliness.
Kage bushin - (A-rank) Shadow clone - creates solid chakra-made copy of user (to be destroyed shadow clone must get moderate damage). Shadow clones have perfect copy of user's mind and memory. When dispelled, shadow clones return experience of their 'life' to user. Shadow clones split user's chakra by clones number +1 (if you create 3 clones you'll have only 1/4 of chakra left (minus chakra needed to create clones)) that's why they are mostly used for information gathering.
Jinton: kyumyoryouko - (A-rank) Dust style: nine mystical dragons - My original ninjutsu. Sachiko makes dust around her form nine dragon heads that will attack any enemy within their rather formidable range. While performing this jutsu, Sachiko can't move and has to keep her hand in the handseal.
Doton: toge ryudou - (B-rank) Earth style: spiked land - My original ninjutsu. Does exactly what its name suggests: turn a big patch of land in front of the user into stone spikes.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Naruto" in any shape or form.

"speaking"
"speaking through sign language"
'thinking'
"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using yoki / jutsus / Iruka's 'demon head' speaking"
'thinking of higher beings'

AN: for those interested: Haku on this story is male (like he should be) and will be at some point turned in to the Mist, along with a certain sword.
Oh, and this chapter show a darker side of shinobi work. sorry.

chapter 6: Weapons and tools

Two days later – they now weren't slowed down by civilian caravan – team five reached the meeting point with the team eight under Kurenai. Female jounin had her team build fortified camp where they four plus the client – man of about sixty years old with small glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. He was wearing dark T-shirt with small towel on his shoulders – along with another, sickly-looking, jounin and female ANBU, both with their swords, were waiting for them, talking among themselves. Recognizing the ANBU by her very distinctive purple hair and cat mask, Naruto ran towards her.

"Neko-nee-chan!" Young jinchuuriki hugged the woman from behind, making sword-wielding jounin let out a constrained cough. He looked at Naruto, who still had his arms around woman's midsection, then at Neko-masked ANBU.

"Should I be jealous?" He asked.

"Nah, you don't need to, Hayate-kun, I'm not into younger men. Plus I don't think his girlfriend will approve." Female ANBU replied, gesturing towards Sachiko, making said girl blush, along with Naruto and Hyuuga girl from Kurenai's team, Hinata, for some reason, while the rest laughed.

"Oh, well, it's quite enough. We have a serious mission there." Iruka said, making everyone calm down. "I take it that Neko is in command there?" ANBU nodded. "I ask for an hour for my team to learn about fortified camp structure: I was yet to cover it in my teaching."

"Granted." Neko said simply.

An hour later two genin teams, extra jounin and ANBU – don't forget the client, super bridge-builder Tazuna – were on their way to the Wave country, keeping their formation like this: the client was in the center, Hayate, Shino Aburame and Hinata in the front; Neko, Sai and Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru guarding the rear; Iruka and Naruto – right side and Kurenai and Sachiko – left... They reached the coast of the Fire country without any problems other than Tazuna being civilian, but once they were there, they found out that the only way to get to the Wave country was a small fisherman's boat that certainly couldn't carry twelve people.

"How wide is this strait?" Neko asked. Tazuna thought for several seconds.

"About eight miles. The bridge is currently about a mile long." The man answered.

"So, seven miles..." ANBU said to herself. "Everyone up for a run?" Everyone, minus Tazuna who didn't understand what was going on, nodded, though Hinata and Kiba were hesitant. "If you don't feel confident in your reserves, you can take a soldier's pill. Iruka-san, you're carrying the client." Scarred jounin nodded as did the two hesitant genins.

"Wha-?" Tazuna exclaimed as his protectors, one of whom was carrying him, started running on the water. It wasn't as quiet way of traveling as the boat would be, but it was OK... And much faster. The ninjas reached the bridge in under half an hour. From there they were walking again. They passed small and very poor town, passed through small uninhabited island and entered another, bigger one, with a forest on it, when Naruto suddenly stopped.

"Something's wrong here. The forest sounds too uneasy." Jounins, ANBU, Sachiko and Kiba listened and had to agree with the blond jinchuuriki.

"Hinata, can you check the forest?" Kurenai asked. Timid girl nodded and activated her bloodline.

"Byakugan!" She studied the surroundings for a couple of seconds. "There is no one in two hundred meters radius, Kurenai-sensei." White-eyed girl said finally.

Two hundred and fifteen meters away from them certain Kiri missing-nin with a large head-cleaving sword was sweating bullets, along with his masked apprentice.

'Damn! Hyuuga, three jounins, Konoha ANBU chick and a bunch of brats! The report said that only one genin team was guarding the old man. They must have asked for the help after encountering those two imbeciles!' Zabuza thought frantically. 'I need to kill the old man without them engaging me in the combat... It'll be hard, but nothing impossible.' He turned to his apprentice. "We're changing our plans." Masked ninja nodded.

"Yes, Zabuza-sama."

The Leaf ninja and Tazuna walked trough the forest for an hour when they reached large clearing with a small lake there. Just when they reached the center of the clearing, mist began thickening around them to the point when normal eye couldn't see further than just a couple of feet.

"We are not alone here." Neko observed. "Hinata-san?" The Hyuuga girl nodded once again activation byakugan.

"The mist is saturated with chakra, I can't see further than twenty feet." She said, keeping her bloodline active, just in case.

"This means chakra pulse is useless too. And the mist is thick enough to interfere with sounds. It's a work of high-level Kiri jounin." Iruka observed as ten ninja of the Hidden Leaf stood on guard around Tazuna. "Sachiko?" He asked.

"It's too humid for me to use jinton." The white-haired kunoichi replied.

"True." Naruto agreed. "But you still can use wind and earth... Quick! Do your most powerful wind jutsu at four o'clock!" Blond shinobi said, igniting one of the matches. Those could burn even in rain, so mist was no problem for them. Sachiko nodded and started performing the sequence of handseals.

"Fuuton: reppushou!" Naruto threw the match into the pass of the wind jutsu, turning it into the fireball. The fireball flew through the mist, clearing it a bit. Then there was a sound of the big splash of water. There mush have been water clone or something like that.

"H-How did you?.." Iruka began his question, but Naruto interrupted him.

"Just call it precognition." Moment later there was a clanging sound of metal hitting metal and everyone could see Hayate and Neko blocking large head-cleaving sword with their katanas. Second later the enemy's sword disappeared back into the mist, but every jounin already knew who was their opponent: the demon of the Hidden Mist, Momochi Zabuza. "Damn!" Naruto quickly moved his hands into the cross-shaped handseal. "Kage Bushin!" A bunch of shadow clones appeared in a poofs of smoke and jumped up into the air. Moment later they all disappeared. Large ice needles fell into the ground...

"It's not good at all. Zabuza alone was bad enough, but with hyoton user and in such humid environment, the fight has just become ten times harder." Hayate commented.

"We need to move away from the mist..." ANBU thought. Then she looked at Naruto. "You seem to have a lot of chakra. Can you provide a distraction?" Blond jinchuuriki nodded. He used a lot of chakra, summoning a small army of about seventy shadow clones, sending all but twenty in all directions to attack invisible foe. Ten henge'd themselves into Tazuna and the rest of ninja, while the final ten were kept in case the real group was attack to be used for the kawarimi jutsu. Then Neko did a quick jutsu to silence the steps of the groop. Using the information killed clones fed him, Naruto helped the whole group to reach the edge of the clearing where the mist wasn't as thick. "Time to counterattack."

"Hai." Iruka, Kurenai and Hayate said. All four high-level ninjas performed a quick sequence of handseals, before exhaling large fireballs that killed another water clone of Zabuza. And the mist was almost completely gone after this moves.

"Hinata?" Neko asked. White-eyed girl nodded and again activated her bloodline.

"Zabuza is behind large pine at six o'clock, another ninja, most likely chuunin, is on the oak at eleven." ANBU nodded.

"Iruka-san, with me, we take on Zabuza; Kurenai-san and Hayate-san, hyoton user is yours." She then looked at genins. "You six are guarding Tazuna." And just as they nodded, she and jounins disappeared. Three minutes later Kurenai and Hayate returned with unconscious ninja in mask. They looked like they went through the waterfall, but were mostly unharmed. The ninja was check and when he wasn't found in bingo books, it was decided that he can be kept alive. The battle between Zabuza and Neko and Iruka went for another ten minutes, ending with scarred jounin killing Kiri missing-nin with a doton ninjutsu. Both Leaf ninja looked quite worn and had some minor wounds from the fight, but too were in a good shape. Iruka was caring the Kiribuki Houchou over his sholder when he and Neko-masked ANBU rejoined the group.

"As Zabuza was an A-ranked ninja, I do believe, he was the top dog in the enemy's forces. Of course, another strong missing-nin can be hired, but it will take several days, so I say, Kurenai-san and Iruka-san with their teams continue the mission while me and Hayate-san will escort captured ninja back to Konoha. Once we're done, we will return." Neko said. "There is also an issue with the sword." She said, pointing at the Kiribuki Houchou. "The sword, be it returned to the Hidden Mist, can make neutrality between two hidden villages more stable, but as it is unknown, whether the civil war in the land of Water has ended or not, as is who is the current Mizukage, the sword can't be brought there right now. So it too will be brought back to Konoha by us."

"This was a small part of mission strategies and politics of inter-village relationships. One day you may face similar problems while you're commanding your own unit, so try to learn as much about your enemy and his country and traditions as possible. It'll make your life easier and longer." Iruka added his comment for the two genin teams.

"After all, we all, ninjas, are a part of a big machines called hidden villages. And while we are weapons of the village, tools, we need to think about what we're doing so that our mistake won't cause any ...unpleasant things. This is the reality of our world: ninjas are the tools that are supposed to think and work for the welfare of their village. Remember it." Hayate said, picking up unconscious ninja. Neko already had Zabuza's sword attached to her back. "We wish you all good luck and the easy end of the mission. It was a pleasure to work with you all. Iruka, Kurenai." Man nodded to the two other jounins before he and Neko went on their way back to the Hidden Leaf.

Teams five and eight reached Tazuna's house in less them thirty minutes without any more problems. Unfortunately for them, bridge builder's house was too small to house eight more persons, so it was decided that Kurenai and girls will be living there, while Iruka and boys will be in the fortified camp the built not far from the house. Both jounins were sure that once Gato, who ordered Tazuna dead, hears about Zabuza failing his mission, magnate will either hire an army of thugs or a bunch of missing-nins. So for the safety of their client, it was decided that one team will be guarding Tazuna and his workers on the bridge, while the other – bridge builder's house, switching daily.

For the first two days since their arrival to the Wave, everything was quiet, but both Kurenai and Iruka didn't allow any lax in security, which was a good thing as they didn't know when their enemy will strike...

/ *** \

On the third day since Tazuna returned to the land of Waves, when Zabuza was still missing, short shipping magnate and underworld king that went by the name Gato decided that the hired missing-nin failed his mission and won't get his money, not that he planned on giving them to him anyway. So Gato summoned a small army of cheap thugs – they all cost less than Zabuza alone – and decided to pay a visit to the building site, while the small group of his samurai will attack the bridge builder's house.

The day was murky with a mist over the sea, that will allow his troops to approach the bridge undetected. Or so Gato thought... Iruka was clever enough to place several detection seals on the pillars of the bridge, so when the boat with thugs moored to the bridge, team five that was protecting this site today was immediately alerted. Konoha jounin ordered all workers to evacuate, so when the thugs and Gato himself clambered onto the bridge, they saw only four shinobi and Tazuna.

"Kill all ninjas and the bridge builder!" Shipping magnate ordered. "When you are finished, you can go into the town and take everything valuable you see and any women you want." Thugs let out vociferous 'Hai!' and attacked. Fools.

"Jinton: kyumyoryouko!" As the top of the bridge was dry enough, Sachiko could use her bloodline techniques, and white-haired kunoichi used one of her most powerful techniques, making nine dragon heads rise from the ground and attack enemies. Sai, as always, used his drawn animals to take his opponents down, Iruka just used taijutsu and kunai... Not to be outdone by his teammates, Naruto too used his jutsus:

"Doton: toge ryoudo!" Thousands upon thousands of sharp stone spear-tips grew out of the surface of the bridge, wounding everyone who was unlucky enough to be in the area of the jutsu... Just in under five minutes all hundred thugs were either killed – by Sai or Iruka mostly – or heavily wounded and unable to continue fighting, leaving, now quite scared, Gato alone facing four ninjas and Tazuna... Iruka looked around, noticing what his team did to the thugs.

"Damn... I created a team of monsters..." He said quietly to himself, before looking straight at the Gato. Moment later he was right in front of the short man. "For you crimes against the land of Waves and..."

"Please, spare me! I will give you anything you want!" Gato pleaded, but Konoha jounin didn't listen...

"...You are sentenced to death." The moment he finished his phrase, Iruka thrust kunai into man's heart, killing him instantly. The jounin turned around, not looking at man he just killed, and walked up to the nearest thug alive. Picking him up, Iruka looked straight into his eyes, radiating small amount of KI "Tell me, where Gato's base is." Leaf ninja ordered. The man gave him coordinates in a faltering voice, before blacking out. Iruka sighed and threw him down. Done there, jounin approached Tazuna. "We dealt with your prime offender, but it will be better if the teams stay there for another week to protect you and others from the thugs and bandits that will go on a robbing spree as they have no one to pay the now. This is, of course, if you don't mind our presence." Tazuna shook his head.

"But today's sunset you'll be the heroes of Wave! Of course no one will mind you being here." Bridge builder replied loudly.

"Good." Iruka said with a nod. "This brings us to the second point of our current discussion. Tomorrow me and my team will raid Gato's base in this land. If we're lucky, you will pay only for another C-rank mission, instead of an A-rank: we will take those money from the Gato. The of the money, of course, will be given back to the people of the Land of Waves." Tazuna smiled.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Leaf jounin sighed. Sometimes dealing with clients was just too troublesome, like men of certain Konoha clan used to say...

/ *** \

Next began early for the team five with Iruka taking them to raid Gato's base. The said base happened to be several large warehouses, surrounded by wire fence with a small group of thugs guarding it. They posed no danger to any trained shinobi and were disposed before they could even blink by Iruka. With them done for good, team went into the base and began exploring it. Much to their disgust, they found not only weapons and narcotics there, but also several cages with female slaves that were immediately freed, given clothes and some money from what the team found in the Gato's office... When they finally finished their raid, Iruka took the amount of money one usually got for an upper-level A-rank mission from what was left of Gato's funds after giving money to the freed slaves, and sealed the rest for the people of the Wave.

"We are done here, team, let's return to the base." Jounin said, making his three tired genins sigh in agreement...

/ *** \

Teams five and eight spent another eight days in the land of Waves, guarding locals from the possible thugs attacks, none of which, luckily, happened. With the help of an army of Naruto's shadow clones, Tazuna managed to build an entire mile of his bridge before Leaf ninja left the country. The man decided to name the bridge he was building 'the great bridge of friendship' as eight Konoha ninjas became quite good friends with him personally, his family and the people of the Wave they saved from the tyrant... As for the said ninja, they all were just glad that their mission ended with a success...

That's all, folks. Read and Review!