It took almost half an hour for everyone to reassemble, mostly due to the destroyed section of the forest making it hard to get around. It didn't help that Kurenai was limping a little, her normally agile gait replaced with a loping one as she had to drag one foot forward, her hand constantly held behind her at a point on her back she knew was bruised. Of course, she also knew that a normal civilian would have had their back broken by the impact she'd sustained, so that was lucky at least.

"Team, report," she ordered as hey finally came to a calm spot near the lake shore.

"Two enemies captured, Naruto has used a large amount of chakra creating clones to help fight Zabuza, and you have been injured as well. Heero's right hand is unusable for the moment, and all but the thumb and pointer finger on his left are in the same condition. My swarms have also been reduced to less than a quarter of their usual number," said Shino in that deadpan voice of his. The group knew him well enough, however, to hear a tinge of sorrow in his voice. He loved his bugs, in the way all Aburame did, and to have so many of them fall like that, it had to hurt.

"Tactically, we won, at a cost. Had he kept the Demon Brothers in reserve, rather than sending them ahead, we would likely now be dead. That performance will need to be improved," said the kikai-nin, and Kurenai nodded, before smiling at them.

"This team has preformed beyond my expectations, honestly. Even with the mist's obvious drain on his chakra, and the injuries I inflicted upon him, Zabuza was still a Jonin, and no push over. Had you been a normal team, we would not be having this conversation. Don't be too down on yourselves now, and know that you've made me very proud of all of you," she said, and all four of her Genin puffed up a bit, Tazuna finally breaking out of a mute trance he'd been in since they'd seen Zabuza on the ground.

"What are you going to do with them?" asked the old man, taking a step towards the fallen shinobi, in his hand, they all could see a kunai blade, apparently picked up off the battlefield.

"Normally, they would have died in the fight, and there would be no need to decide that, since they are alive though, I was going to discuss it with my Genin," admitted Kurenai, eyeing the man cautiously.

"What would the law of the Land of Waves call for?" asked Shino after a few seconds, and Tazuna just stared down at the pair on the ground, his fist white around the handle of the weapon.

"A trial by the Lord of Wave. There hasn't been one of those for a long time though. Now we'd just banish them, but these two. This man, and his apprentice are murders...killers. An entire village wiped out in a single night, with no survivors, just wet ruins, and a few needles. I knew some of those people they killed, I wanted them dead," he admitted, holding the knife in his hand up to his eyes, and then looking down at them. It was obvious what he was thinking, and Kurenai began a few hand seals, just in case. Luckily, the old man was no killer, not of the defenseless, and so instead of doing something that would require action, he turned to the group.

"Now I just want them gone, gone forever. Can you make that happen?" he asked, and Kurenai thought about it for a moment.

"Can you summon Kaji again?" she asked him, and he nodded absently to her, as she turned towards Naruto.

"I know you've made a lot of clones already today, but how many of the true clones can you make?" she inquired, and Naruto seemed to go into a meditative stance, his hands held just apart at his chest as he looked within himself for the answer.

"Ten. But I'll be wiped for a week if I do that. Like that time I tried to recharge everyone at once in the Hyuga Training Ground," he admitted, and his teammates nodded, remembering one of the few breaks in their training they had gotten, this one because Naruto had so exhausted himself he hadn't been able to move for ten days.

"Then I want you to make eight. Hinata, Shino," she said this turning to the other two, who stood at rapt attention.

"I have a special mission for both of you. Clones alone won't cut it if these two wake up, but between you, you can keep them both paralyzed and exhausted of chakra. That should allow you to get them to Konoha. Once there, turn them over to Ibiki, tell him they're our prisoners, and we want them processed. The Hokage will likely want to talk with you as well, but inform him I'm invoking my right as the leader of the team that caught them to keep them there until I can return. We'll figure out if they should go back to Kiri, or perhaps somewhere else, once we have time to do so," she explained, and both of the Genin nodded at her, watching as Naruto focused inward again, before making the single ram seal. A puff of smoke came from him, that soon formed into eight perfect copies of himself, each of which grabbed an arm or leg of the prisoners, before standing by for commands.

"Come on then, I want these two out of the country by noon," said Tazuna, dropping the kunai and then guiding them back to the shore. The trek took an hour, since they wanted this done quickly, but had the burden of the two unconscious shinobi to worry about. Twice in that time, Hinata called a halt to have Shino use his Kikai to drain some chakra from Zabuza, who seemed to rouse, if only for an instant, only to pass out again as his energy was stolen, and then his muscles frozen by the touch of Hinata's fingers. After they reached the shore, Tazuna showed them a small hidden flare cannon, that he had Shino and Naruto help him drag to the edge of the water, firing off the bright light from inside, and waiting for Kaji to show. To his credit, Kaji made it within ten minutes. Against his credit, the instant he saw who was waiting, he turned around, gunning his motor as fast as he could away from Zabuza.

"Kaji you idiot, get back here!" shouted Tazuna after the fleeing man, who, very cautiously, began to approach again, his hand on the motor the only part of him they could see as he slid almost silently up to the shore. It took several extra minutes to convince him that the two killers were knocked out, and going to stay that way, and half an hour to finally get him to agree to take the prisoners and the shinobi across. The Naruto clones, to save on room, henged into chains and shackles, that then fastened themselves around the wrists and ankles of the prisoners. After all that, as the afternoon sun in the sky finally started to wax into an evening one, the boat left, puttering out of sight at a speed that was rather indicative of the pilots desire to have the business done with.

"That's a load of my mind, knowing both of them are gone," said Tazuna, before starting off. Thanks to injuries, exhaustion, and just general feelings of lethargy, the team was forced to march at a slow pace, and only approached Tazuna's village as the moon began to rise. They were greeted by only a few sullen faces, no guards, no patrols, just people, slowly dragging themselves through their lives. A few brightened on seeing Tazuna returned, but the old man pleaded sleep, and led his beleaguered band through the streets with only a few pleasantries, before finally coming to a large two story house, and leading the group inside.

"Father!" shouted a woman, who threw her arms around the old man as he entered their home, a young boy did much the same, both of them nearly at tears as they quickly shuffled Tazuna and the Konoha Ninja's inside, locking and barring the door, as the woman began to set out food for them.

"Team Fourteen of Konoha, this is my daughter, Tsunami, and her son, Inari," the woman nodded at the introduction, smiling at everyone, while Inari just sat there, looking them over like he was trying to size them up for a fight.

"My family, this is part of Team Fourteen of Konoha. Kurenai, Heero, and Naruto," he said, gesturing to each in turn, and the three bowed their heads respectfully towards the woman, and towards the boy, though Naruto was eyeing him right back.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you, isn't it Inari?" said the woman as the last bowl was put down, and she took a seat at the table with them.

"You look like you guys lost a fight," was the first thing Inari said to them, and everyone around him seemed to freeze as they processed the statement. Naruto was the first to recover, hopping up to stand in his chair, and pointing an accusing finger at the boy.

"We didn't lose! We won and beat everyone's butt!" he declared, Kurenai quickly pulling him back into a sitting position as Inari stood up, pointing his own finger at a growling Naruto.

"And yet you still look like you lost! How are you going to protect my grandpa from Gato's men? How?" he asked.

"Inari, these two boys, along with their friends and the young lady here, beat Zabuza," said Tazuna quietly, barely lowering his bowl from his mouth to speak before raising it up once more to resume his meal. This seemed to turn the boy and woman to stone for a moment, as they rattled that fact around in their heads. These two boys had beat Zabuza?! Even with help that was impossible. The stories of that murder had him taking out whole groups of armed men who'd stood against him. There was just no way these two, no matter how much help they'd had, had been able to do that.

"Really?" asked Inari at last, and Tazuna nodded.

"I told you, we kicked all the butt today. That jerk is on his way out of the country right now, along with his apprentice. Better yet, we already beat up those two jerks that worked for him, so the only thing Gato's got left to throw at us are thugs, and they're not even close to our level," said Naruto triumphantly, cracking his knuckles to punctuate his point. The boy and his mother sat there for some time in silence, before the meal resumed, talk no longer being something either wanted as they thought on everything that was going on today, and what it would mean for tomorrow.

The three ninja were put up in a small room, the only free one in the house, which they made the most out of, Kurenai quickly being told by the boys to take the bed, while Naruto took a small couch, and Heero took the ceiling. Kurenai questioned what he meant by that for a moment, but Naruto assured her that Heero did that sometimes, as he walked up the wall, and then laid down against the ceiling, with a blanket clinging to him through chakra use. Looking at him, reaching out her senses to make sure he wasn't about to fall, she decided it was at least good training for his chakra reserves, and went to bed.

OoOoO

"What do you mean Zabuza hasn't reported back?!" demanded the old man in the chair in front of them. The other men in the room, far larger, and all armed with weapons that looked wickedly sharp, still winced at the tone. This was, after all, the man paying their checks. Said man was breathing hard, his hair shaking a little as his nostrils flared. Fury was evident in his gaze, and it wasn't long before he got up from his seat and walked over towards a small vase set up on the side of the room. Screaming bloody murder, he rammed his fist through the expensive piece of pottery, that some servant quickly replaced and swept away the debris.

"That vexes me," he said at last, breathing calmly now as he settled himself back into his chair. The men around him watched as he spun the seat a little, his fist resting on his cheek as he thought of the current situation.

"How many men are still here in Wave?" he asked, and another servant stepped forward with a small ledger in hand.

"Currently, not counting sir's personal body guards, there are one-thousand-three-hundred-ninety-two mercenaries of the various companies sir employs," said the little pencil thin man, and Gato nodded, going over the figures in his head. With his personal guard, a good two-hundred strong, that was almost sixteen-hundred guys in Wave, a good sized army considering the size of the country, all things considered. Still, Zabuza was his trump card. That man was worth an army in battle, and his assistant, as much as he looked like a waif, had been every bit as vicious and powerful. Their loss really put a crimp in his power structure for a while.

"How long would it take to gather everyone up?" asked Gato.

"Everyone, sir?" asked the ledger holding servant.

"EVERYONE!" screamed Gato, not willing to tolerate even the hint of a questioning of his orders at the moment.

"Um, uh, it will take approximately seven days to assemble the entire force, but it would leave many of your ventures on the island unguarded sir," said he servant, fumbling over his words, and Gato nodded at that. His operations had been growing swiftly, and his men were serving more and more as guards rather than toughs, keeping the people in line. Withdrawing them would likely allow some of the locals to escape into the woods of Wave Country. It would take a while to round them all back up, and worse some might even get out of Wave, to spread rumors about what he was doing here. Overall, it would be a big risk.

"Get them, and remind every worker that if they even think of 'quitting' we'll exercise our permanent retirement options on anyone left. That should keep the majority of them in line," he ordered. It would also make them less likely to talk, considering they would feel responsible for the death if they did get away. The men in his chamber bowed to Gato, and then left to carry out his orders, two of the larger men taking up guard positions outside the door, and leaving the shipping tycoon alone with his thoughts.

This was one of those times where he almost had to laugh at fate. He'd been dealt a wild card, and now had to play the hand close to the vest. His forces were weaker without Zabuza, that was sure. At the same time though, Zabuza's fee made up a good ten percent of this operation's overhead cost. Even if he managed to come back, the fact that the bridge builder had returned when he'd promised that he'd kill him before he could meant Gato could bargain down his price to a pittance compared to what it had been.

He'd still have to take out the bridge builder, of course. That guy was going to spoil the whole job if he finished that bridge of his. Still, almost one and a half thousand men. Whoever was protecting the bridge builder, by all reports a pair of boys and some woman, wouldn't be able to stand up to that. What's more he had other avenues to pursue now. Zabuza wasn't the only ninja for higher in the elemental nations. Gato could, if they somehow failed here, reach out to say, that Akatski group, or whatever their name was. They weren't cheap, but they were even stronger than Zabuza. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that, but a savvy businessman didn't invest all his coins in a single venture.