A/N: I am sorry that this has taken so long to come out. I have been really busy with work at the point of being on-call 24/7 for the last sixteen to eighteen months. I am currently looking for work again and will try to keep up with some type of writing schedule and posting between applications, work classes, and interviews. Thanks for all understanding in this matter. I hope you enjoy the chapter. I hope to have a jutsu list at some point at the end of this chapter or one of the ones following to try to cover any jutsu used in this arc. Once again, I do not own Naruto or any of its affiliated media sources. Pretty sure Kishimoto is trying to use Naruto as his form of chakra so he can take over the world like Kaguya.
Underground Training Facility Next Morning
Sarutobi and Naruto stood across from each other on the pool while Sasuke, Chiisai, and Sakura warmed up on the shore under Kakashi's supervision. Naruto dashed forward, low to the water surface, hoping to try to unbalance Sarutobi, even if only slightly. Sarutobi smirked as he watched Naruto's charge, a memory of Jiraiya trying something of the same overlapping Naruto. The smirk soon turned sadistic and he raised his elbow slightly allowing Naruto to cross underneath it before crashing it down onto Naruto's skull. Naruto torpedoed under the pool surface to Sarutobi's laughter. He broke the surface, spluttering and gulping air greedily. "That was mean, old man."
"You have to learn that I am the master, while you are the student. I can win in one move. If you would have thought ahead instead of just throwing yourself forward, you could have foreseen that outcome. You have to try harder to be more careful, Naruto." Sarutobi nodded as he finished and gave a hand to Naruto.
They then headed for the shore. "You guys are up for your first C-rank today. Now while the masks you already have are standard for your attire. You guys will now have access to the armory to pick out what armor you want for the mission. Make sure that it will differentiate from something that would normally be worn by you in public." Kakashi said as his students gathered. He then turned and motioned for them to follow him as he headed for the stairs up to the armory. "Remember to pick well, what you choose today will most likely now be mission attire for the next few months and possibly beyond."
Sakura and Sasuke were first into the armory. Chiisai and Naruto hung back for a second to ask Kakashi about the available armor styles that they had available from the eras that had been studied with their different tutors. They then charge into the armory with exuberance. Kakashi chuckled as he looked on to his students as they darted about the room. "Danzo-san and Hokage-sama, they should be out in a second. Any more information regarding the mission?"
"Tazuna-san is still avoiding revealing exactly how much danger he might be in from bandits if he made the first trip alone. My informants around Wave haven't sent word recently, but the last report had no inclusion of any more danger than usual." Danzo said as he cast a quick glance into the armory before looking back to Kakashi.
Sakura then walked out of the armory in new attire. She had on red ninja pants and shirt while black sandals and bandages were on her feet and ankles. Black gloves with the brass knuckles built in adorned her hands. Her secondary weapons of tonfa sat in holisters on her lower back.
Chiisai was next out of the armory in traditional Third Shinobi World War armor as the basis of his outfit. Blue shinobi pants, sandals, and shirt sat underneath a black utility vest with extra strengthened shoulder pads and neck ring. His bo-staff was separated into two in holsters his left thigh while an expanded kunai and shrunken holster sat on his right. His hip pouch strung across his entire lower back.
Sasuke came out in a bodysuit much like what the Hokage wore in battle, just with a dark gray tone to it. His chokuto sat strapped to his back and his kunai pouch on his left leg. Fingerless gloves and bandages wrapped around his hands and up his forearm. Leg plates and covered his shins and had black bandages keeping his plates secured above dark shinobi sandals.
Naruto was the final one out of the armory. He had made the others wait a solid ten minutes before wondering out of there. Sarutobi and Danzo sucked there teeth in shock at the look that Naruto had adopted. He bore a samurai style back and breastplate in a deep red color over a black ninja bodysuit. The swirl that adorned all Konoha uniforms stood proudly in blue along the back piece. Armbands that protected the back of his hands and forearm sat nestled tightly to his hands by black bandages wrapped into rope. Fur lined the neck of the samurai armor much like Tobirama Senju had done. Red leg plates covered his shins and covered the front of red sandals. Finally, a haori was resting across his shoulders in black with orange and red swirls decorating the item and his kukri knives peaking out from underneath the haori in their scabbards. "Hokage-in-training reporting for duty, Hokage-sama, honorable advisor-sama, and sensei." He bowed at the waist after this.
Kakashi laughed merrily at the comment, "Team Zero, report to the gate to meet the client. You have five minutes." The kids nodded and started up the stairs. "Hokage-sama, I will report in soon with any action that comes across. Do you want full blooding for the team if that situation comes across?"
"I hate to see such young children lose whatever they innocence they hold, but clouds of uncertainty are hanging over everything."
On the Road to Wave
The roadway was clear in front of the genin was seemingly clear. Only a puddle stood in the rut on the right side of the road. The team approached it quickly with Kakashi keeping a wary eye on it from behind his team in a diamond around Tazuna. The team passed quietly and then two men rose from the puddle. They were middle height and build. Dark grey ponchos covered them, gas masks covered their faces, and their headbands had horns with a crossed out symbol of four waved lines on it. They twisted a barbed chain around Kakashi and pulled till he separated into four separate pieces.
The team spun to the sounds of the thuds. "Sasuke, protect the right side and I will take left. Chiisai and Sakura, you two protect the client." Naruto withdrew his kukri knives from their holster as Sasuke withdrew his chokuto. The two men then rat at them with the chain dragging slightly behind the two. Naruto sprang forward ahead of Sasuke and threw two kunai towards the chain and saw two shuriken fly on each side of him and start to curve in towards the two men themselves. The kunai struck the chain and drove into the road halting their movement. The shuriken then forced the two to disengage the chain from the gauntlets on their alternating hands. The chain dropped to the ground and both men seemed to take off at a faster rate of speed. The shuriken flew over their shoulders and Naruto caught the gauntlet of the man on his side. He caught the action of Sasuke clashing with his man out of the corner of his eye.
The two pairs of combatants continued to try to trade blows. "Dobe, switch!" Sasuke yelled at his compatriot and combat rolled to his left bringing a kunai around and planting it in the thigh of what had been Naruto's opponent. Naruto had frog jumped over to the top the unsuspecting opponent of Sasuke's. His kukri knife in his left handed imbedded into the clavicle of the man and continued around his throat as Naruto's momentum carried him past.
"Gozu!" The shout erupted from the man with a kunai in his thigh. He ripped it out and rushed Naruto with it. Naruto was continuing his roll unknowing of the danger running at him from behind. Sasuke saw the danger coming towards his teammate. Without thinking, the chokuto was out of his hands and impaling the running opponent through the spine. The man's legs gave out first and he fell to his knees before he started to fall forward and the tip of the sword to stick into the ground and his weight to carry it down its length till he met the ground. Naruto spun around quickly and saw the final descent of the man down the length of the blade to collapse next to the body of the other.
Kakashi appeared between both boys and called them to him. "Its hard for death to be the result of your actions. Every ninja has to come to terms with the life and death of our profession. You can keep it buried and let it drive you crazy, or you find your reason to move on. It never gets easier as the life goes on. Keep your friends close so they can help carry you through. If you need to talk to me, I am here for you. Your team is here for you. Never forget that." His whisper only reached the boys as they stood staring at the ground and their bloody implements. They both nodded haltingly before simultaneously dashing to the side of the ride and into the bushes with the sound of retching echoing from where the two boys had been.
Kakashi walked toward the client as he surveyed the scene in front of him. Chiisai still stood behind Tazuna with his bo staff spinning around in a protective circle. Sakura stood in front of Tazuna while he cowered on his knees behind her. His eye caught the sight of two senbon needles that had been driven into the dirt just off target from Tazuna from the spinning of Chiisai's bo staff. "Tazuna-san, would you like to explain why you forgot to mention that you had a ninja wanting to kill you?"
Tazuna shifted on the ground as he took a long look around. Sakura and Chiisai had stopped in their defensive formation as they saw Sasuke and Naruto stumble out of the bushes and come back towards the group in a dazed fashion. "I'm sorry. It's all Gato's fault. He swooped in to Wave just months ago, and has been repressing the people with high tariffs and exorbitant fees. We can't fight back at all and our only hope of throwing off his yoke is the bridge I am building. He wants me and my family dead. I couldn't take it anymore and had to seek help, but we don't have enough money in the community to pay for anything more than a C-rank mission."
Kakashi nodded along before motioning to his team, "Let's go, team. We have to return to Konoha and report what happened."
"Please, you can't leave me! I'll die before I even make it home if you leave. That would be fine, but it would crush my poor grandson all over again. My daughter might even start to resent ninjas and Konoha in general if I don't make it." Tazuna had tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. He wiped them with a towel that had rested around his shoulders for the entirety of the journey thus far. "Wave will be desolate, my family doomed, and hate would well in their hearts against not only Gato but Konoha as well."
The team slowly gathered around Kakashi as Tazuna looked on at the gathering. Kakashi turned his back towards the man so that he couldn't see any of their hands, with their faces already covered by the masks the five wore as Team Zero. 'Team, we are required to make a report. The only way to carry on is a full vote from the team and permission from a superior.' Kakashi's hand flashed through the hand sign language that the team had been studying for a month or so now.
Naruto shot a glance to his teammates and received nods of approval. 'To fail a mission makes you trash, but to leave a man behind leaves you as worse than trash.' A smirk grew on his face as he finished his sentence then looked down in concentration. 'The mission and the people rely on us continuing the mission. We have to persevere no matter the trial, otherwise we aren't shinobi.'
Kakashi sighed and nodded. "Well, team, it looks like we are going to continue on. I'll relay the situation to the Hokage. Tazuna-san, the Hokage will hear of the situation and our decision to carry on. He will then relay a message and decide how the remaining balance for the mission will be completed."
"Thank you, thank you all. I will do anything you need of me." He bowed his forehead to the ground as the tears started to flow freely down his voice. "I can't say anything to thank you. This is beyond anything I could have hoped." The team shook their heads before lifting him to his feet and continue on down the road.
On the Island of Wave
Fog hung thickly in the air since they had started crossing the strait separating the mainland from their intended destination. Kakashi was looking around the pathways that came close to their own. The quietness of the forest around them had the entirety of Team Zero on high alert. A rustling in the bushes startled the benin and four kunai flew into the bush instantaneously. 'My little homicidal kids, so cute.' Kakashi thought to himself as he chuckled at the reactions they had once Chiisai and Sakura checked the bush and found a white rabbit with the kunai spread out beneath, on each side, and above it. Sakura had stiffened then picked up the poor rabbit and started to pet it absentmindedly while she looked around into the trees.
Chiisai and Sasuke traded looks as a high pitched whistling cut-off any conversation that was about to start. "Down!" The order from Kakashi echoed out over the clearing as he pulled Tazuna down alongside him. Naruto and Sasuke were the first of the genin down on the forest floor with Chiisai and Sakura just behind them. A heavy thunk rebounded off the treeline in front the team. Heads snapped up to glimpse a giant man standing on a giant cleaver-like sword that was embedded into one of the giant trees. "Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Mist, nuke-nin wanted by Kirigakure for the attempted assassination of the Yondaime Mizukage. To what do we owe this pleasure?"
"Well, shinobi-san, it is certainly great to be recognized this far away from home, but unfortunately I don't seem to have any bingo-book entries on a masked bean-pole that bears no loyalty to any of the Five Great Nations. Who will I be slaughtering today? If they don't hand over the bridge builder that is."
"We are just humble ninja of the Fire Daimyo serving in the stead of a Konoha team for the training of my students. Name doesn't matter, because you won't be killing anyone today."
Zabuza grunted to himself as he hopped off his sword and pulled it free on his descent. Naruto, who was closest, could feel the reverberations of Zabuza's landing. "Kirigakure no jutsu" Zabuza said in a monotone as the fog swirled back in around the team and they couldn't see more than a foot or two in front of them.
"Stay close together, guard Tazuna, and know that I will protect you all with my life." Kakashi ordered and reassured as he stood slightly in front of his team.
"Brain, lungs, heart, liver, subclavian vein, jugular vein, and kidneys are all targets I can kill you from and which shall I choose from today." Zabuza's maniacal laughter echoed out after his statement. Zabuza appeared behind Chiisai and Sasuke in the formation. As quickly as he appeared, Kakashi shunshined behind Zabuza and had a kunai thrusted into his side. Water leaked from the wound in Zabuza's side and Kakashi jumped back from the body as it dissolved into a puddle. "Quick, maybe you will be a challenge for me today."
Kakashi landed back outside his teams protective barrier. Zabuza appeared behind him and swiped forward with his sword, attempting to swipe forward and bisect Kakashi in two. Kakashi was hit by the blade and his harm from the elbow down on his left side flew off. Mid-air, the arm turned into water and splashed back to earth. Zabuza only had enough time for his eyes to widen before a shuriken sliced across his throat. He once again dematerialized into water before the genin's eyes. Metal clanging and the thuds of flesh started to sound out from the mist as it started to dissipate. Kakashi was in plain view now as he stood on the bank of a small lake that was off from the clearing they had been forced into from the clash with Zabuza. Team Zero could see his breathing was coming in more ragged breaths than they were used to seeing. Zabuza appeared in two places in that instant, one behind Kakashi and one in front of Kakashi flashing through hand seals. Kakashi threw a shuriken behind him and started forward when a heavy kick rebounded off of his back as the Zabuza dissolved in front of him. The Zabuza behind him followed out onto the surface of the lake, hand seals quickly forming.
"Suroii no Justu," Zabuza stated as his hand dipped into the water as Kakashi surfaced. The water sprung up around Kakashi to form a sphere that he couldn't break from inside.
"Run, team. Take Tazuna and get out of here. There's nothing you can do against him."
"No, we can't leave a comrade behind, sensei." The team looked back surprised to see that it was Sakura who had so vehemently stated the thoughts of the rest. Chiisai and Sasuke charged forward as two more Mizu Bunshins appeared before the team at the edge of the lake. Naruto was only a couple steps behind the two leading the charge when Sakura drew her tonfas and started to stand in front of Tazuna to defend him.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," Naruto said in a half-whisper as he continued to rush forward. Ten copies ran forward from him and bypassed Sasuke and Chiisai. Chiisai snapped his bo staff into one and held it out behind him as he continued his rush. Sasuke slowed as Naruto started to run alongside him and passed over windmill shuriken to him. Chiisai was engaging one of the copies with three copies while the other seven engaged the other.
"You children don't know what it means to be a shinobi. A shinobi is a tool of death and destruction. You are just snot-nosed brats that haven't even done enough to measure up to me when I was that age. I had already slaughtered my whole class at the academy just to graduate. What have you done?" Zabuza's condescending tone irritated the team to no end. The anger from the irritation led to Chiisai downing his copy with a vicious blow to the knees, sternum and across the neck. Naruto's copies dog piled their copy and drove their kukri knives down until it dissolved into a puddle.
"We might not of killed as many as you, jackass, but we've got blood on our hands, too!" Sasuke yelled as he hurled the windmill shuriken forward toward the real Zabuza. Zabuza laughed in retaliation as he leaped over the shuriken only to see a second following its path perfectly. A pop sounded behind him as the first shuriken changed into Naruto and he heaved the actual windmill shuriken he had kept in his position at Zabuza from behind. Zabuza withdrew his arm from the sphere to deflect the shuriken in front of him and dove to the side to avoid the second. Naruto touched down onto the surface of the lake and took off back for the shore.
"Kubikiribocho will taste your blood, well." With that, Zabuza charged forwards at Kakashi, making hand seals as quickly as he could and Kakashi matching him seal for seal. Zabuza shook his head at the action of Kakashi and finished his seals before sucking in air.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" The simultaneous yells preceded large amounts of water springing from both shinobi's mouths before joining with the lake. Two large globules of water then launched forward towards each other in a wave of destructive force. The two rose highly above the lake surface as they rode out the destructive forces that the waves had generated.
"You won't win this you monkey! I'll slaughter you. Kubikiribocho doesn't cut twice, and you'll be dead by the end of this battle." Zabuza's eyes were crazed by the end of his statement.
"The only monkey here is you, Zabuza." Kakashi replied as he started to once again copy the hand seals that Zabuza was producing thanks to his implanted Sharingan. Both were speeding through the hand seals until Zabuza faltered on the last, to confused about the perfect mimicry to finish. "Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu." Kakashi called as his chakra converted the water in front of him into a dragon shaped missile that roared at Zabuza before charging towards him. The attack struck true and drove Zabuza off of the lake and into one of the sturdier trees on the shore. Kunai from Kakashi pinned his hands and pants to the tree and left him vulnerable. Team Zero slowly started to approach the scene as Kakashi made a lunge to Zabuza, only to be beaten by two senbon driving home in the nuke-nin's throat and him to cry out in pain.
A new figure entered the field between Kakashi and his genin. The newcomer looked to be in their mid-teens with a slender build and a porcelain mask with eye slits and the mark of Kirigakure on the forehead. Striped wrist and leg warmers stood out from a dark purple kimono that covered the person. "Thank you, shinobi-san, for your assistance. I have been tracking Momochi since his time in Kawa no Kuni. I will take my leave now." The figure quickly used shunshin to appear next to Zabuza and then disappear with him back into the forest.
Kakashi looked to his students and Tazuna before sighing, "I am almost out of energy. It'll be a couple days before I am fully recovered." To himself he thought, 'Glad I started to amp up my training once the kids started in those couple months ago. I'd be dead on my feet otherwise.' He motioned for Tazuna to take the lead and the group started walking. "We'll decide who will do guard duty over the next few days while you all gather for team training and individual training the next few days. Tazuna-san, how much longer till your home?"
Tazuna nodded to Kakashi and the team escorting him. "It's only a few more miles. We should be there relatively soon."
Kakashi nodded along to Tazuna's statement before using his hands to spell out the signs that he had been meaning to pass along to his students without alarming Tazuna. 'Fake oi-nin, no disposal routine like regulations state. Techniques to help combat effectiveness and evasion coming. Be alert and ready throughout training to spring to action for next week or two.' The team signed an affirmative to Kakashi before tightening the protective formation around Kakashi and Tazuna and continued there journey to the home of the bridge builder.
At Tazuna's Home
Kakashi and Naruto sat in a room in the second floor of Tazuna's home. Kakashi was laying down on the bed as Naruto was poised in the windowsill holding a lotus stance. "Naruto, I know that we have had you working on your concentration and using meditation to help with that. I feel that over the next few days we will work on something that should be interesting and even more helpful once we have you trained up to utilize your elemental chakra with weapons. We'll take the first step by putting you up to train in the shunshin. Now, normally, I would say that kage bunshin training is horrible for stuff that you really should be doing on your own, but I will lift the ban on that training for this so you can attempt to get proficient enough about it that you can use it like second nature. The second will be to start the basis for Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu and silent killing. This should be a good trial for adding to your unpredictable nature in combat. Meditate on this though: what does it mean to be a Hokage?"
Naruto nodded and started to settle into his position again. "Yes, sensei. I thought a Hokage was supposed to be the greatest in the village and protect everyone?"
"That's true, but what does it mean to be the greatest? What do you mean by protect everyone? For every answer, only more questions arise. Think again on everything and meditate. Focus on nothing but the question. That will allow you to find what being a Hokage truly means to you."
"Yes, sensei." Naruto closed his eyes and started to take deep breaths so that he could enter into his meditative state. 'What does it mean to be Hokage?"
Kakashi now hobbled down the stairs in an attempt to find out where Sakura and Chiisai had gone. Spotting Chiisai, he motioned for the genin to follow him into the dining room where he could hear Sakura chatting amiably with the lady of the house. Tsunami was a middle aged woman with long dark hair and eyes. "Sakura, please follow me." The two genin followed behind Kakashi till they were a short distance from the house and only the nightly sounds around them. He then flared his chakra and Sasuke appeared in a few seconds to the flare. "You three need the assignments I'm going to give you this week. Sasuke, we will focus on teaching you the beginning of Raiju Hashiri no Jutsu. We will go over the basics of it tomorrow while Naruto is on guard duty. Sakura, tonight you and Chiisai will tail two thugs, dispose of them, and then take their place within the barracks. Tomorrow night you two will return and start on the basics for Suiton: Mizurappa. Chiisai, after your assignment from tonight, you will come back and we will work on Doton: Retsudo Tensho. Now, Sasuke carry on with observations out here at a half kilometer distance from midnight till sunrise. Chiisai you will start patrol the the very edges of the property from midnight till sunrise so that we can be alerted if someone slips the first sweep starting the night after tomorrow. Sakura, rest easy tonight, head out with Chiisai for your assignment just after sundown. You and Naruto will be doing the sweeps tomorrow night." Kakashi saw his genin salute before they headed back to the house to get some rest before there patrols or to carry on with helping Tsunami.
City of Wave Country: 2240 hours
Sakura and Chiisai were walking the rooftops just above and behind two lone guards that were staggering about the night scene. They looked over at each other as they saw the two start to head for an alley that led to nowhere. 'You take one on the left; I'll take right.' Chiisai's fingers flashed through the instructions.
'What do we do with them?' The question from Sakura stopped both dead for a second as they pondered it.
'Targets have to be terminated.' Chiisai looked grim as he slowly signed his intentions. 'Can't risk them waking up and sounding the alarm while we are still in disguise. It's our only option.' Sakura looked green at the implications and Chiisai put a hand on her shoulder. 'For the good of Konoha.' With that, he moved forward to the edge of the building above the alleyway and crouched.
Sakura crossed over to the next and crouched opposite him. They could see that the thugs were just finishing relieving themselves along the back wall of the alley as they waited. Chiisai pulled a kunai from his pouch and Sakura copied his movements. They descended to the ground soundlessly, chakra cottoning there fall and footsteps. Chiisai and Sakura moved in synchronization as they studied the thugs from up close before soundlessly slashing their throats. Both children moved to the side of the alley as they lost their dinners in the trash bins of the alley. Chiisai was the first to recover and studied his man closely once again as Sakura joined him. He moved through the seals for Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu and dragged the bodies down underground with him. He emerged from the hole seconds later by himself.
The two emerged from the alleyway in henge of their targets and stumbled down to the inn where they could hear a gathering of the other thugs. The night passed in listening to rumors and gossip as the thugs around them got more and more drunk. Soon, the time came that they followed the rest of the group back to the barracks. The rattling came when they got back. Gato stood surrounded by two washout samurai at the doors. "Now, my fun employees, we will discuss the plan for this next week. You all will be honing your skills. Zabuza will attack in a week from tomorrow. Once he finishes the job, we will sweep in and kill him as well as any survivors that were workers on the bridge. Remember, you will all be paid well so work hard." The thugs all cheated while Chiisai and Sakura cheered along with a slightly troubled look.
'Longest assignment ever.' Both thought as they headed to bunk down into the warehouse where the others were.
Ending A/N and Jutsu List:
Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu- Water Dragon Bullet
Mizurappa- Violent Water Wave
Doton: Retsudo Tensho- Tearing Earth Turning Palm
Raiju Hashiri no Jutsu- Lightning Beast Running Technique
Thank you all for your continued support. I know it has been awhile since I updated and this is a rather short chapter, but I didn't want to have it go forward and rush this arc as it will incorporate Wave and a separate mission before launching into a final training sequence before the exams. This arc should take about three or so more chapters including the training sequence. Thank you all once again. Please drop a review or PM me with any questions or concerns. I am trying to make their growth believable while putting them ahead of original timeline by spades.