The next morning the genin were patiently doing chakra control exercises while waiting for Kakashi. They were balancing the points of multiple kunai on their hands using chakra. Hinata was doing six kunai, while Sasuke and Naruto were doing four each. They were amazed when Kakashi showed up with the bridge builder ten minutes after he had told them to meet. After they had passed the Bell Test, he had stopped being horrendously late, but he was always at least 30 minutes late. To be here now, he would have had to have been on time or even early to the hotel!
"Don't be too shocked, my cute little genin," he responded to their open shock. "How can I keep you on your toes if I'm always late?" He paused and then added. "I'm going to leave formation and scouting to the three of you."
"I've got scouting!" said Naruto. She formed her favorite hand sign and summoned 12 Shadow Clones. The clones activated their Byakugan and then Disguised themselves as dogs. "I'll send my clones out in pairs to cover both sides of the road."
Tazuna looked visibly shocked at the display, but kept silent.
"You should check periodically as well, Hinata-chan," said Naruto, "since you're better at noticing details."
"I'll take point," said Sasuke. "Naruto-san, you cover the rear. Hinata-san, you should provide close security to the client."
Kakashi checked them out with the gate guards and they left. Naruto's clones spread out in a loose circle around them out of view of everyone except the two Byakugan users.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened the first day. Hinata chatted with the client a small amount to be polite, but everyone else kept to themselves. At night, Kakashi had the genin each take a three-hour watch shift. The two girls shared a tent and Sasuke shared one with the client. Kakashi slept under the stars. The next day they set out as they had before.
Before they had gone two hours, Naruto felt one of her forward-position clones disperse. There were two shinobi hiding in a puddle about a kilometer ahead.
"Guys!" she called just loud enough for Sasuke in front to hear. "There are two shinobi hiding in a puddle about two kilometers ahead of us! They each have about as much chakra as Sasuke-san, but I couldn't tell anything else."
As they gathered together Kakashi noted, "Sasuke-kun has high reserves for a new genin, so they're likely new chunin or experienced genin. Something you want to tell us, Tazuna-kun?"
Tazuna looked a little nervous, but shrugged. "I've made an enemy of the wealthy Gato. He's been oppressing my country."
"The shipping magnate?" asked Kakashi.
"Yes. He's monopolized all the shipping and his thugs steal from my people or even kill them. I've heard rumors of kidnappings and drug running. My bridge will break his monopoly, so he's been threatening me. He's always used thugs before. I don't know if those shinobi are after me."
"Some one like Gato is wealthy enough to hire shonobi," commented Kakashi.
"He's a miserly scumbag," said Tazuna. "I can't imagine him forking out the money."
"Some people of that type use missing nin, sometimes with the intention of stiffing them," said Kakashi. "Nami no Kuni is the only thing out this way besides a small fishing village. Odds are they're here for you. You really should have included the possibility in your mission request.
"We're a poor country," Tazuna said. "We barely scraped together enough for a C-rank mission."
"You could have worked something out with the Hokage. A small portion of your bridge toll, for instance. He may have even agreed to take out Gato directly, rather than simply guarding you."
"Oh," said Tazuna sheepishly.
"What's to stop Gato from simply seizing the bridge once you're done?" asked Hinata. "A bridge is much easier to control than a shoreline."
Tazuna collapsed to his knees and buried his face in his hands.
"It's true that Gato could seize the bridge," said Kakashi, "but if he operates the bridge, he's liable for anything that happens to its patrons. He could get away with seizing the goods from small, unaffiliated companies occasionally, but not anyone important in Hi no Kuni. Whereas on the open sea. . . Well, piracy happens. The bridge also draws attention to Nami, which I'm sure he'd want to avoid."
"So, he'll try and stop the bridge," said Naruto, "but if Tazuna-san succeeds, he'll seize it after we leave?"
"Most likely," said Kakashi.
Tazuna started sniffling.
"So, I'm thinking you would like to renegotiate, Tazuna-kun?" drawled Kakashi.
Tazuna stood up and composed himself. "Yes, I think that would be a good idea, Kakashi-san"
Kakashi and Tazuna haggled back and forth until they decided on Konoha taking the value of two A-rank missions from Gato's assets plus a tithe of the tolls the from the bridge for the next 15 years with Konoha taking out Gato and monthly check-ins by the border patrol with a higher percentage if a permanent security presence was needed.
"I need to get Hokage-sama's approval on this, but I'm pretty sure he will agree," said Kakashi with a closed-eye smile. "Assuming he agrees, I would expect him to send one or two jounin to us within a day. We can wait for them at the shore—or for a rejection message." Kakashi wrote out a note on a scroll. "However, I think we should see if these two shinobi know anything first."
He paused for effect. "I believe you three are capable of handling those shinobi, especially during a failed ambush. I, of course, will be around in case something goes wrong, but I don't think it will. What do my cute little genin think?"
"We can do it!" Naruto enthused.
"Piece of cake," said Sasuke smugly.
Hinata poked her fingers together and looked at the ground. Naruto put her hand on the other girl's shoulder and gave her an encouraging smile. Hinata smiled back shyly and then mustered her courage and said, "We can do it, Kakashi-sensei."
"Very well," said the jounin. "We'll let them spring their trap. They will likely target me first. If they do, I'll let them think they've incapacitated me. Hinata-chan, you're best suited to provide close security to the client, so let Sasuke-kun and Naruto-chan take care of the shinobi unless they approach you, okay? Sasuke-kun, you take the one on the left. Naruto-chan, you take the one on the right. Sasuke-kun, try to capture yours alive, since you are currently better at that type of technique than Naruto-chan."
"Wouldn't it be better if Tazuna-san stayed out of sight?" asked Hinata.
"Yes, it would," said Kakashi. "I left that flaw in the plan to see if any of you would spot it. You should always evaluate the plans your leaders put forward, speak your mind, and then accept what your leader says. In this case, Naruto-chan, Disguise a pair of clones as Hinata-chan and one as Tazuna-san. The two of you will be stay out of sight of the puddle. Naruto-chan, have your contingency clones watching everyone."
They started walking forward again. Naruto stopped everyone after about seven minutes. "It's just over there," she said, pointing.
Naruto made the Hinata clone, the Tazuna clone, and the contingency clones. Hinata activated her Byakugan. The two designated genin, the two clones, and the jounin moved forward again.
Naruto felt anxious as she approached the "puddle." She was operating without her Byakugan in order to lure the shinobi out. Since she was in the rear, she had a perfect view of Kakashi getting ripped to shreds as two masked shinobi in similar outfits hopped out of the fake puddle. They each wielded half of a long spiky chain attached to a gauntlet. "One down," they called simultaneously.
Naruto steeled herself as she knew that Kakashi's torn body was likely a genjutsu. She activated her eyes and saw that it was really a log. She was tempted to use her bloodline to locate him, but knew she should concentrate on the battle.
The Hinata-clone pulled the Tazuna-clone away from the developing battle. Sasuke threw a pair of kunai to anchor the chain into a nearby tree. Both enemy unhooked the chain from their clawed gauntlets. Naruto and Sasuke both placed themselves between the two Disguised clones and the enemy shinobi. One of the enemy charged the white-haired girl brandishing metal claws. Her Byakugan observed that the claws had a greenish sheen on them. 'Poison,' she thought.
She formed six clones. Three of them leaped away. She and the remaining three clones all drew kunai and charged in a diamond formation. She took the slot on the left herself. She and her clones engaged the enemy. He was a little bit better than her, but not by a lot. She and her clones each got a couple of strikes on him due to outnumbering him, but he managed to dispel two of her clones. She was tempted to keep going, but figured that the risk of being poisoned was not worth her pride. She whistled a short sequence for her clones and let one of them Replace her. The three clones that had jumped away had each formed five clones. Upon the successful Replacement, she and the fourteen clones bombarded him with kunai. She was not good enough to depend on anything other than center of mass shots, so he wasn't likely to survive. He managed to deflect several of the kunai, but she had him surrounded, and enough of the kunai hit him to leave him collapsed on the ground.
She noticed that Sasuke had his opponent slightly singed and wrapped up in wire. Kakashi appeared in a swirl of leaves. "Excellent work. Let Hinata-chan know to come," he said.
Naruto made a Shadow Clone and dismissed it to let the contingency clone near Hinata know. A few minutes later, Hinata and Tazuna approached.
Kakashi examined the two enemies. Both were wearing slashed Mist Badges. "The Demon Brothers, Gouzu and Meizu, former chuunin of Kiri, now C-rank Missing Nin," said Kakashi.
"These are chuunin?" asked Sasuke incredulously.
"Kiri must have low standards," said Kakashi. "You guys are good for fresh genin, but you are still fresh genin." He finished examining the one that Naruto had been fighting. "I don't think Gouzu is going to make it."
Kakashi took the other brother off a little ways to interrogate him.
Naruto could not look away from the enemy shinobi that was in the process of dying. She felt sick to her stomach and light headed. She finally looked away and started to stumble off. She did not get far before she collapsed to her hands and knees. She heard someone approaching behind her as she covered her mouth and fought back the urge to vomit.
"Are you okay, Naruto-chan?" asked Hinata.
"I killed him," she whispered.
Hinata gathered up Naruto's longish hair and started to rub her back.
"You had no choice," her friend replied as she continued to rub her back. "He was trying to kill you."
"I. . ." Naruto could not hold it in anymore and vomited onto the ground.
After she was done, Sasuke approached and offered her a handkerchief silently and then retreated.
Naruto wiped her mouth and then sat up. Hinata scooted up behind her and braided her hair as they made small talk to get their minds off of the nastiness of their profession.
When their sensei returned he said, "I couldn't get much out of him except that he was after our client. He wouldn't say if there were anybody else working with them or who hired them, but they were known associates of Momochi Zabuza, an A-rank Missing Nin from Kiri. We should wait here for our backup. Set up a perimeter, Naruto-chan."
Naruto made 20 Shadow Clones that activated their Byakugan and Disguised themselves as foxes and ran off into the forrest.
The jounin brought out the scroll he had made earlier and wrote a few more sentences. He cut his finger flew through some hand seals and slammed his hand on the ground. A design with fuuin characters spread out from his hand and a brown wolf-like dog wearing sunglasses and a blue vest appeared in a puff of smoke.
"Akino," he said, "I need you to deliver this scroll to Hokage-sama in Konoha. Travel quickly."
"Yes, sir," responded the dog which then took off running.
Naruto looked on in amazement and Sasuke with interest.
"I hold a summoning contract with the Ninken," Kakashi explained. "I can tell you about summoning contracts when we have more time."
Kakashi looked at the mess that Naruto had made and said, "I'd hoped that you wouldn't have to experience this yet, but it is a part of what we do." He made a Shadow Clone and instructed it to watch Tazuna. He drew his students off a little ways and talked about how to cope with death and killing.