"Say, Mr. Tazuna." Sakura started, walking as Ayakashi and Naruto walked a bit ahead of the group, conversing among themselves.
"What is it?" He asked, keeping his eyes forward as he adjusted his hat.
"Your country is the Land of Waves, right?"
"Yeah, what of it?" Tazuna replied, looking over at her momentarily. Ayakashi's ears perked as she lowered her voice, listening to the conversation behind them.
"Kakashi-sensei, there are ninja in that country, too, aren't there?" Sakura turned to look at Kakashi, a questioning look on her face.
Kakashi looked back at her. "No. There are no ninja in the Land of Waves. But in other countries, there are hidden villages, each with their own different customs and cultures where ninja reside."
Ayakashi turned slightly, interested in what he had to say as he continued on. "To people in this continent, the existence of shinobi villages means strength. Military strength. In other words, that's how they protect themselves and maintain the balance of power with the neighbouring countries. The ninja villages are not controlled by any government. They're independent and have equal stats."
At this point, Naruto had ceased his talking to listen as well, although kept his eyes forward for any signs of danger. "A small island, like the Land of Waves, has natural protection from the sea, so there's no need for a ninja village. The five ancient lands that possess shinobi villages are the lands of Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind, and Earth. They each occupy vast territories. Together, they are known as the Five Great Shinobi Nations."
"The Land of Fire has the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The Land of Water, the Village Hidden in the Mist. The Land of Lightning, the Village Hidden in the Cloud. The Land of Wind, the Village Hidden in the Sand. And the Land of Earth, the Village Hidden in the Stones." Kakashi continued.
"The Village Hidden in the Sand? Isn't there where you're from?" Naruto turned to Ayakashi, tilting his head slightly as she looked back at him.
"Yes, it is." She replied, giving him a slight nod.
Kakashi glanced at them before resuming his lesson. "Only the leaders in these five villages can earn the title Kage, which means shadow. Hokage, Mizukage, Raikage, Kazekage, Tsuchikage. These are the leaders, the five shadows that reign over thousands of ninja."
Sakura let out a squeal, lifting his fists to her face. "Then Lord Hokage is really important!"
"Hey!"
Ayakashi let out an annoyed grunt before freezing, turning to Kakashi as everyone stopped walking. "You all just doubted the Hokage, didn't you? That's what you were thinking!"
Sakura and Naruto shook their heads furiously, denying his statement. Kakashi stepped forward, placing a hand on Sakura's head. "Well, anyway, there are no ninja battles in a C-ranked mission. So, you can relax."
"Then we're not going to run into any foreign ninja or enemy ninja, or anyone like that!" Sakura said with relief. Sasuke and Ayakashi, glanced back at Tazuna, noticing his disgruntled expression, yet disregarding it. They continued their walk, coming to a bridge as they started across it. Ayakashi looked into the river that flowed beneath them, noticing the fish that swam within the water. She smiled, looking back towards Naruto as she ran to catch up with him.
Soon after, they passed a puddle, causing Kakashi to glance down at it as they continued. Suddenly, Kakashi turned around, spotting the ninja that flew towards him as it wrapped its chains around him. The two ninja tightened their weapon, rendering Kakashi useless as the others stopped, turning around in surprise.
The ninja pulled on the chains, slicing Kakashi in many pieces as they laughed. Sakura stepped backwards as Naruto leaned forward, shocked expression on their faces. "K-Kakashi-sensei!"
The ninja suddenly appeared behind Naruto, pushing Ayakashi out of the way as they laughed. She stumbled backwards, hitting Sasuke's side as she regained her balance.
"Naruto!"
"Now it's your turn." One of them spoke as Naruto turned around. They pulled their chains up, ready to hit him as Sasuke leapt into the air. He pulled out a shuriken and a kunai, flinging one of them at the chains. The shuriken caught the chains, pinning it against the tree as he threw the kunai, pinning both weapons against the tree. The two ninja pulled against the chains, each side connected to one of their arms. "I can't get loose!"
Sasuke landed on the metal arms connected to the chains as Naruto stared, still in shock. Ayakashi rushed over, clinging to his side as she glared at the two. Sasuke grabbed hold of the arms, swinging his feet up and kicking the two ninja square in the face.
The chains disconnected, allowing the two ninja to move freely as they ran in opposite direction, one spinning around to attack Naruto and Ayakashi, the other headed for Tazuna and Sakura.
Sakura jumped in front of Tazuna, kunai poised as she awaited what was coming. "Stay behind me!"
The ninja had his claws poised to strike as Sasuke dashed in front of them, arms out as he prepared to protect the client. Suddenly, Kakashi appeared, grabbing hold of the ninja by their necks and trapping them in headlocks.
Naruto looked up from his position on the ground after protecting Ayakashi from an evident attack. He stared as Kakashi held both ninja limp his arms. He had a neutral expression on his face as he looked beck. "Hi."
Naruto stared before realizing something. "But he was-! What?" He turned to look at the spot where Kakashi was split into pieces, seeing multiple logs littering the ground. "Kakashi-sensei used the substitution jutsu?"
Kakashi stepped forward before looking at Naruto. "Naruto, sorry I didn't help you earlier. I didn't mean for you to get hurt. I just didn't think you'd freeze up like that. Ayakashi, I figured you would've done something other than cling to Naruto."
He walked away, leaving them speechless before stopping in front of the other two. "Sasuke, good job. That was smooth. You too, Sakura."
Ayakashi's ears pinned against her head as Naruto stared at Sasuke. He turned, voice quiet as he spoke to Naruto. "Hey."
"Y-Yeah?" Naruto replied, jumping a bit.
"You're not hurt, are ya? Scaredy-cat."
Ayakashi growled, glaring at Sasuke as Naruto stared at him before yelling. "Sasuke!"
"Naruto!"
He stopped, looking back towards Kakashi. "Stay still. These ninja have poison in their claws. We need to take it out of you quickly."
Ayakashi glanced at his hand, noticing the scratch that was shining red. She clutched her arm, pain shooting through it as she remembered the time in the academy, when she tackled Naruto away from Sasuke and ended up smashing against the wall, damaging her arm.
Naruto started to make noises, more out of fear than anything. He raised his hand, looking at the wound.
"You have to open the wound and remove it. It's in your blood so don't move around. That spreads the poison." He remained looking towards them before continuing. "By the way, Mr. Tazuna."
He stepped backwards, slightly afraid of what was coming. "Y-Yeah, what?"
"We need to talk." He said, turning his head slightly. Kakashi tied the ninja up to a tree before they all surrounded it. "They're Chunin ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist. Their specialty is relentless attack. They keep fighting no matter what the sacrifice."
"How did you know about our ambush?" One of them asked, both having regained consciousness.
"A puddle. On a clear day? When it hasn't rained in weeks?"
Tazuna turned to Kakashi. "In that case, why'd you leave it to the Genin to do the fighting?"
"I could have taken them out quickly. But then I'd have learned nothing." Kakashi looked back. "I had to know who their target was. And, what they were after."
"What are you getting at?"
"This. I wanted to know if they were after us, ninja attacking ninja, or if they were after you, the master bridge builder." Kakashi replied. "When you put in your request, you asked for standard protection, from robbers and highwaymen. You didn't say there were ninja looking for you, hunting you down. If we knew this, it would be a B-rank mission or higher. Our task was to simply get you to your destination and protect you while you finished building your bridge. If we knew we'd be fielding attacks from enemy ninja, we would've staffed differently and charged for the amount of a B-ranked mission. Apparently, you have your reasons, but lying to us is not acceptable. We are now beyond the scope of this mission."
Ayakashi turned to him, ears flattened as she continued to hold her arm. It still hurt, and she wasn't sure why.
"We're Genin, this is too advanced for our level of training. We should go back, and I really think we should treat Naruto's wound and get the poison out as soon as possible." Sakura said, an apologetic smile on her face. "Back in our village, we can take him to a doctor."
Naruto was examining his wound before looking up towards the others. Kakashi sighed quietly, looking away. "Naruto's hand could become a problem. I guess we should go back to the village."
Naruto growled before pulling out a kunai, bringing it into the wound on his hand. The others looked at him in shock as Ayakashi rushed to his side again, grabbing onto his arm as he kept the kunai in his hand. "Why am I so different? Why am I always…"
"Naruto, stop that! What are you doing?"
"Don't hurt yourself anymore than you already are!" Ayakashi exclaimed, shaking his arm slightly. He ignored them, eyes squeezed shut.
"I've trained so hard to get here! Pushing myself until it hurt! Training alone for hours when Kashi's out. Anything to get stronger and reach my dream!" He said, the blood dripping from his wound. "I will never back down again, and let someone else rescue me! I will never run away, and I will not lost to Sasuke!"
Ayakashi stared with concern as he continued speaking. "Upon this wound I make this pledge, believe it! Bridge builder, I'll complete this mission and protect you with this kunai knife!"
He turned around, pulling out of Ayakashi's grasp with a smile. "Don't worry, I'll be fine!"
"Naruto, uh, that was really cool how you took the poison out and all. But if you lose anymore blood, you're going to die."
Naruto had pulled the kunai out of his wound, his other hand remained in the air as he started to turn a bit blue, sweat running down his face.
"Good idea to stop the bleeding now. Seriously."
Naruto started to stutter before flailing. "No, no, no! I'm too young for it to all end like this!"
"Give me your hand." Kakashi said, holding his own out as Naruto placed his in his hand. He stared at it, quiet.
"Um…" Naruto was still twitching about, looking a bit scared. "You have a really serious look on your face. You're scaring me, am I okay?"
Ayakashi walked over, bandages in hand as she took Naruto's hand from him. "I'll wrap it up."
Kakashi nodded before turning back to Naruto, watching Ayakashi do her work. "You'll be fine."
"Thank you, Kashi!" He said before hugging her. "You're the best!"