Chapter 24: Land of Waves (1): Team Seven.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto.

End Banner: A SPECIAL THANKS to Michel Smith for supporting and helping me! CHAPTERS 24 and 25 will be out early today, and we're planning on rewriting the first chapters of the story to make things more engaging and less confusing. Apologies to those who were confused by my chaotic writing.

Chirp—! Chirp. Chirp!

Konohagakure. A mighty shinobi village that can withstand the combined strength of the other four great shinobi villages. A shinobi village with enough wealth to rebuild itself even if they were razed to the ground.

The village hidden in the leaves was the realization of a dream that the first God f Shinobi once had. It was the birthplace of many legendary ninjas, including the second God of Shinobi.

The village was surrounded by a lofty tall that was more than 30 meters tall and five meters thick. This wall served to protect the village from the harassment of wild animals, as well as to delay enemy forces until reinforcement arrive.

But this imposing wall can't stop a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"Yukito-sama, this way, please."

A carriage painted in black and red, with a red roof, slowly made its way toward the village gates. Inside the carriage was a young master wearing gold and silver kimono who leisurely fanned himself with a white fan that had sakura petals embroidered into its leaves.

When the carriage door opened, the young master opened his eyes to look at the servant wearing a blue kimono. The servant bowed his body until his body was shaped like an upside-down "L".

"Okay."

The young master nodded, his gold and silver kimono gleamed in the sun and the servant quickly opened a Japanese umbrella (Wagasa) to cover his master from the harmful sun. For a moment, the young master glanced at the servant with his golden, amber pupils before turning to look at the soaring gates in front of him.

The gates were painted red and there was a "fire" kanji symbol painted in the middle.

The young master and servant pair approached the inconspicuous guard post beside the giant gates and saw a chunin leisurely watching the clouds. When the chunin saw Yukito's orange hair and amber pupils, he sighed and slowly stood up.

"Yukito-sama, please, you are always welcome in Konoha. There's no need to trouble—"

"Stop right there, ninja-san. I am doing this out of respect for this peace-loving village. Please, properly register my arrival."

"As you wish, Yukito-sama."

The chunin opened a log book and wrote Yukito's name inside. Then, he wrote the date and the time of the day before passing the log book to Yukito, who signed under his name. When the chunin received the log book again, he stamped it before bowing to Yukito.

"It's all done, Yukito-sama."

"Thank you, ninja-san. I'll be going now."

"Please enjoy your stay in Konoha!"

Seeing the black and red carriage get further and further into the village, the chunin guard sighed and shrugged his shoulder.

"What a drag…"

The chunin had black hair that was tied in a short ponytail, and his black pupils darted around as they gazed into the clouds, sighing and muttering something about "waste of time".

Meanwhile, inside the black and red carriage, the young master in gold kimono chuckled as he opened his eyes.

"That guy is as lazy as always."

When the carriage arrived at the hokage tower, the young master let out a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"It's been a long, two years, Konoha. Did you miss me?"

[A day ago.]

"This Yukito person, do you know him?"

Inside the hokage tower, Hiruzen asked Danzo after reading a scroll report about a C-rank mission.

"Yukito? I heard he's a wealthy young master whose business mainly consists of selling fūinjutsu scrolls."

Danzo replied without opening his eyes. After fighting with Hiruzen about the disappearance of the jinchūriki, he managed to usurper a lot of political power and now, Hiruzen and his status were equal in the village.

"Oh? Fūinjutsu business, huh. I wonder where he got his seal experts…"

"Hiruzen, don't bother. If you're thinking about stealing his sealing experts, you are dreaming. The whole ninja world has business with this guy, provoking him means provoking the other great shinobi villages."

Danzo warned while Hiruzen's brow twitched.

"And how did I not hear any of this?"

"Hiruzen, that's your own incompetency. I simply asked around the fire capital and immediately got the news."

Hearing that, Hiruzen furrowed his brows and glanced at Danzo, his eyes gleaming in a silver light before disappearing. Hiruzen could only sigh and mutter to himself inwardly about falling from grace.

He didn't get the news about Yukito because his ANBU was lacking, the real reason he didn't get any news about Yukito was that Danzo's ROOT deliberately interfered with his ANBU's work.

'Damn it all. I'm getting too old for these political struggles.'

"So, how do you suggest we deal with this C-rank mission he offered to us?"

Hiruzen asked. Before Danzo's rise to power, he didn't need to glance twice at the scroll before approving it. But now, he has to ask Danzo for his opinion, or else the latter would use it against him in the future.

"Simple. Accept it."

Hiruzen didn't waste another millisecond before stamping the scroll.

"ANBU!"

Foooosh—

"Sir."

"Give this mission to team seven."

In the training grounds, three genins were present. Two of the teenagers were jumping about while throwing kunai knives and shurikens at each other. Neither of them managed to hit the other, while the other genin was simply watching them.

Thud–thud—thud—thud.

The kunai knives and shurikens rained down on the ground and trees, but the two teens didn't stop. Instead, they each took out a kunai and charged at each other.

Woosh!

Suddenly, a silver-haired ninja wearing a mask that covered his mouth and nose appeared in a gust of wind, his forehead protector blocking one of his eyes. He didn't open his smiling eyes and simply waved at the three genins in the training ground.

"Yo!"

"Kakashi-sensei!"

The first to notice his arrival was the pink-haired kunoichi. Her hair reached up to her waist, and her eyes were bright, emerald green. Her voice was sharp and crisp, so when she yelled, the other two genins heard it loud and clear and looked at the newcomer.

"Training?"

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei."

One of the genins nodded. He had platinum blond hair and bright, blue eyes. His name was Benjiro, and he was at the top of his class when he graduated.

"That's good."

"Why are you here, sensei?"

The last genin spoke, his voice was a little irritated from having his training session interrupted. He had jet-black hair and pupils, and his skin was flawlessly white, unlike the slightly tan Benjiro. He was Sasuke Uchiha.

"Well… look at this."

Kakashi, the silver-haired ninja, chuckled before handing out a scroll.

"A mission?"

The three of them chirped and slowly opened the scroll, their eyes glued to its contents. When they saw the mission ranking, they almost grew wings and a halo, shining in brilliant radiance.

"A C-rank mission, finally!"

Benjiro cheered and waved his arms into the air. Sakura, the pink-haired kunoichi, also cheered, and Sasuke only smirked.

"All right, all right. We will head out tomorrow when the client arrives."

Kakashi said while ruffling Benjiro's hair.

"Kakashi-sensei, are we really going out of the village?"

Benjiro asked before Kakashi could slip out using body flicker.

"Yes. We are going to the land of waves."

"Hello, team seven," Yukito said as he sat inside his carriage, his golden amber pupils scanning the three genins up and down. In front of the handsome Yukito, Sakura blushed before trying to convince herself to only look at her precious crush.

"Hello, Yukito-san. My name is Kakashi Hatake, and I am the Jonin leader of team seven."

Kakashi eye-smiled before giving team seven a meaningful look.

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"Hello, Yukito-san. I'm Benjiro Suzuki, pleased to meet you."

"Hello… I'm Sakura Haruno, nice to meet you…"

Sasuke gave a curt introduction, Benjiro smiled and introduced himself, and Sakura spoke without even looking at Yukito. Yukito frowned at team seven's attitude, but when Kakashi hurriedly apologized on behalf of his team, his furrowed brows softened.

"Don't sweat it. We are heading out to the land of waves for a business meeting. Your mission is to guard me along the way."

"Yes, we read the—"

Before Sasuke could finish his sentence, Kakashi promptly tapped his shoulder and Sasuke immediately closed his mouth. Yukito saw this but didn't say anything.

"Be careful, I heard that the bandits around the land of fire are fierce and very strong."

"Understood. Thank you for your kind reminder, Yukito-san."

Seeing Bejiro's polite smile, Yukito nodded and ordered his servant to close the door and start their journey.

The land of waves was south of Konoha, so the group had to circle around the village before continuing in a straight line. Their pace was slow, as Yukito was traveling using a carriage, but none of them complained about their speed.

". . . That was the third bandit group already…"

Kakashi sighed. He understood that Yukito was a very wealthy businessman, so he was like sweet nectar to the bees called bandits. The bandit groups could easily be handled by experienced genin, let alone he, a jonin, but he had to let his team handle the trouble for them to gain experience.

"Are you all right?"

Sakura asked, looking at the blood on the black-haired genin's shoulder.

"Yes, I'm fine. It's just a small wound."

Sasuke replied. His shoulder was slightly bleeding, but as he said, the wound was shallow. Thankfully the bandits didn't use poison, or he would've been in trouble.

"We're still three days away from the land of waves…"

Benjiro muttered under his breath. He was tired of fighting bandits. After they left Konoha three days ago, they were attacked by three bandits groups. Each bandit group had a dozen bandits, and each of them was strong.

Unfortunately for the bandits, they didn't know how to use chakra and were wiped out by Sasuke and Benjiro after a short battle. Sakura remained by Yukito's side, guarding him, while Kakashi just watched his genin team.

"Is everything all right, Kakashi-dono?"

From inside the carriage, Yukito asked.

"Yes. Rest assured, Yukito-san. We will safeguard you until you reach the land of wave and until you return to Konoha."

The land of wave C-rank mission Yukito registered was a long-term mission. It lasted for a whole month, but the pay was comparable to an A-rank mission, so no one complained. Team Seven's job was to escort him to the land of waves, guard him as he deals with business, and escort him back to Konoha.

"If you say so."

Yukito shrugged and opened his eyes. He could see everything that was happening outside, so he knew that the genins were tired. But why would he care? He paid them handsomely, so they better do their jobs properly.

Each day, a bandit group would attack Yukito and team seven, but each time, they were repelled by the genins. Even Sakura was able to build enough courage to fight the bandits.

On the sixth day of their journey, an accident happened.

Peeeeew—boom!

In the distance, not too far away from team seven, a red flare was fired. It was a signal requesting backup, so when Kakashi saw it, he immediately created a shadow clone to support the team ahead.

"What's the matter? Kakashi-dono?"

"Don't worry about it, Yukito-san. One of Konoha's team happened to be in the same way as us and encountered trouble, so I sent them a little help. It won't affect our journey."

"It better not…"

Yukito snickered, but Kakashi had no way of seeing it. He could sense everything in a one-kilometer radius around him, so he was aware of what was happening with the other team of Konoha.

A team of one Jonin and three genin were attacked while they were escorting a middle-aged man. The attackers weren't simple, either. They were at least chunin, and the jonin leading the team was only a special jonin. He couldn't take on two chunin who suddenly ambushed them.

(Ranking from low to high: Genin, Chunin, Elite Chunin, Special Jonin, Jonin, Elite Jonin, and Kage.)

Yukito couldn't decide if that team was lucky or unlucky. On one hand, they encountered trouble. On the other hand, they were close to team seven's route, so they quickly received backup.

The next day, when they were about to reach the land of waves, the Konoha team that Kakashi helped asked if they could join them.

"Why should I let them join our team?"

Yukito asked solemnly, hiding the playfulness in his tone.

"Yukito-san, we will have another jonin protecting us, as well as three other genin. Don't worry, they will not request any payment from you, as they were already paid by their client."

Kakashi explained and tried to convince Yukito.

Kakashi had no choice, the other party was Konoha's team. He couldn't just abandon them to eat dirt, they would surely be attacked again as the special Jonin team leader was badly injured from the ambush.

"All right, I agree to let them in. But make sure that they won't be a liability."

Yukito warned. He was inside the carriage, so he couldn't act as if he knew everything going on outside, even if he did. He could perfectly see the badly injured special Jonin, as well as the injured three genins.

"Thank you for your understanding, Yukito-san."

When Yukito agreed to let the other team tag along, he breathed out a sigh of relief. The other Konoha team was pitiful, if they left them behind, they had no chance of returning to the village. Furthermore, their client had lied to them.

Furthermore, Kakashi had another reason to let the other team join their group.

He was certain that they would face another enemy ninja, perhaps a group of them, and they would surely be stronger than the previous two chunins. Having another jonin in their team, even if he can't fight, gave Kakashi a bit more sense of security.

The special jonin was still an elite ninja, so even if he can't physically fight, he could act as a stationary attack tower that spits out ninjutsu one after the other.

A/N: We're finally back in the main timeline. Welcome to the Land of Waves arc!

If you want to read more chapters in advance (up to chapter 35) and influence the story, you can check out my pátreón!
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