Chapter 26: Land of Waves (3): Benjiro and Sasuke's Teamwork.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto.
End Banner has something to say: We've decided to rewrite the earlier chapters of the story, and the first chapters to be rewritten will be Chapters 1 - 9. Aside from that, thank you to my patrons and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Hearing a sharp, braking sound, Kakashi's heart leaped, beating as if he had woken up from a nightmare. In less than a moment, Kakashi's figure vanished, leaving behind a faint afterimage. When he appeared again, he was standing in front of Yukito's carriage with his hand raised up high, holding a kunai.
TANG!
The kunai was infused with chakra, so when the senbon that was flying toward the carriage was hit by the kunai, the senbon ricocheted into the ground not far from Kakashi's feet.
"Tiger (tori), rabbit/hare (u), boar (i), ram (hitsuji), dog (inu), ox (ushi), snake (mi), Earth Style: Earth Wall!"
BAM! GRRR…
After Kakashi slammed his hands on the ground, the earth shook and a 10 feet tall, 2 feet thick earth wall was erected from the ground.
CRACK—CRACK—CRACK!
When Kakashi heard the wall crack from the other side, he knew that the enemy was still attacking them. The veins on Kakashi's forehead throbbed, and he poured more chakra into the earth wall. Finally, after one minute, the attacker stopped their assault.
When the enemy left, Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief. He looked back and saw the senbon on the ground, snapped in two, and the unscathed black and red carriage. There wasn't even a tiny scratch on the carriage!
'Thankfully, nothing too bad happened. Otherwise, I'm afraid Konoha will lose a lot of missions when Yukito-san tells this accident to the other countries…'
For a ninja village to lose sources of missions, it was the same as cutting off their lifeline.
"Jōnin Kakashi, what is going on?!"
'For now, I'll have to pacify an angry client… sigh.'
"Yukito-san, I'm really sorry. We didn't expect that a bandit would suddenly come out of nowhere."
Obviously, it was a lie.
Kakashi knew that the enemy was most likely the hunter-nin from before, but if he said that, Yukito would get angrier. Instead, if he blamed it on a non-existed bandit, Yukito wouldn't feel as aggrieved. It's like how your mother wouldn't get angry at you if you blamed the cat for breaking a glass vase.
There were a lot of bandits around anyway, Kakashi didn't believe that his lie would be exposed, as Yukito's servant was away, doing god knows what.
"Hmm… do your job better, or I'll put this on the mission report."
"Thank you, Yukito-sama."
'But damn, that was impressive. The carriage was able to block the chakra-infused senbon. The senbon even snapped!'
While Kakashi was looking in awe at the carriage, Yukito was laughing inside. He saw through Kakashi's lie, but there was no need to expose it.
"Zabuza-sama, the mission failed," inside an old, humble wooden house, a ninja wearing an oval mask with the symbol of the kirigakure bowed to a man covered in bandages. The man was lying on a wooden bed, and upon hearing the ninja's voice, he slowly opened his eyes.
"I expected that… sigh, I suspect that Gatō will betray us, so there's no need to continue the mission. That man in the carriage is the owner of Ginko, he would certainly pressure Gatō to get rid of us."
Zabuza stayed silent for a few minutes before he tilted his head. Not only he, but the masked ninja also did so.
Creaaak—
When the door slowly opened, the masked man jumped in front of Zabuza to guard against the uninvited guest.
"Haku! Stand down."
Seeing Haku put himself in danger, Zabuza sternly ordered him to retreat. Haku reluctantly stepped back beside Zabuza, but he was ready to fight at any moment.
"So eager. If you want to fight, you can go to the land of rain. I heard that war is eternal there," the man behind the door said as he slowly opened the door.
When the door opened, it revealed a tall teenager with blood-red hair that had a few strands of yellow. His eyes were bright lavender that glimmered like the most exquisite gem, and on his cheek were thin whiskers that lazily fluttered as the teenager spoke.
"Who are you?"
Seeing the teenager leisurely enter, Zabuza couldn't help but have doubts. He was an elite, so it was no brainer that he could sense chakra, but the boy in front of him had more chakra than him. Was that even possible?
"My name is Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki, the boy who aims to become a god, but that's a dream for when I get older."
Hearing Naruto's nonchalant introduction, Zabuza's mind blanked, but he didn't mock the boy's dream. Naruto already had kage-level chakra now that he was still young, how about when he was at his peak? How terrifying would he be?
"Wait… did you just say, Uzumaki?"
"I believe your ears are still functional."
Zabuza's brows furrowed in shock. Uzumaki! That same Uzumaki clan from the legends, and the same Uzumaki clan who helped build the seven swords of the mist!
"Are you…"
"…a seal expert? Yes, and I am close to becoming a seal master."
Zabuza's lips twitched. Do all ninjas have the ability to read the future nowadays? If so, then he was outdated.
"What do you want with us?"
"Oh, it's simple. Don't attack Ginko. I don't care about the other ninjas but don't attack Yukito, he is… one of my men. Aside from that, I want to hire you. I want you to become loyal to me and serve me back in the land of whirlpools."
"The land of whirlpools?"
Zabuza pondered.
"That place still exists? I heard from others that the island of whirlpools was destroyed."
"Then you are sorely mistaken, and I don't know where your information comes from. The land of whirlpools still exists, it is Uzushiogakure that was destroyed if that's what you mean."
"Hmm… maybe. Why do you want to hire me? I am a missing ninja."
Zabuza said, his tone flat without a trace of hope. He certainly wants to be hired by this Uzumaki, but his infamy was too widespread. If he went with Naruto, Zabuza feared that they would be targeted in the future.
"Don't worry about your infamy. As I said, we'll be going to the land of whirlpools. I plan on recreating the Uzumaki clan, and if that's not possible, I plan on creating a 'new' Uzumaki clan. I want you, the demon of the mist, to become my right-hand man."
"And why choose me?"
"Because you are loyal."
Before going here to recruit Zabuza, Naruto had read about Zabuza's record.
He was an extremely loyal person, and although he wasn't loyal to the mizukage, he was loyal to his village. When the mizukage went crazy, Zabuza took it upon himself to assassinate the mizukage, even if it meant exile.
He failed, and he was still exiled, but that wasn't the point.
"How are you sure that you can hire me? My service—no, my loyalty isn't exactly cheap."
"As I said, Yukito, the owner of Ginko, is my personnel. You don't need to worry about money. As for loyalty, only time will tell if you can give me your loyalty, but rest assured that I won't treat you badly."
Hearing Naruto's offer, Zabuza went silent and glanced at Haku, who was still on guard. Seeing Haku's untrusting stance made his heart ache, but he suppressed it in a heartbeat. He was a ninja, an assassin, he can only let himself feel warm emotions when he retires, or else his skill would dull.
To be exact, his bloodlust would slowly fade.
"Naruto, is it? I am glad that you think highly of me, but…"
"Yukito-san, we are ready to leave."
Kakashi said when he saw Yukito return from his business trip.
"As usual, Habiki would be accompanying us on our way back to Konoha."
When Yukito nodded, Kakashi sighed in relief.
In truth, he didn't care much about the land of waves, so he didn't mind Yukito having business with Gatō. He only wanted to ensure that Habiki would return to the village in one piece. The genins in team seven might beg to differ, but Kakashi believed that after they experience the typical hardships a shinobi faces, their opinion will change.
The ninja world was a massive jungle, and only the strongest survive while the weakest die.
"Alright, you three, get ready. We're heading back to the village."
"Already?"
Hearing Kakashi's sudden order, Sasuke couldn't help but feel reluctant. They'd been out of the village for two weeks, yet he only managed to fight bandits and nothing else.
'How am I going to catch up with Itachi if I can't even get a real fight? I need to get promoted quicker so I can get a more dangerous mission! Only life or death battles can make me stronger.'
Unbeknownst to him, he would get his wish two days later.
Two days later, team seven, Habiki's team, and Yukito were traveling on a wide plain. The sun hung on the sky and was about to dip into the horizon, and the clouds were sparse, revealing the bright, blue sky.
As they were walking, Benjiro jolted and yelled at his two teammates.
"Enemies at the front! T-there's at least a hundred…"
"How many?"
Hearing the number, Sakura tapped her ear. Did she hear correctly?
"A hundred? Well, I hope it's enough to make me feel desperate."
Sasuke grinned and glanced at the nervous Benjiro. Seeing Benjiro look so anxious, Sasuke raised his brow. Was this really his best friend?
"Benjiro, what's wrong?"
"Well… I just have a bad feeling… you know, as a sensory ninja."
Sensory ninjas have excellent instincts and are sensitive to danger. Sometimes, their gut feeling is more accurate than a well-thought-out plan.
When Benjiro sensed a hundred bandits, he thought nothing of it at first, but when he sensed that they all had similar chakra levels, he felt anxious.
When bandits attacked them, their chakra levels would be mixed. Some of them will have genin chakra level, while some would have less than a genin's. Some would even have chunin-level chakra. However, these one hundred bandits all had genin-level chakra.
"Okay, we'll be careful."
Sasuke would bet his life on Benjiro. After all, Benjiro was a talented person, and he was also his only friend in the village. Sasuke treasured his friendship with such a person.
'Unlike you, Itachi, I'll get stronger without killing my precious people!'
When the one hundred bandits arrived, Sasuke and Benjiro got ready for battle, while Sakura sat at the back to guard Yukito. Habiki and Kakashi just watched, while the three genins in Habiki's team also watched without acting.
They were injured, and if they went to fight with team seven, they would be a liability.
"Benjiro!"
"Yeah!"
Benjiro and Sasuke jumped, standing next to each other, and began weaving hand seals.
"Rat (ne), rabbit (u), dog (inu), Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!"
"Tiger (tora), Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu!"
FOOOOSH—
From Benjiro's and Sasuke's collaboration jutsu, a fierce dragon head manifested on the battlefield and flew like a bullet.
"AHHH!"
When the dragon head struck the first bandit, his body exploded like a balloon and the dragon head pierced another dozen bandits before dissipating.
"So powerful!"
At the back, the three genins in Habiki's team gasped in shock. Even Sakura was shocked at the collaboration jutsu's power.
"Kakashi-senpai, what have you been teaching your students?"
"Ah? Oh, I just thought them teamwork. Seems like they understood the assignment and gave a perfect answer."
Although Kakashi answered nonchalantly, his heart was palpitating. He never expected that both Sasuke and Benjiro could perform a B-rank jutsu, and he never knew that Benjiro had a high affinity for wind style!
"Damn, kill those brats first!"
When the bandit at the front saw his fellow bandits get decimated, he roared a battle cry and charged at Benjiro and Sasuke.
"One more!"
Sasuke yelled and roused his chakra.
"Rat (ne), rabbit (u), dog (inu), Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!"
"Tiger (tora), Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu!"
BOOM!
"AHHH!"
Because the bandits knew that the fire dragon could pierce them, they didn't gather around instead, they spread out. As a result, the second fire dragon head only killed two bandits.
"Two-thirds of my chakra is gone, Sasuke."
"All right. Let's continue with shurikenjutsu."
Benjiro nodded and watched Sasuke gather his chakra to activate his dōjutsu. When he saw the sharingan bloom in Sasuke's eyes, Benjiro took out a storage scroll and took out eight kunai. He picked up four in each hand and threw them in toward the bandits.
Seeing the eight kunai fly into the air, Sasuke took out two kunai in each hand and aimed at four kunai that were going to miss the bandits. When his kunai hit and ricocheted off Benjiro's kunai, they changed direction and aimed at another bandit, while Benjiro's kunai did the same.
TANG—TANG—TANG—TANG!
In this way, all of Benjiro's kunai and his kunai hit a bandit each, killing twelve in an instant.
In less than a minute, the two genin of team seven managed to kill more than 25 bandits.
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