Naruto: Uchiha no Densetsu

Chapter 20: The Surrounding Mist

After spending the entire day with her, Naruto had decided to visit the local hot springs of the village to relieve himself of the slight soreness he was feeling in his body. It felt like ages since he had been to one. Even though, he was tired, Naruto had a wide smile on his face. He laughed softly on thinking of the fact how she'd made him feel and promised himself he would do everything to keep her safe and happy. As he was walking, he turned right and stumbled on to a kid who was running.

"Ouch… hey, look where you're going!" cried the kid as he massaged his rear. Naruto dumbly looked at the kid to tell him otherwise but stopped when he noticed who it was. The kid had short spiky brown hair, black eyes and a small chip in his tooth. He wore grey pants, yellow shirt and a pale green jacket with a dark green stripe down the middle. He also wore a long blue scarf around his neck. As the kid looked up, his eyes widened when he finally noticed who it was. Naruto simply smirked on seeing the look on Konohamaru's face.

"Naruto nii-chan? Where have you been all this time?" Konohamaru jolted up from the ground and went on to hug Naruto tightly. Naruto smiled and patted his head a few times before Konohamaru let go.

"Well, I can't really tell you that… Konohamaru. Village secrets and all… you know." Naruto replied apologetically. Naruto had met Konohamaru during his time at the academy a couple of times and much to his ire earlier, the kid practically worshiped him. However, thinking about it now only made him chuckle.

"Maybe now you can teach me some cool jutsus! You did say once I'm in the academy, you'll teach me!" Konohamaru stated ecstatically.

"How about sometime later? I'm really tired today and was on my way to the hot springs. I will come to your compound when I'm free and then we'll see what I can teach you, alright?" Naruto asked as he bent down to Konohamaru's eye level. Though slightly disheartened, Konohamaru instantly nodded to the proposal and ran along to meet his friends. Yet again, Naruto found himself to be looking at the kid's retreating form with a kind smile. The Sandaime Hokage had died sealing the Kyubi within him and had protected the village from a great disaster. It was because of the Sandaime that he had a parent still alive. He'd be damned if he couldn't at least look after Konohamaru from time to time. Turning back, Naruto once again made his way towards the hot springs.

About ten minutes later, Naruto reached his destination and after checking in with the receptionist, he proceeded towards the men's changing room. Once he had removed his clothes and placed it in an allotted place, he walked outside with a towel wrapped around his waist. He was momentarily surprised to see two more people in the pool.

'Great, just when I thought, I'd be alone…' Naruto thought. Since he could only see their backs from his position, Naruto couldn't really determine who the two people were. As he walked closer, the two people in the pool turned around on hearing the footsteps and they too were surprised.

"Shikamaru? Choji?" Naruto asked in surprise. He certainly wasn't expecting to meet them here.

"Ohhh, Naruto! It sure has been long!" Choji said with a wave. Naruto chuckled on seeing a packet of chips beside Choji by the edge of pool.

"Yeah, it has been…" Naruto replied quietly as he dipped himself in the warm water beside his two childhood friends. His body immediately felt highly relaxed upon feeling the warmth of the water and Naruto released a content sigh.

"I heard, you are a jounin now… Must be a lot of work huh?" Shikamaru questioned. He laid back more comfortably and gazed up at the reddish sky. This moment was sure relaxing, and he wished he could just spend the rest of his days like this. Alas, he knew for a shinobi, it was only a dream. Naruto hesitated a little for a few seconds but relaxed on seeing the look on their faces. And to his surprise, they did not appear to be mad at him.

"Yeah, it sure is… the worst thing about it is the paperwork. Since, I'm not ready to be a sensei yet, I have to handle a lot of paperwork in the office." Naruto replied. He laughed when he heard Shikamaru groan. "Still the same lazy person, are you?"

"Working in the office is just a drag. You just sit in a chair all day signing away at the papers." Shikamaru said. Naruto merely laughed at that comment. Shikamaru hadn't changed one bit. Even during the academy, he used to sleep through pretty much all the class. But Naruto knew his mind was most likely more intuitive than his own. "So, what are you guys up to?" I know Choji, you and Ino are in the same team. How's that working out?" Naruto questioned casually as he lowered himself into the water up to his chin.

"Asuma-sensei has been making us work really hard. It's hard to keep up at times." Choji replied with a slightly downed tone. The past two weeks, Asuma had been grinding team ten in taijutsu and correcting their stance along with their teamwork. The Nara, Yamanka and Akimichi clan have been really close to each other since the village was formed and the legends of these three clans' teamwork was known throughout the shinobi world. And Choji really wished he could keep up with Shikamaru and Ino, but he did not wish to fight against his own teammates. Hence, most of the days he would end up standing aside while Shikamaru and Ino had taijutsu spars. Naruto sensed the hesitation in Choji's voice and smiled slightly on remembering his kind nature. He could feel that Choji had certainly become stronger than before, but he was still afraid of hurting others with his strength.

"There's no need to worry Choji. I'm sure a time will come when you'll use your strength to protect your friends and the village against enemies. What's important is that you use your power for the right reasons. Having a kind attitude is not weakness, you can turn it into a greater strength if you wish." Naruto stated earnestly. Choji widened his eyes slightly on hearing those words. He had once heard his sensei talk to his father about his unwillingness to participate in taijutsu spars and how he may not make it as a shinobi if he kept his kind attitude. But hearing Naruto's words made him believe in himself a little more. While Shikamaru hadn't showed any outward reaction, he too was surprised by Naruto's words. He knew what Choji was going through and even though he had spoken to him on many occasions, Choji was yet to come out his shell. Shikamaru had heard of the blonde's exploits in Takigakure from his father and couldn't even begin to understand the experiences Naruto had gone through. But he was glad that Naruto hadn't completely changed compared to his younger self. Naruto's ability to inspire people had always been one of the characteristics he admired. The three of them became quiet for a while as each of them enjoyed the feeling of the warm water.

"You should come with us to the barbeque shop sometime. We all meet there once a week for dinner. Plus, I'm sure Kiba, Shino and Ino want to meet you too. It has been a long time after all…" Shikamaru spoke to lighten the mood a little. Choji immediately perked up on hearing the word barbeque and a bit of drool formed on his face, much to Naruto and Shikamaru's amusement.

"Hinata-chan told me about that. I will definitely come the next time you guys meet up. I still haven't met Ino, Kiba or Shino. I wonder how much Kiba has changed. The guy was always ready to get into a fight…" Naruto replied with a bit of nostalgia. He stretched his arms and legs and let out a breath, he didn't realize he was holding. Staring up at the sky, he suddenly found himself amazed by the different clouds. For a mere moment, he could understand why Shikamaru always loved cloud watching. He could certainly get used to this feeling.

"Yeah, you should. Ino had been asking so many questions about you... it was almost impossible to make her quiet when she learned that you came back." Choji replied taking out a few chips from the packet beside him. Naruto's interest piqued on hearing that. He certainly did not expect Ino to be so interested in him. But he shook his head and chuckled, realizing that the girl had always been too bold in her approach towards boys.

"So, are you and Hinata dating finally?" Shikamaru asked out of the blue. Naruto almost choked as some of the water went into his mouth on hearing that question. He coughed a bit to regain his composure and turned towards the Nara who had smirk on his face. Even Choji was amused on seeing Naruto's reaction.

"Wh… why would you ask that?" Naruto stuttered as he lowered himself further in the water.

"Oh, come on, it was obvious Hinata liked you. Even back in the academy, you guys were pretty close…" Shikamaru replied with an amused look. "Really…?" asked Naruto quite shyly.

"Nah, Ino wouldn't stop talking about how you and Hinata were perfect for each other. I felt like clawing my ears off on hearing her talk." Shikamaru said with an irked look on his face.

"Yeah, she talks about a lot of different stuff. Once she starts, it's hard to stop her." Choji added while munching on his chips with enthusiasm. Naruto felt slightly shy on knowing that people had already figured it out, but then he also realized that everyone would come to know about it eventually anyway. So, there wasn't any harm in telling people that Hinata was his girl. 'huh… that actually sounds good.' Naruto thought with a chuckle.

"Yeah, Hinata and I are dating…" Naruto said quietly. But Shikamaru's and Choji's sharp ears clearly picked up Naruto's words. They both stared at him for a few seconds before looking the other way.

"That' nice. I'm happy for you." Shikamaru replied genuinely. And Naruto was glad to hear that response and could sense that the two were earnest in their feelings. About ten minutes later, Choji and Shikamaru got out of the pool and bid farewell to the blond. They had already been sitting at the pool for about an hour before Naruto had joined them.

Naruto closed his eyes and rested his head against the pool side as he finally had some alone time. Yet again, he breathed a sigh of relief as he felt a lot more relaxed than before. He hadn't realized exactly how tired he was until he had entered the pool and could already feel his sore muscles loosening up. However, he was surprised when he suddenly found himself standing in his mindscape before Kurama.

"What happened Kurama? Why'd you call me here?" Naruto asked with a confused look. He was slightly taken aback with the disturbed look on Kurama's face

"I just felt Nibi's chakra disappear. It's as if she was sealed into something." Kurama stated with a serious voice. "What do you mean as if she was sealed? You mean into another jinchuriki? But I thought she was sealed into one already." Naruto questioned perplexedly.

"No, not in another jinchuriki. If that was case, I would have been able to still sense her chakra. But, right now I can't anymore." Kurama said. Naruto's eyes widened on hearing that, but he was also confused. How would that be even possible? He knew all the bijuus could sense each other, no matter how far apart they were. So, for Kurama to not being able to sense the Nibi anymore was a worrisome matter. Even Kurama for that matter was confused. While he was aware of one possible scenario where that could happen, but it wouldn't be possible unless there was another rinnegan user.

'No that's not possible. Rikudo-jiji and Naruto are the only ones who have ever awakened the rinnegan through natural means. And Naruto doesn't even know about the Gedo Mazo yet.' Kurama thought. It was true that none of the bijuus were close to each other ever since the humans began enslaving them for their own purposes, but it didn't mean that Kurama didn't know the pain each bijuu went through. The humans had never been kind to the bijuus.

"I'll ask Jiraiya-sensei about it. Considering his spy network, its possible he'll hear about this news sooner or later. But, right now, I don't think I can do anything about it. We'll just have to wait and be patient about it." Naruto replied.

"You have to be careful. No one knows what happened with the Yonbi or Gobi up to this date too. They suddenly disappeared two years ago. And now, with Nibi most likely sealed, you can't rule out the possibility that someone is going after the jinchuriki for the sole purpose of collecting the bijuu." Kurama said on a serious note. "I'll look into it Kurama. Maybe it has something to do with that new group that Jiraiya-sensei told me about. And, Kumogakure is going to keep this matter hushed. They wouldn't want the other villagers to capitalize on any sort of weakness." Naruto replied and got out of his mindscape as he opened his eyes. This was certainly a worrisome matter. Anyone powerful enough to steal a bijuu from Kumogakure could not be taken lightly. However, what confused him was, what could the bijuu have been sealed into. Since all the nine bijuu were once part of one being, they all share a much deeper connection that a human's comprehension. For a moment he wondered if he was missing something or if Kurama wasn't telling him the entire truth. He shook his head at that thought. His friend would never hide something from him.

Seeing that the sun had already set, Naruto got up from the pool and headed for the changing room. Once he was dressed, he waved goodbye to the receptionist and shunshined out of the area to his home. All the while unaware of the slight saddened expression on Kurama's face.

'It is not my wish to hide things from you… but there are certain things which should remain in the shadows for all eternity.' Kurama thought as he rested his head on his paws.

Few Days later

About three days had gone by since Naruto had learned that someone was targeting the jinchuriki for their bijuu. He still couldn't figure out for what purpose or what means was used to seal the bijuu that would leave no trace of their chakra. He had already contacted Jiraiya through the Toad summons and was relieved to know that the Sannin would be returning to Konoha in a couple of weeks. Another matter which he wanted to discuss with Jiraiya was about his rinnegan. Since the man has been travelling around the Elemental nations for a good part of his life, maybe he would have come across some information regarding the Rikudo Sennin. It had been almost four years since he awakened the rinnegan, but there was still so much about his doujutsu that he didn't know. Naruto figured if he could learn more about the Sage, maybe he could decipher something from that information regarding his eyes. Sadly, Kurama didn't have much knowledge about the rinnegan, apart from the fact that the Sage had used his eyes to separate the Juubi into the nine tailed beasts. As he leisurely walked towards the Hokage Building, he sighed since there was still so much, he didn't know about his own powers.

Team seven and Kakashi were currently waiting outside the Hokage's office for Naruto to arrive. The three genins were all dressed in their shinobi gear and had packed for a mission that may last up to a week. Early this morning, Kakashi had informed them that they would be assigned a C-Rank mission today which had excited them greatly.

"Kakashi-sensei, your habit is rubbing off on Naruto!" Sakura stated impatiently.

"Hey! Hey! Don't blame this on me… Naruto hardly listens to a word I say. Plus, I'm sure he has a good reason for not being on time." Kakashi replied nonchalantly. Sakura's eyebrow twitched a little at how easy going their sensei and Naruto were. They were jounin for god's sake. They should be more punctual right? Hinata giggled a little on seeing Sakura's expression. She had always been the one to lose her cool first. A few minutes later, Naruto finally graced the three genins with his presence. But he had to immediately duck under a punch that was thrown by Sakura.

"Oye! What's the big deal?" Naruto questioned, as he backed away a little.

"We have been waiting here for half an hour! Do you ever check the time?" Sakura asked as she tapped her foot on the floor. Naruto dumbly looked at Sakura and then at Kakashi for some help but sighed when he heard Kakashi snicker behind his book. 'Damn pervert…' Naruto thought irritatingly.

"You shouldn't be late for our first mission, Naruto-kun. What took you so long anyway?" Hinata also questioned, as she stepped beside the pink-haired girl. Naruto felt a little cornered upon such questioning and scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Uh… uhm, you see…" Naruto fumbled forming a coherent sentence but was saved when he heard his tou-san calling from the office. He immediately moved for the door and entered the office before any further questioning. The two girls smirked and laughed at his antics and team seven then followed the blonde into the office. Hinata proceeded to stand a little close to Naruto while, Sasuke and Sakura were beside Kakashi. Minato glanced towards Naruto and laughed inwardly. He had heard the entire conversation outside the office and found it amusing that his son was cornered in a such a way.

"So, I have your C-Rank mission ready. The details are written in this dossier which you people can go through later. For now, I will just give the gist of the mission." Minato stated as he called in his assistant to bring a person by the name of Tazuna. A few minutes later, the doors opened and an old man with a grey beard and a pointed hat on his head walked into the room. From the smell of it, everyone in the room could tell that the man was a heavy drinker.

"This is Tazuna-san, and your mission is to accompany him to Nami no Kuni and assure his safety. There is a possibility that he may get targeted by some bandits or shinobi on the way. The mission will most likely be a week to ten days long. So, I hope all of you are adequately stacked." Minato asked as he turned towards the three genins. "Hai, Hokage-sama." Sakura and Hinata replied while Sasuke merely nodded.

"Are you sure they'll be able to protect me? These girls look pretty weak, in my opinion." Tazuna commented as he took a swig of a bottle he took out from his bag. Hinata clenched her fists on hearing that and was about to give that man a piece of her mind when Naruto held her wrists. He glanced towards her and shook his head slightly.

"Tazuna-san, is it?" Naruto asked calmly, turning towards him. Tazuna turned his gaze towards the blond and grunted in reply. "You should be more respectful towards the shinobi who'll be protecting you. I heard Nami no Kuni is not doing so well. It'd be a shame if something were to happen to you on the way there and your land would be left without any help…" Naruto said, looking straight into the old man's eyes. Tazuna gulped a little on hearing the looming threat and immediately straightened up. Sasuke and Sakura smirked on seeing Tazuna's face lose all color.

"It's not good to threaten our clients, Naruto. Be on your best behavior." Minato stated firmly, but Naruto clearly felt his father's playfulness from where he stood. "Kakashi, Naruto stay behind for a few minutes. Team seven will accompany Tazuna-san to the main gate and shall wait for you two."

Hinata softly nudged Naruto on her way out and gave him a sweet smile when the blonde turned around to look at her. As Team seven left the Hokage's office along with Tazuna, Minato's face suddenly became serious as he looked at Naruto and Kakashi.

"I assume there's more to this mission than just protecting Tazuna-san?" Kakashi asked, placing his book back in his pouch. Even though it was rare, there were times when Kakashi took his job with complete seriousness.

"You're right. Couple of years ago, a young man by the name of Kaiza had also requested Konoha for help. I had sent a genin squad and a jounin to accompany Kaiza back to Nami no Kuni, but the mission went awry. Our shinobi never returned to the village and I believe Kaiza may have died along with them. Since then, I had instructed our border patrol shinobi to keep an eye on Nami no Kuni from afar and note down anything suspicious. We didn't have proof of any illicit activities going on in that nation earlier, but over the past two years, we have gathered some facts. Gato Industries had set up their base of headquarters in Nami no Kuni and have been partaking in the black-market activities such as slavery, prostitution and funding resources to shady groups." Minato revealed.

"How do you know so much about this, tou-san? Konoha has never had any form of relation with Nami no Kuni and I doubt the border patrol were able to gather so much information by themselves." Naruto expressed his thoughts skeptically. Minato hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should reveal this to them. Apart from Shikaku, Jiraiya and him, no one knew about this information.

"I have been making Shisui keep tabs on our surrounding nations discreetly over the past few years. Ever since Iwagakure began taking over the lands surrounding their nations, I wanted to have information on other nations which normally wouldn't be accessible. Currently, he's stationed near the Hidden Frost Village, keeping tabs on Kumogakure." Minato stated. And he wasn't surprised to see the shocked looks on both Naruto and Kakashi's faces.

"But, that's suicide, tou-chan! If he gets discovered by the enemies, he'll certainly lose his life!" Naruto almost yelled, losing his composure. However, Kakashi remained quiet and went over all the information he had analytically.

"Calm down Naruto. Focus. Shisui's skillset is well suited for this kind of mission. He's a cut above the others when it comes to infiltration and espionage. Moreover, if you think about a lot of information we have received over the years, it makes sense that this news was hidden from even us. Have you forgotten about the possibility of a mole we discovered during the Uchiha Clan's incident?" Kakashi said logically. After hearing Kakashi's words, Naruto calmed down a little but was still slightly on edge. He didn't want to lose another close friend of his.

"Kakashi is right, Naruto. We have been unable to find the mole within our village even to this day. That's why I'm keeping this information under wraps. Over the past two years, Shisui has travelled into Kirigakure, Sunagakure, borders of Tsuchi no Kuni, Kumogakure and even Nami no Kuni to gather valuable intel for us. There's only so much Jiraiya-sensei can do. While Jiraiya-sensei keeps track on Orochimaru and Danzo's movements, Shisui reduces his work load by keeping tabs on other nations. And even though, Sunagakure is our ally right now, we can't take our alliance too seriously. Few years back, the daimyo of Kaze no Kuni was hiring Konoha shinobi for our lower prices and because of that less missions were being handed out to Sunagakure which created a slight tension between our nations. Luckily, we were able to avoid any confrontation with them when we agreed to give a small percentage of the missions from Kaze no Kuni's daimyo to Sunagakure." Minato explained briefly. Naruto was highly surprised by the political sport between the nations. He never did really care about it all that much in the past, but he realized the value of playing it aptly.

"But I digress. Currently, you must treat Nami no Kuni as a hostile territory. Gato has been known to hire shinobi frequently to carry out his underhanded tasks. Kakashi, your mission is to stay with the genins and protect Tazuna at all costs. While, Naruto your mission is to assassinate Gato and destroy his headquarters. I don't care how you do it, but I want the man removed from Nami no Kuni promptly. Tazuna intends to build a bridge that will connect Nami no Kuni to Hi no Kuni. That way the two nations can begin working on trade businesses via land. Since Nami no Kuni is surrounded by ocean on all sides, the main trade route is water, which is overlooked by Gato's underlings. So, you understand the importance of this mission, right?" Minato questioned with utmost seriousness. With Gato industries removed from Nami no Kuni, Minato wished to open business between the Land of waves and Hidden leaf. This would not only benefit the civilian populace of Konohagakure but also the shinobi. Nami no Kuni was renowned for having quite a few skilled weapons craftsmen. Kakashi and Naruto nodded as they understood how important this mission would be for the village. This would also provide the genins of team seven to prove their worth in a life-threatening situation. The two jounin nodded to their leader and shunshined out of the office to regroup with their team and Tazuna.

With Team seven and Tazuna

As Naruto and Kakashi arrived at the main gate, they found the three genins to be talking amongst themselves while Tazuna stood a little further away, sipping away on his sake. It was barely ten in the morning and the man already finished half a bottle.

"Oh, Kakashi-sensei, Naruto-kun, you guys are back. What took so long?" Hinata asked as she noticed their arrival. Sakura and Sasuke turned too and had the same questioning look on their faces.

"Miss me already, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked with a flirtatious smirk. Even though, she was a lot more confident than her younger self, Hinata still felt a little shy when Naruto looked at her that way. Regaining her composure immediately, she scoffed mockingly and completely ignored the blond to look at Kakashi. Naruto face faulted at Hinata's mean reply or rather lack of it as a sad aura surrounded him. "You can be such a baby at times, Naruto-kun. You know what I meant when I asked the question." Hinata replied. Naruto quickly perked up on hearing Hinata's words that made the others look at the blonde quite dumbly.

"Well, it's not anything that you guys need to concern yourself with too much. But, as Hokage-sama had stated, there is a high possibility that Tazuna-san may be targeted by shinobi. So, you guys need to be on your guard." Kakashi said with his trademark eye smile after witnessing the amusing banter between Hinata and Naruto. Out of all, one could easily say that Sasuke was the most eager one to go on this mission. He would finally be able to test his abilities against actual enemies and find out how much he had progressed over the years. He was hoping they would get stopped by shinobi on the way. A few moments later, team seven, Naruto and Tazuna quickly left the village after checking out with the gate guards- Izumo and Kotetsu.

It had been about five hours since the group had departed Konoha. Team seven were travelling in a diamond formation, with Hinata in the front, Sasuke to the right, Sakura to left, Kakashi at the back and Tazuna in the middle. Hinata's byakugan would aid the group tremendously in scouting out enemies in front of them. Naruto travelled about two hundred meters behind the group, to jump in as a surprise, in case the group was attacked by a group of shinobi. The air around them had turned a tad bit misty as they were nearing the shore.

"Kakashi-sensei, I believe there's a genjutsu placed to our right, about a mile ahead of us. It hasn't rained in days, yet, I see a puddle of water on a completely dry land." Hinata informed as she scouted ahead. Sakura and Sasuke perked up on hearing that and kept their senses up, in case of a surprise attack. "Let's not alert the enemy. I don't think they're aware of our knowledge of them. So, let's see how it plays out." It was Sasuke who had voiced his thoughts. Kakashi was mildly impressed with his strategy and gave a go ahead to the plan.

"What do you mean? Shouldn't you guys be more careful and deal with them beforehand?" Tazuna asked grumpily. He wouldn't believe that these kids could protect him until he saw them in action. He wasn't much fond of shinobi since he never had any pleasant experiences with them in the past. "Patience, Tazuna-san. We gave you our word that we'll protect you. Just watch…" Kakashi replied to ease off the old man's worries. Tazuna gave no outward reaction but decided to take the jounin's words. Still, he couldn't help but be skeptical, considering what happened with his son in law, Kaiza. He could only hope that this time, things turned out to be different. Because of Gato, the people of Nami no Kuni had been living in constant of fear of their life. And things hadn't been easy with his family ever since Kaiza was publicly executed in the middle of their town.

As team seven passed the puddle of water to their right, two shadows immediately emerged from the water and jumped towards Kakashi with their sharp claw like gauntlets that were connected to each other through a metal chain. However, before the two could even reach the white-haired jounin, Sasuke reacted quicker than the two people anticipated. Taking out his katana, Sasuke turned around and cut the metal chain, making the two shinobi jump back with caution. Kakashi, who still had a bored look on his face glanced up from his book and stared at the two shinobi as he recalled their identities.

"Gozu and Meizu, the demon brothers of Kirigakure. B-Rank missing ninjas with chunin level skills." Kakashi stated out loud. By this time, Sasuke, Hinata and Sakura had all lined up in front of Tazuna protectively. While Hinata and Sasuke had settled into their stance to fight the two missing ninjas, Sakura decided to stay beside Tazuna. Kakashi also decided to stay back, wishing to see how his team would play this out. He knew Naruto was sitting on top of a tree behind them, observing the event. Kakashi was sure his team would be able to handle the two of them, well confident in the three genins' abilities.

"Oh, these Konoha shinobi seem more skilled Meizu." Gozu stated with a toothy smirk that was mirrored by his brother. "You're right. Let's teach these kids a less…" before Meizu could even finish his sentence, Gozu and him had to jump away from their position as Sasuke had swiftly thrown several shuriken aimed at the two brother's vital locations. Taking advantage of the brothers' disarray as soon they landed on the ground, Hinata and Sasuke raced towards them and engaged the two in taijutsu.

Gozu swung his large metallic gauntlet at Hinata, who graciously ducked under it and struck at his tenketsu on his left arm, thereby making it go limp. Gozu cursed his luck at being paired against a Hyuga and jumped back a few feet to gain some distance. But, Hinata quickly followed up and threw two kunai aimed towards his heart. With his free hand, Gozu managed to deflect the kunais but the moment he took his eyes off Hinata, she appeared behind him and this time, struck his chakra points on the legs, effectively disabling him to move as he fell on the ground and cried out in pain. "If you don't wish to suffer anymore pain, I'd advise you to keep quiet." Hinata stated as she pointed a kunai to Gozu's throat. Gozu glared at the girl before him and tried to move but with his left arm and both his legs limp, he could hardly do anything. As Hinata looked to her left, she was glad that Sasuke had also managed to defeat his opponent quite easily. But, Hinata and Sakura were quite unnerved when Sasuke simply slit Meizu's throat with no regard.

"Brother! You little punk!" Gozu yelled and thrashed in his spot, attempting to crawl towards his brother, but Hinata had stopped him in tracks. Sasuke scoffed at the pathetic display and simply turned away from him.

"You didn't have to kill him, Sasuke… You could have just rendered him unconscious." Hinata stated. She wasn't abhorred with what Sasuke had done rather the look on Sasuke's face when he had killed the shinobi.

"He was an enemy of the village and got the fate that he deserved." Sasuke replied firmly as he sheathed his katana in the scabbard. Few seconds later, Kakashi and Naruto also joined in. While Kakashi went towards Sasuke, Naruto walked straight towards the downed Gozu. Forming a black chakra rod from his left palm, Naruto swiftly ended the man's misery as he implanted the black rod through the Gozu's heart.

"What?" Naruto questioned with a shrug as he turned around to look towards Hinata and Sakura.

"Sasuke is right. He was an enemy who had every intention of killing you. He just got what he deserved." Naruto said frankly. Hinata was surprised by Naruto and Sasuke's disregard for life. While she knew the two brothers were in no way innocent, but she still couldn't have brought herself to kill someone so easily. Naruto understood Hinata's distress and calmly walked towards her. "My hands are already stained with blood, Hinata-chan. I can't even remember how many I've killed. But your hands are still pure. There's no need to sully your own hands. Only do it when it's completely necessary." Naruto said gently, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. Hinata quietly nodded and calmed herself. She was kunoichi of Konoha and had to act like one.

"I know, Naruto-kun. Still, taking a life is a lot harder than I had imagined." Hinata confessed. Naruto clearly understood her dilemma and couldn't blame her for the nervousness. Sasuke and Sakura, however, were intrigued with the black rod that Naruto had seemingly produced out of thin air but decided to keep their curiosity to themselves for the time being.

"Well, let's wrap this up and be on our way, yeah? We wouldn't want to stay out here for too long." Kakashi said, as he sealed the two dead bodies inside a scroll. He would need to take Gozu and Meizu's heads to a bounty office to collect the rewards on their head on Konoha's behalf. Once done, he turned around and noticed the downhearted look on Sakura's face.

"Are you alright, Sakura?" Kakashi asked on seeing how quiet the pink-haired girl had become. "Uh-huh… It's just that until now, killing another shinobi was just a thought in my mind. But, now that I actually saw someone die in front of my eyes, the reality of it feels a lot more different." Sakura said with slightly lowered gaze. "Don't worry about it. I hope you don't have to witness a lot of death in your shinobi career… but then again, it's only wishful thinking. You can never truly prepare yourself for this. You just need to get used to it, Sakura." Kakashi replied understandingly. He had killed thousands of people up till now and was given several names like 'friend-killer Kakashi', 'cold-blooded Kakashi'. Only he knew how shallow it made him feel. But, for the sake of his village, he endured it all. Because that's what meant being a shinobi. Hinata and Sakura moved to Tazuna to check if he was okay and Naruto walked towards Sasuke who stood at the side with his hands tucked inside his pockets.

"You did well, Sasuke and have grown well as a shinobi. Maybe, I could help you out with your sharingan later on and help you with ninjutsu and kenjutsu too." Naruto offered.

"These people were hardly worth fighting… but sure, I'll train with you." A little surprised, Sasuke nodded nonetheless. He'd be crazy to refuse to train with him. Some people in the village considered Naruto to be even stronger than the Hokage and Sasuke was certain his own skills would grow by leaps if he trained with Naruto on a daily basis. He smirked inwardly at the thought of taking his revenge on Danzo. A few minutes later, everyone once again started walking towards Nami no Kuni at a brisk pace. They expected to reach Tazuna's house in a couple of hours.

About half an hour later, when the group from Konoha reached the shore, Kakashi and Naruto suddenly stopped when they felt the unnatural mist surrounding them. Even Sakura, Hinata, Sasuke and Tazuna stopped in their tracks as they couldn't even see an inch in front of them.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked quietly. She had noticed the mist that had rolled in around them since their fight with the Demon brothers. But, simply discarded it as a natural phenomenon since they were nearing the shore. Similar thoughts were going through other genins' and Tazuna's mind.

"Everyone stay put where you are. This mist isn't natural. There's chakra mixed in this mist." Kakashi stated cautiously. Naruto lowered himself and placed a single finger on the ground. "I sense two shinobi. One is in front of us, while the other is to our south-east but still close by." Naruto said as he stood up. Everyone suddenly became alarmed when they felt an unnatural pressure on them. The three genins' took a few steps back in fear on feeling the killing intent directed at them and Tazuna looked as if he'd fall unconscious any moment. Naruto and Kakashi stepped forward and kept their senses on high alert. The enemy was strong this time.

"Oh? Now, this is a surprise. For two of Konoha's famous shinobi to be here." Echoed a voice all around them. Sasuke gripped the hilt of his katana tightly as Hinata and Sakura held on to their kunai. They had never felt such killing intent in their life and all three could feel their hands shake a little.

"Now, how should I kill all of you? Maybe a stab through the head? Heart? Or maybe I should cut your limbs? Sounds delightful huh?" the voice now came from behind them, as the shinobi laughed menacingly. Kakashi and Naruto momentarily glanced towards each other and nodded. Naruto quickly placed his palms together and released a pulse of pressurized wind all around him to get rid of the mist surrounding them. Simultaneously, disappeared from his position and appeared behind team seven. With the mist gone and the vision around them clear, everyone could now see Kakashi blocking a large sword with a kunai.

"Zabuza Momochi…" Kakashi whispered as his lone eye narrowed at the former Kiri shinobi.

Author Notes: This mission will prove to be an eye opener for team seven and how cruel the shinobi world can actually be. Hearing about something from someone is always a lot different when a person actually experiences it themselves. While, team seven genin have the skills, they still need to gain experience for their skills to nurture. The next chapter will feature the story of why Tazuna's grandson, Inari does not believe in having hope and doesn't trust shinobi for that matter. Next chapter will also conclude this mission and will feature quite a few surprise arrivals too.

Akatsuki have already begun moving onto the jinchuriki. They will be sealing the bijuus according to their tails. Currently, they are yet to seal the four and five tails, since they are waiting for the three tails to reform. Naruto's main role in team seven is to help Sasuke, Hinata and Sakura with their growth. He won't be always helping out with their battles.

Someone had asked how Orochimaru was able to use the reverse summoning jutsu even though he was impaled with chakra rods. Well, in Boruto, when Naruto was impaled by chakra rods from Momoshiki, he was still able to use chakra to enhance Boruto's rasengan. Similarly, with Orochimaru's case, he only needed to exert minimal amount of chakra to reverse summon himself. I hope, this answers the question. In case I'm wrong, do leave a correct explanation in the reviews or PM me if possible.

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Until next time!