The Hokage's office looked just as usual, with Hiruzen seated on his desk and some files piled up on the table. It was midday outside and the sun shone brightly, intensifying the summer heat. On another end of the room was standing Maximus, the lad had grown well in the past four years. He was sixteen years old, with thick white hair, blue eyes, a tall height, and a lean but fit body. Maximus had a clean-shaven face, a sharp jawline, and a handsome face; he wore the standard chunin equipment of Konoha but also carried a katana. Maximus had been called there for a mission alongside the new team 7, and Maximus and Hiruzen were just waiting for the fresh graduates and their captain to arrive.
"I am asking you again, Lord Hokage, will you tell me anything about this mission?" Maximus asked in a calm, but slightly impatient tone. He had his arms crossed, Hiruzen calmly replied while signaling at the noises coming from outside,
"Wait, Maximus, let the others arrive as well. Oh, it seems they have." As Hiruzen said so, the door opened wide, and four people entered the office. Maximus knew three of them, Naruto was the brother of his teammate while Kakashi and Sasuke were well-known around the village, the latter being the son of Fugaku Uchiha. But the other girl, a pink-haired kunoichi with long hair and clothes of the same color was a stranger to him. But she must be skilled if she could graduate from her class full of clan children.
Hiruzen smiled at the genins before him,
"Good day, Kakashi, and you three as well. I hope your newly started shinobi career has been going well." Hiruzen quickly got a reply from Naruto, who spoke loudly and impatiently,
"Enough of that old man, we have had no 'shinobi career'. All we've been doing is catching animals and helping civilians at their jobs. Give us a real mission will ya?" Naruto was immediately scolded by Sakura, who was even louder, while Sasuke and Kakashi only glared at Naruto. None, not even Asuma the Hokage's son, had the guts to talk to him like that. The blonde boy was surely skilled, but his hot-headed and direct manner was the opposite of that of his calm sister, Maximus thought. Hiruzen only chuckled while puffing his cigar and replied,
"It's okay, I don't mind. And besides, I have called you here just to give you a 'proper mission'." The room went quiet again, as everyone's attention was caught. Hiruzen continued,
"An engineer from the Land of Waves has hired us for an escort mission to accompany him back home. It can be ranked somewhere between C and B rank, so I have chosen you all for this task. Kakashi's reputation goes before him and Maximus is a prodigy, and you kids will also be able to gather experience." Naruto's face beamed at hearing this, Sasuke and Sakura also seemed excited.
"You can find the engineer at the reception. Kakashi and Maximus may stay, I wish to talk to them alone." The three genins left the room and now only the Hokage, Kakashi, and Maximus were left in the office. Kakashi looked at Hiruzen completely uninterested in whatever the old veteran may say, and asked,
"So, what is it, lord Hokage?" Hiruzen cleared his throat and began to speak, Maximus listened attentively,
"This task that I am assigning you is not a mere escort but is involved in a political matter. You see, the Land of Waves is a small island nation ruled by a Daimyo, but the island has been recently under the iron grip of a Criminal boss and businessman named Gato. He has hundreds of thugs and non-shinobi mercenaries on his wages and even Zabuza Momochi of Kirigakure." Kakashi's attention was also caught, and the masked ninja closed his book and began listening closely, Hiruzen continued,
"The Romans are planning to acquire the Whirlpool Island and the Land of Waves, but for now they don't have an effective shinobi force. That's why our allies have paid us for some help, your task there is to take care of Zabuza and his sidekick, as well as any other shinobi under Gato. The Romans will take care of everything else, they have also sent a few hundred men for that." The Hokage finished speaking, Kakashi replied in a soft voice,
"But what is the need of all this 'escort mission' thing, can't you just send someone directly and be done." Hiruzen smiled, and answered,
"The engineer is threatened by Gato, so your job is to protect him. This will justify any actions we take against the yakuza boss, and fight him. It is all politics Kakashi, I have done this for years so I know." Kakashi seemed to be satisfied and went back to his book, Maximus seemed more interested but only nodded, and both men left the office.
In the reception room, they both met the three new genins as well as their employer the engineer. He was an old man with a short beard, eyeglasses, a straw hat, and casual clothes. The man carried a bottle of beer and seemed to be slightly drunk and ignorant. It hadn't been ten minutes that the engineer met the shinobi he was arguing with Naruto.
"Stop it Naruto, we have to protect the man not fight him," Maximus spoke calmly but he was stern. The engineer turned to look at the Roman and spoke irritably,
"Sorry, but I didn't pay thirty thousand ryo just for three children and a teenager." Naruto seemed to be angered by this remark, as well as Sasuke and Sakura who didn't speak, it must have been the root cause of the initial argument. Maximus remained calm and asked,
"What might be your name sir?"
"Tazuna." The engineer took a sip from his bottle, Maximus continued calmly but in a taunting manner,
"Well, Tazuna, the masked shinobi you see here is Kakashi of the Sharingan. But you probably don't know about him living in your tinu poor island so I'll summarise that he is an above excellent shinobi. This kid you see here is an Uchiha, I am a candidate for Jonin rank, and this blondie is the nine-tails'-" Maximus received a short glare from Kakashi, and realized what he was about to say and didn't continue. Tazuna ignored it and replied while walking towards the exit,
"Alright then young man, but I better get my money's worth." Tazuna walked out towards the village's main entrance, Naruto only muttered to himself. Maximus looked at the blonde, the boy surely was the polar opposite of his sister.
Several hours later
The four shinobi and Tazuna had been walking for a long time through the rough roads and forests of the Land of Fire, the nation lacked even basic infrastructure. It wouldn't have been so if the Daimyos weren't so busy filling their coffers, but now's not the time to discuss that. They had traversed a good distance and were quite close to the Land of Waves, as Tazuna said.
Everyone walked on silently, Kakashi engrossed in his book and the rest gazing at their surroundings, Tazuna wasn't interested in anything and carried a slightly anxious face. The forest was a tranquil place, with a variety of birds perched on the trees and a canopy of leaves covering the path. It was summer and the day was slightly humid. As Kakashi walked on his eyes fell upon a small muddle on the path, this was odd. The rainy season was still two months away and he hadn't seen any pools or muddles up till now. Kakashi closed his book and looked at Maximus, catching his attention. The masked ninja motioned towards the muddle, and Maximus understood, putting his hand on his katana's handle in anticipation.
As everyone in the party walked onwards and the muddle was left behind, Kakashi sensed movement behind him and quickly looked back. But as he did so, he felt something wrap around him. In a second, Kakashi was chained and bound up by two shinobi who wore Kirigakure headbands with a scratch on them. The two shinobi tightened the bind and Kakashi lightly groaned. Naruto looked back and in a straightforward but stupid manner charged at the shinobi with a punch, but one of them flung a kunai at the blonde genin that hit his palm and made him get back.
However Maximus was quick to react, and in a moment he was missing from his original position. As the two shinobi looked around, a volley of shuriken and kunai rushed at them from the top, but as they dodged the projectiles two clones of the Roman charged them with swords, even managing to cut off the thumb of one rogue in the melee. At the same time, Sasuke also rushed forward and landed a kick on another rogue's head. Kakashi also freed himself from the chains using lightning chakra and joined the fight, landing a devastating kick at one of the ninja's stomachs. Both rogues fell in agony and shock from the pain. Kakashi was quick to bind them to a tree using the same chains.
Tazuna was standing a few paces away from the fighting, his eyes widened. After Kakashi was finished chaining up the two rogues, he looked back at the engineer and spoke lightheartedly,
"You okay sir, it's good they didn't attack you." Tazuna remained quiet but smiled and gave a nod. Maximus looked at the Naruto behind him and spoke,
"I don't think Naruto is after all the kunais of these shinobi are always laced with poison so we must get him to a physician quickly." Naruto had only sustained a cut on the top of his palm which wasn't substantial on its own, but the poison that entered was. But suddenly, in a daring and 'knuckleheaded' manner, the blonde took out another kunai and stabbed it into his palm, essentially bleeding out the poison.
"Now everything is okay right Maximus?" Naruto spoke with a smile, Maximus chuckled and replied,
"Well, now you must worry about fighting with that hand and bandaging it. But you're probably good now." Naruto again gave a grin and then looked back at the path forward. Maximus pulled out his blade and spoke to everyone,
"You guys go forward, I'll take care of them." Kakashi nodded and began walking, followed by everyone else. Maximus will easily catch up. They could've reached the Land of Waves by now, but it was only the old engineer who was slowing them down.
As the rest of the group walked away, Naruto, who was at the back of the party, could hear a few groans and slicing sounds from his back. But the pain in his palm made him concentrate forward and reach the Land of Waves as soon as possible.
Author's notes
How did you like the chapter? I know the time skip was sudden, but it seemed hard to progress the story forward from there. I am also thinking of adding early gunpowder to the story, don't worry it won't be like I give the Romans tanks and AK-47s, but historically the earliest firearms used in Europe. I told you in previous chapters, this is gonna be a mashup of Rome, Byzantine, and medieval and early modern Europe. Do rate the chapter, and post any ideas you have regarding the Romans(or basically anything in the fanfic) :)