"Hey, Boss, wait up!"
Naruto and Adrik turned around as a child approached them. He wore a rather long blue scarf with goggles on his head.
"Hey, Konohamaru! What're you doin' out here so early?"
Konohamaru smiled up at Naruto.
"I heard grandpa talk about how you're goin' on a C-Rank mission! I wanted to see you before you left."
Naruto nodded before squinting at the boy.
"And by 'heard' you don't mean you spied on us when we got assigned our mission, do you?"
Konohamaru's grin became much more forced as he sweated nervously.
"Wh-What? Nah, nothin' like that, Boss!"
Naruto smiled and nodded. Adrik flinched as his blonde friend smacked the boy over his head.
"I know spyin' is important for a ninja, but you could'a just asked me, y'know!"
Konohamaru nodded while rubbing his head.
"Right, sorry Boss."
Naruto nodded before patting the boy on the head.
"I appreciate you comin' all the way out here to see me off, though."
Konohamaru smiled up at Naruto.
"Of course, Boss!"
Konohamaru looked over to Adrik with a small frown.
"Hey, you're that guy I keep seein' Boss hangin' around."
Adrik gave a small nod.
"Adrik. I'm a genin like Naruto."
Konohamaru smiled as he shook Adrik's outstretched hand.
"Nice to meet one of Boss's friends!"
Konohamaru flinched slightly.
"Oh, I probably need to get back to the academy! Class is startin' soon! See ya', Boss, and Adrik! Hope your mission goes alright!"
Naruto and Adrik waved at Konohamaru as he left, heading towards the academy. Adrik turned to Naruto with a raised eyebrow.
"Boss?"
Naruto sighed.
"That kid keeps callin' me that, so I just kinda got used to it."
Adrik nodded as the two turned back in the direction they were initially headed.
X
"You could've told me me I needed to pack for the next two weeks yesterday, you know. I don't even remember if I grabbed everything I needed."
Naruto scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed grin.
"Heh, yeah, sorry. I forgot."
Kakashi looked over to see his last student approaching the village gates along with Adrik. The old man with the large straw hat next to him raised his eyebrows.
"Who's the new kid?"
Kakashi shrugged.
"He's another genin who's been rotating between teams."
The old man sighed before taking a drink of a large bottle of alcohol that never seemed to leave his hands.
"Whatever. The more protection the better, I guess."
Kakashi glanced at the man once before looking back at the two arriving genin.
"Oh, hey. Kakashi Sensei is on time for once."
Naruto pointed at the jonin with a hint of surprise. Kakashi simply put his book back in front of his face.
"Hey, Kakashi, where are your bags? I thought we needed to pack for two weeks away from the village?"
Kakashi nodded to Adrik.
"I packed."
The jonin reached into a pouch and brought out a small scroll.
"What's that, Sensei?"
Kakashi glanced at Naruto as he lowered his book slightly. He thought for a second before finally responding.
"It's a storage scroll. You put what you want to store on one of the seals, channel chakra, and it gets stored. Channel chakra into the same seal and out pops whatever you stored in it."
"Really? That's cool! Where'd you get it?"
Kakashi shrugged and was grateful for his mask for hiding his victorious smirk.
"I made it myself, but there are some stores that sell them. I can teach you the basics on how to make them later, if you want."
Naruto nodded with a smile.
"But just a heads up, I'm not exactly the greatest at fuinjutsu. I'm sure you could learn more from a book than you could learn from me."
Naruto nodded again, his smile weakening as he heard the word 'book'.
"Nah, I'd rather learn from you than some stupid book."
Kakashi shook his head with a small chuckle.
"I think I phrased that wrong."
Naruto tilted his head slightly in confusion and Kakashi leaned over to whisper in his ear.
"I meant to say you and your clones could learn more from reading a book."
Naruto's eyes widened slightly before he smiled deviously.
"I think I get what you're sayin', Kakashi Sensei."
Kakashi nodded to the blonde genin.
"Something tells me you might enjoy reading about it."
Naruto raised his eyebrows questioningly but Kakashi didn't elaborate.
"Sasuke, Sakura, let's get going."
Kakashi looked over as he called out to his two other students who were doing their usual thing, which consisted of brooding and fawning over the genin who was brooding.
X
Adrik looked around as he hadn't really been much further outside the village than the training grounds took him. He couldn't really see much besides the forests on either side of the large dirt road they walked on.
"So, Mister Tazuna, what is the Land of Waves like?"
The old man walking between the five ninja looked to his left at Sakura.
"Well, kid, there ain't much to talk about. It's kinda separated from most of the mainland and it's usually pretty humid for most of the year. I'm building a bridge so we can hopefully set up some trade routes to other villages."
Kakashi lowered his book slightly.
"I heard not too long ago that Wave was going through a financial crisis. I assumed the fishing and shipping industry would've helped out with that. What went wrong?"
Tazuna sighed and gulped down a little more alcohol.
"It was our main source of income before it started tanking. I'm hoping the bridge will help my country thrive again."
Adrik looked over at the old man.
"I haven't been fully informed yet. What exactly are we trying to guard you from, Tazuna?"
The old man flinched noticeably before he spoke.
"Just some bandits. I didn't see anything on my way to the Leaf, so I'm sure it'll be fine."
Adrik nodded.
X
A few short hours of walking had passed with Sakura's questions being the main reason they weren't bored to death. Adrik flinched slightly as he sensed two unfamiliar signals on the road much further ahead. Kakashi noticed the teen flinch and leaned over to question him as they were both at the front of the formation guarding the bridge builder.
"What did you sense?"
"Two signals. Maybe... another hundred meters down the path. Both chunin level. I don't recognize them."
Kakashi nodded and went back to his position, putting his book back up in front of his face as they walked. Adrik grew confused over the course of the next few seconds as the jonin didn't seem intent on telling the other genin.
"Naruto."
Naruto looked over at Adrik.
"Two signals. Coming up on them soon. Tell the other two, wait for my sign."
Naruto nodded unquestioningly and told Sasuke and Sakura the same thing in a whisper. He was glad they at least understood when he was trying to tell them something serious.
X
Two ninjas appeared from a puddle on the side of the road. They wore headbands that seemed to give them demon horns and were tethered to each other by a single sharp chain that was attached to a clawed gauntlet that they each wore. Adrik saw this and lifted his hand slightly before clenching his fist. The two ninjas grew confused as they were unable to move. Looking down, they saw black ropes wrapped around their ankles that held them to the ground. Their eyes widened when they looked back up, only to be met with fists to their faces from Naruto and Sasuke.
The black ropes tied around their ankles faded, allowing them to be sent flying back and into the trunk of one of the trees on the side of the road. They shook their heads at the same time, trying to regain their senses, only to notice they were bound to the tree by the same ashen ropes.
"Good work, you three. I was going to see who they were after, but it seems you guys had other plans. Oh well, I can just ask them myself."
The two ninjas looked up with slight fear as they only just now recognized the jonin to be Kakashi Hatake.
"So, why would the Demon Brothers, two missing chunin from the Mist, try to attack us?"
One of the 'Demon Brothers' narrowed his eyes slightly.
"You Leaf Ninja were in the way. Our target is the bridge builder."
The other brother nudged the one who spoke, making him realize he messed up.
"The bridge builder, hm? And who would hire you to try and attack him?"
This time, Kakashi didn't get an answer.
"Well, then. I can just kill you two and go ask Tazuna myself."
Kakashi brought out a kunai, making the two enemy chunin struggle in their bindings.
"Alright, alright, I'll tell you! It's some rich pig named Gato! He didn't tell us why, he just said he'd pay us to kill the bridge builder!"
Kakashi nodded while lowering his kunai. Everyone was confused when the jonin slashed his thumb to draw blood then smeared it across a scroll he unraveled.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
A small pug with a Leaf Village headband appeared next to Kakashi.
"Hey, Kakashi, what'dya need?"
Everyone's eyes widened when the pug smoke in a rather deep, raspy voice.
"Pakkun, can you take this to the Hokage? Tell him to send a squad of Anbu."
Kakashi took out a blank scroll and wrote something down before giving it to the pug, Pakkun.
"You got it."
The pug took the scroll in his mouth and ran off towards the Leaf Village at rather astounding speeds. Kakashi eye smiled towards the four genin and the old man.
"Pakkun is one of my fastest summons so it shouldn't take long for a squad of Anbu to bring these two in."
They all nodded slowly while trying to process what they just saw.
"Say, Tazuna..."
The bridge builder looked over at Kakashi questioningly and was caught off guard when the jonin's expression turned cold.
"Why would Gato, a well known shipping magnate, send two chunin to kill you?"
Tazuna stuttered a few times as he tried to respond before taking a few deep breaths and drinking from his bottle of alcohol. He spoke after he was sufficiently calmed down.
"You see, Gato is actually the reason that Wave's economy went down the drain."
Kakashi narrowed his one visible eye.
"A few years ago, he took over the shipping industry and he's left us dry. The bridge I'm building will take away much of the control he has over the country, and he knows that. I'm sorry I lied to you, but I really need to complete this bridge."
Kakashi sighed, letting some of his anger show.
"If my team wasn't prepared back there, we might've had to turn around to rush someone to the hospital. Now, tell me, why should my team continue with this mission? It could be bumped up to a B-Rank, or even an A-Rank, if Gato sends someone stronger."
Tazuna looked down at the ground as he tried to think of a response.
"I lied. I know I lied. I know you all could've been seriously hurt because of my lie. But I couldn't help it. This C-Rank mission was all that the money of the innocent people of Wave could buy. For all we knew, this was the only thing we could do to try and save our country. But... I understand if you drop the mission. This really isn't something kids should get involved in and I'm so sorry for dragging you all into this..."
Tazuna bowed to the genin and to Kakashi before getting back to walking down the road with his head hanging low. Kakashi looked to his students as they watched the bridge builder walk away. He sighed as he could tell the three genin of Team Seven weren't going to back down. With Adrik joining them, perhaps things wouldn't end up too poorly.
"Alright, guys, back into positions."
The four genin looked at him in surprise before nodding and running to catch up with the bridge builder. Kakashi sighed again as he went to join them.
X
Adrik watched as Naruto tried his best to understand what Kakashi was showing him. He had two clones next to him that were repeatedly drawing symbols on blank pieces of paper with ink brushes. He looked back out into the forest before closing his eyes to focus. He had chosen to take watch over the camp for the night as he didn't need nearly as much sleep as the others. It was to the point that he would be able to run on a few hours of sleep per week if needed.
Adrik grinned to himself as he thought back to earlier when Sasuke and Sakura tried some of Naruto's cooking. They had no choice but to admit that Naruto was better than them in that aspect. Even Kakashi was surprised by Naruto's ability to make a bowl of soup taste so good.
Adrik shook his head as he thought back to earlier. The idea of fuinjutsu was something that intrigued him. After almost an entire month of training, he had his own arsenal of techniques that could match the power of ninjutsu. While he wasn't able to make genjutsu of his own, he had some ideas that he wanted to test. His skill and strength in taijutsu was unmatched by any other genin, according to Kakashi, especially after he trained to turn his strange movements into an actual style that he was workshopping a name for. The three jonin senseis were often caught off guard when they let him fight one of their Shadow Clones. Most of all, Adrik was able to use his power on command, though it would exhaust him if he used it too much. He had come to call his power an 'Element'.
Now, he wanted to learn about fuinjutsu as well. Even if he couldn't actually use it, identifying seals would definitely benefit him in the future, especially if Naruto was going to learn it. For now, though, he would just focus on the mission. After all, he has more time than most.
X
The hours after everyone woke up were uneventful. The group of ninja and the civilian they were escorting continued until they got to a shoreline at the end of the road. Sitting there was a man in a small boat looking anxious.
"Tazuna! I was beginning to get worried you got caught by Gato's men. Are you alright?"
The old bridge builder nodded.
"Yep! These ninjas did better than I could've hoped for."
The other man nodded.
"Well, get on. I don't feel good waiting any longer."
Tazuna nodded and the man motioned for everyone to climb into the boat. A few seconds passed and the boat was off.
Some time passed and a layer of mist settled over the water, somewhat obscuring everyone's vision. They couldn't help but notice when the boat's engine was shut off after only a few minutes of running.
"Hey, what's the problem?"
The man steering the boat pulled out two oars from the floorboard and began rowing. He looked to Naruto as he responded to the teen's question.
"The engine's too loud. It'll take longer like this, but at least we won't be heard nearly as easily."
Naruto nodded in understanding.
It wasn't long before the boat became overshadowed by a large structure on the water. Everyone looked over to see a gigantic bridge, to which Tazuna grinned slightly.
"There it is. This, my ninja friends, is the bridge that gives my country hope, built by yours truly."
Adrik was the only one that didn't seem impressed. Tazuna noticed this and spoke up.
"Something wrong, kid? I thought you'd be more amazed at my architectural skills."
Adrik shook his head.
"It's impressive, but it's just... Well, where I come from, I would see stuff like this pretty often. I guess it's more nostalgic than it is impressive."
"Really? But I thought you were from the same village as them."
Adrik shrugged.
"I was transferred to the Hidden Leaf not too long ago."
Tazuna waited for the teen to explain further but shrugged as he didn't continue.
A few minutes of rowing passed and they all got out of the boat as they stopped at the new shoreline. The man in the boat stayed behind before beginning to row off again. Tazuna called out to the man as he went back into the mist.
"I forgot to thank you for helping us out!"
The man waved before getting back to rowing.
"Just finish the bridge! That's the only thing I ask!"
Tazuna nodded and everyone waved back at the man. They turned around and got back to walking, following the bridge to the road leading into the Land of Waves. The only thing welcoming them to the country was the faint mist that seemed ever present.
X
Adrik looked up from the ground when he noticed a new signal appear not too far ahead. He was lost in thought and had only now regained his focus on sensing. He moved towards Kakashi as they walked and spoke in a whisper.
"One signal. One hundred fifty meters down the road, give or take. Left side, forest line. High chunin level."
Kakashi nodded and his visible eye narrowed.
"Tell the others."
Adrik nodded and slowed his pace to walk next to his teammates. He repeated the information, making them all nod in response.
They continued down the road further until Adrik flinched again. He looked over at a bush with confusion, making everyone stop in their tracks. Walking over and moving the bushes aside, he caught a glimpse of a white rabbit running away.
"It was just a rabbit...?"
This confused the other ninjas as they had all assumed they were about to fight another enemy chunin.
"Are there any other signals you can sense?"
Adrik shook his head at Kakashi. The jonin put a hand on his chin as he tried to come up with an explanation since Adrik's sensing had never been wrong before.
Adrik's eyes widened when he sensed a new signal fast approaching.
"New signal, high jonin!"
Adrik pointed towards the opposite side of the road that the rabbit had been on. Everyone turned to face the direction the teen pointed in before Kakashi shouted to them.
"Everyone, get down!"
The order came just in time as a giant sword flew over their heads and got lodged in a tree. Adrik let go of Sakura and Tazuna, who he had to bring down to the ground with him. Looking over, he and everyone else saw a ninja standing on the handle of the giant sword in the tree. He wore cow print arm and leg warmers with blue button up pants. His face was covered by white bandages in a similar fashion to Kakashi's face mask. His Hidden Mist headband was slashed, signaling his status as a missing nin, and tilted to face the side. The only thing even remotely covering his torso was the straps for the holster of his giant sword. All four genin, along with Tazuna, shivered to varying degrees as the new enemy stared them down with murderous eyes.
"Well, now, what do we have here?"