"Well, that's one way of doing it but now we don't know what they want?" said Kakashi, putting his book away and walking toward the soon to be dead nukenin.
"Oh no, they found me," whispered Tazuna, not thinking about the shinobi surrounding him.
"So they were after you?" asked Naruto, having heard the old man clearly.
"So it would seem," said Kakashi, wiping a bloody kunai off on his pant leg and holstering it.
Naruto looked over to see the last nukenin's throat slashed for a quick death.
"Mind explaining why?" asked Kakashi, looking Tazuna straight in the eye.
"My country is poor, even poorer now because of Gato," started Tazuna fearfully. "He came to wave years ago, setting up his new business headquarters. He promised jobs and a new vitality to my people. He lied. It was subtle at first, buying up businesses along the waterfront, then smaller shippers, and then docks and warehouses until before we knew it he had squeezed every last one of us out of the water front. From there he began his real business, shipping in illegal narcotics from somewhere in Mizu no Kuni then ferrying them into Hi no Kuni and elsewhere. Me and my son-in-law thought to build a bridge, cut Gato out, he didn't like that but he couldn't stop it. We've been fighting to build the bridge but he keeps sending his thugs down to scare away my workers and he's been succeeding, finally we took up a collection, the entire wealth of my village went into paying for this mission but . . . I never thought he'd find out and hire shinobi to stop me."
"I see, then this mission is clearly mislabeled, we should turn back," said Kakashi.
Naruto knew that Kakashi was right but he knew too that he had to see this mission through. "We can't do that."
"What was that, Naruto? Are you countermanding my orders?"
"No, sensei. But we can do this. We can help him and save their country."
"Next will most likely be a jounin," he countered.
"You can take him," said Naruto confidently. "We can do this. You can fight the jounin and we can clean up any slack and protect Tazuna while we're at it."
"Do you two feel the same?" asked Kakashi, looking at Sasuke and Sakura.
Sasuke nodded once, it was the only answer he need to give.
Sakura looked a bit out of it after the shower of gore that happened just a few meters away. She took one shuddering breath before looking to him. "We can do it."
"Hmm, well, I can see when I'm out voted. But keep in mind, Tazuna-san, you will be billed the difference in mission cost with some very severe penalties," warned Kakashi.
"Thank you, thank you so much," said the old man, nearly in tears.
"Well, let's get moving again, I want to cross into Nami no Kuni tomorrow morning so we need to cover a little more ground today."
Naruto took point once again and began walking, the rest of his team and Tazuna falling in behind him as they went. He didn't notice Kakashi wasn't with them at first until he smelled meat cooking somewhere nearby. When he noticed Kakashi was missing only to appear a few minutes later it was apparent he'd stayed behind to burn the bodies.
You have slept in a tent and sleeping bag. HP & CP are 50% restored.
As soon as Naruto stepped on the boat he received his next quest notice.
Objective Completed: Awarded 5000 Exp.
Naruto was happy for that but they still had to reach Tazuna's home safely, something that may be extremely dangerous.
The boat ride over was quiet, Naruto even managed to refrain from yelling in awe at the bridge. He was too nervous about what might be waiting for them on the other side of the bridge, especially with the fog that seemed to linger everywhere.
Thankfully the ride was quiet the whole way, not even a rough wave. They walked through the village that felt deserted and given the fog it was understandable for people to stay inside, it certainly had an ominous feel to it.
Tazuna guided them through town toward a little dirt road that went along the coast toward his home. It seemed that as they walked the mist was getting thick until Naruto's [Observe] popped up.
[Kirigakure no Jutsu] – An elemental technique that creates a thick chakra laden mist to obscure the user.
Naruto swallowed thickly, trying to subtly arm himself with a pair of kunai, looking left and right trying to see through the mist. Then he caught brief sight of a name tag behind some nearby bushes that vanished before he could really read any more than the '?' for a level.
"Jounin," whispered Naruto, just loud enough for his team and Tazuna to hear.
Kakashi frowned behind his mask as the fog seemed to be thickening, become more of a mist.
"Protect Tazuna," he ordered before fading from sight.
Naruto saw brief flashes of a name tag in the mist of both his sensei and their attacker, they would clash suddenly with loud clangs of metal before separating just as quickly. Naruto wanted so badly to help but at the speed the two jounin were moving he knew he'd be more of a hindrance than a help at this point.
"What's going on?" asked Tazuna, finally finding his voice.
"Kakashi-sensei is fighting someone," answered Sakura, her voice quavering fearfully.
Naruto looked back at her to see her holding a kunai in front of herself, she was shaking but trying admirably to put on a brave face.
Naruto's decision to check on Sakura proved a boon as their attacker appeared suddenly in their midst. He was a tall man, taller than Kakashi, he held a huge cleaver sword in one hand that was already slicing through the air toward Tazuna.
Naruto reacted immediately stabbing the shirtless man with both kunai in between his ribs. Naruto was shocked at how quickly he'd reacted, he was even more surprised when the man burst into water soaking the genin and Tazuna alike.
It shook Naruto up a little but also woke him up, allowing him to turn back to watching the area around them for another sneak attack.
Tazuna meanwhile was clutching his chest like he was having a heart attack or maybe just a panic attack. The poor old man looked ready to pass out at any moment.
Naruto formed a handful of Kage Bunshin wordlessly, one instantly stood at his back to keep an eye on the person they were guarding while the other clones reinforced the genin perimeter, not that they would stop a jounin but if he killed one on the way to attacking, they would at least have a little warning.
Suddenly the mist cleared as a massive gust of wind blew it away allowing the genin to see properly what was going on.
Momochi Zabuza Lv?
Kakashi and Zabuza stood about three meters away from each other, neither moving, just studying the other, waiting for one of them to make a move.
Naruto swallowed thickly at the tension that seemed to permeate the air in place of the mist that previously obscured everything.
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