Tazuna was a bridge-building expert from the Land of Waves.
The country he came from was a tiny island nation with little territory and a small population.
During the war, it had been a strategic point contested between Konohagakure and Kirigakure. After the war, however, it became a neglected no-man's-land, routinely preyed upon by rogue ninja and unscrupulous merchants alike.
The great nations did not care, but as one of the most well-known figures in the Land of Waves, Tazuna refused to give up hope.
Yet the bridge he had pinned all his hopes on—a massive structure connecting the island to the mainland—kept facing threats from the merchant Gatō during construction.
Tazuna knew Gatō would not stop the bridge from being completed. But once it was finished, the bridge that was meant to bring hope to the people of the Land of Waves would most likely fall entirely under Gatō's control.
That was something he absolutely could not allow.
This time, after purchasing several construction materials scarce in his homeland from the Fire Capital, he did not return to the Land of Waves with the rest of the caravan. Instead, he headed to Konohagakure, intending to hire a squad of ninja to help him escape his predicament.
The problem was that he had already spent nearly all the money he had on hand. He could not afford to issue a high-level mission, so he concealed a great deal of information and only submitted a C-rank escort request.
At present, he had already remained in Konoha for several days without anyone accepting the mission, and he was growing increasingly uneasy.
After all, concealing mission intelligence was an extremely serious matter.
In truth, he only knew that Gatō had ninja working under him. He had no idea who they actually were.
But no matter how you looked at it, any mission involving ninja should be at least B-rank or higher—and Tazuna could not afford that kind of payment.
That morning, before Team Seven gathered, Makoto arrived at the Hokage's office.
Minato handed him a file and said, "Makoto, haven't Naruto and the others been complaining nonstop about wanting to take on higher-ranked missions outside the village? Take a look at this."
Makoto quickly skimmed through the document. It contained the recent intelligence gathered by the Anbu regarding the Land of Waves.
Konoha might not care much about the Land of Waves, but that did not mean they would completely ignore it.
"This Gatō guy really isn't behaving himself," Makoto remarked. "He got rich doing business with the Land of Fire, yet he still secretly shelters missing-nin from other villages. Even the legendary Demon of the Mist, Momochi Zabuza."
"If the Anbu hadn't investigated things beforehand and a normal squad had been sent instead, they could've easily been wiped out on the spot."
Minato smiled. "Exactly. That's why I plan to hand this mission over to you. It solves the problem while also giving Naruto and the others valuable experience."
"So," Makoto asked, "how far do you want me to take this?"
"As for Zabuza, whether he lives or dies is up to you," Minato replied. "But Gatō has already crossed the line. He needs to disappear. Afterward, Konoha's merchant guilds will take over his company."
"And what about Tazuna?" Makoto asked. "He concealed critical mission information."
"Scare him a little and leave it at that," Minato said. "He's highly respected within the Land of Waves. He can help us quickly establish influence over that strategically important island nation."
"Alright. Got it."
...
Inside Konoha's mission assignment hall—
Makoto walked in with the three little members of Team Seven behind him.
The trio were burning with excitement. They had already made their preparations and were finally about to leave behind those boring low-level missions and begin their true ninja careers.
When the staff member in charge of assigning missions spotted Makoto, he smiled and said, "Makoto-sama, your squad really is hardworking. Same as usual today?"
"Nope. If we keep doing D-rank missions, these little brats are going to nag me to death. Find me a C-rank mission outside the village."
"Hahaha, is that so? Alright then, let me take a look."
The staff member pretended to examine the mission list before saying, "How about this escort mission? The client is waiting outside right now, so you can depart immediately."
"Is that so? Then we'll take this one."
"Tazuna-san, please come in. A squad has accepted your mission."
Soon, a middle-aged-to-elderly man staggered in reeking of alcohol, still carrying a liquor bottle in hand. At first glance, he looked incredibly unreliable.
There was no label on the bottle. Makoto sniffed the scent drifting from it—it was the cheap smell of low-quality bulk liquor. Apparently, this man had not gone broke from spending all his money on alcohol.
If that had actually been the case, Makoto would only have one thing to say:
You'd have deserved whatever happened to you.
"Hic!" The old man let out a drunken belch and squinted at the four members of Team Seven through blurry eyes. One adult ninja who looked utterly unmotivated, plus three obvious rookie genin.
"So you're the ones who accepted my mission, huh? Hm… you all look pretty weak."
The three little brats instantly looked displeased. If not for the rules, they would have wanted to beat the hell out of this bastard on the spot.
Makoto said flatly, "A C-rank mission only pays that much money, and you still want to be picky? Are you here to deliberately cause trouble? We already accepted the mission, so are you coming or not?"
"Alright, alright," Tazuna muttered. "Looks like I don't have much choice. Hopefully you people are at least somewhat reliable."
"Don't worry," Makoto replied. "If we run into danger, we'll definitely run very fast. You absolutely won't need to worry about our safety."
Tazuna: "…"
I'm worried about my own safety, damn it.
...
If they traveled at a ninja's pace, the four members of Team Seven could have reached the Land of Waves in a very short amount of time.
But Tazuna was an ordinary person. He obviously did not possess the superhuman mobility of ninja.
So this would end up being a rather ordinary journey.
After more than a day of travel, the squad finally left Konoha's sphere of influence. To the three little brats, everything around them now felt fresh and unfamiliar.
Watching their reactions, Tazuna felt increasingly hopeless.
"So they really are rookies leaving the village for the first time," he muttered. "That's honestly pretty worrying."
Naruto and Sasuke could not even be bothered to respond to him, but the little pink-haired girl was having none of it.
She immediately snapped back, "Old man, you've been whining nonstop since yesterday. Are you looking down on us Konoha ninja or something?"
"Goodness, what a bad-tempered girl. At this rate, nobody's ever going to want to marry you."
That single sentence instantly applied an anger buff to Sakura.
"Bastard! I'm gonna kill you!"
Sasuke grabbed Sakura with one hand and subtly signaled toward a puddle by their feet.
The little pink-haired girl puffed up her cheeks and decided to temporarily spare their client's life.
"By the way," Tazuna asked, "where's your team leader? Why haven't I seen him at all?"
Naruto replied calmly, "That's none of your business. With us around, protecting you is more than enough."
At that very moment, two figures suddenly burst out from the puddle the group had just passed, charging straight toward the bridge-building expert with murderous intent.
In a Body Flicker, Sakura instantly appeared in front of Tazuna, kunai in hand as she shielded the client.
She might have been furious that the old man cursed her to never get married, but as a ninja of Konohagakure, her professional ethics were still excellent.
The two enemies were dressed strangely and moved at incredible speed. Between them stretched a sharp bladed chain. Whether ninja or civilian, anyone caught in it would instantly be twisted into several bloody chunks, leaving no intact corpse behind.
But Naruto and Sasuke were even faster.
The two moved simultaneously, one from each side, each delivering a kick that slammed the enemies into each other and knocked them unconscious on the spot.
The Naruto and Sasuke of this world had trained in the dojo since childhood. Their strength was far beyond that of the original timeline.
As for the two Kirigakure missing-nin following Momochi Zabuza—Gōzu and Meizu—although they possessed chūnin-level ability and carried the intimidating title of the Demon Brothers, their actual strength was mediocre at best.
They could not even withstand a single hit before instantly getting taken out, completely failing to live up to the terrifying aura of their entrance.
Sasuke and Naruto were visibly excited.
This—this was exactly the kind of mission they wanted.
Defeat enemies. Protect the target. Perfect.
"Flashy outfits, trash-tier strength. Bad review."
At some point, Makoto had already appeared beside the Demon Brothers and casually delivered his evaluation. Then he looked toward Tazuna.
"They were targeting you. If I remember correctly, the mission you commissioned was only C-rank. But now enemy ninja have appeared—and they're Kirigakure missing-nin at that.
"Tazuna-san, you concealed mission-critical information. If you can't provide a reasonable explanation, then our mission ends here."
"Uh, well… actually, I didn't know either… um…"
Tazuna was completely numb. The heart that had been hanging in suspense all this time finally died for good.
"Ordinarily, Konoha would pursue accountability for your deception," Makoto continued. "But considering you're probably about to be brutally murdered by your enemies anyway, we'll let it slide. In that case, you'll just have to head back on your own."
"Please, you absolutely can't do that!"
Tazuna instantly unleashed the legendary Art of Dogeza Apology, throwing himself to the ground while tears and snot streamed down his face. After explaining the real situation, he pleaded desperately: "Please, I beg Konoha to help me! If I go back like this, not only will I die, but my poor daughter and adorable grandson will also be killed by Gatō!"
The three little brats were only twelve-year-old kids. They had never seen anything like this before, and all of them were affected by the tragic scene in front of them.
Especially Sakura. She was a kind-hearted girl.
"Sensei… are we really just going to ignore this?"
"Oh dear, what a difficult situation," Makoto sighed theatrically. "On one side, there are the village regulations. On the other, the ninja principles Konoha upholds. Whatever should we do?
"Ah, I've got it. Since there are four of us, let's settle this democratically. Continue the mission or return now—you decide for yourselves."
Looking at Tazuna's pitiful state, Sakura spoke first.
"I vote to continue the mission. Even if he's really annoying, we can't just stand by and let his daughter and grandson get killed."
Her teammates had only just begun their long-awaited ninja lives. There was no way they would willingly turn back halfway through.
Sasuke snorted. "Hmph. I agree to continue. Those two guys just now weren't enough to satisfy me."
Naruto grinned. "I'm in too. We'll just treat it as a mission upgrade. I'm sure Tazuna-san would be willing to pay the additional commission afterward, right?"
Tazuna did not dare object.
"I will! Absolutely! I'll raise the money once we get back!"
Makoto nodded. "Alright then. Three votes to one. Motion passed. Mission continues."
"Yes!"
Inside her heart, Sakura made a little victory gesture to herself.
This was not only the victory of love.
It was also the victory of justice.
Which meant that love really was justice after all.
"Hmph."
Sasuke maintained his cool pose, though the slight curve at the corner of his mouth showed he was in a good mood.
Naruto pointed at the unconscious enemies. "Sensei, what about those two? Are we just leaving them here?"
Makoto's previously relaxed expression suddenly turned stern.
"Naruto, what kind of nonsense are you talking about? The only good enemy is a dead enemy. Since you were the ones who decided to continue the mission, then deal with the trouble yourselves."
So… they were really going to kill people now?
Even after years of training and being raised from childhood with a ninja's education, when faced with actual killing, hesitation still surfaced in their hearts.
No matter what, this was a hurdle they had to overcome.
The first to move was Sasuke.
After a brief moment of mental preparation, the cold handsome boy stepped forward, drew a kunai, paused for an instant—then slit Gōzu's throat in one motion.
Afterward, he looked toward Naruto, his gaze complicated yet openly provocative.
Naruto did the same thing.
He slit Meizu's throat.
Sakura had gotten lucky. There were only two enemies, so it was not her turn.
But the shock she experienced was no less than that of her two teammates.
At this moment, they finally understood that being a ninja was not a game, nor was it only about passionate battles.
There was also merciless killing.
If you had never seen blood, then you could not call yourself a ninja.
Seeing that both disciples had completed their first kills, Makoto sighed softly.
"This is the life of a ninja. Now you should have a deeper understanding of what that means."
"And one more thing: since you yourselves agreed to continue the mission, then you'll have to deal with the difficulties that come afterward on your own. A reminder—the enemy is very strong. If you respond carelessly…"
"You'll die."
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