“This mission is canceled,” Kakashi announced. “We return to Konoha immediately.”
“Like hell!” Naruto blurted. Everyone turned to stare at him. “We’ve come this far, haven’t we?”
“Naruto,” Sakura whined, “this is too big for us.”
“So what?” Naruto shot back. “We’re here, and it doesn’t sound like anyone else is coming. If we don’t do it, it won’t get done.”
“Hnn,” Sasuke said, although if this was agreement or refutation was anyone’s guess.
“Then it won’t get done,” Kakashi said calmly. “It’s not our concern.”
“It isn’t?” Naruto asked suddenly. He turned to Tazuna. “The bridge, it’s connecting Wave Country to…?”
Tazuna frowned. “The mainland of course.”
“The Land of Fire?” Naruto pressed.
“Well, yes.”
Naruto gave Kakashi a triumphant grin. “So it is our concern!”
Sakura stared at Naruto. That was actually well-reasoned. “And if they undercut Gato with the bridge that means lower costs for us trading with them,” she realized.
Naruto nodded vigorously. “Exactly, exactly! Keep going, Sakura-chan!”
Sakura groaned as she realized Naruto hadn’t thought it out beyond the bridge being physically in the Land of Fire. “It’ll be good for all the villages near the bridge…but that just means those villages should all band together to pay for stronger ninja!”
Naruto wasn’t about to let a little thing like logic stop him and switched to another tack. “How can we get stronger if we don’t push ourselves?” Naruto asked, looking to Kakashi. “We need to do this, for our own strength! And we will, believe it!”
Sasuke nodded his head firmly in agreement. Becoming stronger was always a priority, after all.
Kakashi looked over his genin. Naruto was a bundle of confidence and energy. Sasuke was almost smiling at the thought of getting stronger. Sakura would follow Sasuke, but still looked uncertain. “What a troublesome team,” he murmured. “Very well; we make for Wave Country.”
Tazuna raised his eyebrows in surprise and smiled slightly for the first time in a long, long time.
After a few more miles the team reached the shores to The Land of Waves and hired a boat to take them across. Kakashi pointed out that they were vulnerable in the small boat, and they kept quiet. Naruto was completely relaxed, not feeling vulnerable at all since he had wings if he really needed to get out of the boat.
Kakashi noticed. “Naruto,” he asked softly, “what were you going to do to those ninja?”
Naruto blinked. “Eh?”
“Before I stopped them from getting to Sakura and Tazuna,” Kakashi said. “You were about to do something.”
“Ah,” Naruto stalled, thinking furiously. “I was going to summon a dragon.”
Kakashi looked Naruto over. His own summoning contract was suited to recon rather than combat, but he knew that summoning a combat-ready ally made for good strategy. “But you weren’t making handsigns.”
Naruto winced. “I guess I still need summoning practice?”
Kakashi held Naruto’s eyes a few seconds longer. “Okay,” he said simply, looking out at the rising mist. Naruto’s secret could wait; he didn’t know if the mist was natural or ninjutsu, but either way it would be to the advantage of any Mist-nin still out there.
They passed the bridge without incident, and kept passing it. The sheer scale of Tazuna’s project settled in on the ninja. This was no simple footpath; this was a monster causeway that could take heavy merchant traffic for years or decades without a problem. Sakura was right. If the bridge was completed, it would open up new markets for small merchants throughout the area.
Then they made the shoreline and all hell broke loose.
At first it was just some fog, then came the laugh. Low, sinister, confidant. “A ninja, three children, and a man marked for death. I suppose the only question is how I should kill you, and how slow you should die.”
Kakashi whirled in the direction of the voice, kunai already in hand with a double-handed guard for maximum flexibility. “Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura! Defense formation around Tazuna! Leave the fighting to me!” The genin hesitated a moment and Kakashi turned to glare at them. “Now!”
The voice laughed again. “Konohagakure genin. Useless as always.” The mist faded slowly.
Kakashi locked his eye on the revealed figure. He was standing on a giant sword lodged into a tree about three meters up. Kakashi scowled under his mask and reached for his protector. “Demon of the Mist, Zabuza.”
“Oh ho?” Zabuza murmured, looking Kakashi over. “Sharingan Kakashi. I recognize you from my bingo book.”
“Sharingan?” Sasuke whispered under his breath. Was Kakashi a distant cousin or something?
“It will be an honor to kill the infamous Copy Ninja,” Zabuza was said. Which only gave Sasuke any real information.
“Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura whimpered, “who is this guy?”
“His name is Zabuza,” Kakashi said, tone low and emotionless. “He was the only ninja in his class to graduate from Mist Academy, because he killed all the others.” The genin paled at this revelation. “A few years ago he went rogue. I thought he was dead.”
Zabuza’s private massacre was enough to make Team 7 pale, but knowing they were against a missing-nin was ten times worse. A foreign-nin you could trust to do his duty and complete his mission. Zabuza had broken the covenant with the ninja world; his priorities were himself alone. It made him unpredictable and ten times as dangerous.
“Gato wants the bridge builder’s head as a mantelpiece,” Zabuza said conversationally. “But for a shot at Copy Ninja Kakashi, I might have to disappoint him.” With that, the mist rose again.
Naruto tightened his grip on his kunai and thought. Contrary to popular belief, Naruto had never been dumb. A dumb person does not invent a jutsu with a high probability of rendering the Hokage inactive long enough to make an escape. Since his draconic apophasis, Naruto had been able to channel that creativity more usefully.
Zabuza had two stated goals. What Zabuza said couldn’t be trusted. They had proof that Tazuna was being targeted. This mist was blocking Naruto’s enhanced senses. Kakashi only had human senses. Kakashi could not find Zabuza in the mist. Kakashi could not get between Zabuza and Tazuna. Zabuza did not think genin were a threat. Tazuna was an easy target.
Naruto reached his conclusion at the same time Zabuza’s voice echoed within the unnatural mist. “Three genin in a defensive posture. How cute. I can just-”
“Summoning no jutsu!” Naruto yelled, releasing the chakra that held his human form as he made a sign.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:27)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.