Chapter 9: The Land Of Wave [Edited]
The following morning came with a wave of anticipation for Naruto. A C-rank mission had finally been assigned to his team, and he couldn't contain his excitement.
Despite his usual aversion to yoga, he found himself practicing a few poses early that morning, hoping to keep himself in optimal condition should their mission require any action.
After a refreshing bath, Naruto dressed up and headed out, making a quick stop at Ichiraku Ramen for breakfast.
He met up with his team - Sakura, Sasuke, and their sensei, Kakashi.
"Finally, we're stepping out of the village for a mission!" Naruto exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement.
"Do you think we'll be okay?" Sakura asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"Absolutely! At least Sasuke and I will be," Naruto responded, his playful smile never leaving his face. Sasuke simply nodded, while Sakura reddened slightly at the playful jibes about her strength.
Naruto handed over some explosive and barrier sealing tags to Sakura, explaining their uses and how to operate them, having tweaked them to his unique fighting style.
"So, you made these tags?" Sasuke asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.
"Obviously," Naruto replied nonchalantly, just as he finished his explanation to Sakura.
"But you gave me all the tags. Don't you need some?" Sakura asked, puzzled.
"Well, I don't need the Barrier seal, as I've my personal barrier that can stop enemy attacks. And although I made those explosive tags, I don't like using them much. They're kind of useless for me," Naruto stated dismissively.
Despite her confusion, Sakura just nodded.
"If you're done talking, let's go. We'll meet the bridge builder at the Assignment desk," Kakashi interjected.
When they arrived at the Mission Assignment desk, they were greeted by Iruka. "You are here. Hokage-sama told me you'll take the C-rank mission of escorting in the Land of Waves."
Kakashi nodded in affirmation.
"Here's the client," Iruka introduced, pointing towards the bridge builder they were supposed to escort.
The client took a swig from his sake and looked them over. "What's this? They're all a bunch of brats. How can they even protect me?" He then turned to Naruto, "That brat, is he blind? Why is he wearing a blindfold? I can't believe this is what your village can offer."
Naruto was irked by the man's insolence. He swiftly moved right in front of him, causing the man to drop his sake bottle. "Kids? You're mistaken, mister," Naruto's voice was chillingly calm, sending shivers down anyone's spine.
The room fell into an eerie silence which was then shattered by Naruto's enigmatic grin. "Rest assured, you're safe with us," he reassured, while moving back to stand with his teammates.
Sakura admired Naruto's cool demeanor, yet her heart was set on Sasuke. "He's so cool...but Sasuke...I like Sasuke," she repeated to herself.
The man, Tazuna, seemed to reassess his initial judgement of them. "Seems like you kids aren't just brats. I'm Tazuna, a bridge builder. I need your protection till I get back to my country and finish building my bridge."
Naruto let out a sigh, "Isn't that why we're here?"
Sakura and Sasuke shared a smirk at Naruto's remark. "Right, we should get going as per the mission's instructions."
With Tazuna, Team 7 departed from the village, having completed all the mission's preliminary procedures.
On their way, Naruto asked, "So, what's your country like? What's this bridge you're building... Can I call you Tazu-jiichan?"
Tazuna agreed and began describing his country. "It's much smaller compared to yours, no walls like Konoha. It's open to everyone," he paused, "which is why we have a gang problem."
Naruto absorbed Tazuna's words and continued walking. He noticed a puddle in the middle of the road ahead. "I get it. That's why you needed us," he said, a mischievous grin on his face.
Tazuna seemed to pay no mind to Naruto's words and carried on drinking his sake.
"Naruto, you thinking what I'm thinking?" Naruto asked Kakashi, eyeing the puddle.
Kakashi smiled, "Indeed. Good observation for someone his age," he thought.
Naruto wanted to try a new jutsu. "Can I handle this?"
"I'll step in if needed..." Kakashi replied.
"You won't have to," Naruto assured him.
Meanwhile, Sakura, Sasuke, and Tazuna looked on, utterly perplexed by their conversation. Sasuke watched them, a baffled expression on his face.
Sakura nodded in understanding, absorbing the information. "So, they rely on outside help because they can't support their own shinobi force," she said thoughtfully.
"Exactly," Kakashi confirmed, pushing off the tree and resuming their walk.
"So does that mean we won't encounter any foreign ninjas?" Sakura asked, trying to gauge the potential danger of their mission.
Kakashi glanced at Naruto, who was grinning widely. "Well," he said slowly, "that's always a possibility. But let's hope not."
Unbeknownst to them, Tazuna had been listening to the entire conversation. He started to sweat, anxiety creeping into his expression. Naruto and Sasuke noticed his discomfort but said nothing.
As they approached a puddle, Naruto and Kakashi tensed, ready for a potential ambush. Suddenly, steel chains lashed out from the water, wrapping around Kakashi's body before he could react.
"What the...?!" Kakashi exclaimed, caught off guard.
"One down," a hidden ninja smirked, pulling the chains tighter and tearing Kakashi apart.
"Naruto," Sakura gasped, terror-stricken. "What do we do?"
Naruto's grin didn't falter. "Sakura-chan," he said calmly, "prepare one of the barrier seals to protect Tazuna-san."
Sakura nodded, quickly pulling out a scroll and starting the necessary preparations.
Sakura nodded, taking in what she just heard, and continued on their journey.
"So, we're not expecting to bump into any foreign ninjas then?" Sakura queried.
Naruto shot a grin at Kakashi, "Nope, at least that's the plan," Kakashi replied, keeping his cards close to his chest.
Meanwhile, Tazuna, who had been eavesdropping, began to perspire nervously, a detail that didn't escape Naruto and Sasuke's keen eyes.
As they traversed a puddle, Naruto and Kakashi tensed, ready for a potential ambush.
Out of nowhere, steel chains ensnared Kakashi, catching him off guard. "What the-" he exclaimed, taken by surprise.
"One down," gloated one of the attacking ninjas as they shredded Kakashi's form.
Naruto, with a knowing smile, directed Sakura, "Sakura-chan, get ready with one of those barrier seals for Tazu-jiichan." Sakura acknowledged and prepared herself.
Approaching one of the assailants, Naruto caught him off guard with his speed. The ninja tried to retaliate but was thwarted by Naruto's limitless technique. "Is that all you got?" Naruto taunted, the smirk evident even beneath his blindfold.
"Wind-style-Rasengan!" Naruto shouted as he launched a combination of wind style and Rasengan. The ninja was instantly overwhelmed, pierced by a barrage of sharp needles and collapsing.
The sight of Naruto taking out one of their attackers with such efficiency left Sakura and Tazuna stunned.
Another ninja, shocked by Naruto's ruthlessness, and Sasuke, surprised but also recognizing he was once again outpaced by Naruto, claimed, "I'm taking the next one."
Seeing the imminent threat, the enemy ninja attempted to flee. However, before he could make his escape or Sasuke could intercept, Kakashi reappeared and dealt a swift blow.
He pinned the ninja under his foot, immobilizing him.
"Good work, Naruto. But what was that attack? Was it Fuinjutsu?" Sakura asked, her eyes shining with admiration and curiosity at Naruto's swift and lethal takedown.
"Well I just made the Rasengan beven better by adding the wind to it." Naruto said with a grin.
"You Combined the wind style with Rasengan already..." Kakashi who was listening to Naruto spoke.
"Yeah, Though I tried to make it for killing someone silently. I've another varient of it I'll show later..." Naruto said while fixing his blindfold.
Sasuke who was listening to the both spoke angrily "why did you do that ! That opponent was mine....." Sasuke said
Kakashi looked at Sasuke and said "Well.... If I Had Let you go to him , you would have killed him too.... We need one alive for information...." Kakashi explained.
"But he also killed one....." Sasuke pointed towards Naruto.
"Well... I tried to get him alive but he was too soft .... So you can't blame me for that." Naruto said with a mischievous grin.
Sasuke looked angrily towards Naruto while Naruto used body flicker technique to stand side by side with Sasuke and wrapped his hand around him "well , Next time I'll give you chance to fight for sure." Naruto said with a smile.
"Get off me.... " Sasuke screamed with anger at Naruto.
Naruto just laughed and left him. "alright alright don't be like that....." Naruto said with a smile.
Sakura and Tazuna both were stunned by how quickly they finished the fight and they are behaving like it was just some walk in the park for them . Sakura thought "I'll Become strong, I can't be a dead weight to the team."
Kakashi tied the Ninja who was still alive with a tree "Tazuna -san" Kakashi called Tazuna.
Tazuna felt sweat rolling over his face as he nervously said "What ?"
"I think you've something's to explain and you decide where you're going to start." Kakashi said . "These guys are hidden mist ninajas moreover they are chunins and they are trained to fight no matter what." Kakashi continued speaking.
"Ho.... How you guys noticed us ? " The Ninja asked Kakashi.
Naruto spoke in between "well because it was raining for last 7 days and it was too obvious that there will be puddle middle of the road after that much rain isn't it ?" Naruto said with an expressionless face.
Kakashi knew he was being sarcastic "You understand what he meant right ?" Kakashi asked the hidden mist ninja.
The Ninja sighed and thought that they were used to there country's weather which is why they forgot about the fact that in here it doesn't rain much like their country.
"well , if you knew all of that.... Why did you left the kids to fight them alone ?" Tazuna asked.
"well , Because I was confident that they can do great and I wanted to test them a little with a task like this." Kakashi said.
"Also I wanted to know why they are attacking my team , or even if they are attacking my team.... " Kakashi added with a suspicious look
"What.... Do you mean by that ?" Tazuna asked.
"Well , I think it's my turn to start asking questions and your turn to speak up the truth." Kakashi said to Tazuna with a serious tone.
[A.T : That's it for the chapter , from now on I'll write each chapter with 2000-2500 words. To be able to drop more Chapters.
If you find any mistake in my writings in this chapter or any chapter comment down and I'll try to fix them .
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I mean do you want a fast paced story or slow paced with more details. Comment down below.
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