章 7: Chapter 7: The Land of Waves!

Naruto and his sensei had been traveling for the majority of the night only stopping for a small break once. The sun was just beginning to rise, and Naruto and his sensei had just arrived at the shores of the Land of Fire. They were staring out at a rather large river in front of them trying to see the shores on the other side but could not because of the dense fog covering the area.

"The Land of Waves is just on the other side of this river," Yamato said as he walked up the edge of the water. He then flashed through two hand seals before a few wooden beams came out from the water and formed a small boat. Naruto could not help but smile when he saw this.

"Got to love wood release," he commented with a smile causing his sensei to chuckle before making two oars out of wood. Naruto then held up a half ram seal and created two shadow clones to row the boat.

"Wood release and shadow clones, it almost feels as though we are cheating," Yamato said as he stepped into the boat. Naruto let out a small laugh before stepping in the boat as well. He sat at the back of the boat while his sensei sat in the front with the two clones rowing the boat in the center. Naruto leaned back in the boat and propped his legs up over the side before he took a deep breath of the morning air.

"What exactly was Team 7's mission?" Naruto asked as he exhaled.

"The scroll did not go into many details about what happened but apparently they had a mission to protect a bridge-builder while he was building a bridge in the Land of Waves," Yamato explained as they sailed through the morning fog. "The client request was for C-rank level protection, but apparently he lied about the danger he was in," he said causing Naruto to contemplate on the details he just received.

"I'm guessing there are ninjas that are after the bridge-builder?" Naruto asked earning a nod from his sensei.

"That is the only hypothesis that makes any sense as to why Kakashi-senpai would request back up for a C-rank mission," Yamato said. Naruto still had a puzzled look on his face, however, there was something about the whole situation that was bugging him.

"How did Team 7 get a C-rank mission to begin with?" he asked with a puzzled look on his face. "It's only been a week since they were a team. The most mission they could have completed in that time is about 14 D-rank missions," Naruto added as he folded his arms. "That's well below the required 26," he said.

"That is true," Yamato said as he began thinking about what his student said.

"The only reason we got one this early is that we completed 51 D-rank missions and that is thanks to the clones," Naruto continued trying to figure out why team 7 was allowed to break the rules. "They are well below the required amount but still allowed to part go on a C-rank mission," he said before letting out a sigh. "Something does not add up," he added.

"Let it go, it's best not to get involved in village politics," Yamato said causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow at him. It was an odd statement in Naruto's opinion.

'How is this village politics?' Naruto asked himself. His sensei clearly knew something he did not.

"I am the acting head of the Senju clan," Naruto said surprising his sensei. Yamato was not aware of that fact, he had assumed Tsunade was still the head of the clan. "So, getting into the politics of the village is part of the job," Naruto added earning an understanding nod from his sensei.

"Well, you see," Yamato began as he let out a sigh. "The only reason that I could think of as to why they were allowed to go on a C-rank mission before meeting the necessary requirements is that Sasuke Uchiha is part of the team," he said causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Why would he be the reason?" he asked clearly confused as to why the Uchiha is getting special treatment.

"Well, you are new to the village so it is understandable that you wouldn't know," Yamato said remind Naruto that there was still a lot about the village that he was unfamiliar with. "Ever since the Uchiha Massacre, Sasuke Uchiha was treated like a king by the civilian council. They made sure he had an easy time in the academy and they basically do anything he asks them to do," he said causing Naruto's eyes to narrow.

"But that still does not explain how they got a C-rank mission," Naruto stated, knowing very well the civilians do not have that kind of power. "Even if they spoil the idiot, they don't have any authority over mission assignments," he said.

"In recent years, the civilian part of the council has been in the good graces of the three elders," Yamato said causing Naruto to narrow his eyes further. His grandmother and godfather had warned him about those three old fools. "That has made them believe that they can act out even against some of the shinobi of the village. It is likely that Sasuke Uchiha had complained to the council about doing D-rank missions. And the council probably ordered one of the chunins in the assignment hall to give him a C-rank mission went he Hokage was not there," Yamato speculated. Naruto was getting angrier and angrier the more his sensei went on.

"I am going to raise hell over this," Naruto said plotting how he was going to tear into the council once he gets back. "And why did Kakashi go along with all this?" he asked the next question that came to mind.

"Kakashi-senpai probably that it was a simple C-rank mission," Yamato said coming to the defense of his former captain. "You rarely experience combat on a C-rank mission. We saw combat on ours because it was a more advanced C-rank mission, whereas the mission team 7 was assigned the most they would have had to deal with was bandits and highwaymen," he said with a sigh. "For Kakashi to request back up means that they likely encountered an enemy jonin," he added. Naruto was about to say something, but before he could one of the clones spoke up getting his attention.

"Woah, what is that?" the clone asked in a surprised voice while squinting his eyes to see through the fog. Naruto looked ahead of the boat and could see the silhouette of something large in front of them.

"What the hell is that?" he asked in a surprised voice as the boat got closer and closer to the thing.

"I believe that is the bridge that is being built," Yamato said as they stared up at the extremely tall structure. "I have to admit it is quite impressive," he added earning him a nod from his student.

"It's the biggest bridge I've ever seen," Naruto said before turning his attention to the front of the boat. "Are we supposed to go through there?" he asked while pointing to what looks like a tunnel.

"Yeah," Yamato said as he looked where his student was pointing. "On the other side of the tunnel is the Land of Waves," he said. When the board exited the tunnel Naruto could not help but marvel at the splendid beauty that was the Land of Waves. The fog was absent beyond the tunnel allowing them to see clearly at the beautiful landscape before them.

"This place looks so peaceful," Naruto said as he stared out over the sparkling water. The clones continued to row the boat until they arrived at the local dock. Disembarking from the boat, Naruto looked at his sensei and spoke. "How are we supposed to find this bridge builder's house?" he asked as he dispelled his clones.

"I guess we should ask around," Yamato suggested. The duo then began walking around the small port looking for someone to ask. There were very few people around which surprised Yamato. He remembered the Land of waves being very lively and prosperous when he last came here, but now everything looks abandoned and run down. They finally found an old man sitting by one of the docks and decided to ask him. "Excuse me," Yamato said getting the man's attention. "Can you tell us how to get to the bridge builder's house?" he asked causing the old man to narrow his eyes at them.

"Why do you want to find Tazuna's house?" the man asked as he eyed the teacher-student duo with a suspicious eye.

"Well, we are from the Leaf village," Yamato explained. "Some of our colleagues were hired to protect Tazuna, we are here as backup," he said causing the man's eyes to widen slightly.

"Oh heavens! Thank you!" the man said puzzling Naruto and Yamato. "Sorry for my mistrust, I just thought you were one of the ninjas trying to kill Tazuna," the man said with a relieved look on his face. "Tazuna's house is in the village more inland," the man said before walking past Naruto and pointing to a pathway going through the small forest. "That pathway will take you to the village. Tazuna's house is located at the very end of the village, on the waterfront," he said causing Naruto and Yamato to nod at him with a grateful look on their faces.

"Thank you very much," Yamato said as both he and Naruto bowed slightly to the old man before they began walking towards the village. The duo walked for about thirty minutes before they arrived at the village. As they were walking through the village both Naruto and his sensei were surprised at the state of things here in the Land of the Wave. It looked like the entire country was struck by poverty but neither of them could understand why. Usually, a country is hit by poverty because of a war of some sort but no war had taken place here. As they walked through the village, they drew fearful stares from the villagers.

"Something is definitely happening here that we are unaware of," Naruto noted in a whisper for his sensei to hear.

"I agree," Yamato said with a slight nod. "Hopefully Kakashi-senpai can tell us more," he added as he continued down the dirt road to Tazuna's house. They walked for about another fifteen minutes before they arrived at a small two-story house on the waterfront with a small dock behind it. They walked up to the front door and knocked on it a few times. Some voices could be heard from inside the house along with some people shuffling around. Suddenly without any warning, the door flew open, and an Uchiha holding a kunai came charging out towards Naruto and Yamato causing them to raise an eyebrow. The sudden attack was nowhere near fast enough to take either of them by surprise. Naruto sighed to himself before he reached out with his right hand grabbed the Uchiha by the throat and lifted him the air. He then took his left hand grabbed the boy's hand that was holding the kunai before pinning him to the side of the door frame.

"Have you lost your damn mind, boy!" Naruto said as he held the Uchiha up against the door frame causing him to drop the kunai and began gasping for air. Yamato looked on with a slightly amused look on his face before he calmly walked past his student and stepped into the house. "Why in God's name are you attacking someone so blindly!?" he asked. If Naruto was being honest, he was enjoying himself at the moment.

"LET SASUKE GO!" came a screech from inside the house causing Naruto to flinch slightly and looked over to see who was screeching like that. When he looked over, he saw the pink-haired girl from the academy. If he remembered correctly, he believed her name was Sakura Haruno.

"Let him go, Naruto," his sensei said in an amused tone from inside the house causing Naruto to let go of his grip. Sasuke then fell to the ground hunched over holding his throat while gasping for air. Naruto did not even spare him a glance, he just walked into the house passing the pink-haired girl running past him heading to check on the Uchiha. Sasuke was on the ground clutching his throat glaring daggers into Naruto's back.

'How is he so powerful!?' Sasuke screamed in his mind. 'He moved so fast and had me pinned to the wall like I was some plaything!' he thought as his anger continued to rise. 'I am an Uchiha! An elite! How can I lose to a freaking Senju!' he thought in anger.

"Sasuke are you okay?" Sakura asked as she kneeled down beside her teammate. Seeing the look Sakura was giving him only pissed him off further. She was looking at him with pity.

"Hn," he sounded out before standing up putting a tough look on his face as though he was fine before heading into the house.

'Sasuke's so cool!' Sakura squealed in her head before following him inside the house.

**With Naruto**

As Naruto entered the house, he saw Team 7's jonin sensei sitting behind a table with an old man to his right and a pale face boy who Naruto recalled was named Sai, sitting to his left. Next to the old man was a young woman who looked to be in her late twenties to early thirties and next to her was a little boy who had a sour look on his face. The group looks like they were getting ready to have breakfast judging from all the food that laid out on the table.

"You look like you have seen better days, Kakashi-senpai," Yamato said with a smiled as he walked up to the table.

"I'm just suffering from a bit of chakra exhaustion nothing major," the silver-haired jonin said with a wave as Sakura and Sasuke came and sat down beside Sai. "But when I requested the village to send reinforcements, I didn't expect them to send the Leaf village's star genin team," he said in a mildly surprising/teasing tone. His team on the other hand was beyond confused at what he meant.

"What do you mean sensei?" Sakura asked with a confused look on her face. Naruto and Yamato sat down at the table resting their legs for a bit.

"don't you know?" Sai asked as looked over at his two teammates with a smile that Naruto can immediately tell is fake. "Team 11 is all the talk around the village by both shinobi and civilians," he said with a fake smile surprising his two teammates.

"But how are they so famous?" Sakura asked.

"They broke the record for completing the most mission in a single week," Kakashi said in an impressed tone as he looked at Yamato and Naruto. "51 D-rank mission in a single week, that's beyond impressive," he added causing his two clueless student's eyes to widen in shock.

"But how is that possible?" Sakura asked while Sasuke simply glared at Naruto.

"Hard work and determination!" Naruto said causing the two jonin to chuckle.

"So Kakashi," Yamato said in a serious tone. "Are you going to brief us on what's going on?" he asked as he looked at his old friend. "We had just completed a C-rank mission when we received word to back you up and the scroll we received didn't go into much detail," he said earning a nod from his fellow jonin. Kakashi then began explaining to the two of them about the details of their mission along with their encounters on the way to the Land of Waves. Naruto had to admit he was surprised by the amount of trouble they went through just to get the bridge builder to his him. First encountering the Demon Brothers from the Hidden Mist and then encountering the Demon himself, Zabuza Momochi. But the thing that surprised Naruto and Yamato the most was the fact that these men were all hired by Gato, one of the wealthiest men in the world.

"I guess that explains why the village looks the way it does," Naruto noted causing Tazuna and his daughter to nod their heads.

"Yes, ever since Gato showed up here all of the sufferings began," Tazuna said with an angry look on his face. Naruto and Yamato nodded their heads with a sympathetic look on their faces. The table then fell silent for a few minutes before Sakura broke the silence.

"You said you guys were on a C-rank mission?" she asked earning a nod from Naruto and Yamato. "What was your mission?" she asked causing everyone to look at Naruto and Yamato.

"Nothing too major, we just had to eliminate some bandits near Tanzaku Quarters," Naruto replied causing the girl to tilt her head to the side in confusion.

"If you guys had to rush here after you your mission, what did you do with the bandits your captured?" she asked causing Naruto, Yamato, and Kakashi to look at her strangely.

"I didn't say our mission was to capture bandits, Ms. Haruno," Naruto said in a calm tone as he stared at the pink-haired girl. Sakura was confused even more by Naruto's statement. "I said our mission was to ELIMINATE them," he said putting emphasis on the word 'eliminate'. Sakura thought about it for a few seconds before her eyes widen in shock.

"You mean you..." she said before trailing off causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow at her. Sasuke was absolutely jealous when he heard what Naruto's mission was.

'That is a mission that should have been given to an elite like me, not a loser like him!' he thought to him as a look of jealously was written all over his face. Naruto caught a glimpse of it and could not help but smirk.

"So, what is the plan going forward?" Naruto asked in a serious tone.

"Well, I began training my genin in the tree walking exercise, you can join in if you want," he said causing Naruto and Yamato to look at him with a deadpan look on their faces.

"I'm sure it will take a loser like you a few weeks to understand something like that," Sasuke blurted out with an arrogant look on his face causing Naruto to sweat drop.

"I knew how to do the tree walking exercise since I was five," Naruto said surprising everyone at the table excluding his sensei. "And it only took my four days," he added causing the arrogant smirk that was on the Uchiha's face to disappear and replaced with a surprised/jealous look. He had been going at it for three days now and was nowhere close to climbing the tree but somehow the Senju had known this technique since he was five. That fact just pissed Sasuke off.

"You brought your students on a C-rank mission without teaching them chakra control, Kakashi-senpai?" Yamato asked with a disappointed look on his face.

"Well, we've been focusing on teamwork mostly," Kakashi said with a nervous chuckle causing both Naruto and his sensei to shake their head disapprovingly.

"Well then," Yamato said before turning to Tazuna. "While Kakashi-senpai recovers and his genin train, you will be guarded by either myself or Naruto here," he said while pointing to Naruto who waved and smiled at him.

"Is that brat really going to be able to protect me?" Tazuna asked in a straightforward manner causing Yamato to chuckle.

"He is only a genin in rank," Yamato said surprising everyone. "His skills are well beyond that of an average jonin," he added surprising Kakashi and his students. "He has even defeated me a few times," he said causing everyone's eyes to widen in shock.

"You will be safe in my care, I promise," Naruto said with a warm smile. Sasuke was staring at Naruto with a disbelieving look on his face while Tazuna's grandson was glaring at him.

'How can a loser like him be as powerful as a jonin?!' Sasuke asked himself as he stared at Naruto with a jealous look on his face. 'That kind of power should be mine! I need it to kill my brother and avenge my clan!' he thought angrily.

'Lord Danzo must be made aware of this,' Sai noted in his mind while staring at Naruto.

"Naruto, I will take the first shift," Yamato said as he turned to his student. "You go get some rest," he said causing Naruto to nod his head and stood up before he began heading outside.

"Naruto," Tazuna's daughter called out getting his attention. "There is a room upstairs where you can rest," she said causing Naruto to smile at her before speaking.

"Thank you, but it is already pretty crowded in here, I'll set up a house outside," he said nonchalantly before walking outside. Everyone except his sensei stared at him in confusion.

"What does he mean, set up a house?" Sakura asked the question on everyone's mind. Yamato just smiled before he spoke.

"You should go take a look outside, you'll see something special," he said with a smirk. Wanting to see what the jonin was talking about, the three genin, two jonin, and three civilians headed outside to see what the blonde was going to do. When they got outside, they saw Naruto standing in the open space near Tazuna's house flashing through hand seals before ending with the snake seal.

"Wood Style: Four-Pillar House Jutsu!" Naruto called out before slamming both of his palms on the ground. Sending chakra into the ground, Naruto caused wooden pillars to burst up from the ground and began shaping themselves into a house. It took three seconds before a large two-story house constructed itself in the once empty space. Above the doors to the house was the Senju clan's symbol engraved in the wood. Naruto then stood up straight and dusted off his hand before turning to his spectators only to see all of them except his sensei gaping like a fish. He always got a kick out of seeing people's reaction to his bloodline.

"See you!" he said before walking into the house to get some rest while at the same time leaving a group of stunned shinobi behind.

"Yamato, that was..." Kakashi began.

"Yes," Yamato replied with a smirk.

"That was the first Hokage's bloodline," Sakura whispered out. "How can he have the first Hokage's bloodline," she asked forgetting the fact that Naruto was a Senju.

"Well, that's because the first Hokage is his great-great-grandfather," Yamato replied.

'So that is the bloodline that is said to rival the Sharingan,' Sasuke noted.

'Lord Danzo must be made aware of this!' Sai thought to himself. Originally, he was placed on his team to keep an eye on Sasuke Uchiha, but this changes things.

"A brat like that might put me out of business," Tazuna said causing Yamato to chuckle. "I better get to the bridge," he added before looking at Yamato who nodded. After heading back inside to grab his things, Tazuna and Yamato set out for the bridge.

"You three head to the forest and continue your training," Kakashi said while looking at his students. Sasuke took one final look at the house and growled before walking off to the forest with Sakura and Sai following closely behind.

**Chapter End!**

That ends another chapter! It is shorter but I hope you enjoyed it!

Author's Note: Sorry for the late update, felt a bit too tired after my test and decided to take the day off from writing. As usual, I will be taking the weekend off as well so the next update won't come till Monday! Enjoy this chapter and have a good weekend!

Please leave a review!