"Hn... Is this a joke?" Sasuke whispered to his team.
Sakura narrowed her eyes at the man but returned to her medical book nonetheless as he held no interest to her.
Naruto, on the other hand, snickered faintly at Sasuke's comment.
The boys stared at the man, one with mockery and the other with a glare but not for long before Kakashi took it upon himself as their Sensei to smack the two over the heads.
The two shook their heads slightly to rid themselves of the slight pain but regained their focus, ignoring the fact that their Sensei just gave them a warning, both glared at the man who looked at them with disgust and anger.
It didn't go unnoticed by Sakura, who was becoming better at surveying the area whilst reading, that the two males were rather in sync with each other even though they were self-proclaimed rivals.
"Hm! You expect me to believe the short brat with the stupid look on his face is supposed to be a ninja?" The man mocked.
Naruto may be the lesser brains of the team but he quickly figured out who the man was talking about.
"Hey! Don't speak about him like that, it's not his fault he's got a duck's butt for a haircut" Naruto defended, pointing a finger at the man.
Multiple loud smacks were heard around the room.
The blonde looked around to see his two teammates, his sensei, his old sensei and the Hokage facepalming.
"Eh?" Confusion fumbled the boy's mind.
"He's talking about you. Baka!" Sakura growled, rubbing her red forehead.
Sasuke simply shifted his glared at him.
Realisation crossed Naruto's face as he turned back to the man known as Tazuna in anger.
"How'd someone like you become a ninja? I'll surely come back to my granddaughter in a casket with you as my guard!" Tazuna mocked and laughed.
"And I'll be the one to put you in a casket." Naruto muttered darkly, losing control of his emotions as he lunged for the bridge builder only to be caught by the collar and thrown back against the Hokage's desk. His head hit the corner, opening a small wound as a light amount of blood dripped down his eyebrow.
Kakashi had noticed quite the change in the young blonde. Since his first kill, his emotions have taken a sensitive change though the Jounin had trained Naruto to hide that, he still had a ways to go, unfortunately.
"Hn!" Iruka, startled, shot up from his chair. "What the hell are you thinking?! That was way overboard" he yelled at Kakashi, waving his hand in the air for more dramatic effect, as the copy-nin would call it.
The bridge builder kept his attention on his bottle and in deep thoughts whilst Sasuke and Sakura were on guard and took a step away from their Sensei, knowing how frightening he became when it came to discipline.
The Hokage kept his eyes on everyone in the room, his guard up but unnoticeable to anyone but Kakashi.
The man knew what kind of training the kids went through with their Sensei so he wasn't all too worried.
"Hmm?" Kakashi hummed as he straightened up, keeping his glare on Naruto who slowly got up. The boy's eyes held shame, knowing he let his emotions get the better of him when he was specifically trained to keep control.
"Kakashi! You can't jus-"
"Gomenasai Sensei" Iruka was cut off by a bowing blonde.
Startled yet again, Iruka was baffled. Never had he known Naruto to be so disciplined let alone to be bowing before someone.
"What..?" He stuttered.
Kakashi rolled his eye at the teacher before nodding to Naruto to get up. The blonde straightened and returned to his position among his teammates, allowing Sakura to heal his cut forehead.
"Kakashi." Iruka called, the anger that laced his tone is what caught said mans attention.
"Yes?" He cheerfully replied as if he hadn't just thrown his student to the ground.
"You dare handle your students like that?" Iruka's voice rose.
Before Kakashi could respond, the Hokage saw fit to reply for him.
"The way Kakashi disciplines his students are none of your concern Iruka. Furthermore, they are conditioned to such harsh training for reasons that also do not concern you, let it be" The Hokage quickly and firmly stated.
Naruto tightened his gaze on the Hokage 'Tch. Sensei could've answered for himself' he thought bitterly, he knew he was being unreasonable but the fact that his surrogate grandfather lied to him just made him angry.
Iruka gaped at the group before him but quickly backed off on account the look the Hokage sent him and returned to his seat.
"Now then... You are to escort Tazuna-San to the land of waves as I said before. Best get moving" The Hokage ordered as he threw a scroll to Kakashi.
"Hai." Kakashi lazily said before turning to his team "Meet at the northern gates in 30 minutes. Last one there carries the dirty laundry" he ordered happily before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.
The trio visibly let out an air of breath before bowing respectfully to the Hokage, who in return nod his head and wished them luck.
Tazuna had already slipped away as soon as Kakashi announced to be at the gates.
Before leaving, Naruto turned to his former teacher who looked stricken with worry. "Don't worry Iruka-Sensei. I hardly felt that! He's becoming a big softy" Naruto playfully reassured before disappearing into a cloud of smoke with his teammates.
Iruka was once again shocked at not only the fact that Naruto was so different than what he used to be but also because the trio knew the transportation jutsu that Iruka only recently mastered.
While everyone left, Iruka turned to the Hokage and demanded an explanation to which the older man sighed and began explaining team 7's predicament. To say Iruka was unhappy was an understament.
----
"So you think we shouldn't trust him?" Sakura questioned Naruto as he continued packing his weapons and spare clothing along with a few bowls of ramen.
Sakura had already finished her packing and was sitting on the blonde's bed with her legs crossed, her fingers playing with the locks of her soft pink hair.
Naruto let out his fifth sigh since they left the Hokage's building and closed his eyes in exasperation.
He opened them to look to his friend "I already told you. I'm not saying we shouldn't trust him, I'm just saying we should keep our guard up...around him and maybe everyone.. I don't know!" Naruto said, throwing his clothing into his backpack mercilessly and unfolded.
Sakura huffed in annoyance before shoving Naruto away from the bag and refolding his clothes, packing it neatly.
"So then you are saying we shouldn't trust the Hokage" She shot back, Naruto's backpack done and pushed to the side as the two now faced each other.
"Fine. Yes. Look, why did he need to lie about Ikoro? It's not like we were attached to the guy so there shouldn't have been a need to lie about it. I can only think that maybe he just doesn't trust us... And if that's the case then ditto" Naruto explained grumpily.
"You sound like a spoiled child who was refused a lollipop" Sasuke commented emotionlessly as he entered the messy room, backpack slung over his shoulder.
The blonde groaned and crossed his arms, facing away from the two.
the Uchiha raised an eyebrow "point raised"
"Shut up!" Naruto growled.
"Enough" Sakura spoke. Cutting the boys' glare from each other and directing their attention to herself.
"Maybe we should tell Sensei what we found?" She suggested, unsure of herself.
Sasuke glowered at her, he disliked her doubting herself so much, it caused for trouble when faced with hard decisions.
"No, he wouldn't do anything about it. you forget he used to be Anbu. What do you think Anbu do?" Naruto catechized.
"I wouldn't be so sure, To. Sensei seems to question a lot more than he lets on." Sasuke claimed.
"Eh? In case you haven't noticed, Sensei is the most dangerous and loyal ninja the village, there's no way he'd question anything the Hokage does" Naruto mumbled more to himself as he faced away from the two, not wanting to believe how things were falling apart.
A village without trust...what kind of village is that?
"Look, there's a reason he doesn't trust us, we may not know the reason but that doesn't mean we can't trust him, he's the Hokage." Sakura reasoned.
Naruto exhaled a heavy and stressed sigh but bobbed his head, understanding she was only trying to keep the peace.
Sasuke was indifferent to the situation at hand, he didn't really care whether or not the Hokage trusted him.
"Come on, we'll be late" The raven-haired boy ordered, swiftly turning on his heel and trudging down the hall with Naruto and Sakura soon following.
"Do you think this will be a dangerous one?" Naruto pondered out loud as they exited their home and walked down the path to the Northern gates but not before Naruto set up a series of complicated and dangerous traps around the house.
"Hn. Even if it isn't, keep your guard up. That bridge builder is hiding something" Sasuke grumbled, kicking a lone stone.
"Hm it was quite obvious, I wonder if Sensei picked up on that too" Sakura said from between the boys.
"Doubt it. He and the other adults were too preoccupied on his disciplinary act" Sasuke retorted.
"Do you think he's an enemy?" Naruto questioned, slightly alarmed.
"No." The Uchiha simply answered.
The blonde's forehead grew an irk mark at his nonexistent elaborated comment.
The trio trudged on in silence from there all the way to the massive crimson gates of Konoha.
Kakashi and Tazuna were already waiting for the three when they arrived.
"Alright. Everyone's here and Naruto, you were behind the other two so you carry the laundry on the way back. Let's head out" Kakashi announced in his usual cheerful voice, waving his hand at the two guards as they wished team 7 good luck. Naruto groaned at the near future chore, he had a feeling his teammates pushed him to the back on purpose.
After a few hours of walking, Sakura decided to break the uncomfortable silence set between team 7 and Tazuna.
"Sensei" she called, pocketing her green cased book and eyeing her sensei.
"Hmm?" He answered, looking back at her with the same emotionless eyes that Sasuke had, only more drooped.
"I know there aren't any ninja in the land of waves but what about rogue nin? Hasn't anyone worried that they could take refuge in such a place?" Sakura questioned, seemingly innocent but her inquisitive gaze fell on Tazuna.
The man began sweating a great deal as soon as the girl started asking questions. His eyes darted all around him and his hands kept clenching and unclenching.
This seemed to have caught Kakashi's attention, just as Sakura had hoped.
The jounin eyed the bridge builder suspiciously as the boys sent a look to her that showed they were impressed at how sneaky she dove that question in.
"Well yes but we haven't had many requests for rogue nin in the land of waves, it's mostly just bandits and thugs and not many of them which tell us they aren't huddling in one place." Kakashi stated, still eyeing Tazuna.
The jounin hummed to himself and glanced at his students, catching their gaze.
The trio each nod their head in return as their guard were already up.
Kakashi narrowed his eye at the trio 'they must've known for quite some time.' Kakashi thought to himself, proud of his students who had taken note of their client's strange behavior although he was slightly embarrassed for not keeping his own eye on the man. The Sharingan user was most certainly not the type to let down his guard often, if not ever, but other thoughts have been occupying his mind space lately.
The team kept to themselves with their guards up. After Kakashi answered Sakura's questions, instead of shoving her nose in her book, the girl looked up at the clear blue sky. This was the only way she could inconspicuously keep an eye on things, she had to admit that unfortunately, her mind wasn't quite on guard when reading her book.
Sasuke walked gracefully and steadily without pause or emotion, for that matter, his thoughts were overdriven with Itachi. He wanted revenge for what his older brother did but then some small part of him knew there was a reason. A proper reason, not simply to test his strength. The reason given to him always made his blood boil, as if any training in control vanished and all that was left is complete darkness and anger. He wouldn't let it get to him though, wouldn't let Itachi win. He'd get his revenge whether it be with or without his teammates. The Uchiha shook his mind clear and focused his gaze on the dirt pathway, kicking at the pebbles.
The young Uzumaki looked left and right, up and down and anyway his eyes could travel to. Something in his gut told him to stay on high alert as they crossed a small crater of water, tiny ripples floating around yet nothing was in the water or had fallen in.
Suspicious indeed.
Kakashi walked soundlessly next to Tazuna. The man was obviously hiding something but it was of no concern to the jounin yet as their mission is simply to escort the bridge builder to his bridge and wait until it is done before leaving again. Obviously whilst protecting him from bandits and thugs.
Team 7 had all seen the small pond like area so when two loud figures appeared from the puddle, they were ready.
The two figures threw out massive long chains, surrounding Kakashi's body before both opponents pulled with mighty strength, ripping the copycat ninja in pieces.
Shock overcame the four remaining. The opponents used their shock to attack.
They lunged forward as one, aiming for the old man and not worrying about the kids since they were, after all, just kids.
Just as the tip of the chain reached the bridge builder, who was cowering in fear, a strong gust of wind threw the two males off course and into a nearby tree.
The enemy looked at each other before one sped off to deal with the wielder of the kunai that almost cut through his throat.
The other gazed over to where the gust of wind came from and found nothing in its place. Quickly the male looked up, down, left and right but nowhere the enemy was.
Naruto had sped behind the cloak covered man with great speed and delivered a hard kick to the back of his head, knocking him a good few feet across the ground. Dirt and mud rubbing into his clothes and ripping the cloth fabric. Naruto gracefully landed with one foot in front of the other and smirked as the man slowly and shakily got up, aiming a glare at the blonde and if looks could kill. Naruto straightened and motioned his hand toward himself "bring it on"
Meanwhile, Sasuke kneed his opponent in the stomach before dodging a clawed hand to the head just in time.
The boy pushed and kicked the man away from him before using Magen: Kizu (demonic illusions: wounds) on him.
The enemy began convulsing in pain while holding onto his stomach. Blood splattered out of his mouth and the male groaned in despair.
Pure panic and pain took over as he searched around, getting his bearings and found Sasuke frowning at him in concentration as he tried to keep the jutsu up.
He took his chance at the boy's concentration and lack of attention on him to spring forward, poisoned claw at the ready.
Sasuke's eyes widened as he realized he had no counterattack or defense to help him, he let go of the jutsu too late and the boy raised his arms in a last attempt to survive.
He waited for impact but none came. Slowly he lowered his arms and strained his eyes to concentrate past the fear of death.
Before him, a pointed arrow tip with a purple substance dripping off it sat inches away from his eyeball. Sweat dripped down the Uchiha's forehead as he realized how close it was and took a step back.
Sasuke looked behind the man, who was in shock and trying to move forward but seemed to be immobile.
Sasuke grinned at the sight before him, evermore grateful to his teammate.
Sakura was holding back the man by the cloak around his neck, stopping him and strangling him at the same time.
She threw Sasuke a smirk of her own before she pulled with all her strength, causing the man to go airborne for a second. She looked up at flying male and once again pulled but down, as the man came within reaching distance, Sakura jumped above him and struck his chest with a strong chakra filled fist.
The man crashed into the ground, causing a small crater, he bounced once before coming to a still.
His breathing erratic and his body shivering, he groaned and as the two genin faced each other in early victory, he stood up and lunged for the old man who was left unprotected.
Naruto was on the defense with the other opponent and couldn't help but watch as the man slipped past him with his teammates trying to catch up to him but alas, they were too slow.
Naruto's opponent knocked him aside and lunged for the man along with his partner.
The trio's eyes widened as they helplessly watched Tazuna about to be shredded by their claw chains.
Suddenly, both men were knocked against a firm body, arms holding them around their necks and far away from the bridge builder.
The genin was shocked at their sensei, unharmed and smiling down at them with the culprits in his grasp.
"You-you're alive!" Sakura whimpered, her emotions showing due to relief. She exhaled sharply and walked over to Tazuna, checking for any injuries but luckily he had none.
Sasuke let out a heavy sigh also in relief but was slightly annoyed at his sensei's show off act. He smirked, rolling his eyes and went to collect his pack that he'd dropped on encountering the enemy.
Naruto cheered and jumped with joy "I knew it! I knew it! I knew you weren't dead!" He chanted with a grin on his and his fist in the air, the other hand holding onto his backpack that was slipping off his shoulder.
Kakashi chuckled slightly at the cute reunion, happy his students cared. Though those emotions would have to be pushed aside for now as he tied the two shinobi to a sturdy tree and shifted a glare onto Tazuna.
"Now then, Tazuna" he spoke low and firm.
The bridge builder gulped.