Shizukana's P.O.V
"Team 7, whats your position?" Kakashi Sensei asked through the microphone.
"Sasuke, position 2."
"Shizukana, position 1."
There was silence......... "Naruto, position 3"
I shook my head as Kakashi Sensei scolded Naruto for being late.
I narrowed my eyes as the target moved. "Target heading to Sasuke. 5m." I spoke softly into the headset.
"Alright team, capture." Sensei commanded.
I jumped from my position on the tree and approached the target with ease until a huge orange blob jumped between me and the target and seized the target.
A few seconds later, Kakashi Sensei's voice was heard through the ear piece. "Is that the target?"
Sasuke approached Naruto and looked at the ribbon on the cat. Yes a cat. "Affirmative." The Uchiha spoke.
Kakashi Sensei jumped down from a tree and said. "Well, mission accomplish."
Naruto started insulting the cat which made it scratch his face. I took the cat from Naruto and petted the feline.
We went into the Hokage's office to find the Daiymo's wife and Iruka Sensei talking with the Hokage.
Kakashi Sensei knocked on the door and we entered.
The lady immediately ran towards me since I was holding her cat.
The lady grabbed Tora and started rubbing her face with the poor cats cheeks.
The lady thanked us went on her merry way.
I eyed the Hokage. We didn't end our conversation in good terms.
He looked at me before addressing the everyone. "Congratulations teams 7 on capturing Tora. You next mission includes baby sitting the head council's son, painting the walls of the bakery....."
He got cut of by a screaming Naruto. "Those aren't missions. They're chores. Come on, give us a real mission."
Kakashi Sensei punched him in the head. "Put a lid on it."
"Naruto, you are still at the lowest level a ninja can get. You need to train and improve to get better missions." Iruka Sensei scolded the blond haired boy.
"As you know the missions are ranked accordingly...." The Homage droned on and on about the different types of missions and responsibilities a ninja has. No one was listening to him. Naruto chirped about which ramen he ate last night and what ramen is the best
"Silence." The Hokage's voice boomed attracting everyone's attention.
"My apologies." Kakashi Sensei apologized.
"Come on old man." Naruto whined.
I raised my eyebrow. Old man?
"I'm not some brat who complains about stuff anymore. I'm a Ninja." Naruto exclaimed.
Sensei groaned next to me. I gave him a look to which he just gave me a close eyed smile.
"Alright." The Hokage said.
Iruka Sensei looked at the Hokage as if he saw how erupted from the Hokage's head.
"Naruto wants to prove that he is no longer a brat. So, there is a C ranked mission. You must escort a client to the Land in the Waves." The Hokage explained.
Naruto cheered. "Who are we escorting? A princess? Ooh is it some great Lord?" Naruto asked bouncing up and down.
"Hold on. The client will be here in a moment." The Hokage chuckled.
The door opened and an old man who reeked of alcohol entered.
"Ehh. It's just a bunch of kids. Is that short midget even a ninja?" The old man asked waving his bottle of Sake.
I tilted my head in confusion.
Naruto chuckled. "Who's the midget?"
The four of us including Kakashi Sensei came closer.
Kakashi Sensei obviously being the tallest. Sasuke followed. I was shorter than Sasuke but taller than Naruto by 3 inches.
Naruto fumed in anger. "How dare you call me a midget."
Naruto ran forwards. "I'll kill you."
Kakashi Sensei held him by the collar. "Naruto, He's our client. We can't kill him." Sensei scolded Naruto.
"Yet." I added making everyone in the room look at me. I just shrugged in response.
The old man gulped before introducing himself. "My name is Tazuna and I am the Bridge Builder."
"Good luck on your mission Team 7." The Hokage said.
With that the four if us departed and went to get packed for the journey.
I reached home and went into my room. Land of Waves. A days worth of travelling.
I packed a bag with my clothes.
I sealed the bag in my scroll before gathering all my weapons. Kunai... Shuriken.... Senbon... Sword..... Karito... Paper bombs...etc..
Once I was done, I walked over to Taka-kuns apartment.
I knocked twice on the door. A moment the door opened.
"Shi-chan, whats going on?" Taka-kun asked.
"I am going on a C ranked mission so, I might not be home for a few weeks." I informed him.
He nodded his head. He then looked out the corridor as if searching for someone.
I narrowed my eyes at that. He's definitely hiding something. He's afraid. I haven't seen him and he hasn't come for dinner for a long time. He looks tired like he hasn't gotten any sleep lately. Not that it's my business but I can't help but say that I am concerned about him.
I sighed. "Alright, Taka-kun take care."
He mumbled a "you too" before shutting the door in my face.
I closed my eyes for a moment before rushing to the gate.
When I reached the gate, I found everyone except Kakashi Sensei at the gate.
Tazuna and Naruto were quarreling while Sasuke was huffing in annoyance.
The gate keepers were watching.in amusement.
I walked over towards my teammates.
"Hey old man, remember my name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm gonna be Hokage. Believe it." Naruto exclaimed.
Tazuna laughed. "No way you can be Hokage. If you do, then that's the day I sprout wings and fly."
Before the argument could continue, Kakashi Sensei arrived making everyone look at him.
"Alright." Sensei said clapping his together. "Lets move."
We all started walking. Naruto took the lead. Tazuna following him. Sasuke and I behind the Bridge builder and Sensei trailed behind us.
"Why come to the leaf for help?" I asked the old man. "I'm pretty sure there are other villages that would have helped."
"The closest to the Land of Waves is the Hidden Leaf." Tazuna explained.
I furrowed my eyebrows. "I thought the hidden mist was the closest."
"The village is not exactly the friendliest with other lands." Tazuna said.
"The 5 elemental villages have allies. The land of Waves are allies with the Hidden Leaf." Sensei explained noticing our confused faces. "The kages of the villages tend to fight a lot. Thus, we make allies. The Hidden mist village also doesn't have C ranked missions. They only have S, A and B Ranked missions."
I nodded.
As we kept on walking we past a puddle in the middle of the road. A puddle? But it hasn't rained in months. If someone had split water then it would have evaporated by now.
I looked at Sensei to find him smiling back at me. He just put his finger to his mouth.
I just nodded but my hand above my weapons pouch instead.
As we past the puddle, a loud yell was heard from behind us. We all turned around to face two chains wrapping themselves around Sensei.
The two men wielding the chains pulled them and Sensei was ripped into pieces.
I widened my eyes even though I knew he wasn't really dead.
The two men, who I recognized as the demon brothers, charged at Naruto.
I made hand signs for a jutsu. "Earth Style: Quicksand."
The ground beneath one of the brothers, shook before swallowing one of his leg. That didn't stop him from throwing the chain at a frozen Naruto.
Sasuke jumped and threw his shuriken at the chain, successfully lodging it on a tree nearby.
The other brother ran towards Tazuna.
I ran towards the man and swiped under his legs.
Suddenly Kakashi Sensei arrived and held both the brothers by their necks.
Sensei then tied them to a tree.
"Sorry Naruto. I didn't think you would freeze like that. Sasuke and Shizukana, Good job." Sensei said.
Naruto looked at Sensei. "But how?" He then looked at the pieces of flesh on the floor to find them replaced with chunks of wood.
Kakashi Sensei turned to face Tazuna who was staring at the chuck of wood.
"Tazuna-san, we have to talk." Sensei said.
"Those were Chunin from the Hidden Mist. They specialize in attacking relentlessly. No matter what the sacrifice is, they keep fighting."
"How did you know about our ambush?" One of the Demon brothers asked.
Sensei at me, making everyone look at me. "The Puddle. On a clear and sunny day, there wouldn't be a puddle in.the middle of the road. Especially when it hasn't rained in weeks." Sensei explained.
"So why did you let the Genin fight?" Tazuna asked.
"I needed to know who they were after." Sensei said.
"What do you mean?" Tazuna asked nervously.
I looked at the old man. He was sweating. The Demon did try to kill Tazuna, but why?
"They were after you. If we knew that there wer. ninjas after you other than random bandits then it would be a B ranked mission." Sensei said. "Our job was to get you home and protect you until the bridge was completed."
Sensei's voice went dangerously low. Making everyone uncomfortable.
"You might have your reasons but this is beyond our mission scope. I can't put my students in harms way. We better head back to the village. We need to treat Naruto's wound." Sensei said.
I looked at Naruto to find a scratch on the back of his palm.
"Their chains were laced with poison." I said looking at the purple liquid around the chains.
Naruto looked at me in fear before pulling out a kunai and slamming it into his hand. He spoke about how he will protect Tazuna with the kunai and beat Sasuke.
"That was a nice speech and all but if you don't stop the flow, you might die of blood loss." Sensei said bluntly. He walked towards Naruto and took the blonds hand.
He seemed to stare at the wound. He then bandaged it.
"Why are you so serious? Am I going to die?" Naruto asked making Kakashi Sensei shake his head.
"No no."
We continued our journey. We reached a dock where we sailed on a boat.
Naruto sat in front, next to the owner of the boat. Sasuke and Tazuna sat together while Sensei and I sat in the back.
I looked into the horizon to find that we are covered in a thick fog.
Sensei broke the silence. "Tazuna-san, I think its best if we know what we are dealing with. So any information could be useful. If you don't tell us, we might have to leave you once we reach the shore."
Tazuna nodded. "I have no choice but to tell you. Like you said, this is beyond the scope of our original mission. The person who wants me dead is Gato."
"Gato of the shipping Transport?" Sensei asked. "Why does he want to kill you?"
"He is a successful businessmen but even he has his dark shadows." Tazuna paused for dramatic effect. "He came to us saying that he would help us and make the Land of Waves a famous trading village until he started to control the islands business. Anyone who questioned him went missing. Within those ships, he would smuggle drugs and hire mercenaries to keep control over the island. But when he bridge is complete, he would lose his control over us. We would be connected to the main land. That's why, he doesn't want to build the bridge."
"I don't understand." I said out loud. "If you knew about the dangers and how Gato would send dangerous ninjas after you, why did you hide that from us?" I asked.
"The land of Waves has fallen financially. Even the nobles have little money. The people who build the bridge can't afford to pay for A or B rank missions." Tazuna said. "If you drop me ashore, then I would be assassinated before I reached home."
The four of us looked down.
"But that's not your fault. I didn't tell you, so it's my fault. Oh how my grandson would cry out to me if I didn't come home. My daughter would condemn the leaf. But it's not your fault." Tazuna said on the verge of tears.
All the guilt I had felt vanished immediately. This man was guilt tripping us.
Kakashi Sensei scratched his cheek awkwardly before looking at us.
When Sensei saw our faces he sighed. "Alright, we will keep on guarding you."
Tazuna wiped his eyes before thanking us.
As we approached the pier, the outline of the bridge appeared.
"Whoa, its huge." Naruto yelled.
"Quiet. There's a reason we are travelling with the motor turned off." The owner of the boat hissed.
"Sorry." Naruto apologized.
We reached the pier and everyone got down.
"This is as far as I can take you. Good luck." The owner of the boat said before returning back to the mainland.
We walked through the road. In the far distance we could see the blue waters and houses which looked majestic with the sunlight.
We kept on walking but with a sense of alert.
Naruto on the other hand kept flinging his kunai everywhere.
"There!" He yelled throwing his kunai at a near by tree.
He looked at us with a sheepish smile. "Sorry, just a mouse."
"Stop scaring me, brat." Tazuna yelled at Naruto.
"Naruto, kunai are dangerous weapons which are not to be played with." Kakashi Sensei scolded Naruto.
The blond haired boy ignored him.
As we were walking, I felt an ominous feeling like someone was watching me.
"There!" Naruto yelled as he threw his kunai.
The bush twitched and Kakashi Sensei walked forward and moved the bush.
A white bunny was frozen with the kunai right next to its head.
Naruto ran forward and hugged the life out of the bunny while apologizing.
White? But it isn't winter. I narrowed my eyes.
"Get down!" Sensei yelled.
I tackled Tazuna and hit the floor with no hesitation.
The wind above us Swooshed as something flew right past us.
I looked up to find a sword lodged on a tree where our heads should have been.
I stood up and helped Tazuna up.
On the sword stood a shirtless man. He had cow imprinted leg and arm warmers. Half of his face was covered in bandages.
"Zabuza Momochi." Sensei spoke as he walked in to the front of the group.
"Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan." Zabuza spoke. "No wonder the Demon brothers had trouble.
He jumped down and looked at all of us. His gazed lingered on me longer than needed. Kinda hate the colour of my hair.
"Hand over the old man and I'll spare the brats." Zabuza said with a smirk.
"I can't let that happen." Sensei said getting into a fighting stance. Sensei then reached over and pulled his headband up to reveal his left eye.
Instead of the black eye, it was crimson red.
"Ahh, the famous Sharingan. What an honor?" Zabuza mused.
He then vanished as the thick fog covered the area.
Sensei looked at us. "Form Manji formation and protect Tazuna. He's gonna come after me."
I took a kunai and held it close to my chest.
"He's known for his silent killing. Use the teamwork I taught you. Worse things come to worse, you'll get killed." Sensei said making everyone but me look at him in horror.
I just deadpanned at that. Been there, done that.
The fog thickened making it impossible to see with three feet away from my face.
Zabuza's voice echoed through the fog. "Time to have fun."
A/N. Yay... Long chapter.
Hope you guys enjoyed it. Also who do you think should be Shi-chan's love interest? Leave a comment.
Ciao....