5

"You guys did a good job, you know. Those guys were chunin nuke-nin from Kirigakure, known as the Demon Brothers." Asuma's pride in his students was audible. "Not many rookie genin squads could have hoped to do as well when put into a combat situation involving other ninja."

The audible pride did its work in making Naruto feel good about himself. There really was nothing else like knowing that your teacher was proud of your abilities. It was probably only second to beating that same teacher into the ground. That was vindication. He was pretty far from that point, though.

The group was steadily making their way to Wave Country, and Naruto could already smell the sea salt permeating the air. They must be getting close. He wouldn't deny being a little excited. He had never been outside of Konoha before becoming a ninja, and his travels had yet to take him to the sea.

Even so, the excitement that accompanied visiting new places was dampened by the circumstances surrounding it. He had no desire to be on this mission. Asuma had assured him and the team that proper reinforcements were on the way, but Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong on this mission. He didn't like the idea of retreating any more than his teammates, both prideful and headstrong in their own rights, but they weren't ready to face anything of jonin caliber.

Konoha's doctrines on teamwork stated that three well coordinated genin could disable a jonin. They couldn't disable a jonin that they didn't know about, couldn't see, or was just so overwhelmingly powerful that they couldn't touch him. The blond had little doubt that the jonin they would face would confront them head on.

He glanced to his sides briefly. Neither Kiba nor Ino seemed worried in the slightest. Asuma's word was final, and they had supported this endeavor to being with. All was right in the world for them. Naruto was a little disappointed with Ino. Given her attention seemed to be on him these days, more often than not, he had hoped she would be a little more receptive of his idea. Alas, it was not to be.

He supposed that was par for the course with his fellow blond. He never really could get a read on her.

"So, how big is this bridge of yours, Tazuna-san?"

The man chuckled heartily. "It's quite the monstrosity, sensei. Some of my finest work, if I do say so myself." The man had obvious pride in his accomplishment.

Asuma continued to take drags from his cigarettes. "You didn't answer the question though. How big is it?"

"You'll be seeing it soon, jonin-san. I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise."

Asuma just rolled his eyes at the man's intransigence. He dropped back to Naruto's spot in the group, allowing Kiba and Ino to take his place. Naruto's position was always at the back of the group. He was rear support.

"It seems that I haven't satisfied your fears about this mission, Naruto," he began. He gave the blond an appraising eye.

"I can't shake this bad feeling, sensei," Naruto replied tersely. "I've had it since the Demon Brothers attacked." He had a bad feeling about the mission as a whole. It didn't help matters that natural paranoia was making him a bit shifty. He kept expecting an Akatsuki member to pop out of nowhere and grab him. Having no idea what any of them looked like wasn't helping him, either.

Having so much time to think was making him more shifty than he'd like to admit.

"You've never had doubts like this before, Naruto. You might just be shaken from your fight. I know I was when I first killed a shinobi."

There was no doubt in the boy's mind that he was shaken from when he killed the chunin nuke-nin. He had lost himself fully in the fight and could barely remember the killing blow. He didn't want to become so desensitized to killing that this feeling of numbness became normal. He wouldn't readily admit it to anyone, but he was scared of the Demon Fox in his gut. The thought of becoming anything remotely close to it was utterly repulsive and terrifying. An amoral, emotionless killer was much too close for his liking.

That wasn't the problem, though. Not the only one.

"It's not that, Asuma-sensei. We're walking into a situation where we don't know what's coming!" Naruto exclaimed quietly. He didn't want to alert his other teammates to his jitters any more than he had to. "I feel like we're walking into a trap headfirst without having any sort of plan or guarantee of safety."

He was doing his best to put his sensei on guard and let him know that something was terribly wrong without giving anything away. He had always done his best to keep his knowledge of Akatsuki secret, as it was as farfetched an idea as there ever was.

Honestly, who ever heard of a group of S-class criminals targeting people like him? Aside from the Kyuubi, he was a nobody. That thought had given him pause more than once. The shady group was likely after the biju sealed inside him, and that meant nothing good for him.

Asuma raised a stunned eyebrow. His best student had never struck him as being the scared type. In retrospect, he supposed it was a good thing. It was better to be worried about your own well being than to have such unshakeable confidence in your own skills so as to walk boldly into the face of danger, at least at this point in his career. It showed that the boy knew his limits well. He couldn't take a jonin in the event that something happened to Asuma, and he knew it. The chain smoker couldn't say the same about his other two charges.

On a different note, there was little doubt that Naruto would be forced to take missions where he didn't know the potential outcome from the beginning. Mission briefings weren't always perfect, and shinobi walked into the unknown more often than not on higher level missions. As a shinobi, he would need to have the confidence to face unknown assailants and situations. He'd never make it otherwise.

"As you get older and get higher up in the ranks, Naruto, you'll be forced to take missions where you don't know the full scope of the situation. Are you going to decline these missions just because you're scared?" Asuma asked.

"But that's different!"the boy hissed. He knew he was wrong the moment the words left his mouth.

"Is it really?" Asuma asked rhetorically. "The mission changed once we knew that shinobi would be gunning for us. When the mission began, you had all the confidence of Kiba and Ino that we'd succeed. The only difference between this mission and others that you'll take in the future is that the unknown was thrust on you in the middle of this one, rather than at the beginning."

Naruto nodded absently, trying to wrap his head around the idea of not always having enough information. In reality, this wasn't so different from his situation with the Akatsuki. With the shadowy group, all he could do was train endlessly in the hopes that when they made their move, he would be strong enough to stop them. If he wasn't, there wasn't going to be much he could do about it. It was a bit depressing to think about, but it was the truth. He'd just have to get that much stronger.

The same applied to missions. If he wouldn't always know what awaited him, all he would be able to do was get better so that he'd be able to face the unknown head on. For now, he'd have to trust his team and his sensei.

"I think I understand, sensei," he answered. He gave Asuma a shaky smile. He was far from comfortable with the situation, Asuma himself probably wouldn't last very long against an S-ranker, but there was little he could do about it except be as prepared as possible.

"Good. That said, your worry shows that you know your limits. At your level, you should be worried about potentially fighting a jonin. Knowing your limits is a good thing, though you should have some more faith in your dear old sensei." Asuma lifted his head proudly. "I'm stronger than you think."

Naruto chuckled along with the jonin, most of his fears pushed to the side. That was just like him, trying to assuage the fears of his charges while simultaneously acknowledging their fears as valid. It made them feel both validated and safe at the same time.

"Are you really? I did some research on you, you know?" said Naruto with a smirk. His comfort level was back to almost normal.

"Did you really?" Asuma had little doubt that was the case. The blond was a great scavenger for information when he wanted to know something. It was a surprising but useful trait for the boy to have. "And what did this research of yours find?"

"That you're ranked somewhere between twelve and fifteen in terms of the village's strongest ninja."

Two raised eyebrows met the blonde's statement. "And how do you figure?"

Naruto cracked his neck. "Well, the Hokage ranks at the top, obviously, with the two remaining Sannin coming in after him at two and three." That was the obvious answer, though it was debatable considering the Sandaime's age and whether or not Tsunade was still a part of the villae. Asuma wondered where he had gotten the knowledge about the Sannin. They weren't the most commonly touched on subjects at the Academy.

"After them, Konoha has eight registered Elite Jonin. Both Maito Gai and Hatake Kakashi fall within that range of four through eleven, though I'm not exactly sure where. The other six spots are taken up by various ANBU personel." Naruto shrugged at Asuma's look – the man's eyebrows were threatening to take flight. How did the boy know that? "I couldn't find any information on them, so I assumed that their files had been classified."

Color Asuma impressed. He had no idea that his student was such an adept at information gathering. That was doubly so, considering that the information on Konoha's elite jonin was classified B-rank. It would take some serious stealth and infiltration skills to come by that information, especially as nobody in the village would willingly part with it, given who Naruto was. The boy had a future as an infiltration specialist if he was reading things right.

"Anyway, that put you outside the top eleven in the village, but you served as one of the Twelve Shinobi Guardians of the Fire Lord. While not the most prestigious position, just a colorful bodyguard really-" Asuma made a noise of offense. He took pride in his tours of duty guarding the daimyo. "- it shows that you've got some serious skill. The daimyo is picky about who guards him," Naruto finished with a shrug.

He had come by all the information in his various digs through the upper sections of the Archive when he was researching the Uchiha Clan, Maito Gai, and Asuma, when the man became his sensei. He had become pretty good at sneaking around as a result. The rest of the information had been pieced together from various, unassuming tidbits he had found in a variety of different sources. They all formed a rather cohesive whole when put together and some reasonable assumptions were made.

While Asuma was certainly impressed with his student's information gathering skills, not to mention his deductive reasoning abilities, there was a flaw. It was one that many people made when mentally "ranking" shinobi.

"I hope that you know that your rankings don't really mean that much in the grand scheme of things, Naruto." The boy looked slightly offended. "I don't mean to say that your facts are wrong, the opposite really, but aside from the Sannin and Hokage, I'd take my chances against any one of those eight Elite Jonin."

Naruto looked surprised. Asuma couldn't blame him. The rank of Elite Jonin wasn't handed out like a party favor. It took some serious skill and hard work to be acknowledged as one of the village's true elite.

"There's quite a bit that goes into a ninja fight. There are details, hidden ones that can often decide the outcome in a way that might not be expected. It's small details like how people's elements match up, a long ranged opponent versus a short ranged one, and other things like that that can change a fight."

Naruto nodded. That made sense. Unfortunately, it also renewed his worries about the mission. Their next opponent would only have to worry about killing Tazuna as an objective. How would Asuma stack up against someone when he had three genin and a civilian to worry about?

/~/

"It's huge," Ino breathed. They were currently passing through the water that separated Wave Country from Fire Country. Tazuna's monstrosity had just come into view.

Naruto had to agree with the girl. His respect for Tazuna had just gone up a notch. It didn't mean much, considering how low the man was in his esteem before, but the size of Tazuna's creation was awe inspiring. "How long did it take to build?" he asked the bridge builder.

"Nearly a year," the man answered proudly. He took great pride in his work. "According to the calculations, about one to two months remain for construction."

It was impressive to say the least, but something just didn't make sense to Naruto. "Tazuna-san, if Gatou is after your head because of this bridge, why has he waited so long to do something about it? Surely it makes more sense to nip something like this in the bud early on."

Tazuna nodded at the question. "A good point. Gatou's business relies on the fact that people fear him. He crushed Wave's spirit a long time ago; he probably didn't think that enough people would have the courage to stand against him in order to build the bridge." The ferryman's statement about being quiet due to Gatou's men patrolling suddenly made a lot more sense. It was a sobering thought that one man could so effectively crush a country.

At the same time, it was a point in Tazuna's favor that he managed to inspire enough people to get the bridge built to this extent. Naruto's respect for the man went up again. Say what you will about the man, but he and his bridge represented a hope for a whole country to rally behind.

"Why haven't you hired ninja before? You know, to deal with the Gatou problem?" Kiba asked.

It was Asuma that answered. "From the outside, Gatou's business is completely legitimate, and he undoubtedly covers his tracks well. He also has an enormous amount of clout with many feudal lords due to his money. Without the proper amount of proof, no hidden village would move directly against him for fear of repercussions from the daimyo. Wave's situation, while sad, isn't sad enough for any village to get involved. It's too minor to a Kage in the grand scheme of things."

Tazuna just nodded sadly. "We tried to get help from Kirigakure some years ago, but Gatou's company has enormous stake in the Mist's economy due to the environment and shipping. We were turned away pretty forcefully."

"I bet Gatou wasn't too happy about what you did," Naruto stated.

The bridge builder just shook his head without a word. The silence spoke volumes.

The quiet endured for the rest of the ferry ride, and the foursome plus dog disembarked on the shores of Wave Country.

"Tazuna-san, this is as far as I go. Goodbye and good luck to you!" the ferryman said with a soft salute.

Tazuna smiled at the man. "Heh, super thanks." He took the second spot in the group behind Asuma. "Let's get me home, it's not far from here."

The dense foliage surrounding the inland area of Wave Country provided good cover, Naruto surmised. It makes a good spot for an ambush, especially given the natural mist cover. His bad feeling had never truly abated, and it was only getting worse now that the team was in fully unknown territory. The mist certainly didn't help.

Kami, I'm pathetic! He cursed himself as he kept moving along. He was twitching at just about everything. He had almost killed a fucking rabbit when he heard a rustling in the bushes.

A prickling sensation in the back of his neck had him on the ground nearly a full second before Asuma shouted, "Get down!"

The jonin wasn't a moment too soon as a whizzing blade tore through the air where Team Ten's heads were previously. The blade lodged itself deep into the trunk of a tree about three meters ahead of Asuma and Tazuna.

"Three green genin and their jonin? Hmph, I wonder why the Demon Brothers had any trouble at all with you guys?" a man's voice spoke. Naruto's eyes were drawn to the massive cleaver's handle, where a man was perched casually.

The man was tall, though shorter than Asuma's large form. He was bare from the waist up, and wore grey camouflage pants that fell to his heels. The sideways headband and bandages covering his mouth gave him a decidedly sinister appearance.

Dark eyes regarded Asuma. They widened briefly as they took in his whole form. "Well, that's unexpected. I thought you were just some Konoha scrub, but that sash on your waist says differently…Sarutobi Asuma. You've got quite the bounty on your head."

Asuma's trench knives were in his hands as he regarded the newcomer with trepidation. "I'm sure that thirty five million ryo would do wonders for your plans, wouldn't it, Momochi Zabuza?"

The man, revealed as Zabuza, chuckled. "You know me. I'm honored that my legend has made its way to your village of tree huggers."

Asuma stomped out his cigarette with a chuckle of his own. "Massacred a full graduating class of Kiri genin, a failed coup de tat against the Mizukage, and you're planning to have another go at it. You're widely regarded as one of the stupidest men on the continent. What's not to know?" he finished with a smirk.

Zabuza growled at the insult. "I see you've done your homework. If you have, then you'll know that I'm best there is at what I do…" He jumped from his blade to the small lake. He landed with his cleaver on his back and two half ram seals formed. "…and what I do isn't very nice."

"Ninpou: Kirigakure no Jutsu!"

Shit, Naruto thought as the mist got thicker, obscuring his view of Zabuza.

"Surround and protect Tazuna!" Asuma barked. "This guy's on a whole other level from the last ones. This is my fight. Naruto, hold my pack."

Naruto came to his senses as he caught the thrown supply backpack. "Manji formation!" he bit out. The three genin formed a protective triangle around Tazuna. It wasn't a moment too soon as hostile killing intent filled the air. Naruto almost choked as the feeling hit him. Such powerful killing intent! Is this what a jonin battle is like? We're totally outclassed here, he realized with growing dread.

His thoughts derailed when Asuma's wind chakra blew away some of the encroaching mist. "Calm down team, I'm not about to let you guys die here." The words, while meant for comfort, did little to assuage Naruto's fears. He hastily reminded himself of the discussion he had with Asuma earlier. There was nothing he could do now but fight.

He palmed two kunai.

"Eight spots…liver, lungs, spine, sub-clavicle vein, jugular vein, heart, kidneys…and the brain. Which to choose?" Zabuza's voice echoed from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Naruto couldn't get a read on his location.

"Kiba," he hissed. "Can you smell him?"

The dog ninja shook his head. "No, the mist's interfering."

"Shit. Ino, give us genjutsu cover!" Naruto ordered.

"Too late!" Zabuza crowed from in between he genin. Naruto hadn't even sensed him move.

Wind chakra swirled around Naruto's blades, but he had no chance to move before Asuma's trench knives were imbedded blade first into Zabuza's gut. Naruto's eyes widened in jubilation before the body dissolved to water.

Mizu Bunshin, he thought as he rapidly retreated away from ground zero. "Sensei behind you!" he called, but it was too late.

Zabuza's cleaver tore through Asuma's body like a hot knife through butter, and the body disappeared in a plume of smoke. "Wha-?" Naruto watched as the body of Zabuza dissolved to water once more as Ino's kunai penetrated its back, her face a mask of terror, yet determined.

A clang of weapons striking snapped his head around to a different spot in the small clearing. Asuma was locked in a hold with Zabuza. His trench knives were being pushed to the limit as he was forced to stop an overhead blow from the massive blade.

Naruto hurried to his teammates. "Ino, cover us!" The girl quickly sped through hand seals and Naruto felt his senses scramble as a cloaking genjutsu covered the foursome.

Across the clearing, Asuma and Zabuza were engaged in a grapple. Asuma's trench knives didn't have the same weight of Zazuza's cleaver, but they were far more maneuverable. Asuma showcased as much when he used the nuke-nin's momentum against him and hopped around the falling zanbatou. The Konoha jonin struck out with his trench knives, but Zabuza's dexterity saved his head.

The near miss went in Asuma's favor, however, when the extended wind chakra made a thin slice into the man's face. Asuma grimaced as he saw his strike failed to blind his opponent.

The former Kiri jonin brought his blade to bear in a desperate strike, but Asuma calmly intercepted the heavy blow with both hands. A small smirk played across the jonin's face as he gained the upper hand.

Naruto experienced a swooping sensation in his gut – he would later associate it with escaping death by a hair's breadth – and realized just how far outclassed he was in this fight.

It was both startling and disheartening to realize just how far he was from his goal. He would have less than no chance in a fight like this, and neither of the combatants were S-ranked – of that, Naruto was sure. He knew that from his research. The blond gritted his teeth as he watched the battle unfold with growing despair for both his sensei and himself.

Zabuza moved to create space, but Asuma was having none of that. Naruto's eyes widened as his sensei closed the gap in less than a moment –Asuma was fast – and swept the feet of the shorter Zabuza. The bandaged man used his cleaver as leverage to keep his balance intact, and struck out with a high kick to Asuma's face.

The chain smoker caught the blow, but winced in pain as a hidden blade stabbed his hand. He dropped back to survey his wound and grimaced as the blood sizzled and turned purple. Poison.

Zabuza used his opponent's distraction against him, and charged swiftly, his blade poised to remove Asuma's head. The jonin ducked the swipe and struck out with his wind enhanced knives. His frustration increased when the nuke-nin danced out of the way. The man was surprisingly agile.

The swordsman leapt back and unleashed a brace of three shuriken at his opponent. Asuma smirked as his trench knives found themselves spinning in the air. He sped through seals as fast as he could. "Fuuton: Shinkuu Taigyoku!" He inhaled and then expelled a great sphere of wind toward the former Mist Swordsman.

Zabuza cursed his mistake as his thrown weapons provided no shield against the sphere of wind. He dove to the side unceremoniously to avoid a direct hit, and only his reflexes saved his head. The wind whispered past Zabuza's ear as he jerked to the side, and he used his momentum to swing his zanbatou toward the Konoha jonin.

Asuma grimaced as he barely avoided the flat end of the massive blade. The poison must have been affecting his reflexes. He leapt back and stabbed his hand brutally, forcing the poison out of his system as he bled out. He knew that it had done its job, however.

Asuma palmed two kunai with explosive tags and hurled them at Zabuza. The concussive force kicked the dirt and dust into the air. He prepared to charge into the fray once more when his opponent used the cover to reinforce his earlier Kirigakure no Jutsu. Asuma cursed as he found himself back at square one.

He started as the massive blade of his assailant hurled toward him. He dove to the side to avoid being eviscerated, and rolled fast and hard to avoid a second Zabuza who had appeared out of the mist. Water Clone!

Asuma ducked one swipe of the massive blade and quickly found himself face to face with a second. He stepped back and feinted left before gutting one clone in a spray of water and wind. Water clones were both weak and unintelligent, having less than ten percent of the maker's chakra and ability. The second one soon fell to a sweeping combo with his knives.

The jonin glanced about hurriedly, and he used his wind chakra to clear the air around him of mist. His eyes widened as he saw Zabuza atop the small lake, sealing slowly and deliberately.

He was powerless to stop the inclement Suiton: Suiryuudan that tore through the air toward him.

A hasty Kawarimi saved his skin and reduced a log to splinters, and he shot another Shinkuu Taigyoku at the Mist Swordsman. The assassin blocked with a creative use of the Suiton: Suirou no Jutsu that wrapped around him and shielded him from the worst of the blast.

Asuma grimaced. The man wasn't coming off of the lake anytime soon, and Asuma wasn't going any closer to it than he had to. Zabuza knew that Asuma held the advantage in close combat. The massive sword the man wielded was too cumbersome to be an advantage against Asuma's maneuverable, wind enhanced trench knives. The nuke-nin was determined to keep it long range. The readily available source of water only made things easier.

Changing tactics, he sped through seals and expelled a Katon: Karyuu Endan. He grimaced at both the chakra cost and the easy dodge Zabuza executed. He needed to end this fast. His reflexes were dulled from the poison, and his chakra was quickly exhausting itself.

A plan was barely forming in his mind when he noticed Zabuza finish a seal sequence. "Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" was the man's triumphant cry.

Asuma's eyes widened as he took to the air to avoid the crushing and swirling waves, his Fuuton nature propelling him higher than any other chakra enhanced leap.

The high level water technique burst forth from the lake and tore through the landscape, uprooting trees and topsoil.

Asuma landed on a branch next to his now exposed students, along with their client, once the water settled and began to run off.

Naruto was watching the battle blankly and Ino had her hands held in a rat seal, a look of intense concentration on her face. Tazuna looked terrified.

"Why aren't you under a cloaking genjutsu?" Asuma asked harshly.

Kiba shook his head and avoided the question. "Sensei, get ready to move."

Asuma raised two shocked eyebrows. Students didn't order their sensei. "What are you-"

"Now!" both Kiba and Ino shouted at him. He turned his eyes back to Zabuza, only to see the man flying off the water. Naruto was in his place, his right foot still extended from his kick. The boy dropped under the surface of the lake to avoid six hastily thrown shuriken from the enraged man. Completely off balance and he still almost kills me! Is this the power of a jonin? Naruto wondered.

Zabuza righted himself fast and prepared to unleash all hell on the smirking blond brat, but he was forced to abort as Asuma came charging in like a divine wraith. The momentary opening was all that the jonin had needed to retake the initiative. A small smirk play across Asuma's features as he realized his students' gambit had just won him the fight; though he was at a loss as to how his blond student had snuck up on Zabuza.

The size of Zabuza's sword was all that saved him from being cloven in two, as it provided much needed leverage to escape the revitalized jonin. The nuke-nin snarled as he saw that the extended Fuuton chakra had made a scratch on the surface. Zabuza backpedaled quickly to avoid the follow up slash.

Asuma Kawarimi'd with a nearby branch to appear behind Zabuza, and the bandaged man cursed as his avenue to the water was cut off. God damn that brat!

His raging thoughts were interrupted by a kick to his chest that sent him flying. He stuck his zanbatou to the ground to halt his flight, and winced as his arm was nearly pulled out of its socket. The Konoha jonin hit hard.

Asuma pressed his advantage hard as he unleashed another Fuuton: Shinkuu Taigokyu. The jonin snarled in triumph as it hit its mark.

Zabuza was airborne for a few silent seconds before his flight was unceremoniously brought to an end. The former Mist Swordsman slumped to the ground as his back cracked the bark on a tree.

Asuma's chakra swirled and howled as it extended itself into two three foot blades. He made a swift march to deliver the coup de grace, but halted, senses screaming, as two senbon impacted and pierced Zabuza's neck.

A young hunter-nin in a kimono dropped to Zabuza's side and checked for a pulse. He turned to regard the jonin and his charges, who had appeared next to him along with their shaken client.

"He's dead," the masked hunter said in a young voice. "I apologize for stealing your kill, but I've been tracking him for some time now with few chances. I thank you for the opportunity to finish my job."

"Hold up!" Asuma said forcefully as he approached the scene. "I want to confirm it myself." The hunter acquiesced. The jonin bent down to check the pulse, and nodded sharply when he could feel none. He stepped back. "He's all yours," he said with no small amount of suspicion and trepidation. He wasn't about to trust a foreign Hunter in hostile territory.

"Many thanks, once more," the masked hunter said as he disappeared in a swirl of mist.

Asuma dropped to one knee once the hunter had disappeared – his show of strength no longer needed. He quickly palmed and ingested a soldier pill. The fight had taken a lot out of him. A hand on his shoulder caused an almost imperceptible start. His eyes locked with Naruto's and he knew that the boy had caught his slip up.

"Sensei, are you alright?" he asked, concerned. His face was set in the grim mask that Asuma had come to expect from the blond ever since the news that their mission was more than it seemed came down. He found that he didn't like it. It didn't suit his student at all.

It was like the boy had a switch he could flip in his brain in order to put on his "serious face".

"Yeah, Naruto, I'm fine. Just a little tired." He waved off the boy's concerns. "He was tougher than I thought."

"And the poison?" Naruto asked wryly. Asuma was starting to both love and hate his student's perceptiveness. On the one hand, it was a very good trait to have as a shinobi. On the other, it was downright annoying sometimes.

"Good eyes. It's not a problem, though. Right now, we need to focus on getting Tazuna back to his house."

"Thank you, sensei," Tazuna said with a bow. "I and my family are in your debt." He was no doubt shaken from the high level ninja battle he had just witnessed. He was probably thinking that it might have been a good idea to bite the bullet and hope that the Hokage was nice enough to send a jonin squad with him. There was no telling what might be coming next for Team Ten.

About time he realized that he owes us big for this, Naruto thought uncharitably as he helped Asuma to his feet. Being vindicated about the whole mission did little to soothe the blonde's nerves. They were still in somewhat hostile territory; they still had Gatou to contend with; and they had no real idea of when backup would arrive, if ever.

Less than a half hour later, the group came upon a ramshackle house on the water. Naruto grimaced as he saw the house's position. They'd be lucky if they didn't encounter another water user here.

A sharp knock on the door brought a cautious and attractive woman to the door. Her fear evaporated when she saw her father and the Konoha ninja.

"Father!" the attractive woman cried. "I'm so glad you're safe."

Tazuna comforted the woman with a broad smile that Naruto hadn't thought the man capable of. "Now, now, there was nothing to worry about. Besides, these super ninjas kept me safe!"

At the mention of his escort, the woman quickly ushered the Konoha group inside. "Guys, allow me to introduce my daughter, Tsunami."

"Thank you very much for protecting my father," the woman gushed. "You have my eternal gratitude."

"It was no problem," Asuma reassured her. His genin barely withheld their snorts of derision.

As Ino ushered Asuma upstairs to rest, Naruto elbowed Kiba in the ribs. The dog ninja had been staring rather openly at their client's daughter.

"What?" Kiba questioned. "I can't enjoy a nice view? I need something easy on the eyes after the time we've had."

Naruto just shook his head at the boy's intransigence. "You're such a dog, Kiba." He shouldn't have expected the insult to hold water.

"Not just any dog, Naruto," the boy shot back. "The leader of the pack!" Akamaru barked in agreement.

Naruto sighed. Some things never changed.

/~/

Asuma sighed as he looked out the window of Tazuna's guest bedroom. It was raining in Wave Country. The jonin felt that it reflected his mood well.

He mentally went over the end of his fight with Zabuza for what must have been the hundredth time that day. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was dreadfully wrong. His suspicions were based on instinct, and they weren't pleasant to think about.

He had relied on his instinct for many things before, and it had only let him down once. Even then, his decision had had its obvious upsides, and he had made a few lifelong friends in the Guardians. He probably would have learned more had he stayed at home, however. He didn't regret his decision, he wouldn't second guess himself so long after the fact, but he realized that he had had more options than he had previously thought.

He did regret the relationship he now shared with his father. He wouldn't deny being more than a little jealous of the amicable relationship his best student seemed to keep with the Hokage. While not as close as they once were, the two maintained a solid rapport.

Thoughts of Naruto drew his gaze out the window once more, and he spied the blond boy running through the seals for the Fuuton: Renkudan on top of the nearby water. A thoroughly drenched Ino sat at the water's edge practicing her genjutsu seals. She would occasionally cast one on Naruto just to keep him alert and sharp.

The thought of his two blond students brought a small smile to Asuma's face. It had been easy to see that Naruto had had a soft spot for his fellow blond from day one. The boy wore his heart on his sleeve, though he was getting better at hiding it.

Ino, though, had been another story. It had taken some serious work on Asuma's part to debase her of the obsession she had had with Uchiha Sasuke. He had practically had to beat it out of the girl. It had taken time, but he had managed to instill the knowledge that training for training's sake was just as worthy a pursuit as chasing after the myopic Uchiha. It didn't hurt that Asuma had a rather low opinion of the boy.

The young Uchiha was perfectly willing to squander the attention and adoration of many in order to better focus on his long term goal of revenge. Myopic and antisocial, Sasuke had wasted many opportunities for camaraderie with his peers, something that would have undoubtedly helped him down the road. Hell, the only person he actively spent time with was Naruto.

A few well timed spying sessions on the Sharingan user had finally shown Ino the boy's true character, rather than the one she, and so many others thought he had. Girls would be girls, though, and Ino had started seeking the affection of what she determined to be the next best thing.

Asuma firmly approved of the girl's choice. Naruto was, rather predictably, clueless about the whole thing. He was sure that the boy had his suspicions, but he was far from an expert on male-female relations.

The jonin's thoughts drifted back to the mission once more, and he lit a cigarette. The fact that he had smoked so little in the past day or so merely confirmed the bad feeling that he had.

Running the scenario through his mind once more, he came to the same conclusion he had the past fifty or so times he thought about the whole ordeal. It wasn't nice; it wasn't pretty; but it was the most likely outcome. His soldiers would need to prepare for the worst.

A quick look outside confirmed the Kiba was back from guarding their client. The boy was harassing Naruto on the water's surface and the blond had retaliated by pushing the Inuzuka into the water, resulting in a full blown water fight between his three genin. Asuma chuckled at his team's antics. They were good kids. They would be better shinobi by the time he was through with them.

The team was assembled in the main bedroom that was being shared by the three males on the team a minute after he called them. Ino made a point to gloat about having her own room at least once every two hours, much to the boys' growing resentment.

"Will you shut it, you blond bimbo!" Kiba growled at the girl. "The only reason that you have your own room is because nobody here wants to have to deal with you more than necessary."

"Say that again, dog breath! I dare you," Ino snarled. Asuma shook his head at the blatant immaturity he was bearing witness to. Naruto wasn't helping matters by playing whatever side he happened to find more amusing at the time.

"Shut up!" the smoker bellowed around his cigarette. All chatter immediately came to a halt. Asuma never yelled.

"Sensei?" Naruto ventured. The blond was distinctly unsure about the whole situation.

"If I have all of your attention," the jonin began with a pointed glare at his two rowdier students. "I have some details that need to be gone over."

"What is it now?" Ino grumbled. This mission was rapidly shaping up in ways that she both hadn't expected and hadn't wanted any part of. "Are we not getting paid?"

Not if we're all dead, Asuma thought morbidly. "No, Ino, we're still getting paid. The Konoha reserve bank will reimburse us until such a time when Wave can pay off its debt. This is far more serious than money."

He immediately had his genin's attention. "Is this about Zabuza?" Kiba was the one to raise the question, surprisingly enough. The boy had his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Asuma nodded grimly. "It is. I believe that Zabuza is alive." Whatever reactions he had expected, they weren't the ones he got. He had expected surprise and denial. Instead he got grim resignation.

Ino and Naruto sent their teammate a nod. Kiba took the lead. "I smelled something off about that hunter-nin when he left the clearing. I couldn't pinpoint it, but it definitely didn't smell like it was supposed to. There was no blood in the scent, something that should be common for Hunters."

Asuma was impressed, and took a moment to remind himself that the Inuzuka family heavily populated Konoha's own hunter-nin units. "A scent can be masked though, right?" he asked, more out of genuine curiosity than anything.

Kiba shook his head. "Not from an Inuzuka's nose. A scent remains for up to two months before the body's natural odor displaces it. While it is possible that the Hunter hadn't had any other missions in that time, it's unlikely. On top of that, I also smelled a few different emotions rolling off the guy." The boy shook his head. "I couldn't really tell, but they weren't emotions a hunter-nin would be feeling right after a kill."

Asuma nodded along with the boy's deductions. "I take it you informed your teammates and they helped you come up with your idea?" The three nodded. Asuma was pleased with the minor sleuthing job his team had done. It showed a growth in their analytical skills.

"That's a good deduction. Obviously, I had the same thoughts, though on a slightly different track." Asuma leaned back. "Anyway, Zabuza is alive – most likely – and he will be back. I'm nearly certain of that," the jonin postulated.

"What does that mean for us?" Naruto questioned. The boy had tensed significantly when his sensei had backed up Kiba's deduction. The mission had just reentered his comfort zone and now this happened.

"Training," was the simple answer. "When he returns, he'll probably have an accomplice, and I doubt I'll be able to handle them both on my own. Our last fight showed that he was capable of going toe to toe with me, and I'm not going to be getting any stronger in such a short time."

The man regarded his students with an appraising eye. The three shifted uncomfortably in the silence. "You three, on the other hand, can do just that."

/~/

Naruto dropped back with a heavy breath; his arms close to his chest. He inhaled deeply, and then blew it out steadily. The wind swirled around his kunai again in the blink of an eye.

A flex of his leg muscles and a burst of chakra turned into a Shunshin that carried him past his assailant with a clang of metal on metal.

To attack or defend? he thought.

His body was carrying him toward his opponent before he knew he had made up his mind.

Asuma calmly, casually parried the strike of the kunai with his trench knives. The whirling sound of the combined Fuuton chakra rubbing together became an almost deafening whine.

A shift in his footwork put Naruto in striking position, and he punched out with his right kunai held in a reverse grip, deliberately keeping the blade close to his body.

It was blocked as easily as the last.

Naruto leaned back to avoid the retaliatory slash, and brought himself around for a low cross slash with his right blade. The strike was off balance, as Naruto wasn't used to using his right hand to strike across the body.

It was important, however, as showing your back to an opponent was tantamount to suicide.

The boy struck out with his leg at knee high, and was rewarded with a thud as it connected. His attack was aborted as a blade whistled through the space where his head had been a moment earlier.

Naruto redirected a blow at his chest with the outside of his wrist, and ducked under a second slash at head level. He switched from a reverse grip to a standard in both hands and slashed high at Asuma's head.

The jonin avoided the blow with ease, but Naruto continued his motion and spun his body around. His left blade missed the jonin by two feet. On a sudden impulse, the boy released the wind chakra from around his knife and watched in satisfaction as it continued on toward his sensei at high speed.

Asuma's eyes widened as the sharpened chakra tore toward him, and only a rapid Shunshin saved his skin.

The smoker watched in fascination as the Fuuton chakra tore into the ground where he had just stood. The earth was torn and ripped to shreds with the grass and dirt still falling to the ground. A hole the general shape of a kunai's blade was left.

Naruto stared at the mark in the ground in fascination. That technique might be useful in the future.

Instinct forced the boy to duck the slash at his head, and he grimaced as he felt a few of his hairs be sliced off. Naruto retreated swiftly from the jonin with quick steps.

Asuma was having none of that, though, and he blurred into motion toward his student.

Naruto ducked another slash at his head, but was forced to cross his arms in a block over his chest. He received a hard thrust kick for his efforts, and was sent flying into a nearby tree. His back hit the trunk hard, and he was sent crashing to the ground in a heap.

"That should teach you to never take your eyes from the objective in a fight," Asuma told the boy as he re-holstered his knives. The jonin retrieved a cigarette from his supply pouch, and lit it up with a snap of his fingers.

"I think I got the point," Naruto groaned. He sat up with a little difficulty, wincing at the bruise rapidly forming on his left arm where Asuma had kicked him. "You kick pretty hard."

The jonin shrugged his shoulders as he leaned against a tree across from his student. "You always bitch about me pulling punches in our spars; I just did what you asked."

Naruto scoffed. It was what he had asked for. It was the only way he would learn, in the end. "Maybe I didn't know what I was getting in to."

"I reckon you didn't," Asuma laughed. "There's a reason I'm a jonin."

Naruto sighed at that, his shoulders sagging. This mission was rapidly showing him his limits. First the fight with Zabuza, and now his spars with Asuma, they all reinforced the knowledge that he was far from his goal. Much too far.

"Stop that," the jonin ordered the boy. "Your moping, I mean," he continued when the boy looked confused.

"It's hard not to, knowing that your goal is so far out of reach," Naruto grumbled.

Asuma sighed. He preferred the happy Naruto from his team back in the village. Out here in hostile territory, the boy wasn't the same. "S-rank is achieved by a select few, Naruto, it's not easy to do."

The jonin sat down with a sigh. "I have an A-ranked bounty on my head-"

"Thirty five million," Naruto interrupted. His sensei smiled slightly. He was proud of the amount of money on his head.

"That's right. Even so, that places me quite a bit below any ninja who's considered S-ranked, and I like to think that I'm pretty tough in my own right."

Naruto couldn't help but agree. The fight between his Asuma and Zabuza represented a level of shinobi combat that he had no hope of surviving now. Asuma had been much stronger than he had thought, even given his sleuthing. It also put a seed of extreme doubt in his mind. If two A-ranked shinobi were so impressive, what would an S-ranked one be like.

"The thing about S-ranked ninja, Naruto," Asuma continued, "is that there is always something that sets them apart. Take my father, for example. He's known throughout the continent as the Shinobi no Kami because of his mastery over all the ninja arts, bar none. That sets him apart from even the elite jonin."

"And you?" Naruto asked. "Why aren't you like that? Surely you could do the same if you put your mind to it."

Asuma shook his head with a rueful chuckle. "If only. There are some of us that just don't have the ability. At my level, I'd have to delve into more obscure arts in order to get much stronger than I am now. That's something I'm not really willing to do."

"But why not?" Naruto asked. The thought of willfully not getting stronger just didn't compute with the boy.

"I'm nearly thirty, Naruto, and I've been in the business since I was ten. If I have my way, I'll retire in a few years. There's no reason for me to attempt to train in some obscure art just so I can retire without ever having to use it," Asuma explained. "It's not worth the time, especially as I highly doubt that I'll be coming into contact with any S-ranked ninja anytime soon."

Naruto didn't understand, but he let it slide. The gist of it was that Asuma didn't want to devote hours of time to training himself, given his age. It made sense –sort of – but the idea of it couldn't rest in Naruto's brain. Maybe they were just wired differently.

"I think I get it, sensei, but it seems weird to me." Asuma just nodded.

He didn't think that the boy would be able to really understand his need to settle down. It was a mature idea, and Naruto was too focused on his shinobi career to ever think about giving it up.

The truth was that Asuma was tired. His original reason for joining the shinobi corps was to step outside the shadow of his father. Once it had been made abundantly clear that that was never going to happen, his motivation slipped, and he had had to find new sources of drive.

He had found one in the Twelve Guardians, but that was so far in his past now that he had trouble remembering his mindset from back then.

Naruto sighed heavily. "I just feel like it's so far away," the boy muttered, more to himself than to Asuma.

The jonin kept his surprise in check, like he had done for the rest of the mission. He had never thought for a moment that his best student was so insecure about his own abilities. The boy had hidden depths that kept coming to the fore.

"You'd do well to stop dwelling on it," Asuma began. "There's not much you can change about your situation in regards to other ninja, so you can only focus on getting yourself better."

Naruto gave him a smile devoid of humor. "That's easy for you to say. You're a jonin now, and you were a chunin when you were my age. I'm just a genin."

"Will you shut up!" the jonin reprimanded the boy harshly. The rebuke surprised the moping boy. "That's exactly what I'm talking about right there. Stop comparing yourself to everyone else."

"People mature at different rates. I may have been a chunin when I was your age, but Hatake Kakashi was one when he was six. That doesn't mean that he's any better than I am." Asuma held up a hand to stop the boy's incoming protest. "Yes, he might be, but not because of how strong he was when he was your age. Some people are just naturally gifted. Others had help, me included. I had a private tutor during my Academy years teaching me the ins and outs of the profession."

Asuma locked eyes with Naruto. "You didn't have any of that, if the records are to be believed. Yet here you are. Worrying about how strong someone else is in comparison to you gets you nowhere. It might motivate you for a while, but in the end it gets so depressing that all your drive eventually gets sapped if you chose someone who's much stronger than you. It distracts you form what's important, and that's your own ability."

"You sound like you speak from experience," Naruto said in a smallish voice.

Asuma smiled ruefully. "I do. I made the same mistake you are now, but I chose my father to measure myself against. Needless to say, it soon became abundantly clear that I was never going to reach his level, at least not in the timeframe that I set for myself. He was stronger than I am now when he was fifteen; that should tell you all you need to know about how good he is."

"But he was a freak of nature!" Naruto exclaimed, not unkindly. It was meant in a flattering way.

"So was Hatake Kakashi, the Yondaime, Uchiha Itachi," Naruto tensed involuntarily at the last one. Asuma passed it off as his connection to Sasuke.

"So was I, to a certain extent. Your problem, Naruto, is that you say that you want to be S-ranked, and now you've been shown a level of fighting that you've never even dreamed of before. You're trying to measure yourself against me and Zabuza, and it's getting you nowhere."

"Your circumstances were different from theirs, and you still think that they'll serve as a decent measure for your skills." Asuma paused to let the boy try to wrap his head around the idea. "Doing that makes you lose perspective. You lose focus."

Naruto nodded hesitantly. He could see where Asuma was coming from. He had been comparing himself to Asuma and Zabuza – and Itachi, to a lesser extent – and he had come up with nothing good. He hadn't had any help in getting his skills thus far, save for what he learned from Asuma, and he was pretty good for his age.

Maybe there was some truth to the jonin's words.

"If there's anything that my experience has taught me, Naruto, it's that the only way to get stronger is to focus on yourself, and what you need to get where you want to go." The jonin paused to formulate his statement. "It's about finding and breaking your upper limit."

Naruto leaned back heavily as he digested the words. Was that what made Asuma and Zabuza so strong? Was that what had made Itachi so strong that he had been able to massacre his clan single handedly?

If so, he had a new goal.

He knew that there were certain unchangeable things in the world, his childhood had taught him that much, and this mission had only reinforced that notion. His status now wasn't one of them. He could get stronger; he would get stronger.

Asuma didn't matter. Zabuza didn't matter. Sasuke didn't matter. All that mattered was how strong he was, irrespective of all else.

He would find his upper limit. Then he would break it.

"To measure one's own capacity," Asuma concluded, sounding rather pleased with his phrasing and intruding on Naruto's thoughts.

The blond nodded, a new fire lit within him. "To measure my capacity."

That's all that mattered.

/~/