Land Of Waves

"That mission?" Hiruzen muttered as he heard Naruto asking to accept the C-rank escort mission. Though Hiruzen would have rejected it if it were the old Naruto, But kakashi's recent reports indicated that Naruto had changed.

He didn't act annoying or clumsy anymore but had started to act more mature and smart. Even then, Hiruzen didn't think Team 7 or Naruto was really ready to go on a C-rank mission.

But as he was about to say no to Naruto, Kakashi gave Hiruzen a nod, signaling him to let Team 7 take this mission.

To be honest, what Hiruzen was hoping for was to let Team 7 bond together, but that didn't seem to be working out since they completed most of their missions in just a few hours.

And they didn't seem to be growing at all. D-rank missions didn't really seem to make them bond with each other, and they were now doing missions for money alone.

"This mission might be a good way to make them bond and give them experience," Kakashi thought as he looked at Hiruzen.

Sighing, Hiruzen said, "Okay, you can take it," while looking into Naruto's eyes, which were so different from some time ago. Hiruzen couldn't even describe them.

Naruto's old eyes were warm and kind, but now there was something weird about them. They almost looked like they wanted to devour everything sometimes.

Even though Iruka wasn't really in favor of letting Team 7 go on a C-rank task, as he saw Hiruzen and Kakashi's smile, he understood why they were doing it.

"Well, as Naruto already read out the mission's details, you guys already know that it is a mission to escort someone," Hiruzen said as he looked at Sasuke and Sakura, who were standing along with Kakashi some meters away from Hiruzen's chair and table.

"Um... excuse me? But can you tell us who we actually have to escort?" Sakura asked Hiruzen out of pure curiosity as she raised her right hand.

"Compose yourself. I will perform the introductions straight away. Please go and invite him," Hiruzen said, ordering a shinobi in the room to bring the person Team 7 was to escort.

Soon, a man with gray hair, a long beard, and dark eyes, wearing a sleeveless V-neck shirt with an obi, pants, and a pair of sandals, entered the room. He also carried a towel around his neck, wore a pointed hat on his head, and was carrying a bottle of alcohol.

"They look like a bunch of wet-nosed brats," Tazuna said as he drank alcohol from his bottle upon seeing Team 7.

"Especially the midget one. He's got the face of an imbecile," Tazuna said harshly and mockingly as soon as he saw Naruto.

But Naruto just ignored him... for now. He wasn't in the mood to insult someone but mentally added this old man to his imaginary list of people he had to kill.

Naruto was kind of sensitive about his height and narcissistic about his face. Calling him a midget and an imbecile was just like living in the 18th and 19th century during the time of Napoleon, who was AVERAGE HEIGHT for the time, at least according to himself, and calling him small and ugly, and expecting not to get blown to shreds by cannons.

Tazuna was also going to die, it was most certain; the only question was how.

"I am Tazuna, a bridge builder of ultimate renown," Tazuna introduced himself with a face that seemed both punchable and stab-able to Naruto.

"Until I am safely back in my own country, the Land of Waves, where I will be completing my bridge, you all are expected to protect me even if it costs you your lives."

"What a delusional old man," Naruto thought as soon as he heard Tazuna's words. Does he really think that the ninjas he hired for 50,000 ryo would die to protect him?

Naruto didn't know about Kakashi, Sakura, or Sasuke, but if something that could kill him appeared, he would be the first to run at a speed that even Minato would say, "Damn, he's fast." Basically, he would run away without any shame. To him, only his life mattered, and to protect it, he would take the lives of anyone he needed to.

"Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, go and pack your bags for this mission and meet me at the village's entrance gate," Kakashi ordered Team 7. This mission might take some days or even a week, and going without any preparations for that long is just not very smart—or rather, stupid.

"This old man is quite weird," Naruto thought as he exited the room with Sasuke and Sakura. From Naruto's experience in his past life, he could tell this old man seemed to be hiding something or, more accurately, trying to scam Konoha.

The mission to escort him was just a C-rank mission and didn't really seem that risky, but Tazuna said, "You all are expected to protect me even if it costs you your life," which certainly wasn't the words of someone whose life wasn't in danger.

As Naruto exited the room and went to his house, he took a black bag and put a box of bandages, ten injections and needles he had bought some days ago, some new clothes he had bought a day or so ago, and his toothbrush in it.

To be honest, he was kind of fed up with these orange clothes. It wasn't the color he didn't like, but the design was kind of ugly by his standards.

"Hmm... It's all I'll be needing, I guess," Naruto said as he closed the zipper of his bag, put it on, then exited his house, locking the door and running towards the entrance gate of the village.

When he arrived, he saw that Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura were already there along with Tazuna. It wasn't that Sasuke or Sakura were faster than him, but their homes were closer to the Hokage's mansion, where they got the mission, than Naruto's house.

"Since Naruto is also here, let's start our mission," Kakashi said to Sasuke and Sakura as he saw Naruto running towards them and turned to face Tazuna.

As they started to walk towards the Land of Waves, it only took a matter of minutes before Team 7 started to sweat. It was normal considering it was the hot month of June and it hadn't rained for many days.

"Is that a puddle?" Naruto thought as he spotted a puddle of water on the ground some meters ahead. "What a pathetic strategy and skills," he thought again as he figured it out.

It was most likely some shinobi hiding in that puddle, but they truly had the brains the size of an acorn. Who hides in a puddle in one of the hottest months of the year when it hasn't rained for days?

Kakashi also seemed to notice it, while Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna walked carefree in front of Kakashi and Naruto.

"Sigh," Naruto sighed before summoning a shadow clone and letting it stay behind as he moved ahead of Kakashi.

As soon as Kakashi and Naruto crossed the puddle, two shinobi emerged from it, one from the front and one from behind, with the shinobi in the back clinging to the other one's back.

But what the shinobi in the back saw was a boy with blonde hair before he felt a kunai stab his neck. While Naruto's clone stabbed him, his expression was cold, but it wasn't of indifference alone.

But his expression seemed to be more like bored indifference, just like a child killing an ant.

"That was pretty easy," Naruto's clone thought before disappearing.

The remaining shinobi waited for a second, only to realize his partner was dead. Even though he was shocked, he didn't want to return as a failure, so he charged at Tazuna with intent to kill. But Kakashi stopped him effortlessly and easily beat him. To be honest, Kakashi was quite shocked when Naruto killed one of the two shinobi, but he let it happen as he really wanted to see how Naruto would act in a real battlefield.

Even though Naruto had shown superior battle IQ and calmness during battles compared to Sasuke and Sakura in the past few days, having the talent to win battles and having the courage to kill someone were different things.

"W-What?" Sakura exclaimed as she suddenly heard the sound of someone getting beaten up. She, Sasuke, and Tazuna turned towards Kakashi while Naruto was already looking at them with an indifferent face.

"Looks like they are after this old man after all," Naruto thought. He could have killed both of the shinobi since they were at most low-level chunin, but he really wanted to see who they were after.

"Mr. Tazuna," Kakashi said as he grabbed the shinobi he had just beaten with a single hand.

"W-What is it?" Tazuna asked, his voice a little shaky and scared. It was evident he was frightened.

"I need to talk with you," Kakashi said coldly as he bound the shinobi to a tree with rope.

"These guys are chunin-class shinobi from the Hidden Village of Mist," Kakashi said, trying to let Team 7 know who attacked them and how dangerous being a shinobi is. "They are known to keep fighting until their mission is done."

"But Sensei, why did they try to attack us?" Sakura asked, still puzzled.

Before Kakashi could respond, Naruto said, "We weren't their target, but this old man Tazuna." Naruto looked at Tazuna, whose fear was easily visible.

"What nonsense are you talking about, Naruto?" Sakura said, still seeing Naruto as a stupid kid and not wanting to accept what he was saying.

"Naruto is right, Sakura," Kakashi said before looking at Tazuna. "In any case, this isn't a C-rank mission anymore. It's more like a B-rank mission since we will have to fight shinobi instead of normal bandits as stated in your mission file." Kakashi walked towards Tazuna.

"I'm sure you had your reasons to lie about the details of the mission, but it causes problems when you do. We are now operating outside of our duties."

"Well... you're right, this mission is out of your duties, but it turns out a super-dangerous man is after my life," Tazuna said, taking a few steps back.

"A super dangerous man? Who is it?" Kakashi asked, not really thinking there was someone like that in the Land of Waves the last time he visited.

"Well, you might have heard his name already. It's Gato from Gato Company. Even though he officially runs a company on the surface, he is a very nasty man who does a lot of illegal activities.

Last year, he set his sights on the Land of Waves and was soon able to take control of it," Tazuna said, gulping nervously.

"He now has a complete monopoly on all forms of transportation, the lifeline of an island nation. But the only thing he fears is the completion of the bridge I am making."

"But still, why did you lie about the details of the mission?" Kakashi asked.

"To be honest, the Land of Waves is a very poor land. Even our local lords are poor, so there was no way for us to afford paying that much money to you."

Hearing this, all of Team 7 and Kakashi gave him a "bruh" style glance. Sensing their skepticism, Tazuna started to act dramatic.

"Well, if you quit now, I will most certainly die. But well, that's not your concern," Tazuna said, laughing loudly. "You won't be there to see my daughter and 10-year-old grandson crying their eyes out. And oh yeah, you won't mind if my daughter vows eternal hatred for the shinobi of your village and lives her life trying to get revenge for me."

"Yeah! I won't mind," Naruto suddenly said, now in a mocking mood rather than his cold one. "Considering how weak and pathetic you are, I think your daughter is just as useless as you and won't even be able to defeat a genin from our village, much less get revenge."

"You stupid boy, what are you saying?" Sakura yelled at Naruto, not liking him saying such things to an elderly person like Tazuna.

"Oh! Are you angry because I insulted your kind?" Naruto said, giving Sakura the most mocking glance he could muster.

{A/N: He basically called her useless.}

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled once more, trying to punch Naruto in the face. She still didn't know that Naruto had killed one of the shinobi from the Land of Mist and was under the impression that she could hit him and get away with it.

"Aww, look at the little trashcan acting up," Naruto said before catching Sakura's punch with his left hand. "Let me rearrange that puny mouth of yours for free," he said before punching her in the face with his right hand.

"Not again!" Kakashi thought with a stressed tone. All Naruto and Sakura did when they talked to each other was fight, and Kakashi was already getting tired of it.

"Naruto, stop hitting her," Kakashi said to Naruto, who was getting ready to hit Sakura again. He then looked at Tazuna and said, "Well, I suppose it can't be helped. We will continue to protect you, at least until you reach your village."

{A/N: Should I let Naruto insult characters like this from time to time and have his carefree or mocking mood, or should I make him just cold?}