Chapter 11: Demon of the Bloody Mist, Zabuza
"Water?"
On the way to the Land of Waves, Kakashi-sensei suddenly noticed a puddle of water on the road ahead.
On such a clear day, how could there be a puddle of water on the ground?
Thinking of this, Kakashi-sensei suddenly remembered that before facing Zabuza, there seemed to be another ambush.
Kakashi-sensei did not remind Naruto and the others about this, but calmly continued to walk forward.
As they walked past the puddle, ripples immediately spread across the water's surface. Two Ninja wearing bandages around their faces emerged from the water.
"First one!"
The moment the two emerged from the water, they quickly jumped into the air and flung the chains in their hands toward Kakashi-sensei in front of them.
The next second, Kakashi-sensei, who was entangled by the chains, was instantly torn into several pieces by their pull!
"Ah—"
"Kakashi-sensei!"
Naruto and the others finally noticed the ambush at this moment, their faces instantly filled with terror as they looked at the scene before them in disbelief.
"Second one."
Those two Ninja would not give them time to react. They swung their chains again, attacking Naruto and the others.
Naruto's pupils constricted upon seeing this, his face turning deathly pale. He trembled, completely unable to react otherwise.
Uchiha Sasuke, however, was the opposite. He reacted in an instant, jumped up, and rapidly threw a shuriken from the air.
With a 'ding,' the flying shuriken knocked the incoming chain aside.
Immediately after, Uchiha Sasuke landed above the two Ninja's heads and kicked down with both feet, sending them flying away.
However, the moment they landed after being thrown, they changed targets, pushing off with their feet and rushing toward Tazuna.
Sakura saw this. Although she was terrified, her body moved. Holding a Kunai, she blocked the path in front of Tazuna.
Sasuke also reacted quickly, rushing in front of Sakura and the other to protect them.
Seeing the two rush straight toward them holding weapons, Sasuke frantically thought about how to defend against them.
Bang—
Before Sasuke could figure out whether to use Fire Release or something else to defend, the two in front of him were suddenly knocked sideways by some unknown force.
"Hmm, everyone did well except for a certain dead last."
Hearing this voice, the group looked closely and realized that Kakashi-sensei had appeared there at some unknown time. She was slowly lowering her foot.
Clearly, the previous two had been kicked away by her with one kick.
"Kakashi-sensei, you're alive?!!"
Sakura snapped out of it, her expression joyful as she quickly asked.
"Well, if I could be killed so easily by two unknown guys, then my Jonin status would be too fake, wouldn't it!" Kakashi-sensei chuckled lightly.
"Stealing the spotlight..." Sasuke muttered under his breath speechlessly. Since he was fine, he should have acted from the beginning instead of waiting for the critical moment.
"However, Naruto, you keep shouting that you want challenging missions. Now that you've actually encountered enemy Ninja, why are you so scared you can't move? Sasuke reacted faster, and Sakura also did very well."
Kakashi-sensei then changed the subject and looked toward Naruto not far away.
If Naruto wasn't provoked a few times, he wouldn't improve quickly.
"Hmph..."
Naruto couldn't refute what he heard and simultaneously began to doubt himself. He had clearly worked very hard during this period, even learning to climb trees and walk on water, so why did he fail at the crucial moment? Up until now, his body was still shaking. Damn it, damn it... Sasuke was also experiencing this kind of real combat for the first time, didn't he feel scared at all?
"Judging from their attack just now, the target was Mr. Tazuna, right?"
After seeing Naruto self-reflecting, Kakashi-sensei turned her gaze to Tazuna behind Sakura.
Even though she knew the plot, the necessary procedures still had to be followed.
"A mission that requires fighting Ninja is no longer D-rank or C-rank; it's B-rank. This is beyond the scope of our mission."
"This is too early for us."
Sakura quickly nodded in agreement, feeling it was better to stop the mission. Besides, Naruto's hand was scratched earlier.
The enemy's weapon was poisonous, so Naruto also needed to return to the Village to get an anesthetic, then cut the wound open to bleed it.
"Damn it!" Naruto felt full of unwillingness upon hearing Sakura's words; he was being a burden again!
No, I absolutely cannot lose to Sasuke!
"No need to go back, the mission continues."
Very quickly, Naruto made up his mind, then drew a Kunai and inserted it into the wound on his left hand.
This scene immediately shocked the few people present!
Finally, due to Naruto's insistence, the mission continued.
When they reached the seaside and took a boat to the Land of Waves, Tazuna explained his hidden troubles.
Their country was targeted by Gato, and all maritime trade was controlled by Gato's people. Now, the only hope for their country was to build a bridge leading to the continent.
Therefore, as the bridge builder, he was being assassinated by Gato's men.
But because they lacked money, they couldn't afford the mission fee for B-rank or higher, so he had to hide the truth and list it as a C-rank mission.
After listening, Kakashi-sensei naturally decided to continue the mission.
After all, what she valued was not the meager mission fee in reality, but the Ninja Pearls from the System Mission!
[Main Quest One: Land of Waves Mission.]
[Mission Rank: S-Rank.]
[Reward: 20,000 Ninja Pearls]
Twenty thousand Ninja Pearls—that was something that took 200 days of daily missions to obtain!
Now, one mission could grant it; how could she give up!
After some time, everyone set foot on the land of the Land of Waves.
However, there was still some distance from the shore to Tazuna's house.
"If I remember correctly, it was on this stretch of road that we encountered Zabuza." On the way to Tazuna's house, Kakashi-sensei couldn't help but think, while her spirit became highly concentrated.
This was a powerful enemy!
As for Uzumaki Naruto, in order to regain the face he lost earlier, he was constantly trying to show off now.
Every few steps, he felt enemies nearby, and he even recklessly threw shuriken into the bushes.
"There's an enemy here!"
"Naruto! Stop messing around."
Sakura was somewhat unable to stand Naruto's jumpiness.
"No, this time there really is an enemy."
Kakashi Hatake sensed a strange aura at this moment, then shouted with a solemn expression: "Get down!"
"Huh?"
Sakura subconsciously paused upon hearing this, but their bodies reacted quickly and they squatted down in time.
In the second after they squatted down, a large sword suddenly flew out of the forest, grazing over their heads.
Clang—
The large sword stopped only when it embedded itself into the trunk of a large tree. Simultaneously, a figure descended and landed on the hilt of the sword, his back to them below.
"Demon of the Bloody Mist, Zabuza!"
"Sharingan Kakashi!"
"Hmm? Wait, the intel seems to be wrong. Is the famous Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake, actually a little girl?"