Naruto's Resolve

Kakashi looked at the two attackers, who had basically been taken down single-handedly by Jimo, then glanced at the silent Tazuna.

"Judging by their Forehead Protectors, those two seem to be Chunin from Kirigakure... They're known for fighting to the death, no matter the cost."

"Jimo, how did you know they were lying in wait?" Kakashi looked at him. The fact that the kid had reacted so quickly meant he'd spotted the two of them well in advance.

"It's pretty simple. The sky's been cloudless all the way here, so why was there a little puddle in the middle of the road? It just didn't add up." Jimo gave the two ninjas a slightly taunting look.

"If you knew there were enemies, why didn't you do anything?" Tazuna asked.

"At the very least, I needed to know who they were after. From the looks of it, their target was you, Mr. Tazuna. A C-rank mission might involve the mafia or bandits, but if we run into ninjas, then the nature of this mission has changed."

Kakashi's expression turned cold. "Our mission is to protect you until the bridge is built... But if the enemies include ninjas, this would be classified as a high-paying B-rank mission. You may have had your reasons for keeping things from us, but this puts the kids behind me in a difficult position."

"Hey, Naruto! Your hand!" Sakura shrieked. The two ninjas had slashed Naruto's arm, and the wound had already turned purplish black.

"Poisoned..." Kakashi frowned.

"This is troublesome... We should take him back to the village for treatment." Kakashi looked at Naruto with concern.

While everyone was distracted, Naruto had already pulled the Kunai strapped to his leg and stabbed the back of his hand.

"Naruto!" Sakura panicked at the spray of blood.

"I swear on the pain in my left hand! I'll never need anyone to save me again... I'll protect this old man... with this Kunai!"

"Cough, cough... Um... Naruto, even though it was pretty cool of you to let the poisoned blood out, you can still die from losing too much blood." Kakashi smiled at him.

"Huh? How could this happen?! I don't want to die here!" Naruto panicked as the blood kept flowing.

"Um, actually, you didn't have to do it that way... It's not that I... can't treat this kind of wound." Jimo finally sauntered over.

"Jimo! Why didn't you say so earlier?!"

Naruto: (???)

"You didn't ask... You just went and stabbed yourself. You really don't hold back, do you..." Jimo pulled a medical suture kit from his pack and disinfected and stitched Naruto's wound.

"You know battlefield first aid, too?" Kakashi watched Jimo with keen interest. The boy had brought him plenty of surprises.

As Jimo stitched the wound, it began healing at a visible speed.

"So this is the Nine-Tails' vitality..." Kakashi marveled.

While everyone rested, Tazuna called Kakashi aside.

"G-Gato? The world-renowned billionaire?" When everyone heard who they might be facing on this mission, their jaws dropped.

"Mm. Actually, you don't need to risk your lives to protect me. Wave Country is a poor place, and if an old weirdo like me dies, then so be it." Tazuna laughed cheerfully, as if he'd made peace with death.

"The only ones left behind would be my sweet grandson, who's not even ten, crying his eyes out, and my daughter, spending the rest of her life alone, hating the ninjas of Konoha."

Tazuna wiped away nonexistent tears.

"Of course, of course, none of that would be your fault."

"Kakashi-sensei..." Jimo watched Tazuna ham it up. He usually preferred to keep quiet, so it was rare for him to start a conversation with Kakashi.

"Hmm?"

"I want to hit him..."

"Me too..." Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura

It took Kakashi's calming words to keep the four kids from giving in to the urge to hit him.

After asking around, they eventually found the Bounty Exchange and collected the bounties on the two Kirigakure rogue ninjas.

They continued on to Wave Country by boat.

"You're in luck. It's foggy today. Otherwise, I wouldn't take outsiders like you across." The boatman weighed the heavy pouch of money in his hand, then rowed them to the far bank.

"Kakashi-sensei... You said those were Chunin this time. Do you think we'll run into a Jonin next?"

Jimo said it as if he were joking.

"Who knows... This mission's been a real loss." Kakashi looked at them with one of his usual half-lidded, lifeless eyes.

"Hey! Could you two stop talking about such terrifying things?!" Sakura hurriedly shouted at them for jinxing it.

Naruto and Sasuke, for once, were on the same side, scolding the two of them and telling them to stop. They were only Genin—what had they done to deserve fighting a Jonin?

The group continued on. A faint mist hung over the whole route.

Their opponent had hidden their presence very carefully, but Jimo still caught a trace of it.

"Does this kid have a knack for sensory ninjutsu, too?" Kakashi noticed Jimo's reaction. He decided not to alert the enemy and waited for them to make the first move.

"Something's up!"

Naruto shouted and threw a Shuriken into the bushes. A rat ran out.

"What are you... doing?" Sakura quipped, then promptly gave Naruto a big bump on the head.

"Naruto, don't throw Shuriken around! What if it's not an enemy?" Kakashi looked at the bushes helplessly.

"Over there!" Naruto threw another Shuriken.

Kakashi walked over to the shrubbery and found a pure-white rabbit.

"How could there be a snow-white rabbit in the wild in spring?" Kakashi wondered suspiciously as he picked it up by the ears and turned it over, inspecting it closely. Beneath his distinctive mask, his usually dull, lifeless eyes sharpened.

Just then, Kakashi felt that something was off. His keen instincts, honed by years of combat, told him things weren't so simple.

"Could it be... the Substitution Technique? That was fast..." Kakashi murmured. He quickly set the rabbit down and braced himself for whatever might happen.

"Get down!"

The moment Kakashi spoke, a shadow came hurtling toward them. A massive sword, as big as a door, flew past, grazing the tops of their heads.

The blade stuck sideways in a tree, with a muscular, bare-chested masked man standing on its hilt.

"First Technician of Konoha, the Copy Ninja Kakashi? Not bad, sensing me like that..."

The man laughed.

Kakashi held Naruto back from charging and watched the man warily.

"Everyone, fall back. He's on a completely different level from those other two!" Kakashi adjusted the Forehead Protector covering his left eye.

"What a pain..."

"Kamehameha!"

Before Kakashi could react, Jimo had already fired a beam of light.