Naruto's Resolve

Kakashi looked at the two assassins who had essentially been taken down by Jimo alone, then glanced at Tazuna, who remained silent.

"Judging by their forehead protectors, those two seem to be Kirigakure chunin... famous for fighting to the death no matter what."

"Jimo, how did you spot the ambush?" Kakashi shot a look at Jimo. The fact that he'd reacted instantly meant the kid had noticed them long before.

"Pretty simple. The sky's been clear all the way here, so why would there be a random puddle in the middle of the road? Something didn't add up." Jimo cast a slightly provocative glance at the two ninja.

"If you knew there were enemies, why didn't you step in!" Tazuna said.

"At least I needed to know who their target was. Now it's pretty clear it's you, Mr. Tazuna. A C-rank mission at most should involve mafia or bandits—but running into ninja changes the nature of the mission, doesn't it?"

Kakashi said coldly, "Our mission is to protect you until the bridge is finished... but if the enemies include ninja, this mission gets reclassified as a high-paying B-rank... Maybe you have circumstances you couldn't help, but this is putting these kids behind me in a tough spot."

"Hey, Naruto! Your hand!" Sakura screamed. Naruto's arm had been cut by the two ninja, and the wound was now a mottled purple-black.

"Poisoned, huh..." Kakashi frowned.

"This is trouble... We'll have to send him back to the village for treatment!" Kakashi looked at Naruto with concern.

In that moment of distraction, Naruto had already pulled the kunai strapped to his leg and stabbed it into the back of his own hand.

"Naruto!" Sakura panicked at the spurting blood.

"I swear on the pain in my left hand! I won't need anyone else to save me anymore... I'll protect this old man... with this kunai!"

"Ahem... well... Naruto, it was pretty cool of you to let the poisoned blood out, but bleeding too much will still kill you, you know." Kakashi said with a smile to Naruto.

"Hey! How can this be! I don't want to die here!" Naruto panicked at the unstoppable flow of blood.

"Actually, you didn't really have to do it that way... I could have... handled this kind of wound, you know." Jimo finally strolled out slowly.

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

Naruto: (??益?)

"You didn't ask... you just stabbed yourself. You really went for it, huh..." Jimo pulled a medical sewing kit from his bag, disinfected Naruto's wound, and stitched it up.

"You know field first aid too?" Kakashi watched Jimo with interest, this student who kept surprising him.

During the stitching, Naruto's wound healed at a visible rate.

"So that's the Nine-Tails' vitality..." Kakashi murmured.

While everyone rested, Tazuna pulled Kakashi aside.

"Ka... Gato? That world-class tycoon?" Everyone's jaws dropped when they heard who they might be up against this time.

"Well, you don't have to risk your lives protecting me. Wave Country is a poor place. An old geezer like me dying is no big deal." Tazuna laughed cheerfully, as if he'd seen through life and death.

"It's just that my adorable grandson, barely ten years old, would be left crying his heart out, and my daughter would spend the rest of her life alone, bitter and hating Konoha ninja."

Tazuna wiped the corner of his eye where no tears existed.

"Of course, of course. It's not your fault."

"Kakashi-sensei..." Jimo looked at Tazuna, who was hamming it up like a drama queen. Normally a quiet type, he rarely took the initiative to talk to Kakashi.

"Hm?"

"I want to punch him..."

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

It took Kakashi calming them down before the four little ones suppressed their urge to throw a punch.

After asking around, they finally found the Bounty Exchange and turned in the two rogue Kirigakure ninja for their reward.

They took a boat to Wave Country.

"You're in luck. There's fog today, or I wouldn't ferry outsiders in." The boatman weighed the heavy coin purse and rowed them to the opposite shore.

"Kakashi-sensei... you said these were chunin. We won't run into a jonin next, will we?"

Jimo said it like a joke.

"Who knows... This mission is turning out to be a real loss." Kakashi stared with one half-lidded, lifeless dead-fish eye.

"Hey hey! You two, don't talk about such scary things, okay!" Sakura shouted at their jinxing words.

Naruto and Sasuke, for once on the same side, scolded the two for not shutting up—how were they, mere genin, supposed to fight a jonin...

They continued on, with a light fog hanging over the road.

Though the enemy was careful to conceal their presence, Jimo still caught a trace of it.

"Does this kid have talent as a sensory ninja too?" Kakashi noticed Jimo's state and decided not to flush out the enemy, letting them spring the trap themselves.

"Something's up!"

Naruto shouted and threw a shuriken into the bushes. A mouse ran out from the grass.

"What... are you doing..." Sakura muttered, handing Naruto a big red envelope.

"Naruto, don't just throw shuriken everywhere—what if it's not an enemy?" Kakashi sighed, looking helplessly toward the bushes.

"Over there!" Naruto hurled another shuriken.

Kakashi walked into the shrubbery and spotted a rabbit, pure white all over.

"How could there be a snow rabbit this pristine in the wild during spring?" Kakashi lifted the rabbit by its ears with a dubious expression, turning it over left and right for a closer look. Beneath his distinctive mask, his usually listless, dead-fish eyes sharpened.

Just then, a strange sensation surged in Kakashi's heart. His keen intuition, honed through years of combat experience, told him things were far from simple.

"Could it be... a Substitution Technique? They sure got here fast..." Kakashi muttered to himself, quickly setting the rabbit down and assuming a stance ready for any sudden developments.

"Get down!"

The moment the words left Kakashi's mouth, a black shadow streaked in. A massive blade, as wide as a door panel, flew past—nearly grazing the tops of their heads.

The greatsword lodged horizontally into a tree, and on its hilt stood a bare-chested, muscle-bound masked man.

"First Technician of Konoha, Copy Ninja Kakashi? Not bad perception..."

The man laughed.

Kakashi held back Naruto, who was itching to act, and eyed the man warily.

"Everyone fall back—this one's not on the same level as the last two!" Kakashi adjusted the headband covering his left eye.

"What a pain..."

"Kamehameha!"

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