The Wrong Mission

A scream!

A new ninja leader had been appointed by Gato.

The midday sun scorched his skin. Tazuna, with his scraggly beard, trudged breathlessly to the gates of Konoha.

Tazuna wiped the sweat from his forehead, then bent to pick up the firewood he had dropped.

To evade the assassination attempts by the ninjas Gato had sent after him, Tazuna had kept changing his identity along the way. Now he was posing as a woodcutter, gathering firewood to sell in Konoha.

Without hesitation, Tazuna entered Konoha and hurried to the village's mission assignment office. He took out all the money he had and said, "Please escort me to the Land of Waves."

"Your escort request has been classified as a C-rank mission. Please wait for one of our ninjas to accept it."

"How long will it take for a ninja to accept the mission?"

"Please wait patiently. If someone accepts it, we'll send someone to notify you. Please fill out the relevant information."

There was nothing Tazuna could do but wait.

Even though waiting was the hardest part.

One day, then two.

Sitting on a wooden bench in Konoha Park, Tazuna took a dispirited bite of his cold rice ball. "Why haven't I heard a thing? Did they forget about my mission?"

The payment Tazuna offered was among the lowest for escort missions, even lower than that of an ordinary C-rank mission. Few ninjas were willing to take on a mission that required traveling to another country.

"I'll go ask again. I can't keep waiting. Every day that passes is another day the people of the Land of Waves have to suffer." Tazuna rushed to the river, scooped up a few handfuls of water, and rinsed his face.

The Hokage Office in Konoha.

Team Kakashi had a reputation for getting the job done—and completing missions ahead of schedule.

Minato Namikaze's secretary saw Naruto and said with a smile, "You left Kakashi behind again. That's not very nice, is it?"

Naruto hadn't done it on purpose. "Kakashi-sensei said he didn't need to go out for D-rank missions and left us to handle them ourselves."

"Naruto, Team 7 has completed enough D-rank missions. Would you be interested in taking on a C-rank mission?"

Naruto was about to refuse. C-rank missions weren't worth the time: the pay was low, and they took a long time because they involved leaving Konoha. Finding cats and dogs for the nobles was much more worthwhile.

But Sakura Haruno was getting a little tired of searching for cats and dogs. Hearing that Team 7 could take on a higher-ranking mission thrilled her, and she immediately said, "We're interested. We'll take it."

"Hinata, please help me out. I really want to see what it's like outside Konoha." Afraid Naruto would reject her idea, Sakura pleaded with Hinata with a pitiful look.

Hinata figured that with Naruto's strength, completing a C-rank mission wouldn't be difficult, so there was no harm in agreeing with Sakura. "Naruto, is that okay?"

In the end, Naruto had no choice but to agree. "Kakashi-sensei isn't here yet. Let's wait until he gets back and let him make the final decision."

Sakura was sure Kakashi-sensei would agree.

On the streets of Konoha, Tazuna was thoroughly frustrated. He still hadn't gotten any news from the village's mission assignment office, and his hopes were slowly fading.

As Tazuna passed a tavern, the smell of alcohol hit him. The craving he'd been suppressing for two days immediately filled his mind. He needed a drink to forget his troubles.

"Boss, give me your cheapest liquor." Tazuna pulled out the wages he'd earned doing manual labor the day before yesterday. He had barely any left, but he still wanted a drink.

He drank, taking one big gulp after another, drinking to forget everything. A flush spread across Tazuna's cheeks.

"Tazuna, your mission has been accepted. Please come with me." A ninja who worked at Konoha's mission office found Tazuna and told him the news.

Having had a drink, Tazuna was a little more irritable. "Your village is far too inefficient. I want to file a complaint."

The Hokage Office in Konoha.

Kakashi looked over the mission scroll. "A bridge-building expert named Tazuna? We're escorting him to the Land of Waves, and the payment is this low. Minato-sensei, is this because no one else was willing to take the mission, so you assigned it to me?"

Minato Namikaze signed the towering stack of documents on his desk and gave him an earnest look. "Kakashi, please don't dwell on that. Think of it as a chance to take everyone out for some fresh air. Besides, we know almost nothing about the Land of Waves. Help the Anbu fill in the missing information. And look at Naruto—he's about to run out of D-rank missions in Konoha. Go on, and give the other Genin teams a chance!"

"All right. But where's the person we're supposed to escort?" Kakashi accepted the mission scroll. What Minato-sensei said made sense. When Naruto got going, he could do dozens of D-rank missions in a single day. They could go away for a few days, give Konoha time to build up its supply of D-rank missions, then come back and take more.

Just then, the door to the Hokage Office opened.

Naruto smelled liquor and frowned at the doorway. The client's a drunk?

Tazuna's voice boomed. Holding a bottle of liquor in one hand, he leaned against the doorframe. "Where are the people escorting me?"

The Hokage's secretary gestured toward Naruto and the others.

"Just a bunch of brats?" Tazuna looked displeased. "Is Konoha joking with me? I'm the most renowned bridge-building expert in the Land of Waves. I want ninjas to escort me, not children."

"I'm sorry, but they're the only ones willing to take the mission. Don't worry, though. They're capable Genin, and they'll have no trouble escorting you back to the Land of Waves."

Tazuna wasn't stupid, even if he was a little drunk. "All right. We'll do it your way. Take me to the Land of Waves first thing tomorrow morning."

Kakashi looked at Minato Namikaze with an aggrieved expression again. Sensei, what kind of escort mission have you assigned us?

At the Gato Company in the Land of Waves.

Gato idly toyed with his cane as he looked toward the figure hidden in the darkness. "The latest news has come in. Are you confident? Tazuna has hired Genin from Konoha. Konoha is the strongest ninja village among the Five Great Nations, so even their Genin must be pretty formidable, right?"

"Gato, double the price for assassinating Tazuna."

"Money's no problem. I'd like to see for myself whether the legendary powerful ninjas are really as strong as they say." Gato had plenty of underling ninjas, but he had always been curious about real ninjas.

"Don't test me. If you do, you'll be the first to die, Gato."

Gato chuckled.

The shadow in the darkness disappeared.

Amid the ever-present mist,

Zabuza Momochi kept swinging his broken sword, Kubikiribōchō.

Suddenly, a figure appeared before Zabuza and effortlessly caught the descending Kubikiribōchō between two fingers.

"My lord." Zabuza didn't dare move.

"Zabuza, you and the Demon Brothers will handle this mission. Bring the weapon you trained yourself, Su."

Zabuza memorized the target at once. "Su and I won't let you down."

"Remember, it doesn't matter whether Tazuna dies. I want you to test his strength—and that blond boy's, Naruto's."