Rogue Ninja of the Hidden Mist

It had been about half an hour since they set out, and everything had been calm. The three kids had gradually let down their guard. No rogue ninja had shown up to stop them all this time, so the mission couldn't be all that dangerous, could it?

With that hopeful thought, their steps grew lighter, until they reached a small road. The sky was clear, yet a puddle of water lay strangely in the middle of the path.

Kakashi Hatake and Mufeng Uchiha exchanged a glance, both understanding what the other meant. Kakashi Hatake walked to the front, and the puddle suddenly transformed into two rogue ninja from Kirigakure.

A chain with blades wrapped tightly around Kakashi Hatake, restricting his movements. At the same time, the other rogue ninja's sword slashed deep into his flesh. In an instant, Kakashi Hatake was cut into several pieces, blood splattering all over them.

"Ah—Kakashi-sensei, he's dead!"

Sakura Haruno cried out in terror, but she couldn't change the fact that Kakashi Hatake was dead.

"Kakashi Hatake was nothing special after all. You're his students, right? Great. I'll send you all down to join him."

Sasuke Uchiha was the first to react. He rushed forward at once, his hands on the sword at his waist.

"Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash."

Rumble—

Sasuke Uchiha turned into a streak of lightning and charged at the nearest rogue ninja from Kirigakure. But a straight-line attack was too easy to anticipate. As rogue ninja who had come from the Village of the Bloody Mist, they were warriors who had bathed in countless drops of blood. Dodging such an ambush was easy!

"Kid, you're still too green to catch us off guard."

The Kirigakure Ninja had already predicted his trajectory, and his long sword was waiting in the path of Sasuke Uchiha's charge. Their blades clashed with a clang—

"Pay for your recklessness with your life, genius!"

The rogue ninja from Kirigakure loved hunting down these self-important geniuses. The thrill of killing a future powerhouse never failed to leave him wanting more.

"Calling you Uchiha Sasuke was no mistake. You're so reckless that you'll get yourself killed without even needing that weasel to do it."

Mufeng Uchiha caught the rogue ninja's sword between two fingers. With a little pressure, he snapped the blade. Then he stepped forward and slapped the man across the face, slamming him to the ground.

When had he appeared? They hadn't sensed him at all. Realizing they'd run into a formidable opponent, the rogue ninja from Kirigakure decisively chose to flee. Otherwise, he'd die here too.

"Naruto, leave him to you."

As soon as Mufeng finished speaking, Naruto Uzumaki drew the sword at his waist and used Wind Breathing to launch more than a dozen wind blades in succession.

Sasuke Uchiha understood at once and performed the Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, spitting out more than a dozen fireballs. They combined with the wind blades, cloaking them in flames and sending them past the rogue ninja at incredible speed.

"Water Style: Water Whip."

The rogue ninja from Kirigakure formed a whip out of water, raised it above his head, and spun it around himself, creating a small protective barrier.

Against wind blades enchanted with flames, that level of defense was as flimsy as paper.

"Combining them this well... Konoha really does have a lot of geniuses. I'm jealous."

Before the flames swallowed him, the rogue ninja's final thought was that, for the sake of Kirigakure, he had to kill a few Konoha geniuses!

"Since you're about to die, quit with the tricks."

Blood sprayed three feet into the air. The hand the rogue ninja had been about to use to activate an Explosive Tag was cleanly cut off by Mufeng Uchiha.

The other man, the one Mufeng had slapped to the ground, had already died with his neck twisted. They had chosen to defect only because of the Village of the Bloody Mist. If Kirigakure hadn't become the Village of the Bloody Mist, perhaps they would have been leading their own students on missions outside the village.

But there were no what-ifs. Looking at the corpses, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno could no longer hold back and bent over to vomit. Sasuke Uchiha, who had endured the massacre of his clan, seemed much calmer, but his pale face showed that he was far from at ease.

"This is your first lesson as ninja. Killing is something you must face as ninja. The main reason you were able to kill these two men was that they underestimated you. Remember: if you underestimate your opponents, you'll end up just like them."

Kakashi Hatake finally emerged from his hiding place nearby. He had been watching how all of them performed. Sasuke Uchiha had done reasonably well. He was disappointed in Naruto Uzumaki, who had been stunned with fear, and Sakura Haruno, who hadn't known what to do. As for Mufeng, that monster, he had no comment.

"Naruto, when Sasuke moved forward, you should've covered him instead of standing there like an idiot.

"Sakura, when the two of them went to fight the enemies, you should've immediately protected the client as backup.

"And finally, Sasuke, you were too reckless. When you don't know anything about your opponent, you shouldn't charge in so rashly, without regard for anything. You left an opening for the enemy to exploit."

Kakashi Hatake scolded each of the three kids in turn. When he looked at Mufeng Uchiha, Mufeng immediately replied,

"I used the Sharingan to get the information out of him before I killed him."

Mufeng Uchiha then told them, in detail, what enemies they might encounter along the way. Once he learned about them, Kakashi Hatake furrowed his brows.

"Besides Demon Zabuza, there's also a ninja with the Ice Style Kekkei Genkai, not to mention those rogue ninja. This mission is completely beyond our abilities."

Even Kakashi Hatake was now considering giving up. He could handle the mission alone, but with his students along, he couldn't focus on protecting them.

"No problem, Kakashi-sensei. With me here, you don't have to worry about the three of them. I'll handle it!"

Mufeng Uchiha was full of confidence. Behind him, Tazuna quietly breathed a sigh of relief. At least the mission hadn't fallen through. Otherwise, if he went back alone, he'd be as good as dead.

"Relax, Kakashi-sensei. We just beat two powerful enemies together. You can trust us."

"You were so scared you couldn't even move, dead last. Leave it to me, an Uchiha."

The two started arguing again, and Sakura Haruno once more played peacemaker. Bickering, they continued down the road.

"Old man, don't get so close. I might leave you behind."

Tazuna chuckled, but didn't mind sticking close to Mufeng Uchiha. After the battle, he understood that this kid was the strongest among them.

All that fire and water flying around just now—his frail old body couldn't have handled it.

"Sharingan Kakashi, with a bunch of brats in tow. Can you stop me from killing your students in this thick fog?"

A thick fog suddenly rose around them. A hoarse voice rang out as Demon Zabuza made his entrance.