I Will Cut Through the Hatred Aimed at Konoha Myself

Kakashi walked over and said, "Mr. Tazuna, since a situation exceeding the mission limit has occurred, I have a few questions to ask you."

"..." Tazuna lowered his head.

"Who on earth is attacking you? And why?" Kakashi said, "Based on your answers, I will decide whether to terminate the mission."

"The person who wants my life is a terrifying bastard," Tazuna said, his tone growing heavier. "I expect you've all heard his name."

What's so terrifying about him, just some small-time character... Naruto thought to himself.

"The ultra-billionaire—Gato!" Tazuna said with his head lowered. "I don't have extra money, so I could only commission a C-rank mission. That Gato, he has so much money he can hire hordes of thugs and shinobi, and he commands formidable power beneath him."

"About a year ago, the billionaire Gato set his sights on the Land of Waves. The Land of Waves is an island nation, and by seizing control of its maritime shipping, he directly controlled the nation's economic lifeline."

"Gato controls the shipping, acting like a leech lying on the body of the Land of Waves, sucking its blood. Shipping rates and commodity prices are all controlled by him, and his reach is so vast he might even traffic in contraband."

"All I want is to build a cross-sea bridge for the Land of Waves, to bring hope to the country and break free from Gato's control."

Understanding the situation, Kakashi turned to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. "A C-rank mission may encounter resistance, and violence might even be used, but you won't encounter enemy shinobi. Now that hostile shinobi have intervened in this affair, this is no longer a C-rank mission, but a B-rank one."

"This mission has already exceeded specifications," Kakashi said. "We are a team, and the four of us will decide whether to continue the mission."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all fell silent.

Tazuna jumped in to speak. "It's my fault for deceiving you. Blame it on me being too poor, and the entire Land of Waves being poor too—we can't even scrape together a little extra money. You should just terminate the mission. Let Gato kill me; then my daughter will be very sad, but you needn't worry, because by that time you'll have already returned to Konoha..."

"My daughter will surely harbor hatred for you Konoha shinobi, because it was Konoha shinobi who abandoned her father. Perhaps one day, by some twist of fate, my daughter becomes a shinobi, and she might just take revenge on you Konoha."

"What?" Kakashi wore a blank expression, thinking to himself: Do you have any idea how many elite shinobi Konoha has, or how terrifying their strength is? Even if your daughter becomes a shinobi, there's no way she could pose a threat to Konoha Village.

"It actually really is possible," Naruto said. "Everything this old man is saying is completely true."

"Huh?" Sakura said. "Naruto, have you lost your mind? How could something like that happen?"

Sasuke didn't believe it either. This old man's daughter wanting to return and exact revenge on Konoha? She wouldn't be able to pull that off even if she had ten lifetimes.

"No! It really is possible," Naruto said with absolute conviction. "Since I'm going to be Hokage in the future, I won't allow Konoha shinobi to harm other people. I will cut through the hatred aimed at Konoha myself."

Gazing sternly at Naruto, Kakashi thought to himself: Naruto doesn't look like a child at all. Could he know something about Konoha Village? There shouldn't be any reason for that—given Naruto's current status, it's impossible for him to touch upon Konoha's internal affairs or higher-ups...

"The mission continues!" Naruto said with a resolute look in his eyes. "As the future Hokage, I have no reason to abandon this mission."

Honestly, Naruto, Sakura thought to herself, going on and on about the Hokage all day and night—I really don't believe you can become Hokage.

Sasuke had been staring fixedly at Naruto from the moment they started speaking. Naruto's display shocked him to the core, marking the first time he had ever felt himself getting thoroughly beaten out by Naruto.

Of course the mission has to go on, otherwise how am I supposed to progress! Sasuke thought to himself.

Sasuke spoke up. "I'm also in favor of continuing the mission."

Seeing Sasuke's stance, Sakura quickly chimed in. "Then let's keep going with the mission."

With three members of the four-person squad already agreeing to press on, Kakashi, as their captain, naturally couldn't object and had no choice but to agree to let the mission continue.

Kakashi's party pressed onward, soon finding a small boat by the shore, and a boatman rowed them across toward the Land of Waves.

Everyone remained quiet on the boat, nobody speaking, because they were infiltrating the Land of Waves by sneaking in as stowaways.

If they wanted to enter the Land of Waves through legitimate channels, they would have had to board the billionaire Gato's vessels. Obviously, Kakashi's group wouldn't board Gato's ships, so they had no choice but to sneak in.

After the smuggled boat pulled ashore, Kakashi's group disembarked, officially stepping onto the territory of the Land of Waves. The boatman hurriedly pushed off and fled, not daring to linger any longer in this place of trouble.

"Escort me safely to my home, until I finish building the cross-sea bridge," Tazuna said, setting off immediately as the others followed right behind him.

Walking along the road, Kakashi wore a troubled expression, thinking to herself: This is going to be tough now. If any shinobi attack next time, they'll only be stronger Jonin, never just Chunin again. What a pain.

During the previous battle, Naruto had stolen all the spotlight, wounding Sasuke's pride and prompting Sasuke to rush to the very front of the formation to clear the path.

I can't afford to lose to Naruto this time, Sasuke thought to himself. I've got to claw back a win.

Charging ahead at the front of the group, Sasuke worked hard to scout the path, remaining vigilant of his surroundings. After a long while, Sasuke let out a sigh of relief because there was utterly no trace of the enemy.

Looks like our covert entry into the Land of Waves went smoothly, Sasuke thought. The enemy hasn't noticed we've snuck in at all.

Right at that moment, Naruto suddenly hurled a kunai. The weapon vanished straight into the bushes, Naruto's action causing everyone to tense up instantly.

What! Unable to believe it, Sasuke had already been walking at the very front of the formation yet failed to detect any sign of the enemy, whereas Naruto had thrown a kunai—meaning Naruto had already spotted the enemy's traces.

"No way!" Sasuke immediately parted the bushes, wanting to see what the kunai thrown by Naruto had actually hit.

When the bushes were pushed aside, a white snow hare lay on the ground, a kunai still piercing through its body.

"Hmph," Sasuke sneered quietly, thinking to himself: So it was just a rabbit. I knew it—how could Naruto possibly spot the enemy before me? That's impossible.

"What? A snow hare!" Seeing the rabbit killed by the kunai Naruto threw, Kakashi's expression instantly changed color.

That was a white snow hare, a creature that only appeared during winters with short daylight hours. With it currently being summer, there was no way such a white snow hare would be out and about in the jungle.

There was only one possible explanation: this snow hare had been artificially raised. Only shinobi raised such snow hares to use as substitution decoys.

Kakashi suspected that a shinobi was definitely hiding in the bushes, and when Naruto threw his kunai, that shinobi had left behind the snow hare as a substitution before slipping away to a second hiding spot.

Once Naruto's kunai struck the snow hare, it would fool an inexperienced shinobi—just like Sasuke, who thought the commotion was caused by an ordinary rabbit. Only an experienced Jonin like Kakashi could realize something was wrong.