Team 7's First Combat Mission

In Team 7's first week, life had been even more absurd than Naruto had expected.

Kakashi perfectly embodied the "Elite Jonin Slacking Principles."

Every day, he showed up exactly half an hour late, tossed down a stack of D-rank mission requests, then found a shady spot to curl up in and read Icha Icha Paradise, calling it "teamwork adjustment training."

As a result, Team 7's daily routine became an endless stream of trivial chores.

After helping an elderly woman living alone till her fields, her neighbor bowed to them at a trembling ninety-degree angle. Naruto was equally polite, calling out, "Please, ma'am!" again and again. Delighted, the woman insisted on giving them a handful of soft, thoroughly boiled edamame.

After spending an afternoon helping the widow next door look after her crying child, Sakura was left flustered from trying to soothe the kid, while Sasuke had his hair clawed into a mess, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.

Naruto used the Transformation Technique to keep the child laughing, and in the end received the woman's highest courtesy: a ninety-degree bow as she thanked him. "Please, ma'am... uh... no, I mean little brother!"

The most ridiculous jobs were the consecutive pet-finding missions.

The finance minister's wife had lost her dog, while the daimyo's wife had lost her cat. The two noblewomen argued red-faced at the mission counter, each insisting that the other had hidden her precious pet.

In the end, Naruto led Team 7 to a small grove outside the village and caught the cat and dog cuddling together.

Watching the two fierce women hug their pets and rub them frantically, turning their once sleek, glossy fur into tangled messes, Naruto leaned against a tree and complained wildly in his heart.

If he were that cat or dog, he would have run away too.

Who could stand being pressed into someone's arms every day until their face was squashed out of shape?

Sasuke leaned against another tree, spinning a kunai around his fingertips with an impatient look on his face.

To him, missions that did not even require chakra were nothing but a waste of time.

What he wanted was combat that could make him stronger, power that would let him catch up to that man—not playing babysitter for people in the village.

Sakura could not help moving closer and quietly complained to Naruto, "If we keep doing missions like this, when will we ever get stronger...?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

He knew perfectly well that these idle days were about to end.

The Land of Waves arc was about to begin.

Sure enough, just after they turned in another pet-finding mission, ANBU from the Hokage's office summoned them over.

The Third Hokage sat behind his desk, smoking a pipe. Through the curling smoke, he pushed a C-rank mission request toward them.

"Protect bridge-building expert Tazuna on his journey to and from the Land of Waves. The mission is expected to last one month."

Kakashi picked up the request and glanced over it, his fingertips pausing briefly.

The Land of Waves.

That small country without ninja had long been controlled by the shipping tyrant Gato and was a chaotic mess.

But he said no more. He merely turned to the three children behind him. "Well? Team 7's first mission outside the village. Are you taking it?"

Sasuke's eyes lit up instantly.

An outside mission.

That meant he would finally have a chance to experience real combat.

Sakura was somewhat nervous and clenched the hem of her clothes, but she still nodded firmly.

A knowing smile curled across Naruto's lips as he answered in an even tone, "We'll take it."

He had waited far too long for this day.

Two days later, Team 7 set off for the Land of Waves with Kakashi.

There was no conversation along the way, until they entered the Land of Waves and stepped into a teahouse by the sea.

The sea breeze carried damp, salty air inside and rattled the door panels.

Kakashi sat across from Tazuna, freshly brewed strong tea set before them. Steam rose in curling wisps, blurring half of Kakashi's face.

He listened as Tazuna spoke about the bridge's progress, tapping his fingers carelessly against the tabletop.

Sasuke and Sakura sat to the side, their entire bodies tense.

Only Naruto held his teacup and leisurely sipped the strong tea, his calm gaze sweeping over the thickening white mist outside.

Kakashi took a light sip of tea, savoring its changing flavor!

Then the sound of something cutting through the air exploded without warning!

A bone-chilling gust slipped through the gap in the door. Immediately afterward, a bandage-wrapped greatsword spun inside, its sharp whistle as it tore through the air stabbing painfully at their eardrums!

With a wet slash.

The ninja blade cleanly severed Kakashi's neck.

His head rolled across the tatami mats, blood splashing across the table as scalding tea mixed with blood and spread across the floor.

The air fell instantly silent.

Sakura's pupils contracted sharply, all the blood in her body seeming to freeze. Staring at the head on the floor, she screamed, "Someone's been killed! Enemy attack! Sensei was killed!"

Her legs gave out beneath her, and she nearly collapsed to the floor. Her face was white as paper, and her whole body shook.

Sasuke's body tensed in an instant. His fingers tightened fiercely around the kunai hidden in his sleeve as his Two-Tomoe Sharingan opened, the tomoe in his eyes spinning madly.

He stared fixedly at the headless body on the floor, then abruptly turned and met Naruto's gaze. Naruto was still calmly drinking tea across from him.

Sasuke's Adam's apple bobbed as he lowered his voice, his tone cold and hard. "It's the Substitution Technique."

The moment the words fell.

The headless body and rolling head on the floor instantly transformed into a bloodstained wooden log, then vanished amid a puff of white smoke.

Kakashi appeared beside a support beam, still holding his teacup. Not a single drop of strong tea had spilled.

He looked toward the churning white mist outside. His previously lazy voice sank, carrying the pressure of an Elite Jonin. "Interesting. The Hidden Mist's Silent Killing Technique."

"Mr. Tazuna, you'd better tell the truth." Kakashi's gaze settled on his employer, his eyes beneath his forehead protector cold as ice. "This mission isn't C-rank at all. To hire Hidden Mist ninja like these, this is at least a B-rank mission, perhaps even higher."

Tazuna's face went white in an instant. The teacup in his hand hit the floor with a clatter and shattered into several pieces.

His lips trembled, but he could not utter a word for a long time.

Just then.

Two dark figures suddenly burst through the white mist and rushed in through the door!

Two ninja wearing Hidden Mist forehead protectors, each holding a broken sword and reeking of blood, charged straight at Tazuna, who had shrunk into the corner!

"Die, old man!"

Their blades cut through the air and reached Tazuna in an instant!

Sakura screamed and shut her eyes.

Sasuke's Sharingan instantly locked onto the two men's movements. He pushed off the ground, ready to rush forward.

But the moment he moved.

A wind blade was faster than him!

Naruto did not even stand. With a flick of his fingers, two wind blades formed from Wind Release chakra shot through the air!

[Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere]!

The sharp wind blades struck the two Hidden Mist ninja precisely on the wrists. Two crisp cracks rang out as their wrist bones broke instantly, and their broken swords clattered to the floor.

The two cried out in pain. Before they could react, Naruto flashed and appeared behind them.

His elbows struck the backs of their necks with precision.

Two dull thuds.

The two Hidden Mist Chunin did not even last a single move before going limp and collapsing to the floor unconscious.

The entire process took less than a second.

The teahouse fell silent once more.

Sakura stared wide-eyed at the scene before her, her mouth hanging open wide enough to fit an egg inside. She could not close it for a long while.

Even now, she had not seen clearly how Naruto had moved.

Sasuke's Sharingan remained open, his eyes filled with shock and a trace of poorly concealed unwillingness.

He could barely keep up with those two ninja's speed using his Sharingan.

But to defeat them in one move like Naruto had, without even a single unnecessary action, and to control chakra so precisely that he broke only their wrist bones without taking their lives—Sasuke simply could not do it.

Just how much strength had this dead last, whom he had once trampled beneath his feet, been hiding?

The teacup in Kakashi's hand nearly fell to the floor.

His heart gave a violent thump.

He had seen clearly how Naruto moved, but that strength had far exceeded Kakashi's expectations!

That level of control over Wind Release had already reached perfection.

This was absolutely not something a child who had just graduated from the ninja academy should be capable of.

He could not help wondering whether even he, at Naruto's age, could have achieved such a level.

The answer was no.

Naruto dusted off his hands and turned to Tazuna, whose face was deathly pale. His tone was calm, yet carried an unquestionable pressure. "Mr. Tazuna, isn't it time to tell the truth?"

"How large a bounty did Gato place on your head?"

"And you concealed the mission's rank and dragged us into this mess. You owe us an explanation."

Tazuna shook like a leaf. Finally unable to hold on any longer, he dropped to his knees with a thud, old tears streaming down his face.

At last, he told them the truth.

The Land of Waves was a small country without ninja, and all of its maritime trade was controlled by the criminal tyrant Gato.

Gato had made his fortune through smuggling and drugs. He kept a large number of ninja and desperadoes under his command, turning the entire Land of Waves into his private prison.

The people were so harshly exploited that they could barely afford food. Any hint of resistance would result in Gato's men wiping out their entire family.

Tazuna wanted to build a bridge connecting the country to the mainland, break Gato's monopoly, and give the people of the Land of Waves a way to survive.

But Gato had learned of it and placed an enormous bounty on Tazuna's life.

He simply could not afford the fee for an A-rank mission, so he could only hide the truth, report the job as C-rank, and deceive Konoha's ninja into protecting him.

"I'm sorry... I'm truly sorry..." Tazuna knelt on the ground and slammed his forehead down hard, leaving a red mark. "I had no other choice! The people of the Land of Waves can barely survive anymore!"

After hearing this, Sakura's face immediately filled with sympathy. She tugged on Naruto's sleeve, her voice tinged with tears. "Naruto... he's pitiful too... let's help him..."

Sasuke said nothing, but his gaze turned cold.

He hated being used as someone else's weapon.

But he did not say he wanted to leave either.

His blood had already begun to boil at the thought of the coming battle.

Kakashi sighed and set down his teacup.

According to Konoha's rules, if a client concealed a mission's dangers and deliberately lied about its rank, the ninja team had the right to terminate the mission immediately and return to the village.

But he looked at Tazuna, kneeling on the floor and weeping bitterly, then at the three children beside him.

Just as he was about to speak, Naruto spoke first.

"The mission continues."