Sakura, my wife, I'm so scared

"Sakura, my wife."

"Shut up. Use my name."

Sakura Haruno did not even turn around, still watching her surroundings warily.

"Okay, wifey."

Son Goten sidled up to her with a cheeky grin and lowered his voice.

"Do you think it's really dangerous out here? I heard there are lots of rogue ninja who kill without blinking, and they all look like monsters."

Sakura rolled her eyes and stopped to look at him.

"You can break Kakashi-sensei's finger and punch granite into powder, and you're scared of rogue ninja?"

"That's different."

Son Goten shook his head as though he had every right to say so.

"With Sensei, it's sparring. That's education through love. The bad guys out here will kill you. Besides, I'm still a child. I'm psychologically fragile."

As he spoke, he even hunched his shoulders to match, looking weak, pitiful, and helpless.

Looking at his extremely deceptive face, Sakura knew rationally that this guy was a monster, but her maternal instincts still flickered despite herself.

"All right, all right."

Sakura sighed and patted her chest.

"If we really run into danger, hide behind me. I'll protect you."

"Really?"

Son Goten's eyes lit up, and he immediately tried to nuzzle into Sakura's arms.

"You're so good to me, wifey. You really do have a big heart... though your chest isn't actually that big."

"Son Goten! Do you want to die?!"

While the two were fooling around, the group passed a puddle.

The weather had been clear and sunny these past few days, yet there was a puddle on the road, looking particularly out of place.

Walking at the front, Kakashi glanced at the water on the ground without stopping, not even letting his gaze linger for another second.

The drunken Tazuna, on the other hand, stepped on the edge of the puddle, splashing up a few drops of mud.

"What a lousy road."

Tazuna walked on, cursing.

The very next second after the entire group had passed the puddle.

The puddle suddenly seemed to come alive, and two dark figures shot out of it.

They were two ninja wearing gas masks, with spiked chains fitted to their arms.

The Demon Brothers of Kirigakure.

"The first one."

A hoarse voice rang out.

Two chains coiled like venomous snakes around Kakashi at the front.

They yanked hard.

"Squelch!"

Before Kakashi could even make a sound, the sharp chains sliced his body into several pieces.

Blood sprayed.

Of course, there was no actual smell of blood. After the severed limbs hit the ground, they turned into puddles of clear water.

"Aaaah! Sensei's been killed!"

Naruto was so frightened that his eyes nearly popped out. He froze in place, forgetting even to run.

Sakura's face also went deathly pale, and she instinctively stepped in front of Tazuna.

"The second one!"

The two Demon Brothers split up instantly without the slightest pause.

One rushed toward Tazuna, while the other swung his chain and lunged straight at the still-dazed Naruto.

"Idiot, move!"

Sasuke roared and leaped into the air.

A shuriken flew from his hand, pinning down the chain of the Demon Brother charging at Naruto, before Sasuke kicked his opponent's wrist guard.

The Demon Brother Sasuke had intercepted was forced back, while his accomplice seized the opportunity to circle around Sasuke and accelerate toward Tazuna at the rear.

He was extremely fast, charging with the determination to kill.

As luck would have it.

A yawning boy stood in his path.

With both hands in his trouser pockets, Son Goten watched the Chunin charging at him with murderous intent, his gaze slightly unfocused, as though savoring Sakura's scent from earlier.

"Out of my way, brat!"

The Demon Brother roared, the claws on his hand glinting coldly, ready to tear apart this obstacle in his path while he was at it.

Son Goten blinked.

He neither dodged nor took a fighting stance.

He merely extended his left foot, seemingly casually, just as his opponent was about to rush past him.

The motion was leisurely, as though he simply wanted to change his stance.

But the placement of that foot was outrageously tricky.

It hooked precisely around the ankle of the Demon Brother's leading foot as he sprinted.

"Trip."

Son Goten softly uttered the single word.

The Demon Brother felt his foot suddenly drag, and his entire body lost its balance.

Tripping while sprinting at full speed had disastrous consequences.

His body went flying horizontally, face down, and slammed straight toward the ground.

"Thud!"

There was a dull impact.

Then came a series of scraping sounds.

Like a bowling ball that had been hurled away, the Kirigakure Chunin skidded over a hundred meters along the hard dirt road, braking with his face.

He left a deep furrow along the way, dust billowing behind him.

Until he hit a large tree at the end of the road.

"Thunk!"

The tree shook, shedding a few leaves.

The unlucky man twitched twice, then stopped moving.

His mask had been ground away, and his entire face was a bloody mess. Even his own mother probably would not have recognized him.

Everyone fell silent.

The other Demon Brother, who had been about to engage Sasuke, froze.

Naruto's mouth fell open.

Tazuna was halfway sober.

Everyone stared at that hideously mangled "corpse," then looked at Son Goten, who was still standing where he had been.

Son Goten pulled his foot back, his hands still in his pockets.

Seeing everyone looking at him, he shrugged innocently.

"What are you looking at me for?"

Son Goten pointed at the gouge in the ground, his tone sincere.

"This road's way too uneven. I almost tripped myself."

"And this guy wasn't watching where he was going either. Now look, he's disfigured."

"Ninja these days have such poor basic conditioning. How do you fall that badly just running?"

At that moment, the Demon Brother Sasuke had restrained finally came to his senses. He shuddered at the sight of his companion's miserable condition.

How the hell could a fall do that?

He looked like he'd been hit by a truck!

Before he could figure it out, Sasuke punched him in the chin, knocking him unconscious.

"Done."

Sasuke spoke coldly, but he kept glancing at Son Goten out of the corner of his eye.

Just then, the supposedly "dead" Kakashi emerged from behind a tree.

"Yo, looks like I didn't need to step in."

Kakashi's eyelid twitched as he looked at the unfortunate man who had braked with his face for a hundred meters.

This kid really played dirty.

"Sensei, you're not dead!"

Naruto shouted, his voice thick with tears.

"That was a water clone."

After that brief explanation, Kakashi walked over to the two unconscious Demon Brothers and tied them up.

"All right, we've dealt with the enemy, but we need to talk."

Kakashi turned around, fixing his dead-fish eye on the still-trembling Tazuna.

"Mr. Tazuna."

"These two are Chunin from Kirigakure. Assassins of this caliber aren't something we should encounter on a C-rank mission."

"Have you been hiding something from us?"

The atmosphere instantly grew tense.

Son Goten paid none of that any mind.

He walked over to the Chunin who had braked with his face, crouched down, and rummaged through his belongings for a while.

"Tch. Broke bastard."

With a look of disdain, Son Goten stuffed a few copper coins into his own pocket, then stood and looked at the distant mist.

He sensed a stronger energy approaching.

Much stronger than these two small fry.

And there was something about that energy that greatly interested Son Goten.

It was the scent of iron.

A very large chunk of iron.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei."

Son Goten interrupted the serious interrogation in progress.

"Since this is a higher-ranked mission, does that mean..."

He grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

"We can charge extra?"