Shinsei hid in the distance, watching Team 7 at Konoha's gates.
Honestly, he did not want to play babysitter, and this mission was disgusting.
They had been classmates, after all, and he did not want to spy on his friends. But he would not feel at ease leaving this mission to someone else, either. Although Sasuke had come through the Land of Waves mission without incident in the original story, who knew what had changed since Shinsei transmigrated?
Besides, from what he had learned about the Anbu lately, he might not be the only one assigned to this mission. Wasn't this also a way of testing him?
Naruto happily delivered a speech about leaving the village, and the five of them finally set off.
Shinsei followed far behind. Kakashi and the others could light fires and cook, but he could not. He could only gnaw on dry rations.
The Land of Waves was quite far from Konoha, especially with the group moving so slowly. After all, they had an ordinary person with no chakra at all among them.
A small incident occurred along the way: two Chunin attacked, and Kakashi hid using the Substitution Technique. Naruto, meanwhile, was too frightened to move. Ever since Shinsei entered the ninja academy, he had looked after Naruto quite well. Whenever their friends gathered, he often dragged Naruto out to spar. At the very least, Naruto's taijutsu was much better than in the original story. Shinsei had not expected him to perform so poorly in actual combat. He could hardly bear to watch.
Fortunately, Sasuke was as outstanding as ever and dispatched the two cleanly. Even Sakura did not embarrass herself, taking the initiative to protect their client.
After Naruto swore his vows, they continued on their way.
This was torture!
Shinsei climbed out of the sea onto shore.
Team 7 could take a boat, while he had to cross the sea using Water Walking. The Land of Fire and the Land of Waves were over a hundred li apart! He could neither lose his targets nor let them discover him! Once ashore, all Shinsei wanted was to lie down and get some proper rest.
Fortunately, anywhere with water was Shinsei's home turf. Though it had been tiring, at least he had not lost his targets.
Whether because they were near the sea or for some other reason, a vast white mist shrouded everything.
Large stretches of water lay everywhere here, with calm seawater running between islands of various sizes. Shinsei could not help thinking that if a fight broke out, this would be his home turf, too.
The thick mist gave Shinsei excellent cover. He could get within a few dozen meters of Naruto and the others without being discovered, so long as he took care not to make any noise.
Clang!
A massive blade spun through the air and embedded itself in a large tree.
"Everyone," a shirtless man with sparse eyebrows said, standing on the sword's hilt, "could you hand over that old man behind you?"
"Well, if it isn't Kirigakure's rogue ninja, Zabuza Momochi." Kakashi kept both hands in his pockets, subtly drawing the others behind him.
"Oh?" Zabuza Momochi turned around. "So it's Konoha's Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan."
Kakashi reached out to stop Naruto from charging forward, then lifted his forehead protector away from his left eye, revealing a red eye with mitsudomoe.
"He's not someone you can handle. Even I have to be careful with him!"
Sasuke stared at Kakashi's red left eye with a complicated look, his thoughts unknown.
"If you refuse," Zabuza crouched down and said with a cold laugh, "I'll just have to kill that old man."
Zabuza leaped into the water, forming a seal with one hand and pointing skyward with the other.
Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique!
Shinsei watched Zabuza's movements carefully, but those two gestures told him nothing about how the Hidden Mist Technique was activated. Without the internal chakra transformations, watching those two gestures was as good as watching nothing.
Thick mist spread, and visibility around them grew even worse.
He took two kunai from his pocket. A battle between Kakashi and Zabuza carried great risks, and he had to be ready to intervene at any moment.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura surrounded their client, Tazuna, watching their surroundings nervously.
Shinsei moved a little closer, observing the battle through the cover of the leaves.
Naruto still had too little experience. If he wasn't going to use his Wind Release: Great Breakthrough now, what was he saving his chakra for? He should create a few dozen shadow clones and have them all use Wind Release ninjutsu together, blowing away the thick mist Zabuza had created and leaving him nowhere to hide.
Zabuza used the dense mist to move in and kill Tazuna, but Kakashi blocked him. Another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi and cut him in two.
The two halves of Kakashi turned into water and splashed onto the ground, and Kakashi's figure appeared behind Zabuza Momochi.
Shinsei watched speechlessly as the two played their game of guessing whether the other was a clone. Ever since his chakra reserves had increased, he had lost all desire to play these guessing games about whether he was a shadow clone.
He preferred steamrolling his opponents with high-damage, wide-area ninjutsu.
Kakashi created another water clone, and his real body jumped into the water. But he had not expected Zabuza to have already filled the water with Water Prison chakra. As though he had fallen into a mire, Kakashi was caught squarely by Zabuza.
Zabuza kept Kakashi trapped in the Water Prison with one hand and created a water clone to deal with Naruto and the other two.
Shinsei toyed with his kunai, with no intention of acting just yet. Although he had forgotten how they completed the mission in the original story, the fact that Naruto and the other two had succeeded meant they had a way. Besides, Naruto and Sasuke were much stronger than in the original story. If things truly became dangerous, it would not be too late for him to act.
After all, accumulating combat experience was an important part of growing.
Sure enough, Naruto and Sasuke put on a coordinated performance.
Naruto created a large crowd of shadow clones and charged forward, only to be kicked away by Zabuza. As he was sent flying, his real body circled behind the clones, turned into a Fūma Shuriken, and hid inside his backpack.
Then he had a clone pull a Fūma Shuriken from the backpack, with his real body hidden among it, and throw it to Sasuke. Sasuke hurled the Fūma Shuriken toward Zabuza, with the Fūma Shuriken Naruto had transformed into hidden behind it.
Once Zabuza jumped up to dodge, the Fūma Shuriken behind it turned back into Naruto, who threw a shuriken at Zabuza. Suspended in midair with nothing to push off, Zabuza could only pull his hand back if he did not want the shuriken to hit him.
What impressive teamwork. Just as Shinsei was about to marvel that Naruto was using his head, too-
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two earthen spears rose from the ground, shooting toward Kakashi inside the Water Prison.
Naruto's celebratory expression froze on his face, while Kakashi was still inside the Water Prison, waiting for Zabuza to withdraw his hand.
Bang! Bang!
Two shuriken, thrown later but arriving first, struck the earthen spears and knocked them off course. Shinsei slipped his now-empty hand into his ninja tool pouch and took out two more shuriken. Had an unexpected development arisen?
The others watched in surprise as the situation on the battlefield reversed.
Zabuza Momochi withdrew his hand and caught the shuriken Naruto had thrown. Kakashi instantly retreated, shielding Naruto behind him, though his dripping hair showed that he was somewhat worse for wear.
"I could handle it. Are you looking down on me?" Zabuza narrowed his eyes. "Tarō Kakumoto."
"I'm just doing what I'm paid for." A middle-aged man emerged from the woods, his expression serious. "Don't take it too personally, Zabuza. Our friend hiding over there, won't you come out and meet us?"
Shinsei removed his mask. It no longer mattered if his Anbu identity was exposed, but he could not let anyone know that the Anbu mission he was carrying out had anything to do with Naruto.
"You're looking pretty rough, Kakashi-senpai!" Shinsei flickered into the center of the clearing.