Disclaimer: I own Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations. And 3, and Revolution. And that's it as far as Naruto stuff goes

"Mr. Tazuna? What's the Land of Waves like?"

"Eh?" The bridge builder blinked and turned to look at the bun-haired girl behind him. "Well, it's small. Located on an island, so our biggest money maker is fishing." He glowered, and turned back to the road. "Not that we can use it…" he muttered to himself and took another swig of booze. Tenten raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

Kakashi glanced at the man, having heard the muttered comment as well, but said nothing as he continued to read.

Kind of. He was actually on the watch for any potential attack. It was because of this that he caught sight of the pair of puddles the group was going to pass in a minute.

Puddles out here? But it hasn't rained for a couple of weeks, now. Strange. The Jonin extended his senses, and quickly found the puddle wasn't natural. I can't recognize the chakra. Hopefully whoever this is doesn't attack, and I don't see a reason to do so. Still, better keep an eye on it.

Kakashi's paranoia proved to be needed, as once the troop passed the puddle, the silverette felt an influx of chakra and quickly found himself wrapped in spiked chains, the clatter catching the attention of the kids and Tazuna.

"Kaka-sensei!"

The man spared a quick glance to the kids as his fingers seemed to twitch very slightly, before the chains ripped him apart. As everything fell seemingly in slow motion, two men were seen behind the corpse, the chain ends leading into a gauntlet on one of their arms.

"One down," the caped one, one horn strangely on his headband, spoke in a muffled, raspy voice. "Four to go." The two rushed straight for the genin, only to get thrown back as a multitude of shuriken slammed themselves into the chain and into a tree. The one with dual horns on his headband growled in unmasked irritation as the chain detached from both gauntlets and hung in place. He rushed right for Tazuna, only for Sasuke to block him, as the caped man moved to engage Naruto, managing to get a cut on his hand before Tenten forced him and the other back from her teammates. They glared, before their heads suddenly met and they fell to the ground unconscious. The four looked to see Kakashi staring at the duo.

"Kakashi?!" Sasuke blinked as he watched the man tie up the Mist ninja to a tree. "But weren't you…" He trailed off as he saw that, rather than his instructor's fleshy chunks, there were only wooden chunks of log.

"Wait, if you used the Replacement Jutsu, why didn't you help us with those guys?!" Tenten snapped.

"I wanted to see who their target was. Was it just an unfortunate instance of ninja attacking ninja? Or was there more to our mission than we were told?" The man's eye drifted to land on the civilian of the group. "Turns out, we've been lied to."

Tazuna gulped, knowing he was caught. "I-I don't know what you're talking about," he tried to defend.

"Drop it," Kakashi spoke back, irritated. "When we took the mission, we were told that we would be fighting off bandits and wild animals. These two," he motioned to the downed missing ninja, "are neither of those, and you were their target. The Demon Brothers are B-Rank missing ninja, and as such this is now a B-Rank mission. I have every right to cancel the mission and bring my team back home." His arms crossed. "You have sixty seconds to explain until I do so."

The drunk man looked between the Jonin and the Genin, before sighing in defeat. "Fine. Have you heard of a man named Gato?"

"Of Gato's Shipping Industries?" Kakashi confirmed, arms dropping to his side. "What about him?"

"The shipping business is just a front." Tazuna wiped a hand down his face. "Besides that, he also deals in weapons trafficking, drug trafficking, even slave trading." He glared ahead of him. "That bastard is nothing more than a monster in a human form."

Sasuke shot a look at his brother, who just snorted. The small exchange went unnoticed.

"He has control over all of our ports, which is currently our only way of importing and exporting anything."

"And this bridge you're building is a way around that," Tenten finished, catching on. "With another way to get goods in and out of your country, this Gato guy loses his financial stranglehold on you. Right?"

"Smart girl." Tazuna took a sip of beer. "Since I'm the head of the project, if I die, the bridge goes with me. I lied about the mission rank because I couldn't afford to tell the truth." He shrugged. "Still, your teacher said he could turn back, and I'm not gonna try to beg for the contrary. If you wanna head home, head home. It's just that I'll end up dead, my poor daughter will begin to resent the Leaf Village, and my only grandson will lose whatever little hope he has."

"So you're gonna try'n guilt trip us instead, old man?!" Naruto called out, pointing. He then crossed his arms. "Not that it matters; I ain't gonna back outta a mission just because it's harder! I'm gonna meet the challenge head on and kick its ass, y'know!" He nodded once to confirm it.

"My brother is right," Sasuke spoke up. "We're of the Uchiha Clan. We don't run back home with our tails between our legs at the slightest hint of difficulty. We meet it head on; it's nothing more than a stepping stone to our success."

"Never mind leaving Wave to die out," Tenten spoke her opinion, "but what will it tell other clients about us? Even if we're justified in turning back, it shows we can't handle anything unexpected. That's not the kind of message we want to send out. We're ninja. Ninja don't cower, they push onward."

Kakashi looked between the three kids, pride very obvious in his eye, before it closed into his patented eye-smile. "Alrighty then." He turned to the eldest one in the group. "Looks like we'll keep the mission, Tazuna." The old man smiled in gratitude. "But first," Kakashi turned back to the Jinchuriki on his team. "Naruto, that claw that scratched you was poisoned."

"E-EH!?" Naruto shot a look to the scratch on his hand, which now looked a sickly green. "S-Shit!" Quickly, he took out a kunai and jabbed it into the wound, much to the other kids' shock, watching as red interspersed with purple poured out. "Dammit! I'm not gonna let myself get hit like that again! I swear on this!"

"Well, that's all well and good, Naruto," Kakashi spoke up, pointing to the hand as he pulled gauze out from his pack, "but leave it to bleed like that, and you'll die."

"GAH! Kaka-sensei, help! I don't wanna die, y'know!"

The silver-haired man chuckled as he wrapped up the damage, even as he noted it began to close by itself. The Nine-Tails at work, eh? he mused. Once the wound was properly dressed, he turned back to Tazuna. "Shall we head on out, then?"

The man was silent for a second. "Oh, right. This way; c'mon." And the group headed off once more.

FUCK! I am SO SORRY! Fucking writer's block.

Ignoring my anguish, we're into the Wave Mission. We'll be into Zabuza's fight next chapter. Whenever that is. Son of a fuck I hate myself right now.

Chosha Kurenai is back, after dealing with college. However the UK school system works, fix the timing and make it convenient for me!

Way over in the US. Yeah...

On lighter notes, faves, follows, and reviews continue to climb! Even if I am missing constructive criticism. Help me, people!

POST-BETA: I'm finally combating the block. I managed a one-shot for Five Night's at Freddy's. For all the hype behind the games and lore, the fanfiction community is small. Go check it out. There's also another Naruto story I have up if you don't yet know.

TV Tropes! Still nothing! Many sad, such tears. … Never quoting Doge again. Okay. Yeah, if anyone recommends this, tell me!

Do Widzenia!