Warning: Announcement here! For those reading this now, thank you for reading. My sincere apologies for not updating on a faster schedule, (haven't updated this in over a year) but since we're here, I would like to address something.

To be honest, I'm afraid to write this fan fiction sometimes. Mainly I'm afraid that whatever I write won't really be up to snuff with the fans of the source material or fandom itself. I know that I can't please everyone, but I really want you who take the time to read this to enjoy it.

Path of Ambition has already strayed off of the canon rails by swapping Sakura with Hinata on Team 7, and I'll say now that I planned much bigger changes down the way. To give an example without giving too much away, I decided to remove two major characters from the canon in this fic. I won't say who they are right now, but I will say the reason why is because I just find their presence in canon irritating because they both just seem like major ass pulls and I feel the story would've been stronger without them.

I have no idea how anyone will react to the changes I make from canon, and I fear that it will mostly be negative. But that's something to worry about later I suppose, now on to the chapter.

Chapter Seven: Fear

Kakashi sat on a park bench, reading through his copy of Icha Icha Paradise while he absent-mindedly turned on his portable radio, "Squad Seven, what's your status?"

"Sasuke here, I'm in position at point A." Sasuke spoke through the radio.

"This is Hinata at point B … um, I've located the target." Came Hinata's quiet voice from the radio.

There was a moment of silence.

"...Naruto, are you there?" Kakashi asked.

There was a crackle over the speaker, "Sorry, something was wrong with my radio. I've sent out clones to block the target's escape, hiding in points D, E, and F while I'm at C."

"Hinata, what's the distance to the target?"

"About six meters from Sasuke-kun, hiding inside a box." she answered.

"Okay, I see a crate. Preparing to engage." announced Sasuke.

"We only got one shot at this, make it count."

"Noted, initiating radio silence."

XxXxX

The genin in blue lifted the cover off of the crate, alerting the target who quickly jumped out, barely escaping Sasuke. The target took off running for point E and slowed when one of Naruto's clones jumped out of hiding. The target then turned around and ran past Sasuke. The genin and the clone pursued the target as it ran for point D, where another of Naruto's clones jumped out, followed by the real Naruto from point C.

"Give up already, you're surrounded!" the clones of the yellow boy tackled the target followed by the original, piling on top of him.

"Okay, okay! I give up! Get off!" screamed the target, Naruto's clones vanished to reveal a small boy with a white helmet and blue scarf.

Hinata walked over from point B to meet up with the group as Sasuke turned his radio back on, "Target is in custody, preparing to return him to the Hokage."

"Alright, go on ahead. I'll meet you there." responded Kakashi.

Naruto picked up the child and carried him over his shoulder, and the squad headed for the academy, "Who do you think you are? Let me go! You can't do this to me! I'm the Hokage's grandson!" screamed the young boy.

Naruto groaned, "Yeah, yeah, we know. This is what, the fourth time we had to fetch you? It's starting to bother me."

"This took four times for it to start being bothersome?" Sasuke scoffed.

Naruto glared at him, "You know what I mean!"

The Uchiha shrugged as if to say "No, I really don't."

The three started to walk back with their bounty in tow. Hinata walked behind the blonde-haired boy and looked up to meet the eyes of the younger child. "Konohamaru-chan, why must you continue skipping class?" she asked.

The child known as Konohamaru crossed his arms and pouted, looking away from the girl, "It's boring! It's all talk, talk, talk with no action!"

"You know, you're never going to become a ninja if you keep acting like an impatient brat." Naruto told him.

"Whatever, at least I'm not some loser nobody likes!"

Those words hung in the air, creating a few seconds of silence. The Hyuuga covered her mouth in shock while the boy in blue tried to pretend he didn't hear anything while he waited for the Uzumaki's retaliation. In the end, Naruto just sighed, "See? Just like that. That's exactly how a brat would act."

The helmeted child piped down after that as the group was entering the Academy and they headed for the Hokage's office on the top floor.

Hinata suddenly spoke up, "So um, Naruto-kun, what are you planning to do after this mission?"

"He probably wants to train with our sensei." suggested the Uchiha.

The Uzumaki shook his head, "Nah, not really. Kakashi-sensei insisted on him still doing solo training these days. He says that losing to the three of us during our survival test last month made him realize he was getting out of practice."

"And here I was wondering whether or not he was a real jounin." Sasuke said under his breath.

"You say something?"

"No. Let's get this over with."

The group walked into the Hokage's office and Naruto set the captured child down. The Hokage looked up from some papers he was working on, a jounin wearing an all black ensemble and dark circle shades was standing next to the Hokage's desk.

The Hokage removed his smoking pipe from his mouth, "Ah, Konohamaru, I see you have returned."

The honorable grandson crossed his arms and looked to the side.

"Team 7, I thank you for returning him. Ebisu, please escort him to his class."

The jounin standing guard turned slightly towards the Third, "If I may speak, Lord Hokage, I could have gotten your grandson myself in less than a quarter of the time it took those three genin."

Sarutobi chuckled, "Oh I'm sure you could do a many number of things Ebisu, I just feel my grandson needs to spend more time with his peers."

The ninja called Ebisu sighed, and led the Hokage's grandson out of the room. After that, the Third took a stamp and marked the D-rank mission clear for Team 7 on the appropriate mission scroll.

"Alright then, what's our next mission?" Naruto asked in earnest.

Sasuke sulked a bit, "Probably to fetch a cat or something just as mundane."

The Hokage looked over the D-rank mission scroll and shook his head. "On the contrary, there doesn't appear to be any D-rank missions I can assign you at the moment."

The yellow boy's grin faded, "Huh? Why not?"

"Well, seeing as Team 7 has been going through their assigned missions at quite a rapid pace, the other genin teams had started accepting several D-rank missions in advance."

"They can do that?" asked Hinata.

"It isn't unheard of, most missions are scheduled quite a bit in advance as to determine who would be right for the mission." explained the Hokage.

Naruto shrugged, "So that's it for today? We can come back tomorrow-"

The Third sighed, "There won't be a D-rank mission for you tomorrow, or the next day for that matter. In fact, the only one I can assign to Team 7 isn't scheduled to happen for another week or so, and even then, its still in its development stage so there are no guarantees it would still be available."

"What about fetching that kid for you?" asked Sasuke, "If the other teams are accepting missions in advance, wouldn't one of them have taken it before us?"

The Hokage smiled, "Very good observation. Truth is, part of the reason I sent you to fetch my grandson was because there really wasn't any other D-rank mission I could assign you at present."

Hesitantly, the Hyuuga girl spoke up, "So...there won't be any missions for us for a while?" she asked.

"Not unless you count self-training and exercise as missions." Sasuke commented.

Naruto frowned at this, "Just training? We've already trained enough on our own and at the academy! What we need is hands-on experience!"

"Naruto, let the Hokage finish." advised the one-eyed instructor who seemed to just appear in the room, surprising all but the Third.

"Thank you Kakashi. As it just so happens, I do have a mission for Team 7."

The Uzumaki was confused, "But you said-"

"I said that I didn't have a D-rank mission for you, I never said that I didn't have a mission for you at all."

The boy's eyes widened, "You don't mean-"

Sarutobi nodded, "It is a bit early, but given these circumstances, I believe Team 7 is ready for a C-ranked mission."

A large grin grew on Naruto's face, "Well, don't keep us in suspense! What's our next mission?"

"For your first C-rank mission, I decided it should be relatively simple." The Hokage looked over the C-rank mission scroll, and tapped it with his pen, "There is a small island off the coast of the Land of Fire, named the Land of Waves. Regularly, travel to and from the island has been by ferry, however there are plans for a bridge to be built connecting the island to the mainland to increase trade. Development for this bridge has stalled, as such a structure is quite massive and requires not only the appropriate materials but also the right know-how to construct."

Kakashi rubbed his chin in thought, "So an escort mission? Should be easy enough."

"Indeed, some of these materials are hard to come across..." The Hokage looked over the details of the mission, "...our client is expecting bandits, and he is traveling alone. He does not wish to be harmed or have his supplies stolen."

"So, who's the client?" asked Naruto.

Just then, the doors to the Hokage's office opened again, and in stumbled a bespectacled, robust, grizzled-looking old man with a bottle of cheap booze in his hand and an onion-shaped sunhat on his head. His dull, half-focused eyes looked over at Team 7.

"Ah, that would be him now. This is Tazuna, the master bridge builder from the land of waves."

The bridge-builder frowned, drank a gulp of his beverage, and belched, "You seriously expect me to trust my life in the hands of some princess, some punk, and a blonde-haired runt?" he asked the Hokage.

Naruto's smile quickly reversed and he grit his teeth, "Runt? I'll show you runt! Can a runt kick your ass six ways to Sunday?" he yelled, Kakashi had to hold him back from charging at the drunk.

"Naruto-kun please don't attack the client!" pleaded Hinata.

Sasuke just covered his face with a palm in embarrassment.

"The runt's a brat too I see, incredible." noted Tazuna as he went back to his drink.

The Third sighed and took a puff on his pipe. Kakashi spoke up, "Appearances are quite deceiving Mr. Tazuna, as it always is with our line of operations. What you see before you are three of the most promising youths of our shinobi program, and I'm a jounin which are usually reserved for A-Rank missions." he gave the older man an assuring eye-smile, "You could say you're getting the best for your buck with us."

The bridge builder grunted, seemingly unimpressed, "We're leaving tomorrow after the crack of dawn. You kiddies think you can handle that?" he asked.

Naruto beamed with determination, "You'd be surprised old man, very surprised!"

Tazuna just shrugged took another gulp of his booze.

XxXxX

The next morning, Team 7 met their client at the gates of Konohagakure wearing their traveling clothes. Kakashi was in his regular attire of a dark jounin uniform under an olive vest. Sasuke wore a blue shirt bearing the Uchiha symbol on the back and white shorts along with white bracers and blue sandals. Hinata was dressed up in a fluffy white zip-up hoodie and black slacks with black sandals to match. Naruto stood out the most in an orange and blue jumpsuit with blue sandals. All four of them were also carrying large tan knapsacks.

Tazuna raised an eyebrow at the Uzumaki's gaudy outfit, "Okay, what's with the orange jumpsuit? Are you trying to get me killed by sticking out like a sore thumb?"

Naruto frowned at him, "Hey, I like this jumpsuit! It's comfy and easy to wear!" he then crossed his arms, "Besides, a ninja is supposed to stay out of sight! It doesn't really matter what I'd wear as long as nobody sees me!"

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that..." muttered Sasuke.

The old man grunted, "It still looks ridiculous."

Hinata kept quiet as per usual, she tugged a bit on her knapsack.

Kakashi walked through the open gate and turned towards the group, "Well then, we head east towards the sea. Our ETA is one to two days. Let's move."

Team 7's escort mission began with Naruto jogging a bit ahead, excited to be outside the village for the first time. The others followed, keeping near Tazuna. None of them were aware that they were being watched.

XxXxX

"Tazuna-san, the land of waves don't have their own ninja, correct?" the group was a few miles away from Konoha when Hinata asked the question.

The bridge builder grunted in response. Kakashi nodded, "That's right. There are no ninja in the Land of Waves, but in other countries there are hidden villages where ninja operate."

Naruto grinned, "I know this! Aside from Konohagakure in the Land of Fire, there's Kirigakure in the Land of Water, Kumogakure in the Land of Lightning, Sunagakure in the Land of Wind, and Iwagakure in the Land of Earth."

"But Naruto-kun, aren't there more than five hidden villages? Like Kusagakure an Takigakure?" the Hyuuga reminded.

The blonde boy stopped for a second, "Oh, well, um..."

Their sensei chuckled, "Well yes, but they operate on a much smaller scale compared to the ones he mentioned. They don't exactly have the military strength to make a global presence like Konohagakure."

"They can barely call themselves shinobi." thought Sasuke.

"In fact, only the leaders of those five great shinobi villages are permitted the title of 'kage' or 'shadow', who command over thousands of ninja. It's a big responsibility, not many are able to handle such a position."

"Is that why the third took back his spot when the fourth died?" asked Naruto.

"Well … a lot more went into that decision." Kakashi's voice trailed off a bit, "In any case, we shouldn't run into enemy ninja in a C-Ranked mission. Just think of this as a short trip."

The older man nearly flinched after hearing that.

Hinata breathed a sigh of relief, "Okay, thank you sensei."

The Uchiha shrugged, "Such a waste of time..."

The group continued to march with Naruto in the lead followed by Hinata and Sasuke with Kakashi walking next to Tazuna. The group traveled over a small footbridge and entered a more forested area, and the blonde boy slowed down a little when he saw a small puddle a bit off the road ahead.

"Say, Hinata! Odd weather we've been having lately!" he said aloud as they passed the puddle.

"Huh?" she gasped in surprised.

He got a bit closer to her, "Yeah, that storm we had the other day really surprised me! Thank goodness it didn't last and now we can see the clear blue sky!" his blue eyes looked directly into her's and blinked a few times, "In fact, I don't think I've seen any rain clouds today, have you?"

Hinata picked up what Naruto was trying to say, and activated her Byakugan to scan the area. She spotted two foreign ninja who were preparing to ambush the group disguised as the puddle from earlier. She took a deep breath, trying not to panic, "Y-yes I have! I've seen t-two in fact!"

The boy in blue garb groaned, "What are you two idiots talking about?" he asked, "It hasn't rained in weeks!"

The leading boy halted, and glared at his teammate, "Sasuke, we're being ambushed."

"What?"

Just then, the two foreign ninja jumped out of hiding and ran towards the group with a bladed chain that was attached to two bladed gauntlets they each wore. In a swift movement, this chain was wrapped around Kakashi, who was a few feet away from the others.

"One down!" yelled one of the ninja.

"NO!"

The three genin and the bridge-builder watched in horror as the two enemy ninja tore Kakashi's body apart with the chain, pieces of him scattered everywhere on the path. The ninja vanished and laughter could be heard from the trees.

Naruto gritted his teeth and screamed, "You're dead!"

"Naruto-kun! Behind you!" Hinata called out.

The Uzumaki turned to see the enemy now coming for him.

Overhead, Sasuke leaped above Naruto. A shuriken was thrown by the Uchiha, forcing the bladed chain onto a tree. Following it was a kunai that embedded the chain into the tree. Meanwhile, Hinata ran past Naruto, rushing towards the trapped ninja. In unison, Sasuke landed a kick on the one on the left, and Hinata struck a blow to the one on the right.

The bladed chain snapped off the gauntlets as the two ninja were forced to separate, but they quickly regained their stance and took off towards a new target: the bridge-builder.

"Naruto!" screamed the Hyuuga.

"Stay behind me old man! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" yelled Naruto as he performed his Shadow Clone Technique, creating a protective wall around Tazuna and himself. The two foreign ninja armed with sharp, bladed gauntlets charged at the wall of shadow clones.

But just before they could reach it, they were both stopped after being clotheslined by a jounin who quickly appeared, knocking the two out cold.

"Hi."

Hinata smiled at the sudden arrival, "Kakashi-sensei's okay!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him, "Show off..."

Naruto closed his eyes and grit his teeth, he shoved aside a few shadow clones to get closer to him, "You big jerk! I thought I lost you!"

Kakashi smiled down at him, "Sorry to scare you Naruto, but there was something that was bothering me."

"Yeah, what? The fact that we were being tracked by other ninja?"

"Exactly. Oh, and good job in handling things while I was on the sidelines. You three did excellent." Kakashi dragged the two in his arms off the road and tied them to a tree, "By the way, Mr. Tazuna?"

"What?"

The silver-haired man gave him a piercing glare, "Could you explain to me why two chunin from the Village Hidden in the Mist were after you?"

"Huh? Me?" the grizzled man was caught off guard.

"Yes, you. That's why I didn't take them out myself initially. I wasn't so sure whether they were after us, the ninja, or you, the master bridge-builder. After that battle, it seems obvious they only attacked us to get to you."

"What are ya gettin' at?"

"Your request was to be escorted to your destination and be protected while you built your bridge with the standard protection covering bandits or robbers and the like, you didn't tell us there were ninja hunting you."

The older man kept quiet, he looked down from Kakashi's gaze.

"I take it you have your reasons, but your lying has made things complicated for us. This is beyond our abilities as a team, the presence of enemy ninja makes this trip more a B-ranked mission or higher."

The Hyuuga nodded, "I-I agree with Kakashi-sensei. It's too dangerous to continue."

The Uzumaki folded his arms, "Yeah, this is far too advanced for us. I mean, I want to keep going, but..."

The Uchiha chuckled, "What's wrong with you? Are you afraid, scaredy cat?"

"Of course I'm afraid!" Naruto yelled back to him, he pointed at the two defeated chunin, "Sasuke, we're genin! These two are a lot more experienced than us, and the only reason we beat them is that they made a slight mistake! If they hadn't, we all might be dead by now! We got lucky!"

Sasuke quickly put on a frown, "Speak for yourself, I could've handled them easily on my own."

"Also, do you think these two will be the only ones coming after us? If they couldn't kill the bridge-builder, whoever sent them might send someone more dangerous! I'm afraid because any one of us could die if that happens, and after that, who's gonna protect the old guy? Nobody! Our mission would then be a failure, and we would have died for nothing!"

The Uchiha went quiet after hearing that, he gave Naruto a sullen look.

"But you wouldn't care if any of us did die, would you? Hey, as long as we went ahead and sought glory for ourselves and our clans, who cares if anyone gets harmed or killed? Besides, being afraid for your life and the lives of people you care about is a weakness, isn't it?"

A strong arm grabbed onto the Uzumaki's shoulder, "Okay Naruto, that's enough. We're heading back." Kakashi then looked over at the bridge-builder, "We're returning to the Hokage, and when we get there, you're going to tell him the full story."

The older man gave his stone-cold look with is half-closed eyes, but nodded in defeat.

"Kakashi-sensei, w-what do we do about the enemy chunin?" asked the timid girl.

Kakashi smiled at her, "Well we have two options Hinata. Either we kill them now and dispose of the bodies, or we leave them here and wait for a chunin patrol to pick them up. Personally, I'm curious as to who sent them, so we'll let them live."

With that, the group turned around and started their march back to Konoha. Sasuke straggling behind, glaring at his blonde-haired teammate.

XxXxX

It was early in the afternoon when the group returned to Konoha. After they entered the gate, Kakashi turned towards his students, "You three can go relax. I'll take Mr. Tazuna up to the Hokage's office by myself."

Naruto eyed the older man suspiciously, "Are you sure Kakashi-sensei? He might run off before you get there."

The jounin gave his eye-smile, "Trust me, he won't if he values his life."

With that, the two headed headed for the Hokage's office, leaving the three genin alone. Naruto sighed as he put his hands behind his head, "So … do you two want to get a bite to eat?" he sheepishly asked his team.

"Hmmph." Sasuke grunted one last time as he stomped away from the other two.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun wait!" Hinata pleaded.

The yellow boy sighed, "Let him go Hinata. If he wants to be alone, then we should leave him be."

"B-But it isn't right for him to distrust us." she started pushing her index fingers together.

"That's just his attitude, don't worry about it." he patted her on the back, "C'mon, let's go to Ichiraku's. I'm buying."

The Hyuuga blushed a bit, "Oh! Th-thank you Naruto-kun."

Down the road where Sasuke was heading, Team 8 was walking home from a mission. Kiba had his hands in his pockets and his mouth in a snarl, "I'm telling you guys, if we have to chase that damn cat one more time, I'm gonna kill it so it never runs away again."

"...are you a psychopath or something? How could you think of killing such a small defenseless creature?" scolded Sakura.

This made the Inuzuka boy laugh, "It wasn't so defenseless when it clawed at that forehead of yours."

She scowled at him, "Would you stop talking about my- Ah! It's Sasuke!" her expression quickly changed upon seeing her object of affection.

Shino furrowed his brow, confused and a bit annoyed with the Uchiha's presence.

The cherry blossom girl ran up to the handsome boy, "Hi Sas-"

"Out of my way!" he bellowed as he shoved Sakura out of his path.

The other two members of Team 8 quickly got out of his way, Kiba sneered at him when he was out of earshot, "Sheesh, what's gotten into that guy?"

The Aburame rested a hand on his chin, "I assume it's due to Team 7 being back in Konoha early. They had left on a C-Ranked Mission just this morning."

"But why would they…" Sakura noticed the blonde-haired genin walking down the road, "Naruto!" she charged at the Uzumaki.

"Hey! Wait!" Kiba called after her.

"Naruto! You're gonna pay for making Sasuke-"

Before she could reach her target, Hinata suddenly got in front of her, and grabbed hold of Sakura before she could hit Naruto. "Please, don't make me hurt you Haruno-san."

"Let go of me, you freak!" Sakura screeched.

Before a fight broke out, the rest of Team 8 arrived to calm Sakura down. Naruto thanked Hinata, and approached his would-be attacker, "If this is about Sasuke, he's just upset because he thinks running headfirst into danger is a great idea when the rest of us would rather avoid it."

The violent girl shook her fist, "I swear Naruto, you're always trying to make Sasuke upset! What's your problem anyway? Do you get off on getting in the way of people much better than you?"

"Oh I'm sorry Sakura, I didn't think you wanted to hear the news of Sasuke being killed in action because he thought he could take on a B-Ranked mission despite never being on a C-Ranked mission before."

"I … I wouldn't want that! That's terrible Naruto!"

"I know it is, that's why we came back! I don't want to see any of my friends die!" he took a deep breath after yelling, "Now if you'll excuse us, we need to get our ramen on." With that, Naruto continued on his way, Hinata bowed to the other three genin and followed quickly after him.

Kiba grinned, "Heh, I wouldn't really mind hearing about that arrogant bastard being killed."

Sakura smacked him, "Shut it Kiba."

Shino simply stood still as his usual stoic self, "It'd be a waste of a good shinobi, and probably make her obsession with him worse." he thought, "But at least it would get rid of the hypotenuse."

XxXxX

Far away in a large building hidden among trees, a short man with wild hair wearing a business suit and sunglasses was addressing a large man lounging on a couch who wore only a pair of pants along with camo sleeves and sandals. "You call yourselves assassins? I spent a fortune on your services and from what I've heard, your Demon Brothers couldn't lay a finger on that bridge-builder!"

In one fell swoop, the large man grabbed an even larger cleaver-like sword from behind the couch, swung it around him, and pointed the tip of it at the neck of the businessman, "Quit your bitching! If you're so pissed about it, then I'll go slice his head off and deliver it to you personally!"

Taken aback, the suited man retorted, "Are you crazy? My sources tell me they went back to the Hidden Leaf Village! There's no doubt they'll buff his security personnel!"

"Just who the hell do you think I am? They don't call me the Demon of the Hidden Mist for nothing! I'll destroy that whole damn village if I have to!"

XxXxX

Sasuke had returned to his one-room apartment, the room being dark aside from a single lantern with the Uchiha family insignia. The loner set his knapsack down and thought back on the Uzumaki's words. "Died for nothing, huh? Like he would know what that means."

"Don't cry Sasuke." echoed a voice in his head.

Sasuke put his hands over his ears, and closed his eyes, "No, not again!"

"Don't cry Sasuke." echoed a voice from his memories, "There's no need to be afraid."

Sasuke tried to block out the memory, but it was too strong. Too painful. He went to his bag to find the medication he packed for the trip. Before he could, the image of a tall, dark clothed, stoic figure holding a long, blood-stained blade materialized in his mind.

Sasuke could hear his younger self scream, "Itachi-nii what's going on? Why are you doing this?"

Without a hint of emotion, the figure replied, "Our bloodline is tainted Sasuke, it must be purified."

"What does that mean? You're acting crazy! Everyone, everyone is…" the child began to cry, "Mother, father..."

"Don't cry Sasuke. There's no need to be afraid." in the memory, Itachi approached the younger Sasuke with his sword drawn, "We all die in the end..."

"NO!" Sasuke yelled, snapping himself back to reality. He shook his head and found his medication, taking the recommended dosage. After which, he laid down on his bed.

More of his teammate's words came back to him, "...being afraid for your life and the lives of people you care about is a weakness, isn't it?"

Those words echoed in Sasuke's head, and he grunted as he tried to fall asleep, "Of course it is. It's better to accept that everyone you know will die."

XxXxX

Next Chapter: The Demon of the Hidden Mist!