---
The road out of Konoha was a dusty, sun-dappled path that wound its way through the vast forests of the Land of Fire. The air was warm, filled with the lazy drone of cicadas and the scent of pine and damp earth.
For Team 7, it was their first real taste of the world beyond the village walls, and the novelty of it was a palpable, exciting energy.
Alaric walked beside Tazuna, his long, easy strides a polar opposite to the bridge builder's slightly drunken, shuffling gait. He listened with a quiet, nostalgic amusement as Kakashi, a few paces ahead, patiently explained the concept of the Five Great Shinobi Nations to a wide-eyed Sakura, his voice a calm, lazy drawl that seemed perfectly suited to the peaceful afternoon.
He and the team 7 already introduced themselves right before they started journeying as it was important to know the client's information when escorting them.
Naruto, his earlier excitement having settled into a restless energy, was scouting ahead, then falling behind, then running circles around the group, his bright orange jumpsuit was a beacon of chaotic energy.
Hours passed in this comfortable rhythm. The sun climbed higher in the sky, its heat beating down on them. Alaric saw it then, a small, innocuous puddle of water shimmering on the dry, sun-baked road ahead.
It hadn't rained in days. A slow, knowing smirk touched his lips. He saw Kakashi's single visible eye flick towards him for a fraction of a second, noticing the smirk, before the jōnin's gaze lazily returned to the path ahead.
'So he noticed them,' Kakashi thought, his mind instantly shifting into a higher state of alert beneath his relaxed demeanor.
The genin, oblivious, continued their walk. Sakura and Sasuke passed the puddle without a second glance. Naruto, in his eagerness to prove he was a capable ninja, was scanning the treetops for non-existent threats. As they passed, Alaric, who had hung back slightly, whistled a short, cheerful tune.
"Oh look," he declared, his voice a little too loud, a little too cheerful. "A puddle!"
And then, he stomped on it.
"URGH!"
"Fuck!"
The puddle exploded, not with a splash of water, but with a geyser of two figures, their faces hidden behind masks, their eyes burning with a cold, murderous intent.
"Huh!?" The genin and Tazuna spun around, their eyes widening in shock and disbelief.
"What the-" Naruto gasped as they all instinctively jumped back, their hands flying to their kunai pouches.
Alaric feigned a look of surprise, but as the two shinobi's linked chain, bristling with sharp blades, shot towards him, he simply stood his ground. The chain wrapped around him, tightened, and with a sickening, tearing sound, ripped him to shreds.
"A-ALARIC-SAN!" Sakura screamed, her face paling in horror.
The two shinobi, the Demon Brothers of the Hidden Mist, grinned beneath their masks. They ignored the terrified genin and shot towards their real target, the jōnin. Kakashi, seemingly caught off guard, was unable to evade the lightning-fast chain. It wrapped around him, and he, too, was torn apart in a spray of what looked like blood and viscera.
"AHHH! KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Naruto screamed, his voice cracking with a mixture of terror and grief.
"Now it's your turn!" one of the brothers snarled, their chain retracting as they appeared in a blur of motion behind a frozen Naruto.
But Sasuke was already moving. The initial shock had passed, replaced by the cold, sharp focus of a trained Uchiha.
He launched himself forward, a kunai in one hand, a shuriken in the other. He threw the shuriken with a flick of his wrist, the spinning star of steel embedding itself in the chain, pinning it to the thick trunk of a nearby tree. He followed it with the kunai, throwing it with such force that it slammed into the center of the shuriken, driving it deeper, securing the chain completely.
The Demon Brothers' eyes widened in surprise as they were jerked to a halt. Sasuke used their momentary confusion, landing on their shoulders, his feet finding purchase on their gauntlets. He used their own bodies as leverage, kicking off with a powerful, twisting motion that sent both of their heads crashing into each other with a sickening crack.
"Ugh!"
With a grunt of pain and frustration, they activated a mechanism in their gauntlets, releasing the now-useless chain. They split up, one darting towards the terrified Tazuna, the other making a beeline for the still-frozen Naruto.
"I-I have to stop them!" Sakura cried, her fear warring with her sense of duty. She planted herself in front of Tazuna, a kunai held in a trembling, white-knuckled grip. "S-Stay behind me!" She knew she was no match for them, but she would not abandon her client.
Sasuke, his expression a mask of grim determination, appeared in front of her in a flicker of movement, ready to intercept the first attacker. But Naruto… Naruto was still paralyzed, his mind unable to process the sudden, brutal reality of a real ninja battle.
Time seemed to slow. The Mist ninja closed in on him, a poisoned claw raised to strike. And then, a savior appeared.
A grey-haired figure dropped from the trees, landing silently between Naruto and his attacker. He didn't use a jutsu, didn't even draw a weapon. He simply held out his arms, and the two charging shinobi, their momentum carrying them forward, slammed neck-first into his outstretched limbs, the force of their own attack knocking them unconscious.
"Huh…?"
It was Kakashi. He stood there, holding the two limp bodies by the scruff of their necks, his single visible eye holding its usual, lazy expression.
'Kakashi-sensei… he's alive!' Sakura thought, a wave of profound relief washing over her.
Sasuke just pouted, an irritated look on his face. 'Show-off…'
"HA?" Naruto stared, his mind finally rebooting. He looked from the very-much-alive Kakashi to the spot where he had been "killed," where a pile of splintered logs now lay. "WHAT!? Kawarimi!?"
Kakashi stepped forward, dropping the two unconscious shinobi at his feet. "Naruto," he said, his voice calm, "sorry I didn't help you right away. I didn't mean for you to get hurt." He glanced at the boy's hand. "I just didn't think you'd freeze up like that." He then turned his head, his gaze fixing on a spot in the nearby woods. "And you're good."
The genin and Tazuna followed his gaze, their eyes widening once more. Alaric stood there, leaning against a tree, his arms folded, a look of profound, almost academic, amusement on his face. He hadn't a single scratch on him.
"Thanks for the compliment," Alaric replied, pushing himself off the tree and walking back towards the group. He glanced at Tazuna, whose face was pale and slick with sweat. "You don't seem okay there, my friend."
Tazuna flinched, shaking his head. "I'm fine," he insisted, his voice a little too loud.
Kakashi turned to his other two students. "Good job, Sasuke. Very smooth. You too, Sakura. You did well protecting the client."
He then looked at Naruto, who was now kneeling on the ground, his eyes wide with a mixture of shame and frustration.
"Hey," Sasuke said, a familiar, arrogant smirk on his face as he looked down at his rival. "You're not hurt, are you? Scaredy-cat."
"Ughhh… SASUKEEEE!!!"
"NARUTO!" Kakashi's voice cut through the impending outburst. "Stand still. These ninja have poison in their claws. We need to take it out of you. Quickly."
Naruto froze, looking down at the back of his hand. A series of deep, angry red scratches were already beginning to swell.
"We need to open the wound and remove the poison," Kakashi continued, his voice turning serious. "It's in your blood, so don't move around. That will only make it spread faster."
Alaric just smiled, a silent observer to the scene he had seen play out a thousand times in his old life. 'I know I'm just an observer,' he thought, a strange, almost surreal sense of contentment washing over him, 'but I'm enjoying the fact that I get to witness this.'
"By the way, Tazuna-san," Kakashi said, his lazy eye turning to the bridge builder, the warmth completely gone from his voice, replaced by a chilling, deadly cold.
"Yeah? What!?" Tazuna blustered, trying to sound intimidating.
"We need to talk."
---
Minutes later, the two unconscious chūnin were bound securely to a tree, their masks removed to reveal the grim, determined faces of seasoned shinobi. The initial adrenaline of the ambush had faded, replaced by a heavy, tense silence.
"We are genin," Sakura said, her voice trembling slightly, but firm with a logic that was hard to dispute. "This is too advanced for our level of training. We should go back to the village." She glanced worriedly at Naruto, who was staring at the bloody kunai in his hand, his face pale. "And I really think we need to treat Naruto's wound to get the poison out as soon as possible. Back in our village, we can take him to a doctor."
Alaric listened, a flicker of respect in his eyes. 'Despite being physically weak and often made fun of by fans of the anime, she's actually the most level-headed of the three right now. She's prioritizing her teammate's safety and assessing the mission parameters correctly.'
Kakashi let out a small, almost imperceptible sigh. "Naruto's hand could become a problem," he conceded, his gaze distant. "I guess we should go back to the village."
The words, though spoken softly, were a hammer blow to Naruto's already shattered pride. He had frozen. He had been a burden. Sasuke had been cool and efficient, Sakura had been brave, and he… he had done nothing. The shame was a bitter, coiling thing in his gut. He looked at the deep, self-inflicted wound on his hand, at the blood welling up around the kunai, and a fierce, desperate resolve hardened his features.
With a guttural yell, he drove the kunai deeper, a silent vow to never be a burden again, to never freeze in fear, to always protect his friends.
"HUH!?" The sound was a collective gasp of shock. Even Sasuke, the broody and prideful Uchiha, stared at his teammate with wide, disbelieving eyes.
'What the fuck,' Alaric thought, his own eyes widening. He had seen it in the anime, but to witness it in person, to see the raw, self-destructive determination of the boy… 'I could never do that to myself. Damn, kid, you've got guts.'
'…I do receive pain from powerups sometimes, but I could never stab myself just because of poison…'
The act, as reckless as it was, seemed to galvanize the team. Kakashi, seeing the fierce, unwavering resolve in Naruto's eyes, a resolve mirrored in the expressions of Sasuke and Sakura, knew they couldn't turn back now. This was their first real test, their first step into the true world of the shinobi.
---Hours Later---
The world was a blanket of thick, grey fog. A small, simple wooden boat moved silently through the water, propelled by the steady, rhythmic strokes of a lone man with a conical hat. The engine was cut, the only sounds the gentle lapping of water against the hull and the creak of the oar.
"This fog's so thick," Sakura whispered, her voice a hushed sound in the oppressive quiet. "You can't see anything."
She sat near Sasuke, while Naruto, his hand now bandaged, sat cross-legged at the prow of the boat, his earlier bravado replaced by a quiet, watchful intensity. Kakashi stood beside Tazuna, a silent, imposing figure. Alaric, his massive frame seemingly taking up no space at all, stood at the stern, his arms crossed, a lit cigar held loosely between his fingers, its smoke mingling with the mist.
"The bridge isn't far now," the rower said, his voice a low, gravelly murmur. "Our destination's just ahead. Nami no Kuni."
"Hm?" Naruto squinted, and then, like a phantom emerging from the mist, the colossal, unfinished structure of the bridge came into view. "Woah! It's huge!"
"Q-Quiet! I told you no noise!" the rower hissed, his voice a frantic, half-whisper. "Why do you think we're traveling like this, huh!? Cutting off the engine and rowing through the dense fog? So they don't see us!"
"…"
">.<"
"Tazuna-san," Kakashi's voice, lazy no more, cut through the tense silence. "I need to ask you something. The men who are after you… if you don't tell us the truth, I'm afraid I'll have to end this mission when we drop you ashore."
"..."
"..."
"..."
The silence stretched, thick and heavy.
"It's because of Gatō, isn't it?" Alaric's voice, calm and conversational, broke the tension.
Tazuna's head snapped up, his eyes wide with a mixture of shock and fear.
"No need for a sob story," Alaric continued, his gaze fixed on the distant, fog-shrouded bridge. "Gatō, a shipping magnate and founder of the Gatō Company. On paper, he's a wealthy businessman. In reality, he's nothing more than a parasite who thrives on fear and exploitation. He uses hired thugs, mercenaries, and rogue shinobi to do his dirty work, ensuring he maintains control over all trade routes in this region."
He took a slow drag from his cigar, the smoke curling lazily into the mist. "The bridge," he said, his voice a low, steady rumble, "is the one thing that threatens him. Once it's completed, the Land of Waves won't need his shipping routes anymore. Goods and people will flow freely from the mainland. His stranglehold breaks, his profits collapse, and the people stop fearing him. That's why he wants you dead, Tazuna. To him, this bridge is more dangerous than any ninja."
Tazuna swallowed hard, stunned into silence.
'Is our mission for him also related to Gatō?' Kakashi thought, his visible eye flicking towards Alaric, a new, intense calculation in his gaze.
"That bastard…!" Naruto clenched his fists. "So he's just crushing everyone for money!?"
"I said hush!"
Alaric exhaled a plume of smoke, a faint, humorless smirk on his lips. "Men like Gatō don't think twice about sacrificing lives for their greed. The bridge isn't just concrete and wood; it's hope. And hope is the one thing tyrants can't afford to let their victims have." He turned his head, his gaze settling on Kakashi. "You're an experienced jōnin. You should know what kind of shinobi a man like Gatō can hire, right?"
"..." Kakashi's expression was grim. "Yes. However, we've already accepted the mission. We can't turn back now."
"Really?" Alaric grinned. "Even if Gatō hires an S-Rank shinobi?"
"HUH!?" The genin gasped, their faces paling.
"Just kiddin'," Alaric said, raising his hands in a placating gesture, his grin never leaving his face.
Tazuna and the genin let out a collective, shaky sigh of relief. But Kakashi's mind was racing. 'He's right. Gatō is a multi-millionaire. He could hire an S-Rank shinobi, or worse, more… and it wouldn't even put a dent in his fortune.' His gaze drifted to the towering, crimson-coated man at the back of the boat. 'If push comes to shove, this guy can run on his own. But I have to protect my team, and Tazuna.'
The boat slipped under the massive, half-finished bridge, and the fog began to clear, revealing a small, impoverished village nestled amongst the mangroves.
"That's as far as I go," the rower said as the boat scraped against a rickety wooden dock. "Good luck."
"Right," Tazuna said, his voice heavy. "Thank you for taking such a risk."
"Just be careful," the rower replied, before starting the boat's noisy engine and speeding away.
Tazuna turned to the group, a look of grim determination on his face. "Okay," he said, his voice a low growl. "Take me to my home. And I mean get me there in one piece."
"Right."
.
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