Land Of Waves :
Tazuna's House :
The floorboards of Tazuna's humble home creaked under Naruto's weight as he stepped out of the makeshift infirmary. The air in the hallway was thick with the sterile scent of herbal poultices and the iron tang of blood that refused to dissipate.
In the living room, illuminated by a flickering oil lamp, Sakura sat huddled on a bench. Her eyes were puffy, the rims a raw, inflamed red.
"Naruto…! How is Sasuke-kun?"
She was on her feet in an instant, her hands clasped desperately at her chest. Naruto's gaze drifted to her—noting the dry streaks on her cheeks. A cynical twitch pulled at the corner of his eye.
(Not a single tear for the Captain who stood between you and a butcher's blade, Right in front of you ) he thought.
(But for the Uchiha who chose to dive into a cage of ice, you've turned into a fountain. despite seeing him coming back on his feet )
Regardless of the irritation simmering beneath his skin, Naruto just sighed inside . He spoke softly, his voice carrying fatigue to reach the ears of the ANBU stationed in the rafters and Tazuna's worried family in the kitchen.
"It's alright, Sakura. I've stabilized them. Both should wake up by morning."
"But his wounds! I saw the needles, Naruto, there were so many—"
"Later, Sakura," Naruto interrupted, massaging the bridge of his nose as he bypassed her. "I'm tired."
Naruto didn't wait for her next question. He stepped out into the cool night air of the Land of Waves.
The perimeter was tight; he could feel the subtle ripples in the atmosphere where the ANBU guards were positioned. Two figures materialized from the shadows near the handpump: Yugao and the ANBU Captain.
Naruto walked up to them, the moonlight catching the dried blood under his fingernails. "They're stable for now," he said simply.
"En," Yugao replied, her posture stiff.
Naruto spoke , looking out into the dark treeline. "Do you think it was planned?"
The ANBU Captain shifted, his mask a featureless void. "Planned?"
"Think about it," Naruto said, his voice dropping into a low "The first C-rank mission for the village's Jinchuriki and the last Uchiha. We are led by an elite Jonin. We are intercepted by a Seven Swordsman of the mist , an Ice Release bloodline user, and then a squad of Hunter-Nin who just happen to be there or 'chasing' them"
The silence that followed was heavy. Naruto let the implication hang in the air like a noose.
"And then," Naruto added, his eyes narrowing, "there's the timing of your absence during the initial breach."
This time the silence was different except for cicade's and waves sound .
"That would be... very disturbing," Yugao whispered, the grip on her katana tightening.
"Do you believe Tazuna was involved?" the Captain asked, his voice firm and rough, searching for a lead in the chaos.
Naruto's eyes widened slightly, a flash of genuine thought crossing his mind before he shook his head. "No Idea . The decision to continue the mission was spontaneous. If this was a setup involving the client, no one would be stupid enough to send Tazuna as the bait. Even the Demon Brothers were too low-level for a high-tier assassination plot."
The conversation died there. Naruto walked over to the iron handpump and began to vigorously pump water. The cold liquid splashed over his hands and face, washing away the grime of the clearing. His mind drifted back to the surgical work he had just performed on Sasuke.
The Uchiha was a mess. Haku's senbons had been precise, but the sheer volume of punctures was staggering. Sasuke's mesh armor had saved his vitals ,
( Or maybe Haku's mercy )
But Sasuke's limbs were riddled with holes. In the reality of anatomy—a reality the Academy textbooks glossed over—those kinds of wounds didn't just 'heal' with a night's rest. Every muscle fiber had been shredded; even in torso , the senbon reached organs ,
(Strange, In the Original Canon , Sasuke was ok after a night's rest )
Naruto thought, his fingers tracing the phantom sensation of stitching wounds. ( If I hadn't used the Mystical Palm to knit the pathways back together, he might needed a whole year to get back from that state )
Naruto stood up, water dripping from his chin, feeling the true weight of exhaustion. It wasn't just physical; the mental strain of maintaining three different personas while coordinating a clandestine ocular heist was beginning to sap even his staggering reserves.
While drying himeself , Naruto thoughts drifted amidst the exhaustion.
He remembered Kakashi's back in the mist—the way the man had stood ready to die for a team that Naruto, until that moment, had viewed as mere chess pieces.
A Team that he was also a part Of
(......Haaaaaaaaa...)
Naruto let out a long, weary sigh, shaking the image from his head.
"I'm done for tonight," Naruto addressed the ANBU. "I'll give you a formal report in the morning."
"It's fine," the Captain replied. "We've already taken Sakura's statement. Get some rest,"
Naruto walked back inside. In the small room assigned to him, he found Sakura finishing the setup of a futon. She looked up, her expression a mix of guilt and lingering anxiety.
"Naruto, here. I... I set this up for you. Take some rest."
Naruto paused, his eyes widening slightly at the uncharacteristic gesture of care. He looked at the neatly laid bedding, then back at the girl. His Mind once again drifting , The tears , the worry , exhaustion, gratefulness , hope
And all that on a baby face of a 12 year old kid
(.......Forget it,) Naruto told himself. (Enough thinking for one day.)
"Thanks, Sakura," He grunted, nodding as he laid down.
Naruto watched her shadow retreat from the room. His Hound senses & Kagura's mind eye followed her as she moved down the hall, hovering outside the door where Kakashi and Sasuke lay.
Naruto stared at the dark wooden beams of the ceiling, his expression going blank ,. The chakra of his teammates and his teacher throbbed faintly in the house—one dim and flickering, one jagged and healing, and one fluttering with worry.
(.......... Let's sleep )
Naruto put one hand above his forehead , in attempt to cover his eyes and senses and to make evrything drown in darkness.
-------------------------------------------------
Konohagakure no Sato :
The Hokage Office ( Late Night ) :
The moon hung like a pale, serrated blade over Konohagakure, casting long, skeletal shadows across the rooftops.
While the rest of the village slept under the illusion of peace, the Hokage's office was a hive of controlled tension. The scent of heavy tobacco smoke and old parchment filled the room, swirling around the flickering candlelight.
The logistics of the incident were a testament to the efficiency of the village's hidden machinery. Team 7 had reached the Land of Waves under the cover of the morning mist; by noon, the clearing was a blood-soaked theater; and by 11:00 PM that same night, an emergency report—delivered by the specialized messenger hawks of the ANBU—shook Sarutobi Hiruzen from his slumber.
Now, the "Big Three" of the village stood before the Third Hokage: the ANBU Commander, the Jonin Commander, and the Head of Intelligence, Inoichi Yamanaka.
"What do you make of this?" Hiruzen asked, his voice gravelly with age . He drew deeply from his pipe, the cherry glowing a fierce orange in the dim light.
Inoichi Yamanaka lowered the scroll, his eyes analytical. "I believe the primary objective of the secondary assault was an assassination attempt on Hatake Kakashi."
"Kakashi?" The ANBU Commander shifted, his mask a silent void. "Not the Uchiha? Not the Jinchuriki?"
Inoichi shook his head. "If the Uchiha had been the target, the 'Ice User' would never have left the clearing without his head or his eyes. ...maybe a Single Ice user wouldn't have confronted Uchiha either "
"...hmm.."
" yeah , 1 more teammate with Ice user and Uchiha would have died "
"As for Naruto... if his identity as the Nine-Tails' vessel had been compromised, Kirigakure wouldn't have sent five Hunter-Nin. They would have mobilized a battalion. They didn't know who they were dealing with until the fight was already underway."
"....SO it is Kakashi "
The ANBU Commander grunted in agreement. "Kakashi is a high-profile target. His silver hair and the Sharingan make him impossible to hide, even with the ANBU retirement. Mist shinobi have long memories; the 'Copy Ninja' has cost them dearly in the border skirmishes of the last decade."
Shikaku Nara, the Jonin Commander stood aside , his brow furrowed in a characteristic 'troublesome' expression.
"It's a tactical mess. My guess? The Hunter-Nin were truly after Zabuza initially. But once they saw Kakashi vulnerable—exhausted, blinded by his own jutsu—they saw an opportunity for a 'bonus' kill. Taking an eye of the Sharingan and The Copy Ninja is worth more to Kiri than ten rogue swordsmen."
"Then why didn't they pursue Zabuza after the retreat?" Hiruzen asked.
"Because Zabuza is still of the Mist," Inoichi replied. "A rogue, yes, but a known quantity. Kakashi represents the Leaf's dominance. And more importantly, Zabuza didn't collapse. Kakashi did."
Shikaku sighed, crossing his arms. "The whole mission reeks. It was filed as a C-rank, but we've got Seven Swordsmen and Bloodline users crawling out of the woodwork. We should pull them back immediately."
Hiruzen looked at the map of the Land of Waves pinned to his desk. He thought of the security detail currently guarding Naruto—two full squads, eight elite operatives, including two Jonin and four Special Jonin. It was a formidable force, but they were in Land Of Waves .
"Tell them to be back within ten days," Hiruzen commanded.
He did the math in his head. The message would take a day to reach them. With Naruto's medical proficiency, Kakashi and Sasuke would be stable enough to move in forty-eight to seventy-two hours. If they began the return trek immediately after, they could cross the border and reach the safe zones within a week.
"Reinforcements?" the ANBU Commander asked.
"Send a fresh squad to meet them at the halfway point," Hiruzen decided. "But don't make it a rescue mission. We need to slip out quietly before Gato or the Mist can reorganize or whatever is at work "
Everyone in the room nodded. The logic was sound. Kirigakure was leagues away; even if they received word of the botched assassination tonight, it would take days to mobilize a second pursuit team. By the time Kiri's higher-ups made a decision, Team 7 would be back under the protection of the Village
"So," the ANBU Commander summarized, "the attack was on Kakashi, but they retreated when they realized he wasn't as alone as he seemed."
"For now," Shikaku muttered. "But we need to investigate the leak. A C-rank shouldn't have turned into a graveyard this fast. We have a mole, or Gato has better intel than a civilian merchant should."
The meeting stretched into the early morning hours, the leaders of the Leaf dissecting every line of the report. They debated the political fallout of a stolen Sharingan, the probability of Kirigakure filing a formal protest, and the internal security of the village.
" What about that Bridge Builder "
" That Builder knew someone like Gato was after them "
" He faked the mission , and with just Gato and Zabuza's involvement , it was already an A class mission "
" any other team would have casualties "
" No doubt , involvement of mist or not , without a Jonin , everyone would have been wiped out by Just Zabuza in that 'C' Class Mission "
" even without Zabuza , Gato have plety of miney to hire Jonins , ROgue or not"
" we can't make this a habit "
" hmmm"
" ....Gato , should we take care of him ".
" en , once they are back , deal with it "
" what about the Builder "
"... Let Team 7 or Kakashi decide , it was they who decided to continue this mission "
While they talked, none of them realized the true nature of the "theft." They spoke of Hunter-Nin and rogue assassins, never once suspecting that the boy they were so carefully guarding was the one who had orchestrated the entire extraction.
In the quiet of the office, Hiruzen looked out at the moon one last time.
(Be safe, Naruto,) he thought. (The world is becoming a much more dangerous place than I intended for you to see.)
--------------------------------------
Author's note :
Hmm , A timepass Chapter explaining reactions
---------------------------