27 Land of Waves

I woke up especially early on the day for the mission to the Land of Waves. I wanted to show off my Jonin-swag, so I decided to wear the Konoha Green Flak jacket, over a long sleeve white shirt and grey anbu pants. I wore grey ninja sandals and had my hair cut to just below shoulder length. Before it was around the length of my mid-back, since I had let it grow out, but I decided to do a complete makeover to complete my new Jonin esthetic.

If I had to say anything about my appearance, I would have to say it was pretty intimidating, especially since my white eyes were framed between two bangs on either side with ash blonde hair. After admiring the work of art that was myself in the mirror, I made my way to the Village's front gate. It was pretty early in the morning still, but since the war was starting soon, there were about three other teams setting off at the same time.

I even introduced myself to Team Guy and got an earful from Lee about how he would surpass me. Neji shut him up pretty quickly because I was an important person to the Hyuga Clan, since I was officially engaged to their heiress as well as stopping the Hidden Cloud's plot to kidnap her, he showed immense respect to me. I was shocked because I thought he would be more arrogant, but I guess growing up without a father was what caused his personality shift.

After a few minutes of talking, Guren, Amaru, and Sora showed up. Guren and Amaru left at the same time as me, but they went to pick-up Sora before meeting up.

Sora was a short but relatively cute girl with short and spiky brown hair and green eyes. She seemed to not show much emotion on her face and I could tell she was a little bit of an air-headed dandere type. I had seen her around a few times when Guren and Amaru went to train with her, but I never properly introduced myself, so I start I would take the initiative as a Jonin.

"Good morning, Guren. Amaru. You must be their teammate! I have heard quite a bit about you from these two. It's a pleasure to officially meet you. My name is Haruka Kaguya, and I am a Jonin."

"Hm. Pervert jonin." She replied without an ounce of emotion while nodding her head.

I bent over as I felt an invisible arrow go through my chest at hearing her comment. "P-pervert jonin?" Guren was trying not to laugh out loud while Amaru, in true tomboy fashion, didn't even try to hide her laugh while pointing at me.

"Hm. You have 5 girlfriends. Only perverts have 5 girlfriends. Hm." She said as she replied without an ounce of humor. I almost thought she was being sassy with me, but before I could retort, I hear another voice coming from behind us.

"That's right. He is a complete pervert." Shizune said as she walked over to us escorting Tazuna with a shit-eating grin on her face.

"Rude, Shizune-san!" I said before composing myself. I then turned to Tazuna who was smirking at our little skit. "It is a pleasure to meet you Tazuna-sama. I was assigned by Lord Fourth to aid in this mission at no extra cost. I look forwards to working with you." I say as we shake hands.

"Thanks. I hope we get along pervert jonin" he said while replicating Shizune's grin.

For some reason, I felt the overwhelming urge to fall to the ground on my knees and held myself up with my hands, and mutter 'pervert jonin' over and over again, but I stopped myself. Anime logic is weird.

...

The journey to the Land of Waves only took two days. They didn't show it in the anime, but I guess that Team Kakashi originally either camped out or stayed in an inn. There wasn't any ambush by the Demon Brothers this time around, which only made me more suspicious. If it wasn't Zabuza who would come after us, who would be the ninja that Gato hired?

When we reached the edge of the Land of Waves, we boarded a small boat piloted by a man in a samurai hat. The water was surrounded by thick mists which reminded me of the Land of Water and gave me a slight amount of nostalgia.

From the boat, we were able to see the construction of the Great Bridge, which probably won't be named after Naruto since he isn't here. It was extremely tall, being the height of Konoha's Outer Walls, and stretched for at least a few Kilometers to an elevated shoreling in the distance. I was rather impressed, to say the least. I had never seen the Golden Gate Bridge Before, but this one was probably the same size, though it obviously wasn't a suspension bridge like that one.

After arriving in the village, I looked around to see multiple houses in a state of disrepair and saw that all of the people in the village, and probably the land as a whole, were looking downwards and depressed. Gloom filled the air, more than it should have anyway with the thick fog everywhere.

"My apologies. My home isn't much to look at. We are a poor people ever since the crime boss named Gato seized control of all the shipping to the land. His gangs brutally beat any who disobey and we barely have any money to survive his high taxes, let alone save money for investing or opening business ventures to compete with Gato's monopoly." Tazuna said as we walked along.

Amaru wasn't happy, by the looks of things, and was itching to start a fight. Guren put her hand on Amaru's shoulder and relaxed her, but even the emotionless Sora was showing a frown.

"I was hoping to build this bridge to connect our land to foreign markets and break Gato's hold on us. Hopefully, the cheap food and materials from the Land of Fire and other lands could make the Land of Waves profitable for businesses."

He continued to explain as we left the village and made our way to Tazuna's house. Before he could continue his sob story, I picked up three chakra signatures coming our way quickly. I raised my arm and halted everyone. One was bigger than the others, but I was relieved to find them.

'Two Chunin and a Jonin hu? Guess it's Zabuza and the Demon Brothers. That makes things easy' I think to myself.

"How many?" Shizune asked. She knows that I wouldn't have halted them for some small fries, so that must mean the presence of at least one or more ninja.

"Three. One Jonin and Two Chunin. The Jonin is stronger than the average, so I would remain on guard." I say in a low voice.

Shizune nods and tells Sora, Guren, and Amaru to surround Tazuna in Manji Formation. I extend two bone blades from my palms and activate my Byakugan. I look to the treeline to see Zabuza hurling his Buster Sword at us.

I immediately parry it by crossing my blades and swiping in an X shape, sending the sword flying iff in a random direction. I then catch three thrown shuriken out of the air as the Demon Brothers try to run past me with their spiked chain, probably hoping to cut me in half with it. They are both unlucky and stupid, though, since their chain has large circular holes in it which allows me to jump over the chain and place both palms through the holes as I slam downwards.

This creates a yanking effect on both of them and causes them to collapse, while Shizune throws a paper-bomb tag at them as they lay there. Rather than explode in a fire-ball, they emit a paralyzing toxin cloud that incapacitated them.

"Well well well. Looks like the Hidden Leaf's gotten some decent ninja lately." Zabuza says as he walks over to his Executioner's Blade and picks it up. He then points it towards me while emitting a huge amount of killer intent.

Shizune narrows her eyes. "Demon of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza Momochi. What is a ninja of your caliber doing here?"

"Ho? The young lady knows me then. That makes things simple. I was hired by a certain crime boss to kill the man behind you. If you leave now, I don't mind sparing you. No one will blame you for running since I was your opponent after all." He says.

"Somehow I doubt that," I say as I eject both bone spikes, creating two bone swords.

"Oh, so that's what it was. To think there would be another Kaguya Clan brat running around in the leaf. I suppose I should get serious then." He says as he begins waiving hand seals.

"Guren, create a shield of crystal around the three of you! Shizune-san, please watch them while I handle this."

""Alright!"" Shizune and Guren say at the same time. A pink, transparent crystal barrier is constructed around Tazuna, Sora, Amaru, and Guren, while Shizune guards the outside.

Zabuza narrows his eyes before casting the [Hidden Mist Jutsu].

Although I can still see him with my Byakugan, I pretend to only vaguely be aware of his presence to let his guard down. I see him slowly move towards one of the Demon Brothers before quickly slicing his head off.

"Gyaaa!!!!" He screams.

I am in complete and total shock at what I witnessed. I know that he was always a heartless bastard, but killing his own subordinates just because they failed him once was the typical trademark of a shonen villain. I had actually wanted to persuade him to find Mei in the Hidden Mist and start the Civil War early so that they wouldn't be a factor for a while, but since this is his personality, especially since I can't Talk-no-Jutsu him with Haku any more, I decided it was best to kill him and collect his bounty before he has the chance to join the Akatsuki or something.

While I ponder this, Zabuza has made his way to the other Demon Brother and has decapitated him as well. I decide now it the time. I throw one of my Bone Swords at him after coating it in Lightning Chakra. He narrowly dodges getting a hole in the head as I sprint at him at full speed without using Swift Release. I swing down the second blade and strike the buster sword on its face, sending Zabuza's arm outward and creating a massive opening in his guard, which I exploit by swiftly swinging my bone blade towards his face in an arc back to my side.

*Splash*

He substituted out for a Water Clone just before I land contact. I glance to my right and quickly jump backward, doing a somersault before throwing my other bone blade towards Zabuza, who has swung right where I was less than a second ago.

The blade embeds itself into his arm which he uses to hold the Executioner's Blade, though, as a testament to his swordsmanship, he doesn't drop the blade.

"Bastard!" He yells as he swaps hands and begins swinging at me again.

"[Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere]" I say as a dozen super-sharp wind beams shoot out from my mouth in under a second.

At this range, it is impossible to miss, so Zabuza takes multiple deep gunshot-like wounds in his arms and chest. Even Five-Kage Summit Sasuke, with his Sharingan, which has precognition, couldn't completely avoid this attack from Danzo, who was at a further range than the distance between me and Zabuza, so he had no chance.

The thick mist clears itself after a few seconds to reveal Zabuza's broken form. He is bleeding profusely and if he doesn't retreat now, he is going to die. I see the rage in his eyes, but I decided when I fought Hiruko that I was going to use my full strength against every enemy I encounter to never be hopeless again. I immediately cast [Starlight Trance] on him as he prepares to leave.

His body instantly relaxes as he stands up straight and drops his sword. His eyes are hollow but his posture stands tall, as though the wounds aren't affecting him. Shizune looks at me weirdly for a second before giving a hand sign for 'stand-down' to Guren for her to release her crystal barrier.

"Tell me, Demon of the Mist, are there any more shinobi with you who we should be worrying about?" I ask.

"No. Just me, though Gato is likely to Hire another Ninja group after I fail," He says without emotion.

"How many men are under Gato's control?"

"Three Hundred Thugs and around a dozen trained soldiers"

"Soldiers. Not ninja?"

"Yes"

"Where is Gato's compound now?"

"About an hour's journey from here, near the Land of Water's major port town, he has his compound. If he isn't there, then he may be at the mines near the center of the island. He has some sort of operation there." He says.

I reach down and pick up the Executioner's Blade. "Thank you. Do me a favor and stand right there for me." I say as I look towards Shizune. "Need anything?"

"Nothing for now. He went rouge quite a while ago. Any intel we can get from him is too old to be reliable" She says.

"Good. Please escort Tazuna-sama back to his home. I need to... deal with Zabuza."

Shizune flinches for a moment before leading Amaru and the gang away.

...

After arriving at Tazuna's home, I raise my hand to knock on the door but before I am able to, I am greeted by an angry Inari running past me. I look back to the room to see a cute woman with Long Dark Blue hair and a pink shirt with a red collar. Amaru looks like she is upset and Shizune is looking hopeless in the corner.

'I guess Amaru is taking Naruto's place here'. I think to myself.

"Haruka-san! Your back! Guren says as she approaches.

"Yeah, I'm back," I say as I ruffle her hair a bit. I look towards Shizune before continuing. "What happened?" I knew what probably happened, of course, but I wanted an explanation just in case.

"Tazuna-sama's grandson didn't believe we could defeat Gato and Amaru-chan got into an argument and told him that since you were here, there was no one who we couldn't beat," She said shaking her head.

Amaru had a deeply embarrassed look on her face as she tried to make herself as small as possible. I smirked to myself briefly before looking towards where Inari ran off to. "Alright then. I guess that I just have to show him how not to lose hope." I say as I turn to walk in his direction.

Please wait!" Amaru yelled. "I'll do it. It was my fault anyway!" She says as she rushes past me, not giving me any time to refute.

"Haaaaa," I sigh out loud before I walk in and am introduced to Tsunami officially.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Haruka-sama. I am Tsunami, Tazuna-sama's daughter," He said as she bowed.

"The pleasure is all mine."

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