Chapter 15

Last time:

'I'm going to have to leave soon if I want to make it to the bunker in Kumo soon. Naruto thought as he looked at the celebrating town people.

Now:

~Time Skip – Three Days Later – Border Between Land of Fire and Land of Hot Water~

Naruto groaned as he looked towards the Land of Hot Water. It had been three days since he helped the Land of Waves finish the "Great Naruto Bridge", and that very same night he left the Land of Waves. Since then, there was only one word that could describe the way he was feeling. 'I'm so BORED!' Naruto mentally yelled as he kept to the walked path. "I need some excitement soon." Naruto muttered under his breath. 'I wonder how things are going back in Wave?' Naruto asked as he crossed the border into the Land of Hot Water.

~ Back in The Land Of Waves ~

It was the early morning that we see 4 individuals walking towards the docks of the Land of Fire. "No, Sasuke-kun is the best!" a loud shrill voice yelled. Kakashi, a man standing at 181 cm with gray gravity defying hair and his face covered by a facemask and his Konoha headband covering his left eye. "Ne, sakura-san, please stop yelling." A girl with green eyes and pink bubble gum hair turned to look directly at Kakashi. "But Kakashi-sensei, Hiruzen-baka tried to say that he was better than Sasuke-kun!" "Well, I was named the rookie of the year." A voice behind the both of them stated.

Sakura and Kakashi turned to see Sasuke Uchiha, the last left living Uchiha. He had onyx eyes and dark hair. He always had a "holier than though" air around him. "Still kicked your ass in the spars!" a voice said behind them all. Sasuke sent a death glare to Hiruzen Namikaze, the heir of the Namikaze clan and son of the Yondaime Hokage. The boy had red hair and chocolate brown eyes. "Ne, Hiruzen-kun, would you please not argue with your team mates?" Kakashi asked nicely.

Hiruzen nodded, making Sasuke scowl and Sakura growl.' Why did Minato-sensei have to give my team this assignment? I could have handled it easily by myself, but no. I had to bring the rat pack with me' Kakashi mentally whined as he recalled the meeting between himself and his long time sensei.

~ Flash Back – Mission Assignment ~

"kakashi, I want you to go to the land of Waves and help the people build a bridge to liberate the country from their dependence on Gato shipping. You will go with your team, and as they take turns guarding the bridge builder Tazuna, you are to take care of Gato." Minato finished. "Kakashi-sensei, wouldn't it be easier just for me to go to Wave and do this mission solo?" Kakashi asked. "Well, yes, but we need the bridge builder to be safe and that is a 4 man team job." Minato replied.

"Why would we need him, sensei?" Kakashi asked. "He came to me seeking help a bit of a week ago. He offered the payment for a C rank mission and a trading contract. I declined him in an effort to get him to offer more, but he left the very next day. You are to go to Wave and help him under these conditions." Minato stated as he handed a list of demands to Kakashi. Kakashi read the note out loud, "These are the demands to Konoha helping the land of wave: an equivalent payment of two A rank missions, a trading agreement exclusively with Konoha, and a fifty percent discount on any future services required from Wave." Kakashi finished.

"Do you understand your mission?" Minato asked Kakashi. "Yes, Hokage-sama." Kakashi finished. ' So basically I'm to extort a country by overthrowing it's tyrant, only to replace its rule by one of a hidden village.' Kakashi sighed.

~ Present Time ~

Kakashi shook his head as he looked to the dockworker ahead of him. "Excuse me, is there any way we could charter a boat to the land of Waves?" Kakashi asked the man as politely as possible. "A boat? Why not just take the bridge?" the worker asked Kakashi, making him look at the man with an inquisitive look. "I thought the bridge wasn't finished?" Kakashi asked. "It was finished about three days ago. They named it after the hero of Wave." The worker replied, making Kakashi look at him. "Well, could you direct us to the bridge?" Kakashi asked.

The man nodded and began giving Kakashi instructions on how to get to the bridge.

~ Time Skip – The Beginning of The Great Naruto Bridge ~

Kakashi and his team looked in awe at the giant bridge in front of them. "Kakashi-sensei, what is this?" Sasuke asked as he stared at the giant bridge. "The Great Naruto Bridge, named after the man who helped liberate this land and brought hope back to its people." Sakura read off a plaque, not noticing the flash of recognition on Kakashi and Hiruzen's faces. "Did you just say Naruto?" Kakashi asked Sakura and got a nod in response.

'It couldn't be Naruto-kun could it? No, that's impossible. The poor boy couldn't even use chakra and he wasn't trained in the ninja arts. Besides, the last time I saw hi was about…when was the last time I saw Naruto-kun?' Kakashi wondered as he put away his Icha Icha book. 'I…I cant remember.' Kakashi admitted to himself with a tone of shame. Hiruzen, however, was thinking different thoughts. 'That couldn't be big bro, could it? No, big bro couldn't use chakra. But then where is big bro? No one has seen him since my fifth birthday.' Hiruzen looked to the ground as he remembered his older brother.

Hiruzen remembered what happened that night, he was made clan heir. However, he didn't learn of the consequences of his father and mother's actions until much later. According to the old customs in Konoha, only one child from a clan could be the clan heir, usually the first-born. In order for another child to become the clan heir, the first had to die in battle or in a challenge. The only other way to name a clan heir without blood shed was to disown the current clan heir and name the new clan heir immediately. Since he showed more potential then Naruto, Hiruzen was named the clan heir.

It wasn't until a year later that Hiruzen learned that interesting fact. Then, he learned the reason his brother showed no promise in the ninja arts was because he was injured in an attack from an unknown assailant. From the file he read on the attack, it was believed that the attack was meant to disable him, the nine tails container, not his brother. From that day, Hiruzen only had one mission in mind. Find His Brother. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. His brother had completely fallen off the face of the earth. Now, here was a slight chance that this Naruto was his brother. 'I will find you Onii-san!' Hiruzen thought.

~ Back in the land of Hot Water ~

Naruto sneezed as he began setting his campsite for the evening. 'Someone must be talking about me.' Naruto mused as he sat near the campfire and unsealed some meat to cook.

~ Back in the Land of Waves – Tazuna's Town ~

Kakashi was wide eyed as he looked at the thriving community before him. According to the report he got from the Hokage, this town was supposed to be in poverty due to Gato's high cost shipping and his "cost of living" taxes. This town was the exact opposite. People were happy, kids were running, there were exotic foods and spices in the market and people seemed genuinely prosperous. Kakashi was once again shaken from his thoughts as a gray-haired man wearing glasses with a large beard and dark eyes approached him. "Hello, I'm Tazuna, the mayor of Wave. How may I help you?" he asked Kakashi.

"Hello, my name is Kakashi and this is my team. We were sent from Konoha to aid you in getting rid of your little..problem." Kakashi finished quietly. Tazuna's face went into a scowl as he remembered the selfishness of the Hokage when he visited the hidden village. "Hokage-sama has authorized me to take care of your problem in exchange for these conditions." Kakashi said as he handed the list to the man. Tazuna smiled as he took the list. 'Let's see what that bastard was trying to extort from me..' Tazuna thought as he took the list and read over it.

His scowl deepened as he read the conditions. "No, thank you." Tazuna said to Kakashi. "What do you mean no? Do you want to live under the rule of a tyrant for the rest of your life?" Kakashi asked. Tazuna laughed as he signaled the team from Konoha to follow him. "Come with me." Tazuna said. After roughly 15 minutes of walking, they arrived at what seemed to be the site of a large explosion. "What are we doing here Tazuna-san?" Kakashi asked. "This is the grave of Gato, the shipping tycoon of Wave and what remains of his giant mansion and his thugs." Tazuna finished.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked as he surveyed the damaged. 'Professional grade explosives, whoever did this was well trained.' Kakashi thought as he heard the man speak. "Naruto happened. That boy was a godsend. He managed to not only protect me through the building of the bridge, but he also killed Gato and his henchmen. But that's not all he did. He brought hope back into this place." Tazuna said with a smile. "Hope? How did he bring hope?" Sasuke asked with a doubtful glare.

"Before he came around, no one dared oppose Gato. But when he did arrive, he changed things. When my workers started quitting on me, he managed to pick up the slack and help build the bridge. He took it upon himself to take care of Gato and his whole corporation, despite there being little pay in it. Even after he managed to do all of that, he helped bring this land back to its knees." Tazuna finished as he looked at the ruins. "How did one man help bring the land out of poverty and rise it to the happy go lucky and busy trading hub it is today?" Kakashi asked.

Tazuna smiled as he looked at Kakashi. "He gave us what we really needed. So neither the people of this land nor Nami Shipping Inc. will yield to the demands of your Hokage. We already yielded once, we will not do it again." Tazuna stated firmly and began to walk away. "Wait, is there any way we could work out an exclusive trading contract between the Land of Waves and Konoha?" Kakashi asked. "No, we cannot. The Land of Waves is a free trading hub, open to all of the countries. And we will not show favoritism to anyone." He finished as he turned to walk away.

"Wait, Tazuna-san!" He turned to see the small red haired kid looking at him with desperate eyes. "This hero of yours, Naruto. What did he look like? What was his last name?" He asked. "You think I will sell him out just so Konoha can try their "recruit or kill" routine on him?" Tazuna asked. "Please, old man! This is important!" Hiruzen pleaded. "Well, his name is Naruto Romanov." He began, making Kakashi and Hiruzen's obvious tension lessen. "He was about 16 years old, blond hair, and the deepest blue eyes you could imagine." Tazuna finished, and then saw the looks of excitement flash over Kakashi and Hiruzen's faces.

"And that's all I will tell." Tazuna stated as he walked away. "Oh, and do enjoy our busy little town." He called back as he left the clearing. 'I have to get word of this back to sensei.' Kakashi thought as he summoned a messenger bird, wrote a quick message to the Hokage, and sent it on its way. 'Could…could it be big bro that did this?' Hiruzen thought in awe as he took a real good look at the destroyed building. 'If big bro is this strong, I need to hurry and get even stronger so I can catch up to him and find him!' Hiruzen thought with a look of determination as he raised his hand. ' And that is the promise of a lifetime!'