Chapter 18 Incident

In a narrow alley, Ino cornered Naruto against the wall.

Her thick golden bangs covered half of her face, and her blue eyes stared intensely at Naruto as she uttered, "Hey!"

"Does Sasuke like women?"

"What?" Naruto tilted his head and looked at Ino in confusion, completely unaware that he was being interrogated.

"Damn it! You said that yourself!" Ino was getting frustrated. She grabbed Naruto by the shirt and said, "Don't play dumb, Naruto!"

"Well, you should ask Sasuke directly." Naruto suddenly smirked mischievously.

"Ugh, damn it!" Ino was on the verge of losing it, clutching her head and shaking it from side to side, "Does he like women or not?"

"I have a way to verify it." Naruto chimed in at the right moment.

"What way?" Ino looked up suddenly.

"Every year, Konoha's Shinobi have a chance to take a collective hot spring vacation." Naruto said with a smile, "When the time comes, you can go directly to the men's side while Sasuke is alone."

"Go to hell!"

Ino, not getting the answer she wanted, took a deep breath and decided to give up.

The Yamanaka Flower Shop wasn't far away. Naruto escorted Ino there before returning to his apartment. In fact, he actually had a pretty good relationship with the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

The next day, Naruto's two-day break ended.

Kakashi gathered Team 7 and informed them that their mission had been approved. Moreover, he had taken the liberty of assigning them their first C-Rank mission.

"Protecting a bridge-building expert from the Land of Waves?" Sakura asked.

"Yes." Kakashi, with his usual laid-back demeanor and hands in his pockets, said, "Stay alert. This is your first ever C-Rank mission."

"Even though C-Rank missions generally don't involve encountering enemies, anything can happen outside the village."

"Bandits, Rogue Shinobi, pirates, Shinobi from other Shinobi Villages. Any of these factors could escalate the mission into a combat situation."

"I know, Kakashi-sensei. You're so nagging." Naruto, who was in a much better mood than during the rainy day yesterday, couldn't help but complain.

When he left his apartment that morning, he had tossed a bag of garbage in the faces of those people with gloomy looks downstairs, which had lifted his spirits significantly.

Those villagers were just like keyboard warriors. When they saw Naruto take out the Shinobi forehead protector, they immediately shrank back and dared not to speak.

Kakashi didn't say a word, just gave Naruto a knock on the head.

"Team 7! Gather at the village gate in half an hour. Dismissed!"

After saying that, Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke.

"I'm really looking forward to this mission!" Sakura said with a hint of longing, "I wonder what kind of person that bridge-building expert is like."

"Whatever. We're just there to protect the client." Sasuke said indifferently, "It doesn't matter who he is. Kakashi already said there wouldn't be any combat in a C-Rank mission."

"It's boring. Let's just get it over with and not waste time."

Naruto glanced at Sasuke and noticed he was wearing a blue wrist guard on his left wrist.

"Naruto, what kind of person do you think the bridge-building expert is?" Sakura turned to look at Naruto, who was yawning at the moment.

"No idea. But since he's an expert, he must be an old man with a bad temper." Naruto scratched his face and said indifferently.

Half an hour later, at the gate of Konoha Village.

"Hey! Are you kidding me? I paid for protection! Now you sent three little brats to protect me. What's wrong with you Konoha people?"

A scruffy, bearded old man clutching a bottle of alcohol was yelling at Kakashi.

"Is this how Konoha treats its clients? How can you protect me like this? I'm a bridge-building expert!"

Sakura's face was full of dark lines as she stared at the tall, scruffy old man, then she turned around and glanced at Naruto, her expression saying that 'you guessed it right'.

Kakashi was explaining with a smile, but the old man was not convinced at all and spoke with great agitation.

"I am Tazuna, the bridge-building expert from the Land of Waves!"

Naruto, who was on the side, was growing increasingly impatient, and shouted at the man.

"Shut up, old man! What's so impressive about building bridges?"

"You little brat!" Tazuna's expression turned agitated, but he quickly calmed down with Kakashi's intervention. After some coaxing, he finally agreed to set off.

Half a day later.

The group reached the border of the Land of Fire's forest. If they walked a little further, they would reach the dock. However, Kakashi's eye became sharper for a moment.

Sasuke seemed to notice Kakashi's reaction and his brow slightly furrowed. Although he still looked calm, he had already become vigilant.

Naruto had long known that someone was waiting to ambush them. After all, the hiding skills of the Kirigakure's Shinobi were too clumsy. But he was not worried and continued to walk forward while humming a tune.

As they walked, even Sakura in the team felt a little nervous. She couldn't help feeling uneasy when listening to Naruto's ambiguous humming.

Just as she was about to speak, an unexpected turn of events occurred.

Two Shinobi suddenly jumped out from the puddle on the road, wielding spiked chains, and charged straight at Kakashi.

In that instant, the muggy wind stopped, and Naruto could feel the sweat sticking to his skin momentarily freeze.

This mysterious feeling was fleeting. The black-and-white scene was suddenly filled with color, becoming vivid. A mechanical synthesis sound rang in his head again.

At that moment, the frozen scene instantly came to life. Kakashi was attacked and blood was splattered everywhere.

Naruto knew that this was Kakashi's Body Replacement Technique, and ignored Sakura's screams. The two Kirigakure's Shinobi thought they had dealt with Kakashi, so they charged towards the seemingly defenseless Naruto.

"Naruto, dodge!" Sakura shouted in horror.

But Naruto remained unmoved, as if he was frozen in place. Not far away, Sasuke clicked his tongue and threw three shuriken.

The three shuriken temporarily repelled the two Kirigakure's Shinobi. At this moment, Naruto finally moved. However, he didn't retreat, and instead charged towards them.

"Naruto! It's dangerous!"

Sasuke was also stunned. After regaining his senses, without any hesitation, he grabbed his kunai and rushed towards them.

"Sakura, protect Mr. Tazuna."

Sakura only heard Sasuke's words before seeing Naruto and Sasuke rush towards the two enemy Shinobi.

Her heart pounded rapidly, a mix of panic and a hint of inferiority. They were all executing their first mission, but those two didn't seem as scared or apprehensive about confronting Shinobi as she was.

Just as she was distracted, Naruto's voice rang out ahead.

"Damn it! Are you messing with me?"

"Options! Show yourself!"

Bang bang bang!

The two Kirigakure's Shinobi fell to the ground with bruised eyes and noses, while Naruto was still muttering strange words while continuing to beat them.

Sasuke stopped halfway, with a look of shock on his face. While Kakashi, who should have been dead, was standing nearby perfectly fine, shaking his head as he looked at Naruto.