善狐・ZENKO

１０章・Chapter 10

"Alright! We're off!!" Naruto raised both his arms up in a cheer once he exited the large green gates guarding the entrance to Konohagakure.

"What are you getting so excited about now?" Sakura rolled her eyes, "You've already been outside the village twice."

"Yeah, but it's still exciting!" Naruto gazed around in wonder as his teammates watched, unamused.

"Hey, am I really expected to place my precious life in the hands of this squirt?" Tazuna, a self-proclaimed master bridge builder and team seven's current client pointed at the young blonde in indignation.

Kakashi laughed nervously at his accusation, "Don't worry, you've got a jōnin and a chūnin here with you," He laid a hand on your head, "You're in safe hands."

Naruto rounded on Tazuna, pointing back at him with hunched shoulders. If he was an animal, you were sure his fur would have been raised at this moment. "Hey you old geezer! Don't disrespect elite ninjas like me! I'm gonna be the next Hokage, so you better remember the name Naruto Uzumaki!"

Tazune took a large swig of his flask, the strong smell of alcohol causing your nose to crinkle. "The Hokage's the top dog in your village, right? You don't look like someone who'd be able to come even close to that."

"Aaah! Shut up! I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to become Hokage, so when that time comes you're gonna wish you were a lot more respectful to me!"

Tazuna glared at him from under his hat, "I'll never respect you, you brat. Even if you do become Hokage."

"What?!" Naruto attempted to lunge at the older man, but Kakashi had quickly seized the back of his collar, leaving the young boy to flail around. "I'll kill you!"

You snorted at the exchange as Kakashi groaned tiredly, "You can't kill the client you're supposed to protect. Come on, let's head out."

With no more room for protests, the group of five began making their way down the large dirt path leading out towards the dense forests surrounding Konohagakure. Adjusting the straps on your backpack, you followed them from the rear, thinking back to earlier this morning when you had met up with your former captain on the rooftops of the academy building—a frequent meeting place as of late.

"Got another mission for you." He nodded, "That team you're keeping an eye on, squad seven was it? This morning they had been assigned an escort mission to the Land of Waves, correct?"

"Correct."

"Good, just confirming. This mission was initially assigned to me, however as you are already heading to the target destination it would be only natural to hand this task off to you." Tenzō passed you a scroll tightly bound by a straw rope.

"The other day, a group of unsuspecting Leaf citizens had been apprehended for smuggling and soliciting a variety of drugs and contraband into the village. After thorough interrogation, they have revealed that some of their members had fled to the Land of Waves where we suspect is the source of these illicit items. Unfortunately, that is the extent of the information we had been able to extract, as these groups of people are only grunts and have little knowledge on the inner-workings of this organisation. You are to locate and identify the remaining Leaf members who have fled, whilst simultaneously investigating this smuggling ring during your stay in the Land of Waves. Your duties strictly lie in reconnaissance, you are not to act outside of these orders in risk of alerting the target's attention and moving their operations elsewhere. Further details are contained within that scroll. Destroy it when you've finished memorising its contents."

You nodded and pocketed the scroll before giving your captain a deep bow to indicate your understanding. Like always, he placed a heavy hand on the top of your head. This time however, you didn't brush it off, to his surprise.