A Hundred Steps Ahead

Wave

CHAPTER 7: Wave

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Sasuke frowned as he watched Hinata clean his wounds. The pair was sitting across their jounin's unconscious body while Naruto was downstairs helping with the bridge builder's daughter prepare some tea.

"R – Reinforcements should be here soon..." Hinata muttered as she gently bandaged his wrist.

The Uchiha nodded mutedly, his mind was somewhere else. He couldn't quite wrap his head on how a simple C rank mission went south so quickly. This was Team 7's first mission away from Konoha, the chances of this happening were one in a million.

Tazuna, the bridge builder, sat down beside the pair. His gaze was locked on Hatake Kakashi's body. "I didn't know Gato was this desperate." He said.

Sasuke blinked at his words. Despite wanting to reassure their charge that it wasn't his fault, the truth was that it was his fault. Tazuna held back information that there were people after him and that a certain wealthy businessman was out for his head.

"Don't mind, old man!" Naruto, ever the positive embodiment of life, grinned as he set down the teapot and teacups, "Kakashi – sensei will be fine. I'm sure of it. Plus, we got more people coming here to help protect you!"

Tazuna looked at the blond with awe, "What a sunshine."

'Don't we know it?' Sasuke thought as he looked at Naruto. Truly, Naruto's positive attitude towards anything was really an impressive feat by itself.

"Hinata," Naruto turned to look at the kunoichi, "How're your wounds?" He asked with a small smile.

'And she's a goner.' Sasuke sighed as he watched the Hyuuga promptly burst into a red cherry.

Holding a hand towards her chest, Hinata offered her crush a small smile, "S – Sasuke – san managed to bandage them for me." She said before she turned to her other teammate, "T- Thank you by the way."

He shrugged, "Don't sweat it."

Naruto chuckled at his best friend's laidback attitude, "But, man," He whined as he sat down and poured the tea, "That hunter nin was really something." He offered each cup towards them. "I didn't think someone that strong could get killed so easily."

Tazuna nodded in agreement.

Sipping the tea, Sasuke frowned as he realized something. "I don't think Zabuza's dead." He said, effectively shocking the room.

"W – What do you mean?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, teme. What gives?" Naruto crossed his arms with a scowl.

The Uchiha glared at the two of them, "We grew up with that pink haired walking embodiment of a library and you can't see what's wrong?" As they shook their head, he sighed in disappointment, "Sakura once told me that senbon aren't really used as a killing weapon unless they're laced with poison or thrown to the correct vital points."

"And?"

"I'm pretty sure that Zabuza was struck just right to stop his pulse. Plus, Hunter Ninja's are supposed to behead or burn their targets as soon as possible. That kid just took his body and left, isn't that suspicious enough?"

"That's my smart cookie," Kakashi groaned out as he slowly sat up, "That means that the 'hunter nin' was an accomplice of his."

"Sensei, don't sit up yet!"

Ignoring his team, Kakashi turned to the bridge builder, "My team isn't ready to face two high leveled opponents yet, but I'll train them to the best I can. In the meantime, we should hope that our reinforcements get here quickly."