The light red dusting Hiiro and Naruto's ears persisted in staying as the two stood with the others, Kakashi finishing the binds on the two-rogue ninja. The decision had been made to continue, seeing how well the genin had dealt with the ambush Kakashi declared them prepared enough for the mission despite the slight rank difficultly raise. Tazuna was great full however nervous at Kakashi's gaze. A silent warning between the two men.

Formation in the group changed, ambushing would be useless now that the previous attempt was unsuccessful. Kakashi took the front, Tazuna behind him with Sasuke and Sakura two his left and right. Hiiro behind him with Naruto making the flank behind Hiiro.  The atmosphere was almost stifling as the team travelled. Every rustle in the trees made Tazuna jump and the team more on edge.

Extending his chakra out like Kushina had taught him, Naruto felt the surroundings. There was a spike to the right down the path and he wasted no time, sending a kunai flying into the tree line. The team tensed up; weapons ready as they stopped moving. A white rabbit jumped out, startled by the sudden knife embedding itself into the tree barely missing the poor thing.

"Oh, it's just a rabbit, haha," Sakura chuckled nervously and the rest of the team relaxed slightly. Kakashi made a note of the white fur, frowning. He took a quick survey of their surroundings, the glint of steel catching his eye.

"Duck!" He yelled at the group, growing his weight onto Tazuna, sending them both flat onto the floor. Sakura and Sasuke dropped to the ground immediately, Naruto pulling Hiiro down with him. A massive blade flew over their heads, imbedding itself into a tree and a figure appeared above it. Team seven took stance quickly, Naruto squatted down, placing a hand on the ground and fanning his chakra out to search for other enemy shinobi. One signature flickered away just as his chakra reached it.

"One other possible enemy shinobi, was 12 meters 7 o'oclock. I can't sense them anymore," he alerted the team. The genin surrounded Hiiro and Tazuna, Kakashi up front between the group and their attacker.

"Heh, what's this? A bunch of kids playing wannabe ninja?" Their attacked scoffed and turned around to face the team.

"Zabuza Momochi, demon of the hidden mist," Kakashi called out to him.

"Kakashi Hatake, the copycat nin," Zabuza called back to him, "what an honour." No one moved, even the wind going still. "My business is with that bridge builder, hand him over and you and your kiddos will get out of this, no harm done, no bad blood," he stated his intentions, confident he could take the jounin but not exactly eager for the fight.

"Sorry but no can do." With that the two jounin sprang into action, moving fast enough that the genin could barely see their movements. Without warning Zabuza appeared in the middle of the genin's formation, kunai pointed at Tazuna who couldn't do anything but stand still in shock. Naruto and Sasuke finally turned, aiming to Zabuza's neck and stomach respectively. Their action wasn't needed however as Kakashi swiftly appeared, dispatching what was revealed to be a clone. Sakura cried out as a blade seemingly pierced their teacher's chest, but her worries were calmed as the jounin similarly dispersed into water.

There was a short break between the two men, chest heaving as they two both regained their composure. Zabuza managed to kick Kakashi into the nearby river. The copycat nin broke through to the surface for breath only to realize the trap too late. A prison of water encased him, trapping the jounin. Zabuza summoned another water clone, sending it towards the prepared genin.

Naruto and Sasuke leapt into action at that, the two engaging the clone in combat.

"Brats ain't half bad," Zabuza commented to the trapped jounin before he felt the clone dispel. Sakura's kunai going right through its head as Sasuke and Naruto kept it distracted. "Hah! Not bad at all!"

"Here, Sasuke!" Naruto made a show of throwing the demon wind shuriken to his teammate. The Uchiha flung it towards the ex-mist jounin who merely laughed and caught the weapon.

"Is that it?" The hidden mist demon laughed. Sasuke made no comment and threw the second and final one.

They all watched with bated breath as it neared Zabuza. Only for the man to jump over it. Without warning it erupted into a cloud of smoke and Naruto appeared, moving to stab at Zabuza from behind. The missing nin cursed, releasing Kakashi from the water prison. He grabbed Naruto's arm and flung him back towards the shore full force. The blonde hit a tree and slid down; Sasuke ran to his side to assess the damage. Sakura gasped before turning her attention back to Zabuza, clutching her kunai so hard her knuckles turned white as the nin darted towards the bridge builder behind her. Kakashi stopped him, kicking him away and sending a worried glance at his injured genin. Deciding to end the battle he lifted his headband.

"Ah the infamous-" Kakashi was in no mood for a monologue explaining a bloodline limit the reader already knew about and the author was too lazy to rewrite, and threw a punch at the ex-mist shinobi, it connected Zabuza's jaw. With the distance between the two jounin increasing Zabuza went through a series of hand signs. Only, Kakashi matched them. The missing nin's eyes went wide and he faltered slightly allowing Kakashi to complete the jutsu just before him. Kakashi's fully formed water dragon jutsu met the ground where Zabuza once stood with a mighty roar. Zabuza went through yet another series of hand signs, but it did little to fight against Kakashi who's hands already mimicked the ninja's movements. Both jutsu collided sending immense amounts of water across the damaged forest area.

Kakashi had just managed to reach the group, his hands flying to conjure an earth wall jutsu around the group. The wall crumpled away as the water settled, Zabuza's limp form visible slumped up against a fallen tree. The copycat nin prepared a kunai, ready to end him. Only for an unfamiliar figure to appear beside the missing nin. The jounin didn't relax in the slightest, Naruto's earlier warning of another shinobi present at the beginning of the encounter.

"Thank you for taking care of missing ninja, Zabuza Momochi. I was looking for an opportunity to do it myself," The voice was boyish. The boy couldn't be much older than his students he thought.

If the enemy wanted to act as a hunter nin then Kakashi would let him, too exhausted from the fight to engage the boy. He was aware of his unconscious student and two clients as well, Sakura's mumbling as she recited aid-protocols and tried patching Naruto up as best as she could. The 'hunter nin' vanished in the next moment, Zabuza gone with him confirming Kakashi's suspicions. 

"Kakashi-san," Hiiro called out to him, and he ran to Naruto's side. The damage wasn't too bad, a few gashes, two needing stitches, and heavy bruising on his left shoulder. "Sakura-san managed to relocate his shoulder but he's gonna need stitches on two of those cuts and it'd be best to do that somewhere clean," The boy continued talking. Kakashi agreed, impressed. 

"My house isn't too far from here; you can take him there and stay to rest." Tazuna chimed in. Kakashi moved to pick the blonde up only to falter and slump to the ground.

"Kakashi!" Hiiro and Sakura both called out. 

"Chakra exhaustion," Sasuke noted as he checked over the jounin, "must have strained his sharingan too much." He looked towards the bridge builder, "I'm sorry Tazuna-san but could you help us carry our sensei?" 

Tazuna immediately agreed, grateful the team was here at all after the frightful encounter with the demon brothers and now the hidden demon of the mist. Sakura pulled off the jounin's weapons pouch and jounin vest making the man easier for the bridge builder to carry, Sasuke sealing the items into a spare sealing scroll the jounin had. Her efforts didn't seem to make much of a difference however, the bridge builder slung the jounin over his shoulder without much effort. It seemed building bridges was more of a taxing labor then the conscious genin thought. 

"Hiiro, do you min-"

"I got him it's alright," The boy interrupted the Uchiha, and Sasuke turned around to see Hiiro already had the unconscious blonde on his back. Hiiro let a smile form on his face at the familiar feeling of Naruto's weight on his back. The two had a habit of 'taking shifts' when it came to falling asleep at the archives, the other tasked with carrying them home. 

Sakura sent a glance at Sasuke, a mischievous glint in her eyes that Sasuke shared. Naruto was so going to never stop hearing about this.

The tension in the air finally left as the team was on their way again, following Tazuna who led them upstream to where the river widened, opening into the open ocean. Hiiro made small talk with the team's kunoichi as they walked and Sasuke walked beside Tazuna, keeping an eye on their surroundings. He knew it was unlikely that there would be another attack but the chance was still there and so he remained alert.

Team 7, Hiiro and Tazuna made it to the small hidden pier, Tazuna waving over to the man by the boat and the two laid Kakashi on one of the seats, Sakura climbing in to make sure the jounin didn't slip out into the water. Tazuna helped Hiiro set Naruto on the other seat and Hiiro sat with him, letting the blonde's head rest on his lap. 

"I'll walk beside the boat," Sasuke gave a small reassuring smile to Sakura as he stepped onto the water, the boat was almost full after all. he handed the pack with all the team's belongings to Sakura as Tazuna and the other man climbed into the two remaining seats. 

The trip was quiet at first, the mist around them eerie and looming before Sakura broke the silence.

"So Hiiro," the kunoichi started, catching the boy's attention, "what business do you have in the wave anyways?" 

"Ah, my boss is wanting to expand her business and heard about the construction of the new bridge. She sent me to scout out the place and report back to her the conditions of the area and such," Hiiro explained, Sakura nodding in understanding. Hiiro played with the blonde hair of the boy in his lap, braiding a few strands. "It's kinda ironic I took this job to help Naruto with something and it ended up going to his team," the boy let out a chuckle. Sakura was curious as to what he meant but didn't pry. He was also their client after all, despite being Naruto's boyfr- close friend.

The boatman shushed them, and the two teens looked up as a shadow passed over them. Letting out a gasp in awe the group gazed at the massive structure of the bridge above them as they passed under it. It was massive.

Tazuna silently grinned at their amazement, not afraid to admit that the bridge he had been risking his life for was quite the mastery of architecture. 

It was only a short walk to Tazuna's house from the pier that the boat man had dropped them off at before he silently pushed his boat back towards the water and disappeared into the mist. Tazuna's daughter hurriedly opened the door at the sight of the unconscious jounin and genin, letting the group in. Tsunami let the group to two rooms, a storage room with all the items pushed to one side and tsunami's room that she had prepared for the team's arrival having moved all her belongings to her son's room for the time being. 

Tazuna set Kakashi down in the storage room after Sasuke unsealed one of the sleeping bags the team had packed and laid it on the ground. With that Tazuna left them to their devices, going to find his grandson. Sakura decided to stay and look after the jounin as Sasuke, Hiiro and the unconscious Naruto made it to their temporary room. Sasuke once again unsealed their essentials and set the room up as Hiiro laid Naruto down on one of the sleeping bags. 

"Do you have a first aid kit?" Hiiro questioned the Uchiha. Sasuke unsealed that too, now remembering Naruto's wounds. 

"Wait here, I'll go get Sakura. she's probably the most medically trained out of all of us here." Hiiro nodded in agreement. Tsunami entered the room as Sasuke went down the hall for the kunoichi, a bowl of warm water and a towel in her hands. Hiiro smiled gratefully at her as the two cleaned the blood, sweat and dirt the best they could off the unconscious blonde. 

Hiiro let himself relax after that, stepping back to give Sakura space as she came in a worked on the blonde, shakily but trusting in her knowledge. Tsunami came over to him, a second clean cloth in her hands as she motioned for him to sit down. He let her scrub of the dried blood of is friend off his skin. The boy hadn't even noticed it until now, too focused on the blonde. 

He peeled his shirt off, the clothing now probably not wearable with the amount of blood stained on it. 

"You all must have had a tough journey here, thank you for looking after my father," Tsunami looked around at the team, grateful but saddened by the hardship the children had to face. 

Sakura reassured her, "It's alright, Tsunami-san. Thank you for letting us stay." 

"I'll make dinner now and send Inari, my son, when it's ready," The woman left, and Sakura finished up on the blonde's stitches. 

"That was one hell of a day huh?" Hiiro let out and Sakura laughed. He pulled another shirt over his head, a clean one, and dug into Naruto's pack in search of a fresh pair of clothes he could change the blonde into. 

"I'll go and check on Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei while you get him changed," Sakura made her way out the room at that, leaving Naruto and Hiiro alone. Hiiro took a moment to look over the sleeping blonde, smiling as Naruto's eyelid twitched. Blue eyes blinked open, adjusting to the dim light provided by the setting sun through the window of the old house. 

"Mornin, Ruto," Hiiro pulled softly at one of the braids in the blonde's hair that had managed to stay in after the boat ride. Naruto smiled at that.