Much to Kakashi's surprise, Team Seven was getting along great.

Of course, the jonin knew the reason. If it wasn't for Hitoshi, both of the other boys would be getting into fights left and right, with Sakura siding with Sasuke. But since Hitoshi was on the team, Naruto and Sasuke were constantly on their best behavior. For whatever reason, the didn't fight as much around the ginger, though they did constantly show off to him. When Kakashi brought this up to Gai, the man had simply laughed. The silver-headed man was confused, but decided to just take it as a godsend.

They had managed to catch Tora the cat in record breaking time, the previous record being the one they had set earlier in the week. Team Seven was extremely competitive, even Sakura getting in on some of their little contests. However, most of the competition was between the three boys of the team. They would have dumb contests, like who could eat more or who could do the most push-ups. It reminded Kakashi of Gai's team a little bit, but the jonin wasn't complaining. The competition cause his genin to perform better on missions and in training exercises.

If he was being honest, Kakashi was proud of them. Of course, he would never admit it. He had to act like the cool sensei he was.

On this rather hot summer morning Team Seven was getting ready for their days. Sakura was deciding whether to do a different hairstyle or not, Naruto was debating on which kind of ramen to eat for breakfast, Sasuke was choosing between his old outfit and the one Hitoshi chose for him, and Hitoshi was torn between eating a real breakfast or eating more dango. Sakura chose to braid her hair, Naruto chose a white miso, Sasuke chose the new outfit, and Hitoshi laughed at himself and chose the dango.

They met up at their usual meet up spot, and weren't at all surprised to see that their sensei wasn't on time. The four started talking about the most random things, just passing the time until Kakashi showed up. When the silver-haired man finally did show, they decided to try and break their Tora-catching record yet again.

Of course, they did. The fastest time ever, ten minutes and thirty six seconds. Most of that was spent locating the cat. Team Seven Walked triumphantly into the office, holding the cat. The Hokage wasn't even that surprised to see them there so quickly.

"Ji-ji!" Naruto called out. "We need a harder mission! This is too easy!"

The Hokage sighed. "I can see that." Sarutobi glanced over the team, before nodding. "Alright. I'll give you a harder mission."

Team Seven was shocked into silence. "...Really?!" Sakura inquired.

The Sandaime nodded. "You've done over twenty D-ranks. I think you could accomplish a C-rank."

"Awesome, dattebayo!" Naruto shouted excitedly. "So what are we going to do?! Take down some bandits? Protect a princess?"

Sarutobi shook his head. "You are going to accompany a bridge builder back to the Land of The Waves."

Naruto seemed a little disappointed, but accepted it nonetheless. "Okay. Where's this bridge builder?"

"Tazuna-san." The Hokage called out. "Would you come in?"

At the Sandaime's call, a large man in his fifties or sixties walked in, chugging a bottle of ale. He glanced over Team Seven. Tazuna noted that there was only one adult, and that there were four children. But... the golden-eyed one was scary. For whatever reason, Tazuna could tell that he'd be safe with the ginger and that he shouldn't cross him. For that reason, Tazuna kept his insults to himself.

"So, these five are escorting me?" Tazuna asked, looking anywhere but at the ginger. Hitoshi noted this, and tilted his head slightly in confusion, but decided to accept it.

Sarutobi nodded. "Indeed."

"Okay then." Tazuna turned to the adult, the white-haired man.

Kakashi inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement. "We'll meet you at the gates in ten minutes."

"Okay." Tazuna agreed.

::

After the ten minutes had elapsed, the packed-up Team Seven met Tazuna by Konoha's red gates. The bridge builder was waiting patiently for them, still wary of the golden-eyed teen that put his nerves on edge. The ginger was chatting amiably with his teammates, but for whatever reason, Tazuna knew that he was the most dangerous out of the team. Besides the adult. The white-haired man had a similar aura around him, but was better at controlling it.

They departed from Konoha, the four young teens still chatting casually. Hitoshi kept receiving weird glances from the bridge builder, but he didn't think much of it. Hitoshi was talking to his teammates about different foods and such, while the two adults looked on. It was going to take a while to get down to the Land of Waves, so they decided to fill their time as best as they could.

As they were walking down that dry, dusty dirt road, Hitoshi noticed a puddle of water. The ginger almost sighed at how obvious disguise was, before realizing an issue. 'Why would a puddle of water- ehem, shinobi, want to attack us?'

The ginger glanced up at their sensei and wasn't at all surprised to see him reading Icha Icha. 'Hopefully, he noticed. I would assume that he did... it'd be weird if he didn't.'

As the group walked past the little puddle, Hitoshi mentally sighed in relief. 'Maybe they're after a specific target that isn't with us-' Of course, as soon as he thought this the puddle exploded in a burst of mist. Chains emerged and wrapped around Kakashi, the two nin that emerged pulling the barbed chains tight. One more tug and the sensei was sliced and crushed by the bladed chains.

Hitoshi knew that Kakashi wouldn't be taken down so easily, but the visual of his sensei being murdered so violently reminded him of Jira. The ginger started breathing heavily as haunting screams filled his ears, and his golden eyes flashed angrily. Sakura screamed and Naruto called out in worry. The mist-nin began attacking, one of them cutting Naruto's hand open.

Hitoshi withdrew a scroll from his pocket and cut his finger on a kunai, smearing blood across the paper. He flung the scroll open and summoned one of the animatronic puppets he had created. Nightmare Foxy.

The poor mist-nin didn't know what hit them, as they were flung backward into a large tree. Hitoshi manipulated the demonic fox using chakra strings, and his team jumped back as they saw Hitoshi's puppet. It was unlike the shadow clones that the ginger had used before. This Foxy had nine-inch-long teeth, its hook was razor-sharp, and it had giant claws on its hands and feet. There were many holes in Foxy's plush fabric skin that revealed the animatronic's metal endoskeleton, and with a flick of Hitoshi's wrist, a bright demonic fire started to burn from within it.

The two attackers were fearful as the hulking seven-foot-tall beast lunged at them, the pair barely being able to dodge its sharp hook. They attempted to fight back against their impending deaths, only to realize that it was futile. One look into the eyes of the puppet master revealed a cold and deadly precision and anger that stole away any hope the men had.

The other members of Team Seven allowed Hitoshi to deal with the men on his own, not wanting to accidentally get attacked. Tazuna looked on in terror as he realized his assumptions about the ginger had been correct.

Hitoshi 'accidentally' allowed one of the mist-nin to slip past Foxy, to see who their target was. The man made a dive for Tazuna, only to be stopped by Kakashi. Hitoshi seeing this, then knocked the other man out. Hitoshi and Kakashi shared a glance, before nodding. Foxy retrieved the unconscious mist-nin, as Kakashi knocked out the one he had. The pair tied the mist-nin to a tree, before moving to stand with the other four.

"Chuunin from Kirigakure no Sato..." Kakashi noted as the two nin awoke. "These guys are shinobi known for continuing to fight, no matter the sacrifice."

"How were you able to detect our movements?" Asked one of them, his voice distorted by the respirator mask he wore.

"It hasn't rained in quite a while." Hitoshi explained, the two nin flinching at the sound of his voice. "Your puddle disguise would've worked if it had."

"Correct." Kakashi nodded.

Tazuna turned towards Kakashi. "Knowing that, why'd you leave it to the kids to fight?" He asked.

"If I felt like it, I could kill these guys instantly," Kakashi mentioned casually. "But I had to know who their target was."

"Hm?" Tazuna attempted to act as casual as Kakashi. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is I had to know if it was you, or one of us shinobi who was being targeted." Kakashi explained, an accusatory tone creeping into his voice. "We haven't heard anything about you being targeted by shinobi. The request was supposed to just be protection from gangs, thieves, and the like. So, it was given a C-rank. It was only supposed to be for backup protection until you finished building your bridge. If our enemy were to be shinobi, then this mission would have been given a B-rank without question."

Tazuna started to sweat a little bit, as Kakashi continued. "It appears there's some kind of good reason for this, but being lied to in the request won't do. This is beyond the scope of our mission."

"This mission is too soon for us." Sakura noted. "Let's give it up. We need to get the poison out of Naruto's wound, but we don't have any of the supplies..."

Hitoshi snorted, pulling off his backpack. "Speak for yourself." He said, opening his bag and pulling out antidote and bandages. "I came prepared." The ginger walked over to Naruto and dabbed on a bit of antidote, allowing it to soak into his wound before bandaging it up tightly. "There!" Hitoshi smiled. "Take the bandage off in about a minute, and you'll be good as new." The group stared at him, and Hitoshi laughed. "I have my ways." The ginger chuckled, thinking about the demon fox.

::

A few hours later, a man sitting in a chair a few miles away sighed. He had to listen to his new boss rant for too long and lost valuable time that could've been spent tracking down the bridge builder. He and his apprentice were packing the bare minimum now, knowing that they could always come back if they needed more supplies.

They left the tree house and were beginning to head in the direction of the main road, when they ran into someone Zabuza wished he would've never had to see again.

"What are you doing here?" He questioned, and the man grinned widely, his pointed teeth on prominent display.

"No need to be so happy to see me, Zabuza." Kisame joked, and Zabuza rolled his eyes. The man's apprentice, Haku was silently standing next to him, glancing between the two men.

"You know that I don't like you." Zabuza rebutted bluntly. "No need to be so friendly."

"Aw, c'mon." Kisame sighed.

"Besides, I thought you joined that Akatsuki group. Why would you be all the way down here?"

"Leader-sama gave me two weeks off, for whatever reason," Kisame admitted. "And I'm really fucking bored. Can I help with whatever the hell you're doing?"

Zabuza sighed. He knew how annoying Kisame could be when he wanted something. "Fine. But it's my money."

Kisame grinned widely. "Sounds good to me!"