Kakashi walked over and said, "Mr. Tazuna, since the situation has exceeded the mission's limit, I have a few questions for you."
"..." Tazuna lowered his head.
"Who exactly attacked you? And why?" Kakashi said, "I'll decide whether to terminate the mission based on your answer."
"The guy who wants me dead is extremely terrifying," Tazuna's tone grew heavier. "I'm sure you've all heard his name."
Naruto thought to himself: What's there to be scared of? He's just a nobody...
"Super-rich tycoon - Gato!" Tazuna said with his head down. "I didn't have enough money, so I could only report it as a C - rank task. That Gato has so much money that he can hire a large number of thugs and ninjas. He has very powerful strength under his command."
"About a year ago, the rich tycoon Gato took a fancy to the Land of Waves. It's an island country. By controlling the maritime transportation of the Land of Waves, he directly took control of the country's economic lifeline."
"Gato controls the maritime transportation, which is like he's sucking the blood out of the Land of Waves. He controls both shipping and commodity prices. Moreover, he has far - reaching influence and may even be involved in smuggling contraband."
"And I just wanted to build a cross - sea bridge for the Land of Waves, bringing hope to the country and getting rid of Gato's control."
Kakashi got the point. He turned to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura and said, "A C - rank task might encounter resistance and even allow the use of violence, but you won't encounter ninjas. Now that hostile ninjas are involved in this incident, this is no longer a C - rank task, but a B - rank mission."
"This mission has exceeded the specifications," Kakashi said. "We're a team. It's up to the four of us to decide whether to continue with the mission."
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all fell silent.
Tazuna blurted out, "I lied to you. It's all because I'm too poor. The whole Land of Waves is poor and can't even afford a little more money. Just terminate the mission. Let Gato kill me. Then my daughter will be very sad, but you don't have to worry. By then, you'll have returned to Konoha..."
"My daughter will definitely hate your Konoha because it was the Konoha ninjas who abandoned her father. Maybe one day, by some chance, my daughter becomes a ninja and might even take revenge on your Konoha."
"What?" Kakashi was utterly confused and thought to himself: Do you know how many excellent ninjas there are in Konoha and how powerful they are? Even if your daughter becomes a ninja, she won't be able to threaten Konoha Village.
"It's really possible," Naruto said. "What this old guy said isn't an exaggeration at all."
"What?" Sakura said. "Naruto, are you crazy? How could such a thing happen?"
Sasuke also didn't believe it. He thought it was impossible for this old guy's daughter to come back and take revenge on Konoha, even in ten lifetimes.
"No! It's really possible," Naruto said firmly. "Since I'm going to be the Hokage in the future, I won't allow Konoha ninjas to hurt others. I'll cut off the hatred against Konoha."
Kakashi stared at Naruto seriously and mused to himself, "Naruto doesn't act like a kid at all. Does he know something about Konoha Village? It doesn't add up. Given Naruto's current standing, he couldn't possibly have access to Konoha's internal affairs or high - level information..."
"Continue the mission!" Naruto said with a determined look in his eyes. "As the future Hokage, I've got no reason to abandon this mission."
"Really, Naruto," Sakura thought to herself. "He's always going on about becoming the Hokage. I really don't think he can pull it off."
Sasuke had been gazing at Naruto since a little while ago. Naruto's performance shocked him greatly. It was the first time he felt completely overshadowed by Naruto.
Sasuke thought to himself, "Of course, the mission has to continue. Otherwise, how can I improve myself?"
Sasuke said out loud, "I also agree to continue the mission."
Seeing Sasuke's stance, Sakura quickly said, "Then let's continue the mission."
Among the four - person team, three had already agreed to continue the mission. As the team leader, Kakashi naturally couldn't object and had to agree to let the mission continue.
Kakashi and his group moved forward. Soon, they found a small boat by the sea. A boatman steered the boat towards the Land of Waves.
Everyone on the boat kept quiet. No one said a word because they were sneaking into the Land of Waves by stowing away on the boat.
If they wanted to enter the Land of Waves through proper channels, they could only take the boat owned by the wealthy Gato. Obviously, Kakashi and his group wouldn't take Gato's boat, so they had to stow away.
After the stowaway boat docked, Kakashi and his group got off and officially stepped onto the territory of the Land of Waves. The boatman quickly sailed the boat away, not daring to stay in this troublesome place for long.
"Escort me home until I finish building the cross - sea bridge," Tazuna said and then walked off. The others followed suit.
On the way, Kakashi looked worried and thought, "This is going to be tough. If there are ninja attacks next time, they'll definitely be stronger Jonin, not Chunin anymore. Such a pain."
In the previous battle, Naruto stole the limelight, which bruised Sasuke's ego. So Sasuke ran to the front of the group to lead the way.
Sasuke thought, "I can't lose to Naruto this time. I've got to turn the tide."
Sasuke dashed to the front of the group, diligently scouting the way and remaining vigilant all around. After a long time, Sasuke let out a sigh of relief because there were no signs of enemies.
Sasuke thought, "It seems our sneaky entry into the Land of Waves was a success. The enemies didn't even realize we'd snuck in."
Just then, Naruto suddenly threw a kunai. The kunai vanished into the grass. Naruto's action made everyone tense up.
What! Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes. He'd been at the front of the group but hadn't detected any enemies, yet Naruto threw a kunai, which meant Naruto had spotted one.
"Impossible!" Sasuke directly pushed aside the grass to see what Naruto's kunai had hit.
When the grass was pushed aside, a white snow - rabbit lay on the ground with a kunai embedded in it.
"Humph."
Sasuke sneered disdainfully and thought to himself, "So it's just a rabbit. I knew it. There's no way Naruto could discover the enemy earlier than me. It's impossible."
"What? A snow - rabbit!" When Kakashi saw the rabbit killed by the Kunai Naruto had thrown, his face instantly changed color.
It was a white snow - rabbit that only appeared in winter when the sunlight duration was short. It was summer now, and there was no way such a white snow - rabbit would be wandering in the jungle.
There was only one explanation: this snow - rabbit was artificially bred. Only Ninjas would breed such snow - rabbits and use them as decoys.
Kakashi suspected that there was a Ninja hiding in the grass. As it turned out, after Naruto threw a Kunai, the Ninja left the snow - rabbit as a decoy and then hid elsewhere.
After Naruto's Kunai hit the snow - rabbit, it could deceive inexperienced Ninjas. Just like Sasuke, they might think it was just the noise made by an ordinary rabbit. Only an experienced jonin like Kakashi could detect something was wrong.