Shindai brought Hinata along to the Land of Waves.
This event was quite famous—it was originally meant to be Team Kakashi's first real mission. But shouldn't it only involve Momochi Zabuza and his follower who possesses the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai? So why does Raiga Kurosuki show up too?
Shindai had heard about Raiga before—he was a rogue ninja from Kirigakure and one of the Seven Swords of the Bloody Mist.
Minato Namikaze specifically instructed Shindai to make an effort to bring back two individuals—one was Haku, who possessed the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai; the other was Ranmaru, the young boy accompanying Raiga.
As for Zabuza and Raiga, it didn't really matter what happened to them. If necessary, they could be eliminated, and their bodies couldn't be brought back to Konoha because Konoha would face backlash from Kirigakure.
Kirigakure would definitely object. If Konoha refused to return the bodies, Kirigakure might take extreme actions.
Although Kirigakure was now under the leadership of the Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumi, who had resolutely ended the era of blood mist, its influence still lingered.
As for Haku and Ranmaru, Minato wanted Shindai to bring them into Konoha.
Since neither of them were officially ninjas of Kirigakure, there wouldn't be any issues if they joined Konoha.
Ranmaru possessed an extremely rare Kekkei Genkai: the Red Eye.
The Red Eye was similar to the Byakugan—it could see through objects and sense power or danger—but it was also the natural enemy of the Byakugan. It used chakra to create illusions that disrupted the Byakugan, surpassing it in detecting chakra.
"Hinata," said Shindai, "this mission was originally meant for me alone, but I think these enemies will be perfect for your training. So be prepared—this time you'll face real enemies, not like when you were play-fighting with Naruto and the others."
Hearing this, Hinata nervously swallowed and replied, "I'll do my best!"
Smiling at Hinata, Shindai continued, "Here's your first task—you must constantly tell yourself during our journey to the Land of Waves that your opponents are weaklings. You only need to barely lift a finger to defeat them easily, then laugh at how useless Naruto and his friends are!"
Hinata looked at him blankly, "Eh?"
Shindai offered no further explanation: "Just do it."
"O-okay..."
Hinata always obeyed Shindai without question—whatever he said, she did.
Thus, Hinata repeated mentally, "They're all weaklings. All weaklings."
...
In the Land of Waves,
Kakashi and his team were training near the forest close to Tazuna's house.
A few days ago, Kakashi and the three young ninja—Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura—encountered Zabuza Momochi, Raiga Kurosuki, and their subordinates. Quite frankly, they were no match at all.
At this point, Naruto and his teammates could barely lend any help. However, they managed to escape with Tazuna and sent out a request for backup from Konoha.
Because of this, construction on Tazuna's bridge has completely halted these past few days.
If they continued building and Zabuza or Raiga showed up again, Tazuna would be in serious danger.
Therefore, Kakashi advised Tazuna to temporarily halt construction until reinforcements arrived from Konoha.
During this time, Kakashi had been giving Naruto and the others special training.
Naruto had actually been learning the Rasengan all along. However, the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style within him was extremely tight, preventing him from succeeding. He could only master the second stage of the Rasengan.
This stage involves steady chakra manipulation—think of holding a water-filled balloon in your hand, then manipulating the chakra until the water inside moves chaotically and causes the balloon to burst.
However, due to the Eight Trigrams Seal, not only was the Nine-Tails' chakra sealed, but it also affected Naruto's own chakra, preventing him from advancing to the third stage of the Rasengan.
Meanwhile, Sasuke was practicing advanced Uchiha Fire Release techniques, such as [Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique] and [Fire Release: Dragon Flame Release Song Technique].
As for Sakura, although she excelled academically at the ninja academy—she even outperformed Sasuke in theoretical knowledge—being from a civilian background meant she didn't have access to powerful ninjutsu. Since both Naruto and Sasuke had already mastered the tree-walking and water-walking techniques, Sakura was now practicing those same techniques.
Evening came.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura dragged their exhausted bodies back to Tazuna's house for dinner.
Tazuna sighed, "Ah, I wonder when we'll finally be able to resume building the bridge."
His daughter comforted him, "There's no choice in the matter. Mr. Kakashi said there are two rogue ninja from Mist Village opposing us, and both are among the Seven Swords of the Bloody Mist. It'd be too dangerous to continue construction recklessly. Let's just wait a little longer—the backup from Konoha should arrive soon, right? Mr. Kakashi already requested assistance."
Looking at Kakashi, Tazuna asked curiously, "I've wanted to ask this for a while: since I falsified the mission report, why did you still choose to stay here?"
Kakashi truthfully replied, "In the message I sent out a few days ago, I had already informed our Hokage about the situation we encountered during this mission. Until we received clear instructions, we had no choice but to remain here.
Yesterday, I received Konoha's reply. The Hokage will not hold you accountable for misrepresenting the details of this mission. We're ordered to keep protecting you, and additional ninja have been dispatched as reinforcements—they should arrive any day now."
Still puzzled, Tazuna asked, "But why though?"
Kakashi explained, "The Land of Waves and the Land of Fire are neighboring countries. Once this bridge is completed, trade between the two nations can flourish, resulting in mutual benefit for both nations."
Tazuna finally got it.
Inori, Tazuna's grandson, clenched his fists as tears streamed down his face.
Naruto looked at Inori in confusion. "Why are you crying?"
Inori slammed his fists onto the table. "Why are you guys trying so hard? Even if you train and get backup, you still can't beat Gato's men! No matter how hard you try, in front of real strength, the weak can only be defeated!"
Naruto frowned. "What nonsense are you talking?"
Inori shouted angrily. "Shut up! Just looking at you makes me mad! You don't understand this country at all! You show off all the time without knowing anything about real pain! I'm not like you, always laughing and weirdly optimistic!"
Naruto shot back coldly. "So you think you're some tragic hero who just cries all day without trying to improve yourself? People like you who whine instead of doing something useful should just keep crying — you big crybaby!"
Sakura pleaded. "Stop it, Naruto!"
"Hmph, even this drunk old man is trying so hard to change the country. If he doesn't want to help, fine — but don't say crap like that! Shindai once told me that if you wanna give up, go ahead, just don't drag others down with your laziness, or people will really start to hate you!"
Naruto got up from his seat and walked off with both hands in his pockets.
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