"Paid you to do the job?"
Kakashi looked at Naruto, a bit confused.
Do people have to pay to get beaten up these days?
Because he was staying alert in case of another surprise attack from Zabuza, Kakashi hadn't been spying on Naruto and Sasuke's training, so he had no idea what kind of practice they were doing.
He had assumed it was just a one-sided beatdown.
"Just what it sounds like," Naruto replied.
Kakashi scratched his head. "Forget it. Today Mr. Tazuna needs to work on the bridge, so I'll take Sakura to protect him. You and Sasuke stay here to watch over Tsunami and Inari. We'll switch off tomorrow. Sound good?"
To keep Tazuna and his family safe from being targeted, Kakashi decided they'd take turns.
Kakashi would team up with Sakura.
Naruto would team up with Sasuke.
In terms of strength, Kakashi didn't think Naruto was weaker than him—he might even be stronger.
But Naruto lacked battle experience and hadn't been on many missions. Kakashi was worried that if something unusual happened, Naruto might not be able to protect his teammates.
So he paired Sakura with himself.
And put Sasuke with Naruto.
Sasuke was stronger than Sakura and could take better care of himself. That way, Naruto wouldn't be under too much pressure.
As Naruto's mentor, Kakashi chose to carry more of the responsibility.
If anything happened and someone died, he was ready to take all the blame.
He didn't want Naruto to go through the pain of losing a teammate—or worse, blame himself for it.
He had already experienced that kind of pain. Once was enough.
Naruto had no idea about Kakashi's quiet calculations. He just gave him an "OK" gesture and was about to go rest.
But then something came to mind, and he paused. "Kakashi, that guy might have backup. If anything happens, you can send Pakkun to find me."
"Yeah? Got it. Now go get some rest." Kakashi smiled and copied Naruto's "OK" gesture.
Honestly, he had already thought of that. Even if Naruto hadn't mentioned it, Kakashi had his own backup plan.
When it came to missions and his teammates' safety, he never took chances.
...Well, except for that time with Naruto and Zabuza.
Seeing that Kakashi took it seriously, Naruto didn't say anything else. He went upstairs and laid down right away.
Even with his strong body, staying up all night had still worn him out a bit.
He slept straight through to noon.
When Naruto woke up, he saw that Sasuke was already gone from his room.
He went downstairs and found Tsunami doing chores.
She always seemed to have something to do around the house.
As for Inari... he was crying again by the window.
His "Pops" had died, and instead of thinking about getting revenge, he was denying everything his father had done and cowering in fear of the man who killed him... not even a bit of backbone.
Naruto couldn't be bothered to deal with him. If the kid fell out the window again, Naruto wasn't going to help.
He stepped outside and saw Sasuke training not far away.
Over and over, Sasuke sprinted and fell—over and over again. It looked pretty much the same as last night.
But Naruto could tell Sasuke was running higher, and when he fell, it wasn't as messy.
He was making progress...
"You're awake?"
"Lunch is ready. Want to come eat?"
Tsunami noticed Naruto and called out to him.
"Thanks."
Naruto gave a quick thank-you and sat down at the table.
"Inari and I already ate, and your friend did too. So this food's just for you," Tsunami said as she placed a small meal in front of him.
"Alright."
Naruto nodded and picked up a rice ball, taking a bite right away.
Since Sasuke had already eaten, he wasn't worried about it being poisoned.
And with Kakashi around last night, he wasn't worried about anything happening to him then either.
!
Besides, he only ate it after watching Kakashi eat first.
"Are you going somewhere today?" Naruto asked casually.
"Hmm… I might go to the market this afternoon to buy some groceries. There's not much food left at home," Tsunami thought for a moment and said.
"Let me know when you go. I'll go with you," Naruto replied calmly.
"Alright. Sorry to trouble you," Tsunami said politely.
Naruto took another bite of his rice ball and said, "Just doing my job."
Technically, Tsunami wasn't part of their protection mission. Kakashi only asked them to look after Tsunami and Inari so that Tazuna could focus on finishing the bridge.
The sooner the bridge was done, the sooner they could head back.
But Naruto had one more reason to protect Tsunami.
The food!
Since she was cooking all his meals, Naruto figured looking after her wasn't a bad deal.
Same old rule—get paid, do the job.
At 5 p.m.,
Tsunami finally got ready to leave.
"Um… I'm heading to the market now. Sorry to trouble you!"
"No trouble. And... just call me Naruto from now on."
Naruto stepped outside and asked Sasuke to take a break from training and stay alert.
The last thing he wanted was to come back and find the house trashed and Sasuke missing.
"Let's go."
"Okay, Naru—Naruto."
...
Most of the buildings in the Land of Waves were old wooden houses.
As Naruto walked with Tsunami through the streets, he saw that almost everyone around was poor.
Because of the poverty,
There were men holding signs saying "Willing to do anything."
Kids stealing. Teenagers begging. Adults with lifeless, empty eyes.
"This is the place."
Tsunami walked into a store to buy food.
Naruto followed her in and looked around the shop.
One or two carrots. A head of cabbage. A green pepper… The kinds and amounts of food were really sad.
It was hard to believe a country like this still used money for trade.
In a place with so little, how was money any different from scrap paper?
"Naruto, I've got everything. Let's go back," Tsunami's voice brought him back to reality and stopped his wandering thoughts.
"Yeah, let's go."
Naruto felt sorry for the people here, but he didn't plan to play hero.
After all, he was just a broke kid himself.
He couldn't exactly kill Gato and give all his money to the people here, right?
Naruto didn't think he was Spider-Man—no "with great power comes great responsibility" stuff.
And he didn't see himself as some kind of thug who could just take other people's things by force.
But if they could protect Tazuna and the bridge got finished, maybe this country really would start to change.
Naruto didn't know if the Land of Waves became rich in the story because of the bridge, or because of Gato's death, or maybe both.
But all he could do was what was in front of him.
"Big brother."
Naruto was walking behind Tsunami when he suddenly felt someone tug on the back of his clothes.
He turned around and saw a little kid—messy clothes but a cute face—holding out his hands, looking at him with hope.
"Big brother, can I have something to eat? Anything at all..."
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