"No wonder we got sent on this job. Looks like the players on the board are from both the Mist and the Leaf."
It was the second day of their journey.
Kisame had picked up a spike in chakra ahead—the unmistakable signature of a battle.
He'd used a Water style jutsu to slip through the river, take a peek, and slide back to report.
"And it looks like your little brother is invited to the party, Itachi," Kisame added, grinning.
"Sasuke?"
Itachi shot a glance at Makoto.
He had to wonder, Did Makoto know? Did this "man from the future" orchestrate this whole trip just so they'd run into Sasuke?
Some time ago, during an Akatsuki meeting with Makoto, the reason given for sending Itachi and Kisame away was to have them scout for intelligence on the Hidden Leaf Village.
Itachi had used that chance to check on his brother, confirming that Sasuke had graduated and become a Genin.
But he hadn't expected a fresh Genin to be thrown into a mess like this.
Of course, Itachi had thought about forcing Sasuke to grow stronger, not wanting to treat him like a flower in a greenhouse.
But he also knew that too much of a good thing could be bad, especially when it came to life-and-death situations.
He was well aware of that.
According to Kisame, two Chunin had already attacked the team.
That bumped the mission from a C-rank straight to a B-rank.
If more enemies showed up—especially Jonin—this was going to turn into an A-rank nightmare.
A Genin on an A-rank mission? That was a death sentence.
Enemy Jonin didn't hold back against kids.
The only silver lining was the squad leader.
Kisame had Identified him as Kakashi Hatake. With the Copy Ninja there, Sasuke's survival was at least guaranteed.
Kisame seemed to think so too.
"With Kakashi babysitting, the kid should be fine. So, what's the play? Do we tail them, or cut past them and head straight to the Land of Waves?"
"Do you two really trust that Ninja World celebrity, 'Hatake Fifty-Fifty,' that much?" Makoto asked, raising an eyebrow.
"....When I was still in the Hidden Leaf, I once carried out a mission with Kakashi in the Anbu. Kakashi's skills are quite decent." Itachi said, confused by the strange nickname.
"Tell you what, we'll split up," Makoto decided, ignoring Itachi's defense of his former captain.
"Itachi, you go to the Land of Waves first and make contact with the mission client, and gather some intelligence while you're at it. Kisame and I will stay here and follow them."
He offered no further explanation.
"...Fine," Itachi agreed, though he was hesitant. "But be careful. With Kakashi's experience, tailing them without being spotted will be near impossible."
"Who said anything about hiding?" Makoto smirked. "Kisame, let's move."
"Huh?" Kisame blinked, taken aback.
He turned to look at Itachi, but his partner had already dissolved into a murder of crows and vanished into the sky.
Shrugging, the Shark Man hefted his sword and hurried after Makoto.
....
Team Kakashi.
They had just finished their first "filler episode" battle.
Naruto, who had frozen up like a coward just minutes ago, had just dramatically stabbed his own hand with a kunai, swearing an oath to never be afraid again.
Then Kakashi dryly reminded him that if he didn't stop the bleeding, he'd bleed out and die.
Naruto instantly panicked, screaming for help.
It was a classic, lighthearted scene.
But in the next second, the laughter died in Kakashi's throat.
His lazy, smiling eye snapped wide open, turning razor-sharp as he looked toward the woods.
Two figures walked out into the open.
Kakashi didn't recognize the young man in front.
But the monster walking behind him?
The slashed-out Mist forehead protector. The massive, bandaged greatsword on his back.
Kakashi's mind raced back to the Demon Brothers they had just dispatched.
They were Mist rogue ninjas too.
This was an escalation.
"Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, get in formation and..."
"They're enemies, right? Kakashi-sensei, watch this!"
Before Kakashi could finish his order, Naruto—high on adrenaline—decided to charge straight at Makoto.
"Naruto, you idiot!"
Sasuke cursed under his breath. He had no choice but to leap forward, throwing a shuriken to cut off Kisame's path.
He had to stop Naruto from getting pincered. Even from here, Sasuke could tell the shark-guy in the back was way out of their league.
Kakashi moved instantly.
Facing a monster like Kisame, Kakashi couldn't afford to read his porn book and play a cool teacher.
This was life or death.
His target was Makoto.
Kakashi's instincts were screaming at him.
The man in front didn't look like a ninja, but his status was clearly higher than the Swordsman behind him.
'Take out the leader, end the fight, save Naruto.'
It was the only play.
Kakashi lunged with a kunai, closing the distance in a blur.
However...
Naruto, who had tried to tackle Makoto, suddenly tripped and slid face-first into the dirt, looking confused.
Kakashi landed exactly where Makoto had been standing, kunai slashing through empty air.
He froze.
Where did he go?
"See, Kisame? I told you people have too much respect for this fifty-fifty guy. Attacking without even checking if we're friends or foes?"
Makoto's voice drifted from the other side of the clearing.
Kakashi and Naruto whipped their heads around.
Makoto was now standing casually next to Tazuna, the bridge builder they were supposed to be protecting.
Sakura was the only one guarding the old man.
When Makoto suddenly materialized next to her, she froze in sheer terror.
She tried to raise a fist, but Makoto simply reached out and caught her wrist, stopping her effortlessly.
"Are you... saying you aren't enemies?" Kakashi asked, his voice heavy with suspicion.
He was rattled.
Because even after coming to his senses, he still hadn't detected how Makoto had appeared behind them.
A Body Replacement Jutsu leaves smoke or logs.
A Body Flicker leaves a blur.
Makoto had left... nothing.
It wasn't just that there were no traces on the ground. There were no traces in Kakashi's memory.
It was as if Makoto had simply been edited out of one spot and pasted into another.
Realizing he was outmatched in speed—or whatever the hell that was—Kakashi decided to play along.
"That's right," Makoto said, letting go of Sakura's wrist and pointing a thumb at the trembling bridge builder.
"One of our mission objectives is also to make sure this old drunk gets to the Land of Waves in one piece."
Kakashi slowly lowered his kunai, turning a deadly glare toward Tazuna.
"Tazuna-san," Kakashi growled. "Not only did you lie about the mission rank, but you hired multiple teams without telling us?"
Kakashi was pissed.
They had just grilled Tazuna for hiding the fact that ninja were hunting him. The Third Hokage made an exception to this C-rank mission be assign to these Genin because a Jonin was leading the team.
But then the Demon Brothers showed up, making it a B-rank.
Tazuna's excuse was that he was too broke to pay for a B-rank mission.
And now? Another squad shows up claiming they were hired too?
'This is what you call poor? You can't afford the village fee, but you can hire mercenaries?'
Tazuna looked genuinely bewildered.
He was a liar and a master guilt-tripper, sure, but he actually didn't know what was going on.
He opened his mouth to explain, but his survival instincts kicked in.
His eyes darted around, and he decided to pivot.
"I... I really don't know anything about this! Maybe... maybe someone back in the village got worried that a bunch of Genin couldn't protect me, so they sold their family heirlooms to hire a backup..."
"Waaaaah! My life is so hard!"
Tazuna burst into fake, noisy tears, snot running down his nose.
The old bastard realized the Genin were soft-hearted kids, so he decided to double down on the pity party!