Chapter 26

The sent off we got from the Land of Vegetables was rather tame, the only thing one could see to be unusual was the fact that Haruna did not get up from her throne throughout the whole ordeal. A fact that made me strangely prideful.

The rest of our trip on the other hand was far less pride inducing as it was filled with Yugao sensei sending disappointed glares at my way. Guess she knew exactly what happened last night.

Meh, worth it.

"Neh Sensei, how long until we get back to the village?" Chocho asked as she jumped from one branch to another. She had miraculously recovered from her binge eating yesterday while sleeping, Akimichi are truly fearsome.

"If we keep this pace up, we should be at the village gate in around two hours." The former ANBU said as she jumped along with us.

"Cool, I can't wait to go home and eat aunt Hanami's cooking!" Chocho declared as she sped up, which caused Yugao sensei to speed up as well in order to scold her about breaking the formation.

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"I need you all to go to the Land of Waves immediately." Old man, at least let us say hello.

"Sir?" Even Yugao sensei seemed to be agreeing with me by her confused tone.

"Kakashi's Team have been ambushed by a pair of missing nin on his way to the Land of Waves and they have also clashed with Momochi Zabuza when they reached their destination." The Hokage declared much to everyone's shock but me who was trying to appear as shocked as I could since I shouldn't have any way to know of this.

"I am sorry to make this request, but please go and support them." Hokage said and Yugao sensei gave us orders to prepare once more and meet her at the village gate in fifteen minutes.

Can't believe I am being forced to follow the canon, oh well. There was no use in crying over spilled milk so I decided to just think about how to take advantage of this situation.

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"Hokage-sama, wouldn't it have been better to send a team of Jōnins instead of a genin team?" Yugao asked with a respectful tone. It wouldn't do well to call her leader's decision 'crazy' as she really wanted to after all.

"If this had been merely one fool lying about mission parameters, I would have done that. But it's worse than that." The Hokage said before takin a drag from his pipe and continued.

"It seems like the one who hired Zabuza and is currently controlling the Land of the Waves is Gatō himself."

"You mean the shipping tycoon? One of the richest men in the world?" Yugao asked with shock. She hadn't expected the name of a somebody like that.

"Yes, the one and only. And Kakashi has defeated the Demon of the Mist that he had hired, what do you think he'll do now?" The leader of Kenosha asked with a raised eyebrow and Yugao's face showed understanding.

"Hire someone else."

"Exactly, he will hire someone else and since Zabuza failed; the one he'll hire will be just as infamous if not more so." Hokage declared.

"Among those in our ranks and is not needed to stay in the village; the only ones that I would trust to support Kakashi in a situation like this is you, Asuma or Gai. But those two are already outside of the village on missions, it can take them too long to reach the Land of Waves; that's why I'm sending you."

"And my team?" Yugao asked, that was the only part she did not understand about her leader's decision after the explanation.

"Kakashi's team is already there, among them Satsuki is strong enough to hold herself against any Chuunin level opponent and Naruko can help her. By adding your team I am making sure that they can protect themselves while you and Kakashi focus on your opponents." Hokage said with a hard look in his eyes and Yugao heard the unsaid parts of his words.

He wanted Daiki to be there and protect them.

"Understood sir." Yugao nodded and turned around to leave the room but was stopped by Homage's words.

"Yugao, I want you to be around your team and Kakashi's as much as possible. But if a chance arises to take Gato out, do it." Hokage ordered.

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"So, we gotta go against enemies who are at least at the level of legendary swordsman of the Mist, hired by one of the richest men of the world?" Sumire asked as we jumped from one branch to another on our way to the Land of Waves.

"That is correct." Yugao sensei nodded at her fellow purple haired kunoichi.

"Sensei, do all the clients lie in C rank missions?" Chocho asked with a tone that was between teasing and exasperated.

"Not all of them, but it is the rank where people tended to lie about mission parameters the most. It is a rather unfortunate thought process they have that they might end up better if they don't get the help they really need if it means they have to pay less."

"And, why are we going to complete the mission again?" I asked with a eye roll. Sure I understood the plight of the Land of Waves and we had just completed a mission with similar circumstances but there were those idiots we dealt with in the Land of Vegetables, and then there was Momochi Zabuza. If you meet a guy like that on a so called C rank mission, you pack it up and leave.

"The team seven have accepted to complete the mission even after learning the falsehood of the client. And their jōnin is still the one with the authority over the mission, we are merely the back up." Yugao sensei explained and I would like to think from her tone that she wasn't exactly pleased with the situation either.

"No more talking, we will go faster from now on." Our sensei declared and she quickened her pace with us following after her.

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AN

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