Chapter 80: The Land of Waves

"Besides, it's just a little money. Later, I'll teach you how to make real money." Seiryu patted Kakashi's shoulder and smiled.

"Not later—let's do it tomorrow," Kakashi replied seriously.

"What's up?" Seiryu raised an eyebrow, "Mission in the Land of Waves?"

"Yeah," Kakashi nodded. "The Third Hokage talked to me. Recently, a group of bandits has appeared on the Land of Fire and Wave border, including several rogue Mist ninja. Ordinary teams can't handle it, so the Third is sending jonin. I took one of the missions."

After speaking, Kakashi complained, "I don't know why, but there have been a lot of rogue Mist ninja lately, and they're pretty strong. Many small neighboring countries have asked the village for help."

Seiryu smiled. Why else? Wasn't it because of your old pal making waves in the Mist?

"When do we leave?" Seiryu asked.

"In the morning, gather at the village gate," Kakashi said, tossing Seiryu a mission scroll.

"I got it," Seiryu nodded, putting away the scroll, then left with Kakashi for Yakiniku Q.

After a pleasant dinner, Seiryu returned home early to sleep.

The next day, he got up early, arranged his work at the Police Force, then to the meeting spot Kakashi had mentioned.

For once, Kakashi wasn't late—so Seiryu, who had extra errands, was the last to arrive.

Besides Kakashi and Seiryu, who were jonin, the rest of the team were all special jonin from civilian backgrounds, so nobody minded Seiryu's slight tardiness.

With everyone present, Kakashi filed the necessary departure paperwork at the gate, and the team set out.

…

After half a day's travel, they reached a southeastern town in Land of Fire.

This time, without Seiryu's guidance, Kakashi handled everything himself—hotel, restaurant, entertainment district, all arranged. While he still needed work on formal speech at dinners, Seiryu had to admit Kakashi was getting the hang of things.

The next day, the team pressed on and soon arrived at the capital of the Land of Wave. With a look from Seiryu, the two each sent a shadow clone to accompany the team while their real selves stayed behind.

"So, where to?" Kakashi asked. Back in Tanzaku Quarters, Seiryu had gone off alone, but Kakashi still didn't know where.

Seiryu smiled, first taking off his forehead protector and putting it away, then looked at Kakashi—what they were about to do couldn't be done openly.

Kakashi, seeing this, also removed his forehead protector, exposing his ever-active Sharingan. He had to wrap it with bandages from his medical kit.

"With that look, you really resemble someone…" Seiryu couldn't help but comment on Kakashi's disguise.

Kakashi glared at him—he knew exactly who Seiryu meant. "You could've told me not to bring the protector. Now it's too late."

Seiryu laughed heartily, then said, "Come on, let's go make some real money!"

Seiryu led Kakashi toward the luxurious outskirts of Wave's capital. As the buildings grew ever grander, Kakashi's expression grew more uneasy.

"Where exactly are we going?" he finally couldn't help but ask.

"There, we're here." Seiryu pointed to the most lavish manor in the wealthy district. Its owner was none other than the famous businessman Gato, the richest man in the Land of Waves.

"We'll sneak in, knock out everyone but the owner—can you handle it?" Seiryu grinned.

"Hey, isn't this a bit much?" Kakashi had started to become a true politician, but at heart he was still a ninja. What Seiryu proposed was beyond his comfort zone.

But before he could finish, Seiryu vanished.

Gritting his teeth, Kakashi had no choice but to follow.

Given their skill, Gato's bodyguards—at best comparable to jonin from the Five Villages—were no match. In no time, all the guards were down, and the two met up at Gato's bedroom door.

It was deep into the night. Inside, Gato was sleeping soundly with a girl in his arms. Kakashi looked to Seiryu for further instructions.

Seiryu smiled, leaned over, and gently patted Gato's face.

Gato woke to see three scarlet eyes staring at him—he almost died of fright.

"Who are you?" Gato jolted upright, waking the girl beside him.

She started to scream, but Kakashi knocked her out and erased her memory with genjutsu.

"Who are you people?" Gato now knew these two meant business and reached for an alarm by the window. Instantly, a shuriken from Seiryu pinned his hand, missing his fingers by less than a centimeter—its edge sharp enough to make his fingertips ache.

Gato froze and looked at them sullenly.

"Gato, apart from you, no one else in your manor is awake. But if you set off that alarm, it'd be noisy—and I hate noise," Seiryu said with a smile.

"Gentlemen, if it's money you want, we can talk. There's a billion ryo in gold in that safe. The code is 874591," Gato forced a smile. He was no fool—he had prepared for a scenario like this.

Kakashi went to check. Sure enough, the safe had what Gato promised.