Naruto: Sasuke Uchiha Returns from Soul Society

Before the two ninjas were completely burned, he saw their headbands, the Hidden Mist Village insignia without any scratches.

There's a possibility they're concealing their identities, but for active-duty ninjas to come to the Land of Fire's territory to carry out an assassination...

The nature of the matter has completely changed.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto noticed his teacher's serious expression and realized something was wrong.

Kakashi stood up, dusted off his hands, ignored Naruto, and turned his gaze to the old man who had been squatting on the ground the whole time.

"Mr. Dazner."

Kakashi's voice was calm. "I think you should give us an explanation now."

He paused, his tone turning colder: "The mission request letter didn't mention that we would become assassination targets for the Hidden Mist Village ninjas."

Tazner's body stiffened abruptly. He opened his mouth as if to argue, but ultimately lowered his head in dejection.

He repeated his previous complaints, this time in more detail, revealing the culprit behind the resistance to bridge construction: a wealthy man named "Kado".

"...That's it."

He smiled bitterly. "I don't have the money to issue missions of rank B or higher, so I can only lie about the mission rank. I know it's despicable, but it's our only hope in the Land of Waves."

After hearing these words, Naruto showed a look of sympathy, while Kakashi fell silent.

After a moment, he nodded and made his judgment.

“I understand, Mr. Dazner.”

Kakashi's tone returned to its usual languidness, but his words instantly plunged Tazuna's heart into despair.

"Since the situation has gone beyond the scope of a C-level mission, according to regulations, we need to return to the village, reassess the mission level, and redeploy personnel."

"So please come back to the village with us."

"W-what?!"

Tazuna's expression changed drastically. "Are you abandoning the mission and leaving our Land of Waves behind?!"

Even Sasuke, who had been silent all along, glanced at Kakashi with surprise at this moment.

go back?

Just because a few extra scoundrels?

He glanced at the two scorch marks on the ground, a hint of incomprehension and contempt flashing in his eyes.

“Just keep going,” Sasuke said calmly, breaking the deadlock.

His voice wasn't loud, but it drew everyone's attention to him.

Kakashi looked into Sasuke's calm eyes, his mind racing.

He knew, of course, that with his own strength, he was more than capable of dealing with any enemies that might appear next.

The strongest enemy is probably just an ordinary Jonin, but the focus of this mission is to train new recruits.

But Sasuke's strength...

Kakashi's gaze swept over the two swords at Sasuke's waist, and he recalled the eerie black flames from earlier.

To be honest, he couldn't quite figure this student out anymore.

"......All right."

After weighing the pros and cons in his mind, Kakashi finally nodded, agreeing to Sasuke's suggestion.

"Since Sasuke has said so, let's move on." He shrugged, trying to sound casual.

"Oh!"

Tazna's face, which had been filled with despair, was instantly replaced by ecstasy.

He looked at the black-haired boy who had kept a straight face the whole time with excitement, his eyes filled with gratitude.

He originally thought that this kid was the worst-tempered of the three.

Unexpectedly, at the most critical moment, it was he who stood up and insisted on protecting himself.

This child...

Tazuna looked at Sasuke's cold profile, which still had a hint of childishness, and the resentment he felt from being electrocuted vanished.

It does look kind of cute, doesn't it?

Chapter 59 Mirror Flower Water Moon (Available tomorrow)

Continue on the road.

Tazna was overwhelmed with gratitude, his old face beaming with joy; the current situation was undoubtedly the best possible outcome.

No new enemies appeared until the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Waves.

Boarding a ship, crossing the sea.

As the small boat slowly entered the waters of the Land of Waves, a thick fog immediately rose up, unusually dense.

The small boat entered a hidden waterway and traveled through the thick fog for a long time.

The group finally reached the shore.

Seeing the familiar woods, Tazna let out a long sigh of relief, finally relaxing the tension that had gripped him all the way.

"Thanks to you all, I was able to get home safely."

He turned around, his face showing relief at surviving the ordeal. "But it wasn't as dangerous as you guys said. So far, no new enemies have appeared..."

He was still rambling on when Sasuke suddenly stopped, turned around abruptly, and stared at the dense forest not far away.

"An enemy?" Tazna's voice trailed off.

Kakashi closed the copy of "Icha Icha Paradise" in his hand, and his expression instantly became serious.

Sasuke nodded, his crimson three-tomoe Sharingan slowly rotating: "Hmm, his chakra isn't weak, but it's a bit weaker than Kakashi's."

"Not as good as Kakashi-sensei?"

Naruto paused for a moment, counting on his fingers as he pondered. Didn't that mean the enemy... was very strong?!

Before he could figure it out, a whooshing sound tore through the thick fog!

Huff—

A fierce gust of wind swept in, and a huge black shadow swept through the forest, stirring up the fluttering leaves, and heavily embedded itself in the thick trunk of a tree in front of it.

It was a giant blade, just like Ichigo's, that defied specifications, with a wide blade and a round hole in the center.

The hilt of the knife was still vibrating and humming violently, causing leaves to fall in a rustling sound.

A figure appeared silently and stepped steadily onto the huge hilt of the sword.

His facial makeup was the same as Kakashi's, covering the lower half of his face, revealing a somewhat ferocious look in his eyes as he looked down at them from above.

"Oh, this kid... he's the last surviving member of the Uchiha clan? No wonder he found me." His voice was low, tinged with surprise.

"And there's the Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake."

He turned his gaze to Kakashi, "I didn't expect it would be you who carried out this mission."

Without a doubt, he is a Jonin.

He crossed his arms and looked at Kakashi: "Sorry, that old man behind you is my prey. Can you hand him over to me?"

Kakashi frowned, his tone heavy: "It's you, the traitorous ninja from Kirigakure, the Demon King Zabuza Momochi."

He was about to step forward to confront them.

Sasuke spoke first, his voice icy: "Kakashi, there's another ninja in the forest, probably his comrade."

He paused, then gripped the hilt of the "Takemikazuchi" sword at his waist with his right hand: "This bastard is mine."

The term "orphan" made him very unhappy.

Kakashi paused, then slowly lowered his raised hand: "Understood."

Without hesitation, he vanished in an instant.

Naruto then created three clones to protect Tazuna in the center.

Zabuza looked at Sasuke with some surprise and disbelief: "Hey, you Uchiha brat, what's your name?"

Kakashi is a renowned elite Jonin, and theoretically, he should be the most experienced among them.

They actually listened to this brat.

and......

Kakashi dared to leave so decisively; did he really think this brat could hold him back?

"me?"

Sasuke slowly drew his sword. "Uchiha Sasuke, the Grim Reaper who will send you to the Pure Land."

The striking light blue blade drew Zabuza's attention.

"The Grim Reaper? What an arrogant brat, but your sword is truly beautiful."

A hint of admiration flashed in Zabuza's eyes, "It's really rare to encounter a ninja of the same type outside of Kirigakure."

"but--"

He changed the subject, slowly pulling the decapitation sword from the tree trunk, its massive blade dragging on the ground.

"It's a pity, I have to deal with that old man as soon as possible, so I can't exchange sword techniques with you."

As soon as he finished speaking, he quickly formed hand seals, and the chakra within his body exploded.

The already dense fog seemed to be drawn in, frantically converging towards the center, and in an instant, it became so thick that one could not see their own hand in front of their face.

"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Technique!"

The kid in front of me has Sharingan, so conventional stealth is completely ineffective.

But within the dense fog formed by his own chakra, he would be omnipresent to those eyes.

Zabuza's voice came from all directions at the same time.