Chapter 101: Do You Really Think Ninjas Run a Charity?

At this moment, one of the Mist ninjas, who had been struck by Hinata’s Eight Trigrams Sixteen Palms and had his chakra points sealed, was still conscious.

He asked, "How were you able to see through our actions?"

Kakashi turned his head.

"Water."

"Huh?"

"There hasn’t been any rain these past few days. On a sunny day like today, there couldn’t possibly be puddles on the road."

"Isn’t that obvious enough?"

Hearing this, the Mist ninja gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Damn it! You were all playing us!"

The Mist ninja finally understood.

They had seen through everything from the beginning.

The two Genin had deliberately rushed into their killing formation, leaving the remaining Hyuga Genin girl to deal with them alone!

They had been careless!

Yes, the Mist ninjas had been careless.

They had thought they could easily deal with the three of them, so they had underestimated Hinata. And precisely because they had underestimated her, they were caught off guard when Hinata suddenly displayed strength far beyond their expectations.

That momentary lapse of attention had allowed Hinata to defeat them with ease!

If they had taken Hinata seriously and remained cautious...

They would not have lost so quickly.

They might even have been able to kill her!

The Mist ninja couldn’t help wondering if this had all been part of their plan.

The shinobi of Konoha truly lived up to their reputation!

After hearing their conversation, Tazuna, who was still lying on the ground, finally understood what had happened as well.

He immediately became angry.

"If you already knew, why did you hide yourselves?!

Why did you leave only one kid beside me?

Is this how you Konoha ninjas treat your clients?!"

As he spoke, he glared fiercely at Naruto, who had just kicked him.

Kakashi said calmly, "If I wanted to, I could kill these ninjas in an instant.

Besides, didn’t you see it yourself? We left just one person behind, and she was still able to deal with them easily.

So what difference does it make whether we’re here or not?"

After a pause, Kakashi’s gaze turned serious.

"But I need to know who these Mist ninjas are actually targeting."

Tazuna’s heart tightened.

"What... what do you mean?"

Kakashi stared at Tazuna.

"I mean, are the Mist ninjas targeting you, or one of us?

We didn’t know you had been targeted by shinobi.

Your mission was simply to escort you back to the Land of Waves and protect you from gangs and bandits while you built the bridge.

A C-rank mission isn’t supposed to involve combat between shinobi. That’s already within the scope of a B-rank mission.

You deliberately issued a low-paying C-rank mission under the pretext of protecting you while you built the bridge. But if we’d known shinobi were involved, we would have assigned it as a B-rank mission without hesitation—and charged accordingly."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata of Team 7 all had extremely special identities.

One was Konoha’s Nine-Tails jinchuriki.

One was one of the last remaining members of the Uchiha clan.

And one was a member of the Hyuga clan’s main family and the future head of the Hyuga clan.

The Tailed Beasts, the Sharingan, the Byakugan...

Any one of them could potentially become a target for another hidden village.

But Kakashi hadn’t expected the Mist ninjas’ target to actually be Tazuna.

"I... I..."

Hearing this, sweat appeared on Tazuna’s forehead. He opened his mouth, but in the end, he lowered his head as though there were something he found difficult to say and fell silent.

Kakashi frowned.

"Perhaps you have your reasons for keeping this from us.

But a false commission puts us in a difficult position as well. A lack of information and an incorrect assessment of the enemy’s strength could put us in danger.

Tazuna, as the jonin in charge, I have a responsibility to ensure my students’ safety.

What we’re doing now has already gone beyond the scope of the mission."

Hearing this, Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata glanced at Kakashi.

Tazuna remained silent with his head lowered.

Naruto was beginning to lose patience as well.

"Teacher Kakashi, let’s go."

With that, he grabbed Hinata’s hand, then gestured toward Sasuke. The three of them began walking back toward the village.

The bound Mist ninja’s eyes immediately lit up.

He then looked at Tazuna with murderous intent.

Kakashi glanced at Tazuna one last time before shaking his head and following Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata toward the village.

Seeing this, Tazuna could no longer hold back.

"No! You can’t leave! You accepted my mission, so how can you abandon it halfway?

You’re going to back out just because we encountered a little danger along the way and leave your client to fend for himself?!

Is this how Konoha ninjas carry out their missions?!"

Kakashi stopped.

He turned around with a frown.

"We have the right to terminate a mission that was accepted under false pretenses.

You can file a complaint against me in Konoha. I’m Kakashi Hatake, a Konoha jonin."

With that, he turned around and continued walking toward the village.

"The Copy Ninja of Konoha... Kakashi Hatake!"

The Mist ninja’s face was filled with shock, and he instinctively blurted out Kakashi’s name.

Seeing the Mist ninja react so strongly to Kakashi’s name, Tazuna finally realized that Kakashi was no ordinary shinobi.

Tazuna was unwilling to let this opportunity slip away.

He knew that without protection, he was as good as dead. The moment the Mist ninja escaped, the first thing he would do was kill him!

Who could truly face death without fear?

And who would willingly die?

Tazuna immediately ran after Kakashi and said pitifully, "Jonin Kakashi, I had my reasons!"

Kakashi glanced at Tazuna without saying anything and continued walking.

Seeing this, Tazuna could only quickly reveal the truth.

"Our Land of Waves is an extremely poor country. Even the daimyo doesn’t have much money, and I’m practically penniless myself. There’s simply no way I can afford the payment for a B-rank mission or anything higher.

Kado, the wealthy tycoon who monopolizes the shipping industry in the Land of Waves, is worried that the completion of our bridge will affect his shipping business. That’s why he’s targeting me.

If you abandon the mission, I’ll definitely be killed! The construction of the bridge in the Land of Waves will be suspended indefinitely, and our people will have no choice but to continue suffering under Kado’s oppression.

Please, for the sake of our impoverished Land of Waves, help me.

Please continue the mission."

Hearing this, Kakashi stopped walking and sighed inwardly.

He had heard of Kado’s name before. He was indeed a wealthy tycoon, but Kakashi hadn’t expected him to be this kind of person.

Seeing Kakashi stop, Tazuna’s face brightened.

Naruto, who had been walking ahead, frowned as well and stopped.

He turned around.

"Old man, you’re paying for a C-rank mission, but you’re asking us to put our lives at risk for you?

You don’t really think ninjas run a charity, do you?"

Hearing this, Tazuna said apologetically, "I didn’t want things to turn out this way either, but the Land of Waves really can’t afford it."

Naruto walked directly up to Tazuna.

"Can’t afford it?

You can afford the enormous cost of building a bridge, but you can’t afford our mission fee?"

Kakashi’s eyes narrowed immediately.

That was something he hadn’t considered.

Tazuna’s body trembled. He opened his mouth, preparing to explain.

But Naruto folded his arms across his chest and sneered.

"Are you going to say that all the workers are citizens of the Land of Waves volunteering their labor out of obligation?

Or are you going to say that all the construction materials used for the bridge were mined and produced by your own people?

Or perhaps you’ll tell me that even the steel used to build the bridge was smelted by yourselves?"

Cold sweat immediately appeared on Tazuna’s forehead.

How could even a ninja understand all this?!

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