Tachibana looked at the situation from afar and pondered the question Sakura asked, "Can't Kakashi and Maruboshi beat them now that one of them has lost an arm?"
Naruto was the first to speak out on this matter, he made sure to keep his voice a whisper when Sakura glared at him, "I'm sure Kakashi sensei will get them! Didn't you see how easily he beat Sasuke during the bell test!"
Sasuke frowned but said nothing else.
It was when Tachibana spoke that they all felt a little amazed.
"No. Zabuza will most likely retreat with Haku's arm. He didn't know about Maruboshi-sensei because we killed all the genin and chunin from Kumogakure earlier. He'll most likely take this information back to the Land of Waves to prepare the team waiting for us."
"But Kakashi-sensei is strong! Why can't he defeat him!?" Naruto asked with a confused look. "Yes! Wouldn't they be really motivated to kill him to avoid the enemy learning about Maruboshi-sensei's abilities?" Sakura added.
Tachibana looked at everyone and observed their curious expressions, so he shook his head a little and explained, "Under normal circumstances, Kakashi-sensei and Maruboshi-sensei would've done that. But right now the two of them have to leave with us immediately."
"Huh? Why?" Naruto asked.
"Because we don't know if Zabuza has reinforcements arriving." the statement caused everyone's eyes to widen, giving them a new perspective of the situation, "We need to escape from here quick."
Almost impressively at the same time, everyone saw Zabuza weave a series of hand seals to spew out a thick mist that blinded everyone again.
Tachibana heard a flurry of *splashes* and *clangs* before he heard Maruboshi shout, "Tachibana take one of them and run!"
Without asking her permission, Tachibana picked up Naruto and rushed in the direction they'd come from.
"Why are you carrying me!!!?" Naruto shouted, attracting a series of *splashes* towards Tachibana and himself.
Tachibana looked back but once he saw the fog rolling in closer and closer he put all his effort into controlling the chakra on his feet to rush away from it using a partial body flicker jutsu.
"Naruto-kun please stay quiet! We don't want to die, do we?"
"But Sasuke and Sakura!!"
"Don't worry, Maruboshi-sensei and Kakashi-sensei will bring them along with Tazuna."
Tachibana ran with all his speed for a minute when soon he heard the *splashes* that were following him speed up as if they were flying towards him.
"Naruto-kun, could you look back and tell me who's coming?"
Naruto looked back awkwardly, but Tachibana's balance as a clown helped him keep running at his top speed.
Finally when Naruto spoke, "It's Kakashi-sensei and Maruboshi-sensei, they have a clone carrying Tazuna." Tachibana relaxed, coming to a slow stop. But just as he did slow down, he heard Maruboshi shout from behind them, "Keep running!!!!!"
"Huh? Why?" Naruto asked with confusion. But as soon as the mist behind Kakashi and Maruboshi started to dissipate, his mouth fell.
Naruto's grip on Tachibana's shoulder tightened as he shouted in his ears, "Tachibana-kun! Run!!! There's a gigantic wave following us!!!!"
"#!&@" Cursing under his breath, Tachibana began rushing once again.
Kakashi and Maruboshi eventually caught up to him, when Maruboshi made a clone and picked up Naruto off Tachibana's back before looking at him and smiling.
"I hope you don't get swallowed by the wave kiddo~"
"I hope you sit on a pincushion for the rest of your life old man!!!" Tachibana shouted as he increased his speed because there wasn't any weight on his back anymore. Still, he couldn't keep up with Maruboshi and Kakashi who rushed much faster than him.
Eventually, Tachibana was caught in the wave, but only after they broke shore.
Panting like he'd run a marathon, Tachibana was on all fours as he glared at Maruboshi who was looking at him with a smile.
Maruboshi patted Tachibana's back before hoisting him up onto his feet as he spoke, "That was some good thinking Tachibana-kun. If you've got a brain like that, why don't you use it more often? Perhaps you won't be so afraid of death if you use it all the time."
Tachibana rolled his eyes and walked away from Maruboshi, "You'll die soon. I hope you stay dead."
Maruboshi pretended to be hurt by Tachibana's words but Tachibana didn't care.
"What will we do now Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked with a soft frown, a question that everyone was ready to hear the answer to.
Kakashi looked at Maruboshi who gave him a hand signal that no one recognised, causing him to *sigh* audibly before he explained, "We'll wait here until backup arrives."
'Tsk. They still won't leave. What do they think they are? Immortal sages that can't die?' Tachibana complained mentally but outwardly he showed a smile.
"Are we going to make a boat or something until they arrive?" Tachibana commented casually, trying to throw a wrench in their plans but Kakashi easily swept away his concern.
"No, I'll be training all of you to be able to walk and run on water like Tachibana-kun. Then we can infiltrate Land of Waves better."
"Woah!!!! I'll be able to do that!? I thought that was some super secret technique!" Naruto was the first one to be amazed and with his bright child-like smile, brought the group's mood up.
Tachibana, who wanted to relax since he'd already learnt how to perform water walking, was forced to learn how to hunt and cook meals in the wild with Maruboshi.
They camped the night, but with Naruto and Sasuke competing with each other to see who could climb the coconut tree the highest no one got a good night's sleep.
Kakashi was missing from the second day and Tachibana assumed he'd gone on to infiltrate or spy on the happenings of the Land of Waves.
A curious thing for Tachibana was that since Sakura had already mastered tree walking and water walking before the two boys, Maruboshi took to teaching her about Genjutsu.
Tachibana was forced to learn along with her, but he didn't mind it as much because he found it a great addition to his toolkit.
During this time, as Team Seven trained hard, Tazuna became tense. Everyone had seen him sitting at the shore to gaze at the vast sea separating them and the Land of Waves throughout the day, but nothing anyone did calmed him except Maruboshi's special wine.
By the end of the third day of them waiting at the border, Naruto and Sasuke had learnt how to water walk proficiently.
'So quick?' Tachibana cursed. 'Where did Naruto's disadvantage in controlling chakra because of the Kyuubi go?'
Thankfully for Tachibana, who didn't want to hunt in the forests again, their reinforcements arrived by the end of the third day.
They were all shinobi wearing masks and remained hidden in the forest with only a single one of them walking up to Maruboshi.
'ANBU.' Tachibana noted, since they seemed to treat Maruboshi with courtesy he wouldn't expect from the root member.
Kakashi arrived at nightfall and from his blue aura that spread to Maruboshi once they spoke, Tachibana guessed that they'd realised just how bad the situation actually was.
'I guess they've decided to go on that stupid suicide mission.'
'It feels helpless to be a Seer and be able to do nothing about a future you've seen.'
'What do you think system? Will some sort of a miracle happen and save Maruboshi-sensei and Kakashi-sensei?'
[ The host knows the answer well. ]
'Ha.Ha.Ha. Very funny.'
'Is there really nothing I can do?'
The system stayed silent, leaving Tachibana to contemplate his thoughts.
'So the question remains. I've to escape from the madness of this mission during the chaos of the fight that'll happen tomorrow in such a way that no one suspects me of abandoning my comrades.'
'Is it too late to say I want to retire from my shinobi carrier and become a royal once again?'
'I almost regret becoming a shinobi.'
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A/N : Thank you for reading!