The Worst Client

Once Team 7 wraps up yet another dull D-rank errand, this time rounding up a runaway cat, Naruto loudly complains to the Third Hokage and demands something with real stakes. The Hokage relents and hands them a C-rank job: seeing a bridge builder named Tazuna safely back to his home in the distant Land of Waves. Not long after the group leaves Konoha behind, the Demon Brothers ambush them, seemingly cutting Kakashi down in an instant before rounding on Naruto as their next target.

The chapter marks Team 7's step up from trivial village chores to a genuine escort mission, the opening beat of the Land of Waves storyline. It introduces Tazuna as the client and stages the squad's first encounter with hostile ninja, the Demon Brothers, whose apparent killing of Kakashi ends the chapter on a shock.

Set during the Prologue arc, this installment shifts the series from training-ground routine toward outright danger. Kakashi's supposed death is a deliberate misdirection, and the ambush establishes that Tazuna's request is far more perilous than a simple C-rank job should ever be.