As the adventurers travel by boat through a thick mist, heading for the Country of the Wave, their host, Tazuna, reveals the true story, that his life has been threatened by the evil, Gatoh. Engaged in drug trafficking and gangsterism, the murderous billionaire decided to target the Country of the Wave, quickly taking over their sea traffic and transportation. Wanting to prevent the building of their bridge, he yearned to kill the bridge builder, Tazuna. With little wealth, Tazuna could only request a lower ranked mission, causing his hired Ninjas to be greatly outclassed for the task at hand. In spite of the deception, Kakashi decides to complete the mission, if only out of sympathy for Tazuna's relatives, who are desperate to keep the old man alive.

     

Arriving in the village, the Ninjas escort the old man through the forest. Kakashi anticipates that any threat could come from high class assassins. In a display of jealousy, Naruto puts on a protective demonstration, to show of how great he thinks he is. He is laughed at and admonished by the others. He continues to sense danger, throwing his knife into the bushes, which paralyzes his target with fear. It is nothing more than a rabbit. Only Kakashi realizes that something is wrong in this land, because the snow rabbit has white fur, a condition that should only exist during winter. It means it was raised somewhere where the sun is not a factor.

From high in a tree, they are being observed. Kakashi senses the threat. A spinning axe sweeps out of the trees, and the group ducks to escape the vicious blade, which becomes deeply embedded in a tree trunk. A masked man appears, dropping down to stand on the hilt of the axe. Assassin and Ninjas study one another. Kakashi greets the stranger as, Momochi Zabuza, exiled ninja of the Hidden Village of Mist. The impulsive Naruto wants to confront him but is stopped by his teacher's warning. The assassin in turn identifies the Team's leader, as Kakashi, a Sharingan user. Their teacher orders them into a defensive position around the old man, then removes his eye patch to reveal a scarred red eye. We learn that Kakashi has eye powers that allow him to detect an opponent's strengths and enables him to copy techniques. We learn that he has duplicated more than 1000 techniques, as a result he is called the "copy ninja." His students now realize the power and importance of their Sensei.

Kakashi announces that their antagonist is a member of the Hidden Village of Mist's ANBU, an Assassination and Tactics Special Squad, known for their "silent killing" techniques. Kakashi warns his students not to let their guard down or they will die. As their Team leader vanishes in the thickening mist, Sakura hears a voice announce the eight body target points: larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, vein, collarbone, kidney, and heart - vital organs which the enemy is trained to attack. Sasuke fears the confrontation, but his teacher assures him that he won't let anyone on the team die. Momochi launches an assault, penetrating the Swastika defence. Kakashi defends, burying his knife into Momochi's image, an image which bleeds only water. The real Momochi is looming from behind, swinging his weapon. It slashes Kakashi's image in half, but even this image disintegrates into water. Kakashi now appears from behind, his knife held to Momochi's throat.

We are left in the midst of a vicious battle that is far from over.