Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I make any money from the creation of this story.
Chapter Key
Chapter Number
=#=
Scene Transitions
&
*~*~*
Flashbacks-
Beginning
=( o )=
End
=(__)=
"Spoken Words"
'Personal thoughts'
Warning: This story is intended for mature audiences only, there will be a lot of implications of sex- and possibly one or two lemon scenes in the future, I have yet to really decide- as well as graphic violence and foul language. This story is not meant for the eyes of children. I am in no way responsible if this story offends anyone's sensibilities, if you are offended by sex, violence or abrasive language, stop reading now and go find something else. Seriously. If none of those things offends you, please read and enjoy the story and hopefully tell me what you think when you are done.
=1=
Haku groaned in pleasure as Naruto's tongue ran along her collar bone, she loved the way he knew her body so very well- it wasn't surprising since they had been together almost every day and night for the last seven years. She always felt so happy every time she was near the younger blond, his jovial attitude was hopelessly infectious especially if a person knew how he had spent the first seven years of his life. She pulled his head closer to her body as he continued with the teasing licks and nips, jumping when she heard someone clear their throat from the doorway.::
"Every time." Naruto sighed into her neck. "What is it Zabuza?"
"There's been a complication, the demon brothers have failed." Zabuza said flatly. "We're going to take care of Tazuna ourselves."
"I still think we're going after the wrong person." The blond grunted as he straighted out Haku's kimono before turning around. "I'm telling you that Gato isn't trustworthy, he'll sell us out in an instant."
"Don't complain runt, Gato's the one who's been putting food in your belly for the last year." The rogue jounin growled.
"I'm well aware of that, that's why I check every meal for poison." He grunted. "Come on, if we're going to kill some helpless old guy let's just get it over with."
"I really hate that kid." Zabuza growled as the teenage blond left the room. "I wish he'd listen as well as you do Haku."
"He wouldn't be Naruto if he did Zabuza-san." Haku said respectfully. "He does raise a good point though, Gato will betray us- it's only a matter of time."
"That's why I hate him so much." The older man grumbled as they walked out of the room together. "What's with you two anyway? You get five minutes alone and you're both trying to go at it like a couple rabbits."
"It's a release Zabuza-san, if we don't do something to forget the things we've done and are going to do we could very easily break under the stress." She answered softly as she walked beside him. "Naruto-kun may be physically superior to anyone else our age, but inside he's still just a young boy."
"A young boy that's as strong as both of us combined." Zabuza grunted. "Stronger if something pisses him off badly enough, kid's like a freaking monster." He grunted when she punched his arm. "What was that for?"
"Don't call Naruto a monster." She said with a glare before her face faded back to it's normal placid look. "You remember when we first met him Zabuza-san."
"How could I forget, two broken legs and he still nearly ran me down." The jounin said with a smirk.
=( o )=
Every fiber of Naruto's being was screaming in agony as he ran through the forest as fast as his broken body could move, no matter how much it hurt, the small blond didn't dare to stop running from the angered shouts that were chasing him. He could feel himself becoming weaker by the moment as blood dripped steadily from the wound in his arm created by his own protruding bone, all he needed was to rest in safety but they had been waiting at every entrance to the large fenced in forest he normally hid in while he healed. The ground gave way under his feet and he let out a startled cry as he tumbled down a small slope, he felt one of his last intact bones snap when he hit the ground but he couldn't let that stop his fear fueled mad dash for some place safe until he felt something suddenly grab the back of his ratty shirt and lift him off the ground.::
"Slow down there kid." Zabuza said in a gruff voice as he turned the blond around. "What the hell are you running from?"
"Let me go!" Naruto shouted before kicking the man in the side of the head, screaming in pain when it caused his broken bone to shift.
"Either that scream means my head is harder than I ever realized, or your leg is broken." The jounin stated, lowering Naruto to the ground unusually gently. "How come you're so beat up brat?"
"D-don't hurt me." The blond said, pushing himself away from the man as soon as he sensed how much power he had suppressed . "Please, I didn't do anything."
"I don't hurt kids." He grunted, looking the direction where the kid had just come from when he heard the shouts.
"This way!" One voice shouted, followed by several cries calling for the death of the monster.
"Oh god, not again." Naruto whispered as he curled up into a ball.
"Haku, defensive position." Zabuza ordered gruffly as he removed his massive sword from his back.
"Yes, Zabuza-san." The eight year old said, moving in front of the blond as she armed herself with a couple senbon.
"There it is!" Someone shouted as a relatively large mob emerged from the woods.
"Hey, you, get out of the way." A pale man wearing a Leaf forehead protector ordered when he saw Zabuza standing in their path. "This is between us and that monster behind you."
"Monster?" Zabuza repeated, looking back at the cowering boy behind Haku before turning his attention back to the guy- probably a recently graduated chuunin by the rogue's guess. "There's no monster behind me, but I see a whole bunch of them right in front of me."
"Listen, friend, get out of the way, or we're going to go straight through you." The man said with venom obvious in his voice. "We're going to finally kill that monster tonight, and there's no power in the world that can stop us."
"That, is where you're wrong." He stated plainly as he raised his free hand up to his mouth and his sword hand as high above his head as physically possible while a thick mist began to gather around all of them. 'Ninja Art: Obscuring Mist Technique.'
'They're protecting me?' Naruto wondered, watching his defenders as his vision started to blur from all the blood he had lost.
"Don't worry." He heard a comforting voice say into his ear as his eyes closed. "Zabuza-san and I won't let anything happen to you."
=(__)=
Naruto and Haku watched Zabuza's fight from a safe distance while the kept their chakras completely repressed and masked to match the surrounding flora. The blond could tell that Zabuza wouldn't win this fight against the copy ninja Hatake Kakashi, the sheer difference in the amount of chakra they had was going to completely overwhelm the missing-nin. Quietly he signaled his partner to go to plan B, kill Zabuza before he died. They pulled on their Oinin masks and moved into a better position as a massive ring of water formed in front of Kakashi, blasting Zabuza to the opposite side of the clearing and leaving a large gouge in the wake of the torrential explosion of water.::
"Yes, I can." They heard the scarecrow answerer Zabuza's question. "Your future is death."
Naruto teleported in front of the jounin and punched him hard enough in the stomach to nearly knock Kakashi out of the tree, shoving the taller man's head back to expose his neck for Haku before he could recover enough to make any form of protest.::
"You're right." Haku giggled after her needles lanced through their instructor's neck. "He's dead."
"Are you four alright?" Naruto asked, looking over at the genin surrounding and protecting Zabuza.
"Y-yeah." The white-haired boy directly in front of Tazuna said, swallowing slightly. "Who the hell are you people?"
"They're hunter-nin." Kakashi answered as he took his place between his team and Naruto. "From the Hidden Mist judging by their masks."
"You are correct, Hatake-san." Naruto anwered respectfully as he pulled the kunai and shuriken from Zabuza's body before tossing them on the ground between them. "Those are yours I believe."
"Yes, thank you." The jounin said calmly.
"We are the ones who should be thanking you." Haku said in her gentle tone as she appeared at Naruto's side. "We've been searching for the opportunity to kill Zabuza for quite some time."
"We must be going now, this body contains many secrets and must be disposed of." Naruto commented.
"Farewell." They both said at once as they disappeared with Zabuza's body.
"Does that seem right to you?" The white-haired boy asked as soon as the wind they used to cover their departure with died away. "You were fighting so hard against that Zabuza guy from the very beginning and those two just popped up out of nowhere and killed him... Just like that!"
"This sort of thing happens all the time Yuuma-kun." Kakashi said, looking down at his student. "There are kids in this worlds younger than you guys, and yet far stronger than me."
"Still, it doesn't seem fair at all, they made us look like idiots!" Yuuma growled as his teacher replaced his headband over his eye to spare his remaining chakra.
"It happens." He responded with a small chuckle to hide his real thoughts. 'Just who was that boy? He was standing right in front of me and I could barely even feel his chakra.'
*~*~*
"Alright, let's cut away this mouth cloth to drain away some blood and..." Haku said quietly to herself as she reached toward Zabuza's face with a pair of razor edged sheers.
"That's alright..." Zabuza interrupted her suddenly as his bloodshot eyes snapped open, pushing her hand away as he exposed his mouth. "I'll do it myself."
"Awake already huh?" Naruto asked, pulling of his mask to reveal his whisker marked face and catlike blue eyes as Zabuza spat up a wad of blood.
"Damn, you two sure are rough on an old guy." Zabuza growled as he pulled Haku's needles from his neck. "Did you really have to hit me so hard Blondie?"
"Consider it payback for interrupting us." The blond said with a smirk as Haku removed her own mask. "Besides, it was like five percent of the punch, the tree got it way worse than you did."
"Considering nothing feels too much squishier than before, I'm going to believe that." He grunted. "But I'm thinking you enjoyed doing that too me a little too much."
"Oh, I enjoyed that more than you can imagine." Naruto admitted with a wolfish grin. "But at least those leaf ninja will think your insides are nothing but mush."
"They sure as hell feel like it." Zabuza sighed as he laid back down. "Looks like I'm going to be out of commission for a couple weeks."
"Eh, my guess says that bridge'll take at least another two or three months for them to complete." The blond said with a nod. "You'll have that long to become stronger that Hatake Kakashi."
"And just how strong is he?" Zabuza asked as he quirked a hairless eyebrow.
"From what I could guess, at least as strong as me, probably stronger." The other two blanched when he said that. "The good news is that his sharingan really seems to strain his chakra, pulls at least ten times what it should, even for a transplant, probably to prevent his body from rejecting it."
"I knew there was a reason I hadn't killed you in your sleep." The swordsmen grunted. "Yet."
"You forget that my sensory capabilities are at their peak while I'm sleeping, you wouldn't get within twenty meters of me without waking me up." He smirked. "No matter how well you suppressed your chakra."
"What have I told you two about arguing?" Haku asked with a resounding sigh.
They glanced at each other and shared a smirk before speaking in unison. "To do it louder and more often?"
"You knock it off or I'll make the next two weeks hell for you." She warned their mentor before turning to Naruto when he started to snicker. "And you knock it off or there will be no more late night readings."
"Eh, you're forgetting that you like those books more than I do." Naruto said with a shrug. "But I have been wanting to reacquaint myself with that beauty mark of yours."
"How the hell can you say that with such a bored face?" She asked as her own face turned beet red.
"Pft, are you kidding?" He asked, looking down at her as she finished working on Zabuza. "That's one of my more pure thoughts of you, my personal favorite is the one with the two of us alone in the alley right beside..."
"Enough." She said meekly as most of the blood in her body went directly to her face or somewhere lower. "We need to get Zabuza back to the hideout, we can pick up your perverted fantasies at some other date."
"As you wish." He shrugged, moving to the other side of Zabuza. "Beauty mark."
"I'll have you know, I'm in the perfect position to strangle you Naruto." Zabuza warned as he tightened that arm slightly.
"Yeah, but you're still too weak to." He chuckled.
"Give me a week." He growled.
Haku sighed, it was going to be a long trip.
~*~*~
Haku rested with her eyes half open in her bed while Naruto kept her pulled close to his body with his powerful arms, the sweat from their activities having long since dried and stuck them lightly together. It was still hard for her to believe how incredibly warm his body was even though they had been laying together for nearly two years, he seemed to have a permanent fever but she didn't complain about it because it kept her warm on even the coldest of nights. She glanced over to the door and saw that Naruto was still managing to keep it sealed with the gift she had given him on the night of their bonding, his ability to manipulate and control the ice was a tenth of what hers was but his stubbornness and freakish level of stamina allowed him to hold out an ice manipulation far longer than she could herself.::
She closed her eyes fully to see where everyone was in the large suspended building, his part of the bonding gift was a portion of his sensory abilities and she smiled when she though about just how sensitive he had to be. His lips pressed against the back of her neck while gently chilling the flesh beneath his lips again, even in his sleep he knew how to drive her wild. Naruto stopped suddenly and his eyes snapped open a moment before there was a knock on the door and she let out a groan of disbelief, who the hell would want to interrupt them at this hour?::
Naruto sighed as whoever was outside knocked harder and louder before he formed the unique seal, forming an ice mirror across the door and one outside as well. Haku pulled the excess blankets up around her body when her lover moved away, watching him hastily throw on his yellow and orange yukata before partially entering the mirror. She smiled and tilted her head slightly to the side to get a better view of his muscular posterior.::
"This had better be good." Naruto grunted at Gato's ronin bodyguards.
"Gato wants to see you, now." Waraji said, glaring at the slim blond with his one eye.
"You interrupted me for that?" The blond growled. "I'm getting my sword, you have until the ice melts to be at least ten meters away from this door, or I'm going to kill you."
"Gato again huh?" Haku asked as he stripped of his yukata before moving across the room to get dressed properly.
"Yeah, guess he just doesn't know how to take 'Piss off' for an answer." He nodded as he tightened the support harness for his sword onto his body. "Maybe he'll give me an excuse to kill him this time."
"I thought you hated killing people." She commented as he replaced his yukata, slipping the iron ring through the small hole in the side before covering it with his obi.
"Not as much as I hate Gato and his ilk." He grunted as he slid his sword into place before walking over and kissing her on the lips. "I'll be back."
"Damn well better, or I'll start chapter four without you." She smirked.
"I still don't see how books that dry can get you so very wet my love." He chuckled as he opened the door.
"It's the way they're read." She remarked just before the door closed behind him.
Naruto smiled briefly as he walked down the hallway before straightening his face when he felt Zouri and his partner near by. "Eleven meters, cutting it kind of close aren't you?"
"Do you really think that you can take on both of us?" The ronin in the sock hat asked before suddenly finding himself staring down the blade of his own sword.
"Guess." He said with a smirk as he flipped the sword so the handle was facing the pale man.
"Just follow us." He sighed as he returned the katana to its resting place, feeling glad he went to the bathroom before they were sent to retrieve the blond.
Naruto's face remained emotionless as he walked between the older men with his hands resting limply by his sides, a subtle glance to his left showed Waraji glaring down at him as he gripped his sword as though he was waiting for any excuse to use it. Zouri on his right was a different story however, he was one of the few people under Gato that the blond had any respect for what-so-ever, he didn't share the same blood lust as a lot of the common thugs did and he actually seemed to have a sense of honor. But that didn't mean Naruto didn't enjoy messing with his head, it was just too easy to give into the temptation. After a few moments of walking together in tense silence they finally arrived at the main room of the extensive complex where Gato was waiting for him, sipping a cup of tea, it was everything Naruto could do not to charge across the room and send the despicable little man to his own little place in hell being reserved just for him.::
"So, you've finally decided to pay me a visit Natsuo-san." Gato said, using the name he knew the blond by- he knew it wasn't the teenager's real name, but the boy simply refused to tell him what that was much to the amusement of that damn Zabuza. "Come, sit and have some tea."
"No, I'll either vomit or make an attempt on your life if I come any closer." Naruto responded bluntly. "What the hell do you want."
"As blunt as usual." The would-be tyrant remarked. "It's the usual offer, come and join me, I'll give you whatever you want... yadda yadda... rule the world shit."
"Oh when you put it like that..." Naruto said in a pleasant tone before returning to his usual irritated voice. "No."
"Think about it for once boy, with your muscle and my brain, we could do anything we wanted." Gato said as the boy started to leave. "Money, power, women, all ours for the taking."
"The only thing keeping you alive now is my self restraint Gato, don't push your luck." Naruto snarled before walking away, god how he wanted to kill that man.
*~*~*
A cheerful whistling filled the forest and Naruto walked along a well beaten path with a fishing pole over one shoulder and his sword hanging from the ring underneath his obi. His whistling stopped when he heard the sound of someone crying some distance ahead and he sped up, bracing the heavy sword at his side with one hand to keep it from bruising his legs as he moved. His geta barely made a sound as he followed the noise to the source, a young boy wearing a white and blue striped bucket hat, sitting at the edge of a pier as he cried his eyes out while mumbling something about his father. The boy didn't seem to notice the slight scraping sound of Naruto lifting his ninja-to out of it's support ring, only turning around when he heard Naruto drive it a few inches into the ground before walking onto the pier.::
"Wh-who are you?" The young brunet asked as Naruto walked over to his side.
"Me?" The blond asked, easily casting his line into the sea with a grin at the boy. "Isn't it obvious, I'm a guy trying to catch some lunch."
"That's not what I meant." He sniffed, rubbing his face in his forearm to clear away the evidence that he had been crying.
"I know." He chuckled. "My name is Akimitsu Natsuo, and you are?"
"Inari." The kid grunted.
"Nice to meet you Inari." He said, beaming down at the younger boy. "So, what were you crying about?"
"Why do you care?" Inari retorted.
"I care." Naruto shrugged. "I don't really know why, but I care about people- even complete strangers."
"You won't catch any fish here, no one ever does." The boy stated. "Not for a few years anyway."
"I guess it's time to change that then, isn't it?" Naruto stated as he snapped his arm around quickly before yanking his line out of the water, hauling up a fish larger than his forearm. "Hah-hah! Got it!"
"H-how'd you do that?" Inari asked with a look of slight awe written on his small round face.
"It's all in the technique." The blond responded, quickly striking the flopping fish to still it once and for all before handing it off to Inari. "Here, for your family. Actually, how many people do you have to feed? There are plenty of fish here."
"W-well, there's my grandpa, my mom and me most of the time." He answered, looking down at the dead fish in his hands. "But there are four ninja's staying at our home while grandpa works on the bridge. They say they're going to protect him, but Gato is just going to kill them like he does to everybody that stands up to him."
"Gato huh, I've heard of him before." Naruto stated. "Seems like he'd be a nice guy if you just hear about the legit stuff he does. A real bastard when you here about the rest of his story, I don't think even the biggest bleeding heart would shed a tear if someone killed him in his sleep."
"You're a very open person, aren't you?" Inari asked as another fish was placed in his arms.
"It depends on who I'm talking to, I'm only open to the people I like." He shrugged as he began to search out another fish in the water. "So what happened to your dad?"
Inari tensed at the question, though Naruto pretended to be to focused on fishing to notice. "He broke his promise to protect our home and died."
"Your dad's name wouldn't happen to be Kaiza would it?" Naruto asked, surprising him once again.
"Y-yeah, how did you know?" Inari asked quietly.
"I heard some people talking about him before." The blond answered honestly, yanking another fish out of the water before killing it with a quick blow and handing it off to Inari. "Sounded to me like he was a great man Inari-kun, I really wish I could have met someone like him when I was a kid."
"Huh?" The boy grunted, looking up at the teenager. "What do you mean by that?"
"I grew up as an orphan, I never knew either of my parents." He admitted, looking into Inari's eyes. "I went through a lot of crap growing up too, I remember having to eat out of the garbage more than once to keep from starving. Hell, there's not a single bone in my body that hasn't been broken at least three times."
"What happened?" Inari asked, somehow feeling ashamed of himself after hearing that.
"I ran away one night, when the villagers were trying to kill me, and I nearly ran over the man who became my teacher." He remarked, yanking up two more fish wrapped up in his line. "More importantly, I met his daughter, and fell completely and hopelessly in love with her."
"Why were they trying to kill you?" The boy asked after a sixth fish was placed in his arms. "The villagers I mean."
"I don't know, they were scared of me I guess." Naruto answered with another shrug as he hauled up a couple more fish. "Ah, that should be enough."
"Why would they be scared of you Nii-san?" He asked, not even realizing he had said the last part until after it came out. "Er, I mean, you seem like a really nice person Natsuo."
"I don't exactly qualify to be called a normal person Inari-kun." He responded as he pulled a roll of high-tension wire out a hidden pocket in his yukata, binding the fish in two groups of four to make them easier to carry. "You feeling any better?"
"A little, I guess." Inari said with a slight nod. "I'm scared though, every time I close my eyes I can see my father's face looking at me like he did before he died, and I don't want to die like that. I-I don't want to die."
"No one does Inari-kun." Naruto said, smiling at the boy as he set a calloused hand on his shoulder. "But you know, tears won't solve anything, I'm not saying that you can't be sad or scared- there is nothing wrong with feeling like that- but sometimes, you have to put your own fears aside to save what you care about even if you know you could be hurt or killed because of it."
"If you're a man, to protect something that is precious to you, no matter what happens- you must try and try even if you lose your life, to protect it with these to arms," Inari muttered to himself, remembering his father's words. "If you do that, even if you die, the proof of a man's life will remain."
"Yeah, something like that." Naruto agreed with a nod, causing the boy to start slightly when he realized he had spoken out loud. "Though, I have to say, that was kind of corny."
"Yeah, that's what dad said too." The boy sniffed as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
"Well, your mother must be getting worried about you, how about I walk you home?" The blond asked when he was on his feet, offering his hand to the younger boy.
"Thanks Natsuo-san." He said with a smile as he was hoisted to his feet effortlessly.
"That's Nii-san." He chuckled as he mussed the boy's hair up with his free hand.
"Right, Natsuo-nii-san." Inari corrected with a smile.
"Yosh, let's get going before these fish start stinking!" Naruto proclaimed after replacing his sword at his hip.
"Right." The boy in the bucket hat agreed, stepping quickly to keep up with Naruto's longer strides.
"Oi, Inari." Naruto said softly a few minutes into their walk. "I probably don't have to tell you this, but you know that the people who are seen as the bravest aren't the one's who aren't scared of nothing but the ones who are scared and still do what they must right?"
"Now you're being corny." Inari stated as he looked up at the boy.
"Yeah, I guess I am." The blond shinobi chuckled, spotting a house a short way off. "That your place?"
"Yeah." He said with a nod, noticing Naruto stop and crouch down to his level. "Eh? What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just have a few other things to do today- as much as I wish I could stay and meet everyone." Naruto said, raising his free hand and extending his curled little finger. "Listen, I want you to know, that no matter what, I won't let anything happen to you or your family- I promise."
Inari hesitated for a moment before he hooked his finger around Naruto's, something about the blue eyed teen made him feel safe- like he could trust him. "Thank you, Nii-san."
"You'd better get home." Naruto said, handing the bundled fish to the child before standing up. "See you around, little brother."
"Bye!" Inari called out after him before running toward his home with the fish.
Naruto sighed to himself as he looked over his shoulder after the bridge builder's grandson, he had known when he heard the boy's name who he was and that he should have just walked away then. As a shinobi he should have been able to block off his emotions and detach himself from the people around him, too bad it didn't really work that way- he could already feel a bond between himself and the boy after just the one meeting, and he knew that he would keep his promise no matter what. He calloused fingers ran across the braided hilt of his heavy weapon and he sighed again.
"Zabuza is going to kill me for this."
~*~*~
Zabuza yelped when his head cracked off of the bathroom mirror because of a sudden unexpected sneeze, causing him to mutter out a promise of suffering and death when he found out who was talking about him. The former jonin growled as he looked at his forehead in an uncracked portion of the mirror and rubbed his thumb over the point of impact, with a mental groan he realized that it was going to leave a bruise- Naruto would never let him live this one down.
*~*~*
Yuuma groaned as he looked up at the tree he was attempting to climb for training, he could barely make it over three meters up while Sasuke just kept climbing higher and higher with every attempt- Sakura had them both beaten on the first attempt, making it more than half way up effortlessly much to the boys mutual humiliation. He got to his feet with a grunt while he prepared for another attempt at climbing with his chakra, Sakura just watched her teammates in exhausted fascination- she had almost completely run out of chakra but those two just kept going and going. The kunoichi winced when he let out his longest string of curses yet when he hit the ground again after barely making an inch of headway on his tree while Sasuke took a full foot before doing a back flip down to the ground for a perfect landing.::
"Wow, you really suck at that don't you?" A masculine tenor voice asked suddenly, causing the three genin to jump and look toward the blond newcomer.
"Who the hell are you?" Yuuma demanded after quickly righting himself.
"Me? I'm Akamitsu Natsuo." The whisker marked boy said with a foxish grin. "And you are?"
"Hiraoka Yuuma." The white haired boy stated, rubbing the lump on the back of his head. "The bastard over there is Uchiha Sasuke and she's Haruno Sakura."
"Nice to meet all of you." Naruto said with a wide smile, getting only a grunt from Sasuke and a weak wave from Sakura. "Well, that was enthusiastic."
"Don't mind them." The genin said with a shrug. "So, you don't look like you're from around here."
"Oh, I'm just here trying to find some of my relatives, they moved here a few years back and I got worried when I heard what was happening here." Naruto lied easily.
"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Yuuma said with a nod, glancing at his weapon. "So, you're a swordsman?"
"In training." The blond nodded. "My teacher makes me carry this heavy ass thing around with me everywhere for strength training. You guys ninja?"
"I wonder what gave us away." Sasuke said sarcastically before returning to his training exercise.
."Well, he's just a regular ray of sunshine." Naruto grunted after a glance in the other boy's direction, leaning closer to Yuuma's ear to whisper to him. "You want some advice?"
"Sure, but I'm not sure if it'll help." Yuuma said with a shrug.
"I noticed earlier that you held your breath as soon as you set foot on the tree, I know swordsmanship and ninjutsu are two different martial arts- but in my experience, you always need to stay in control or your breathing no matter what you're doing." Naruto said quietly, getting a paranoid look from the Uchiha. "It'll probably be a bit difficult at first, but try keeping your breath at a slow pace like you're walking up a hill- that should make you exercise a bit easier."
"Anything else?" He asked.
"Well, it probably wouldn't hurt if you kept your mind focused on what you're doing rather than on a competition with Teme over there." He said with a nod. "If you really want to drive him nuts, don't tell him what I've told you- he's already looking like you're plotting against him."
"Ooh, you're evil." Hiraoka said with a grin.
"Guilty as charged." He smirked before the boy went to try climbing again.
Sasuke watched quietly as Yuuma stood in front of his tree with his hands clasped in a basic seal to aid his chakra flow while he took a deep breath and exhaled as he focused the energy to his feet, a small circular cloud of dust marked the start of the expulsion. Yuuma remained still while he concentrated almost solely on his breathing, feeling his bodily energy start to adjust to the measured pull of his breath until he was confident enough to move. Naruto smirked again when the white haired boy set foot to the thick trunk of the tree and set off running, more than doubling his personal best in the first try and nearly matching Sasuke's highest mark before he lost his concentration and dropped back to the ground, leaving Sasuke gaping like an idiot at the dramatic improval- at least until he realized what he was doing, quickly switching to glaring instead.::
"Holy crap! It worked!" Yuuma exclaimed, looking up at his new record. "It really worked! I can't believe it!"
"You're surprised?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy just as he felt Haku's chakra in the area- no doubt collecting herbs for Zabuza's medicine.
"Well, kind of." The boy said, looking around Naruto when he saw someone. "Who's that?"
"So this is where you got off to." A dark haired young woman said as she walked over to Naruto.
"Ah, Harue-chan, I guess I'm busted huh?" Naruto said to Haku with a sheepish grin, using the alias she had chosen for public used during the mission.
"Very much so." She said, nudging him gently. "Father is getting worried."
"By worried, you mean angry?" He asked.
"Oh yes." Haku nodded, finally seeming to notice the Leaf genin who were staring at her. "Oh, hello."
"H-hi." Yuuma stammered, nearly straining himself to keep his eyes focused on her face.
Sakura sighed and walked over to her teammate to wave her hand in front of his face. "I think you broke him."
"Hit him in the head, that usually reboots his brain." Sasuke suggested as he joined his teammates.
"Well, we'd better get going before sensei has me running laps around the forest with him on my back." Naruto said as he started to move away with Haku. "Good luck with your training."
"Yeah, thanks." Sakura said as she watched them walk away, leaving her with a slight feeling of jealousy of Haku that she took out on her teammate- hitting him hard enough in the back of the head to knock him to the ground with a shout of. "Snap out of it dumbass!"
"You know, you're going to give me brain damage if you keep doing that." Yuuma commented. "Seriously, just because a girl is prettier than you doesn't mean you can take it out on me."
"What did you say?" Sakura growled as Sasuke took a step back with an unusually meek 'Uh-oh'.
"I said you shouldn't take it out on me every time you get jealous of some pretty girl." The white haired genin stated, seemingly oblivious to the world of pain that would soon be his.
Off in the distance Naruto flinched when Yuuma's pained cries reached his ears while Haku simply looked back in the direction they and the sounds had just come from, trying to imagine what Sakura could be doing to be boy to hurt him so badly. It hadn't taken them long to put nearly half a kilometer between themselves and the leaf genin after they were out of sight, which took less time than normal thanks to Hiraoka Yuuma insulting the pink haired kunoichi. Naruto's face smoothed out a moment after the shouts faded away and he turned back to face Haku, wondering what she was thinking beneath that gently passive expression she wore.::
"Naruto, what were you doing?" She asked quietly. "Those people are our enemy, why did you show yourself to them so openly?"
"You know my answer Haku-chan, we're on the wrong side- nothing good will come from siding with that slimy bastard." He sighed. "He's going to betray us, I just know it."
"Yeah, he'll probably try pretty soon." She confirmed with a nod. "He tried to push Zabuza around while he was resting this morning, I broke his arm- partly so Zabuza wouldn't kill him before he paid us- and I have to tell you, I really liked it."
"Hmm, I knew there was I reason I fell in love with you." He purred as he pushed her up against the nearest tree to plant a kiss on the end of her nose. "You know, we're all alone out here- with no one close enough to interrupt us should we..."
Haku cut him off by wrapping her arms around his neck and forcefully kissing him. "Are you going to stand there talking, or are you going to help me out of this kimono?"
A/N: My second work posted on FanFiction, something I've been working on off and on for a few months. Some of the ideas are borrowed from other stories that I've read before (particularly the bonding gift thing, I saw that in another story of AFF- though for the life of me I cannot remember which one, if the author of that NaruHina story is reading this, I thank you for the inspiration even if I cannot remember who you are) Anyway, this is my personal take on the 'What if Naruto had been raised by Zabuza?' scenario, actually, I've never seen this particular type of story on any of the fan fiction sights I visit- granted I haven't really looked for it too heavily because I kind of want to go into this plot with a virgin mind so to speak. Anyway, I hope you all have enjoyed the story, please let me know if I have missed any grammatical errors that you notice- they tend to slip by me a lot because I don't use a Beta- though I do try to catch as many as I can. Also, I won't be able to update this story or Elements of a Maelstrom for a while, I'm going to have a lot of studying to do. So please don't bother wasting your time with comments requesting a fast update, I will not be able to do it. Thank you for your time, 24CC.