Death of a Shinobi, Birth of a Legend
The battle was over. The mist had cleared. Zabuza and Haku were dead. But the lifeless form Naruto stood over wasn't the Demon of the Mist, or his young apprentice. It was the form of Sasuke uchiha.
In the battle against Haku many of the senbon needles Haku threw were misplaced. They hit vital organs, causing massive internal bleeding, the final strike to the neck had been the end to it. The life left the young avenger, putting an end to all his hopes and dreams.
Now Naruto stood over him, tears welling up in his eyes, with a little pink haired kunoichi sobbing over his corpse. He couldn't help but think that this was his fault. That if he had been stronger that Sasuke wouldn't have died protecting him.
In that moment he came to a conclusion. If he was going to protect those around him he would have to be stronger. He would never allow this to happen again while he was alive to do something about it. He would protect his friends even if it cost him his life.
Suddenly the air was filled with the sound of an evil laugh. "Thank you for getting rid of that pathetic mercenary for me, and his annoying little apprentice. You just saved me a lot of trouble." All present on the bridge turned to see Gatou with a giant group of hired thugs, all carrying weapons. "Now prepare to die."
Anger rushed through Naruto as he looked at the greedy, merciless, pathetic excuse of a man that had hired the people who killed Sasuke, the person he considered his first friend and best rival. Suddenly he felt the same feeling he felt when protecting Iruka-sensei, but this time he would show no mercy.
He formed his favorite seal and created an army of over 500 shadow clones. They looked at Gatou and all said the same thing. "Prepare to die, Gatou, this is for Sasuke!"
When Sakura saw the amount of shadow clones she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Naruto, the dead last in the academy, the class clown, the village pariah, a person who couldn't create three bunshins, could create 500 solid clones. Since when?
Kakashi was a little less shocked, knowing how much chakra Naruto possessed, but that didn't stop him from being surprised. Not only at Naruto's army, but at his declaration of loyalty to his fallen comrade.
Gatou was feeling something he hadn't felt in a long time. Fear. Fear in the form of a twelve year old boy. Fear so intense that he was rooted to the spot in which he was standing. And as the boy attacked, his clones taking out his henchmen, while more came at him wit kunai in hand, he knew that no amount of money or power could save him from this little boy.
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Gatou was dead. The bridge was nearly complete. The wave country was regaining its economic stability and everything was returning to normal. Except Sasuke was still dead, and nothing was going to change that. After the battle Kakashi had called in reinforcements from Konoha to take care of the bodies of Zabuza, Haku and Sasuke. When the rest of team seven got back to Konoha the funeral would be held.
Today found Kakashi walking in to a forest to find the blonde shinobi who had not returned to the house the night before.
He found him lying beneath a large tree that had slash marks going up the side as if attacked by some wild animal. He was using the kunai that he was practicing with the night before as a teddy bear and was snoring loudly. Conduct hardly befitting a ninja, even if he was a fresh genin.
Kakashi shook his young student to wake him up. Naruto let out a huge yawn as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He then noticed Kakashi.
"What are you doing out here sensei?" Naruto asked.
"I could ask you the same thing, you didn't return to the house last night." Kakashi replied.
"I was training; I need to be stronger so this never happens again. I can't let my shortcomings cause the lives of my comrades." Naruto said as he got up, giving Kakashi a serious look that few people had seen. In that one moment Kakashi saw beneath the metaphorical mask Naruto put up in public, and he liked what he saw. He saw a changed person. Willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of his friends and his village.
He didn't notice the look of surprise on Kakashi's face. Though few would because of the literal mask that Kakashi wore, covering up all but a small portion of his face.
"I must say I'm quite impressed by you Naruto. Instead of getting depressed and wallowing in self pity you're trying to improve yourself to help those around you. Your loyalty to your friends and to your village is something to be envied. How about this? When we get back to the village and after Sauske's memorial we will start training harder than we ever trained before.
Needless to say this helped lift Naruto's spirits if just by a little. And as he walked back to the Tazuna's house he thought about what he would be learn. He had no clue that Kakashi was already planning put torturous way to improve his team's strength. And that the tragic death of the last loyal Uchiha had affected him as well.