For my precious person

Naruto in my story will be closer to what I imagine Minato would be like when he was Naruto's age. Hope y'all enjoy and if you don't I hope you will tell me what I did wrong and how I can make it better next time. Thanks! :)

"You'll catch a cold if you sleep out here" Deep blue eyes opened slowly, it took a few seconds before he realized were he was, and then a few more before his eyes locked on the person looking down on him with a gentle smile.

Naruto Uzumaki slowly sat up straight, he had been out training until the point of exhaustion the day before – hence why he was sleeping on the ground – he looked at the girl that woke him up and gave her a small smile "Thank you Stranger-Chan. I must have pushed myself too hard during training"

The girl was very pretty, she had a cute face with large brown eyes and long black hair and a slender frame that had some developing features. She wore a pink sleeveless kimono decorated with small plum-coloured swirls, and a pair of simple brown sandals.

"Training? So you are a shinobi – She poked his headband lightly – you look plenty strong to me, why would you push yourself so hard?" Naruto noted how soft her voice was, yet there was a sad undertone to it.

Naruto smiled shyly at the praise "Hai I am, from Konohagakure no Sato.. And the reason I train is so that I can grow stronger, so that I can achieve my goal to become Hokage and gain everyone's recognition"

The girl gave him a warm, yet gentle smile after hearing his resolve. Now that she was sitting here talking to him -Having just woken him after he trained himself to the point of exaution- it was no longer as hard to believe that this boy had managed catch Zabuza by surprise.. Freeing his Sensei from the Water prison.

She had seen the way his team had treated him after the battle.. The Copy-Ninja had praised the dark-haired boy for helping him out, while he had scolded the blond for acting reckless and to quote his words 'Getting in Sasuke's way'.. "I believe that regardless of how much you train; your true strength will only show when you are fighting for someone precious to you. Do you have anyone that is precious to you?"

Naruto's eyes scrunched up in concentration. He only had one precious person and Jiji sure as hell did not need him to protect him. He was not the 'Shinobi no Kami' because of his book smarts -That is why he was know as 'The Professor'- However, there was Tsuchi-San and Ayame-San at the ramen shop that were always nice to him, but he had only met them a couple times when Hokage-Ojiisan had taken him there "I'd rather not talk about that." He sated simply.

They sat in silence for a few minutes after that. The girl would sometimes cast glances at him, but other than that they just enjoyed the quiet morning hours. After a few moments sitting like that Naruto took notice of the basket she had with her, there were some herbs he vaguely remembered learning about from one of the books in Jiji's office in it. "Is anyone you know hurt?"

The gentle smile returned to her face at the change of topic "Yes, my friend got hurt.. I'm collecting these so I can brew him some tea to help with the recovery"

Naruto nodded his head slowly, his suspicion had just been more or less confirmed, but it was only one way to find out. "So you are Zabuza's accomplice" It was not a question, it was a statement.

The girl was fast he would give her that. She was in a defensive stance not even a second after the words had left his lips. Naruto had moved too when he saw her reacting. He did not really want to fight her here, he did not have his team nearby, nor did they know were he was. Perhaps he it was not such a good idea to confront her?

"How did you know?" She was still in her fighting stance. It looked like a defensive stance – Probably designed to use her speed to it's full potential – however he had never seen it before and it made him uncertain. He knew what the basic stance taught by the academy in Kirigakure looked like, and this was not it.

"There was something vaguely familiar with your scent and voice, when you said you were collecting herbs for a 'friend of yours' it more or less confirmed it.. I would ask we do not fight now? You are dressed in civilian clothing and I doubt you are carrying much equipment.." Naruto relaxed his stance to show that he did not mean any harm ..for the moment.

The girl regarded him for a moment, looking for any sign of hostility from the blond kid standing in-front of her. When none came she relaxed her stance ever so slightly and slowly returned to where she was on the ground, before Naruto brought up the whole Zabuza thing… Naruto mimicked her movements and sat down with her.

"What is your name Konoha shinobi?" She had a blanc look on her face. The gentle smile she had before was gone. Naruto assumed she was just uncertain whether or not he was going to jump at her at the first sign of her guard slipping.. Not that he could blame her, he felt the same way.

"Uzumaki Naruto, may I ask yours Hunter-chan?" She nodded slowly. She knew that Zabuza would not approve of her giving out her name, but for some reason she felt obliged to do so after spending most of the morning hours talking to him.. And there was also something about him.. Something she could relate too…?

Her eyes widened just slightly in realization when she finally found out what it was about the blond. 'He's got the same eyes as me.. And Zabuza-sama'

She was brought back to reality when she noticed Naruto moving. At first she was afraid he was going to attack, despite the truce they had agreed on. However when he was not trying to attack her, when she had not answered his question -lost in thought as she was- he had instead reached out his hand. A more formal way of getting introduced.

She reached out and grabbed his hand. It was surprisingly smooth, no trace of callouses or any-other 'cosmetic faults' that was common for Shinobi and Kunoichi. "Oh.. I'm sorry, my name is Haku"

"NARUTO-BAKA!" A high-pitched scream brought him out of his memories from his meeting with the enemy ninja. He looked up and lo and behold, there in front of him was his team-mate: Sakura Haruno. She was his least favourite member of Team-7.. She was a professional Banshee and had a bad habit of sucker-punching him in the face for the horrible crime of existing.

"What is it Sakura-san?" He forced a small smile to grace his face. He may not like the girl (Or anyone else than a very short list of people…) But he'd be damned before he would stoop to their level! They could throw all the crap they wanted, but he would not give in. He would not let them see him weak.

"Tsunami-san sent me to tell you the food is ready" She told him angrily, as if it was a personal insult to her that she had deliver a message to him.. So she gave him a hard punch in the jaw to make up for it when he had tried to smile a grateful smile to her for notifying him..

"That hurt.." He muttered more to himself than anyone, but he quickly put on a smile (Not the silly 'grin' from canon.. An actual normal and none-exaggerated smile) "I will be right down Sakura-san. Thanks for telling me"

She just grunted as a response, already on her way back to the kitchen and 'Sasuke-kun'. He hesitated for a couple minutes before following after her.. Not like diner would get more pleasant for him the longer he postponed it.

xXx

When he arrived he found that to his surprise they had not started eating without him. It was a pleasant surprise for once. Well his two team-mates was still glaring at him, but it was an improvement from the day before.

"I'm sorry if I kept you waiting" He greeted politely, hoping to avoid any conflict during the meal.

Tsunami and Tazuna smiled brightly and brushed away his apology. The darker part of Naruto -the one that craved for him to get back for all his years of loneliness and abuse- was oh so tempted to ask Haku if he could go with her and Zabuza, but then he got back to Tazuna's and he would be treated as if he was just a normal 12year old boy.. He could not let anything happen to them! They were two of the very few people that treated him as a normal kid.

He wondered what it would have been like anyway, to travel with Haku and Zabuza…

"What's with the face dobe?" He was brought out off that train of thought by the 'last loyal Uchia'. Naruto used to think that they could be friends, both being orphans and all. However all hope of friendship was ruined after Naruto had beaten him in a taijutsu spar after the team assignment.. Apparently they were now 'rivals', or mortal enemies if you saw it from Sasuke's POV.. "You look like someone stole your puppy"

"It's nothing Sasuke-san.. I was just thinking" After that they left him alone. So instead he had a pleasant conversation with Tazuna and Tsunami, he told them about Konoha and how it was living in one off the major 5. They also told him about Wave and what it used to be like before Gato had sized control of the island nation.

All in all Naruto was having a good time, well that is until Tsunami's son Inari decided it was time to show up…

"Why do you even bother? Your all going to die!" Inari yelled at the Konoha Shinobi while tears threatened to fall from his eyes.

"Inari! Don't talk like that!" Tsunami tried to scold her son while at the same time trying not to upset her child even more.. After all his anger and sadness was far from unjustified.

However the next part he went to far for Naruto. When he started talking about 'How they did not know what pain was' or 'Had never experienced their suffering' it was too muh for him. He decided to throw in his own 2 cent's and tell Inari a little of how his life had been since he was thrown out of the orphanage at age 4.. Living a few weeks on the streets before the Hokage had discovered what had happened. Scurrying through the garbage for food. The mobs that would corner him and beat him until they were content he would die, only for him to wake up the next day as if nothing had happened the day before.

At the end of his tale Inari had already disappeared, crying. Tazuna, Tsunami and surprisingly Sakura was on the verge of crying as well. Sasuke's eyes were wide as saucers, and Kakashi-sensei had guilt written all over him.

He did not care, not now. Without sparing them another glance he had disappeared outside so that he could relieve some stress. It would be late before he returned to the house.

"You're team does not seem to like you very much.. Why is that?" Haku tilted her head slightly to the side as she studied the young blondes reaction. His initial reaction was to flinch slightly at her words, then a sad expression settled on his face.

"I don't want to tell you. Even if you are my enemy you have been kind to me, I would rather not change that.." Naruto looked down on the ground in shame. He wish he could've told her, he really did! But he was not sure how she would react, that and she was his enemy..

"I respect that it is not everything that you can tell to me; as your enemy. But I promise that whatever it is that makes your sensei look at you with so much hate and guilt it will make no difference to me.. After all, we have the same eyes you and I.

Naruto felt his eye's starting to water up and he blinked rapidly to avoid crying. He made a promise to himself long ago that he would not cry. There was something sincere about the way she said it that for some reason made him feel as if he could trust her with his burden.. She said they had the same eyes, was it possible that she could share a burden similar to his own?

"The same eyes? I don't understand" Haku smiled cutely at him, giggling softly.

"I mean that we have experienced the same pain. The pain of being alone and unwanted, not needed by anyone. The pain of being hated for something we have no control over.. I believe we are very much alike Uzumaki Naruto"

Naruto closed his eyes, restraining himself from telling his enemy about his burden. If only they had met in a different life he was sure they could be friends, he might even have loved her.. But such was not his fate. No, the first person that he found that he could relate to, someone who understood how he felt and would not hate him for what he contained was the person he might have to kill..

Naruto opened his eyes and stared into the sad eyes of the person standing in front of him on the bridge. He had managed to somehow get out off Haku's ultimate technique, but it came with a prize. He had to call upon the power of the creature locked inside of him, and the influence brought forth by that chakra had sent him into a berserker like state.

"Now you see what I am Haku.." Naruto said in a demoniacally enhanced voice. "I am a jinchūriki. The Kyūbi no Kitsune is sealed within me, does this really make no difference to you?" The demonic voice was laced with sarcasm. Around him was a cloak of orange chakra with two tail made purely out of chakra. His face was more feral, the whiskers thicker, teeth longer and sharper and his eyes were now red with slits.

Haku smiled at him. It was a sad smile, but it was a serene one. It gave Naruto a sinking feeling of guilt for unleashing the Kyūbi against his 'friend' "I did not lie Naruto-kun" He noticed the added 'kun' suffix to his name, only Ojiisan called him that. "I wish we could have met under different circumstances. We have much in common you and I.. Both ostracised and hated for something we had no say in. both living everyday in fear it would be the last one.."

Haku proceeded to tell him about her childhood. Her mother and father, and the little town where it was always snowing. Her father had killed her mother when he found out that she and Haku proceeded a bloodline limit. He had then tried to kill his only daughter. Haku told him how in her fear she had activated her bloodline, killing her father and the mob he had gathered.

"Now that you know my story I would ask that you kill me. Zabuza-sama has no use of a defective tool" Haku looked down at the ground in shame, a few tears fell from her eyes.

The chakra cloak around Naruto receded back into the seal on his stomach and he glared at the older girl "No, I wont kill you! I-I.. You are my first friend!" He shouted at her. Her eyes widened slightly before softening and a smile graced her lips once again.

She walked up to him and gently took his right hand. The one holding a kunai. She lifted it up and positioned it so that the kunai was pointing directly were the heart is located. She bent down and gently pressed her lips against his, when she straightened up again a look of determination was on her face.

"Yes you can.. Zabuza-sama has no need for a defective tool. I can't go back to being unwanted, so please Naruto I want you to kill me" Naruto closed his eyes and breathed slowly. He was sure several minutes had passed when he finally opened them, this time he too had determination written all over it.

He stared into Haku's eyes and he was sure he could hear the faint sound of birds chirping in the distance when he drew his arm back, ready to end her existence. His kunai was only inches away from ending the older girl when a look of terror spread across her face. "I'm sorry, but it seems I can be of some use still" Haku muttered before she disappeared into a mirror of ice.

Realisation of what she was planing hit Naruto almost as soon as she was gone. He could see his Sensei sprinting full speed at Zabuza. His arm coated in what looked like lightning, the crackling sound was almost like listening to birds singing. He now understood Haku's plan. And he would not allow that to happen!

He could feel the Kyūbi panicking inside the seal, trying to pull his conscience down into the seal to prevent him from doing what he had planned. However it was too late for that now. When Naruto had realized what Haku had planned he had forced the Kyūbi's chakra back into his system before it could protest it and he made a mad dash towards his Sensei and Zabuza.

Had it not been for the demonic chakra he would have never made it, but lucky for him -or Haku- the demonic chakra enhanced his speed to a level far above what he or his Sensei would normally be capable off.

Everything happened so fast. At one moment he made a dash to stop Haku from killing herself, and then when he had managed to push her out of the way he was standing before a restricted Zabuza. The man's eyes were comically wide as he stared down at the blond boy ..With a hand sticking out off the front of his chest. Right were the heart is.

There was no pain, only numbness. He had always feared dying, no matter how unpleasant his life was Naruto Uzumaki feared death. What normal person does not? However now that he was standing on the brink of death a feeling of relief washed over him. It was as if all of his trouble was washed away to steady rhythm of waves crashing against the shore in the distance.

Haku stared wide eyed at the boy who had saved both her and Zabuza's life. He had a small smile on his face, he looked so peaceful that she almost forgot the situation they were in, watching the blond boy she had befriended and in another life loved.. He was welcoming death with open arms.

Then the reality of the situation fell down on her shoulders and she slumped to her knees. Tears fell silently from her eyes and for a few moments she was content with just starring at the ground. Then she let out a blood curdling scream.

Zabuza stared at the blond brat in disbelief, but he was never a man to look a gift horse in the mouth so he took advantage of the initial shock after Haku's scream and those annoying dogs being dispelled to swing his kubikiribōchō in a downwards arc hoping to cleave through both Kakashi and the brat.

Unfortunately for him Kakashi was quick enough on his feet to get both him and Naruto out of reach from the sword. He managed to get his hand out from Naruto's chest and he put the boy gently down on the ground.

Haku rushed to where Kakashi had placed the boy, not really caring about the fighting any more. She sat down and pulled the boys head into her lap weeping quietly.

xXx

In the end Naruto's sacrifice was not in vain. Zabuza and Haku survived and continued their work towards ending the reign of the forth Mizukage, which they succeeded in! 5 years after the battle of the bridge Zabuza was declared the Godaime Mizukage and Yagura's tyrannical rule had come to an end. Stability returned to Mizu no Kuni.

After Zabuza had achieved his ambition Haku had moved to Nami no Kuni to set up a hospital. It was her way of apologising to the people whom she had indirectly harmed by working for Gato and it gave her a way to stay close to the only person other than Zabuza -Her father figure- that she would truly love.

Uzumaki Naruto, jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Kitsune was dead. It would be massive celebrations in Konohagakure when news reached that 'the demon child' was dead, there was no doubt. Yet despite the hate he had to endure from the villagers and his piers, despite the fact that he never got the chance to make his dream of becoming Hokage and getting the acceptance he had always wanted Uzumaki Naruto died with a content smile on his face, protecting someone precious to him.

The end. K.

I'm new to this whole Fanfiction thing so I know the quality of this might not be top notch, but I hope that it at least made for an enjoyable one-shot!

As I mentioned up at the top I do hope that you will let me know if this is simply too bad and I need to 'kill it with fire' and redo the whole thing.. But I hope you let me know what I did wrong as well so that I can correct the mistakes next time! :)

Ja né!