"It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything."
On a warm, cloudless day, Naruto sat on top of a building along with his squad members, Sasuke and Sakura. It was a pleasant surprise when he learned they all got teamed up. He already knew Obito would be his Captain, but the sight of him in a regular Leaf Shinobi flak jacket was a bit unsightly.
"I already know all of you pretty well from when I was a teacher," Obito said as he leaned against a railing. "But, let's talk what each of us wants. Like, the type of person you want to be or your dreams."
"Maybe you should go first, Obito Sensei," Sakura suggested. She changed her outfit a bit. To shorts and a pink, buttoned shirt over a mesh shirt.
"I guess that's fair. I strive to be a person that can protect anyone and everyone. I want people to feel safe by just the sound of my name. And, well… I also want to be the first Uchiha Hokage."
Naruto raised his head some. He didn't know Obito wanted to be Hokage.
"It's been my dream since I was a kid. Now, your turn."
Sakura smiled. "I want to be someone dependable, to be someone that people can count on, no matter what."
"That's a good goal. What about you, Sasuke?"
Sasuke kept his calm posture and fixated his eyes on Obito. "I want to be the strongest of the Uchiha."
"The strongest, huh? That's a big goal." Good thing Obito didn't mention Itachi, or he would have been glared at by Sasuke. He hated being compared to his big brother. "Now, what about you, Naruto?"
Naruto swayed his eyes to his teammates before back to Obito. "I want to be remembered through history, to have my own name like my father, the Yellow Flash. Not just Hokage's son or grandson."
"That so? I would have thought you would aim to be Hokage, too."
"And have the same title as so many others? Or the same as my despicable Godfather? I want to be my own thing, my own legend. Not in someone's shadow."
Obito gazed at Naruto like he tried to see through him, but he closed his eyes and took a breath. "Alright. Let's talk about tomorrow, I need to make sure you three are up to my standards. If not, you won't be able to take on the month ahead."
Sakura stood up. "Standards? What do you mean?"
Obito made a sly grin as he looked at his feet. "If you can't take on my standards, then you'll die in the following month. I plan to train you all to the crest."
Sasuke made a smirk, but Naruto raised his nose and slightly tilted his head back. "Just how much training are you planning on making us do?"
Obito raised his head up and smiled.
In the next two months, between the training regime Obito had set them on, Naruto has done what seemed like a thousand D-Rank missions with his team. But then came their first C-Rank mission, which brought them to the ground path that led outside of the village.
Naruto looked at the back of Tazuna, the man they were assigned to protect on their first C-Rank mission. Jiraiya trusted them enough for this mission, but after the man that hired them started to drink, Naruto felt nothing but regret.
He had skinny glasses, white hair, and a tall stature. Although he was a bit old, he was built to build bridges, which he is to do in Land of Waves, safely.
A drug and business lord named Gato has isolated their country and monopolized everything inside for the sake of his own greed. But, a bridge to the mainland would fix that.
Obito led the front, while the three genins stayed behind the man. Sakura stayed in the middle of the two boys. During missions, she was always matured and hasn't even made an attempt to act as more than anything but a comrade to the quiet Sasuke.
The clouds blanketed the sky above, great for walks. The farther East they walked, the closer to the Water Countries they got, which were always cold and humid. It's rumored Kirigakure had never seen the sun.
Suddenly, two shadows pounced from the woods and rushed right at Obito. Their claw gauntlets had chains connected to each other. In just a second, their spiked-chains wrapped around the emotionless Obito, only to phrase through.
"What the hell?!" One of the masked ninjas asked.
"It doesn't matter! Just get our target!" The other shouted.
As the two attackers detached their chains, Sakura took a kunai and ran around Tazuna to protect his front. But the two masked ninjas strafed around to reach his sides. Sasuke and Naruto rushed to intervene and blocked them with their own kunai knives.
"Damn kids," the one Naruto held off said. He raised his gauntlet-less hand to punch Naruto, but Obito gripped his wrist.
"Black hair, the Sharingan, abilities that make him intangible. That's the Ghost of the Uchiha!" The ninja Sasuke held off shouted. His pupils shook as he saw his comrade pass out from Obito's chop to his neck.
The ninja disconnected his gauntlet from the chain, kneed Sasuke in the gut, and jumped to the tree. However, Obito lashed their detached chain at them and caught it around his ankle. He pulled on it. It absolutely shredded his leg as it dragged him back to the ground.
After Obito tied them to a tree with their own spiked chain, he took off their gauntlets. If it they tried to get free, the spikes on their chains would stop them. With his eye ability, the gauntlets twisted out of the dimension. "Good thing no one got hurt. Those gauntlets have poison in them."
"What are we going to do with them?" Sakura asked.
"Probably just wait for them to be arrested. Not much use of killing them." Obito had mentioned he didn't particularly like killing anyone unless the mission demanded it, but ever since they left the village, he has been so sincere and distant.
"But, aren't they missing-nin?"
"Yes. So I suspect someone hired them to cut-" Obito swayed his eyes to Tazuna. "Someone specific down."
Tazuna made a glare. "What are you trying to get at?"
"I could have killed them both instantly but I wanted to find out if it was just attacked on the Leaf, or a job to kill you. You said you just wanted protection from bandits. Not ninjas."
Tazuna made a small growl, "It was too expensive."
Obito took out a piece of paper and began to write on it. "And what were to happen if the protection you hired for just a C-Rank were to be assassinated?"
"I guess I would have been dead, too."
"And that's why I'm upgrading this mission, at my own will." Obito held the paper to Naruto. "Naruto, make a Shadow Clone and take this to Jiraiya. It'll save us time, and be sure to wait for Jiraiya's response before you disperse."
"Alright." After Naruto made the replica, it grabbed the paper and doubled back.
"Thank you," Tazuna struggled to say.
Obito looked at him without an ounce of emotion on his face and then to his team. "If you four are ready, let's get on with it."
As they got back on the road, Naruto remembered the headbands symbols. They had a slash through them. "Hey, Obito?"
Obito turned his head back.
"Were those… Mist Ninjas?"
Obito made a small smile. "Yes, but they had a slash through, which meant they were missing-nin. Probably defected because of the tyranny of the Fourth Mizukage."
"Tyranny?"
He nodded. "Even renaming his home to Village of the Bloody Mist."
"The Bloody Mist? That doesn't sound pleasant at all," Sakura chimed in.
"No. No, it's not pleasant. Even when people like those that just attacked us defect from them, it's saying something."
Naruto looked at the back of Obito's jacket. From the time they met Orochimaru, and what the Mist Duo had called him, people knew him as the Ghost of the Uchiha. He's always known him as a role model, but... he has a name like that through history.
Hours later, a man carried the five of them across the sea that surrounded the Land of Waves. During that time, it became that it's a poor nation, and with Gato blockading, everything but those boats were hidden in the mist, they couldn't regain any composure.
Eventually, they returned to land and walked to another dirt path in the middle of grassy woods, they themselves near the bank of a lake. As a deep fog came from seemingly nowhere, Naruto looked around. The mist seeped out from the trees.
"Get down!" Obito shouted.
Sakura immediately helped Tazuna get to the ground. Above them came a gigantic, spinning sword.
Obito held his arm up in the air. His arm phrased through just until his arm was between the hole that resided in the sword, making it spin around it. Obito took hold of it and sheathed it in the dirt.
"It was obvious they would send someone else but I didn't think it would be you," Obito said.
After Naruto helped Tazuna up, the three genins gathered around him to protect their VIP.
"Sensei, couldn't you just use your Kamui to protect Tazuna?!" Sakura inquired.
"And what happens if I die? He wouldn't be able to escape."
Sakura grunted at the realization. Honestly, Naruto had thought of the same idea.
Their attention all turned when they heard a deep voice from the fog as if it was the mist itself that spoke. "My blade went right through your arm, so that must mean only one thing."
Through the mist, a tall man with bandages over his mouth and a headband twisted to face the side walked closer. He swung his arms down to the side of his body. "I've seen you in the bingo books, Ghost of the Uchiha."
"I want you three to stay out of this. He's at my level. Zabuza, one of the Legendary Swordsmen, another missing-nin. You attempted an assassination of your own Mizukage."
"He's no Mizukage of mine!" Zabuza rushed at Obito.
Obito took a kunai out of his pouch, but as he stabbed it into Zabuza's head, he melted into water. He jerked his head to the mist behind him and jumped away. The real Zabuza ran right through his intangible body and forcibly unsheathed his sword from the ground.
Zabuza dashed at the Tazuna and the three genins. Naruto rushed to protect with his kunai, but as his massive sword sliced right through it, he ducked under the sword that threatened to behead him. Zabuza didn't stop his rush for Tazuna.
As Sakura kept her stance in front of Tazuna, Sasuke stepped in front of her. Zabuza's sword came to execute them, Sasuke put his arms in front of him. However, Zabuza's oversized sword went right through them.
"I won't let any of my comrades die, Sasuke," Obito said. He must have used his Kamui on him like he did with Iruka.
But… a person needed to be in contact with Obito when he does that. When Obito used his Kamui with Iruka, he had a thread that connected them, but there wasn't anything like that connected to Sasuke or the others.
Naruto gazed at Zabuza's sword. On the hilt was a tiny thread tied to it. Zabuza must not have noticed it and thought the three of them were intangible, instead.
"I guess I'll have to deal with you first, Ghost of the Uchiha!" Zabuza dashed back to the coast. He did a hand sign and made thicker fog come to be.
"Make sure you cover every side of Tazuna," Obito said as he rushed to go on the offensive.
As Zabuza performed a godlike number of hand seals, Obito followed with his own. Behind Zabuza, the water morphed and formed higher and bigger. Eventually, it took on the appearance of a dragon. However, Obito placed his cuffed hand over his mouth and blew fire out.
"What is sensei doing?!" Sakura inquired. "Water beats fire!"
The fire out of Obito's mouth grew and overshadowed Zabuza's water dragon. As their elemental dragons collide, the water evaporated and the area around became an outdoor sauna.
"Wow. I didn't know Obito could so that," Naruto said. He looked at Sasuke and noticed the same jealous, irritated glare he would give Naruto.
However, as the fog cleared, only one silhouette stood. Zabuza, with his sword deep in Obito's gut.
"Obito!" Naruto shouted as she ran.
"Naruto, no! We need to leave!" Sakura strongly suggested.
But it was too late. Naruto made numerous clones as he jumped into the crater. Zabuza used his sword to throw Obito's body away in time to block all three of his clones.
"I am way out of your league, kid. A true ninja. I wasn't even your age when I killed the entirety of the Academy students."
Naruto eyes widened. "You.. killed your own classmates?"
"To become a ninja in the Bloody Mist, one has to kill everyone else. Acquaintances, friends, family. If they were in your class, you'd have to kill them. I killed over a hundred of them!"
"You're a murderer!"
"I'm a ninja! You can't be one without killing at least one innocent person! Your sensei was more ninja than anyone I have ever seen! The legend of the Ghost that killed hundreds of defenseless Mist Ninja in a ravenous killing spree!"
Naruto scowled at him before he took a kunai out of his pouch and darted at him. Zabuza picked up his massive sword and flung it at him. However, the sword went phased right through Naruto and let him stab his kunai deeply into Zabuza's gut, enough to make his hand drenched in blood.
Zabuza dropped his sword and held his gut, "How? Why didn't my sword cut you in half?!"
The thread that was attached to his hilt tugged, just like how it did during Zabuza's ninja bloat. At first, Zabuza glanced at it before he glanced back. His eye widened as if he was a ghost. "I killed you!"
"You said it yourself, Zabuza," Obito said as he appeared behind Zabuza. "I'm the Ghost of the Uchiha. And you can't kill a ghost."
Suddenly, several pins pierced into Zabuza's neck and knocked him out. Above, on a high branch of a tree, was a girl not even taller than Naruto. A masked concealed her identity but she had brown hair tied into a bun.
"Thank you for your help," she said. "But, I saw the opportunity and took it. I've been after Zabuza for quite some time."
As the other three caught up to the edge of the now lakeless crater, they noticed the girl.
"Who's that?" Sakura asked.
As Obito turned off his Sharingan, he glared at her. "A ninja of Kirigakure Hunter-Nin corps, and you're barely older than my students."
"Indeed," she said as she jumped from the tree and landed on Zabuza's body. "I need to leave and dispose of the body."
"Leave?" Obito narrowed his eyes, turned on his Sharingan, and twisted Zabuza into his pocket dimension.
She grabbed more pins to threaten him with. "What's the meaning of this?!"
"Tracking ninjas dispose of the bodies right there and then!"
She grunted and took a step back.
"Tell me. Is Zabuza really dead?" Obito asked.
Even with the mask on, Naruto could see the frown as she stared down at the ground. "No. He's not. I only stopped his heart."
Obito walked closer to her. "If you come with us, we can find someone to treat Zabuza. But then the three of us are going to have a long talk."
"Why would you do that? We're the enemy."
Obito waved for the others to follow and walked past her. "Because, I don't like your Mizukage, either."
As they walked, Naruto kept his thoughts in his mind. To be a ninja is to be a murderer? He knew about Obito and what happened after Kakashi's death, but a hundred of innocents? What did that make him? His role model?
"What's wrong, Naruto?" Obito asked.
Naruto gazed up at him before he looked forward. "Are we going have to kill Gato, although he's not a ninja?"
Obito grinned as he lowered his eyebrows. "No, we aren't."
Gato was a horrible person, but he should instead be placed on trial or something, right? Anyone of them could kill a regular person that didn't use chakra.
After they sat Zabuza up in a bed and made sure he wouldn't be able to cause trouble, the girl now named Haku spilled everything about their employer, Gato. The two of them wanted to raise money for another attempt at the Mizukage.
According to Haku, even when Zabuza does wake up, he will be far too weak to do anything. Obito decided to still keep guard. But, as he did that, he used a shadow clone and led his student to a clearing in the woods.
"Alright, your three. It's time to learn about nature transformations. You just witnessed my fire against Zabuza's water."
Within their first months, Obito had taught them how to walk up trees, how to properly enclose things into a seal, and then unseal them. They also started water walking training, but it was put on hold for this mission.
He handed them each a thin piece of paper. "Place these between your fingers and channel your chakra into them."
Naruto took one after Sasuke and Sakura and funneled his chakra into it. It split into two.
Obito smiled as she looked at their papers. "Well, look at that! Sasuke's burned to ash, Sakura's dampened, and Naruto's split in two!"
Naruto raised his two halves of papers. "I get that Sasuke's means fire, and Sakura's is wet, but what about mine?"
"Means you have wind! These are excellent natures to work with."
"What natures do you have, sensei?" Sakura inquired.
"Me? Well, I know how to utilize all but Earth."
"All but Earth?" Sasuke muttered.
"Don't worry, Sasuke. You aren't bound to just the one. I've had a long time to train them, but my primary one has always been fire."
Sakura raised her hand. "So where do we begin?"
"Well, first thing, you need to do what you did to that paper happen to a leaf."
Sasuke glared at Obito, "A leaf? Really?"
"The paper in your hands is specially designed to easily take your chakra. You'll find a leaf is much more challenging."
Sakura stood up and grabbed a leaf that was on the ground. "Better start. Right, sensei?"
Obito nodded. "Yes. Unlike the other training we've done, this one might take a lot of time, but it's good to get a headstart on it. I'm going to combust my shadow clone but first, what did Jiraiya say Naruto?"
"Oh. Just that you should do whatever you saw fit."
"Good. Come back in time for dinner then, you three."
As Obito disappeared, Sakura offered the two of them a leaf. "Come on, you two!"
Naruto stood up and reached for a leaf, only for Sasuke to grab his wrist and give him a glare. "How were you so brave when Zabuza attacked us?"
He pulled his arm away. "I just acted. Not like I did anything. If it wasn't for Obito, I would have been dead."
"That doesn't matter!" Sasuke shouted as he looked at the leaf. "I did… nothing. If I was my brother, I could have mopped the floor with Zabuza. But, all I did was act like a scared, little child."
"Sasuke," Sakura called.
"No. He's right," Naruto blurted. Sasuke glared at him, again.
Sakura gaped her mouth. "Naruto!"
"Stop whining and complaining and do something about it!"
"Easy for you to say! You're the godson of the-"
"I've become the person I am today because of what I've done to come this far! I never once compared myself to Jiraiya, and you shouldn't compare yourself to Itachi! You two are nothing alike!"
Sasuke looked back to the leaf. "But, I want to be stronger. Like that Haku."
"So do I, but we can't just compare ourselves to those that have already climbed the ladder."
Sasuke breathed through his nose and let it out of his mouth. "Guess you're right."
Sakura placed her hand on Sasuke's arm for a gentle embrace, "And we'll be there with you."
Naruto took the leaf within his palm, but as he pushed his chakra into it, nothing happened. He strained the second time and let out a struggled groan. Still, nothing. After several minutes, he let his arm rest. "Man, this is going to be difficult."
"You're telling me," Sasuke said as he struggled too.
Sakura held her leaf up. "Does this feel damp to you two?"
They both rubbed a finger on her leaf, which made their eyebrows raised up. But Sasuke smirked as he looked away. "Sure that isn't sweat?"
Sakura puckered her lips and made a whining groan to the leaf. "I guess it could be. We're all working hard."
"It sure seems like it," a new voice said.
They all glanced at the girl in the blue kimono, Haku. She no longer had her mask on and let Naruto see how pretty she really was. Sasuke glared at her, but Naruto took upon himself to greet her. "Hey, Haku. What brings you here?"
"Obito said you three were training water affinities, and that two of you had a Water and Wind affinity."
"Why would that matter?" Sasuke asked.
Haku raised her hand up and made a kunai out of ice. "Because my primary elements are both of those."
Naruto straightened his back. "Both? I was under the impression that you're born with only one."
"It's a rare strand that's among my bloodline, a Kekkei-Genkai. Ice Release."
"That's amazing," Sakura chimed in.
With an arrogant smile, Sasuke peered at her. "It wouldn't do much against my fire release."
Haku smiled. "I bet you thought the same about Obito's fire against Zabuza's water."
Sasuke scowled, looked away, and went back to his leaf.
"So, is there anything you could help us with?" Naruto asked.
"Well, for you, cutting the leaf is the first step. But for Sakura here, I have a better exercise for you."
Sakura eyebrows raised. "A better exercise?"
Haku nodded as she took out a giant sponge out of her kimono. "You'll be doing the same with the leaf, but with my exercise, you'll be making water out of the vapor in the air, and into the sponge."
"Into the sponge? Because it's absorbent?"
Naruto watched them talk as he strained to cut his leaf.
"Yep. You're be transforming the moisture into the air in liquid. The sponge is like a conduit. Let me show you the end goal of this exercise."
Naruto grinned as he looked at the massive sponge. But as Haku placed her over some grass, he couldn't help but gaze at her hand while it acted like a rain cloud. Hundred of giant droplets melted from her hand.
Sakura stared in awe. "That's amazing."
Haku smiled as she picked up the sponge and handed it to Sakura. "Make this entire sponge filled with water. And no cheating. Cause if you did, it would just be cheating yourself."
She shook her head. "I would never cheat."
Haku gleamed at her before she pushed on her knees to stand up and walk to Naruto. "Naruto, right?"
"Yep," he said as he pushed his chakra into the leaf, again.
Haku let her knees drop to the grass and placed her hands on the top of his. He swayed his fixated eyes to her. Her hair was tied in a bun, but she had a hair strand down her forehead.
Her hands, they felt chilled on his, but he felt a sudden burst of chakra fummel through his hands and into the leaf. Once she took her hands away, he split his hands, and like his hands, the leaf was split in half. A clean cut.
Haku smiled at him. "You're forcing your chakra too roughly. Imagine it as a sharp, thin blade."
Naruto took another leaf from the ground. As he drained his chakra, he imagined as she said. Like a light that wakes him up, he felt the leaf change. He quickly looked at the leaf. At the top, it had a little cut.
"Good job. But, you have a long time until you've completed it." Haku rotated around and walked towards Tsunami's house.
After a little while longer, Naruto stood up to check out the other's progress. "How's it going, Sakura?"
She rolled her eyes as she squeezed the sponge. "I haven't even got a a drip in yet."
Naruto grinned as she held up his green leaf. "Haku gave me a really good tip."
Sakura narrowed her eyes for a strained look. The cut was almost half an inch. "That's progress, alright."
"What about you, Sasuke?" Sasuke had his back turned.
As Naruto took a step to him, Sasuke raised his hand up, with his leaf. In an instant, it burned to a crisp. "Got it."
Naruto looked at his own leaf. "Uh, good job."
With a smug smirk that curved his mouth, Sasuke stood up and pushed his hands into his white short's pockets. "I'm going for a walk."
Once he disappeared behind the trees, Naruto looked to the depressed Sakura. How does he go from a jealous teenager to an arrogant one?
An hour later, Sakura and Naruto entered Tsunami's house, the young woman herself greeted them. Behind them, a table full of food.
"Hey Naruto, Sakura! My dad is upstairs taking a quick rest. Where's Sasuke at?"
"Went for a walk," Sakura said.
"Well, maybe he'll come by soon to eat. Could you two take a few plates up to Obito and the other two?"
Naruto nodded, took one of the plates while Sakura took two, each filled with rice and grilled fish, and walked up the stairs. He was about to knock on the door that led to Zabuza and Obito when Tsunami's seven-year-old son, Inari opened door parallel to look out of.
"You're going to die."
Naruto halted and rotated to look at him. "What did you say?"
Sakura had a worried expression.
"Gato's men will kill you, just like my father." The young boy's hollowed stare made Naruto's stomach queasy. "He was a hero, and he died because of it."
Naruto raised one side of his nose and glared at the boy, but he didn't say anything and knocked on the door. Haku opened it. "Oh, Naruto!"
Why was she surprised to see him?
"How's the leaf training?" Before he could answer, she grabbed a plate from Naruto and another from Sakura. "Zabuza is still asleep. I'll give this to Obito!"
Naruto eyebrows lowered as she smiled and quickly closed the door. Her impression made it seem she was hiding something in there.
"What was that about?" Sakura asked as she still had a plate in her hands.
"I know." They both eyed Inari, as he stared at them with those hopeless eyes.
"You know what?" Naruto asked.
Inari placed his index finger in front of his mouth and walked down the stairs. Sakura and Naruto gave each other a curious look, but as they heard the door open, they followed him down. But as they heard Tsunami scream followed by the sound of a ceramic plate hitting and breaking on the ground, they sprinted.
"Mom!" Inari yelled
Naruto came into the dining room, and as he saw a man with a beanie and a sword, he jumped onto the dining and leaped at him. The man was knocked to the ground but quickly got up. He sliced at Naruto with his sword, but a random kunai struck into his arm.
As he yelled, Naruto looked at the door. It was Sasuke. He pulled the string tied to the kunai and ripped the muscle fiber of the man's arm out. "Ow, fuck!" He screamed as he succumbed to his knees and held his wound with his undamaged arm.
"Who are you?" Naruto demanded as he took the sword from the ground and threatened the man with. "I'll let you go if you tell me."
He clenched his teeth at Naruto but jerked his face away. "Gato sent me to kill the bridge builder."
"And you're the best guy he had?" Sasuke scoffed.
Haku ran down the stairs. "What happened?"
"Gato's thug came to kill the bridge builder," Naruto said.
"Gato?"
Naruto looked at Haku. "Why didn't Obito come?"
Haku eyes widened. But she pointed up the stairs. "He's watching Zabuza."
"No, he's not," Inari exclaimed.
Naruto glanced at Inari and back to Haku. "Where is he?"
Haku sighed and closed her eyes. "He went to Gato's mansion to the East."
Naruto widened his eyes. "To do what?'
Haku slowly opened her eyes but swayed away from Naruto. "To kill them all."
Naruto squinted his nose before he bolted outside.
"Naruto!" Sakura screamed.
"Let him go," Sasuke said.
He used clones to find the exact location, but as they relayed the place, he wanted to throw up. He endured it and arrived at Gato's mansion. The sight was unholy, the ground painted red. What should have been a regular mansion, now looked like a massacre. Probably because it was.
He had to pinch his nose to stop his gag reflexes, but nothing could stop the unease Naruto felt as he walked through the mutilated corpses. He could faint at any time. With each step with his feet, he wished he left. He's never seen anything like this, so he slightly squinted his eyes. He already knew he would have nightmares.
What did it mean to become a ninja?
The ability to kill several dozens of thugs like kids?
Ever since Naruto heard how Zabuza graduated, he couldn't stop the thoughts of himself having to kill someone.
Someday, he may have to.
But why kill people? Like this?
Heads decapitated, torsos split, organs out of their bodies. A dirty red that mixed with dirt.
Although his nose was pinched, he could smell the iron from the blood as he opened the front door. It created a thud as he forced it opened. His footsteps sounded heavy on the wooden floor.
Obito didn't like to kill.
He was a good person, like a brother to him. So, why would he do this?
The walls of the stairs were painted with their guts. Naruto had to be careful where he stepped, even as the smell of their bodies watered his eyes.
He opened the door.
Gato was already dead. It looked like he tried to escape to another door but a kunai in his neck made him halt.
Obito stood as he looked out the window. The mist had seeped in from the woods to cover the ground with fog.
"Sensei."
Obito eyes swayed to him before he looked at the window. "Mission… accomplished, Naruto."
Naruto squinted up his face. "Mission… accomplished? This wasn't part of the mission."
"Without them, the bridge builder will be at peace to build his bridge. So, yes. It was."
"It was needless killing."
"When you're a ninja, there is no such thing as a needless kill. Not when you complete the mission."
Naruto's head felt dizzy. "If this is what it meant to be a ninja, then I want out!'
He rotated to face his student. "It had to be done-"
"On that rooftop, you said you wanted people to feel safe when they heard your name! But all I feel from you, right now, is fear and terror."
Obito's reached his hand out. "Naruto-"
"No!" Naruto stepped back. "You're… you're just like Zabuza. You're a murderer."
Obito's eye widened as Naruto teared up and promptly opened another window to jump out.
"A… murderer?" Obito repeated. He looked at the glass and saw his reflection before he looked at his once green flak jacket.
A few days later, they had remained in the Land of Waves while Tazuna finished the bridge. Obito had given Zabuza all of the money Gato had in his safe, enough for a second attempt at the Mizukage, but he and Haku stayed to see the bridge finished.
On the bridge, Naruto held a leaf between his hands before he pushed chakra into it. It made a cut down the middle, about a third of the way. But, he stared at it blankly before he threw it behind him.
Sakura had almost completely soaked the sponge with her chakra. There was no way it was sweat, not that he tasted it for her or anything.
"Hey."
Naruto looked to Haku, who stood a few inches by him. But, he looked away and to the water. "Haku, can I ask you something?"
There was a chilled silence as she placed her arms on the bridge's railing and looked to the same water.
"Have you ever killed someone?"
Her eyes swayed to him. "Is this about what Obito did?"
Naruto kept his eyes fixated on the waving water.
"No, I haven't, Naruto."
"Then… how can you follow Zabuza?"
"Because" she smiled. "Kirigakure once sought to purge Kekkei Genkai, but Zabuza took me in as his tool."
"A tool?"
"That is what our meaning of ninja is. A tool, a soldier. But, that doesn't have to be your ninja way. You choose your own path."
"But, will I have to kill someone someday?"
"Sometimes, it's necessary to change the future."
Naruto jerked his face to her. "How can you say that like it's a good thing?"
"Remember when Zabuza said he killed his classmates?" Naruto nodded. "He wasn't even a student, so after that day, the program was discontinued. He didn't do it for fun, he did it because he needed to change the future for the better."-
"The Mizukage was the one that made the graduation exams as they were in the first place, among other awful things he's done. That's why he attempted a coup d'etat. But, killing someone is not always the correct thing to do. You need to decide that for yourself."
Naruto slowly nodded. "Thanks, Haku." She placed her hand on his shoulder and gave it a slight embrace before she left. Maybe, they'll meet again one day.
Weeks have passed when Obito's Team Seven sat out back home. Sasuke and Sakura led the front by a distance while Obito walked by Naruto's side. They have rarely spoken since that day, nothing besides what was needed.
Obito turned to him, "Still mad at me?"
Naruto shook his head. "I wasn't mad, just… disappointed."
"I really did try to talk to them. It was all self-defense, right to the end, Naruto."
"Does it really matter?" Naruto looked to the happy Sakura and plain Sasuke in front of her as they held hands. "We're ninjas. And someday, I will have to kill someone to protect those who I love."
"It's a good reason to fight. For Rin, you, the others, Jiraiya, Iruka, and soon…"
Naruto lowered his eyebrows and jerked his attention to Obito. "Soon… soon what?"
Obito made a giant smile.
"No way."
"You haven't noticed her stomach?"
"No! We barely see her unless she comes around!"
Obito laughed like he would if they were at Ichiraku's.
He had hopeful eyes and a smile that gleamed. It hid the pain of what he had done, or rather, it overshadowed it. He endured the pain so others didn't have to.
Naruto looked away and his smile faded. Will he have to endure that same pain?
Sorry for the wait. I hated the Waves arc and wanted to write something that was much more than that. I did the whole chapter with only memory, except for one look at the manga. Never thought Haku's gender as much importance, but Zabuza is alive and will attempt another time in Yagura's life.
I had trouble figuring out everyone's personality. I didn't care much to do Inari's or Tazuna's. Sasuke has a jealous drive, Sakura, after already having the person she wanted, wants to be reliable. Naruto wants to figure out just who he is. Obito, a good person who does horrible things.
Things should start to speed up more speed next chapter.
