A.N. I hope you like what I'm doing to what you thought was a good fic. I think I'm only cleaning house up, please tell me if you think otherwise. Enjoy the next re-ordering of things! Iku zo!

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Second Dawn

Introduction Arc, Chapter the Second

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Naruto had traveled fast, alone and not stopping that night. He felt tired, but there was something he had to do before he fell asleep. He had to visit Haku and Zabuza's graves.

Only there was something wrong.

The sword he had left in the ground as Zabuza's headstone had been spray-painted and defiled in other ways not appropriate to describe in a T-rated fanfiction. Naruto's fist shook in anger. How dare someone, anyone, do that to Zabuza. Naruto quickly made a Rasengan. There was no way he was strong enough to get it out of the ground in one piece, but he could probably carry the two pieces, or may three if he had to.

He cleanly cut off the part with the handle, finding it lighter than he remembered, even helping. Something strange was going on with his body, but he pushed it aside. He had work to do. He pulled out the part of the sword that was in the ground. He then set himself to the task of grinding off all the spray paint on the sword in front of him.

He fell asleep buffing the sword.

Hinata had made camp about halfway between Wave and Leaf, and went to sleep herself. She was so exhausted from the previous day's events that she couldn't even hold up her head to watch the embers die out. She didn't hear the wind pass through the trees, on its way to Wave Country.

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Naruto awoke with a start. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, but just in case, he slung his pack over his shoulder and picked up the two, now clean, pieces of Zabuza's sword. He'd earned a whole lot of money from doing all those boring D-Rank missions, and Wave had even manage to scrounge enough up money to actually pay him for the A-rank mission he'd been sent on. He might just have enough to get the sword fixed.

That bad feeling intensified until it culminated in a shuriken embedding itself in the ground in front of him.

A very large, very familiar shuriken shaped chakram.

"So they sent you did they?" Naruto turned and asked the masked figure in the tree.

"MIZUKI." He said, the Kyuubi forcing itself into his voice. The masked figure sagged, but only as if it were disappointed at Naruto's observation.

"Well, I guess I don't have to wear this stupid ANBU mask anymore, do I?" Mizuki said, revealing his face.

"You were in jail. Who let you out?"

"The council let me out as soon as you left. You're now a B-Rank Missing-Nin by their declaration." Naruto only felt a small tinge of regret, the last tie to Konoha he had had just been severed. So be it.

"I do suppose you're here to kill or incapacitate me?" Naruto asked quietly.

"Yep. Except for that whole incapacitate part. The council wants the Kyuubi dead." Mizuki grinned at his instructions. Oh, vengeance would be so sweet. Especially now that he didn't have to worry about harming the scroll the kid wasn't carrying. Naruto just glared at him.

Kit!.

What, Fox? Naruto had had sparse, but regular conversation with the Kyuubi ever since he'd taken that form to beat Gaara. It was usually trying to tempt him to let him out.

Let me kill him. Let me KILL the little INGRATE who thinks he can KILL me. And for once, Naruto didn't disagree in the least. Naruto just simply let go the barrier in his mind, and everything went blank.

Kyuubi drew the sword from the pack and threw the rest of the bag down.

"You just chose the wrong demon lord to insult. You won't be there to grin much longer, Mizuki." Kyuubi's killer intent was dampened coming from an 14-year old child. Just a little. Mizuki jumped down and drew a second chakram off his back.

"Demon Lord? HAH! You're just some stupid kid they put him in. And I'm going to kill you both." Mizuki smiled, having regained his confidence. He advanced towards the stationary boy. Kyuubi just glared at him.

"Consciously, you may be right. He isn't supremely intelligent." Kyuubi raised the sword, and in one lightning swift action, moved to Mizuki, swung, took off his arm, and moved past him.

"But the Yondaime Hokage wasn't going to put him in a child I would easily be able to trick or bribe. Subconsciously, he is capable of instantly telling lie from truth, fact from fiction. There is something different about this boy. Something you'll never get to know." The Killer intent now rolled off of Kyuubi in waves that held the bleeding Mizuki stationary.

"You… You can't … please, no …." Kyuubi turned on the now Hysterical man, and grinned.

"Don't take on a mission you can't complete." And with that, Kyuubi dove in once again, and in a single motion, lopped off Mizuki's head. The demon lord made a few hand seals, and then said.

"Kaaton: Pyre Flames" Instantly, Mizuki's body and head were alight. In a few scant seconds, they had been reduced into nothing more than ashes, all of which would be able to tell no one anything. Kyuubi relinquished his hold on Naruto with these final words.

"One day, we will be one. I cannot escape you, but I can change you. I all need is a direction to change to. And the wind is being so friendly today." Kyuubi took a deep breath, and Naruto's eyes turned from Red to their normal blue. Naruto looked about.

No Miuzki. That's good. No remains even. That's better. I can claim he's just simply not found me yet if anyone else comes along. Naruto then looked down at his jacket and pants. They were covered in splatter marks of blood and bits of now rotting flesh.

KYUUBI!! Naruto could feel the Demon Fox flatten its ears on its head.

What, kit? Kyuubi responded, not liking where this was heading.

Next time I let you out, watch where the splatter goes!! I don't want to have to buy new clothes each time I let you do that!!! Naruto could feel the Kyuubi smirk at him.

Then just go natural. Naruto mentally glared at Kyuubi, both of them knowing that that was not a possibility. But Kyuubi would tease him about it for a few moments, and Naruto would either laugh along or feel indignant. Naruto thought to himself, away ffrom where Kyuubi could hear.

Maybe I brought the one person who can understand with me.

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Hinata woke up, and worked the kinks out of her back by doing her morning stretches. She quickly packed up the little she brought with her, and moved out to find her quarry. She ran for most of the morning uneventfully until she came across something lying on the ground, slightly wrinkled from the morning dew.

She picked up the scroll, and saw that it was an advanced seal-less skill scroll. They were all traditional Konoha skills, like group replacement and group leaf teleport, but there were a few that she'd never even seen before.

Ground Surfing? Light? And what is this one, Tree Imitation? Hinata looked at these techniques very puzzled. Then she realized what she was looking at, and smiled broadly.

"I've found him. I'm Naruto's trail." With a renewed vigor, she took off to find the boy of her dreams.

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Tsunade was pissed. Earlier in the Morning. She'd moved beyond pissed right now, and had killer intent radiating off of her like light from a bonfire.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU UTTERLY MORONIC FOOLS ORDERED NARUTO A B-RANK MISSING-NIN? AND WITHOUT MY SIGNATURE?"

"We all agreed that it was the best action the village could take. Naruto was a danger on the inside of this village and who knows what retribution he may try and take for being stuck in that form for so long. And as for doing it without you, you were passed out drunk, something the Hokage should never be." He smirked at her, and she glared back. She oh so slowly walked over to his desk, and slammed her fist down on it, smashing the wood and metal contraption clean in half.

"Naruto is not the Kyuubi, merely his container, and a damn good one at that. And Shizune is well capable of making decisions I'll agree with if I'm drunk, asleep, injured, or in any other way-" she stared right into this elder's eyes and made him understand the meaning behind her next word.

"Incapacitated. Now, I'm going to go gather a team of people that I'm going to personally lead to retrieve Naruto. Shizune will be acting as Hokage in my absence." Another elder, this time a woman, spoke up.

"You will most likely fail. Your emotions are getting in the way of your judgment-" Tsunade didn't let her finish.

"EMOTION was what SAVED your ASSES during the Sand-Sound WAR."

"Regardless of that." The woman said with obvious distate.

"We have already dispatched Mizuki at seven-thirty to exterminate the vermin." Tsunade threw her a cold look which made even the old wench shiver.

"He is not vermin, nor was he out to kill you until-" Tsunade tried to start, but failed, as it was Hiashi, of all people, who interrupted her.

"Tsunade. You are a Sanin. You could kill us all if you wanted to. We saw that power, and wanted you as Hokage, because you were strong and learned. But if you cannot see evil where it lies, we have no choice but to-"

"Shiki Fujin sealed away all the evil you are fearing into Naruto's navel. Unless you push Naruto to the breaking edge and make him want to release the demon, there is no more chance of that happening than you spontaneously turning into a young, pretty, demure woman Hiashi.

"And I do see evil. Just not in Naruto. I don't see it here either. What I see here is corruption and arrogance the likes of which I've never seen in all my travels. I have the rest of Konoha backing me up, regardless of what you say, want, or even do. Konoha has me to moderate your actions. Coming to you for unbiased information was obviously a mistake. There is no way you could prove he is even a D-Rank Missing Nin to me, or anyone else who would truly listen to the facts. Most are simply happy to not have him around any more." Tsunade turned on her heel to leave, but stopped at the door.

"Hiashi, you asked me a question the other day about why your daughter was in such an emotional wreck. I gave you the truthful answer, but you couldn't believe it." Tsunade paused for effect.

"I wonder where she is now?" Tsunade left the council wonder what the hell just happened, and Hiashi with a sinking sense of dread.

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Naruto had switched out his now gore-spattered track suit for his camoflague suit. The stealth suit had turned out to be to small and popped off his body the instant he had it fully zipped up. The Winter suit would have been a bad idea for the humid, downright hot climate.

In the forest, he was virtually invisible. Here in Wave Country proper, however, he stuck out like a sore thumb. He needed new clothes and fast. But first things first – he had a sword that needed mending.

Walking about in the Wave marketplace was much more difficult than it was last time. Only a few people recognized him, which caused minor gumming in the works, but the main problem was that there were a plethora more people here, making walking at any pace very hard.

When he finally got to the road that the blacksmith was on, the crowd had thinned out to the point where he could quickly walk over to the shop. He walked into the small enclosed space where the kept things like the safe and finished goods. He stood there for a moment or two, and no one had come in. He then looked at the door he hadn't come in and read the attached sign.

PLEASE STEP THROUGH THIS DOOR

AND SHOUT IF YOU NEED ANYTHING

FIXED OR MADE.

Naruto stepped through the appointed door, and did what he did best.

He shouted.

"OY!!!" all the hammering in the smithy area stopped for a brief moment before a short woman glided out of the back of the shop and looked at him. She smiled.

"I had'n heard a shout lik' that in years! Whatcha need?" The woman actually had to look up to make eye contact with Naruto, something to which he wasn't accustomed to. He pulled the pieces of Zabuza's Head Chopping Cleaver out of his backpack. The woman's eyes went a little wide with excitement.

"What'd you do to tha' sword?" She asked, marveling at the sheer size of the sword.

"I had to break it in two to get it out of the ground. It belonged to … a man I respect." He said, averting his eyes from the woman. She understood.

"I see. Whatcha say I fix her up for ye' sonny? She got a name?" Naruto paused at that. 'Head Chopping Cleaver' just didn't sound like a name for the sword any more. That was a title he felt belonged only to Zabuza. He felt that both he and the sword were getting a second shot at everything, and instantly a name came to mind.

"Second Dawn." He said, confident he had chosen right. The woman smiled at him.

"We'll have Second Dawn fixed up by tomorrow afternoon, Mr. Uzumaki." Naruto's eyes boggled. Most other people hadn't called him that when he was recognized, and most people expected to see him in his orange jumpsuit, so they just thought it was a passing similarity. She smiled at his expression.

"That face jus' tells me I'm righ'." Naruto stopped looking so surprised. Someone would have eventually recognized him anyways. He nodded confirming her suspicions.

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Tsunade sighed. She had only been able to assemble a little less than half of the Rookies that were about Naruto's age. Lee and Shikamaru were out on field assignments, Chouji was still recouperating from using the three pills during their failed Sasuke retrieval. Hinata was missing, and the Sand siblings had run off as soon as they had heard Naruto was missing from the village.

That left her with only Ino, Sakura, Ten-Ten, Neji, Shino, and Kiba. She was reconsidering doing this with so few members, but the solution just walked right into her office.

"Hokage-sama, can you tell me something?" Kakashi had no idea what he was getting himself into, asking that question.

"I can tell you that you are joining me on an A-Rank mission to help retrieve Naruto." She smiled when she saw his face pale. He then firmed his resolve, restored color to his face, and he barked an affirmative.

And I'd just gotten a date with Anko, too. Oh well, such is the life of a Ninja.

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Naruto had returned to his base camp outside of Wave Country. He'd left Gamakichi and Gamatachi to guard his stuff while he was gone. No one had made off with anything, but one crazy person ran off screaming something about "alien invaders" or some other nonsense.

He dispelled them and gathered his stuff up. He'd sleep near Zabuza's grave that night to protect what remained from any harm, and go to see Tazuna in the morning. He was pitching his tent when he heard something on the wind.

Mist … Mist … Mist … The chant was strange, but audible. Naruto turned to Zabuza, and saw something that bothered him. In taking out the large sword, there was no proper memorial to the swordsman from the mist. He'd have to remedy that on his next trip into Wave.

"I think I understand you better now, Zabuza. Better than I did back then. I understand that you wanted change in Mist, to what, I don't know, but you were willing to do anything to change Mist. I'd be willing to change Leaf too." He sighed, laughed, and smirked.

"But what is a country without its people?" He sat there in the long silence, wishing in the depths of his hearts that he could talk to the swordsman once more, just to show respects. He heard, after a while, a faint rustling behind him, like someone was walking through the brush to get somewhere. He moved to extinguish the fire to draw less attention to himself when something stumbled into the clearing.

A small, poofy thing in a fluffy jacket.

"Hinata? They sent you this time?" Naruto couldn't understand. Mizuki was at least a hardened criminal who could be bribed. What were they trying to pull by sending Hinata?

"I found you. I found you Naruto-kun. And I won't let you leave me behind again." Hinata then collapsed into a heap. Kyuubi's stamina allowed him to do crazy things, like make a three day full-tilt journey in one night, but for Hinata to have caught him in two days? She must be on the edge of life or something to that effect to do that.

What would possess her to chase me down? In such little time, and of her own motive. At least, I think its her own motive.

It is Kit. She's here because she wants to be. Naruto perked an eyebrow, but said nothing. The reassurance of Kyuubi was all he needed for now. He unpacked Hinata's sleeping bag and put the sleeping girl in his tent. He'd be fine sleeping outside. It was Hinata he would worry about for now. His last thought, as sleep claimed him, was

Why?

A.N. Right. I think I'll stop the new Chapter Two there. I hope you all enjoyed it, because I know I did. Oh, and can anyone guess what the ability I've given to Naruto is called? (Hint: Ender's Shadow).