Well so far it seems most of you liked chapter one. Here's another one.
Chapter 2: Wave Country
Team seven and Tazuna had been traveling for the past three days. They were finally coming upon the coastal borders of the Land of Fire.
The trip had been fairly uneventful and almost nothing interesting had occurred. Naruto and Sasuke barely spoke at all and appeared distant most of the trip while Sakura on the other hand would talk to Kakashi about some boring topic or another.
Currently, the group was approaching a harbor and saw a man in the distance. He was a rower waiting by a boat to take random travelers across. As they got closer, Tazuna addressed the man, "Can you take us across?"
The man recognized Tazuna and nodded his head, "It's good to see you again Tazuna-san…things have been rather gloomy since you left."
"Why what has happened?" The old man asked. The boat rower sighed deeply and answered, "Well it seems Gato hired a notorious missing nin to halt the production of the bridge."
Kakashi cut into the conversation and asked, "Notorious missing nin? Do you know who it is?"
The rower shook his head and looked down terrified, "No…I haven't seen him personally, but some of the others said that he is a muscular guy with a giant sword."
The copy nin looked worried at the mention of giant sword. Kakashi shook his head and sighed, "If this man uses a giant sword than he would have to be one of the seven swordsmen of the mist…"
Everybody present tensed up with shocked expressions on their faces. Tazuna looked horrified and began to tremble. "Depending on which of the swordsmen this missing nin is this mission is definitely an A rank or higher," Kakashi said casually.
"We can't handle this mission Kakashi-sensei! Somebody could get hurt!" Sakura exclaimed fearfully.
Kakashi sighed deeply as he examined his team, "Well under normal circumstances I would immediately report back for reinforcements, but seeing as how we're a team I'll let you three decide what we do. This is invaluable field training that will make you three better shinobi."
"We have to turn back Kakashi-sensei! A rank missions are for jounins or Anbu!" Sakura shouted. Her behavior was contagious because Tazuna and the rower began to look concerned as well.
"We can handle this Kakashi-sensei…it's only one guy," Naruto commented. Sasuke nodded in agreement, "I say we keep going…quitting is for losers and cowards." The raven haired girl focused her gaze on Sakura after saying that.
The pink haired girl balled her fist angrily at Sasuke and then looked back towards Kakashi, "I'm not going to quit and drag the team down! I won't be the reason for a failed mission!"
Kakashi looked over his three pupils and sighed, "Well we are a team…since the three of you have willingly agreed to do this, we will finish the mission or die trying."
"Are you kidding me? You and these kids are going to protect us against a swordsman of the mist?" Tazuna shouted in disbelief.
"My students have already saved your life from two chunins. If you would prefer, we could always just go back to Konoha and let you deal with him alone," Kakashi said casually.
"NO! Don't go…you and these kids are just fine…" Tazuna said desperately. Kakashi nodded his head and replied, "Good…now let's take this boat to Wave Country."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The group finally arrived at the island. As they got out of the boat, they noticed the area was shrouded in mist. Kakashi looked around on full alert as the group left the small harbor. Team Seven made its way down the road cautiously.
"Why is it so misty?" Tazuna asked clueless.
"This mist is giving me the creeps…is it just me or does anybody else feel like we're being followed?" Sakura asked nervously.
"Sakura get down!" Naruto shouted as he tackled the pink haired girl to the ground. A massive sword narrowly flew over her and imbedded itself into a tree.
Kakashi looked at the sword and over towards his team, "We've got company!"
Tazuna appeared to be having a heart attack as a man landed on the handle of the massive blade. Everybody examined the figure closely to see a tall muscular man wearing no shirt. He had spiky black hair and bandages wrapped around his mouth.
"They sent kids to stop me?" Zabuza asked amused. He looked over the four ninja before him and shook his head, 'What the hell is this? Two girls, a blonde kid, and one jounin?'
"Who are you?" Kakashi asked in a serious tone eyeing the swordsman carefully. Zabuza chuckled at the masked man and answered, "They call me the Demon of the Mist…"
"You're Zabuza…I've heard of you," Kakashi stated calmly. Tazuna's eyes nearly flew out of their sockets upon hearing the name.
"OH NO! We're all going to die!" Tazuna shouted terrified. Zabuza drew his sword from the tree and looked over towards Tazuna, "You must be the bridge builder I was hired to kill. Hahaha you should be afraid of me!"
Without wasting anytime, the swordsman immediately charged towards Tazuna and cleaved his butcher blade. Before it made contact, Kakashi blocked the sword with a kunai. The copy nin was pushed a few feet back from the force of the parry.
Zabuza shook his head and laughed at Kakashi, "You must be the leader of this little rag tag bunch of kids! I'm pretty hurt that Konoha would send a little trio of kids with some chump like you to stop me!"
"You're mistaken if you think that you're going to kill Tazuna. We are going to stop you!" Naruto shouted at the swordsman. Zabuza pulled his blade back and looked over towards the blonde.
"You're out of your mind kid…how the hell did you become a ninja?" Zabuza asked amused.
"Same way you did I suppose," Naruto shot back.
"I can't believe how easy it is to become a genin in Konoha. We have to kill another student for our final test," Zabuza said coldly.
"Your two lackeys are lying in a pool of blood courtesy of me…your next on the list!" Naruto shouted at the swordsman darkly.
Everybody in team seven was taken aback by Naruto's dark attitude.
"You expect me to believe a pathetic Konoha genin killed the Demon Brothers?" Zabuza asked amused.
"How's about I prove it to you…" Naruto said eerily as he drew his trench knives and channeled wind chakra over them. Zabuza watched the sight interested, "Wind chakra? Hmm…that's a jounin technique."
Sakura looked worried as Naruto and ran towards Zabuza.
"Naruto wait don't go near him!" Kakashi ordered sternly. The blonde genin disobeyed the jounin slashing towards Zabuza full force.
The swordsman flipped back narrowly dodging Naruto's attack and laughed, "Pretty tenacious for a Konoha genin…you might have made a good Kiri nin hahaha!"
Zabuza shook his head amused as he leapt into the air smashed his sword down towards the blonde. Naruto dodged the attack and delivered a kick to the side of Zabuza's head as he landed.
The swordsman immediately swung the butcher blade in an arc towards Naruto, but much to his surprise, the blonde parried the attack with his knives. The two were deadlocked momentarily as Zabuza chuckled, "Pretty strong for a kid…but not strong enough!"
The swordsman began to overpower Naruto as he pushed his blade further down on the genin. Naruto began to shake under the weight of Zabuza's blade until several shuriken flew towards the swordsman forcing him to move.
Kakashi ran over with a kunai drawn and began to draw Zabuza away from Naruto. Unfortunately for him though, Zabuza managed to deliver a powerful kick behind his legs knocking him down.
Kakashi narrowly dodged the massive sword crashing against the ground as he got back up. As Zabuza recovered from the recoil, he heard Sasuke yell, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" (Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu)
Zabuza went through several hand seals to counter the fireball, "Suiton Suihashu!" (Water Wave Hand)
A stream of water erupted from Zabuza's hand to block the fireball. The water easily overpowered Sasuke's attack and shot the Uchiha back a good distance. The swordsman repeated his jutsu and aimed it for Naruto, "Suiton Suihashu!" (Water Wave Hand)
Much to his surprise, Naruto blocked the water with his own jutsu, "Suiton Suijinheki!" (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall) The two attacks pushed back and forth until Naruto went through another set of hand seals, "Fūton: Daitoppa!" (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)
Naruto's added wind allowed him to reverse Zabuza's attack back at him washing the swordsman into the river behind him. Kakashi looked impressed as the blonde walked over towards and him, "I told you we could handle this guy."
"You're just a genin…how in the world are you doing multiple jutsus?" Kakashi asked curiously. Naruto didn't answer him as he expected.
Kakashi thought about his question and then realization struck, 'This is Minato's son…why am I even surprised? Not to mention I'm sure he's got enormous chakra thanks to Kyuubi.'
Sasuke walked over and looked at the flowing river alertly, "Be ready he could come back out at any moment."
"Sasuke, let's do a combo and take this guy down," Naruto said calmly.
An enormous explosion of water erupted from the river as Zabuza burst from it. The swordsman looked around angrily and shook his head, "Since when can genin perform elemental jutsus?"
"You underestimated us…that will be your undoing," Sasuke responded darkly. She looked towards Naruto and both nodded in unison as they simultaneously launched wind and fire towards the swordsman. His body unexpectedly turned into water revealing it to be a water clone.
The two genin looked around alertly for the swordsman before they noticed that Kakashi was encased in a water prison. "You kids are pretty good, but you're the ones who underestimated me. Your sensei is now my bitch…and now it's just me and you three!"
"Sakura guard Tazuna, Naruto and I will handle him," Sasuke shouted. The pink haired girl nodded her head as she stepped in front of the old man. Zabuza split in two afterwards leaving his water clone to hold Kakashi's water prison.
The swordsman charged towards the genin with his sword raised high. Naruto ran into the water and met him halfway. The blonde barely avoided Zabuza's sword as he went through several hand seals, "Suiton Suigadan!" (Water Fang Projectile)
Several waterspouts shot out of the water towards Zabuza. As they got close, they sharpened and managed to stab him in several locations. Taking the opportunity, Sasuke used a fuma shuriken to free Kakashi from his water prison.
The copy nin pulled his headband up revealing his Sharingan eye. Zabuza distanced himself from the three enemies and panted heavily as he briefly examined his injuries. He looked towards Naruto and growled, "There's no way you're a genin…I've never seen anybody your age do jutsus like that!"
"Give it up Zabuza…you're outmatched," Kakashi stated seriously.
The demon of the mist saw Kakashi's Sharingan eye and spoke up in surprise, "You're the copy-nin Kakashi? They say you mastered over a thousand jutsus with that eye of yours."
"Perhaps you would like to test it out?" Kakashi asked.
"No…I wasn't expecting this. The copy nin Kakashi and these super genin of yours,"
Before anybody could respond to the swordsman, he created a massive wave and made his escape. Team seven made it to the shore to avoid the colossal blast of water. They looked around and saw no sign of Zabuza.
After a minute of pure silence Kakashi took a deep breath, "That's probably not the last we'll see of him…"
"He most likely went to retrieve back up…I wouldn't doubt it if he had a little gang," Tazuna stated.
"That guy wasn't as strong as you made him out to be…" Sasuke commented. Naruto nodded in agreement, "Yeah he ran away from us."
Kakashi looked over towards his students and shook his head in disbelief, "Naruto where did learn how to do all of that? Elemental jutsus are not taught in the academy and you're not part of a major clan…who taught you how to do that?"
"I'm surprised you didn't ask sooner Kakashi-sensei…I guess you deserve to know," Naruto sighed.
Everybody perked up interested, especially Sakura as Naruto took a deep breath.
"You see…I have had special training from Jiraiya the sannin for the past four years. I also spent a year under the tutelage of Asuma-sensei."
Everybody's eyes shot open in confusion. Sakura shook her head in disbelief, "That's preposterous! You can't honestly expect us to believe that one of the legendary sannin decided to train you!"
"That explains a lot…you're just like the fourth Hokage then," Kakashi noted. Naruto looked at the masked jounin curiously, "How so, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Yondaime was also a pupil of Jiraiya's…I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he chose to train you," Kakashi said.
"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked confused. The jounin shrugged at his question, "Nothing…anyways, how the hell did you talk Asuma in to training you? He doesn't like teaching."
Naruto shrugged and answered, "When the Hokage found out about Jiraiya-sensei training me, so did his son Asuma. The three of them had a long talk about me…after they were done, Asuma said he was willing to teach me about wind chakra since I was adept in it like him."
Kakashi nodded his head in amazement, "Wow…I'm surprised I never heard about this until now."
"Wait a minute! You said you have been trained for the past four years? If that's the case then why are you the dead last in the academy?" Sakura questioned furiously.
Naruto sighed deeply and answered, "Well at first, I did it to conceal my training because Jiriaya-sensei requested that, but later on I had a different reason for doing so. Asuma-sensei told me that the genin teams were usually balanced, so I figured if I pretended to be weaker than I was, then I would get a stronger team."
Sasuke had a grin etched across her face as she cut in, "You really are something else, Naruto…"
"What? That's not really fair though!" Sakura shouted.
Kakashi smiled beneath his mask at the blonde genin as he responded, "Hmm…and here I thought I was going to hate being a jounin instructor. I guess with the top two genins in Konoha, you guys will be ready for the chunin exams in a few months."
"Just how strong are you, Naruto?" Sakura asked disbelievingly. The blonde didn't answer her as he turned towards the path and began to walk. The rest of his team followed suit including Tazuna.
Sakura sighed deeply as she looked at Naruto, 'Is this really Naruto? I can't believe that he killed those people and that he is this strong…'
'They haven't even seen the half of it…there's no telling what they'll think of me when I unveil my other jutsus…or my ace Rasengan.' Naruto thought.
"That's not even your worst secret…" a demonic voice rang though Naruto's head. The genin recognized the evil voice as his imprisoned bijou, Kyuubi.
Naruto learned about the fox's existence completely by accident, but after it happened, he couldn't shut the fox's voice out of his head. It's true what they say…Once you open some doors you can never close them.
That was definitely the case with Kyuubi. Naruto remembered back to the fateful night that he discovered the fox's existence.
(Flashback)
A ten year old Naruto was coming home from a long day of training with Jiraiya. He was feeling very sick as he collapsed on top of his bed. The blonde had been terribly ill for the past few days and he did not know why.
Jiraiya believed that despite Naruto's fever, he was still capable of basic training exercises. Naruto wasn't thrilled about it, but nevertheless he did so. Although tonight, the jinchuuriki was hearing voices in his head.
Due to his very small crowd of trusted people, Naruto decided it was best to conceal this secret from all around him. For some reason, he didn't trust anybody enough to tell them about the dark voices in his head.
"I've got to tell Jiraiya…" Naruto said aloud to himself as he stared at the ceiling worried. A shrieking dark chuckle echoed throughout his mind upon speaking.
"You can't trust the old man with your secrets…he'll just shun you like all the rest. I am the only one you should listen to!" a terrifying demonic voice growled. Naruto cowered fearfully upon hearing the voice and grabbed his ears closing his eyes horrified, "NO! GO AWAY! I won't listen to you!"
"You are a fearful and wretched thing. Your fear is pitiful and pathetic!" The voice shouted back. Naruto flailed wildly on his bed in a terrified manner trying to tune out the voice.
"Please…just leave me alone! I won't do what you say!" Naruto said desperately. "I have all the answers you seek…I know what it is you desire kit. You wish to become powerful? Listen to me and you shall see that desire fulfilled!"
"What…what are you? Just some kind of monster in my head?" Naruto asked weakly as he curled up on his bed.
"I am your savior mortal…would you agree to meet with me face to face? I'm certain I can eradicate all of your doubts."
Naruto rocked back and forth in his bed fearfully as he tuned out the ranting of the demonic voice. This continued for a little bit until he fell asleep.
Upon waking, Naruto found himself in ankle deep water in a massive dark hallway. "Hello?" Naruto yelled confused as he looked around.
"Where the hell am I?" Naruto asked himself aloud as he wandered down the damp hallway. He heard the sound of scraping and dripping water and decided to follow the noise.
He continued through the maze like hallway until finally reaching a large open room. Naruto walked into it and looked around for the noise he had heard until he noticed a gigantic cage with a seal on it.
Naruto stared at the cage for a moment confused until realization struck him, "This is….where the voice lives? Is this my mind?"
"Correct, I decided that it was time for us to meet face to face so you would finally get over your fear of me." A massive pair of glowing red eyes shined through the cage revealing the silhouette of a giant beast within.
Naruto trembled fearfully at the eyes and spoke up nervously, "What is it that you want from me?"
It's not what I want…it's what you want. I have watched the past ten years of your pathetic life and I've gotta say that you are unworthy of being alive…let alone the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko!"
You're…Kyuubi?" Naruto shouted in disbelief. A dark laugh echoed throughout the room upon hearing Naruto's question. The demon smashed its head against the bars of the cage and roared loudly, "I AM KYUUBI! I am trapped inside of your body!"
Naruto fell to his knees terrified at the fox's voice. He stared into the blood red eyes of the fox petrified.
"Look at you…cowering before me like you're nothing."
Naruto couldn't find the words to respond to the nine tailed fox as he continued to stare at him. Kyuubi and Naruto stared at each other for what appeared to be hours until finally the fox sighed, "You're probably too young to fully understand what I am saying…"
The blonde finally found his voice and spoke up, "What must I do to become worthy then?"
"If you truly wish to become powerful, you must become fearless…you must become stoic…you must become worthy of being my host! Now stand up!"
Naruto did as he was commanded and he stood up. The fox smiled behind the cage at the boy as he continued, "Good…now walk towards the cage."
Naruto walked to the very edges of the fox's massive cage just outside of the bars. He stood in front of it nervously as he saw the red eyes on the other side.
"Come to me, kit…you must learn a valuable lesson," The fox said in an almost sincere tone.
Naruto felt his heart pump insanely fast as he passed through the massive bars of the cage. He walked closer towards the silhouette of the massive fox. The boy felt every hair on the back of his neck stand up as he slowly approached Kyuubi.
The fox made no sudden movements and patiently waited for the blonde to reach him. As Naruto finally reached Kyuubi, the fox lowered his head until it was directly in front of the boy.
"See me for what I am…feel my power flowing around you." Naruto looked around curiously as a large amount of red chakra surrounded him and Kyuubi. "How did this happen? What are you doing inside of me? I thought Yondaime defeated you?"
"No…unlike the rest of his village, your Hokage understood what I am and what I am capable of. Although, I find it ironic that he would seal me inside of you." The fox spoke casually as he sat down in front of Naruto.
"I don't understand…why is that ironic?" Naruto asked confused.
The fox shook his head and chuckled, "Despite his so called heroic actions, your Hokage was a very dark person…creating a jinchuuriki is considered one of the ultimate worldly sins. He turned you into a weapon to protect his little village."
"Yondaime is a hero…why would he do that? And why me?" Naruto asked sadly.
The red chakra surrounding Naruto and Kyuubi was getting a lot closer now. Naruto didn't take notice however as he stared at the fox awaiting a response.
"It's not my place to tell you why…you wouldn't be able to handle the truth. You're an abomination and my prison."
"Is that why everybody hates me?"Naruto asked sadly.
"They see me when they see you. You will never change that! However, consider yourself blessed that you will never blend in with their weakness. Embrace what you are and let it make you stronger!"
Naruto felt tears began to fall upon hearing the harsh words of the fox. The Kyuubi had no empathy upon seeing Naruto's tears and growled, "This will hurt a lot…but in the end you'll thank me for it!"
Red chakra completely enveloped Naruto and consumed his senses. He screamed in pure agony as his vision went completely red.
He woke up screaming and saw his entire body glowing with blood red chakra. Naruto looked at his hands and cried out in agony as they stung painfully.
His entire body burned as if it was on fire causing the boy to fall off of his bed and land on the floor. He rolled around in pain as the red chakra began to amplify.
Naruto heard Kyuubi's voice laughing inside of his head as he flailed on the ground, "Lesson number one…Pain! It shall remove your fears and replace it with anger."
'I don't want this…I don't want you!' Naruto inwardly yelled at the beast.
"That's too damn bad! Your suffering will make you powerful!"
(END FLASHBACK)
It was a very gruesome memory the blonde boy had. It was over two years ago, but he still remembered the searing pain his body felt for weeks afterwards. Although true to his word, Kyuubi's chakra did pay off for Naruto.
The jinchuuriki felt his chakra pools deepen dramatically, and the fox's chakra completely intertwined with his own. That allowed Naruto to draw upon Kyuubi's power whenever he needed it. Although Naruto had never dared to use it, remembering the pain he suffered from it.
Naruto reluctantly kept his encounter with Kyuubi a complete secret from everybody. Although, Jiraiya did notice a significant change in the boy when he was able to master new jutsus much faster due to his ability to mass produce shadow clones and practice.
'Even Jiraiya probably doesn't know my full strength…' Naruto thought to himself.
"Are you okay Naruto?" Sakura asked worried as she put a hand on the blonde's shoulder. Naruto looked at the pink haired girl and smiled, "Of course Sakura-chan! I was just thinking."
"What were you thinking about?" Sakura pestered as she got closer to the blonde. He looked at her curiously and raised a brow as she smiled at him.
"Nothing important…" Naruto sighed.
"C'mon Naruto! Why all the secrets? You can't honestly expect me to go out with a guy who refuses to open up at all," Sakura whined.
"Leave him alone harpy…" Sasuke cut in dryly. The pink girl glared at Sasuke angrily and stuck her tongue out at the Uchiha, "You don't own him! Let him speak for himself!"
Kakashi sighed as he looked back at the two girls. Tazuna looked over towards Kakashi and whispered, "What is up with these girls of yours?"
The copy nin shrugged as he looked back at the two girls standing on either side of Naruto, "I don't know…"
"So where to now?" Naruto asked as he looked over towards Tazuna.
"Now kid…we're going to go see my family before I have another near death experience. It's not that far from here," Tazuna answered cheerfully.
Naruto smiled and replied, "Lead the way!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Upon finally reaching Tazuna's house, team seven was greeted warmly by a woman standing at the doorway, "Father, I'm glad to see you're okay. With all the sightings of missing nin lately, I had assumed the worst."
Tazuna ran up and hugged the woman tightly, "It is good to see you safe Tsunami. Without the help of these brave Konoha ninjas I would be dead right now."
Suddenly, a little boy ran out of the house and tackled the old man's leg hugging him fiercely, "Grandpa!"
"Inari…good to see you my boy," Tazuna said with a smile.
Tsunami examined the Konoha nin and looked over towards Tazuna, "Are we having guests tonight father?"
The man nodded his head, "These people have already saved my life twice. They are welcome here."
Tsunami smiled at Team Seven and invited them inside of the house, "Come in you brave souls. I was just in the middle of cooking dinner…you can go unwind in the guest bedrooms if you want."
"Thank you Tsunami-san for inviting us into your home," Sakura said warmly. "We sincerely appreciate it, thanks," Naruto added as he sat down.
Sasuke and Kakashi silently nodded at the woman as the group all sat down around the main room.
Tazuna took a seat next to Naruto and Kakashi as his daughter cooked dinner a short distance away. "Wow…I gotta say that you Konoha types are alright," Tazuna remarked.
"We try to live up to the expectations that our Hokage demands," Kakashi replied.
Tazuna looked over at his daughter in the kitchen and chuckled, "Tsunami, you're never going to believe it, but we have a celebrity in our house!"
The woman looked curiously at her father as he pointed at Kakashi. The masked jounin modestly chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head, "Well, I am not that famous…"
"This is the copy nin Kakashi and his three students!" Tazuna remarked.
Tsunami looked impressed, "Copy-nin Kakashi? I've heard about you…aren't you the son of white fang?"
Kakashi had a straight emotionless look on his face. His silence left an uneasy tension in the air. After a long awkward silence, Tazuna spoke up again, "So anyways, you and Inari should hear about what these guys did to protect me."
Inari sat right next to his grandpa and was glaring at the Konoha shinobi.
Tsunami looked at her son and sternly spoke, "It's rude to stare son…these people are ninjas. They saved your grandfather from the bad men."
The child silently continued to stare. Tazuna took a deep breath and began to speak again, "So anyways, the first time they saved me is when these two scary guys with chains and gauntlets came out of a puddle in the road. I thought I was done for but then these kids actually saved me. Then they fought off Zabuza the Demon of the Mist!"
Inari looked skeptically at the two girls and Naruto and shouted, "No way! That's a lie grandpa!"
"He's not lying kid…I killed two of them," Naruto said darkly.
Everybody looked concerned at Naruto's change of tone. "How could you do that! That makes you no better than the bad men!" Inari shouted at Naruto.
The blonde sighed deeply and shook his head, "No, it wasn't like that…I need some air."
Without another word, Naruto got up and left the building. Tazuna shook his head at the sight and sighed, "That boy is really something else, Kakashi-san…does he normally act like this?"
Kakashi shook his head, "No…Naruto is normally optimistic and cheerful. I guess killing those assassins affected him more than he would probably admit."
"I'll go check on him…" Sasuke said as she immediately got up and left. "Like hell you will! I'm coming too!" Sakura yelled. The Uchiha girl shrugged, "Whatever…"
As the two genin left the house, Tsunami spoke up fearfully, "It's getting late…are you sure those three will okay by themselves out there?"
"Tsunami, relax…those kids are official ninja, they'll be fine," Tazuna said.
The woman sat down at the table and looked over at Kakashi's distant face, "What is troubling you Kakashi-kun?"
The masked man lazily looked over towards the woman and sighed, "I got captured earlier by Zabuza in a water prison…I would have been dead if it wasn't for my students."
Tsunami looked shocked, "No way, it's hard to imagine somebody as powerful as you getting captured."
Kakashi nodded his head, "Yes…I didn't see it coming and he trapped me. If I was assigned to a regular group of genin then we would all be dead right now."
"Don't beat yourself Kakashi-kun…I'm sure you taught them well," Tsunami commented optimistically. Kakashi looked down shamefully and sighed, "I haven't really taught them anything…they are all products of different teachings."
Tazuna nodded his head and elaborated, "The blonde boy was special trained by one of the sannin! He said so himself!"
"Really now?" Tsunami asked impressed. Inari looked confused, "What's a sannin mommy?"
Kakashi answered the boy, "The sannin are the three legendary pupils of Hiruzen Sarutobi…they are all renown for being extremely powerful and for their special summons."
"That's amazing!" Tsunami said, "Maybe it's a miracle that delivered heroes such as yourselves to our village in this time of desperate need."
Inari got angry upon hearing his mother's comment and ran out the door.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto was wandering through the run down village. He saw children on the streets and looked away painfully as brief flashes of his past came into his head.
The jinchuuriki's mind wandered to the two chunin he killed several days ago. Their deaths were necessary, but for some reason, Naruto felt extremely guilty about killing them. Of course his guilt didn't go unnoticed. Nothing he ever went unnoticed by Kyuubi.
"Why are you moping over this bullshit? Get over yourself kit!"
'I killed those men…they may have deserved to die, but am I any better by killing them?' Naruto asked the demon fox.
The fox sighed at his question and replied, "This is the truth…only the strongest survive. You don't need to repress this! Take in everything you see…everything you do! The truth is an ugly beast lurking beneath the surface of a intricately spun web of lies."
'The beast is brutal and terrifying just like the truth…but to understand the beast is to master it.' Naruto finished.
The fox chuckled at Naruto's words, "I'm glad to see that some of my lessons have stuck with you…but are you just speaking the words or do you truly understand them?"
Naruto remained silent for a moment before replying, 'Why should words matter anyways? I killed those two guys…that makes me just as wrong as they are! What's to stop me from becoming bad?'
The Kyuubi huffed in irritation at the boy, "You need to understand the truth of the world. 'Good' and 'evil' are nonexistent. Killing isn't wrong…it is necessary to survive. I'll leave you alone with that thought…never forget it!"
Naruto wandered all the way through the village and was now in the woods. He looked around curiously, 'I guess I lost track of where I was going…better turn back now.'
Naruto sighed as he looked around. The forest was dead silent…he remembered an important lesson Asuma had told him. When the forest was silent, it was trying to warn you.
The blonde immediately pulled out his trench knives and yelled loudly, "Don't even think that you can ambush me!"
Upon hearing the boy's comment, a large group of bandits leapt from the bushes and trees surrounding Naruto. The all laughed at the sight of the blonde.
"Hey what do we have here? A kid wandering in the forest all by himself at night?" A random bandit laughed.
"Killing people is unavoidable if you're going to be a strong ninja…wipe these fools out now!" The bijou ordered fiercely.
Naruto channeled wind chakra over trench knives and coldly looked over the group of bandits before him. They all looked shocked at the sight of Naruto's blades glowing blue.
Then all of a sudden, the boy's entire body glowed blue as he walked towards the bandits, "Don't make me kill you…"
The bandits looked horrified at the sight, but nevertheless began to charge the boy. He parried and dodged all of their clumsy attacks effortlessly.
"This is your final warning…leave now or you will all die," Naruto said.
"This is your final warning…leave now or you will all die,"
Naruto would occasionally say things in sync with Kyuubi. It was a nasty side effect. He felt subtle influences of the demon fox constantly eating away at his every waking thought.
His demonic voice terrified the bandits as they backed away. Naruto's eyes then turned red as he calmly walked closer.
"By the gods! He's a monster!" One man shouted as the bandits began to scramble running away horrified.
Most of them escaped, but one man was unlucky as Naruto imbedded him against a tree with his trench knives. The man's shirt was sticking to the side of a tree and looked worried as Naruto inched closer towards him.
"Tell me who your leader is…and where is your hideout?" Naruto demanded in his normal voice.
The bandit shook in terror as the blonde's red eyes stared into his own.
"Answer me!" Naruto shouted. Without wasting another second, the man did as commanded, "O-Our…b-b-base is on the northern-eastern end of the island in the ruins of the whirlpool village."
"You're going to take me there right now!" Naruto shouted at the man. The man began to burst into tears and shook his head, "They'll kill me though…"
Naruto looked at him and sighed, "I won't let them kill you…just show me where this base is."
His change in tone caused the man to settle down and relax. He reluctantly nodded his head, "I'll…I'll show you where it is. But I am not going inside. They'll kill me on sight when they find out I brought you there."
"Then we don't have a lot of time for you to complain now do we?" Naruto asked.
The man sighed deeply, "You must be one of those Konoha shinobi we keep hearing about…Zabuza-sama said that the Copy-nin Kakashi was here with a genin team. Are you sure you want to go there alone?"
Naruto shrugged as pulled his knives from the man's clothes, "I'll be fine…take me there immediately before your superiors have time to find out."
The man fearfully obeyed the blonde and began to lead him towards the base.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sasuke and Sakura walked back into the house and shook their heads simultaneously at Kakashi, "There's no sign of Naruto, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said worried.
Sasuke nodded in agreement, "We were able to identify several sightings of him, but the villagers here refused to say anything beyond the fact that they saw him."
Kakashi shook his head worried, "It has been four hours…what could have happened to him?"
All of a sudden, Inari ran into the house and shouted, "I heard some bad men talking! They said they saw a demon with red eyes in the forest!"
Everybody in the room looked confused at the boy's comment. Kakashi immediately understood what that meant, 'That must be Naruto…what if his seal broke?.'
Kakashi looked at his two pupils and sighed, "You two must stay here and protect Tazuna at all costs…his survival is the primary objective of this mission. I'm going to go find Naruto and investigate this so called demon. Please stay here you two," Kakashi spoke urgently.
Sasuke nodded in response, "We'll stay and watch them, Kakashi-sensei…please be quick and find Naruto."
Kakashi immediately left the two genin alone in the house with Tazuna and his family.
"What if he was kidnapped?" Sakura shouted worried. Sasuke looked somewhat amused at the concept and shook her head, "No…it seems more likely that Naruto went on a recon mission."
"Kakashi-kun looked pretty worried…" Tsunami commented as she shook her head concerned.
Sasuke sighed as she leaned against a wall, 'I can't believe I am stuck baby sitting Barbie ninja and this family of whiners. I should be out there looking for Naruto…or helping him.'
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, Naruto and his hostage had finally reached the entrance to the bandit base. Naruto looked at him and asked, "So who can I expect to find inside?"
"Gato was here recently, but this area is mostly where Zabuza-sama resides," The man said fearfully.
"You said this used to be a village?" Naruto asked.
The bandit nodded in response, "This is the remains of Uzushiogakure…a large portion of the village was burned down, but this area is the main stronghold that used to belong to the Uzumaki Clan."
'Uzumaki Clan? Am I related to these people? No way…' Naruto thought as he examined the area.
"You're free to go…I suggest you move to Konoha and become a carpenter or something. You won't want to be a bandit anymore," Naruto spoke darkly.
"Are you bipolar kid? One moment you're evil and the next you're nice…then you're evil again." The bandit asked.
Naruto didn't bother responding as he casually walked towards the semi-demolished remains of the Uzumaki Compound. Upon entering the building, he noticed a large amount of intricate artwork hanging on the walls.
On the far wall, a massive painting hung of a red haired woman.
The room was very dusty, but Naruto was able to make out the name inscribed on a plate below the portrait, 'Mito Uzumaki…founder of the Uzumaki Clan and wife of the First Hokage.'
Naruto looked at the portrait awestruck for a moment until realization hit him, 'No way! that would mean…I'm related to the first and second Hokages!'
Naruto looked at the portrait proudly examining the woman with pride, 'Wow…her hair is really red.'
"I remember her…" Kyuubi said distantly. Naruto didn't bother asking the fox how, because most of the time Kyuubi refused to tell him anything.
Naruto began to examine the room thoroughly and saw a staircase on the far wall leading downstairs. The blonde followed it cautiously as he looked around for guards.
Much to his surprise, the place was fairly empty. As he got deeper underground, he noticed several bandits and decided to follow them. He expertly trailed behind the clumsy bandits following them through the maze like basement of the compound.
Finally, they reached an open room with a window overlooking the coast of the island. Naruto carefully peeked around the corner and saw Zabuza lying on a bed with his sword in his hand. Next to him was a pale but pretty caramel eyed girl with long dark flowing hair. (AN. Haku is a girl damn it!)
Naruto watched the scene unfold interested. The bandits walked over towards Zabuza and spoke up, "Z-Zabuza-sama…there was this demon in the woods and it nearly killed us!"
The swordsman looked at the man without an ounce of pity and laughed, "Why are you telling me? That's none of my concern…"
Another bandit interrupted the swordsman, "You don't understand Zabuza-sama! It was this blonde kid with a Konoha headband…he was all glowing and spoke in an evil voice!"
Zabuza looked annoyed, "Did you just interrupt me? I don't like it when useless bandits interrupt me!" The swordsman stood up and grabbed said bandit by his throat slamming him against the wall.
The others got on there knees and cowered fearfully as the swordsman shook his head without remorse, "You stupid idiots…you could have led him here!"
Upon hearing that comment, Naruto instantly snuck away from the door and further down the hall. He looked around the corner and saw the three bandits running away in fear as Zabuza and Haku came out of the room.
Naruto hid in a nearby empty room and watched the missing nin walk upstairs. 'This is my chance to check that room for anything relevant…' Naruto thought as he silently crept around the corner and snuck into Zabuza's room.
He didn't notice anything out of the ordinary about the room other than a massive vault on the far wall. The door to the vault was open and inside Naruto saw a lot of expensive looking things. Although one thing in particular caught his eye and that was a scroll.
The blonde picked it up opened it briefly reading the contents, 'Uzumaki Bloodlines…holy shit! I am so keeping this.'
Naruto quickly looked around for anything else of interest, but all of a sudden, he heard a shriek from behind. He turned around and charged towards the source with his blades drawn. He saw a random bandit looking at him horrified.
"You can't take chances with this guy…throw him out the window!"
Naruto did as the fox commanded and kicked the bandit out of the massive window. Afterwards, he leapt out himself and climbed to the roof of the compound. 'I better get out of here before Zabuza shows up again…' Naruto thought desperately as he ran away.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Kakashi was following a trail left by several bandits. As he ran swiftly along, a flash of yellow suddenly caught his eye as he saw Naruto dashing towards him from the side, "Kakashi-sensei, there you are! I found out where Zabuza's base is!"
The jounin stopped in his tracks as he examined the blonde. He looked closely for anything out of the ordinary, but didn't identify any signs of battle or injury. Kakashi took a deep breath and shook his head, "You had everyone worried…what were you thinking wandering off on a midnight recon mission?"
"Yeah it's pretty dangerous out here…" Naruto commented. Kakashi looked at the blonde curiously, "Why were you out looking for Zabuza's base anyways? Our priority is not to kill him, but to protect Tazuna until the bridge is built."
"Well I got attacked by a bunch of bandits and I figured it would be a good chance to find out where the enemy is coming from…" Naruto answered.
"I didn't realize that you were part of Anbu…" Kakashi joked as he shook his head.
"I'm not though," The blonde replied. Kakashi nodded and laughed, "It was a joke, Naruto…anyways, what did you find out about their base?"
Before Naruto could answer, Kyuubi spoke up, "Don't tell him…he'll take that scroll away from you."
'What are you talking about? Kakashi-sensei is trustworthy!' Naruto inwardly responded.
After a few moments Naruto answered, "I found this strange compound in the ruins near the north eastern part of the island. The bandit who brought me there said it used to be part of the Whirlpool Village."
Kakashi thought for a moment, 'No…he can't learn about his clan…that's only asking for trouble.'
"Did you go inside?" Kakashi asked slightly worried. Naruto nodded his head honestly, "Yes…I wasn't there for long though."
'Maybe he didn't find out…I can't let him go anywhere near that place again,' Kakashi thought desperately.
"Something wrong, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.
"Naruto I don't want you going anywhere near that place again…do you understand?" Kakashi asked completely serious.
Naruto looked at him curiously, "Why though? Now we can take the fight to Zabuza and don't have to wait around for him to attack us again."
"Just please don't do it, Naruto…that place is very dangerous," Kakashi said.
'Is he trying to keep me from finding out about my clan?' Naruto wondered.
After a moment, he nodded respectfully, "Okay, Kakashi-sensei…I won't go near it anymore."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
When Kakashi and Naruto finally walked through the door of Tazuna's House, everybody got excited. "Naruto! You idiot! What in the world were you thinking wandering off by yourself all night!" Sakura shouted.
Sasuke stepped in front of the boy and had a coy smile on her face, "Did you have a nice walk?"
"The three of you should get some sleep now…I'll stay up and watch the house," Kakashi said.
Naruto yawned in agreement, "I guess I didn't realize how tired I was. Goodnight everybody," Naruto said as he walked upstairs and headed to his room.
Tsunami looked concerned at the boy's attitude, "Are you sure he's okay, Kakashi-kun?"
Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna all eyed the jounin awaiting his response.
"Naruto's just tired…you can ask him about his little walk tomorrow if you want. Sasuke, Sakura, I recommend you two go and get some sleep as well."
Sakura nodded at the masked man and headed upstairs. Sakura hated to admit it, but She was genuinely concerned for Naruto at the moment, 'He's gone all night…then he comes back with Kakashi and pretends like nothing happened. Maybe there's something going on?'
Sasuke looked at the copy nin and shook her head, "You seem a bit concerned Kakashi-sensei."
The masked jounin instantly returned to his usual lazy look and shrugged, "Not anymore…anyways from here on out I want the three of you to keep a close watch on each other. I don't want any of you wandering around by yourselves out here."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, Naruto was reading the scroll he stole up in his room. It was very elaborate showing how to perform Uzumaki bloodline jutsus.
'Lava and Steam Release…how does this work exactly?' Naruto thought to himself. The jinchuuriki didn't bother going to sleep as he read over the contents of the scroll:
To perform the Lava and Steam Release Bloodlines, one must be related to the Uzumaki Clan. Lava is created by combining earth and fire elements. Steam is created from the combination of Fire and Water.
Naruto shook his head in confusion, 'What the hell? I thought that a ninja could only have two elemental affinities…Jiraiya-sensei said so himself! How in the world am I going to do this?'
Naruto had no clue how to combine elements and closed the scroll frustrated, 'I'm gonna need some time to figure out how this works…' The blonde proceeded to conceal his scroll and lie back down on his bed. Suddenly, he heard a knock at the door.
"Come in," he said casually as he stared at the ceiling. Entering the room, was none other than Kakashi. He walked over towards Naruto and crossed his arms, "I was just checking on you…do you want to talk about earlier?"
"I'm just not feeling well after that encounter with those guys I killed," Naruto admitted. Kakashi looked empathetically at the genin and sighed, "I understand the feeling…still though you shouldn't let stuff like that consume you. What's done is done."
Naruto glanced at Kakashi sadly and asked, "Well what's to stop me from becoming like them? I don't want to be a killer."
The masked nin thought for a moment and sat down on Naruto's bed next to him.
"Naruto, things like that will happen from time to time. As long as you have a noble purpose such as protecting someone or something important to you, then you'll retain your humanity," Kakashi said sincerely.
Naruto felt a lot better after hearing his sensei's words. He smiled at the man and spoke up, "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei…I'll remember that."
The jounin nodded as he got up and made his way out of Naruto's room, "Goodnight, Naruto."
As he closed the door, Kakashi shook his head sadly, 'Minato-sensei…I really wish you were here.'
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The next day, Naruto was the first person awake. He didn't get much sleep as usual and decided to go out for some air. As he walked outside, he heard a familiar voice, "Going out for a walk, Naruto?"
He turned towards the source and saw Sasuke leaning against the wall.
"You're up pretty early Sasuke…" the blonde noted as he walked over towards the girl. She eyed him curiously and crossed her arms, "Mind if I go with you?"
"Well…I…" Naruto began.
Sasuke interrupted him, "Good, let's go right now before the others wake up."
Naruto reluctantly nodded his head as he and Sasuke began to go on a walk. They headed through the village and towards the bridge. Naruto sighed inwardly, 'How am I going to practice this scroll if Sasuke trails me all day?'
The Uchiha girl kept glancing over at Naruto and stared at him. He would occasionally catch her doing so causing the girl to look away. This continued for a while until they reached the bridge. "Naruto…how did you end up as Jiraiya's apprentice?"
The blonde looked over at the raven haired girl and shrugged, "It was strange…he just found me one day on top of the Hokage heads. I don't really know how it happened."
"You're a great big puzzle to me Naruto…the more I try to solve you the more complex you become," Sasuke sighed as she looked at the ground.
Naruto stopped in his tracks and looked over the side of the bridge. He exhaled deeply as he looked over towards the Uchiha girl, "Ever since we've become team mates, you have been a lot nicer to me…why?"
Sasuke remained quiet as she walked over towards the boy. Naruto eyed her curiously awaiting a response.
'This is my chance…maybe I should tell him. No! I won't let myself become weak…what would Itachi say?'
After a long awkward silence the Uchiha girl spoke, "Don't go off thinking anything Uzumaki…you and I are rivals. I only pay you respect because I know you're strong."
Naruto looked put off by her comment, "Oh…I thought we were becoming friends or something. Guess I was wrong. If you hate me so much then why did you want to go on a walk with me?"
"You were wrong…we're just squad mates and nothing more! Stop trying to be my friend!" Sasuke shouted coldly. Naruto sighed as he began to walk away, "Fine…have it your way Sasuke."
'What the hell was I thinking? I can't let myself get all worked up over some boy…I have to become powerful so that I can kill Itachi and avenge my clan!' Sasuke thought angrily.
The raven haired girl watched the sun rising in the distance and sighed, 'Damn it! What the hell did I just do…now he's going to hate me forever.'
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
True to his word, Naruto didn't go near the Uzumaki Compound again. He knew that Kakashi didn't want him to find out about his clan, but he didn't know why.
The next week was very boring for Team Seven as they guarded Tazuna and his workers who were building the bridge.
There was an occasional bandit group that would come by and threaten its production, but they immediately fled at the sight of Kakashi.
The bridge was nearing completion way ahead of schedule due to Naruto's army of shadow clones. His team was completely surprised by it. Sakura in general was completely blown away saying that his chakra levels had to be enormous.
"This is amazing…at this rate the bridge should be finished by tomorrow!" Tazuna cheered. The old man had taken a great liking towards Naruto. The boy's invaluable assistance in building the bridge greatly affected the morale of Tazuna's workers.
This optimism was contagious as it gave the village a feeling of hope.
"This is going great Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cheered as she sat down next to the real Naruto. The masked man lazily looked up from his book and nodded, "You're right…although I am honestly surprised that Zabuza hasn't shown up again."
"He'll be here…" Naruto said as he stretched.
Everybody around him looked oddly at the boy. "What makes you say that?" Sakura asked. The jinchuuriki shrugged in response, "Normally when things start going super well, something bad happens to mess it all up."
Kakashi looked at the blonde and sighed, 'He's not just talking about the bridge…it must be Sasuke. The two of them haven't said a word to each other in days.'
"You worry too much kid, this feels like one of those days where absolutely nothing could go wrong!" Tazuna cheered.
As if inviting trouble, a heavy shroud of mist began to cover the bridge. Everybody looked around curiously at the sight.
"What in the world? Why is it misty? I thought today was going to be sunny…" Tazuna said clueless.
Kakashi looked around alertly and looked at Naruto, "Dispel those clones…we've got company."
Naruto did as commanded. He felt the familiar overwhelming surge of drowsiness hit him upon doing so, but nevertheless regained his composure.
Sasuke walked over towards the group and refused to look at Naruto as she spoke, "Kakashi-sensei…is it Zabuza?"
The masked man nodded his head, "Yes…it has to be."
Tazuna looked worried, "Why did I have go and jinx this perfect day?"
The workers instantly fled as they saw a figure wearing a black outfit with a massive sword walking across the bridge. It was hard to spot him, but through the mist, Kakashi recognized Zabuza.
The swordsman drew his massive blade as he approached and grinned, "Good to see you again, copy-nin Kakashi."
"You won't be getting away this time," Kakashi stated seriously. Zabuza laughed at the masked man and shook his head, "You Konoha ninja are pretty damn arrogant! By the way which one of you fuckers broke into my base?"
Zabuza looked over the group for Naruto and spotted him in the back. The two briefly made eye contact. Zabuza saw the blonde burst into a grin, "You and your pathetic squad of kids are going to die Kakashi!"
"That's where you're wrong…this time I am not going to hold back against you," Kakashi said as he lifted his headband revealing his Sharingan eye.
Zabuza laughed as another figure appeared next to him, "This time I'm not alone…let's see how well your dream team kids can handle Haku!"
Haku immediately threw a large number of senbon needles towards Naruto. The blonde deflected and dodged most of them and began to back away as Haku charged towards him.
Kakashi looked over at Sasuke, "Help Naruto out! I can handle Zabuza!" The Uchiha nodded and ran after them.
"Sakura guard Tazuna with your life!" Kakashi ordered. The pink haired girl nodded her head as she stepped in front of Tazuna.
"Now it's just you and me Kakashi!" Zabuza laughed as he drew his sword and looked at the masked man fiercely. Zabuza immediately leapt towards the jounin and smashed his blade towards him.
Kakashi managed to evade the overhead smash and ducked as Zabuza spun his blade around. Kakashi stabbed his kunai towards the swordsman but was unsuccessful as Zabuza kicked his arm.
The swordsman did a back hand spring and laughed at Kakashi, "Come on copy-nin…I thought that Sharingan of yours was super powerful?"
Kakashi had trouble finding Zabuza in the shroud of mist. He looked over towards Sakura and Tazuna worried as he saw Zabuza charging the pink haired girl.
Sakura fearfully awaited the attack but was relieved as Kakashi kicked Zabuza's wrist knocking his sword a considerable distance away. He barely had time to dodge a hail of shuriken from Kakashi as he ran to retrieve his sword.
As he got to it, he saw Kakashi pick the blade up and throw it over the edge of the bridge. Zabuza looked pissed upon seeing his sword fly over the edge and dove after it.
Meanwhile with Haku, Naruto, Sasuke, the two genin were parrying ice needles from random directions in the misty battleground.
Naruto had his trench knives drawn and dove towards random directions searching for Haku. He remained close to Sasuke and covered the Uchiha's flanks from a majority of the attacks. Suddenly, a large dome of ice mirrors surrounded the two genin as they looked around confused.
Haku appeared in every single one of them and began to launch a barrage of ice needles from all directions towards the two. Sasuke went through the customary hand seals and shouted, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" (Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu)
The large fireball enveloped the needles in all directions and scorched several of Haku's ice mirrors. Unfortunately, the fire was not effective against Haku's mirrors as they solidified again.
Then suddenly, Haku fired another barrage of ice needles and leapt from an adjacent mirror and fired a lance of ice towards the blonde. Naruto went through several hand seals to counter the projectiles, "Fūton: Daitoppa!" (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)
Unfortunately for Naruto, he didn't notice the ice lance and got impaled in the back by it causing him to fall down in pain. Sasuke looked at Naruto worried as the boy fell to the ground. She launched another fireball to scorch Haku's attacks and knelt down beside him, "Don't die Naruto! Stand up!"
The Uchiha girl suddenly got angry as Naruto coughed up blood. She stood up angrily and her eyes began to turn red unveiling her Sharingan.
Haku was surprised by this was shocked to see the Uchiha's movement speed up drastically as she dodged all of the ice needles.
Sasuke drew a fuma shuriken and threw it at a nearby mirror cracking its surface. She then fired another fireball towards the cracked mirror and leapt towards it shattering the mirror completely. Haku was unable to stop Sasuke as she repeated this process opening a hold in Haku's attack range.
Naruto managed to stand up and looked around for Haku, but was surprised as the girl appeared behind him holding a senbon needle over his neck.
"Back away or your friend dies…" Haku said as she walked towards Sasuke. The Uchiha reluctantly did so and watched in shock as Haku stuck the needle into Naruto's back and pushed him off the side of the bridge.
Sasuke immediately took the opportunity to charge the girl, but was blocked as Haku created an ice mirror. Then, there was dead silence as the raven haired girl looked around for Haku.
She cautiously eyed the surrounding area until Kakashi appeared next to her. The copy nin looked at the Uchiha girl and asked, "Where is Naruto? Where is Zabuza's companion?"
The Uchiha looked around angrily, "Naruto is in the water! He's in trouble!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Underneath the bridge, Zabuza was just resurfacing with his sword in hand. He saw Naruto falling over the edge of the bridge but was surprised as the genin landed on the water. He looked towards the blonde and laughed as Naruto spotted him.
"Which one of you Konoha bitches broke into my vault and stole my scroll!" Zabuza demanded as he glared at the blonde. Naruto pulled the senbon needle out of his back and laughed, "You mean the scroll I stole?"
Zabuza looked dumbfounded, "How did a kid like you break into my room?"
"It must be an Uzumaki trait or something…that scroll rightfully belongs to me," Naruto answered.
"Like hell it does!" Zabuza shouted as he went through hand seals, "Suiton Suihashu!" (Water Wave Hand)
Naruto avoided the blast, but Zabuza continued to trail him with it. Thinking fast, he dove towards Zabuza and shouted, "Fūton: Daitoppa!" (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)
The pressure from Naruto's wind attack negated the water redirecting it back towards Zabuza. As Naruto landed next to the swordsman, he received a powerful kick to the face sending him flying.
The genin slid across the surface of the water but regained his footing in time to notice Zabuza preparing another attack, "Suiton Daibakufu no Jutsu!" (Grand Waterfall Technique)
Naruto was completely washed away by the attack and smashed against the side of one the bridge supports. Seizing this opportunity, Zabuza charged towards the blonde with his sword raised. As he brought it down full force, Kakashi managed to block it.
The swordsman looked angry and reared back for another swing. However before he could connect, Naruto hit him with an attack, "Suiton Suiryuuben!" (Water Dragon Whip)
A whirling sphere of water circled over Naruto's head. Kakashi copied Naruto's jutsu and did one himself. The two huge water spheres spun powerfully as they both lashed towards Zabuza. The swordsman high tailed it away from the two ninja and climbed up on the bridge again.
Kakashi looked at a panting Naruto and spoke urgently, "Go help Sasuke, I'll finish him off!"
The blonde nodded his head and made his way onto the bridge again. When Naruto got up there, he saw Haku firing a barrage of ice needles towards Tazuna. He saw Sasuke guarding Tazuna with an unconscious Sakura lying nearby imbedded with several ice needles.
Haku then surrounded Sasuke with a bunch of ice mirrors again. However, much to Sasuke's utter relief, Naruto and Kakashi smashed through two of them and guarded the Uchiha from the hail of ice.
Kakashi held his arm up and motioned for everybody to stand back as he went through more hand seals. His hand began to charge with lightning afterwards and he began to smash random mirrors.
Naruto and Sasuke helped him out by combining their wind and fire again. Finally, only one mirror remained. The blonde drew his trench knives and threw both full force smashing the mirror and blasting Haku out of it.
The mist began to clear as the last mirror was shattered, and team seven could see Zabuza standing in front of the defeated Haku.
"I've gotta hand it to you Kakashi…you sure did train these kids well. That blonde one in particular…I had no idea he was an Uzumaki," Zabuza stated.
"Why would that matter?" Sasuke asked as she looked at the blonde.
Zabuza shook his head and laughed, "Don't tell me you haven't heard about the Uzumaki Clan? They were…"
"ENOUGH! Let us end this!" Kakashi shouted as he charged a chidori in his hand.
Before anybody made another move, they all heard a loud laugh sounding from a distance. Everybody looked over to see Gato and a large group of thugs standing on the bridge.
"Looks like you failed Zabuza…I always knew you were worthless. I guess it was too much to hope for that you would all kill each other," the short man said.
Zabuza looked pissed, "Gato? What the hell are you talking about?"
"Hahaha, I was never going to pay you…and now that you've all weakened each other up, I can kill you all and destroy the production of this bridge!"
The swordsman did not look happy. He looked over towards Kakashi and sighed, "We're no longer enemies, Kakashi. I have no reason to fight you and your team any longer."
The swordsman drew his blade and walked towards Gato and his men with a terrifying glare, "You want to kill me? Come and try!"
The business man looked terrified as Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke followed him towards the group of bandits.
Naruto stood next to Zabuza and spoke up, "I hope some of you remember me!"
Several of the men recognized Naruto and looked terrified, "Oh by the gods! It's the demon kid!"
They barely had time to say anything else as Zabuza cleaved through waves of bandits with his sword. He killed a good majority of them as he made his way to Gato.
The crime lord was petrified as Zabuza impaled him against the side of the bridge with his massive sword.
"Nobody double crosses me!" Zabuza shouted angrily as he drew his sword and walked away from the man. The remaining bandits fled in fear upon seeing Gato die.
As the scene began to calm down, Zabuza walked back over towards Haku with a distant look on his face. He picked the girl up bridal style and examined her injuries.
'Good…she's still alive,' Zabuza sighed in relief.
Team seven walked behind the swordsman and eyed him curiously. He turned around with Haku in his arms and sighed, "You won't have to worry about us anymore…Haku and I are done with this place," Zabuza said.
Kakashi nodded his head and sighed, "This mission is off the record anyways…we never saw you,"
There was a brief silence before Tazuna looked at Kakashi curiously, "Are you going to let him go? He tried to kill us!"
"I'm just a mercenary…I could care less about your bridge or any of you," Zabuza responded distantly.
"This isn't right…that man is a criminal!" Tazuna shouted in disbelief.
"It was an honor meeting you copy-nin Kakashi…I hope I never see you again," Zabuza stated as he began to walk away. The masked jounin remained silent as he watched Zabuza walking into the distance. Tazuna shook his head at the man and sighed, "I hope you know what you're doing…"
"Well at least the bridge can be completed now…" Sasuke said as she looked around. Kakashi nodded and walked over towards the unconscious Sakura. He picked up the pink haired girl and looked around, "Naruto take Sakura back to Tazuna's house so she can recover."
"I'm going to spread the word to the townspeople that Gato is dead. We'll have this bridge finished by tomorrow!" Tazuna said cheerfully.
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The following day was spent finishing the bridge up. Everybody in the small village decided to chip in and help Tazuna's workers and team seven due to the heroic actions they showed. Although Naruto's shadow clones were a significant part of the process.
Team Seven stood proudly next to Tazuna as he announced the bridge's completion to the town. Sakura, who had recovered from her recent injuries stood with her team.
"Good people, today we have finally completed the bridge! The criminal lord Gato is gone and all of the thugs have been run out of our town!" Tazuna announced cheerfully.
A loud chorus of cheers and whistles erupted after Tazuna's announcement.
He nodded proudly and held his hand up as he continued, "However, we would not have accomplished this outstanding feat without the help of these brave Konoha shinobi. Let there names be forever remembered as the heroes of Wave Country!"
Another explosion of cheers followed Tazuna's words as he held his arm out pointing towards the four Konoha ninjas.
"We owe our eternal gratitude towards the mighty Copy-nin Kakashi, the esteemed Sasuke Uchiha, the beautiful Sakura Haruno, and lastly to the boy who made the greatest contribution to the bridge's construction, Naruto Uzumaki!"
Applause followed the acknowledgement as the villagers began to chant, "Nar-u-to! Nar-u-to!"
Tazuna smiled as he continued, "To honor these brave defenders, I hereby name this the Great Naruto Bridge! Also the names of his great comrades shall forever be emblazoned below it!"
Naruto looked modest for once in his life. The boy wasn't used to massive acknowledgement or being a hero. 'He named the bridge after me?' Naruto thought to himself as he felt his eyes water. He blinked away his tears and waved proudly towards the adoring crowd.
The rest of his team excluding Kakashi were surprised at the bridge's name. 'No way…a bridge named after Naruto?' Sakura thought.
'Better him than me…fame is an overrated double-edged sword.' Sasuke thought as she eyed her blonde team mate.
Naruto noticed Sasuke looking at him and managed to catch her eye. The two genin held eye contact briefly until Sasuke looked away.
Naruto was slightly discouraged by Sasuke's attitude lately. He had really taken a liking to his new team mate, but her condescending behavior of not acknowledging him lately really took its toll. Not to mention he was still upset about the fight they had a week ago.
"Well, we need to return to Konoha," Kakashi announced as he motioned for his three pupils to follow him.
Everybody continued to applaud as the four ninjas took their leave. As they walked over the bridge, Tazuna and his family ran to catch up with them. The man panted as he handed a large black bag to Kakashi. The jounin eyed it curiously, "What's this?"
"Just a parting gift from the village. Everybody chipped in to pay you guys what you rightfully deserved for helping us," Tazuna said.
"Sweet!" Naruto cheered as he turned around. Surprisingly for the jinchuuriki though, Tazuna held his hand open, "I never properly thanked you for everything you've done…I was wrong to underestimate an apprentice of Jiraiya."
The blonde sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and laughed, "It's okay. You guys stay safe." Naruto then shook the man's hand.
"You'll always be welcome in my home," Tsunami added as she hugged the individual members of Team Seven. Finally, Inari spoke up, "Come visit us!"
Naruto nodded in response, "I sure will."
After their final goodbyes, team seven finally set out again on their way back home.
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There you go…chapter 2.
I hope you guys liked it. Yes…Naruto's bloodline will be the lava and steam release. I know that is the Mizukage's bloodlines, but they were so cool I decided that Naruto had to have them. I know I didn't do much with Sakura this chapter, but oh well.
Just when you thought Naruto and Sasuke were becoming friends, the infamous wall comes back up and they hate each other again. Fun stuff huh?
By the way, I hope you folks didn't mind what I did with Kyuubi. Like I stated in the summary, this is a dark NaruSasu fic, so that is foreshadowing for you right there.
Well that's all I gotta say…thanks for reading.