Here's chapter two of my Naruto story. I have to thank all of you, on behalf of myself and my partner, Queenofthesapphiredragon, for all of your inspiration in the making of this story. The first night after I posted this freakin' thing, I got fifty-three e-mails relating to this story.
Chapter two: Konohamaru, D-ranks and the Hidden Wave village massacre!
(In the Hokage's office)
Naruto woke up on the couch in the Hokage's, under a blanket and groaned, his head was killing him.
"About time you woke up." Kakashi said as he held out his hand which held a couple of Vicodin, which Naruto gratefully accepted. He looked under the blanket to see that his shirt was gone, along with his ninja pouch that held his Vicodin.
"What did I miss?" He asked after he swallowed the pills. He saw his pouch on the Hokage's desk.
"Not much, really." A woman answered. Naruto looked at the direction of the Hokage's desk to see three adults looking at him. One was a very attractive woman in her mid to late-twenties with red irises and black hair, and other than her eyes, there was nothing unusual about her. There was also a guy that looked similar to the Third due to the brown beard and the cigarrete in his mouth, he looked to be in his early thirties. And finally...
"OH, MY GOD!!!!" Naruto mentally screamed in terror at the sight of the final stranger in the room. He was a man in his mid-thirties wearing a green leotard with orange leg-warmers. His eyebrows were thicker than hell and his hair was a low bowl-cut.
"Is the circus in town? If they are, then someone hide Jin, he's wanted by those assholes. Wait a minute! Where the hell are those two?" Naruto stated, staring at the guy, then looking around the room for his companions. The others sweatdropped as the man with the eyebrows burst into tears.
"Your animals are fine. They're at the Inuzuka compound to get a checkup and to recieve a collar and tag to signify them as leaf-ninja animals. I almost forgot, This is Kurenai Yuhi, a recently promoted jonin," He pointed to the lady who waved at him.
"Aside from the eyes being slightly out of wack, you are probably the most normal-looking person in this room from my point-of-view." He said casually, as though talking to a very beautiful woman didn't affect him at all.
"That's a nice way to say it." She replied.
He gave her his foxy grin before turning back to Kakashi. "This is Asuma Sarutobi, Lord Hokage's son," He continued, he pointed to the bearded guy who puffed out smoke from his mouth and nodded at him.
Naruto narrowed his eyes curiously, which made him look more like a fox, "Aside from the cig. you're second to her." He said, again, casually.
"Nice to know." Asuma said.
"And this...is Might Guy." Kakashi finished miserably. Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion until Guy spoke.
"AH, YOUNG NARUTO-KUN! I HEARD FROM MY ETERNAL RIVAL, KAKASHI, THAT YOU HAVE PROVEN TO BE A QUITE WORTHY ADVERSARY!!!" He, literally, screamed.
Naruto's eyebrow twitched. "Is this guy really a jonin-sensei?" He mentally asked himself.
"I'm not even gonna comment on this dude." He said. Guy did an anime fall as the other jonin chuckled.
"Where's the old man?" Naruto asked when he realized the seat behind the desk was empty.
"He's dealing with the civillian council. They weren't exactly happy with you being given so much political power." Kurenai explained.
"Figures! I don't even know why he keeps them around, all they do is bitch and complain about pretty much every decision he makes." Naruto commented. All the jonin nodded in agreement.
The third walked in before they could converse further.
"Sorry it took so long. They put up quite a fight." He apologized. The other occupants of the room nodded. Naruto removed the blanket and stretched his arms and back. Due to his shirtlessness, everyone noticed that he wasn't exactly thin, he had a lean and slightly muscular figure.
"Hello!" Kurenai thought though she was slightly perturbed at the sight of his half-metallic arm.
"Sorry if the arm bothers any of you. Where's my shirt?" Naruto said. He noticed Kurenai's gaze that went from his figure to his arm.
"That's my fault, I had it sent to a tailor to have a few adjustments made. I have to say, that outfit seemed to fit your situation." Hiruzen commented.
Naruto shrugged. They heard scratching coming from the door and Asuma walked over and opened it. When it opened, Mugen walked in with a bag that had the kanji for "Ichiraku Ramen" in red on the front in his mouth as well as a bandanna with a leaf encrested-plate. He trotted up to Naruto and put the bag down at his feet and began wagging his tail.
"You're getting a whole pig for this!" Naruto declared and scratched him in between the ears. Mugen rolled over and his leg kicked in happiness. An birds screech was heard out the window and they looked outside to see Jin flying twards them with Naruto's sweatshirt in his talons, a leaf encrusted ring was on his right leg. From what Naruto could tell, the hood was changed from black to orange,"Old man knew i'd miss my favorite color." "How the hell did you two get these things for me!?" He asked after putting on his shirt and glove. He then began stroking Jin's neck.
"I gave them the authority and I alerted Ichiraku and the tailors that a certain animal would arrive to retrieve the items in question." Hiruzen ezplained.
"Did they believe you?" Naruto asked before digging into his ramen.
"They do now." He said. Naruto chuckled.
"Now, onto business. Your evaluations of your individual teams?" The third asked the jonin.
"Mine passed, their teamwork isn't anywhere near as efficient as their parents, but after some hardcore training, it should turn out pretty good. Ino's got an attitude that should keep Shikamaru awake long enough to get some work done, Choji's a little soft, but i'll toughen him up. Shikamaru's probably the laziest genin that'll ever be inserted into our ranks, but considering his IQ's over two-hundred, I can't really complain." Asuma stated.
"Mine's not too bad, Hinata's shy and quiet but she's got incredible potential for her age, she just needs to come out of her shell and speak up. Shino's just like the rest of his clan, quiet and logical. He's gonna do great. Kiba might be a problem, he's brash and impatient, not to mention he's got the idea that he's a ladies man. He has considerable tracking skills and his canine-based taijutsu skills are not something to sniff at, no pun intended." Kurenai stated.
"My team barely passed, Sasuke's got an arrogant streak and his thirst for power isn't welcome in the ninja world, he views his teammates like dead weight. He has decent control and stores, taijutsu consists of his family's "Interception fist", he's also capable of using fire style ninjutsu. Sakura's even worse, she's got next-to-no talent and she worships Sasuke like a deity, Her chakra control is above genin level and that means her chakra stores are probably pitiful. She's able to use the academy-level jutsus like any other genin. All-in-all, she's gonna be tough to work with. Naruto here, has terrible chakra control..." A tickmark appeared on Naruto's head. "...meaning his stores are probably beyond jonin. His skills with his weapons aren't like anything i've ever seen before, he has no fluid style but the instinctive way he uses them are incredible, it's like he was born to be a swordsman or weapon specialist. I'd say his combat abilities are mid-chunin level. His animals are capable of fire and wind type jutsu, scared the hell out of me." Kakashi finished embarrasingly.
Hiruzen nodded.
"I actually wanted to talk to the rest of you." Kakashi added. The other jonin gave him their attention. " I wanted to let the rest of you know that I may give Naruto to you for any mission that you wouldn't mind having him for. I'll be trying to work with Sasuke and Sakura, teaching them the values of teamwork. Naruto can, most likely, work with your teams without an incident, cause he's pretty easy to get along with. I just wanted the OK from the rest of you." He said.
The other jonin contemplated.
"I'll take him for a few missions." "Hinata would like that.". Kurenai said.
"Me too." Asuma said.
"My Tenten would like to see your ability to grow weapons and you'd be a good sparring partner for my darling Lee." Gai said joyously.
"Very well, you're all dismissed. Except you, Naruto." The jonin bowed to the Hokage and left the room.
"Kurenai-sensei!" Naruto said to get her attention. She turned to him. "I'd watch your back if I were you, Kiba might try to hump your leg." He advised. She laughed and walked out of the office. Naruto finished his ramen and threw the cup in the trash.
"What's up?" Naruto asked.
"I was curious about your arm's metamorphasis. It's turning more metallic." He said, referring to the metallic forearm and half-metal, half-flesh bicep, shoulder, and shoulder blade.
"I'm not sure, I know about a couple of new abilities called steal and aftertouch. Steal is, pretty much, self-explanatory. Aftertouch lets me control the way my weapons are thrown if they leave my hand. It's only temporary and the thrown weapon will eventually fly back into my hand, if it can't return, it evaporates." Naruto explained. They were interrupted by the door flying open and a small voice shouting, "Today i'll finally beat you, Old man."
Naruto looked at the door to see a boy, roughly eight years-old, with a long blue scarf and a missing tooth. He ran at the hokage with a kunai in his hand. He tripped and Naruto used his metallic webbing to snatch the kunai knife away before he could possibly cut himself upon impact.
"Thanks for that, Naruto." Hiruzen said. Naruto nodded.
"Hey, You tripped me." The boy accused with his finger pointed at Naruto.
"Honorable Grandson!" Another voice exclaimed. Naruto looked at the door again to see an jonin guy with black rimmed and shaded sunglasses.
"He's your grandson? You never told me about him." Naruto exclaimed.
"You didn't ask." He said simply.
"HEY, DON'T IGNORE ME!!" The boy yelled before charging at Naruto. Naruto grabbed the back of the kids shirt with his right hand and held him in the air.
"It's rude to demand things from people you don't know." Naruto boringly lectured.
"Release the Honorable Grandson right this instant." The jonin demanded.
"You're probably just like the rest of the people, you'll treat me specially just because i'm the grandson of the Hokage." The boy goaded. He was proven wrong when Naruto's left fist impacted with the top of his head and he was dropped to the floor.
"Old man, I'll see you later." Naruto whistled for his animals and Jin perched himself on his shoulder while Mugen climbed onto his shirt and made himself comfortable in his hood. Unknown to him and the jonin, the kid followed Naruto after he left. The third just chuckled.
(With Naruto, Ten minutes later)
"Okay, This is getting boring." Naruto thought as he walked down to a random training ground. The kid had been following him around for the last seven minutes. He turned a cornerand stopped in the middle of the empty street and the kid had sidled against a wooden fence while holding a sheet that was painted to blend him in with the wood over his head.
Only problem was that he was holding it horizontally.
"The sad thing is that a two year-old could see through that. Alright, show yourself." Naruto demanded. The boy did and chuckled like he was a sinister movie villian.
"You saw through my disguise. You're better than I thought." He said.
"It wasn't that hard." Naruto thought.
"It's settled then, You're gonna be my new sensei." He declared.
*Silence*
"Hmm..." Naruto hummed before turning to walk away.
"Hey, wait!" He yelled to Naruto.
"Sorry, Kiddo. I don't have time to play around with you. I've got a lot of work to do." He didn't even turn around.
He kept walking to training ground seven, where he and his team took their test, and grew out his glaive. He focused on a loose branch of a random tree and threw the disc at it. He used Aftertouch to will the glaive at the branch and it was grabbed between the ring and the blade. Naruto held out his hand and the glaive evaporated before touching his palm, which held the tree branch.
"Not too much of a weigh limit, twenty to thirty pounds at best, I suppose. Maybe a size limit?" Naruto thought before throwing the branch in a bush elicting a small "thunk" and a small voice yelling "Ouch!"
"Oh, don't tell me..." Naruto mentally groaned. He grew a long chain-whip and swung it in the middle of the bush. The third's grandson was yanked out of the bush with the chain wrapped around his torso.
"That's awesome!!" He yelled at Naruto.
"Why are you following me?" Naruto asked him irritatingly.
"Because you're strong! I want you to teach me how to do that." He exclaimed gleefully.
Naruto sighed. He had no time for this.
"Naruto? What are you doing here? Honorable Grandson?" A voice asked, surprised. He looked behind him to see Kurenai and team eight with her. Hinata shyly waved before discreetly hiding behind Shino who nodded his greetings. Kiba ignored him, for the most part and Akamaru growled at Mugen and Jin. Mugen suddenly jumped down from Naruto's hood and rushed to Hinata before jumping into her arms and licking her cheek, causing her to giggle and Akamaru to growl even more.
"I'm sorry, did you need this training ground? I'll leave if you want. Sorry about Mugen, he doesn't normally take to strangers that well." He said apologetically.
Hinata stuttered out an "it's okay" before Mugen began licking her again.
"The question is "What is your worthless ass doing here, you dead-last freak?" Kiba said snidely. Kurenai slapped the back of his head.
"I take it you informed them of my condition?" Naruto stated more than asked.
"I felt that it was right, they'd be working with you in the future so they'd have a grip on your unique abilities." Kurenai explained apologetically.
"Don't worry about it, I'll leave once i'm done dealing with this little guy." Naruto jabbed his thumb at the thirds grandson.
"My name's Konohamaru!" He shouted.
"Konohamaru, huh? Not a bad name." Naruto complimented.
"Honorable Grandson! Get away from him this instant!" The glasses-wearing jonin from earlier ordered Naruto. He stared at Naruto with an ice-cold glare
"Those eyes, he's just like everyone else." Naruto mentally growled.
"Leave me alone, Ebisu-sensei! He's gonna teach me how to be Hokage." Konohamaru demanded.
Naruto narrowed his eyes in thought. "That's why he's so eager for me to teach him?"
"You shouldn't associate yourself with the likes of him, he'll only slow you down. My teachings are the only shortcut to becoming Hokage." Ebisu yelled as he tried dragging Konohamaru away by pulling on his scarf.
"Shortcut...?" Naruto growled. He made a cross-shaped handseal. "Multi-Shadow-Clone Jutsu!" He shouted and twenty-three solid Naruto clones surrounded Ebisu. The real Naruto could be found due to Jin being on his shoulder. Team eight backed away from them.
"Be careful, Naruto-kun." Hinata thought.
"Loser's gonna get killed here," Kiba smirked at his thought.
"So, the rumors of you learning that technique are true. No matter! I'm not like that pathetic traitor, Mizuki. I'm a special jonin." Ebisu said snidely.
"Oh, really? TRANSFORM!" Naruto shouted and his clones did the same.
When the smoke cleared, every Naruto clone had changed into a sexy female wth blonde pigtails and whisker marks. The excess smoke from the transformations covered their "goody parts". They all grabbed Ebisu while cooing and giggling.
"WAAAH." Ebisu and Kiba exclaimed before flying back from massive nosebleeds.
"HUH?" Kurenai exclaimed while Hinata merely turned crimson with Mugen wagging his tail in her arms. Shino simply raised an eyebrow.
The clones disappeared and Naruto changed back while giggling. "Gotcha with my new Harem Jutsu." He gloated to Ebisu's unconcious form.
Naruto walked over to Konohamaru and crouched down so they could see eye-to-eye. "Tell me, Kid, Why do you want to be Hokage?" He asked gently.
"I want to be Hokage so people would stop treating me like the "Grandson of the Third Hokage" and call me by my real name." He explained heatedly.
Naruto sighed. "I understand, Konohamaru, I really do. But becoming Hokage won't happen for another twenty-or-so years for you and that's only if you want it badly enough. I don't care about what that loser, Ebisu, says, there is no such thing as a shortcut to becoming Hokage, or anything in life. The only way to become Hokage is if you work hard enough and put as much effort into it as you can." Naruto passionately said.
The concious members of team eight smiled(except Shino) as Konohamaru declared Naruto as his rival and ran off somewhere to train.
"Thanks for being patient, you can have the training ground if you want it. Come on, Mugen, let's get to the Old man's office for the team meeting." He said before turning to leave. Mugen licked Hinata's cheek again before she put him down. He jumped onto Naruto's jacket and settled down in his hood.
After he was out of sight, Kurenai turned to her team. "What do you think? Could you work with him without any problems?" She asked.
Shino adjusted his glasses, "I believe working alongside him will be...interesting, if what we just saw is any indication," He said lowly. The thought of Naruto's Sexy or Harem Jutsu's gave him chills.
Hinata turned slightly pink, "I...I thi...I think we all could get along f...fine. I'm j...just worried about K...Kiba-kun and his pride." She said before glancing at his, still, unconcious body.
"He may pose some problems with his attitude." Kurenai thought. Once Kiba awoke from his nosebleed-induced sleep they all began their training.
(In the Hokage's office)
"LUCY, I'M HOOOOOOOOME!!" Naruto slurred when he entered the office.
His team and the third sweatdropped.
"You overdid the Vicodin, didn't you?" Kakashi asked.
"Maaayybe." Naruto said as he plopped down on the couch.
"Anyway, we'd like to request our first mission, my lord." Kakashi respecfully asked.
"We can handle anything you throw at us." Sasuke boasted. Sakura's eyes were starry as she stared at her hero.
"Oh boy!" Naruto thought.
The Third had a mischevious look in his eyes. "Very well."
(One hour later)
"Picking weeds is no job for a shinobi, and it's purely degrading to an Uchiha." Sasuke grumbled loudly as he jerked another weed from an elderly lady's garden.
"Horticultures a hobby of mine, so I ain't complaining." Naruto chirped mockingly to the fuming Uchiha. "How you hoding up, Sakura?" He asked the pinkette.
"Shut up, Naruto!" She growled and tried to pull a thick weed out of the ground.
Naruto chuckled as he grew a small, unique shuriken(the ones the small decepticon uses in the first Transformers movie) and threw it at the plant. The sudden loss of resistance made Sakura fall backwards on her ass. She sat up and growled at the smiling-like-a-fox Naruto who caught the shuriken when it came back to him.
"Enough, Sakura. Finish your part of the job." Kakashi chided. He stood at the outside of the little garden along with the elderly woman, who was their client. He read his book and giggled as he read the "good" parts as his students did the chore/mission.
"Disgraceful." Sasuke growled again before roughly jerking another plant from the ground.
(One month later)
"Do you think we could get at least a C-rank mission, Old man? Even i'm getting bored with walking dogs and gardending. The babysitting I can handle." Naruto said calmly. After an entire month of chores labeled as "missions" he was getting irritated. Mind you, he enjoyed babysitting because the young ones liked him and they only shat and threw up on Sakura and Sasuke. He babysat with team eight and the baby's treated Kiba the same way as Sasuke and Sakura, Shino was treated neutrally and they absolutely adored Hinata.
(Flashback)
"I hate babysitting these smelly barfbags!" Kiba exclaimed as he wiped baby puke off his his jacket with a wet cloth. Shino stood next to him with an eyebrow raised.
"Then why do you bother trying to make the children like you when it's obvious they don't?"
Kiba snorted. "Because Hinata will see that i'm the best with the kids and then she'll be all over me," He boasted.
Kurenai shook her head at her student's idiocy and peered into the room where her third student and Naruto were putting the children to sleep.
Hinata softly hummed a gentle lullaby to a six month-old baby girl while gently rocking her to sleep.
Naruto smiled as he listened to her angelic voice from across the room with the girls twin brother in his arms. "I don't need to sing, Hinata-chan's doing a good enough job, don't ya think?" Naruto asked the boy quietly. The baby boy giggled in response.
After a few minutes of listening to Hinata sing, the babies fell asleep and they placed them into their individual cribs.
"You're gonna be a very good mother one day." Naruto complimented her once the door was shut.
Hinata turned scarlet and managed a few squeaks before passing out. Naruto chuckled as he picked her up and laid her down on the couch. There were no incidents after she awoke.
(Flashback end)
"It just so happens that I have a mission for you and for team eight," The elder man said. Iruka was about to protest but was cut off by the third holding his hand up.
Naruto smiled at the thought of working with them again, minus Kiba.
"There's a mission request from a bridge-builder of the Hidden Wave village." The third explained as he searched for the file in his desk drawers.
Suddenly, the door opened to reveal an elderly man wearing travelers clothing and drinking sake. "Heh? Are these the brats assigned to protect me?" He asked gruffly. He gazed at them harshly, "The dark-haired one's got a look in his eye that I don't like. The pink-haired girl looks like she's in over her head." He muttered loudly.
"Welcome to my world!" Naruto said before swallowing a Vicodin.
"And the last one's got a metal arm and is on drugs and has a couple of animals?" He miserably moaned.
Mugen looked at the old man from over Naruto's shoulder and burped, sending flames into the guys face.
His face's upper half was charred black and he coughed up smoke.
"Sorry about that, he and Jin had some bugs and they're not quite agreeing with them." Naruto cheekily said while petting his animals.
"Anyway, my name is Tazuna, a world famous bridgebuilder. I expect all of you brats to guard me with your lives." He said seriously.
The third excused them all once a time was made and told Naruto to stay behind and Kakashi was told to inform Kurenai..
Sasuke had his eyes on Naruto as he walked out of the office."Why does he always have to stay behind after our meetings with the Hokage? Is he getting special scrolls with powerful jutsus? What is he hiding?" He thought heatedly.
"What's up?" Naruto asked as he stood in fron of the desk.
"I've been thinking about your arms elemental abilities, have you experimented with them yet?" Hiruzen asked the young Jinchuriki.
Naruto shook his head no. "With all these missions I would've had time, but Sasuke's been watching me like a man posessed."
The elder nodded in understanding. He reached into his desk and pulled out a zippo. He flipped the top open and lit the flame. He used it to light his pipe before throwing it to Naruto. Naruto caught it and looked at the Old man quizzically.
"It'll suffice for setting your weapons alight, give it a try." He suggested.
Naruto grew his glaive and lit the flame under it. The effect was instantaneous as his weapon was ablaze in an instant.
"Whoa!" Naruto commented and re-absorbed the weapon to set the fire out.
"The other elements, you'll have to improvise cause I don't know of a method to use them instantly like that." He said, motioning to the lighter in Naruto's hand. His face then turned grave,"Theres something very important that you need to be told, Naruto." He said gravely.
Naruto stiffened, What could be so important that he would sound so serious about?
"It's about your lineage." He continued. Naruto's eyes widened and he grabbed a seat in front of the Third's desk. "Your father's name was Minato Namikaze, The Fourth Hokage." At this, Naruto fell out of his seat. The Fourth Hokage was his father!? That meant...
"He was the man who sealed the Nine-tailed beast within you after your birth." The Third continued. "If he had survived the sealing, he would have raised you with every bit of love and care that any parent would give." Naruto had tears streaming down his stricken face.
"What about my mother?" He croaked.
"Her name is Kushina Uzumaki, she was labeled as KIA but her body was never found. I believe that she was misinformed about you after the sealing process and is now wandering around the lands with a broken spirit. I have a picture of her...here." He handed a photograph to Naruto of a beautiful woman with red hair and bright green eyes, her stomach was swollen, indicating that she was well into her pregnancy. Naruto teared up even more at the thought of her carrying him inside of her. "You have my permission to ask anyone about her in the villages that you visit except the Earth country villages, they are still incredibly hostile to us after the war. And if word got out about you being their greatest enemy's son, it would invoke them to send assasin after assasin after you." He finished.
"Where did she come from? And who were my father's teammates?" Naruto frantically asked.
"Your mother's home village was the former Hidden Whirlpool village. Her family was famous and infamous for their extraordinary swordsmanship skills. It was destroyed some time ago and she immigrated here, eventually meeting your father and marrying him. Your fathers genin teammates were Hiashi Hyuga and the other died several years ago. I have to stress how important it is that you don't tell anyone about this unless you can trust them with your life."
Naruto meekly thanked him before leaving the office to let team 8 know of the mission, tomorrow.
He headed for the Inuzuka vet first. He knocked on the door and a brown-haired beauty with the Inuzuka tattoos on her cheeks answered.
"Hi Naruto! How can I help you?" She asked as she petted Mugen and Jin.
"Hi Hana, My team has a mission tomorrow at around nine A.M. and team 8 has been asked to join us, will you tell Kiba for me?" He asked thoughtfully.
"Sorry! but he's come down with a flu that's been going around." Hana said.
Naruto shrugged and thanked her before jumping towards the Aburame clan estates. Once he arrived he knocked on the door and only had to wait for a few minutes before Shibi Aburame answered it. "Hello, Uzumaki-san! How may I help you?" He said monotonously.
"Uh yeah, My team has a C-rank mission in the morning at around 9:00 A.M. and team 8 has been asked to accompany us, so if you could inform Shino for me, that would be nice." Naruto requested.
"I apologize, We are breeding a new type of insect colony and Shino will be needed to assist with supervizing them." He said.
Naruto nodded and thanked him and bowed respectfully before jumping to his final destination. Naruto didn't like the Hyuga estates very much due to the feeling of melancholy that it gave off. Once he arrived, he was halted by the guards.
"What business do you have here?" One asked.
"I'm here to speak to either Hinata or Hiashi Hyuga regarding a C-rank mission tomorrow morning." Naruto spoke like he'd rehearsed it.
The guard seemed to contemplate this for a moment before walking into the compound. He reappeared a few minutes later with a scowl on his face, "Lord Hiashi will see you, now." He said before motioning for Naruto to follow him. They walked through the compound and made their way through the courtyard and in it was Hinata who looked to be sparring with another Hyuga who had a dark frown upon his face. He looked like he was about fifteen and he had bandages around his forehead and his right arm and leg. He and Hinata had their clan traits, the Byakugan, activated and were in a fierce battle, too fierce for a simple spar.
"That doesn't look like it'll end well," Naruto thought. Mugen was about to jump out and run to her but Naruto held him back, "We can surprise her after she finishes her fight with whoever the hell that is." He said and placed the fox back in his hood. He and his guide reached a room, the door slid open and Hiashi Hyuga sat crosslegged in the center.
"Can I help you, Uzumaki-san?" He asked. Naruto sat down across from him in the same style.
"Team 7 is going on a mission outside of the village tomorrow and team 8 has been asked to accompany us. I'm here to inform you and Hinata about this mission." Naruto said regally.
Hiashi nodded, "You may inform Hinata after her spar with Neji." He said. Naruto nodded and bowed before standing and was about to leave the room to watch Hinata's spar but he sat himself back down and gazed into Hiashi's eyes.
"C-can you t-tell me about my f-father? Please!" He pleaded.
Hiashi's eyes widened and softened after a few seconds. "Hiruzen told you, I assume?"
Naruto nodded.
"Your father was the greatest friend that anyone could ever ask for. He was the one that introduced me to my late wife and I was the best man at his private wedding to Kushina, it was kept very discreet to prevent anyone from knowing. There is another matter that I will have to discuss with you after your mission, it concerns a deal we made about you and my eldest daughter." He seemed lost in memories of his friend. After a few stories and Naruto asking various questions, he left after giving Hiashi a hug in gratitude. He made his way back to the courtyard where Hinata was still sparring.
Upon his arrival he saw that Hinata wasn't doing too well, her opponent, Neji, was rushing her like this was a battle between fierce enemies. Hinata slipped on a rock and Neji took advantage of her slip and jabbed her in her stomach with three Gentle fist strikes, causing her to cough up blood. He kicked her in the face and sent her flying back into the pond. He jumped into the air with his open palm glowing with chakra and was about to slam it onto her heart but was sent flying into a wall by a powerful gust of wind. He turned his angered Byakugan eyes to the intruder only to see a silver-winged hawk land on a rock next to Hinata's struggling-to-stand form.
She gasped when she saw Jin, and with him here, that meant...
"There's a fine line between a spar and a battle, you just crossed it." Naruto said as he walked over to Hinata and gently scooped her into his arms. She gasped again when she saw him and promptly fainted when she realized that she was being held bridal-style.
"This doesn't concern gutter trash like you!" Neji furiously exclaimed. He sprinted to Naruto with his Byakugan blazing only to jump to avoid the glaive that grew from Naruto's hand and was thrown at him. Neji hatefully glared at Naruto as he laid Hinata against a pillar and recalled his glaive.
"You wanna dance, Pretty-boy?" Naruto goaded. He suddenly grasped his metallic arm as it pulsated and was covered by its transparent/greenish mist. The elbow and part of the bicep became pure metal and the only parts that were half-metal, half-skin were his shoulder and his shoulderblade."Powerthrow!" Naruto thought before smiling sinisterly. He recalled the glaive, pulled his arm back and threw it as hard as he possibly could. Once it left his hand, it was covered by a yellowish-brown mist.
Neji watched as the weapon missed him and cleaved the large rock behind him in half. The bladed disc was then recalled back into Naruto's hand where it was reabsorbed. Naruto turned back to Hinata and picked her up again. "I take it that you're Naruto Uzumaki." He guessed, and was proven right by Naruto's nod. He was about to charge Naruto but a plume of fire from above him blocked his path. When the fires died down, he looked up to see a snarling fox with smoke coming from between its teeth being held in the hawk's talons.
"Make another move and you'll have a firestorm in your face, courtesy of my little friends there." Naruto growled and jumped out of the compound, towards the hospital with Hinata in his arms. Jin flew after him with Mugen still
Neji growled and turned around to see Hiashi Hyuga glaring at him. Hiashi shook his head in disappointment before walking away from his nephew.
"Aren't you going to send someone after him? He just kidnapped your precious heiress." Neji asked venomously.
"She's in good hands. Better ones than yours" Hiashi replied before walking out of sight.
(At the Hidden Leaf Hospital, twenty minutes later)
"Ow! Where am I?" Hinata thought as she awoke in a white room.
"Oh you're awake? That's a relief." A voice exclaimed. Hinata looked at the door to see a young female nurse holding a clipboard in her arms.
"H-how did I get here?" Hinata stuttered. The nurse smiled.
"A young man with blonde hair brought you here after he explained your injuries. I swear, you Hyuga need a new fighting style, damage to the chakra network and inner organs is tough to heal, even for medical ninjas." The jurse complained.
"I-I'm sorry!" Hinata apologized.
"Don't you worry about a thing, little lady. You're all patched up but I'd recommend staying the night just to be cautious." She advised before leaving.
Hinata laid back down for a few minutes and was startled by a birds screech. She turned to the window to see Jin flying away and he left a bag hanging on the window ledge. Hinata got out of the bed and retrieved the bag to see a sealed bowl of Ichiraku Ramen and a letter. She put the bowl on the nightstand next to her bed and read the letter.
"Dear Hinata,"
I bought you some ramen as a get-well soon gift, I hope it's okay. If I ever see that guy that hurt you again, I'll probably kill him. He came very close to killing you if I hadn't intervened. If he threatens you or even looks at you wrong, I want to know so I can shove a jagged spear up his ass.
OH yeah, Our teams have a mission tomorrow at 9:00 A.M. so you better heal up fast. We'll be out of the village for at least a week so be sure to pack up.
-Naruto.
Hinata sighed dreamily at Naruto's declaration to protect her. "I wonder if he's realizing my feelings for him." She thought giddily. She put the letter on the nightstand before opening the bowl of beef ramen and eating.
(The next morning)
"Are you on time for once!?" Kurenai asked when Kakashi showed up at the gate on time. The present five students had wide eyes at the sight of Kakashi.
Kakashi looked offended. "Hey, I can be on time when it's nesessary. Where's Naruto?" He asked when he realized that everyone but his enigmatic student was present.
"I'm right here!" Naruto yelled and panted as he skidded to a stop in front of Kakashi. Mugen was sleeping in his hood and Jin had his head under his left wing on Naruto's shoulder.
"What took you?" Kurenai asked.
Naruto chuckled, "Mugen roasted my alarm when it was too irritating for him."
Tazuna arrived a few minutes later and observed his extra prtection. "A pale girl with white eyes. She's probably not gonna make it after ten minutes of traveling." He said before chugging down his sake.
Kurenai was about to protest but was beaten to it by Naruto. "I can assure you that Hinata can more than hold her own in a fight." Naruto assured.
"Whatever, let's just get going." Tazuna grumbled.
They all walked out of the gates and into a deep forest.
"Wow! So this is why it's called the Village Hidden in the Leaves." Naruto commented.
"Are you serious!? All this time, you've never known this small fact about your own home? How stupid are you?" Sakura ranted and was slapped across the head by Kurenai.
"H-have you ever l-left the village before, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.
"Nope, this is my first time outside of the village walls." Naruto answered.
For the next few hours, the group remained in a comfortable silence. The only unusual thing was a puddle in the middle of the road when it hasn't rained in over three weeks.
Once they were about twenty meters from the puddle, it shifted and two men emerged from it, they were garbed in tattered cloaks and strange masks, one had a clawed gauntlet on his left hand the other had one on his right connected by a bladed chain, they sprinted toward the group and wrapped the chain around Kakashi and Kurenai before anyone could do anything.
"Two down..." One whispered sinisterly. They yanked the chain and the two jonin were sliced apart before the genin's eyes.
"...Six to go!" The other whispered just as sinisterly.
Naruto dashed to them with a spear in hand. Mugen and Jin went to guard Tazuna. The two mystery shinobi ran at him with their chain at the ready. Naruto ducked and let the chain wrap around his spear. He brought the spear to the ground, taking the chain with him. The two mystery ninjas severed the connection with the chain and rushed to the others before Naruto could do anything.
Sakura automatically jumped in front of Tazuna and Sasuke rushed to the two assailants. Hinata stayed with Sakura to assist, medically if necessary.
The two shinobi raised their gauntlets to strike them, only to slam their faces into two metallic arms held out by two shadow clones of Naruto.
"Clothesliner! Saw it on wrestling last night." The real Naruto exclaimed to them. Everyone sweatdropped at him. The clones dispersed after tying up the two assailants.
"That's an interesting finisher," Kakashi commented as he walked out of the shadow of the trees along with Kurenai.
"K-kurenai-sensei!" Hinata exclaimed as she ran and hugged her sensei.
"What took you?" Naruto asked as he recalled his spear and absorbed it.
"We were hoping to observe your reactions to hostile shinobi, in this case, the Demon Brothers, and I must say that i'm proud of all of you for not freezing up. Naruto, you disabled their primary weapon. Sakura, Hinata, you stayed behind to protect Tazuna as the last resort. Sasuke, you supported Naruto as his backup. I have to say that we're very proud of all of you." Kakashi boasted.
"I'll start torturing them for info, Sensei, you go ahead and get something from the drunk." Naruto suggested. He walked over to the Demon brothers and dragged them over to a random tree.
"How are you gonna torture anyone for info, dead last?" Sasuke asked. Kakashi slapped him across the head.
"Like this!" Naruto brought one of his prisoners up to his eye level and began slapping and backhanding him with his metal hand.
"You awake yet?" Naruto asked as the guy groggily mumbled something. He started slapping him again.
"Don't say anything, Gozu." The other grunted.
Naruto stopped, "Oh, he will." Naruto chirped and began slapping again.
"I'll talk! I'll talk! Just, please don't hit me anymore! Sorry Meizu!" Gozu pleaded.
"Pussy!" Meizu groaned. He was silenced when Naruto elbowed him in on top of his head.
"Start talkin' or the bitch-slapping starts again." Naruto boredly said.
"We were hired by Gatou to take out the bridge builder and anyone else that stood in his way." Gozu whimpered. Naruto punched him to knock him out.
"Gatou? Who the hell is that?" Naruto asked the jonin. Tazuna decided to step forward.
"He's known by most as a big-time business tycoon, deals in shipping and trading of various goods, under the table, he ships drugs and weaponry for a price. He's monopolized my country and our economy is nearly dead. If I can complete the bridge and connect us to other lands, we can resume our trading with other countries. That's why Gatou's so threatened by me. Our daimyo doesn't even have very much money, I had to lie and say that this was a C-rank mission because that was all that we could afford." He explained.
"What should we do? This is a B-to-A-rank mission meant for jonin and ANBU at the least. The Demon brothers were only the beginning the next opponent won't be a mere chunin-level ninja." Kakashi contemplated with Kurenai.
"We should continue." Naruto announced. "We've come this far and it's not in my nature to turn down a person in need, unless the person in need is a Dick." He said.
Everyone else agreed and the choice was made. They continued to the Hidden Wave Village.
(Three hours later)
"We're near the bridge, keep quiet." The boat owner whispered as they cruised through the fog. Naruto looked around and noticed a huge bridge.
"Whoa! That thing's huge!" He commented. The others had to agree with him.
"It's the hope of our country." Tazuna muttered solemnly.
They reached the shore, "This is as far as I can take you. Good luck, Tazuna." The sailor whispered.
They walked for a little while longer and Naruto suddenly threw his glaive into the bushes.
"Naruto, What the hell are you doing?" Sakura screamed. Naruto recalled his glaive and in its grasp was a little white rabbit. The little thing was shaking in terror.
"You idiot, it's just a rabbit." Sakura yelled.
"It's more than that, it's summer and this thing's got a winter coat, it's not your lunch, Mugen, knock it off!" Mugen had tried to snap at the bunny. Naruto handed it to Hinata who began petting it to calm it down. "Anyway, why would a rabbit be that color unless it's been indoors? It may have been used as a substitution." Naruto held his glaive at the ready. The jonin put their guard up and the other genin outright ignored Naruto's warning. Hinata released the rabbit and activated her Byakugan as a precaution.
(After twenty more minutes of walking)
"EVERYONE, GET DOWN" Kakashi yelled and tackled Tazuna to the ground as everyone ducked to avoid a large projectile that flew above their heads.
Everyone looked at the object embedded into a tree, which was a large zanpbatou. There was a flurry of movement behind them and the flurry landed on the long hilt of the sword. It was a man in his late twenties with bandages wrapped around his lower face and neck as a makeshift mask and he wore his headband with the scratched Hidden Mist plate on the right side of his head.
"Nicely dodged, Copy-nin Kakashi and Genjutsu mistress Kurenai. I'm here for the bridge builder." He said in a gravelly voice.
"My reputation precedes me. Zabuza Momochi, scourge of the Hidden Mist Village, I presume?" Kakashi said lazily as he and the others stood up.
Zabuza took a moment to analyze his opponents, "A Hyuga and an Uchiha? One of the last if I recall. And two unknowns, one with pink hair and the last with a metallic arm? Interesting." He thought.
"All of you protect Tazuna." Kurenai ordered and took a battle stance alongside Kakashi who lifted his headband from over his eye, revealing that the iris was red and had three tomoe around the pupil.
"The Sharingan!?" Sasuke thought at the sight of the eye.
"Is that pink-eye or something?" Naruto stupidly asked.
"It's called the Sharingan, a dojutsu that allows the owner to penetrate and see the reality behind any illusion or spell...and to reflect the power of the magics they penetrate back on those who cast them and that's not the most important fact, it can discern and duplicate its opponents greatest skill." Sasuke explained. "But the Sharingan eye is supposed to be unique to only a small number of the Uchiha clan."
"I'm honored to be fighting against the infamous sharingan so quickly, this should be a fun battle." Zabuza crouched down on the hilt of his sword. He did three hand signs, "Ninja art: Hidden Mist jutsu!" He exclaimed. The area was suddenly encompassed by a very dense fog.
Kakashi cursed when he found that the sharingan couldn't help him in this fog and Kurenai's genjutsu was ineffective without a visual of the one the genjutsu was being cast on. He felt a presence to his right but before he could do anything, his leg was hacked by Zabuza's sword, Kakashi screamed in pain before falling to the ground. After the blade touched Kakashi's leg, Zabuza dissolved into water.
"A low-level water clone? That's why we didn't sense it!" Kakashi groaned out. Kurenai rushed to him to treat the wound.
The genin formed a box around Tazuna, "Hinata, can you find him with your Byakugan?" Naruto asked. She shook her head no.
"This mist is laced with chakra, I can't see him in it." She said.
"There are eight points; The larynx, spine, jugular vein, heart, brain, kidneys, lungs, and the subclavian artery. If striked with enough force or with pinpoint accuracy, it can cause instant death." Zabuza's voice echoed from around them.
"He's going for the bridge builder!!" The jonin thought simultaneously.
The genin felt an unwelcome prescence among them, it gave off a serious intent to kill. The genin grabbed Tazuna and jumped out of the way as Zabuza's sword cut through the air. It was suddenly stopped by Naruto's hand firmly grasping it by the edge. The fog lifted, revealing the stalemate to all.
"Impressive! Not many survive a strike from my Guillotine sword." Zabuza complimented.
Naruto gave him a serious stare, "I only have one question for you, it's extremely important to me." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the picture of his mother. "Have you seen this woman?" He asked as he held it up to Zabuza's face.
Zabuza looked at the picture and back at Naruto. "I may have! But you'll have to beat me if you want me to tell you anything." Naruto's eyes widened and he was kicked in the midriff by his opponent.
Naruto regained his bearings, "All of you, stay out of this! This Brow-less bastard knows where my mother is and i'm going to beat the answers out of him." Naruto declared as he grew out his katana.
Kakashi's eyes widened at Naruto's statement, "Lady Kushina's alive!?" He exclaimed.
Hinata's eyes also widened and her heart soared at the thought of her crush having family.
Naruto nodded, his eyes never leaving Zabuza's. "My mother's alive, sensei. And he knows where she is." Naruto pointed the tip of his blade at Zabuza.
"She's a real livewire, I'll tell you that much, boy." Zabuza commented.
Naruto's eyes narrowed in rage. He dashed forward in an attempt to catch Zabuza off-guard. It didn't work as Zabuza blocked with his own sword. "Okay, he's obviously trained himself to use the sword like it was as light as a feather, he's above standard jonin level, and has years of experience, where I'm fresh from the academy, i'll have to improvise and keep my ass covered."
Naruto tossed his blade to his left hand and grasped Zabuza's sword with his right, "Mugen! Jin! Firestorm Jutsu NOW!" He yelled.
Mugen jumped into the air and Jin flew beneath him and Mugen landed on Jin's back. The fox reared his head back and Jin stretched his wings out. Both launched out their respective jutsu and they merged into a raging inferno, heading for Naruto and Zabuza.
*WHOOSH*
The area around them was reduced to cinders due to the intense heat.
Once the flames died down, all that was left was a cindered log and a puddle of steaming water.
"They both used substitution at the last moment." Kakashi thought.
Everyone heard a splash and saw Naruto at the edge of a river and Zabuza standing on it.
"Interesting! You don't have any more tricks up your sleeve, do you?" Zabuza asked, thinking Naruto would spill.
"Go to hell! You're going anyway once you spill about my mother, That I promise you." Naruto snarled.
His comrades were startled at Naruto's tone of voice. None more so than Hinata.
Zabuza actually laughed, "That's more like it, Kid. You're not a real shinobi in my book unless you're willing to kill or be killed, and I can tell that you're more than willing to kill." He said gleefully. He placed his sword on his back and flashed through several handseals, "Water style: Water Dragon jutsu!" He roared. The water underneath him rose into the air and took the shape of a dragon, which roared and dove for Naruto.
Naruto instinctively threw his arm up and, to his surprise, his arm metallized up to half of his bicep revealing a single glowing crack in the metal. A transparent barrier appeared in front of him and it blocked the water jutsu, it didn't stop there, the dragon flew back and impacted on its caster. The glow vanished after the jutsu stopped and the barrier shrank to nothing. Naruto stared wide-eyed at his arm, "A shield? That's gonna be useful." He thought. Naruto dashed to Zabuza's prone form and held the katana to his throat. "Start talking!" He ordered.
"Heheheheheh, What's your name, Kid?" He rasped.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, now where's my mother!?" Naruto growled.
"Heh, she's GUH!!" Before Zabuza could utter another word, three senbon needles pierced into his neck and he slumped over.
"NO! NO! WAKE UP! YOU OWE ME ANSWERS, YOU ASSHOLE!" Naruto screamed as he shook Zabuza's body to no avail.
"I apologize for the intrusion, but I have been searching for him for quite some time." A deepish feminine voice said.
Naruto turned to the voice and saw a boy or girl about two-to-three years older than himself with a mask on.
"Who the hell are you!? Why did you kill him? He owed me answers, dammit!" Naruto fumed. Kurenai appeared and held him back before he could pummel the strange ninja.
"He's a hunter-nin, Naruto. It's his job to track down rogue-nin like Zabuza and kill them." She explained to the grief-stricken boy. He forced himself to relax and walk back to the others as the jonin talked to the hunter-nin.
Naruto walked past the other genin and sat down in-between a tree's roots. He pulled his knees up to his chest and laid his forehead against them.
"N-Naruto-kun, Are y-you okay?" A soft voice asked. Naruto lifted his head to see Hinata looking worriedly at him. He shook his head and took out two pills and swallowed them before putting his head back down.
"Can...can I do a-anything to h-help?" She asked.
"Not unless you can tell me where she is." He held out the picture of his mother. Hinata looked at the picture and smiled softly.
"She's beautiful. I think she looks happy with you being so close to being born." She complimented without stuttering. She noticed that Naruto smiled with a tear rolling down his cheek.
"Someone lied to her about me, told her I died after my birth. She ran off with a broken spirit and never looked back. I didn't know where she was until I heard from Zabuza." He muttered before closing his eyes and passing out, the stress of the last two battles finally getting to him. He almost dropped his mother's picture into a mud puddle but Hinata managed to grab it.
"Kurenai-sensei, Naruto's asleep." She informed her teacher after the hunter-nin vanished with Zabuza's body.
"Good, he deserves it. Is that his mother?" She asked when she noticed the picture in her student's hand.
Tazuna walked closer to see what the fuss was about but when he saw the woman in the photo, he gasped loudly. "That's the Red Death!" He exclaimed.
Everyone looked at him curiously, "She's the main reason that I hired you, she protected me for the last three month for almost no charge and all she asked for was a place to stay until I completed the bridge. She used her kenjutsu skills to fend off most of Gatou's movements and slightly raised the spirits of the villagers, she even helped my grandson see that heroes still exist after his stepfather was killed by Gatou. It ended when Gatou kidnapped Inari and ordered her to surrender herself to him or my grandson would die, unfortunately, she did after Inari was given back to us and she hasn't been heard from since then." He finished his story with a regretful sigh.
"I know that she's a survivor but what are her chances for survival in Gatou's hands?" Kakashi asked.
Tazuna thought for a moment, "Gatou makes it a habit to present the local 'hero' in front of the public and the person in question is usually beaten savagely and half-dead. So there's a good chance that she's still alive, she may be tortured, but alive."
Kakashi sighed in relief, "Naruto must not know about this until we all have a plan of attack, I'm serious, he'll go charging in and kill anyone in his path to find his mother. Even us, most likely." The genin agreed, Kurenai carried Naruto on her back for the rest of the way to Tazuna's house. Tazuna helped Kakashi walk.
(With the hunter-nin)
"You should try a less painful method for a death-like states, Haku." Zabuza complained when the senbon needles were taken out of his neck.
The hunter-nin removed her mask to reveal the face of a beautiful young girl. "I apologize, Master Zabuza but he was going to kill you and I just reacted."
"He wasn't going to kill me...yet, that redhead that Gatou captured for a fuck-toy was that kids mother. Good thing I couldn't tell him. It's also a good thing she's not weak or else that kid would've torn me apart in his rage." Zabuza clarified.
"She's stronger than anyone expected, anyone who tried to touch her had their fingers snapped clean off." Haku shivered at the thought.
(Two hours later, at Tazuna's home)
"Grandpa!" A young boy, everyone assumed was Inari, yelled before running up and hugging his grandfather around the waist. A young, dark-haired woman around Kurenai's age stood behind him with a gentle smile on her face.
"Welcome home, Dad." She said before giving her father a hug.
"Good to be home, Tsunami." Tazuna introduced the genin to his family, "...and the unconcious boy on Kurenai's back is Naruto Uzumaki, he's the son of the Red Death." He whispered the last part in her ear. She gasped at the revelation.
"Why are you whispering?" She asked lowly.
Kakashi explained the situation to her after Naruto was placed into a room to rest.
"The poor thing." Tsunami said sympathetically.
"Will he be alright? He looked exhausted." Inari asked.
"Don't sweat it, Kiddo. A few Vicodin and about two hours of a screwed up mental state and i'll be as good as new. You still got some of that sake, you old drunk?" Naruto asked as he walked into the kitchen.
Tazuna handed Naruto a jug of his sake, regardless of Tsunami's protests, and Naruto swallowed a couple pills with a few gulps. "That's so gonna haunt me in about five minutes, oh well, at least my headache's gonna be gone." He said after tossing the jug back to Tazuna.
"Now that Naruto's awake, we need to come up with a plan of attack for when Zabuza comes back for round two." Kakashi announced.
"THAT SON OF A BITCH IS ALIVE!!!?" Naruto screamed and immediately regretted it as his headache came back in full force. "Oh, that hurts!" He groaned.
"Anyway, Kurenai and I believe that the hunter-nin was Zabuza's accomplice. Hunter-nin are supposed to remove the head and incinerate the body on site. This one threw senbon needles, a weapon that's very hard to kill with, unless used by someone with pinpoint accuracy. He was most likely put into a death-like state. It'll take him at least a week to recover from it and during that time we'll train all of you to handle him. We'll start a schedule for our activities here, Naruto's clones will go with Tazuna in the morning and guard him while he works on the bridge, I will stay here and keep an eye on the family, I'll radio you if there's trouble. The rest of you will go with Kurenai for training."
"Times up, i'm out!" Naruto said before falling backwards in a drug-induced faint.
Most of the shinobi, sans Sasuke, sweatdropped at him while Hinata giggled. Kakashi, Kurenai, Tazuna, and his family cracked up at him.
"Where's his animals?" Tazuna realized that the fox and hawk weren't there. Everyone's eyes widened at the relization. They were answered when there was a scratching noise at the door. Hinata opened it and let Mugen in.
"What an adorable fox." Tsunami commented as she stroked Mugen's head.
Inari laughed as Mugen approached and playfully leapt in front of him.
"He's a perfectly housebroken and trained ninja animal, he'll take care of your family when we're training or guarding you," Kurenai explained to Tazuna.
"What happened to the hawk?"
Kakashi looked sheepish. "I sent him back with a letter to the Third to explain our new situation after Zabuza was no longer an issue, Naruto's probably gonna kill me for sending him away without consulting him first."
The animal was given some food and the humans ate a meal by Tsunami before heading to their rooms to sleep.
(The next day at a creek near Tazuna's home)
"Time to train, everyone." Kakashi announced as the genin stood in front of several large trees. Kurenai stood next to Kakashi, who had several bandages wrapped around his shin where Zabuza's water clone had struck him and stood using two crutches.
"Today we're going to teach you the tree-walking excercise for your chakra control." He was interrupted by Naruto saying that they'd known how to climb trees since they were little. "But this excercise will be done without your hands, observe!" Kakashi hobbled over to a tree and, to the genins surprise, walked up the side of it like he was walking on the ground. He stood, upside down, on the bottom of a branch while looking at them with his 'eye smile'.
"That is awe-some!" Naruto said.
Hinata raised her hand, "I a-already know th-this excercise, due to my clan's t-traditions." She stuttered.
Kurenai nodded, "That's why you'll be coming with me to find some medicinal herbs for Kakashi's wound. The rest of you will stay here and train." She ordered.
Kakashi dropped down to the forest floor after throwing three kunai knives in front of Sasuke, Sakura, and Kiba. Naruto grew his own. "The purpose of this excercise is to fine tune your control and limit the amount of chakra you put into a jutsu. You must channel your chakra to the soles of your feet and maintain it, use too much chakra: it'll send you flying. Use too little and you'll fall on your ass. Good luck. Some of you will take little effort due to your chakra stores being dismal, others will take a medial effort due to medium stores. Naruto will take an incredible effort due to his stores being larger than mine and Kurenai's put together." He said before leaving.
Let's go, Hinata." Kurenai said before walking away with her student.
"D-do you think it's a g-good idea to leave N-Naruto-kun behind with them?" Hinata worriedly asked.
"True, they don't like him very much, Sasuke's ego causes him to view Naruto as the deadlast and his progress makes him think he's getting special attention and Sakura's devotion to Sasuke is the reason that she shouldn't even be a kunoichi. Not only does she give shinobi like you and me a bad name, she'll probably fuck this entire mission up to be near him." Kurenai groaned at the thought.
"Be careful, Naruto-kun! Don't start anything." Hinata gave a quick prayer and a final glance at her crush, who was already trying to climb up his tree.
He was sent flying away after his first step. "WHOA!" He yelled before slamming against the ground.
Sasuk tried and his foot slipped after his second step. Sakura made it halfway before falling down.
"This is gonna suck!" They all thought.
(Five hours later)
And suck it did for most of them!
"OUCH! THAT FREAKIN' HURTS!!" Naruto complained and rubbed his tailbone after he fell for the fiftieth time.
"I hate to admit it, but he's right. This excercise is more difficult than I thought." Sasuke groaned at the thought of Naruto being right. Sasuke had reached the top a bit earlier than Naruto. Naruto had reached the top earlier and was trying an experiment on doing it subconciously. Sakura had reached the top after her third try on the first day. She was currently guarding Tazuna while they trained.
"Shut up, dead last! You're screwing up my concentration." Sasuke snarled as he picked himself up.
Naruto would've told him where to put his concentration, but Inari walked into the clearing.
"Hey Naruto, my mom wants to know if you could you go with Hinata to the village to get some groceries."
"Sure thing, Kiddo!" Naruto said. He re-absorbed his kunai and left the clearing after flipping Sasuke off.
(Later, in the village)
"This is horrible!" Naruto murmured once he saw the state of the village. People wore rags for clothing and they were skinny as hell, obviously due to lack of food. The whole place stunk too, like the people hadn't bathed in ages.
"Th-this store might have something." Hinata pointed to a shop that looked like a grocery store. Once they entered they realized that it was minus the groceries.
"There's next-to-nothing. What has Gatou done to this once beautiful place?" Naruto muttered loud enough for Hinata to hear.
"EEP!!" Hinata squeaked, she turned around and reflexively struck the man behind her. Naruto turned around to see a red-faced Hinata and a guy on the ground in a daze.
"What the...?"
"He groped me." She stuttered.
He nodded in understanding, before they left the groceryless grocery store, Hinata "EEPed" again.
"ALRIGHT, LOOK HERE YOU STUPID...huh?" Naruto turned around to pummel the guy, but no one was there.
"Please? I need to buy medicine for Momma." A small voice asked. Naruto and Hinata looked down to see a small boy of about six with his arms cupped in front of him and looking at them pleadingly.
Hinata bent down to the boys level, "I don't have any money to spare but if you'd take us to your Momma, I could try to help her." Hinata said.
The boy smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist and softly sobbed, "Thanks, Pretty Girl. Momma's this way, come on!" He grasped Hinata's hand and pulled her along with him through various alleyways with Naruto following.
They never noticed the a brutish man wielding a sword following them.
After several turns, they finally stopped at a dumpster that had been cleaned of trash to seem as homely as it could be. "Momma! Momma! This Pretty Girl's gonna try to fix you!" The boy exclaimed at it. There was a shuffle inside and a brown-haired woman came out with a very pale and sickly complexion.
"Please, lie down and i'll get started." Hinata suggested. The woman complied with her request and laid down. Hinata's Byakugan activated and her hands glowed green with healing chakra.
"A medical-ninja! Quite a rare find around here. I'm gonna need you to come with me." A deep voice demanded. They were startled at the presence and Naruto turned to see a thug with an arrogant expression on his face and his hand on the hilt of a sword on his waist.
"Keep working, Hinata. Make sure she and the Kiddo stay safe." Naruto ordered. She nodded as he ushered the boy into the dumpster and ruffled his hair before facing the thug. "This woman's sick, she will need rest after Hinata's procedure, so I suggest that you leave before you piss me off." Naruto grew a spiked ball with a ring on it, a chain followed it and connected the end to the ring. Naruto dropped the spiked ball and spun it by the chain.
The mercenary smirked and began laughing. "It doesn't matter what happens to that woman, she'll end up like that red-haired bitch that Gatou captured." He goaded. He failed to see Naruto's eyes widen and charged forward. He was slammed in the gut by Naruto's spiked ball and smashed against the brick wall of the street before he could even draw his sword.
"We're taking this sack of shit back with us and i'm gonna have some questions for him that he'll answer, one way or another." Naruto vowed.
"That was awesome, you're a hero just like the pretty red-haired lady." The boy exclaimed as he jumped up and down behind Naruto. He wrapped his iron web around the thug and kneeled down in front of the excited child.
"Was this her?" Naruto held out his mother's picture to the boy, who nodded excitingly. "She's my mother, did Gatou take her?"
He sadly nodded, but his mother answered. "She tried to protect the village until the bridge was complete. but Gatou captured a child and forced her to trade her life for his." She whispered before falling asleep. Hinata stood and leaned down to the boy.
"Your mother needs to sleep for a while but she's going to be fine afterwards, I promise." She said. The child hugged her and then Naruto before he laid down next to his mother. Naruto pulled out a storage scroll and a thick blanket appeared from it, he threw it over their bodies and tucked them in. They left with the thug being dragged behind him.
"Hinata, go back to the house and tell everyone that this guy's not to be disturbed, i'll call everyone together at the place where we train once I'm ready to get some info from this guy." She nodded and he vanished with the thug in tow.
(Five days later)
"Kakashi-sensei, what's Naruto doing?" Sakura asked her teacher as she watched Naruto set the items he asked for on the table behind the upside down figure of the thug that was named Mickiro. Naruto called him Mick to piss him off.
"I think that he's gonna get some info from him." He said uncertainly.
"I don't care what you do to me, I aint saying nothing. If I do, Gatou'll kill me." Mick growled. He was silenced when Naruto grasped his hair with his real arm.
"If you don't tell me, I'll kill you now, Mick." Naruto retaliated, he flicked Mick on the nose with his iron finger, making him flinch.
Naruto reached over to the blowtorch, let the gas loose and used his zippo to ignite it. The flames burst from the torch and Naruto turned the knob to narrow the flames a bit until the fire was blue due to the intense heat. "2000 degrees, Mick, enough to turn steel into butter. It won't hurt at first, it's too hot, you see? The flame sears the nerve endings shut, killing them, you'll go into shock and all you feel is...cold." He moved to Mick's other side. "You'll smell burning meat and...then...it'll hurt." Naruto whispered sinisterly. He moved behind Mick and picked up the popsicle. He winked at his audience and motioned for silence when Kurenai looked like she was gonna crack up.
"I DON'T KNOW SHIT!!" Mick wailed.
Naruto set the flames on the steak and it sizzled loudly, after a moment, he placed the popsicle on Mick's back.
IT FREAKIN' WORKED.
Mick began screaming like he was in total agony everytime Naruto touched his back with the popsicle. After about three minutes, he settled on gasping in fear and the steak was charred black.
"You smell that, Mick? I'm burning off some of your fat!" Naruto smirked.
"AAAH! I'LL TALK! I'LL TALK! Gatou's gonna kill Zabuza after he kills all of you, he's planning on keeping the bridgebuilder's daughter as his own personal toy and selling the kid off on the black market." Mick wailed. Inari hugged his mom fearfully and she rubbed his head affectionately.
"You mentioned a red-headed woman, where is she!?" Naruto snarled. He emphasized his point by pressing the popsicle on his back again.
"She's in a dungeon in a secret underground lair, beneath the mansion. She was supposed to be a treat for the guys but she either snapped the finger off of anyone that came near her or broke their necks. Even now, she hasn't been touched by anyone." He was silenced by Naruto's fist in his face. He absorbed the webs that held him and began walking away.
"Oh no..." "Naruto stop!" Kakashi moved to step in his path but Naruto turned to him with tears streaming down his face.
"I have to go, my mother is being held prisoner and fighting for her life, don't try to stop me, sensei!" Naruto snarled. He tried to leap away but he suddenly dropped in a daze.
Kakashi looked at Kurenai to see her release her hands from the ram seal. "Hinata, seal off his chakra to his arms and legs. At least until morning."
Hinata kneeled next to her crush, "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but you need to be patient and let us help you." She thought before pressing several point on his arms and legs.
Kakashi lifted Naruto on his shoulder and they all left for the house, most with a heavy heart.
(The next day)
Naruto awoke to the sound of glass breaking and Tsunami's scream of fright.
"I'm gonna murder those assholes."Naruto groaned. He swallowed some Vicodin and snuck downstairs.
"Don't you lay a finger on my son or i'll bite my tongue off and choke on my own bood." Tsunami swore. Two thugs were holding her hostage and Inari was being held in the grip of a large and bald, dark-skinned man with an incredibly large naginata. On his forehead was a headband with a scratched symbol of the hidden rock village.
"We were ordered to take you hostage, your son wasn't mentioned in the deal. So we can do whatever we want to him." The man grunted and tightened his grip on Inari's neck. A gloved hand grasped his and pried it open. Inari fell to the floor and ran behind Naruto's leg while rubbing his abused throat.
"You mind keeping it down? I've got a freakin' migraine." Naruto emphasized his point by punching the rogue-nin in the face, sending him flying through the wall and in the yard. He grew two of his shuriken and flung them into the thug's foreheads, killing them instantly. Tsunami gasped and she and Inari wrapped their arms around eachother.
"Get somewhere safe, I'll send Mugen back here in case there's more on their way. You did good, Kid, my mom really was a good influence on you." Naruto said before walking out the hole that he made using the rock-nin's body.
"You little shit!" The guy exclaimed at Naruto's approaching figure.
"Sticks and stones, Dickhead, or should I call you Oboromaru, The Stone Bear of the Hidden Rock Village? You made me your enemy by taking this nice woman as a hostage and trying to kill her son. I can guaran-damn-tee you that you will die before noon. And Gatou will join you in Hell before sundown." Naruto grew his katana, threw it to his left hand and grew another one to hold in his right.
"You think that a few blades will hurt me?" He egotistically laughed as his skin began changing. Naruto raised an eyebrow as the mans skin changed to stone. "This is the kekkei genkai of my former clan, I can change my molecular structure to match that of solid rock. I can't be cut by mere blades." He gloated.
Naruto looked indifferent, "I suppose that it's a good thing that my blades are solid iron. In other words, you're already dead, Rock-brain." He smirked when the nin leapt into the air and attempted to body-slam him. Naruto merely took a large step backwards and the Rock-nin slammed into the ground.
"You little...URK!" He was slenced when Naruto's blade pierced into his eye and through his brain.
"No matter how solid your body is, your inner organs, eyes, and mouth are just as frail as normal. This power would be best suited with my friends clan." Naruto grew a vial and a needle to retract some of the mans blood. He launched his web at the man's naginata and pulled out a scroll to seal it in. Once the sealing was complete he grabbed some wood and placed it on and under the mans body before using his zippo to ignite it. Once he was sure that the body would be incinerated, he leapt towards the bridge.
(With the rest of the team)
"What happened here?" Kakashi asked. The bridge was littered with the unconcious bodies of the workers. Mugen began growling.
"That would have been me. Where's the blonde kid, Naruto? I have some answers for him." Zabuza's voice echoed around them.
"He is not amongst them." The hunter-nin's voice echoed alongside her master's. Eight water doppelgangers appeared around the leaf-nin and bridgebuilder.
"If you're referring to his mother, he already 'extracted' the answers from one of Gatou's thugs, yesterday. I'm actually surprised that you remembered." Kakashi explained. The fog around them lifted and the two rogue-nins were visible.
"I may be a rogue-nin but i'm still a shinobi with my own code of honor. One of them is to keep my end of a deal, and the deal was that if he beat me, i'd tell him all about the redhead. How, exactly, did he get the info?" He asked.
Kakashi smirked proudly beneath his mask. "If you survive this battle, i'll have him write his torture methods down for you." Kakashi pulled out a kunai knife as did Kurenai, the genin surrounded Tazuna. Zabuza noticed that Sasuke was shaking.
"Hmph! The Uchiha seems to be quaking in fear, you may want to have that Naruto kid come and replace him." Zabuza insulted.
"I'm shaking...from anticipation." Sasuke raised his head to show that his eyes held no fear.
"Go for it, Sasuke." Kakashi smirked. Sasuke suddenly vanished from view and the water-clones split in half from various angles and burst like water balloons. Sasuke reappeared with his kunai in each hand and a victorious smirk on his face.
"Interesting, he's not a pathetic as I thought. You might have a rival in speed, Haku." Zabuza suggested.
"Maybe, maybe not."
"Deal with him."
"Yes, sir!" Haku said before vanishing.
Sasuke vanished as well and the two reappeared after a few dozen clangs of metal with Sasuke holding his kunai knife against Haku's senbon needle.
"I don't want to have to kill you, but...you probably won't leave quietly, will you?..."
"Don't be stupid..." Sasuke interrupted.
"Just as I thought...however, you won't be able to match my speed for long...and i've laid the groundwork for two attacks." Haku said.
"Two attacks...?"
"Firstly, there's th water splashed all around us, secondly, I've trapped one of your hands with parrying this move..." She brought her free hand up to her face and made a half ram seal, "...which leaves you with only one hand free to defend yourself from my next attacks!" Her hand was a flurry of movement that Sasuke recognized as handseals.
"What!? With one hand...?" Sasuke thought.
"One-handed seals!? I've never seen anything like it!" Kakashi thought.
"Secret Jutsu: A thousand needles of death!" Haku stomped her foot on the ground and the water around them hovered into the air and formed into a thousand needles that ominously floated around them.
"SASUKE!!" Sakura screamed to her crush.
Sasuke closed his eyes and held his free hand up to his face in a half ram seal. "Come on! Gotta remember the training! Summon all of the chakra energy you can...and focus it in my feet
Sasuke zoomed into the air only a split-second before the needles impacted with the ground where he once stood. Haku had managed to do several flips to avoid the ice needles and the shuriken that Sasuke threw.
Haku squatted once she got a quick break. "You're not that fast." She turned around to see Sasuke behind her and his irises were red with a tomoe in the iris of his left eye and two in his right. "Now you're the one who has to worry about defending yourself from my attacks." Sasuke tried to stab Haku with his kunai but was thwarted by her forearm. He flicked his wrist to send the kunai to her face, which she ducked to avoid, only to get slammed by Sasuke's foot and be sent flying to Zabuza's feet. "You're fast, i'm faster." Sasuke boasted.
Kakashi chuckled, "You had that coming for underestimating our genin. He may not look like much...but Sasuke is the top-rated rookie from the Hidden Leaf Village. Sakura here is our sharpest mind, while little Hinata is our top rookie medic and heiress to the prestigious Hyuga clan and last but not least let's not forget our most powerful new kekkei genkai wielder and village Jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki." Kurenai gasped and he realized that he let it slip.
Zabuza's eyes widened at the revelation before he snickered in excitement. "A jinchuriki of the Hidden Leaf. There was only one demon that attacked it and if that boy is its container...then..." "Deal with the Uchiha brat, Haku, Naruto should be here soon to take his place."
"What a pity." Haku said. He rushed his hands through several seals and stopped on one that Sasuke hadn't seen before. The air got colder and the water shifted around them until it rose into the air to form a dome of several dozen mirrors. "Secret Jutsu: Crystal Ice Mirrors!" Haku shouted. She seemed to melt into one of them and her image appeared on every one of them.
"What does she plan to do with these mirrors?" Sasuke thought.
"Let me show you some real speed!" Haku said and held her senbon at the ready. Sasuke suddenly screamed as his clothes were shredded and his body was cut, but they were shallow.
"Sasuke...!!" Kakashi yelled and tried to jump in to help his student but was held back by Kurenai.
"He can handle himself." She stated. Sakura suddenly bound past her and Hinata screamed for her to stop.
"Sasuke!!" She yelled and threw a kunai to him. It was caught by Haku before it could reach Sasuke. "Dammit, he caught it!!"
A large object flew through the air and struck Haku's mask. He fell to the ground as the object impaled it and everyone saw that it was a glaive.
"I'm gonna kick all of your asses for leaving me at the damn house." Naruto's voice shouted from the end of the bridge. Mugen barked happily and sprinted to his master's feet. Naruto kneeled and stroked Mugen's head. "Sorry buddy, but I need you to go back and take care of Tsunami and Inari. Some of Gatou's thugs tried to kidnap her and they might try again." Mugen yipped and bound off to the woods to the house. Naruto stood and glared at Haku and Zabuza. "Here I am to save the day. You know how the story goes, things look bleak till the hero arrives to rain justice down upon the evil-doers."
"Naruto!" Sakura happily shouted.
"Naruto's here to save us." Hinata thought relieved.
"We needed an ambush, and he goes and paints a bullseye on his head." Kakashi grumbled loud enough for Kurenai to hear. She chuckled.
"I was wondering when you'd show up, brat." Zabuza said. He grabbed the hilt of his Guillotine sword.
"Your boss ordered Tsunami to be taken hostage. Were you aware that he had hired "The Stone Bear of the Hidden Rock" to kidnap her? He almost killed her son as well." Naruto said and recalled his glaive. They were about to charge but Haku appeared between them.
"What are you doing, Haku?" Zabuza asked.
"Please let me have this boy, Master. I have to tell him something." Haku asked.
Zabuza chuckled sinisterly. "You just want to keep my hands off of him, eh? How naive." Zabuza turned back to face the two jonin.
Sasuke groaned as he tried to sit up. "That guy...naive? Yeah right! I look like i'm being sliced to ribbons by thousands of needles but the cuts are shallow, he's killing me inch by inch, saving the vital parts and the deathblow for later. But I can't figure out the technique he's using! It might be clones that are hiding in the mirrors and striking simultaneously. I don't even see him move. He strikes before I can see his weapon's trajectory! It can't be just the clone jutsu...the ice irrors must be a part of this too but I can't figure out their significance. I guess my only chance is to concentrate on the battle here and trust Naruto to set me free from the outside..."
"Hey, Duck-ass! I'm here to take over!" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke felt something grab the back of his shirt and the next thing he knew was flying through the air and out of the dome of mirrors.
"Now that he's out of the way, what is it you need to tell me that's so damn important?" Naruto asked.
"I am aquainted with the woman who you call 'mother,' she's a very kind person. I told her of a boy with blonde hair and whiskers searching for her and she didn't believe me. She tearfully insisted that you had died on your day of birth."
Naruto lowered his head solemnly. "She was lied to after I underwent a certain process, told I was killed and she left without looking back."
"Are you referring to the sealing of the Nine-tailed fox?" Haku asked as she readied her senbon.
Naruto's eyes widened in fear. "How did you know about that!?"
"Your sensei let it slip that you're a jinchuriki, and the only demon to attack your village was the fox. We figured the rest out ourselves. You must have had a childhood similar to mine. I was hated by my village due to this bloodline ability that I posess, I was considered an abomination because of the Mizukage's racial hatred of all kekkei genkai's." Haku explained.
"Well, it doesn't bother me anymore and it's not really my concern. My only interest is rescuing my mother and putting Gatou's head on a pike to show the entire village that they're free from his reign." Naruto held his glaive in front of him and prepared for battle.
"Very well." Haku's image appeared on every mirror and she struck. Naruto suffered the same injuries as his duckheaded teammate but he persevered more.
"Think! He's gotta have a weakness, maybe I should try the barrier and send the senbon back at him. No, he'd just grab them in midair and send them back at me. HUK!!" He grasped his arm that had its transparent-greenish mist emenating from it again to see that his entire bicep was fully metallic and two more glowing cracks had appeared on it. "Energysurge! Seems like it'll come in handy." He used his zippo to set his glaive alight and hurled it at a mirror with all of his might. The blades of the glaive pierced the ground in front of a mirror and Naruto held his metal hand in front of his face, "I'm on FIRE!! He yelled as he clenched his fingers. The glaive seemed to explode and give off a shockwave of the transparent mist and the flames. "Oh, I love that!" He muttered loudly. He looked at his arm to see one of the glowing cracks was blackened. "Ten seconds to recharge each round, three rounds in total." He thought.
"Interesting! Your arm has several unique tendencies that you aren't even aware of." Haku's voice echoed. Naruto was stunned to see that the mirror wasn't even scratched. "Your flames are powerful, make no mistake about that, but my ice is more powerful." Haku threw several senbon at Naruto who used his arm to block them.
"Ah hell, this is gonna suck. Maybe I shouldn't have thrown Duck-ass out there, I may need what little help he could have given." He thought as he recalled his glaive.
(With Hinata)
The jonin were fighting Zabuza with incredible difficulty while she used her Byakugan to observe Naruto's battle with the ninja, Haku. Naruto suddenly droppd to his knees and began panting. "Naruto-kun's in trouble!" She blurted out.
"Of course he's in trouble, Sasuke-kun was having trouble with him, what did he think he could do?" Sakura growled as she tended to Sasuke's wounds. Hinata rolled her eyes at her fellow Kunoichi's attitude.
"Hinata, get over there and try to help Naruto." Kurenai ordered. Hinata made sure that Sakura had healed Sasuke enough to take her place before rushing past the jonin to her crush.
Naruto coughed as he yanked the senbon needles from his sides and stomach. "This isn't good! She keeps hitting my pressure points and i'm losing feeling in my joints." Naruto thought as he tried but failed to stand.
"Do you have something precious to protect?" Haku asked.
Naruto pondered the question for a moment to stall for time that he could use to regain feeling in his limbs. "I'm not sure, I have friends that are precious to me, considering that I had a rough childhood. I also have a dream, my dream is to be the greatest Hokage that has ever lived." He grunted out.
"That is a noble dream, I too have a dream; to see Master Zabuza's dreams come true, even if it means killing m own heart to insure that it comes to fruition." She, once again, threw several dozen senbon at Naruto who was too numb to dodge. Naruto closed his eyes and held his arm in front of his face. He heard the sound of metal piering flesh but no pain. He moved his hand to see Hinata with all the senbon pierced through her body and her neck.
"No!!" He whispered. She fell backwards and he caught her. He placed her head on his lap and pulled the needles from her neck. "Hinata! Why would you do that? Why would you try to throw your life away for mine?"
"N-Naruto-k...kun, Y-you were my greatest reason to live. I couldn't imagine a life without you in it." She whispered before releasing a final sigh.
"She died a shinobi's death. I suppose this is the first time that someone close to you has died?" Haku asked. He walked to one of his mirrors and merged with it. "It is the life we live as shinobi."
"Shut up." Naruto whispered . Haku watched as steam began to rise around him and it suddenly gave way to red chakra. "You took her away from me. She was one of the greatest things in my life and you took her from me!" Haku looked at the boy that crouched over his fallen friend.
"What is this? Chakra can't be seen, yet it's clearly visible. The bloodlust and rage are overwhelming. Who, What is this boy?" Haku thought. Naruto head shot and glared right at her. Haku gasped in shock at the sight of Naruto's animalistic red eyes. His whisker marks were more defined and his canines were longer as were his fingernails on his left hand while the tips of his fingers on his right hand narrowed to razor sharp tips. But it would be his next words that she would never forget.
"I'M GOING TO RIP YOU APART AND THROW YOUR REMAINS INTO THE WIND!!!" Naruto roared. The chakra gathered together above him and formed a demonic fox head. It howled to the sky before merging with Naruto.
(With the Jonin)
Kakashi and Kurenai stiffened at the same time due to the ominous feeling that overcame them.
"This power, is it Zabuza's? No...it's too evil...too foul...and it's familiar...but it can't be!" Kakashi thought fearfully.
"Has the seal broken? No...it's been loosened...and a small glimmer of the Nine-tailed monster's chakra has bled through the seal." Kurenai thought.
"This foul power...could it be Kakashi or Kurenai? No...it's too powerful, even for both of them. Wait! This has a demonic feeling to it...it's that Naruto kid!" Zabuza thought.
Kakashi grabbed a small scroll from his vest pocket and unrolled it. He cut his finger on the edge of it and smeared the blood along the middle of the paper. "Zabuza, we're all a bunch of busy people, we've all got a lot on our plates. You feel that power just as much as we do. So what do you say we quit screwing around and finish this so I can examine Naruto's seal?" He shouted to the mist. The scroll was on his ring fingers as his hand was in the tiger seal.
"Interesting, Show me what you can do, Kakashi Hatake!"
(With Naruto and Haku)
"GRRRAAAAAARRRR!!" Naruto roared. He slouched over to place his hands on the ground.
"He's attacking!!!" Haku thought. and true to his prediction, Naruto lunged forward on all fours like a savage beast on the hunt.
"He's emanating such a bloodthirsty feeling! He's changed completely from the boy of just minutes ago!" Haku screamed as she threw several senbons at her attacker.
"RAAAR!!" Naruto roared. The incoming senbons bounced off an invisible wall of chakra. Haku managed to disappear from the mirror she occupied right before Naruto punched it. To her surprise, the mirror shattered like it was glass.
"He...he deflected them without even touching them?! And he broke my mirror so easily!" Haku appeared in the mirror above the fox boy and dove out to stab him with a handful of senbons. Naruto slapped his left hand into the ground and flipped himself out of the way at incredible speeds. "I've got to get to the next mirror!"
She moved to another mirror but her wrist was grasped in a vice-like grip that could have crusher her bones into powder and yanked in front of Naruto's vengeful gaze.
"AAAUUURGH!!" Naruto howled as the crimson chakra appeared around him. It began to recede into Naruto's iron hand, which he had clenched into a fist. He threw his fist into Haku's face with all of his might and the impact sent her through one of her mirrors and she landed right behind Zabuza with her mask shattered.
"Haku!" He yelled. He was halted by an earsplitting roar from a demonized Naruto.
Naruto appeared in front of Zabuza and backhanded him to the edge of the bridge, several loud cracks resounded through the air signifying that a few ribs and other bones were broken. He gazed at Haku's unconsious figure and stood there, staring at him. The aua of the demon fox began dissipating until it was all but gone, his animalistic traits were still present, indicating that a bit of his rage was still present.
"I want to wait for your awakening before I kill you." He growled.
"Naruto, Hinata's alive! She was placed into a death-like state like Zabuza was." Kurenai shouted. She had, apparently, ran over to her fallen student when the mist cleared and Zabuza was incapacitated.
"Oh thank God!" He whispered. He was about to change back but suddenly there was a sound of a person clapping.
"Not bad, you've actually saved me the trouble of having to pay him." A gruff voice said.
They all turned to see a short, fat man standing in front of forty or fifty bandits and thugs.
"I'll go ahead and assume that you're that tub-a-lard-looking motherfucker, Gatou." Naruto said and grew his katana and threw it to his left hand.
Gatou grunted at the insult but answered, "You assume correct, My original idea was to have Zabuza and his girl fight you Leaf-nin and die in the process, but since you spared him and that tasty bitch he has i'll just let one of my boys here kill him and the girl can be my personal little toy. You would've been weakened by the battle and they would have dealt with you but since you probably might take out half of them and save me the trouble of paying them why don't you just give me the bridgebuilder and be on your way, after all, what's the matter with killing one man?"
"You'll never stop at one..." Naruto grew his second katana, "...I'll take you all on!" He roared and charged at the mass of thugs.
"AAH, Kill him! Kill him!" Gatou screamed. The thugs ran at Naruto with their weapons drawn.
Before he could slice down the first one, a zanbatou cleaved him down. "Since my employer has betrayed me, I have no reason to go after the bridgebuilder nor do I need to battle any of you." Zabuza explaned. "I'll help you kill them, but Gatou's mine if I can help it."
Naruto nodded and they both began cleaving and slicing their way through all of the thugs.
(With Hinata)
"Where...am I?" She slowly opened her eyes to a bright light and a blurry figure above her. Her vision cleared and the person above her turned out to be Kurenai.
"Thank goodness you've awakened." She whispered in relief.
"Where's N...Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.
Kurenai looked fearful for a moment before looking to her left. Hinata sat up with her teachers help and her eyes widened at the sight before her. Her beloved was fighting alongside their enemy against an army of thugs. Zabuza was apparently injured because he wasn't faring very well. He had multiple weapons sticking out of his body and a few were in vital areas. The weapons had a purple and green substance dripping off the blades, They were poisoned.
"What's happened to Naruto-kun?" She asked once she noticed the changes.
"I'm sorry, Hinata but I'm not at liberty to say. Let's just say that he's awakened the demon within his soul." Kurenai said.
(With Naruto and Zabuza)
The thugs were all dead and Naruto was panting in exhaustion while Zabuza fell on his face. "Hey, you alright? Naruto asked.
"Sorry, Kid! Looks like you'll have to take him down for me. My last wish is that you take Haku with you to the Leaf Village, tell her I said to start a new life with you." Zabuza said before he breathed his last breath. Naruto bowed in respect to a fallen warrior.
"H-hey! Maybe we could make a deal! I'll pay you as much as you want, just don't kill me." He pathetically screamed.
Naruto snarled. "I was saving this jutsu for later, but I guess you'll be a decent sacrifice for him. And it'll be a suitable punishment for you.""Snake, Boar, Sheep, Rabbit, Dog, Rat, Bird, Horse, Snake!" "Sealing Jutsu: Reaper Death Seal!!" Naruto screamed. He suddenly felt another presense behind him and turned to see the reaper of death hovering ominously behind him. "The Reaper that can only be seen by the caster of the jutsu and the one who my father summoned to seal the fox within me. How ironic! I believe I can summon him without serious consequence due to me already bearing his seal." "Here's the deal; I will summon you when I want to seal away a truly dark soul and you can have it in the place of my own soul. What do you say?" The Reaper closed his eyes for a moment in contemplation. It opened its eyes and nodded with a sinister smile on its face.
"Earth Style: Fang Pursuit Jutsu!" Kakashi yelled and slammed the scroll from earlier into the ground. After a few moments of the ground shaking, Eight different dogs with clothing and Leaf headbands burst from the ground around Gatou and they all latched onto him. "After this, you're gonna tell me where you learned that jutsu." Kakashi ordered.
Naruto nodded and approached Gatou. The Reaper wrapped the beads in its left hand around its forearm and intricate black seals appeared on it. He reached his arm through Naruto's lower back, where his seal was located and its hand went through Naruto's stomach and into Gatou's. The hand receded and in its grip was a humanoid chakra figure. Once the figure left Gatou's body, it slumped over, lifeless while the chakra figure was pulled through Naruto and into the Death God's mouth. Once it was fully eaten the Reaper nodded at Naruto's back and faded away. Naruto fell down on one knee as A bit of Gatou's memory filled his mind. "So that's where his hideout is, Dumb-fuckin me!" He stood and began jumping through the woods despite his teacher's orders to stop.
(At a mansion near the coast)
"This will end when my mother is returned to me!" Naruto muttered to himself as he kicked open the front door of the mansion. He made his way through several rooms and hallways. He happened upon several rooms with different women chained to the beds, and, to his disgust, small children as well. He released them and created several clones to guide them all out of there. He found an entryway to the basement and smashed his fist through the feeble lock. He made his way past the booby traps and found the room he was looking for. He kicked the door open and almost broke down then and there. Sitting down with her head down and her arms cuffed to the wall with the cuffs having special anti-chakra seals on them was a woman with fiery red hair, she was garbed in ragged civillian clothing, a simple pair of slightly torn jeans and a red t-shirt. The woman groaned and raised her head to gaze upon him with near-lifeless forest green eyes. Naruto approached her and barely managed to catch her foot before it impacted with his face. "Mama, it's me, It's Naruto! Your son!" He pleaded. Her eyes softened and she allowed him to approach her. He pried open the cuffs and caught her before she could hit the ground.
"N...Naruto-kun?" She questioned. He tearfully smiled and nodded his head. His demonic traits diminished, except for his right hand, which was still razor sharp. She looked into his ocean blue eyes and began to cry, "Oh, my baby!" She yelled and wrapped her arms around his neck. She cried on his shoulder for what felt like an eternity and he did the same for her. She cried herself to sleep and Naruto placed her on his back with the help of a shadow clone and he got the fuck out of there. He made sure that the civillians were safe before jumping away to Tazuna's home.
(Next Day)
Kushina grudgingly awoke due to the sunlight peering through the window to see Tsunami's smiling face looking down on her. Before she could say anything Tsunami gave her a shushing gesture and pointed next to her. Kushina looked at what her friend was pointing to and nearly began crying again, Naruto was asleep and using her shoulder as a pillow. His clawed iron hand held her left and she thought his soft snoring was adorable. "How long have I been out?" She whispered.
"Only a day. He hasn't left your side since he brought you here. Kurenai-san had to use genjutsu to put him to sleep and even then he refused to leave your side." She giggled softly. Kushina smiled as Tsunami left to leave her alone with her long-thought-dead son.
"I swear that I'll murder the ANBU who told me you were dead, sweetheart." She vowed as she wrapped her arm around Naruto. He smiled softly in his sleep.
(Three days later)
Naruto awoke from his peaceful slumber and took his morning Vicodin before heading down to the kitchen.
"Morning Everyone! Morning Mama!" He said before giving his mother a hug. The last few days had been eventful to say the least. He had quickly bonded with his mother and told her all about his life. Her killing intent went through the roof when he summed up his treatment by the villagers and she was happy to hear that he's made so many friends. Mugen absolutely loved her and he had no doubts about Jin liking her. He told her about his virus and its qualities, she wasn't too happy to hear that he had to take Vicodin but after a TV related incident a few hours later, she had no complaints after her laughing fit ended. His teammates got on her nerves, especially Sasuke since her and his father, Fugaku hadn't ever seen eye-to-eye. Hinata was a different story, They got along so well you'd think that she was Hinata's mother as well as Naruto's. She even whispered that if Hinata ever got the courage to admit it, she approved of them dating(Not that he knows that). Tsunami was kind enough to give her some clothes to wear on the trip back home. Haku had agreed to go with them as per her former master's wish. Naruto gave her Zabuza's zanbatou to signify that she carried his legacy now.
"Alright everyone! I have a big announcment! The bridge is nearly complete thanks to Naruto's shadow clones..." Naruto stood and gave a mock bow like he was on a stage. "...and with the money Naruto confiscated from Gatou's vault I was able to hire some security to watch me until its completion. So you all should be heading back home to your families and with your families." He aimed the last part at The Uzumakis.
(Next Day)
"It's been fun, Little Guy, but it's time for us to head back home. You do me a favor and take good care of your family." Naruto said to a tearful Inari. They all turned and left the village using the bridge that was nearly complete.
"You know, Dad, You havent officially dedicated the bridge." Tsunami informed her father.
He smiled. "We'll call it the Great Naruto Bridge! That name will insure that it will stand forever...Our bridge will become super-famous the world over as a symbol of triumph and endurance! That's what I hope...and hopefully, that's how it'll be."
At the end of the bridge, Kushina had wrapped her arm around Naruto's shoulder and pulled him closer to her. Mugen licked her fingers from his bed, Naruto's hood.
That's chapter two, everyone! I'm sorry but I was out all day on Christmas so I couldn't work on this thing and post it when I planned to.
I'll try to get the next one up ASAP. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and will all have A Happy New Year.
Please Review!!
