Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and I don't think I want to. It just sounds like a drag.
A/N: First off, I'm sorry it took so long. I promised you guys that it would be out sooner, but life happened. If you want to know why it's late, it's in my profile. This chapter is longer and has some action in it, which makes up for it I think. I ended up writing the omake, just a little relationship development between two people, with a little lime, I guess (still not entirely sure when it gets to the point that you can call it that), one of whom hasn't made her appearance yet.
Lastly, I wanna make a shout out to albertoersa. He's beginning some stories as well, good stories, and you should check them out. They definitely have potential. I've been giving him some tips, and he's been giving me some tips as well.
Chapter 3: I said I'm Naruto!
The next day, Kakashi never showed up at the mission hall, so they went to the training grounds. It was almost noon when he finally arrived at the training grounds. He found them all in the middle of a sparring session, Naruto and Sakura against Sasuke, Sasuke winning. They stopped when they saw him, and Sakura, as always was the first to speak up, "Kakashi-sensei, I know that you're late sometimes, and that you're trying to fix it, but this is ridiculous.", she glared at him, wondering if he would let her get away with hitting him. "Also, you look horrible, it looks like you just woke up.", she noticed that his hair was sticking out in a few places and that his flak jacket was a little crooked.
"That's because I did.", he walked over to them, adjusting his jacket. "I had a rough night, but don't ask me why. Trust me, you don't want to know."
Shrugging, they continued training, this time it was the three of them versus Kakashi. After a little while, they noticed that something was different. "Ne, Kakashi-sensei, why aren't, *pant*, you reading your orange book?", Naruto asked, recovering from a counter attack.
Kakashi looked at him in surprise, "I'm not sure, I just don't feel like it.", he checked in his pockets and pouches, not finding it, "Besides, I think I left it back at An-my place.", Kakashi said, hoping they wouldn't question his slip.
Sakura wasn't buying it, "Are you alright? You never go anywhere without that book. Maybe we should stop so you can go get it.", she hoped he would, because she wanted to follow him and see where he had been last night.
"No thanks, I think that we'll just keep training.", he looked at her, seeing right through her plan. Kakashi had them come over to the wooden pillars, "I'm going to teach you guys a new technique."
With Naruto's muscles sore from training, he painfully sped towards the location of the seal, hoping that his kunai hadn't been messed with. He needed to see it again, needed to make sure of something. Speeding across the rooftops, he reached the wall and found his kunai marker just as the sun was setting. He looked at the intricate design, comparing it to the copy that he had with him. 'There are no differences, I copied it down perfectly.', he was surprised, he had thought that he had copied it down wrong. He brought his hand up, tracing the lines with his fingers. Something unexpected happened, as soon as his hand was completely over the seal, it became stuck, and he felt his chakra start to drain. He tried desperately to pull his hand away, with no effect. The sun had already set, but the seal had started to glow with a blue light. That's when a thought occurred to him, 'The ink on paper bombs glow when I arm them, so if I do the same here...', he started pushing more of his chakra into the seal. He felt his chakra deplete rapidly, the seal not changing except to glow even brighter. 'Damn it, I can't reduce the flow! At this rate, I'll die!'
He felt his vision going dark, and fell over, into the darkness. After laying there for a few minutes, he realized something, he wasn't unconscious. He started to get up, realizing that his hand was free as well. He looked around him and saw that he was standing at the entrance to a dark tunnel which steadily sloped downward. He backed up a few steps and saw that a door had opened up on the side of the wall. 'What the hell is going on? Was it some kind of lock?' Naruto suddenly felt very lightheaded, and he sat down on the ground, holding his head. He sat there for several minutes, catching his breath, trying to think through what had just happened. He got up and and threw a pebble into the tunnel, and quickly heard it hit a wall.
He saw the fading light and decided to come back tomorrow, just hoping that nobody else came by and tried to explore before he did. As he was walking away, he heard a surprisingly quiet rumbling, and turned to see the 'doorway' was closing up, the wall seemingly 'growing' back to fill the hole. He walked back over to the wall and felt around, not finding any cracks or other signs that a door had been there. He put his hands in his pockets and sighed, 'I hope I don't have to use as much chakra as I did last time to reopen it.' he turned around and walked home in the fading light.
After a relatively uneventful day of training, he hurried back to the tunnel, bringing a flashlight and a few glowsticks with him this time. He sat in front of the wall, staring at the spot above his kunai. As soon as he saw the markings, he placed his hand on the seal, expecting the worst. What he didn't expect was for it to almost immediately open up, his chakra barely phased. He stared into the darkness for a few minutes, jumping when he heard a cat meow behind him. He turned around to see a familiar brown cat, the red bow on her ear, disappear into an alley. He chuckled to himself, but then realized that if she was near, another genin team would be on it's way soon.
He hurried into the tunnel, turning on his flashlight as he did. After a few steps, he heard the door closing and looked back. He decided that he would go forward, worrying about how to get out later. He continued walking, not getting very far before he came to a dead end. "Is this it? A small tunnel into the wall that has nothing in it? Is this the secret vault of the Yondaime?!" he yelled out, frustrated. He started to walk forward, checking if there was another seal on the wall at the end. He was almost there when he heard an odd sound from beneath his feet. He looked down to see a manhole cover, and sweat-dropped. He put the flashlight in his mouth and moved the cover over, revealing a small hole with a ladder leading down into the darkness.
He grabbed one of the glowsticks he had brought along, activated it, and dropped it down the hole. It quickly faded into the darkness, hearing the small sound of it hitting the ground about three seconds after it was dropped. 'Hm, about 60 meters.' Keeping the flashlight in his mouth, he started climbing down the ladder, dropping down when he reached another tunnel. He picked up the glowstick, sticking it in his pocket. He was about to move forward, but stopped when he saw the light of the flashlight reflect off of something a few inches from his nose. He fell backwards in surprise, shining the light in front of him.
He broke into a cold sweat when he looked at what he had almost walked into. In front of him was a huge crisscrossing of ninja wire covered in explosive tags. It went on for a few meters, where it stopped at a small metal door. He sighed in relief, knowing that if he had taken one more step he would be dead right now. He got up and looked around him. This part of the tunnel was about two meters wide and three tall. He saw that the wire was forming an impassable barrier, no openings large enough for even a kunai.
As he shone his flashlight around the walls, he saw that at every point where the wire was attached to the wall was a small seal. There were two other seals on the wall next to him and the door. It looked completely different than the seal that he had found outside. It was black and had more of a swirl pattern to it. Looking closely, he saw that there was a slight difference between the ones on the wall and door, and the one next to him. The one next to him had the Kanji for 'lock' in the center, and the one for 'closed' in the others. Just to make sure that it wouldn't work, he placed his hand into the center of the seal and pushed his chakra into it. He suddenly brought his hand back with a yelp. The seal had turned red when chakra was put into it, burning the parts of his hand that had been touching the ink.
Seeing that there was nothing he could do here without more knowledge, he took out all of the materials to make a seal, which he kept on him at all times now just in case. He started copying down the seals that he saw, going slowly and making sure that he didn't make a mistake. After a short time, he got up and placed the paper that he had used back into his pouch, and started going back up to the surface. When he reached the entrance, he shone the light onto the wall and saw a seal identical to the one outside. He pushed his chakra into it, and walked out, relieved to see that nobody was around.
He started to walk back to his apartment, his mind too distracted to be running. He decided that he would proceed with the rest of the riddle slowly, not seeing any reason to rush. He got back to his apartment and got ready for bed, sitting down for a few minutes to place his new seals in his desk and look at the riddle.
When the world is painted red
And your friends are thinking of bed
Look into the soul
On the Flash's head
He had already figured that out, look into the eyes of the Yondaime at sunset.
At the end of the light
You must share your might
Watch out for the paper and ink
Or you'll never see another fight
That part made more sense now, follow the beam of light, and share my chakra, or what makes me mighty, with the seal. Then to watch out for the paper bombs or I could die.
From the union of yellow and red
Orange blood need be bled
Inside you will find
The tools to take our stead
He still had absolutely no clue about the last part. He still didn't know what orange blood was, or why it stated the fact that orange comes from red and yellow. 'And who is the other person in our?' He sighed, placed it back in a drawer, and went to bed, thinking about how much had changed in the past month.
The next morning, Naruto was pleasantly surprised to find out that they were given the mission to find Tora. As they exited the mission hall, he ran ahead of the others, telling them to follow, "Come on guys, hurry up. Let's finish this mission."
"What's got you so worked up Naruto? I thought you hated catching Tora.", Sakura said, turning to Kakashi for orders.
Sasuke nodded, "Yeah dobe, don't get so worked up. We need to find where she is first.", he took the wireless radio from Kakashi, handing another to Naruto.
"Whatever, you guys can do that, I'll be right back.", Naruto said, bounding off towards the edge of town after putting on his radio.
He was long gone before they had time to react, "Cha, that baka is so going to get it when he gets back.", Sakura yelled, but then jumped when she heard Naruto in her ear.
"You don't have to yell Sakura-chan, I can hear you just fine. Besides, you'll be happy when I come back.", he said, the others wondering what he meant. Naruto quickly reached the alley where he had seen her last night and made an army of shadow clones. He surrounded a dumpster, hearing the sounds of something moving inside. He captured Tora, who started trying to claw off the face of the clone who was holding her. He suddenly had an idea. He had one of his clones henge into a cage, and put Tora inside of it, making sure that he could hold it without her biting off his fingers. "Hey guys, I got Tora, meet me at the Assignment Hall."
Once they were reunited, the rest of his team asked him how he had found her so fast. He just let out the simple answer, which was partially true, "I used shadow clones to find her." After returning the reluctant cat to her owner, they were told to wait for another mission, seeing as how they had finished the first one so quickly.
Hiruzen brought out the scroll detailing the various D-rank missions that were available, "Let's see, what do we have. Ah, you could babysit the Chief councilors baby, or dig up potatoes at..."
"Come on, isn't there anything more exciting that you could give us Jījī? These missions are all too easy and boring.", he sat down on the ground, showing the others that he wouldn't leave until he got something better.
Hiruzen sighed, "Alright, if that's how your going to be, then I guess I have no choice. I'll assign you to an escort mission that we just received.", he said, then called out for their client to enter. An aging man entered, holding a some form of alcohol in one hand, and leaning against the wall, clearly drunk.
"So I'm s'posed to be escorted by these brats? Are you sure that they're really ninja?", he slurred out, stumbling over to Naruto and eying him. "You look kind of funny, what happened to you?"
Naruto snapped, only being prevented from tearing the old man to shreds by Kakashi who had grabbed the back of his jacket, "Naruto, you can't kill the client, or do you want to fail your first C-rank mission?", those last words made Naruto stop struggling. He crossed his arms, mumbling curses under his breath.
Naruto had hurried back home to pack. He was on his way to the gates, double checking that he had everything in his pack. He mumbled the list to himself, rifling through the various items, "Pork Ramen, check. Special Pork Ramen, check. Pork And Miso Ramen, check. Beef..."
"H-hello Naruto-kun."
Naruto looked up to see Hinata standing there, looking at him nervously. "Hey Hinata-chan, whats up?" he said, returning the pack to his shoulders. He was sure he had everything, and if he didn't, the rest of his team would help him.
Seeing the pack he was holding, she got nervous, "W-where are you g-going Naruto?"
"My team and I are going on a C-rank mission. We have a to escort a drunk asshole to his bridge so he can finish it."
Hinata looked at him, confusion on her face, "Y-you're leaving the v-village? For h-how long?"
"Not that long. A week at most. Hopefully some bandits will be stupid enough to attack us, I want to see some action. Not they'd be much of a-"
Hinata suddenly hugged him, "P-please be c-careful, I-I d-don't know how I c-could go on if you d-died." she sobbed.
"Whoa, where did this come from? No need to cry Hinata, this is me we're talking about, I'll be fine." he said, trying to calm her down. Seeing that it had no effect, he got serious, "Hinata, listen to me.", he pushed her back slightly so he could look in her eyes, "It's just a C-rank mission, I'm not going to get hurt."
"D-do you promise?" she asked, sniffling.
"I can't promise that, things can happen. Whatever the case, you need to be tough. I know how much I mean to you, but whatever happens in life, you have to keep going, and don't let anyone tell you, including yourself, that you aren't a great ninja."
Drying her tears, she looked at Naruto with, if it was even possible, more respect than ever. "A-alright Naruto-kun, I'll do my best." She smiled, wiping the tears from her eyes.
Naruto smiled back, then looked up at the sun, "Well Hinata-chan, I'd better get going. I don't want to be later than my sensei. Bye, and remember, be strong." He said as he ran to the front gates, waving at her.
Not long after, they were out the gates, heading towards the Land of Waves. Naruto had brought along a few of his scrolls about Fuinjutsu, knowing that he had to learn more if he was to get into the vault. They had been walking for about two hours when he found a kind of seal that one could use to store various items inside of a single scroll. He started thinking of all the possibilities, 'With a large enough scroll, and enough time, somebody could potentially store an entire house into one scroll.'
Kakashi nodded in silent approval of his team. About an hour into traveling they had instinctively fallen into something that had semblance to a formation. Sasuke had taken point, Naruto was trailing slightly behind to the left, and Sakura was opposite the Uzumaki. Tazuna was about in the middle of the rough triangle while Kakashi lingered back. The Jonin could tell that the client had been relieved by this, assured that they were taking the job seriously.
As they were traveling, Kakashi glanced at a puddle that was very out of place, considering it was the dry season and hadn't rained in weeks. Of course, outsiders to Hi no Kuni wouldn't take this into account. No matter. It was obviously an ambush set up for them, and it was obviously some jutsu being used. Jutsu meant ninja. Ninja meant a target.
His team would be fine. They'd been too well prepared not to be. Kakashi himself would be fine of course. After all, the power of the log was formidable enough. But the power of the transformed log was ungodly.
Oblivious to the Jonin's musings, two forms crept from the puddle as the group passed, utilizing stealth worthy of their chunin rank. Meizu, the younger brother, crouched atop the back of the older brother, Gozu. The Demon Brothers eyed their targets for just a moment, mouths almost watering from the vicious sneers hidden behind their breathing apparatuses. Almost time.
He was just about to try it out, drawing the seal using a wooden tile as the surface, when, suddenly, two ninja erupted from a nearby puddle. They flew towards Kakashi, using a bladed chain connected to one's right gauntlet, and the other one's left gauntlet. "Shit!", was all Kakashi could say before the chain was wrapped around him, then tightened, cutting him to pieces. They saw the bloody chunks of their sensei fall to the ground, the attackers grinning evilly at Team 7.
Naruto was stunned, completely unprepared for an attack. Before he could recover from the shock of what had just happened, he saw Sasuke run in. Sasuke jumped over their chain, throwing a kunai so that it was trapped to the ground. He then split-kicked the two of them, sending them flying and causing the chain to snap off of their gauntlets. They quickly recovered though, one charging the still stunned Naruto, the other charging Tazuna, and Sakura, who was guarding him. Naruto, thinking just quickly enough, brought up the wooden tile, using it to push the clawed gauntlet off course just enough for him to escape harm.
Naruto was about to prepare a counterattack, but when he looked up... the fight was over? It had only lasted maybe 4 seconds, but it was already done. There stood Kakashi, completely unscathed, in front of him, holding the two missing-nin. He brought down the kunai that he had gotten out, "Ne, Kakashi-sensei, what just happened?", he asked, thoroughly confused.
"I did a substitution jutsu before they 'killed me', and decided to test you guys, see how you would react.", he said, looking at Naruto with disappointment.
"Well, couldn't you have given me a bit more time? I was just about to kick their asses.", he smiled at them, hoping they would be proud of his reaction time.
"No, I couldn't have. If I had given you any more time, Tazuna, Sakura, or Sasuke, would have been seriously hurt.", he looked at Naruto, trying to make his point. Naruto hung his head, a little in sadness, but mostly in thought.
Kakashi gave his other students a well-earned congratulations for their performance in live combat. Kakashi then secured the 'Demon Brothers' to a tree, using highly proficient knots. He commented that the duo was known for relentlessly attacking, as the genin had seen, until their targets were killed. He briefly interrogated their prisoners, who confessed without much prompting that they were sent to eliminate the bridge builder. He kindly thanked them for the information before knocking them unconscious again. Kakashi turned to Tazuna with a serious look in his eye.
As it turns out, the old man didn't have the income to afford anything more than the cost of a C-rank mission.
Some billionaire from the west named Gato, whose shipping company Kakashi knew of, was plundering the economy of Nami no Kuni. His company had swiftly monopolized control of the country's import and export; the Land of Waves was turned into a desolate and poverty-stricken state. Gato smuggled drugs and other forms of contraband into the country as one of many ways of breaking and controlling its people.
Tazuna completing the bridge remained the only hope Wave had of surviving this siege. The people would be free to begin trading with what little they had left, and the economy would pick up once again. Gato knew this, and was not willing to jeopardize his absolute control over an entire nation. He did not place a price on Tazuna's head, as that would not be thorough enough. Gato had instead chosen to personally hire shinobi to take care of the bridge builder. The two who had attacked them recently were only of chunin rank. Kakashi informed his team the next assassin would be an elite. A jonin.
"Our assignment was to protect you from thieves or gangs. This is well beyond the scope of our original mission," Kakashi said lowly, leaving his words hanging in the still air. The meaning of those words was not lost on any present.
Sasuke steeled his resolve. No way he would quit the mission no matter how dangerous it became. Whatever was thrown at them couldn't even begin to compare to Itachi.
Sakura said nothing, only gauging the reactions of her teammates. She witnessed Naruto's shoulders shaking lightly, and was prepared to console him before...
Hands behind his head, Naruto laughed haughtily. "This is exciting! We get to kick a jonin's ass and protect our client. There's no way we'll back away from this, Kakashi-sensei! It's our duty as shinobi to continue with the mission, and adapt to circumstances. We won't crap out because it got a little difficult, right guys?" The question earned him two nods. One accompanied by a confident smirk and the other by a sure smile. Team Seven would not fail their mission.
"Well," Kakashi began, tapping his hitai-ate contemplatively, "I guess we'll continue if you're that adamant about it. The ANBU patrol will apprehend these guys eventually. Naruto, you're on pick up duty since you weren't much help in the fight. Find the supplies of the enemy, they shouldn't be far."
Naruto nodded and created several dozen shadow clones to scour the area, while the original went over to the chain that was still pinned to the ground. He had originally just planned on getting Sasuke's kunai, but then burst out, "You know what? I'm takin' this chain." Naruto tore the kunai free with a yank and began coiling the chain, careful not to cut himself in case it was poisoned. He'd examine it later.
Sasuke watched with a quirked eyebrow. "What makes you think you'll be able to use that thing in battle?" He challenged him.
He turned his head briefly to scowl at him, pausing his work. "Teme! No one asked you! Besides, I could probably use it with the help of some clones.", he said. Just as he was finished coiling the chain, the clones all came back with the spoils of battle. He removed an emerald-colored scroll from his pouch and rolled it out onto the ground. This seemed like just as good a time as any to try it. He quickly made several of the seals onto the scroll, then using some chakra, successfully stored the items into the scroll, separating them by type.
Kakashi noted this with a single eye, surprised that Naruto had already gotten that far. Storage, especially multiple items into a single seal, was supposedly very difficult.
After a few more hours of walking, the five came upon the shore of a sea. The group noticed a small boat docked by the shore. The man next to it, who they presumed to be the owner, checked a pocket watch with conspicuous fervency. It didn't take a ninja prodigy to realize that Tazuna had arranged for transportation.
After a short boat ride later, they had arrived in The Land of Waves. Naruto, as he first set foot on the shore, felt a shiver pass through his body. 'This place... this place is special.', he thought, getting a feeling that the events close at hand would shape the lives of many people, including himself.
The group resumed traveling on foot. The trees differed slightly from those of the shinobi's home country. The cool climate and humidity allowed them to grow more healthily than the dry, water-depraved greenery of Hi no Kuni. Though they were a strange shade of gray.
They hadn't even been walking a few minutes when, suddenly, Naruto flung a kunai into the bushes. "Haha, gotcha!", The others peered intently as he quickly followed the trail of his weapon to see if he had hit anything. Even with his intense training and self-control, Kakashi could not hold back a groan as Naruto parted the bush to reveal a stunned rabbit. Naruto groaned in remorse.
"Oh, I'm sorry little rabbit, I'm sorry!", he apologized for the umpteenth time. Naruto looked close to tears.
Tazuna clutched his racing heart. 'Is that boy trying to give me a heart attack! He'll kill me before we get home!'
'A snow hare at this time of year..? They shed that coat after winter is over. This one must have been kept in captivity and recently released. For the purpose of Kawarimi...' Kakashi's eye shifted about. 'They're already here...'
Sakura rolled her eyes, 'Really, Naruto', she thought with a sigh.
Just as they had all finished their thoughts, Kakashi yelled, "Everyone, get down!" Not a moment later, they had all ducked to the ground, except for Sakura and Tazuna, the former tackling the latter to the ground. Kakashi turned his eyes to the man standing atop the hilt of the sword that had buried itself almost halfway through a tree. The man's bandaged face fixed them an intimidating gaze over his shoulder. Sakura wondered if jonin had some odd face-covering/tilted headband fetish. "Momochi Zabuza. The Demon of the Mist.", Kakashi got into a ready stance, prepared to reveal his Sharingan.
"Sharingan no Kakashi.", this statement caused Sasuke's eyes to widen, turning instantly to his sensei. "I suppose I could forgive the Demon Brothers if it was you they had faced.", he looked over the rest of the team, unimpressed, "Cute kids, Kakashi. But I'd suggest you keep them out of this."
"You three protect Tazuna-san," Kakashi ordered, lifting his hitai-ate with one hand while giving a hand sign with the other. "This guy's on a whole other level than the other two, so try to stay out of it.", Sasuke was stunned by the sight of the Sharingan. He was snapped out of it by an annoying blonde, "Oi, Teme! Get over here, we need to guard Tazuna!" Sasuke quickly jumped into formation around Tazuna.
"I'm here to kill the old man," Zabuza reiterated bluntly, causing Tazuna to flinch. "But it seems... I'll have to beat you first, Kakashi!" Zabuza grabbed the handle of the sword and kicked off the tree in a blur. He landed on the lake a split second later, showing frightening speed for a man his size.
The zanbato was holstered onto the rogue shinobi's back by unseen means. His large hands were set in a hand seal unseen by those present: one raised above his head, the other just below his face. "Ninpo: Kirigakure no Jutsu." Kakashi noted the large amount of chakra being used in the low-level jutsu.
The light fog that had been gathering over the area turned into a thick blanket of mist. The genin's sight had become more of a liability than an asset. Zabuza vanished from the surface of the water.
"He'll come after me first," Kakashi informed them with a practiced calm. "Momochi Zabuza... was known for his mastery of the Silent Killing Technique. Before the enemy even notices it, they're dead. Be careful."
Each of the Genin tensed further as the mist thickened yet again. "Eight choices," a disembodied voice whispered into their ears. "Liver, lungs, spine, clavicle, neck, brain, kidneys... heart." The voice grew hungrier with each word.
Sakura knew those points all too well. Areas to attack for instant death. Her breathing became more shallow and the grip on her kunai became tighter than needed. She could see Zabuza sneering at them in her mind, salivating at the urge to strike, his teeth so sharp; Sakura knew he wanted to rip the flesh from their bones.
Beads of sweat rolled down Sasuke's face. The oppressive aura of Zabuza's killing intent chipped at his sanity. Just as he felt himself turning the kunai toward his throat, he took a few deep breaths and calmed himself, closing his eyes.
Naruto channeled a bit of chakra into his ears in a feeble attempt to hear Zabuza's approach. He could hear Sasuke's labored breathing... the light shaking of Sakura's kunai... the chattering teeth of their client. Just on the edges of his hearing he could tell Kakashi-sensei shifted slightly. Now if he could just hear Zabuza coming.
It hit him like ramen withdrawal.
Cerulean eyes flashed open to see the back of Zabuza's left side, hand clutching the hilt of the massive blade. He was rooted to the ground with a mixture of shock and cold fear at seeing Zabuza in a perfect position to slice them all in half with a stroke of his weapon. Zabuza hadn't made a single sound, his movements were flawless.
Sakura's pulse thundered in her ears. It was instantaneous, she thought, her inner voice wracked with dread. He had just appeared.
Sasuke could see the beheading circle designed near the top of the blade, as well as Zabuza's right side. It had been spelled out for them, clear as day. This was the difference between an elite jonin manslayer and even the most gifted of green genin. They could not compare.
Neither the freshly graduated ninja nor Tazuna saw who was hit by what, but a flash of green and blue collided with Zabuza, and the rest of them tumbled away in different directions. Once they had each regained their bearings, the four saw Kakashi's kunai plunged into Zabuza's torso.
Unlike the many, many people Kakashi has stabbed over his lifetime, Zabuza bled cool water instead of warm blood. He registered another presence behind him just as the missing-nin he had attacked dissolved into a puddle.
"Sensei, behind you!" Naruto said.
Kakashi barely had time to turn his head and see his opponent already in mid-swing. The cleaver sliced through the Copy Ninja like butter. Zabuza sneered in victory... until he realized he had killed a clone.
A water clone! It can't be... Zabuza thought, staring in shock at the water sprayed. He could copy it even through the mist! A kunai shifted beneath his chin, causing him to still, slowly rising from his slouch. The weapon never left his throat.
"Don't move. You're finished," Kakashi declared. His gloved hand kept a firm grip on the kunai.
The genin slowly came to the realization that Kakashi had won.
Naruto released a breath he hadn't consciously been holding. "Alright! You rule, Kakashi-sensei!" he said with a relieved grin. His fellow genin stood as well, breathing sighs of relief.
The relief that washed over the group evaporated as Zabuza gave a dark laugh. "Finished? By your crass imitation of my jutsu?" he asked rhetorically.
Kakashi felt the hairs on his back stand on end as the original Zabuza appeared behind him, answering his clone. "I'm not that easy to fool!" Kakashi's prisoner reduced itself to a puddle as Zabuza attempted to cleave the Copy Ninja. Kakashi ducked lowly to the ground, deftly avoiding the blade as it swept overhead with an audible wind. Strands of silver hair trailed behind it.
Utilizing years of experience wielding the Executioner's Blade, Zabuza used his momentum to anchor the sword into the ground, then shifted hands and pushed off the blade as he launched a kick. Kakashi barely had time to put up a decent block before being launched into the air by Zabuza's monstrously powerful foot.
Kakashi inwardly cursed, but thought to himself he would have to teach Naruto that move with the clones. Assuming they survived.
Zabuza jerked the sword free and charged, only to stop short as he noted the makibishi spikes along the ground. He scoffed "Trying to slow me down? Pointless." Zabuza leapt over the spikes and onto the water.
Sasuke gritted his teeth. 'He's skilled in ninjutsu, stealth, kenjutsu, and even taijutsu. What an opponent to be facing...'
Kakashi emerged from the lake. He found himself unable to climb out and onto it. 'It's denser than normal water, I can barely stay afloat... is this chakra?'
Zabuza appeared directly behind Kakashi, standing on top of the water as he shot through a short string of hand seals. "Heh, fool. Suirou no Justu."
"Damn it!"
The dense water wrapped around Kakashi, forming a bubble. It restricted all of his movement, not allowing him to form hand seals. Zabuza gave a bark of victorious laughter.
"This jutsu may be made of water, but it's stronger than steel. It makes things tougher for me if you can move, right? Now then," he turned his sights to the shore dwellers, using an elite technique of the Mist to form a one-handed seal. "It's time to take care of your little friends. Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" Water near the shore of the lake frothed and morphed into Zabuza's intimidating form.
The water clone gazed upon the assembled Konoha shinobi with disdain, sharing its creator's contempt for them. "You brats think being shinobi is child's play... it is not a game! Life and death hang in the balance of your every action. Wearing your hitai-ate and acting like real ninja... But you know what? A real ninja is someone who's seen the line between this world and next so many times it doesn't even faze them. A real ninja would be in my Bingo Book. You're just a bunch of kids..."
While Zabuza believed what his clone was saying, there was another purpose to his words other than relaying the harsh lesson he learned as a child. He wanted them to flee; if he wanted them dead they already would be. These were kids... nothing like the distrustful bastards he grew up with. They at least had some idea of what true ninja life was like, even if that was partly because he slaughtered a good portion of them. And while he had enjoyed it then, Zabuza had been a punk himself. Killing kids nowadays wouldn't be fun or challenging.
It was business. They ran or they died.
Naruto, the entire time, had been lost in thought. He was suddenly brought out of it when he was kicked into the air, hard enough to knock off his headband. "You're just a bunch of brats!", the clone stepped onto the hitai-ate, grinding it into the ground. Naruto was on the ground, appearing to be cowering in fear.
"Listen, take Tazuna and run!, You're no match for him!", Kakashi yelled, his voice distorted through the water.
Sasuke grit his teeth, 'I can't run away. If I can't even stop this guy, there's no way I can fight Itachi.' Sasuke charged Zabuza, throwing kunai and shuriken at him. Zabuza easily blocked them with his sword, kicking upwards to knock Sasuke away, who had jumped into the air to attack. Sasuke was sent flying back, caught by Sakura.
Naruto who everybody had just assumed was stunned in fear, was actually thinking, and had already come up with a plan. He charged the missing-nin recklessly. Just as he reached Zabuza, something happened that only Zabuza and Kakashi saw. Naruto grabbed his headband, which was no longer being stepped on, and just as Zabuza was punching him away, Naruto faked the hit. He flew backwards, landing roughly on the ground, confusing the jonin.
Zabuza smiled under his mask, "You got guts kid, I'll give you that.", he watched as Naruto got up, holding his headband. "What's your name kid? I want to know what to engrave on your headstone."
Naruto, as he was putting on his headband, spoke under his breath, only loud enough that Sasuke and Sakura could hear.
"Eh, what was that brat?", he glared at Naruto, annoyed.
"I said, I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!", suddenly, roughly three dozen shadow clones filled the area, "Let's kick some ass!", they all charged Zabuza, prepared to attack with his kunai. They were all knocked away with the blade, the original Naruto had stayed back next to Sasuke. Zabuza had meant to keep an eye on him, but by the time the smoke from the clones had cleared, he was nowhere to be seen. Instead, he laughed when he saw the giant shuriken that was flying through the air. "Ha, you can't touch me with that!"
It flew past the clone, who merely watched it as it flew towards the real Zabuza. It was easily caught by his left had, "Pathetic!", he smirked. He saw the other fuma shuriken almost instantly, and jumped to avoid it, "I told you, you can't touch me.", but his eyes widened in surprise when he saw the one he had dodged turn into the original Naruto, who was holding a kunai.
"Take this!", he threw the kunai. Zabuza knew he would have to let go of his jutsu to escape, which he did. What he didn't expect, though, was that the kunai would puff into a shadow clone. It latched onto Zabuza, who had already released the jutsu. Kakashi jumped away, looking on impressed by what his students had come up with.
"Get off of me brat!", Zabuza was trying to beat the clone off of him, but it just wouldn't break. He then heard a hissing sound from his left. Turning, he saw an explosive tag on the side of the shuriken, "Shi-", he yelled, before it and the shadow clone that was holding him exploded.
He flew out of the cloud of smoke hitting a tree. "H-How? How could a brat beat me like this?", he tried getting up, but fell back when he tried to use his arms to push him up. He looked to see that they had burns on them, though they weren't as bad as they could have been.
"Momochi Zabuza, It seems that you're not as powerful as they say, being beaten by some genin.", Kakashi, who had mostly recovered already, was standing over him, preparing to end it with a quick jab of his kunai. Suddenly, two senbon impaled Zabuza's neck, causing him to go limp, and, seemingly, die. Naruto, who had just climbed out of the water, and the two other genin got back into battle stance as they saw the new arrival. Kakashi just looked wary, unsure.
"Hm, it seems as though Konoha has some fine genin then.", said the new arrival. She wore a mask similar to Konoha's ANBU, but it wasn't of an animal, and had the symbol for Kiri on the forehead. She jumped down next to Zabuza, feeling his pulse.
"Thank you Hunter-san. We'll leave the cleaning up to you.", he stepped back allowing her to pick up Zabuza.
"But, Kakashi-sensei, who is she? Why are we just handing him over to her?", Naruto yelled, running up to Kakashi, ready to attack the newcomer. Kakashi, however, hit him over the head, and shushed him. The hunter-nin chuckled at this, before shunshinning away.
*sigh* "Naruto, she was a hunter-nin of Kirigakure, essentially their version of an ANBU. Zabuza is a missing-nin from Kirigakure, and held secrets in his body. Secrets of their village that they don't want out. If we had tried to stop her, we could have started a war. Would you want that?", Kakashi finished his lecture. Naruto gulped, imagining what may have happened if he had attacked. Naruto shook his head.
Kakashi eye-smiled at him, "Good, now let's get moving, we still need to get Tazuna to the bridge.", he fixed his hitai-ate. He took a few steps, when he suddenly collapsed.
"Kakashi-sensei!", Sakura yelled, running over to him. She got onto her knees and shook him a little, causing him to groan. "Are you alright?"
He opened his eyes and groaned, "Yeah, the Sharingan just takes a lot out of me. Could one of you carry me?", he asked, starting to laugh, but it turned into a coughing fit. They all hung their heads and sighed. After Naruto made a shadow clone to carry Kakashi, they set off for Tazuna's house, intent on getting there before sundown.
I Need a Drink
Day One:
Kakashi was walking back to his apartment, thinking about the events of the day. 'Well, I guess it makes sense to stick those two on my team. It's only fair that I should be the one to teach them.', he sighed.
He suddenly heard a familiar voice, "Hey there Kakashi, how's it going?", he turned around and sighed again. He really couldn't deal with Anko right now, he was too tired. He tried to continue walking, but was quickly intercepted, "Hey, where you goin', not trying to escape are you?", she laughed, clearly joking, while he halfheartedly chuckled. "Come on, what's got you so down?"
Kakashi sighed again, "I'm actually pretty happy, but, not to sound like a Nara here, dealing with my team is going to be so troublesome.", he rubbed the back of his head.
"Hm, sounds like you need a drink.", she said cheerfully, grabbing him by the shoulder.
"No thanks, I don't think that I have time to go drinking, I don't want to be too late tomorrow.", he shrugged her hand away and attempted to walk around her.
"Nonsense! My friend, one thing you have to learn. There is always, time for sake,", she wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him into an awkward hug, his neck in her armpit, causing the side of his face to press against her bosom. "Besides, you finally passed a team, and that is definitely an accomplishment that calls for a celebration.", she let go of his head, but instantly grabbed his wrist and dragged him along, straight to the nearest bar.
About an hour later, they were seated in a booth near the back, not really for privacy, more so that drunk women wouldn't see his face as he was drinking. There was half a bottle of sake left, and two more empty bottles to the side. Kakashi had barely drank anything yet, sighing at his colleagues behavior. "You know, it's so funny watching them squeal. There was this one guy, I think his name was-mhmnf", a hand had been clamped over her mouth.
"Shh! You're not supposed to talk about your work that in depth. Remember?", Kakashi's hand was knocked away.
"Eh, whatever, I don't think that anybody that can hear us really cares.", She looked over Kakashi, "You haven't drank enough yet, you need more!", she suddenly jumped onto the table and grabbed the bottle. She stuck the mouth of the bottle into his mouth, and clamped his nose shut, forcing him to swallow it. It was gone in a few seconds, and she let go of him, sitting back in her seat and laughing like a crazy woman.
"That's not funny, I, unlike you, will be dealing with a group of kids tomorrow morning. What happens if they see me like this?", he gestured to himself in general, "I'll be setting a bad example."
She stopped laughing long enough to speak, "I'll tell you what will happen. Sasuke, who I maintain is gay, and the girl will fall in love with you, when they see you without your mask, while Naruto will crack up laughing.", the image popped into her head of Sasuke swooning over Kakashi, and she cracked up again. She was brought out of it when she heard a thud, and looked over to see that he had passed out.
Day Four:
Kakashi had chosen to go to the bar this time. He had been sitting down for a short time before Anko suddenly sat down across from him, "So, what's the occasion?", she said, a big Naruto-like grin on her face.
"Two reasons. The first is that I was let out of the hospital this morning. The second is that Sasuke is definitely not gay.", he handed her a small dish with sake in it, "Cheers, to the possibility that the Uchiha will see another generation.", they clinked their dishes together and drank, Anko pouring herself another round.
"So,", she said after downing another cup, "how'd you find out he wasn't gay? Did you show him what's under the mask?", she started snickering, "If that's true, maybe he just thinks that your ugly.", she said, her cheeks already turning red from drunkenness.
"Heh, very funny, but no. Naruto used a henge that made him look like a... well *coughs* a beautiful naked woman.", this caused her to start howling in laughter, getting her a few glares from the other patrons. "Yeah, he did it to try and make it up to me that he was the one that sent me to the hospital.", he started blushing, remembering the events of that morning.
They sat there for a few hours, talking and drinking, though Kakashi stopped drinking halfway through. Kakashi stayed only to make sure she got home alright.
Day Fifteen:
It had become a habit somehow. The cause was most likely from stress caused by his team. He had severely reduced the time that he spent at the memorial stone, and increased the amount of time that he spent drinking, Anko inexplicably showing up almost every time he went there. He eventually just accepted his new drinking partner, not really caring about her rowdiness anymore. He steadily started drinking more and more, getting more like her every night. She had also started sitting next to him, instead of opposite him
They had been drinking for awhile now, when a young couple walked over to the booth, apparently not seeing Kakashi or Anko. This would prove to be the downfall of their relationship. The girl, upon seeing Kakashi's unmasked face, started swooning over him, and trying to seduce him, ignoring the protests of her boyfriend and Kakashi.
Getting fed up, he moved her out of the way, and tried to punch Kakashi. Before he could even touch Kakashi though, Anko, appeared in front of him and picked him up by the collar of his shirt. Looking down, he had a good look at her body, and said, "Hey, you're a lot hotter than my girlfriend. Whats say we go have some fun.", he smiled at her, thinking that he had hit the jackpot when she started to smile at him, and put him down. He hadn't seen Kakashi wince when he heard this statement however, and didn't expect what happened next. Still with a smile, she kneed him where it hurt, then, before anybody could react, sent him flying through the wall with a punch.
Anko was about to follow after him, when Kakashi got in front of her, his mask now on. "Alright, I think you've had enough to drink tonight, lets say we get you home.", he eye smiled at her, trying to calm her down.
Her smile turned into a scowl when she saw him crawl out of the rubble. He saw her and started trying to run, screaming, "Help, that crazy bitch is trying to kill me!"
"What was that?! You'd be dead meat if he wasn't holding me back!", she struggled against Kakashi, who wouldn't let her pass. He dragged her out of the bar, apologizing to the barkeep and promising to repay him for the damages. Once they got out of the bar, she calmed down, but then turned her glare to Kakashi. "Why didn't you let me teach that punk a lesson?", she looked about ready to unleash her anger on him.
"Because, Anko, he was civilian, and you would probably end up killing him.", she crossed her arms under her breasts, unhappy that he made sense. After a bit of convincing, she agreed to call it a night, but insisted that he walk her home. They didn't talk for a while, Anko because she was still brooding over how she could have punished him, Kakashi just thinking. As they reached her apartment, Kakashi decided to ask, "You know Anko, I've always wondered, but why don't you ever react like other women whenever you see my face?", he had been wanting to ask this for awhile, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to the question.
She shrugged after unlocking her door, "I guess, I just don't care what you look like. I mean sure, your hot, but if that was all I went after, then I'd be married by now. I'm going after you for other reasons.", she said nonchalantly, before realizing what she had said. Kakashi looked at her, surprised by what she had unwittingly revealed. She uncharacteristically blushed, and before Kakashi could respond, she had pulled a kunai on him, pressing him against the wall. "If you ever tell anyone, and I mean anyone about what I just said, I'll kill you. Understand?", she said menacingly.
Kakashi nodded, starting to sweat. Not letting him go just yet, she stared at his eye for awhile, then moved his mask down revealing the rest of his face. She studied his face, as if taking it in for the first time, when she suddenly kissed him, causing Kakashi's eye to widen. Throwing the kunai behind her into the wall of her apartment, she grabbed his vest and pulled him into her apartment, not breaking the kiss. Kakashi had quickly recovered from the shock, and was pushing her against the wall of her apartment, taking over the kiss.
They broke the kiss for need to breath, both panting heavily. Anko pushed him onto the couch, quickly went to close and lock the door, before straddling him. She shook off her coat, and took off his flak jacket before returning to the kiss. She grabbed his head, pulling it towards her, trying to stay in control, as was her nature. They had just broken the kiss, ready to continue, when they heard a loud sound outside. Anko, rolling her eyes in frustration, got up and walked over to the window. She looked outside to see a group of guys had gotten into a fistfight, knocking over a trash can in the middle of it.
Kakashi saw where her thoughts were headed. He got up and was about to calm her down, when she picked out the kunai from the wall next to her, opened up the window, and threw at one of the people who were fighting. It whizzed past his head, getting the attention of all the guys in the group. "Will you shut up! People are trying to have sex up here!", she yelled out at them, loud enough that all the dogs in the Inuzuka Compound on the other side of town started barking. Kakashi did a faceplant, hearing all the guys outside burst out laughing.
They suddenly stopped when they saw her bend the bars of the planter, that she never used, eyes smoldering. Seeing this, they all started running away, yelling about a purple-haired demon woman. Kakashi, before Anko could give chase, grabbed her from behind, "They're just angry because they aren't getting any.", this earned a snicker from her. He kissed her on the neck, eliciting a moan from her, "Come on, let's continue in an actual bed." He pulled her into her bedroom, and closed the door.
Kakashi woke up, suffering from a splitting headache. He looked around him, confused on his whereabouts, until he saw Anko next to him, wearing nothing but a sheet. He sat up, starting to sweat, not able to remember last night. He got nervous, thinking that she may have just slept with him because she was drunk. He started thinking of what she might do to him when she woke up, him becoming a unich among those thoughts. He jumped when he felt her arms wrap around his neck gently, expecting her to start strangling him to death. What he didn't expect however, was for her to whisper in his ear, in a very un-Anko tone, "Hey sweetie, how'd you sleep?"
He breathed a sigh of relief at her words, just glad that, for whatever reason, she wasn't angry. He turned his head and lightly kissed her nose, "Fine, but I think I had a bit too much to drink.", he said holding his head.
She chuckled, "Hehe, light weight.", before falling back onto the bed, asleep again, not even managing to cover her upper torso. Kakashi blushed when he saw her, quickly covering her with the sheets. He got up, putting on his pants, and went to make some coffee. He had started it, and was about to go take a shower, when he looked out the window, only to see the sun already high in the sky. He had slept almost to noon. He rushed into the bedroom, the shower and coffee forgotten, and quickly got dressed. He only spared the time to write a note, telling her where he went. He had almost walked out the door, when he remembered his flak jacket. He was putting it on, when he felt the familiar form of Icha Icha in one of the many pockets. He took it out contemplating it, before he shrugged and threw it into the trash can. After all, why would he read about it when he could actually do it.
A/N: There it is, in all of it's glory. I hope you guys like it, because it took me awhile to get it just right. Again, I'm sorry for the long wait. So, R&R, tell me what you thought of the fight against Zabuza, the omake, or the tunnel to the vault. I'm honestly surprised that nobody thought of chakra when I said 'might' in the riddle. Also, yes Haku is a girl, no, she won't have a relationship with anyone. Or will she? Muwahahahahaha! Seriously though, Haku is female for a reason, and she's not going to Konoha, you'll just have to wait to see why. Trust me, it is very important that Haku is a female.
I'm not going to make any promises about when the next chapter will come out, but I hope that it will take less time than it did for this chapter. I would appreciate it if people could send me any suggestions that they have for my story in the comments section. Seeya next time! ^w^
