Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Buso Renkin

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"Are you saying Zabuza's still alive?!" Sakura shrieked early in the morning.

'It's too early for this crap' Naruto thought, pulling off his night cap before Sasuke or Victoria saw it.

'She's so loud!!' Victoria thought, not a morning person in the least.

'Sure, scream it out so everyone can hear it' Sasuke thought annoyed with Sakura.

"We're not strong enough, to fight Zabuza! We're gonna die!!" Sakura screamed.

"Look at what happened yesterday, you all won...and shocked the crap out of me." Kakashi muttered glaring at Sasuke, who looked away.

"It'll take at least a week for Zabuza to heal. So we have time." Kakashi told them.

"Time for what?" 4 voices asked at once.

"We're going to climb trees." Kakashi told them.

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Crimson eyes opened lazily, and stared balefully at the outside world. "Foolish mortals. Why train when all you have to do is give ME control." The's fox's teeth curved into an smirk. 'I'll show you power." Knowing nobody could hear him but not caring, the Kyuubi sent a pulse of chakra out trying to reach Naruto. It was stopped by something, Kyuubi couldn't figure out what yet, by absorbing his chakra and shocking him. It pissed him off to no end.

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"Ow!" Naruto muttered to himself. He dug in his pocket and reached for the buso renkin in it. He stared at it for a second, before thinking to himself. 'Is it...pulsing? And turning red?' Naruto blinked and these effects seemed like they dissappeared so Naruto forgot about them.

"Alright! Now back to the stupid tree!" Naruto exclaimed, glaring balefully at the tree. He could tell he was improving, just not as fast as he would want to. With an cry Naruto began running up the tree again, climbing as far as he could.

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'Why didn't you want me to use these buso renkin?' Victoria thought to herself. As far as she could see, they were working fine, better than fine even! That last thought caused her eyes to narrow. 'They're...improving. As we get stronger, our buso renkin are too. Are they supposed to do that? This shouldn't be so hard.' Victoria pulled herself up, heading back to Tazuna's house. 'No use worrying about it now. The others aren't so why should I?

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'Would I get in trouble for killing her?' Sasuke asked himself. He was trying to train, but Sakura would not take the hint and leave him alone. So as it was, Sasuke was comtemplating killing her, no longer caring about the consequences. He glared balefally at his own tree. He was improving at nowhere near the speed he wanted to. Tuning her out no longer worked, much to Sasuke's chagrin. If she didn't shut up soon, he was going to snap.

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The mood at Tazuna's house was strained and somber that night. Each person was lost in their own thoughts and were in no mood to be interupted. Some people chose to pay no heed to that. "Why do you try so hard?! All you're effort's for nothing!! Gatou will just kill you!!" None of the shinobi paid any mind to Inari. Tazuna had told all of them about Inari's father and his sacrifice. They felt bad about for Inari, but aside from Sakura, everyone had been through much worse. Apparently, Naruto was elected to answer Inari. "Shut up! We're not you, and we're not weak! No way we're gonna die!!"

"You morons! What do you know?! Laying there laughing and having fun!! What do you know of the pain and misery in my life!!" Inari yelled, striking chords in two of the shinobi there.

"Hmpf. We don't have misery huh?" Surprisingly, Sasuke spoke up before Naruto could. They turned their attention to Sasuke to see what he had to say. "At least we're doing something about it." At this point Sasuke closed his eyes, showing Inari that he could care less how he felt. "You know what? Go to your room and cry. I'm tired of dealing with your crap." Inari burst into tears and ran out.

"Sasuke-kun! That was too much!!" Sakura scolded him, earning more of his ire as well.

"You can't talk, you're even weaker than he is." Sasuke coldly informed her.

"W-what?"

"Not once have you shown that you have what it takes to be a shinobi. You're weak, annoying and in the way. I DON'T like you. I never will, deal with it." His piece finally said, Sasuke left, leaving a room full of stunned occupants.

'Hm...That's interesting. Victoria's influenced calmed down Naruto A LOT. Naruto's influence in turn made Sasuke more expressive. I was honestley expecting Naruto to snap first. What he said to Sakura was...harsh but true. She doesn't have what it takes to be a shinobi. I'll break the news to her later'

'Ouch. That was harsh Sasuke, even if it was true. I would've been nicer to Inari and Sakura...probably.'

'You took it too far on poor Inari Sasuke' Truthfully, Victoria herself was coming close to snapping at Sakura. Sasuke being the one to do surprised her...but it saved her time and effort.

Naruto got up from the table and walked out, stumbling halfway. "I'm going to train." He stated, answering the unasked question. 'Can't let Sasuke get stronger than me!' He chanted to himself.

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Inari was sitting on the dock, staring at the lake thinking of nothing in particular. Until Kakashi came up loudly, giving him a chance to notice him.

"May I join you?" Wtihout waiting for an answer, he sat down. "It may not seem like it, but Sasuke's had it worse than you. Naruto too."

Inari scoffed, not believing it for a second.

"I'm serious, his whole family was killed when he was about your age. And Naruto...well he's never had parents, or any friends. In all the time I've known them, I haven't seen them cry. Those two probably know what you're feeling like more than any of us. " Kakashi got up and prepared to leave. "See you tommorow Inari"

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Timeskip

"Hehehehe...I'm stronger than you." Naruto muttered tiredly. He and Sasuke and spent all night practicing their chakra control and could now reach the top of the tree. The reason for Naruto admitting this is because he was looking at an passed out Sasuke. "Heh...I can outlast you in everything Sasuke!" He attention shifted to the girl headed towards himself and Sasuke, holding a basket. She was pretty, with long brown hair, with brown eyes to match. She was wearing a pink kimono and looked to be a little bit older than Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto smiled at the girl and subtly kicked Sasuke awake.

"hn...what did you do that for?!" Before Sasuke's attention also turned to the girl no in front of them. In spite of himself, Sasuke blushed.

"What are you doing here Nee-chan?" Naruto asked, rising to an stand up. Sasuke doing the same.

"Hello. I'm here to pick herbs." The girl told them respectfully.

"We can help." The strange was. Naruto didn't say that. He turned to look at Sasuke who purposely looked away. Naruto gave him a foxy grin that Sasuke ignored and agreed to help.

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'And I thought climbing trees was hard.' Was the thought of the two genins. The lady had expected to find all of those herbs all by herself?

"So...what are you two doing out so early?" The lady asked, conversationally.

"I'm training!! And Sasuke was sleeping." Naruto exclaimed, making a point, and causing Sasuke to not so subtly kick him.

"Hey!!"

"Those headbands...are you 2 ninja?" The girl asked cautiously now.

Neither one noticing her sudden mood shift, both nodded their assents.

"Are you training just to get stronger...or do you have a precious person?"

"Huh?"

"hn."

"When you have someone precious to protect...you can become as strong as you need to be." The girl told them earnestly now.

"Yeah...I understand" Naruto stated seconds after Sasuke nodded his head, an calculating look on his face.

"You two will become strong." She stated, getting up. She turned to walk off. "By the way...I'm a boy." Before walking away.

Sasuke and Naruto both stared at each other before they called out after her

"LIAR!!"

Hearing that made Haku sweatdrop. But she ignored them and continued on.

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Timeskip

Zabuza was holding an apple in his hand. With no warning whatsoever he crushed it. "I'm practically fully healed..." He stated, clenching and unclenching his fist. "Haku!! Washio!! Let's go!!"

"Yes sir" Haku stated, running to grab her mask and slipping it on.

Washio didn't bother to answer, just getting up and following Zabuza and Haku. 'Interesting, from what I saw earlier...I might finally have a challenge on my hands' The thoughts of finally fighting someone worth made Washio smirk.

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"Sorry to leave her like this...but we don't really have time to waste." Kakashi said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get Sakura to leave her room. She took meals, but nothing else.

"Don't worry about it. We can come back later!" Tazuna grumbled irratitably, "We're late, so we should hurry!"

"Hai, Hai, we're heading there now Tazuna." Kakashi told him as they made their treck to the bridge.

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"What the hell?!" Tazuna cried when they got to the bridge. All of his men decimated, lying their bleeding from slash wounds or either outright dead.

'He's here.' Kakashi thought to himself as they were surrounded by water clones of Zabuza. Kakashi sighed. "Take them out...Sasuke."

"With pleasure!!" Sasuke smirked before decimating all of the clones before they could blink.

"Look's your brat's have gotten stronger Kakashi." The original Zabuza stated. "Looks like you've got a rival in speed Haku!!"

"Look's like I was right, that guy is playing for the other team."

"Figures"

"Hn."

"What did you expect?"

"Who's that?" Naruto asked, pointing the teen next to Haku. He looked to be Haku's age, with dark blonde that spiked upwards. His bangs covered his eyes but they could still be seen. They were an piercing yellow. Like a hawk's was the collective thought around the leaf nin. He wore an red jacket with a fur covered hood, with plain black jeans. Interesting enough he wore no shoes.

"So it seems" Naruto and Sasuke's ears perked up. That voice sounded familiar to both of them. Before they could do anything Haku began spinning in a vortex of water heading straight for Sasuke. Sasuke pulled out an kunai and spun in the opposite direction, giving himself more power. Haku was surprised to find herself deadlocked with Sasuke's kunai.

"You're not bad...but I've gained two advantages here."

"Really?"

Haku didn't bother explaining anymore, she just began doing one handed seals.

'With one hand?!' Was the thought of all leaf nin present

She finished her seal casting and stamped her foot on the ground, causing the water to splash around and form into needles surrounding Sasuke and herself.

"You're finished."

'Come on...gotta remembering the training!' Sasuke thought to himself focusing chakra to his feet.

Sasuke sped upwards, just as the the needles ran forward.

"That's the end of that." Haku stated, before leaping backwards to avoid shuriken.

"You're not that fast" Sasuke whispered behind her.

"Now it's your turn to defend...brace yourself!!"

Sasuke threw a punch, which was blocked, but he threw the kunai he was holding in his hands, forcing to duck...only to get hit by his foot.

Zabuza began laughing once Haku was knocked backwards by Sasuke's kick, scaring the crap out the genin. "Haku you realize that you may end being beaten by the ones you sought to spare?"

"Yes I do. What a pity."

'Why does the air seem cold?' Sasuke asked himself, staring at the slowly rising form of Haku.

"Damnit!!" Naruto yelled charging toward Sasuke and Haku. That was when Washio made his move. He leapt toward Naruto turning his hands into claws, who was surprised but managed to summon his buso renkin in time to block his strike.

'What happened to his hands?!' Naruto frantically asked himself.

"A buso renkin? I knew'd I'd find a good fight today. I'm Washio...and you are?"

"Naruto Uzumaki..." Naruto ground out. He suddenly whipped out his arms knocking away Washio's arm/claw things.

"What ARE you?"

"I'm a homunculus. If you're using alchemey...you'll be seeing a lot more of us. Enough talk." Washio stated, before he swung his claw at Naruto. Naruto ducked under it, but Washio changed his claw back into an human arm, increasing it speed drastically and shattering Naruto's half set up guard. Naruto leapt back before the attack could hit him in the face.

'This...is going to be hard.'

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'What's the point of the mirrors? I don't like the look of these.' Sasuke thought to himself. Looking at the mirrors and reflection of Haku in each one.

"Now...I'll show you'll the definition of speed." Haku said before Sasuke was struck from all directions many times with senbon. He didn't even have time to cry out before the first attack was over.

Sasuke reached into his pocket. He couldn't afford to hold back any longer.

"Buso Renkin!" Sasuke called out, formings his buso renkin into a shield.

"You think that'll protect you?" Haku asked. Sasuke didn't bother answering

'I have two stay calm...and see through his movements. I won't lose here!!' Sasuke thought, straining his eyes for the slightest hint of movement.

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'Shit!!" Kakashi thought, making a dash for the prism. With speed surprising all, Zabuza blocked Kakashi.

"Move and kill the bridgebuilder and girl. Why fight now? We can watch the battles...while my kids kill yours." Zabuza said before chuckling darkly

'Damn it...'

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