Naruto The Living Storm

by Wixeron

A failed assassination attempt turned Naruto into a living storm! Now Naruto has to cope with the change and bring the storms of change to the ninja world!

4. Chapter 3: Escape

Author's Note: Hello my dear readers! It has been a while, isn't it? First things first, I'm really sorry for the lack of update for almost a month. I've been really busy. First with my education, and after that is done, with my friends who had nonstop activities planned.

I'm on my break now, but don't expect super fast update since I have to get a job. But I'll try my best to update as soon and as well as I can.

And as for the answer to the name of the song, dun dun dun...it's Nyan Cat! Did you guys know that there's a Nyan Cat progress bar for Windows? Complete with song? I have it! It was the best thing since...Nyan Cat...But it kind of takes over other program's progress bar too like IDM's. I tried to download a 2 hour file and...fortunately you can make program exceptions.

Some-Good-Names-Were-Taken: As far as I know, energy cannot be created and destroyed, only converted. To kill elementals you have to use their opposite element to change it to another form and break their hold over it. It's like this; human soul resides in fleshy body while an elemental soul resides in elemental bodies. You destroy the human body, it will not be able to sustain the soul and dies. The same applies to elementals, change their elemental bodies to something else, which cannot sustain their elemental specific soul and it will yes, fighting an elemental until they ran out of 'juice' is one of the many ways to defeat them.

hello2000: I got my inspiration from a lot of things and yes, inFamous being one of them and Fairy Tail too. But I will make my Bloodline more original. How? You will have to wait and read.

Eion1231: Thanks for the tips. Negima is a great story and I'm following it. It is one of the best harem stories yet as the male wasn't so pathetically weak (I'm looking at you Sekirei!). Expect some of Negi's skill later in this story ;)

Yami Kurushimi: I intended to do that. It's Naruto's character and personality in this story. Besides, he's lightning incarnate! A massive surge of energy! You don't expect for Naruto to just sit around and doing nothing do you? Besides, he's only a kid for the moment, he kind of deserved it. Later on he will be less goofy but it will still be there.

Sorry for the rather lengthy AN but, Naruto the Living Storm is my first story to reach 100 reviews! Kinda funny that the omake contributed a lot! So looks like I have to put more of it, eh?

Alright, on to the story, but be warned, this chapter's action will have gore in them.

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CHAPTER 3: ESCAPE

Kirigakure

Momochi Zabuza was not having a good day. Actually, he rarely has any good days. Heck, he could count with his fingers about his good days. Anyway, this day was different from the rest of his not so good day.

Why?

Because he failed to assassinate the Yondaime Mizukage, Yagura, that's why. It was bad enough that his target was a Kage level ninja, he was also a psychopath that commited genocide and the current Host for the Three Tailed Turtle Beast. And Yagura's younger than him too.

Now, most people would say that trying to kill a Kage who was a psychopath and also a Host was a stupid and insane idea. Well, those people were stupid. There were many ways to end a life and not just fighting directly until your target drops dead.

No, even the strong can fall to the unexpected, the unknown or simply put, assassination. And although Zabuza carries a very large sword, he was quite capable of assassination just as he was capable of fighting head on.

But it seems that Yagura was very paranoid. Well, you get that when you're a psychopath and a mass murderer. Anyway, the thing is, Zabuza managed to kill Yagura...only that it wasn't Yagura.

He managed to get the bastard's head rolling to the table and to the floor...only to find that it wasn't Yagura's head. But rather some...white skinned creepy looking freak with only an eye on one side of his face and...'it' had a smile even though he just got decapitated.

And then the shit hits the fan. Yagura appeared from the shadows and Zabuza didn't waste any time and ran away from him. No way could he fight Yagura head on and he's not going down fighting either if it kills him. Don't be mistaken, Zabuza was not a coward; the assassination attempt was proof. But he was not stupid either. He wasn't like those 'heroic' guys who still fight even though it was clear that they aren't going to win. If you're dead but your enemy's not, then your death was useless. Better to ran away and come back later with a vengeance, than die and let someone else finish your sloppy work.

Anyway, Yagura didn't bother chasing him, which was a relief. Yagura probably thought that he wasn't worth the time and send his minions instead. Arrogant bastard. That will bite you back in the ass, Zabuza promised you that!

But that was for later as vengeance can wait. For now, he needs to get the hell out of this country.

"What do we do now boss?" Meizu asked Zabuza. Meizu, along with his brother, Gozu, were loyal followers of Zabuza and had been part of his coup, along with other Kirinin.

"Plan B; escape," Zabuza replied.

"What about the rest boss? Yagura's gonna get even more paranoid and going to do some office cleaning for possible traitors," Gozu asked.

"Don't worry, all of them knew what they were into, regardless of the outcome. I've already ordered for the likely suspects for treason to get out of Kiri like us, while the rest to stay low and provide me with intel," Zabuza answered.

"But what if they got caught and they blab?" Gozu asked again.

Zabuza sighed at this. "Even if they do, there's not much that they can do anyway as we'll be out of here soon,"

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

Haku's life was a mess! A wreck! A disaster!

Why?

Well, she found out a few years ago that she has a unique power; the ability to make ice. For a girl like her of 9 years old, that was awesome, but not so to her parents. Her mother scolded her for it and her father...decided to kill her.

She didn't understand why at first but later she found out that in Kiri, having unique abilities or Bloodline as it was called, was something to be feared of and to be destroyed.

Her father's fear, it seemed, was greater than his love.

He didn't know at first that his wife carried a Bloodline as she never used it in front of him. But the truth came out when Haku first discovered her Bloodline and though her mother forbids her to use it again for fear of being discovered, it was too late. Her father saw it and in his fear, brought a mob to kill his wife and daughter.

Her mother tried to stop him with the hope that their love was greater than his fear. But it wasn't enough. He struck her down with tears in his eyes and was about to do the same to Haku. But Haku, in a moment of great emotional distress, used her powers to kill her father and the mob.

And then she understood, why her powers were feared and she didn't use it ever since. For few days since her first kill, she wandered alone, with nowhere or no one to go to. Then, someone took her in.

Ozu, was a tall man in his thirties with short brown hair, green eyes and a handsome face. His clothing however, was average; not too shabby like a beggar and not too high classed like an elite.

Ozu was the owner of the Floating Hope Kiri orphanage. During the civil war, a lot of people died and most of those people were parents, leaving their children alone to the mercy of the cruel world. Being an orphan in wartime isn't easy, more so when Kiri didn't care much about orphans.

This is because feeding and protecting the orphans could take a lot of resources that could go to their ninjas. An even if you weren't a ninja, a lot of civilians couldn't afford to take care of children with growing needs when they themselves need food to last the next day.

Added to the fact that most of the orphans tend to have Bloodlines and anyone who caught sheltering a Bloodline orphan were bound to be punished severely, even if they didn't know that the child had any Bloodline. So the adults, on the chance that the orphans that they took in would have a Bloodline, figured that they shouldn't give a damn about the orphans at all.

And so, the orphans were left to themselves. Majority of the orphans would die, while the survivors would grow...unbalanced. It was no wonder that Kiri has one of the 'bloodiest' ninja of all elemental nations with extremely selfish survivor mindset. The 'survival of the fittest', the 'dog eat dog world', and 'every man for himself' kind of mindset.

However, Ozu established the Floating Hope Kiri orphanage and took almost every child on the street. An admirable endeavour because orphanages often tend to get investigated for Bloodline children. In Kiri, children in orphanages have a higher rate of being taken away by ninjas instead of potential parents.

Ozu however, wasn't a good person. He's not a rich guy so there's no way he could support a large number of children in a warring village. So he put the children to work and those works varies; from begging, stealing, prostitution and human trafficking. The children didn't have any choice; it was either him or starve to death.

Haku currently was assigned the job of begging. It was the 'safest' work in the orphanage so far, better than stealing. If you caught stealing from a ninja, don't expect any mercy and Ozu will disown you. Not like there's any difference from begging anyway. The people that they begged from didn't have much anyway and wasn't willing to part with it and didn't want to give what they have. Beggars tend to be persistent and that tend to get you hit.

And Haku just now was roughly shoved to the ground after persistently begging from a woman. She didn't get up from the ground as she was too tired from lack of food. Ozu didn't give them much to eat, just scraps enough to live for the next day but not enough for their growing needs.

She bit her lip, while mentally cursing her fate because of her ability. 'If only...if only I didn't have this Bloodline! Mother and...father would have lived and we would be happy,' Haku thought bitterly.

She wanted to cry, but her tears had already dried. Sometimes she wondered why the heck she is even alive. She's seen it before, some of the orphans just...stopped doing anything, even to eat or drink. They just sleep and never wake up. Maybe, she should do the same. That way, maybe she could see her mother again.

Haku then closed her eyes slowly, wanting to rest and woke up, hopefully to a better place. Suddenly...

CRACK!

Haku bolted awake in surprise at the loud sound in front of her. She got up to her feet, ready to run away when she saw...a naked boy sitting on the ground.

What was strange was that his body was unnatural. It seemed as if it was made from yellow lightning and crackled with energy. The boy got up, turned his head left and right and then, his body turned to a normal human body, and not a single thread on him.

"What? That was too quick!" the boy said and realised that he was naked, turned around to face her. The boy seemed to be 12 years old, with yellow blonde hair, the same colour of his lightning colour before with blue eyes and whisker marks on his cheek. The boy was currently, the most remarkable person she met in her short life.

"Ermm..." the boy said. "Do you believe me when I say that I was from a nude beach?"

Haku wanted to say no, but feared his wrath and nodded slowly and the boy grinned and then beamed, which terrified her.

'Oh Kami! What the hell is he? A Bloodline user'? Haku thought.

"So...you have anything for me to wear?" the boy said and Haku shook her head.

"Bummer," Naruto scratched his head. "The name's Naruto and you are?"

"H-Haku," Haku said weakly.

"So Haku," Naruto looked around to assess his surroundings. It seems that he was in a somewhat deserted part of a town, an alley, as there's only him and her at the moment. "Where are we?"

"Kirigakure," Haku simply said and Naruto stopped what he was doing with a horrified look on his face.

"Kiri? As in Bloody Mist Kiri?" Naruto said slowly and Haku nodded slowly too. "Oh Kami! Of the entire place in the world, you sent me to the worst place!" Naruto shook his fist to the sky. Naruto then sighed and dropped his fist shaking. "Now I need to get out of here. Maybe I can get someone to zap me and sneeze again?"

Haku tilted her head at that. Get out of here? Maybe...just maybe, he could take her with him too?

"Can...can I follow you?" Haku said and Naruto turned to look at her in which Haku looked away. The first thing she learned about the world is that the strong hated when the weak looked them straight in the eye. It was a challenge.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea. I mean, I will turn to pure lightning and you will get zapped horribly," Naruto said and Haku deflated.

"Oh," Haku simply replied. She knew it was too good to be true. Naruto saw her reaction and his face turned sour and clenched his fist.

Naruto was not oblivious to pain and suffering, especially when that suffering was identical to his. He knew that Haku has pretty much been through the same hell as he has, and probably even worse, judging from her condition.

Back then, even through his worst, he had people that cared for him, even if it was very few.

Naruto could easily get away from here. Just get someone to zap him with lightning and sneeze again. Okay, that plan would be harder than it seems as he wasn't sure which ninja has lightning ability and that is even if said ninja would use lightning against him.

But that would mean only he would escape and he would leave Haku here alone.

He could do that, but that would mean he would be no different from the villagers of Konoha. The people that only thought of their own pain, their own wounds and their own suffering instead of other people's.

No! He promised himself that he won't be like them! He promised Mei that they would create a better place and to do that, you have to start with the people.

"Hey," Naruto softly said and Haku looked at him in the eye for a moment before looking away again. "I want to get away from here, but not alone," Naruto said and Haku looked him squarely in the eyes again, this time with hope.

"Re-ally?" Haku croaked. Naruto beamed and flashed her a toothy grin.

"Of course! That I promise you! But I'm going to need some clothing though," Naruto said while scratching the back of his head.

Haku nodded at this. "I-I'll get you some," she said and turned away to get him some clothing.

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

Chojuro's day has just gotten worse. It didn't help that he has little confidence with people, well actually, living being oppressed by adults tend to crush your confidence. But maybe that's just him. He saw some other kids grew balls of steel to survive.

Anyway, he was just doing what orphan kids living under Ozu would do, begging for scraps. But his target wasn't very kind as he was backhanded, sending him tumbling to the ground and his glasses thrown to the floor.

Chojuro, after a minute of nursing his sore cheek, stumbled around for his glasses. He found them, and to his dismay, it was cracked. He put it on nevertheless as he was blind as a bat without it.

Great, now his vision was like of a fly. Multiple images and all that shit.

"Chojuro!" Chojuro heard someone calling him and turned to face the source of the voice.

"H-haku!" Chojuro said and corrected his cracked glasses. Poor Chojuro, the 7 year old boy has poor eyesight and the glasses didn't help much but that didn't change the fact that he was a kind hearted boy. Probably the kindest boy she has ever met. "What is it?"

"Do you have clothing for a 12 year old boy?" Haku asked and Chojuro raised an eyebrow at her.

"It's for someone I met and he said he could get me out of here!" Haku said and Chojuro looked shocked at this. "But don't worry, I'm sure there's room for one more!"

"I-I'm not sure Haku...how is he going to that?" Chojuro asked. Even though he looked weak, he wasn't stupid. He knew that desperate people was easily fooled by the smallest glint of hope, even if that hope turned out to be false.

Haku suddenly deflated when the question struck her. She didn't give it much of a thought on how Naruto was going to get them out of Kirigakure. He was only a boy, what can he do? Besides, can Naruto be trusted? For all she knew, Naruto might be a scout for another Ozu. Another child slaver.

But what else is there for her? Either she tried to make a difference to her life or...

"I wanted to try...I mean, what do I have to lose? Nothing," Haku said softly and Chojuro looked sad at this. It was true, they didn't have much, aside from each other. "I don't want to live like this anymore Chojuro, I-"

"I understand, wait here," Chojuro said with a small smile and head off to another direction, leaving Haku with a smile of her own.

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

Ozu was having a good day. Oh yes he was. You see, his business was pretty much booming and was flooding him with lots and lots of profit.

You see, his business involved a lot of orphans and those orphans are treasure pots of gold for him. Why? Well, it was simple really.

Free labour. You usually have to pay adults for their services but these kids, just give them food, some place to live and clothing. You don't need much anyway. Cheap clothes or rags, run down shelter and some food that won't kill them from starvation.

Usually, he would make the kids beg for some cash from the civilians but that won't do much, as the civilians were cheapskates. So he would make them do other work, usually at the manufacturing shops for the underage and when the girls have reached...suitable age, prostitution.

But of course, the most profitable of his business would be selling Bloodline children to the highest bidder. Seriously, Kiri was the stupidest ninja village in the world. Almost every village wanted to have Bloodlines, but Kiri? They kill them like they were infected cattle or something.

It was understandable to fear power but at least not the level of rejecting them completely. It was like fearing fire because it can destroy and refuse to use it and even put it out when the rest of the world was using it. One day, you will be left behind and consumed by that fire you hated very much.

From the way things were going, Kiri will be the weakest ninja village in the world.

Still, their loss was his gain. Kiri might not want their Bloodlines, but others wanted them, like Kumo for example. Heh, Kumo was his regular customers.

Ozu has been collecting children with Bloodlines and selling them to Kumo for tons of cash. Kumo wasn't stingy for Bloodlines because they know it will benefit them in the end, unlike Kiri.

But of course, he had to do his business quietly because if Kiri knew what he was doing, his head will roll on the floor, without his body. He usually gave Bloodline children a drug that suppresses chakra for an amount of time so to avoid detection from Kiri Hunter Ninjas.

Usually, to detect whether someone has any Bloodline or not, you could either use the chakra cards to check for elemental affinities or check their blood. Chakra card was useless if they couldn't use chakra and expensive while blood checking takes a freaking lot of time and resources that Kiri ninja wasn't willing to spend on.

Lucky for him.

Anyway, today another 'merchant' was coming to buy his 'stuff' and he must get ready.

Today on top of the list is...Haku Yuki.

Shame, a few more years and she will make a wonderful prostitute.

Now where was she?

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

Nao, a man in his late twenties with crew cut blonde hair and black eyes was going to have a good day! He had just won a large sum from a lottery and now, he's going to get more!

How he's going to do it, you say? Well simple. He's going to...trade items of value.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Nao's partner, Susumu asked. Susumu, his junior, was a short man with muscular build and has shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes weren't the bravest person, despite his body.

Nao sighed. "Yes, it will work! Just have some faith man!"

Susumu still has his doubts, however. "We came at the worst possible time! All of a sudden the security at the dock tripled! Something must have happened here,"

Nao then pulled Susumu into an abandoned alley.

"A lot of things happen here. This place is in a war, remember? Kiri is like a landmine compared to other places. Relax, I've bribed the dock guards well enough," Nao said, trying to ease his cowardly partner.

Susumu narrowed his eyes at him. "Tell me the truth," he ordered. Susumu might not be a genius, but he wasn't all brawn and muscles.

Nao raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you talking about?"

"You're a gambler and you've just got a massive jackpot and suddenly you decided to spend all of your money doing something good?" Susumu said. "You're an asshole and a jerk. Your definition of Good is very different from mine,"

"Can't I do good fo–" Nao was about to feign innocence when Susumu grabbed his collar and raised him off his feet.

"You're risking mine and Aki's life and also the village by being in here right after a particularly hot situation! We could have another Konoha incident you greedy fuck!" Susume said angrily.

"Because it isn't enough, okay?" Nao replied.

"Not enough?" Susumu said in a harsh tone. "We got enough to apparently buy 19 Bloodline children! Even one at black market is damn expensive!"

"And that's why we're doing this man! Think about it! Just one costs and arm and a leg! What about 19 of them? We will be set for life!" Nao said in a whisper and Susumu scrunched his nose in disgust

"Think about this, man. We buy the Bloodline kids, sell them higher to Gato, we get rich. Gato sells them higher to Kumo, Gato gets richer. Kumo, although they will get a little less rich, gets stronger with the Bloodline kids in the end. Everybody wins and everybody gets happy!" Nao said.

"Our village wouldn't like that her own ninja is swindling them," Susumu countered again.

"They don't have to know, alright?" Nao said and Susumu smashed him into a nearby wall.

"It's dirty money-"

"Come on! Look around you!" Nao said and spread his arms. "If you're so kind hearted, do you think that this place is the best place for a children to live in and grow? Huh?"

Susumu looked away.

"We are doing them a favour. Kumo will treat them better than Kiri. You know that," Nao pressed on. "No one was willing to get this far and get the children out of here like we do! You know why? Because it is dangerous! So just...consider the money we will get as rewards for our good deeds,"

"So now, I'm asking you. Now that you're here, are you going to abandon them because you're afraid of some dirty money when you could make a difference to their lives, even slightly so?" Nao jabbed his finger at Susumu's chest.

"But our way is wrong," Susumu said weakly.

"Come on, man! Even Aki was dead set on this from the very start!" Nao shot back and broke free from Susumu's hold.

"You took advantage of us! You knew we would be willing so easily!" Susumu said angrily.

"Because I'm the only one that's willing to do this! Ask any of your friends if they would come here! None! You know why? Because they were too scared," Nao replied and Susumu looked away.

"At least I do something. I admit, I'm not a saint, but I'm not a demon either. Would you prefer me spending my lottery winnings at home? I could retire from being a ninja, you know. But I didn't. I just want some...greater reward for the final good that I'm about to do," Nao said and walked away. "And I'm going to do it, with or without you,"

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

Naruto was not having a good day! Well, okay, not really.

The first part of his day wasn't so bad. He managed to annoy three ninja Genins.

Hehehe.

But that got him here, at Kiri, the worst place for someone like him. Honestly, what was the probability he got here anyway? Did somebody put the 'mother-of-all-lightning-rod' here or something?

He didn't see any here anyway.

But then things got more complicated. Oh, how the plot thickens! Now, he must escape from this crazy village, not alone, but with someone.

So how do you do it? Considering that a) he and his soon-to-be escapee partner wasn't much of a ninja, b) he didn't have any kind of planning at all and finally, c) he's naked.

Okay first, solve the easy problems first. That's how you do tests.

Find some clothing. Haku was going to come with some clothes but he didn't know how long that will take.

Suddenly, he heard people coming in to the alley. Naruto quickly dived into a dumpster and suppressed his chakra. After months of gruesome...okay that was exaggerated, training, he was finally able to suppress his chakra to the point that it was hard to detect him by chakra alone.

That was an amazing feat, really. Considering that he has like, dam sized chakra. The good thing resulted from this training was that it prevented him from constantly shocking people that he touched.

Anyway, it seems that two people were having an argument about something. Naruto focused on hearing (not using chaka) what was being said and it was lucky that the people were arguing right beside the dumpster he was in.

After a moment, the people left and Naruto checked his surroundings first before going out of it. He was grinning from ear to ear.

He has found his escape! It seems that life has just given him a dragon fruit juice!

But then, he has a problem. The people were likely human traffickers and going with them is like, a fish escaping the frying pan and into the fire! And then into the cold hard floor which doesn't have any water and thus air for the fish.

He needs something else to escape from the human traffickers. But what? Offer them money? He didn't have any and considering the price that they shelved out for the children costs his arms, legs, and internal organs times 50.

He worth at least, that much, he thought.

So how was he going to do this? Ask Mei to pay them? Nah, they don't have that much either?

Then, it left him with the oldest solution in the book when dealing with an enemy. You kill them.

But that solution sprouted another problem. He wasn't capable of killing them yet.

So what now?

Suddenly, he could hear more people coming to the alley and Naruto dived back into the dumpster.

"Dammit!" voice A said.

"Our getaway ship is busted," voice B said next. "What do we do now?"

"Obviously we need a new one and quick too," voice C said.

Naruto who was inside the dumpster couldn't believe his luck! A trio of ninja's who wanted escape? Maybe he could make them work with him? But how? What if they asked for payment? What would happen if they knew that his escape involved trafficked Bloodline children? What's stopping them from going to this Gato and sell them after they killed the Kumo ninjas?

Either secure their loyalty in some way or find another way to kill the trio. But if it's the latter, he would be better off without them and kill the two Kumo ninjas instead.

If only there were thunderstorm, he would have the strength to do so. But alas, he would have to do things differently.

It looks like he has to involve Mei into his mess. But surely she would understand, right? He was doing the right and noble thing!

Naruto sighed. 'Sorry Mei,' Naruto said and slowly get out from his hiding spot. No sooner than he did so, a hand grabbed him by the throat and pinned him to a wall.

"What the?" Voice C said. "You're naked!"

Naruto couldn't say anything before he was shoved into the ground hard. "Gah! Watch it! I'm fragile!"

Gozu snorted and advanced towards him with a kunai poised to kill him.

"Wait wait wait wait wait!" Naruto quickly got up and brought his hands in front of him. "I got something you would like to hear!"

Gozu snorted again and resumed his advance.

"I know how to escape from here!" Naruto said again and Gozu, snorted again and resumed his advance.

"Wait!" Zabuza said in a firm voice and Gozu stopped. "Let's hear what the street rat has to say,"

"Street rat? I'm not a street rat!" Naruto said and the three of them gave him a deadpanned look.

"You're naked, you're smelly, you're covered in garbage. Need any more reason?" Zabuza said.

"Hey! I have a valid reason why I'm like this and being a street rat isn't one of them! And that's not the point right now! Although I could use some clothing," Naruto mumbled and Zabuza sighed.

"Meizu, give him some clothing," Zabuza ordered and Meizu fished out a spare cloak from his storage seal and handed it to Naruto.

"Are you sure about the kid boss? For all we know, he could be working with Yagura," Meizu said while eyeing Naruto, who was covering himself with the cloak.

"Most of the kids that understood the cause of the war hate Yagura. And I can tell he's one of them. Besides, sometimes the kids hear and see things that they aren't supposed to but got ignored. We could use that to our advantage," Zabuza explained.

"Ah, much better," Naruto said and wiped his face on the cloak. Meizu cringed at the sight, he kind of liked the cloak. "Anyway, here's the thing. There's a pair of human traffickers going to purchase some bloodline children and I heard that they managed to bribed the dock guards well enough to grant them escape,"

"Bloodline traffickers?" Zabuza said and narrowed his eyes at Naruto who nodded in reply. Ever since the Kiri Civil War and Bloodline Purge, a lot of people saw profit in trafficking Bloodline users and sell them to the highest bidder. Usually the adults are problematic as they can fight back, so the kids fetch well as they are much more vulnerable and you can train them to obedience.

Zabuza hated those Bloodline traffickers with all his gut. He didn't have any problem with Bloodline users much. Not all of them are bad by default. It's like a sword; it can hurt, but does that mean it was evil and bad by default? No, it can be used to protect. What gives it the good and evil alignment was the user that holds the sword.

In fact, the Bloodline Purge was one of the biggest factors why he wanted to kill Yagura. Besides, they were useful.

"I see..." Zabuza said. "So I figured that you're about to be trafficked too?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Not really. My new friend is. I just got here and I need to get out, just like you guys,"

"Heh, but what's stopping us from selling you instead after we've dispatched the original traffickers?" Gozu said. While he knew that that Zabuza won't do that, he figured he shake the kid up a little bit.

"Weeeelllll," Naruto stalled, trying to figure something out. Suddenly, an idea came to his mind and he cursed himself for his stupidity of not figuring it out sooner.

For three months he lived with the Terumis, they have been educating him about a lot of things. Probably a lot more than what Konoha Academy had. Anyway, they taught him about the ninja ranks and more importantly the Daimyos.

"My father is a relative of the Fire Daimyo. I got kidnapped just a few days ago and brought here," Naruto said and Gozu and Meizu raised an eyebrow at him.

"Really?" Gozu asked.

"Yeah, my kidnappers figured that hiding here would be best for a while, since they knew that Konoha will be very reluctant to wage war to claim me back. So they're trying to negotiate for my release. But I managed to escape them for a while," Naruto said almost confidently.

"Sooooo..." Meizu drawled. "What's stopping us from claiming ransom for you instead,"

"Huh," Naruto scratched the back of his head. He didn't thought of it that way. But then, another idea popped to existence! "Come on! If you guys do that, you will be wanted criminals! But, if I put in a good word with my father, then he will do the same to the Daimyo and you guys will be rewarded generously for your heroic efforts of saving me and other helpless children from the oppressive reign of selfish adults! And who knows, you might get jobs too,"

Gozu and Meizu rubbed their chin in thought. When they thought about it, the boy was right!

Zabuza however, wasn't fooled. He knew that the boy wasn't related to the Daimyo. But still, he figured that he could use the boy's plan for the moment. It was solid. Besides, he won't sell the kids; just...train them to be ninjas. They would be his army in taking back Kiri, their hometown.

"Alright kid, we'll do it your way," Zabuza said and Naruto beamed.

Things are looking up for them.

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

"Where are you Chojuro?" Haku fidgeted on the spot, her heart beating with suspense. She needed to meet with Naruto again quickly to see what his plans of escape were.

"There you are little girl," a voice said behind her and Haku turned around to face one of Ozu's thugs. "We've been looking all over the place for you. Time to go home," the thug smiled and Haku gulped. She didn't have much of a choice.

'Sorry Naruto, maybe this couldn't work after all,' Haku thought sadly.

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

"Sooo, which ship is the ship?" Gozu asked. The four of them were hiding somewhere in the docks, trying to scout for the trafficker's ship to board on.

"You said that they're from Kumo right?" Meizu added and Naruto nodded. "So maybe they'll have Kumo symbol on their ship?"

"No dice, they're on an illegal mission, so it's unlikely they will use Kumo's ship. They will probably use normal merchant ship," Zabuza answered and the three of them nodded.

The dock was kind of busy right now with angry merchants who couldn't leave Kiri. It was expected though because of Zabuza's little assassination attempt. The Kiri ninjas wanted to prevent his escape using the ships and thus, prevent any ship from leaving the dock for the moment.

"Say, wasn't the dock locked? Then how are we going to get out using a ship? I mean, even if the bribed guards let our getaway ship go, the Kiri officials will realise what's going on and after us," Meizu stated.

"The bribed guards will probably release a few ships including ours at the same time to throw off the Kiri officials chasing us," Zabuza said.

"Hmm..." Naruto rubbed his chin for any ideas. He then pondered his brain for anything, then suddenly, he remembered the important details!

Nao...Susumu...Aki

"Come on, man! Even Aki was dead set on this from the very start! And I didn't even have to mention money to her!"

Aki!

"There's another trafficker that's guarding the ship, I think it was Aki," Naruto said. The ninja trio turned to look at him. "I think I can find her," Naruto grinned.

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

Masanori, a guy in his early 30s with short grey hair, yellow eyes a shitload of scars (like Ibiki) on his face and a large sword on his back, was having a rather bad day.

Why?

Well, his fellow Swordsmen in Kiri had just attempted assassination on their leader!

Granted, he knew that Zabuza hated Yagura. He also knew that Zabuza would have attempted to kill him. But he didn't do anything about it. Why?

Because he knew Zabuza would fail. Who the heck could kill their psychopath monster of a leader? In this village, none.

But he expected for Zabuza to die trying to do so, not lived. Now he has to hunt him because Yagura and the other Swordsmen were such a lazy ass. Now he has to confront him. It was a pain in the ass.

He didn't mind killing people, but not the ones that could really pain him. He didn't mind getting killed, but he didn't want any more pains! His face was a proof to the shit load of pain he'd been through, and he didn't want to experience it again if he could help it.

Still, a job was still a job. Now where was Zabuza?

"Sir!" Hunter Owl said to him.

"What?" Masanori said lazily.

"We've managed to find Zabuza's getaway ship, but he's not in it. So he's still in Kiri," Owl said.

Masanori sighed. "Great, now we got killer hiding in our home, yaaay,"

"But we do have a tip that might lead us to him," Owl continued and Masanori grunted. It was a sign for him to continue. "We think that he might use another getaway ship. A ship that belongs to Bloodline traffickers,"

Masanori's eyes narrowed at Owl and he gulped behind his mask. If there's one thing Masanori hated, was Bloodline users. A lot of the scars on his body was because of them.

"So they're trying to smuggle killers out of our country eh? No dice, we kill everyone; the traffickers, buyer, seller and the Bloodlines too," Masanori stated and Owl nodded.

"But, there's a bit of a problem," Owl said and Masanori deflated.

"Is this going to be a pain in the butt?" Masanori asked and Owl nodded and he sighed.

"The buyer is Kumo ninjas," Owl stated and Masanori groaned. He forgot that Bloodlone traffickers these days are mostly Kumonin.

"Damn it! We can't kill within Kiri's borders. We have to wait until they set sail, then we hunt them. Make it look like an accident. So release the lockdown on the dock," Masanori ordered and Owl nodded and disappeared.

Kumo, in the ninja world, was the resident douche jerk bully. They're the crafty bully type; the one that bullies you yet told the authorities that you're the one that bullied them, making the victim looked like the bullies!

He wasn't making this up. Few years ago, they send delegates for peace treaty with Konoha and the delegates had the gall to kidnap one of their Hyuuga members who was a kid at the time and not to mention the heiress.

That act alone could lead to war but Kumo denied having the delegate's actions, stating that the delegate was acting on his own. It worked because the delegate was killed, instead of captured and interrogated. Stupid Konoha.

Anyway, Kumo stated that they were victimised instead, demanded justice and would wage war unless Konoha gave them the head of their delegate's killer. They knew Konoha would relent because they didn't want another war to start so Konoha gave in.

And that pretty much boosted Kumo's ego and Bloodline traffickers saw a raise. They didn't tried to steal any other village's Bloodline but they started to focus on Kiri, since Kiri was rejecting their Bloodlines like crazy.

The same thing that happened to Konoha could happen here if he killed the Kumonins on Kiri soil. Kumo would go apeshit and would demand compensation or war. Kiri right now, could not wage war with another country, especially one that was a powerhouse such as Kumo.

If that were to happen, then Yagura would claim his ass. And that would be a major pain in the ass.

So now, he has to wait. But until then, he could pay someone a visit.

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

"Pleasure doing business with you," Nao said and shake hands with Ozu. The deal was done, the money traded hands and so are the children.

Ozu was smirking from the inside. He had just killed two birds with one stone! The truth was, he only has 18 Bloodline children, including Haku for sale. The nineteenth child, was Chojuro.

Yes, it was true that Chojuro doesn't have any Bloodline in him, but Ozu wanted to get rid of the boy. He didn't like having to take care of him because of his eyesight. It would be a pain to get the boy glasses, which isn't cheap. And the boy wasn't worth the price for it anyway.

So he lied to his client about one boy. Big deal. They won't realise it until it was too late anyway. Besides, it was normal for your purchase of bulk to have some defects in them. Sometimes, it wasn't the manufacturer's fault, but rather the deliverer's.

"The pleasure is mine. So I will send the children to your ship then. I figured you handled your exit well?" Ozu said.

"It was unexpected, but manageable. I'll get out from here," Nao replied with a shrug. "What's the deal with the increased security?"

"Well, a rather famous ninja, Momochi Zabuza attempted assassination on the Mizukage," Ozu stated and Nao looked surprised.

"Zabuza? THE Demon of the Mist, Momochi Zabuza?" Nao said and Ozu smiled.

"The very same. But of course, he thought that he was the real demon, but compared to Yagura, he's nothing," Ozu said and Nao laughed.

"True, true," Nao said.

"Anyway, I'll help with your exit as able as I can," Ozu said and Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. "It won't do well for me if you were to get caught,"

Nao smirked at him. "That's true,"

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

Naruto walked towards the ships to a woman that the four of them suspected would be their Aki. From the looks of it, this Aki must be a ninja too and if there's one thing a seasoned ninja like Zabuza knew, was to detect another ninja, even in disguise.

The woman, who seemed to be in her mid 20s, has black ponytailed hair with pink eyes. She's quite the beauty, from Gozu and Meizu's opinion anyway. She was minding her own business but the four of them knew that she's on the lookout.

But that didn't stop her from stopping Naruto from bumping into her, hard. Aki stumbled backward but quickly regain her footing; a sign of good ninja while Naruto fell to his bottom.

"Watch where you-" Aki said harshly but stopped halfway when he realised who had just bumper her. She then check herself for her wallet because usually, when people bumped you, they either do it on purpose to pickpocket you, put a tracer or they really didn't see you.

Naruto knew that she was starting to get suspicious so he reacted quickly. "My food! My only food for the day!" Naruto said and Aki looked at what he was saying and saw a loaf of bread, which was provided by Zabuza, floating in a puddle near them. The bread was beyond all hope of eating.

Aki felt bad. Not only did she suspected the child, but she ruined his food! Not to mention that the kid only has a cloak as his clothing. Naruto then crawled towards the bread and picked it up. The soggy bread let out a small stream of water from it.

"I guess, I'll just have to wait for it to dry," Naruto said sadly and Aki looked shocked.

"Wait, you're going to eat it?" Aki said and Naruto nodded sadly.

"Yeah, it's my only food for the day. But...I'm used to it though. Sometimes stale breads taste better if you dunk it in water..." Naruto said. He...has experiences with breads like this many times before.

Aki was a seasoned ninja, but that doesn't mean she's heartless, especially to children. It was the reason why she went along with Nao's plan. She wanted to save some of the children here as she too, has similar experiences.

"My name's Aki," Aki said and brought Naruto to his feet and discarded the bread away. Naruto made a small gasp, but not because of his bread was just got thrown out, but because his target was true.

'YES! Jackpot!' Naruto said. "Na-naruto," Naruto said weakly, trying to look sad.

"Come with me, I'll give you some proper clothing and food," Aki said with a smile and Naruto beamed.

"I get to wear clothing again! Thank you lady!" Naruto jumped in joy and followed a smiling Aki inside.

He actually felt bad for the things that they are going to her though.

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

"Damn! I must give it to you kid, things are looking well!" Gozu stated happily inside the Kumonin's ship. Aki was unconscious and tied inside a room inside the ship.

"I'm surpised that things were going so well," Naruto said and scratched the back of his head. "I feel like something's wrong though..."

Naruto pondered for a moment before...

"FUCK!" Naruto screamed and the ninja trio looked at him. "I forgot whether Haku has any Bloodline or not!" Naruto said and paced around. If she didn't have any, and she weren't bought, then all of his effort would be for nothing! Well, not really as he would be helping other children too, but still!

"Aki! Are you in? The deals done and the 'packages' are coming!" a voice said from the ship's deck.

"What? Already?" Naruto said and Zabuza ordered his men to get ready for the ambush.

Nao and Susumu entered the ship and saw Naruto. They were shocked at first, but that was enough as the Demon Brothers, along with the Demon of the Mist himself moved in and held them and knifepoint with their kunai.

"What the fuck?" Nao said. "Did Ozu send you?"

Zabuza took off the bandages that was covering his mouth and grinned. "That's right," It wasn't the truth but Zabuza wanted to damage the human trafficker's reputation.

Nao saw the shark like tooth and felt a sense of dread washed over him. "Za-Zabuza?"

"Right again," Zabuza said.

"Now all your belongings are belong to us!" Naruto stated and pointed to Nao and everyone looked at him weirdly.

"What? It's true," Naruto shrugged.

"Whatever," Meizu said and knocked the two Kumonins unconscious.

A few moments later, barrels that contained fruits arrived at the ship. The four of them check the barrels thoroughly and found out that the Bloodline children were indeed inside the barrel, buried underneath the fruits. They were sedated lightly though. In half an hour, they would wake up.

"Wow, canned children with fruits?" Naruto commented and Gozu laughed hard and Meizu smacked his brother to make him focus on the job.

To Naruto's utter relief, Haku was included among the children, sleeping lightly under a pile of dragon fruits. Oh man, Kami sure has some sense of humor.

"Phew! Haku's here! I almost thought of going back to get him into the ship!" Naruto said.

"You do that, you're on your own," Zabuza said coldly and Naruto scrunched his nose at him. Zabuza ignored him though. "Get the ship moving!"

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

Ozu was a happy man! He just got filthy rich and rid himself of troubling children along the way. He has just killed two birds with one stone!

Unfortunately though, his happiness was short-lived.

He was just casually rocking on his comfy expensive executive chair with his head behind his hands when the door to his office burst open and ninjas appeared into existence. Ozu was shocked as they never entered in this fashion before.

A few seconds later, Masanori entered the room. "So...Ozu, how you've been?" Masanori said and casually walked to his desk.

Ozu was sweating bullets as he knew why the ninjas were here. But he tried to play his cool. "Fi-fine," he said weakly.

"Really? You don't look fine to me," Masanori said and put a leg on the table.

"Yo-you broke into my office!" Ozu shoot back with much confidence this time.

"..." Masanori had a blank look on his face. "It was a pain to open it,"

Ozu's head almost crashed into his desk but he straightened himself. "But it didn't pain you to destroy my door?"

"I didn't do it. My lackeys did," Masanori deadpanned and Ozu's head hit the desk. He then got up again.

"What do you want?" Ozu said with a firm voice, his courage coming back to him. If he played this right, he could survive.

Masanori sighed. "You know I hate things that are a pain in the ass, and that includes dramas and theatrics. So I'm going to make this extremely straight to the point," Masanori took in a deep breath before speaking, "You. Busted. Bloodline Trafficking. Give sales money. Now,"

Ozu paled at this. He was officially screwed. He won't get out of this alive. "Wait wait wait! I know which ship they're in! I-"

"Save it, I already know," Masanori said and drew out the large sword on his back. The white bandages wrapped around the sword began to unravel to reveal a fish shaped sword with two handles and two holes at the upper blade.

It was one of the seven swords of Kiri. The Hiramekarei or the Twinsword.

"You know...ninjas are a paranoid bunch. It takes a lot for them to trust someone. So can you imagine the thing that a ninja hates the most in the world?" Masanori said while swinging the large sword over him.

Ozu was petrified with fear and he couldn't run away. Two ninjas were beside him preventing his escape.

"Traitors," Masanori said and stabbed Ozu squarely on the chest. Ozu's scream was short however as blood gushed out from his mouth. "Goodbye Ozu, you've been a pain in my ass, and that is the thing that I hate the most,"

Masanori then flared his chakra through Hiramekarei and the massive chakra formed into the shape of four point anchors through the holes. The result was that Ozu's body upper top was completely obliterated, spraying his body parts everywhere while leaving only his legs on the chair.

"Sweep his office for any valuables especially documents. Kiri will be happy to take over his business," Masanori said while sitting on the desk while removing some flesh of his hair. "Make it quick, we're going to sink a ship after this,"

"Yes sir!" the ninjas in the room chorused.

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

Haku was starting to have a good day! She thought that she would never escape not only from Kiri, but from slavery, but she did! She thought that Chojuro and Naruto were left behind, but they somehow managed to come along!

And now they were heading to Wave to sort things out.

She also gets to eat fruits! It was a rarity to be able to eat it when she was in the orphanage. They would feed her food scraps and stale breads. This was the first time she gets to eat a variety of fruits like peaches, dragon fruit and mango.

A lot of the children on the ship preferred to eat the sweet tasting fruits. Naruto however, loved dragon fruit. The fruit itself was weird. While most of the fruit on the ship tasted sweet, the dragon fruit's taste was...bland. Not too sweet, not to bitter and a bit sour. But what was surprising was its flesh. It was juicy and refreshing to eat. Not to mention that it has a lot of seeds and added a crunchy taste.

She liked the fruit already.

"Say Haku?" Naruto said.

"Hmm?" Haku said with her mouth full.

"I didn't know you have a Bloodline. What kind of Bloodline do you have?" Naruto asked and almost every Bloodline children cringed at the question. People in Kiri don't respond very well to Bloodline issues.

Haku was hesitant to answer but Naruto's smile and big curious eyes made her answer. "I can make ice," she answered timidly.

"Ice? Awesome! Can you turn into ice, though?" Naruto asked and Haku titled her head.

"I-I'm not sure," Haku answered.

"Hmmm, oh well. Show me your ability!" Naruto said and Haku complied, turning the dragon fruit in Naruto's hand into a frozen fruit. Naruto then hit the fruit on the floor a few times and loud 'thunk!' could be heard. "Awesome!"

"Say boss, what do we do with the Kumonins?" Gozu asked while munching on an apple.

"Before we reach Wave, we dispose of them in the ocean," Zabuza simply said while eating his own apple and observing the children, especially Haku and Naruto. Things couldn't have been better for the now missing ninja. While he failed in killing Yagura, at least he managed to escape and not to mention, he has 19 children with Bloodline that he could train and make his own army to strike back at Yagura.

And although taking care of 19 children will be very hard, they'll manage. It seems that he will have to be like Ozu a bit. He will have to make them work for a living. But he won't be like Ozu, who oppressed the children who lived under him. Zabuza will train them on how to survive on their own, rather than make the children depend on him to live.

"Ah shit! 4 interceptors are heading our way!" Meizu, who was on the lookout said loudly. An interceptor was a high speed boat with sole purpose of speed and enough firepower to down weak ships rather than defense and cargo capacity. They were designed to catch up with ships, and the strike team on board would board them or attack the ships while dodging enemy attacks.

Kiri has the best ships of all elemental nations. While merchant ships are limited to wind based propulsion, only the very rich and the hidden villages are able to afford steam based ships. However, Kiri has something else that none of the rest of the world has yet, motor boats.

The motor boats, along with other technologies found in the ninja world were actually salvaged from ruins from the Tech Age; where technology was used heavily at the time. However, something happened and destroyed the Tech Age and left only few pieces of technology in ruins that are often underground. It didn't help that most of the technologies are quiet complex and the current age; the Ninja Age wasn't able to fully understand them. They managed to replicate some of it, but not fully understand it. That's why technology was sporadic in the ninja world.

Anyway, the motor boats that they found uses fuel that they aren't able to make yet. Research was made to use other fuel, but with the civil war, it was a slow research. Miraculously, they are able to make it work with chakra, although it requires a lot of it. They bypass this problem by using chakra storage seals. However, this limits its use on small to medium boats like the motor boats and jet-skis.

"They will catch up to us in 3 minutes!" Meizu added. Zabuza and Gozu got up and prepared themselves for a fight.

"What do we do boss? If they reach the ship, they're going to bomb us with exploding tags and high powered ninjutsus for sure! This ship does have any weapons!" Gozu asked.

"Get the kids inside the ship and get the Kumonins. Release them and tell them unless they cooperate for the time being, they will be killed, not by us, but by Kiri Hunter Ninjas," Zabuza ordered and Gozu nodded and set to work. "You, stay," Zabuza said to Haku and Naruto didn't join the kids to get inside the ship.

A few moments later the Kumonins got out to the ship's deck and faced Zabuza. Susumu and Aki looked ready to fight while Nao looked angry, angry with the fact that his business plan was going downhill.

"Listen up! Kiri send 4 interceptor boats after our asses and I bet it isn't to capture us. They will show no mercy and do everything they can to sink us! Now, I estimate around 20 Kiri ninja heading our way, and they are the hunter nins; ninjas that specialises in killing Bloodline users. They will not fight fair and they are very strong," Zabuza said and Nao, Haku and Naruto looked a bit scared.

"We have to kill them to survive this. Gozu, Meizu and you," Zabuza pointed to Aki. "Protect the ship. This will be very hard and expect a lot of exploding tags and high powered water techniques," The three of them nodded.

"You, you and you will follow me. We're going to do something about the boats," Zabuza said to Susumu, Nao and Haku.

"Eh? M-me? But..." Haku said nervously.

"You're going to have to use your powers. Either you kill them, or they will kill you, and your friends. Do you want that?" Zabuza asked and Haku shook her head. "Good, now get ready!"

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

"Don't you think that this is overkill?" Masanori asked Owl, who shook his head.

"No sir. If I must say, we're being outnumbered 20 to 22, if they didn't kill the Kumonins, 25," Owl said.

"But it's not like the Bloodline children can fight," Masanori said.

"They are still the enemy and we have to assume that our enemy is capable of fighting, children or not. Especially when there's ninja children like Hatake Kakashi," Owl stated and Masanori shuddered.

Hatake Kakashi, the prime example that a child can be a powerful ninja during the Third Ninja World War. "Right,"

"Sir!" Eagle, who was driving the boat said. "Enemies water running towards us!"

Masanori squinted his eyes to have a better view of the ocean and sure enough, he saw three figures water running towards them.

"Should we hit them with our boats?" Eagle suggested.

"No, that will be very dangerous. Spread out and circle the-" Masanori couldn't finish when the attack started.

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

"Kumonins! I want you to attack using your lightning arsenal on the first left and right boats! Make them swerve towards the center of the formation!" Zabuza ordered, his Executioner Sword's tip was cutting the surface of the ocean from his running.. Nao growled but complied anyway.

The four interceptor boats were moving in a line position towards them. Susumu and Nao then flashed their handseals and initiated their techniques.

"Lightning Technique: Lightning Stream!" the Kumonins chanted and sent a stream of thick lightning from the palm of their hand. The Lightning Stream almost hit the boat but they attacked from an angle that they have no choice but to swerve towards the center boats.

The boats almost hit each other but managed to regain their control, but they were closer than before. The boats are getting closer, however.

"Haku! I want you to cast a large spiky ice field in front of us, now!" Zabuza ordered and Haku, who was piggybacking Zabuza, hesitantly nodded. The scale of ice that Zabuza wanted from her will be the biggest one she has ever done yet, and it will strain her. But she has to do it.

Haku then focused, trying to remember the feeling that she had when she was forced to defend herself from her father and the mob. But this time, instead of the feeling of fear, she felt the determination to protect her newfound freedom and friends.

A large part of the ocean in front of them suddenly froze and large ice spikes shot upwards. The boats were caught by surprise and slammed towards the ice spiked field.

The second boat from the left hit a raised curved iced rock and was sent spinning towards the air. Susumu, noticed this and threw large amounts of exploding kunais towards the ship. It hit various part of the boat; the deck, the bottom and even some unlucky ninja. The exploding kunai exploded and destroyed the ship along with its passengers.

"5 down!" Susumu said triumphly.

The first boat from the right slammed a thin sheet of ice and smashed through it but flew a little towards the air. Nao also threw his exploding kunais but the Kiri ninjas in the boat fared better and four jet skis and a ninja jumped out from the exploding boat and sped towards their ship. The jet ski-less ninja sped towards the ice field, taking cover there.

"Dammit!" Nao cursed.

The first boat on the left hit a rather thin sheet of ice and went through it and resumed normal speed, leaving them. "Shit!" Susumu cursed. He failed to tag them with exploding kunais because he was busy destroying the flying boat just now.

However, the final boat; the second boat from the right had the worst. It slammed into a very thick ice and was stopped immediately with a sickening crash.

"5 killed, 9 escaped, 6 left. This isn't good for the ship," Zabuza summarised and the four of them arrived at the large ice field while dodging falling spikes. Zabuza then set Haku down. "Hide yourself, but be ready to kill. Understand?" Haku nodded tiredly, making the ice field was taxing for her. "Take this, it'll help," Zabuza said and handed her a chakra pill and she ate it wordlessly and she walked away to hide herself.

"You guys are a fucking pain in the ass, you know that?" a voice said. Masanori with 5 Kiri Hunter ninjas appeared on top of the boat wreckage and they were unharmed. It seems that they managed to escape on the last minute.

Masanori then drew out his Hiramekarei and stabbed it into the boat. "The rest of you, handle the Kumonins. Zabuza is mine," Masanori ordered. The Kiri ninja's nodded and sped towards different direction.

The Kumonins did the same and left Zabuza with Masanori alone.

"So..." Masanori started. "How have you been?" Masanori then dashed forward and slashed Hiramekarei at Zabuza. Zabuza blocked it with his own sword.

"Fine, before you came along," Zabuza replied and pushed Masanori away.

"Ditto," Masanori replied.

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

Naruto watched as an interceptor boat was heading towards them while four jet skis accompanying it.

"Oh boy, oh boy! They're here!" Naruto said anxiously.

"Don't worry, we'll protect you," Aki said and put a hand on his shoulder while giving him a reassuring smile. It seemed like she doesn't mind about being knocked out and tied earlier. Naruto nodded with a smile.

"Get ready! They're going to throw lots of exploding kunais! Don't let them stick to the ship!" Meizu ordered and the three ninjas began to spread out around the ship to better protect it.

Naruto knew he must do something, and it is time to use his powers offensively again. It was kind of hard because for three months he has been training on mainly, how to suppress his chakra as not to harm himself and others when touching him. He hasn't started on offensive techniques yet as the Terumi wanted for him to have excellent chakra control first.

But now he has to start being on the offensive.

"That would be easier than you think, kid," Kyuubi said.

'Oh hey! I thought you were sleeping or something since it has been a while since you talked to me,' Naruto mentally said.

"Because there isn't much for me to talk to you at that time. You were handling the situation quite well. I'm impressed," Kyuubi said again.

'Oh, thanks!' Naruto thought.

"Anyway, remember that unlike the others, you powers are based on your emotions and instincts rather than handseals," Kyuubi said and Naruto nodded.

'So I must feel the need to eliminate my threat,' Naruto thought again and Kyuubi replied with a 'hn'.

"Alright, here goes!" Naruto said and pointed a finger towards the incoming interceptor and he could see the driver, a Lizard ninja. Naruto focused his thought, thinking that the Lizard ninja was a threat to his life. The boat was coming closer and his heart started to pound faster. Arcs of lightning began to appear from his body and started to focus on his finger.

A small ball of lightning started to form on his finger tips and shot out (Lightning Bullet) towards Lizard. The hunter ninja was very surprised at the attack as it was way faster than normal lightning chakra attacks. He couldn't react fast enough and the Lightning Bullet burnt through the windshield and into his head before exploding into arcs of lightning, destroying the head completely.

Lizard's body twitched violently before dropping to the floor and the boat slowed down.

"Yes!" Naruto said. His victory is short-lived however, as four jet skis jumped out from the boat and sped towards the ship.

Multiple exploding kunais shot out from the sides of the ship, courtesy of Gozu, Meizu and Aki towards the incoming attackers. Explosions rocked the seas and signalled the start of the battle.

#$#$#$#$#$#$#$

Susumu was having a bad day. He already knew that getting involved with Nao was a bad idea. But he was roped into it with the pretext that it would help the Bloodline children. He didn't think that Nao was going to sell them to Gato. This was because he wasn't sure if Gato would sell them to Kumo. He could sell them to other villages with the highest bid.

Susumu, although his exterior might say otherwise, was a kind hearted man. He wouldn't step on a fly if he could help it.

But now, things are looking very bad. The children and him could get killed. And even if they survived this, they could be under new management, Momochi Zabuza. Who knew if the Demon was any better than the rest of Kiri.

So now he has to fight against the Kiri Hunter ninjas and later if need, Zabuza. He wasn't sure if he would live after that, but he'll try.

And he got to fight 3 Kirinins too. Yay.

Susumu drew out his large sword. It was an oversized normal looking double edged sword. Say what you will of the size, but he was not compensating for something. He used large swords because he can and it was effective against tiny swords. He killed countless ninjas who used normal swords of weak material with just one slash.

The first Kirinin, Crow, dashed towards him with his own katana held out. Crow was more likely the bait to draw his attention while the rest was waiting for a chance to attack from far or put traps.

As soon as Crow was in striking range, Susumu slashed vertically from the top at him. Crow then immediately back pedaled backwards to avoid the sword. Susumu raised an eyebrow but didn't let it bother him anymore. Crow, however, expected for the large sword to crash down on the ice. He would then jump on the sword, hoping to cause it to get stuck, rendering the Kumonin swordless and ran along the sword and attack him.

But, Susumu wasn't a mindless sword swinging simpleton. He was a Jounin Swordmaster from Kumogakure, one of the two hidden villages to specialise on sword mastery. His strike was true and not wasteful. Susumu's sword stopped halfway and was now, pointed at Crow's stomach and Susumu lunged forward, impaling him in the middle of the stomach.

Crow was shocked and held the sword with both of his hands but sadly, unable to get a grip because of its width. Susumu then brought his sword downwards, splitting his crotch in the process.

Crow screamed at the unholy pain he was feeling and Susumu also cringed at the sight. Susumu then, with a quick motion, decapitates the now eunuch ninja. He would like for him to feel the pain longer, but he couldn't afford his friends to rescue him.

Large wave of fire raced towards him and Susumu jumped away and the flame consumed the dead Kirinin. It was sad at how little his friends respected him after death. That or death by flames was much better than castration and decapitation.

Susumu, while in midair, looked back at where he was going to land and saw explosive notes, set to detonate once he's in proximity.

Fuck.

Susumu then brought his sword to cover himself, the flat surface facing him and the explosive notes. That was the perk of having an oversized sword; his was wide enough to cover his body and acts as a shield. The notes exploded once he was near and the blast propelled him forwards. He was lucky that the notes exploded on proximity and not contact. It would hurt him more if it was the latter.

He was in midair again and there was a large amount of razor sharp wires in his trajectory and was ready to slice him into ribbons. He then slashed his sword vertically again but it was a mistake.

Before his sword could touch the wires, it slacked and the ends of the wires moved to surround him. The Kirinins expected for him to do what he did and he fell into their trap like a mouse. The wires then wrapped around his body but not before Susumu coated himself with lightning chakra. The lightning chakra didn't cut however and instead travelled along the wires. If it were normal rope, it would have been cut to pieces.

The wires tightened for a moment and cut into his skin before it loosened as his lightning chakra deterred his assailants. As soon as he was free, Susumu dropped his sword and Substituted with the charred corpse of Crow below him. Susumu appeared on the slightly melted ground while his sword still in the air and the charred corpse were pinned with multiple exploding tags. The poor corpse exploded in a shower of blood and meat.

The thing about Kirinins assigned to down ships was that, they have loads of explosive notes.

The Kirinins saw that he was sword-less and took the chance to engage him in close combat. Bear appeared and slashed downwards at Susumu with his kunai but before it could hit anything, Susumu brought his hand to block it. However, his block wasn't aimed at the blade but rather, the fingers on the handle. His arm connected with the fingers with a sickening crack and Bear involuntarily released the kunai.

Susumu caught the short sword while Bear stumbled backwards and jumped away. However, Eagle appeared behind him and stabbed through his kidney with a katana. Susumu held the bloodied blade with his free hand, pulled it forward and brought Eagle closer towards him. Eagle couldn't react fast enough and Susumu stabbed Eagle's kidney multiple times before finally stabbing and holding on to him.

Karma's a bitch, huh?

Eagle violently coughed blood and Susumu then quickly spun on the spot and Eagle, who was still holding to his katana and pinned by Susumu, was caught in the momentum. Eagle was now facing Bear and Susumu's sword sliced him through the head on its way down, cutting him in half.

Susumu grunted in pain at the manoeuver that he just did. Bear then took this opportunity to appear in front of Susumu, wanting to exploit his moment of weakness.

However, Susumu expected this and broke the katana on his stomach with his hands and stabbed forward with all his might. The blade hit Bear's throat and went through while his kunai slashed horizontally at Susumu's own throat. However, Susumu stabbed with such force that his hand hit Bear's throat and pushed him backwards a little bit. This caused Bear's slash to hit his throat but it wasn't too deep to cut it open, only to cause a small cut. A small trickle of blood flowed from Susumu's mouth and neck but it didn't bother him yet.

Susumu then pushed Bear away and took out the broken katana from his throat. Bear then, as a last act of defiance, threw his kunai at Susumu's heart. Susumu was a little bit slow to catch it and the kunai hit his left arm. Bear then stopped moving and fell to his knees, dead.

Weapon-less or not, you should never engage a close range specialist in melee.

"Nao, you owe me big time," Susumu said and sat on the floor.

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Nao's day started from good and now, it turned sour like rotten foods! If he had known, he should have stayed back at home with his lottery winning! What the hell drove him to do to this in the first place anyway?

Ah, yes the debts. You see, Nao was a compulsive gambler. They say that it would get worse before it turned good and Nao was in that kind of situation. He got shitload of debts that would leave a dent on his lottery winning and as usual, he figured he could gamble again by doing something very risky. And you get the idea of what happened next.

Nao pulled out his two kunais and held one in reverse grip and the other with normal grip. His kunais was different from normal kunais in that each has wrist strap to allow him to cast ninjutsus without having to store them.

"Come out come out wherever you are," Nao said to his surroundings. His enemies had hid themselves quite well among the numerous ice spikes littered around the ice field. It seems that they knew his forte was close range combat.

Smart. Good for them, but bad for him.

Numerous exploding kunais rained on him from two sides. "Oh shit!" Nao cursed and ran quickly from the soon to be exploding ice field. Explosions were everywhere, sending numerous shockwaves and ice shards everywhere.

Nao was thrown on the floor harshly but he managed to cover his face from the incoming ice shards. Thankfully, some of the ice shards were already melting when it hit him. The ice field where he started just now was replaced by a large hole that gave access to the ocean waters.

Nao immediately got up to his feet as Owl crashed down with an overhead tanto slash. Nao blocked with one of his kunai while the other was aimed to stab at him. Owl saw this and brought out another tanto to block it. Both combatants locked blades for a moment before Owl pushed Nao's blade away, breaking the blade lock.

Nao and Owl both then slashed at each other furiously, attacking while defending, parrying while thrusting and slashing their blades at each other. Numerous sparks flew from the clashing of their blades and then, blood.

Both combatants managed to cut each other but the wounds aren't too deep. Just grazes. Suddenly, a large dragon made of water emerged from the water hole and rushed towards them.

Both combatants jumped away quickly but the dragon gave chase to Nao. Nao had just landed on the side of an ice spike before he has to jump away as the dragon crashed into it and resumed the chase.

Nao landed on another ice spike and this time, jumped towards the dragon. He then threw an exploding kunai into it and caused the head to explode while he ran on top of its body. The remainder of the water technique crashed towards the ground and Nao landed safely.

Falcon suddenly crashed through the ice a few feet in front of Nao with a katana slashed horizontally at him. Nao jumped and spun backwards and his blades met Owl's blades who had just appeared behind him.

Falcon got to his feet and slashed at Nao's back. Nao jumped to his left and the sword missed. He then threw down smoke bombs at the two Kirinins. Falcon jumped away but Owl dashed forward at Nao and resumed his attack and Nao couldn't even land before he has to parry the attacks.

The two traded blows again before Owl managed to kick him in the gut and send him reeling backwards. Falcon landed on Owl's shoulder and jumped at Nao with an overhead slash. Nao released his kunais and steeled himself for what he was about to do.

"Hope this works!" Nao said and grabbed the katana's blade with both of his hands and with all of his might, he broke the blade. He then gripped the broken blade with a hand while the other hand shot forward and gripped Falcon's hand that was holding the katana.

Falcon was too surprised at what Nao just did. Rarely anyone did that as it was very dangerous. If you failed to catch the blade, it will split your head. Too early, and it will cut your hand. Even if you did catch it, there was risk of injury too as evidenced by Nao's bleeding hand.

Nao took advantage of Falcon's shock and slashed at his throat and stabbed him in the heart with the blade. Blood spilled in large amounts and Nao kicked Falcon away. Owl jumped over Falcon's body and landed behind Nao and slashed downwards. Nao managed to spun backwards just in time to block the attack and sparks flew when both blades met.

Nao stepped backwards a bit and Owl stepped forward, his right hand with a tanto speared at his stomach. The attack hit his stomach and Nao, with a reverse gripped kunai, stabbed at Owls arm and prevented him from pulling away his tanto. Nao then counterattacked with his own stab using his right hand with a normal grip kunai, aimed at his throat.

Owl then stabbed Nao's offending arm with his own tanto and it went through and managed to stop Nao's kunai before the tip hit his throat. However, Nao wasn't finished and poised his kunai upwards and stabbed Owl's lower jaw. He then flared his wind chakra through his kunai and the twisting wind blade laced kunai grinded the inside of his head. A few seconds later, Owl went limp and his body dropped to the floor.

"Fuck, I should have stayed at home," Nao said and collapsed to the floor.

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Hawk was speeding across the water on his jet ski towards the ship, ready to throw some exploding kunais at it. Before he could do that however, Gozu and Meizu jumped out from the water with a chain made of shuriken between them. He failed to react quickly enough as the sharp chain snagged him and throw him off his jet ski.

Before he could hit the water though, Gozu and Meizu crossed each other and wrapped the chain around Hawk and immediately tightened it and cut him into half.

"One down! Seven more!" Gozu said and jumped on his brother's arm. Meizu then, with all his might, pushed his brother towards Hawk's driverless jet ski. Gozu shot forward and managed to landed on the jet ski. He then took hold of the steering handle with one hand and pulled his brother with his other hand that has the gauntlet with the chain.

Meizu jumped and on the air, he was pulled by his brother towards the jet ski. He landed on his shoulder and disconnected the chain and jumped towards the ship's side next.

Gozu then drove away while spinning his chain on the air like a cowboy. "Yee HA! I'm coming, Yagura's cows!" Gozu screamed. Meizu could only shook his head.

On the other side of the ship, Monkey sped his jet ski full speed towards the ship and hit a particular bumpy wave. It was what he wanted and the wave sent his jet ski to the air. He then stuck an explosive tag at his jet ski and kicked it towards the ship. Before he landed on the water, he threw a smoke bomb to conceal himself.

Aki knew what Monkey intended to do and flashed her handseals. "Not on my watch, fucker! Lightning Technique: Lightning Stream!"

The lightning stream hit the jet ski and it exploded. A large number of kunai shot from the smoke towards Aki and she deflected it with her own thrown kunai. The smoke cleared and Monkey ran towards the ship and began to cast his technique with a large number of handseals.

Aki's heart started to pound faster at knowing what technique Monkey intended to do. She was about to throw more kunais when a large lightning struck the water and electrocuted Monkey. Monkey then exploded into water and Aki raised an eyebrow at this. The real monkey floated a second later from the water.

It seemed that the clone Monkey was a distraction and the real Monkey even gave him real kunais as not to reveal him too early. The real Monkey was swimming underwater to stick exploding tags beneath the ship. Had he succeeded, all is lost.

Aki looked towards the source of the lightning and saw Naruto, who was grinning at him. Fortunately, they have him.

"Six more!" Naruto said and Aki nodded.

Back to Gozu, it was surprising really on how he could drive the jet ski with one hand, dodging projectiles thrown at him while swinging his chain overhead. Even more surprising was the fact that he was whipping projectiles from the air.

"Yeah! I'm the whip master! Dominatrix got nothing on me! WOOO!" Gozu screamed and Meizu almost face palmed using his gauntlet and changed to his other hand. His brother can be stupid at times. Still, he got skill.

"Gozu!" Meizu screamed and jumped towards him. Gozu realised this and whipped the chain at him, wrapping around his brother's gauntlet and threw him at an unsuspecting Dolphin, who was riding his jet ski without hands. He was apparently busy casting a technique.

Meizu flew towards Dolphin and shot his gauntlet arm forward. The clawed gauntlet connected with Dolphin's skull and took him off the jet ski. Meizu slide on the water surface before throwing away Dolphin's lifeless body away.

"Five left," Meizu said before a jet ski jumped at him. Meizu stopped channeling chakra to his feet and he sunk into the water. The jet ski crashed and skidded across the water surface a few times before it stopped and sink into the water too.

Meizu emerged quickly with his gauntlet hand speared at a Kirinin. Cat blocked it with his tanto but Meizu gripped it and wretched it away. Meizu then pulled out his kunai and stabbed at Cat but she blocked it with her hand. Her other free hand then pulled out an explosive tag and she tagged Meizu's gauntlet before jumping away.

"Bitch! This gauntlet is hard to come by!" Meizu said and threw his gauntlet at Cat who kicked it back. "Oh, little pussycat got humor!"

Meizu dived back into the water to avoid the explosion. He then casted his technique and a water torrent (Water Launch) shot him out of the water at great speed towards Cat again.

The two met and exchanged blows with each other. Meizu punched her on the chest, which was cushioned by her somewhat sizeable breasts and Cat punched him on the stomach. Cat then tried to knee him on the groin but Meizu brought his legs together and pinched her leg before it reached the target.

"Ah ah ah," Meizu said before punching her hard in the left eye. The punch shattered her mask and sent shards into her eyeball. Cat was thrown backwards and she fell on her back on the ocean floor while screaming. Meizu jumped and kneed her on the stomach. Cat coughed violently as the wind was knocked out of her and Meizu gripped her head and submerge it underwater. Cat tried to break free but Meizu held her arm with his other hand to prevent her from submerging her whole body to escape. Cat's other hand frantically reached into her kunai pouch and stabbed Meizu on the leg before she went limp.

"Four to go," Meizu said and broke Cat's neck for good measure and jumped away.

On Aki's side, she was facing Tiger who was speeding towards the ship. "You're unlucky that water's my first element!" Aki said and flashed through her handseals.

"Water Technique: Whirlpool!" Aki casted and a small whirlpool appeared and swallowed Tiger's jet ski. Tiger would have joined too but he jumped away at the last moment. He was in mid-air and was about to land on the side of the ship when Aki jumped and kicked him.

Tiger blocked it with a cross guard and was pushed away but later found out that Aki had put an exploding note on the bottom of her leg before kicking him and transferred the exploding note to his hand. Tiger couldn't remove the note quick enough and it exploded, taking his arms with it.

Tiger fell into the water, screaming while bleeding like a fountain. Aki landed a few feet away from him and flicked a kunai to his head, silencing him immediately. "3 left,"

A loud motor noise came from her left and she immediately jumped and did a backflip, avoiding a katana slash from Boar. She landed but before she could do a counter attack, she had to jump away again to avoid being hit by Gozu.

"Out of my way!" Gozu said while dragging his chain across the water. Boar then turned around to face Gozu, his katana cutting the surface of the water. "Come on!" Gozu yelled and whipped his chain at Boar who slashed it with his katana.

Boar's katana didn't cut the whip but instead wrapped around it. Gozu then smiled as the katana was on Boar's right hand and so he sped his jet ski towards Boar's left side.

Boar noticed this and jumped off from his jet ski. The jet ski almost hit Gozu, who managed to avoid it at the last minute. Boar landed and pulled on the chain hard and it snagged Gozu off from his jet ski.

"Oh shiiitt!" Gozu cursed as he was sent flying towards the air towards Boar. Boar then prepared himself for a slash that would cleave Gozu in half when he was near. However, before he could do this, a voice can be heard that changed everything.

"Water Technique: Water Tentacles!" Aki said and numerous tentacles made of water emerged and latched onto his limbs, restricting him, for a while. Aki channelled more chakra and the water tentacles ripped Boar's limb from his body.

Gozu had the unfortunate luck to smash into Boar's body which was suspended for a moment and send it flying a few feet away, screaming like mad at the intense pain.

"What the fuck?" Gozu quickly got up and screamed. "You-you just!"

"I what?" Aki asked and put a hand on her hip. Gozu looked at her for a moment before speaking.

"You're hot," Gozu said, almost drooling which caused Aki to scowl and turn away.

"Not now, moron!" Aki said.

Suddenly, another jet ski sped towards them, this time, two person was on board, struggling to throw each other off and gain control of the jet ski. After a short fight, Meizu managed to pin Rabbit's hand on the jet ski and tagged him with an explosive note before jumping away from the explosion.

"Where's the last one?" Meizu asked after he landed near them.

"I dunno, didn't see him," Gozu said and the three of them stared at each other for a second before running towards the ship.

Naruto were busy looking over the battlefield, checking to see if there's anyone needed his 'help'. But they were doing rather fine actually. He just hoped that the rest were doing fine, especially Haku.

He didn't realise that Viper had managed to get on board the ship and was walking towards him and unsheathed her kunai.

"One more...where are you?" Naruto said to himself.

"Right behind you," Viper said and slashed at him. Luckily for Naruto, his reflexes were a bit faster ever since he got zapped and managed to evade, albeit he got a small cut on his arm. Naruto then stumbled away while nursing his bleeding arm.

"I'm going to have my fun killing you monsters!" Viper said again and lunged at him. She managed to topple him onto the floor and stab her kunai at him. The kunai almost hit Naruto's eyes but he blocked it with his hand and the kunai pierced through.

The pain combined with the fact that she called him a monster was enough to anger him and send a powerful lightning chakra through her system. Viper screamed for a few seconds before she went silent and limp.

Naruto pushed her away before taking deep breaths while looking at the clear blue sky. "That makes 9. Haku, I hope you're safe,"

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Masanori attacked with an overhead slash which Zabuza parried with his sword. The two locked swords for a moment before Zabuza release a hand from his sword and punched Masanori in the face. Masanori staggered backwards and Zabuza slashed horizontally at him but Masanori managed to shield his body with his sword, sending him backwards and creating two small trenches from his feet.

"Damn it, I hate that fact about you and the other Swordsmen," Masanori said. "You guys must have ate fish-eating-steroids or something to be able to hold your sword with just one hand,"

Zabuza grunted at him. "Shows how different you are from the rest of the swordsmen," Zabuza said. The truth is, Masanori was a junior member of the 7 Swordsmen of Kiri. He only joined the organization about a year ago. Compared to the other Swordsmen's service year to the group, Masanori's was pretty much a rookie to them.

The sad thing about the 7 Swordsmen of Kiri was that the swords are much more valuable than the user. The user can be replaced, but not the swords. As such, the title was often transferred along with the sword and the sword can be passed in two ways.

Either willingly or not.

Masanori gained his by killing Hiramekarei's previous owner; Mangetsu. It wasn't a fair fight, of course and for Kiri, it was justified as Mangetsu was a Bloodline user.

"Still, doesn't change the fact that my sword is much stronger than yours," Masanori said and channelled wind chakra through the sword. A large axe made from wind emerged from the sword and Masanori slashed vertically at Zabuza who jumped away.

The ice field was split into two as the wind axe hit the ice floor. Zabuza grunted again. Another thing about the 7 Swords of the Swordsmen of Kiri was that each sword has their own perks and disadvantages.

His sword, the Executioner Sword was rather...weak when compared to the other swords. The sword looked normal and one glance at it, people will thought of it as just an oversized sword with a hole in it. However, it has a special ability; able to repair itself by using the blood of its victim. It was generally a maintenance free sword. Aside from that? Not much.

Hiramekarei however, was known as the elemental sword. While another sword, Kiba, the twin swords or also known as the Thunderswords were also able to channel elemental chakra but only lightning. Hiramekarei was not only able to channel almost all elemental chakra but manipulate them into forms much better than any other swords currently in existence. It specialises in chakra manipulation and transformation that currently, no other weapon was able to match and that includes his Executioner's Sword.

Zabuza jumped and dropped at his foe with a slash, but it was parried. Against other Swordsmen, Silent Killing and Hidden Mist technique were useless. So it's back to old school sword fighting.

Masanori pushed him away and slashed at him but this time, using a wind sword that was easily double the length of Hiramekarei. Zabuza channelled his chakra through his sword and blocked the attack.

Zabuza was thrown backwards quite hard but he dug his feet in the ice field to stop himself. Masanori wasn't finished as he sends a powerful torrent of water from his sword at Zabuza.

Zabuza stuck his sword to the ice floor in front of him with its flat facing him and stood behind it. The sword acted as the shield and weathered the attack while the ground cracked. "That's just like you Masanori, always steamroll over your foe with overwhelming force," Zabuza said and flashed through his handseals. "Water Technique: Water Dragon Bullet!"

A large water dragon smashed through the ice floor below Masanori but he jumped away before it managed to hit him. The dragon then gave chase to him but Masanori jumped and thrust his sword at the dragon with a wind sword coating his sword. His attack not only tore through the dragon but also collected some of the water and turned it into from a wind sword to maelstrom sword.

"Die!" Masanori screamed as he brought his maelstrom Hiramekarei crashing down on Zabuza. Zabuza jumped away as the attack hit the ice floor and destroyed much of the ice field.

Zabuza then emerged from the water to try and grab him but Masanori slashed at him, which cause it to melt into water. "Water Clones?" Masanori said and another Zabuza appeared behind him and attacked.

The two then traded slashes with each other, neither managed to cut. Then, a kunai came sailing at Masanori, who sidestepped, but it gave Zabuza the chance to strike him. Masanori avoided but was cut on the shoulder lightly by Executioner's tip. A few more kunais flew at him and he jumped away to avoid them. Masanori then looked around to see 3 more Zabuza's throwing the kunai's at him.

"I see...so you gave them your kunais, eh?" Masanori stated as Zabuza chased after him, and not only him too, but the clones.

"And I gave them my exploding tags too," Zabuza simply said as Masanori widened his eyes. The clones jumped in before Zabuza at him and the clones primed their exploding tags on their palm.

"Body Flicker!" Masanori quickly put Hiramekarei on his back and casted the Body Flicker technique as the explosion hit him. He then reappeared quite far away on a sheet of ice and was panting.

It seemed that the explosion managed to hit him before he escaped but not enough to be fatal. Stil, Masanori has numerous wounds on him and mostly are burns. "You...this is why I hate you," Masanori said weakly but Zabuza looked.

Zabuza grunted at him. "You always hate everything that pained you. What a wuss," Zabuza said.

Masanori snorted in reply. "Say what you want, but sometimes, cowards do survive. And I want to live,"

"And so am I," Zabuza said and made a handseal. Masanori's eyes widened again as he saw the handseal. It was the Snake seal, one use to detonate exploding tags. He then looked below him and saw exploding seals beneath the ice sheet.

During the fight, Zabuza's clones planted exploding tags beneath numerous ice sheets, creating 'landmines' and Masanori landed on one of them. Certain exploding tags can work when exposed to water but it depended on the quality of the seal, ink and paper. The worst quality exploding tags had their ink smudged when the paper was wet while the best ones can work even underwater albeit with severely reduced blast.

Still, the blast was enough to break the ice and send numerous ice shards at Masanori. Masanori jumped a second too late and was peppered with ice shards and even has a large one stuck on his ass.

A literal pain in the ass.

Masanori landed on water a second later and he was badly injured. Blood was leaking from him and dyed the water underneath him red. "Alright, that's it. I'm finishing this," Masanori said. Zabuza narrowed his eyes and ran at him. Masanori then created a large sword of wind and stabbed it into the water below him.

Zabuza then stopped as he saw what happened. "That-that's Kisame's technique!" Zabuza said.

Masanori chuckled a little. "Kisame ripped the technique from the original technique, from Mangetsu's. Behold, the ultimate water sword technique, the Great Maelstrom Enfolding Technique!" Masanori stated as his wind sword mixed with the water and formed into a maelstrom sword and it coated around Hiramekarei's blade until only the handle can be seen. Unlike the previous maelstrom sword, however, this one was much bigger.

It grew so big that the maelstrom sword bulged upwards; carrying Masanori with and it towered over Zabuza. Zabuza then steeled himself for the incoming attack. "Die for real this time, will you?" Masanori screamed and he jumped at Zabuza, his maelstrom sword slashed at him. The massive maelstrom sword was connected with the ocean and it dragged more and more water with it until a wave was following it. The attack was crashing at Zabuza with the force of a tsunami.

Before it could hit, however, the whole maelstrom suddenly froze including his hands and stopped the attack midway, causing Masanori to suspend in the air. "What the? Ah shit! I forgot about the ice user!" Masanori said loudly but it was too late.

Zabuza took the chance and jumped at Masanori and slashed horizontally. The attack connected at his stomach and split Masanori's upper half from his lower half. Zabuza then landed gracefully on the frozen wave behind Masanori.

"Fucckkk," Masanori said through gritted teeth as his leg fell and his innards spilled to the floor. "That's fucking painful!"

"Obviously," Zabuza said and shouldered his sword and walked below Masanori.

"God damn it. I was right. Bloodlines are monsters. Look what happened to me," Masanori said weakly.

"Shut up. You're just weak," Zabuza said coldly and Masanori chuckled weakly.

"Always the cold and harsh senpai, huh, Zabuza-senpai?" Masanori said and Zabuza looked annoyed. Ever since Masanori joined the Swordsmen league, he has been calling every swordsmen senpai. "Oh man, I guess...it wasn't my good day huh? You betrayed Yagura, I have to chase you...kill the trafficker, take his money...the bank's closed and I got split...into...half," Masanori said and finished with a chuckle before he died.

Zabuza only grunted at the Masanori. "Another Swordsmen dead. Oh well," Zabuza said and Haku appeared from behind a small ice spike. Haku slowly walked towards Zabuza and when she saw Masanori, she spilled the contents of her stomach to the ice floor.

"Unfreeze the sword, I want to take it," Zabuza said and Haku took a moment to collect herself and do what he ordered. Zabuza would have congratulated Haku for her fine job; she did in fact, had a hand for the death of a lot of people today. But then it would only make her hate think that the only thing she's good was killing and hate her abilities.

He couldn't have that. Not yet. After this, Haku could be his strongest tool yet against Yagura.

Masanori and Hiramekarei dropped to the floor with a 'thump!' Zabuza walked towards Masanori before something came to him.

"kill the trafficker, take his money...the bank's closed,"

Zabuza widened his eyes in surprise and quickly searched Masanori's pouches. After a minute of searching, he finally found it. It was a storage scroll that contains all of Ozu's money!

He couldn't believe his luck! His actions today in trying to assassinate Yagura caused the bank to close and made Masanori not able to store the money! And now, Zabuza got himself a fat load of cash, enough to fund for his army.

He then searched for another storage scroll, emptied it and stored Hiramekarei inside. "Alright, let's go kid. Time to start anew," Zabuza said with a somewhat happy tone and Haku could swear he grinned underneath his creepy bandage mask.

But Zabuza was right; time to start anew.

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Author's Note Again: Phew! You know, this chapter could have been posted much earlier if it weren't for the fight scenes. Fight scenes usually get me stuck for a long time. It was the reason why I hadn't updated my other stories yet. That and this chapter officially uses the most ANBU animal theme I've ever done. Seriously, I almost ran out on what animal to use before it starts to get ridiculous. In case you guys ask why the heck 20 ANBUs die so easily in this chapter, well, they do that a lot in canon, so yeah.

And actually, though they may use ANBU's animal theme, they aren't really ANBUs but rather Kiri's Hunter squad that specialises in hunting down Bloodlines and missing nins.

And no omake in this chapter, sorry. It was already very long, the longest chapter I've ever write. I'll put it in the next chapter.

Jutsus used:

Lightning Technique: Lightning Blast – Shoots a thick stream of lightning from the palm of the user's hand towards the enemy. Uses a lot of chakra but is powerful enough to go through multiple targets and killing them instantly.

Lightning Technique: Lightning Shot – Shoots a miniaturized version of the Lightning Ball faster albeit with reduced power.

Water Technique: Water Launch – Only works when the target is underwater. It manipulates water torrents to launch the target, most likely the user, above the surface at high speeds. Mainly a supportive technique used to get a target out of the water quickly.

Water Technique: Whirpool – Creates a whirlpool that sucks anything caught into the water.

Water Technique: Water Tentacles – Creates water tentacles from a source of water such as a puddle to be used offensively or supportively. The number of tentacles is limited by the user's skill and amount of water available. Also, the caster is not able to move during the technique's duration.

Water Technique: Great Malestrom Enfolding Technique – A technique created by the previous owner of Hiramekarei, Mangetsu Hozuki. The technique requires the use of both wind and water elemental manipulation to create a massive sword made of maelstrom to coat Hiramekarei. The user will then slash and send a massive tsunami powered slash at the target. This technique is derived from the Great Whirlpool Enfolding Technique. Requires a lot of water source nearby.

Water Technique: Great Whirlpool Enfolding Technique – A technique created by the previous owner of Hiramekarei, Mangetsu Hozuki. The origin technique for the Great Maelstrom Enfolding Technique but it is much weaker as it uses only water manipulation.