hehehe, sorry folks. didn't mean to take so long to update and i don't really have an excuse for it. hope you like it.
"talking normally"
thinking normally
bijuu/summon talking
bijuu/summon thinking
disclaimer: i don't own naruto or disgaea
Chapter 6: you can never have too many swords.
"Hazumi-chan."
The occupants of the room stared at each other. Well, Zabuza switched his gaze between his subordinate and the man who had been about to kill him. He hadn't lowered his blade in the slightest but he had let out a slight breadth when Haku had arrived. He was almost recovered enough but he knew he would need to be fully recovered before he could take the man on. He could maybe fight but he would have to retreat and not knowing where Haku had been at the time had put a damper on that train of thought.
He wasn't about to leave Haku to deal with this guy on her own, he viewed the teen as his own daughter, not that he would ever tell anyone, but having looked after and trained her for the better part of ten years, anyone would become attached. So he had prepared to hopefully defend himself long enough for Haku to arrive and the two would escape.
He knew Haku was more than she appeared, sometimes acting her age, other times suddenly seeming so much older and wiser than she should have been. He knew of what had happened to her family with the bloodline massacre. But he always thought that it was something else that gave her that look. She had once told him that she was keeping something from him but that she would tell him at some point when she thought she was ready to tell him. But with the scene beginning to unfold in front of him, he couldn't shake the feeling that it had something to do with the man in front of him.
Haku felt tears begin to fall from her eyes as she ran into Naruto hugging him. "Your really here!" looking up at him she continued "I thought I was the only one who got away. When I went back to the village, it was destroyed; there was no one anywhere in the area. I tried to go back and help you, but by then the castle was gone! How did you beat all of them and manage to get away!"
Naruto stared at her for a second, his mind still not believing what was happening. The fact that he felt her touching him confirmed that she wasn't a hallucination. Also, the questions did make sense, and only someone who had been there during the attack would have understood. That confirmed that she had been there. But the reason he couldn't fully grasp the concept, was that the person holding him was human. Looking back, he was pretty sure that the Hazumi he knew and remembered was a demon, like him, not a human.
He pushed her back from him slightly so he could get a better look at her entire form.
"Are you really Hazumi?"
Haku looked at him for a bit before nodding her head "Yeah, but I go by Haku now."
"Why are you –"
"Ahem, cough, cough."
Both Naruto and Haku looked over towards the noise to see Zabuza looking slightly angry.
"If you two are finished, I would like you, Haku, to help me fight this guy off before he decides to finish me off like he was a few seconds ago. And you, if your not going to finish me, please tell me what the hell your doing here?!"
Naruto looked at him for a second before pulling out a small piece of paper. After reading over it a few times, he looked up at him raising one of his eyebrows. "Aren't you Gato?"
Zabuza and Haku sweat dropped as they looked at each other before looking back at Naruto. Haku shook her head and under her breadth said "same old naruto". Naruto hearing what she said glanced at her with an annoyed look before returning his gaze towards Zabuza.
Zabuza simply stared at him "What in gods name makes you think I am a short balding old man with a limp named gato?!" he almost used his sword on the blonde just for insinuating he was anything like the tiny bastard. The only thing stopping him was Haku putting her hand on his shoulder shaking her head slightly.
"Naruto blinked before responding "I assumed you were Gato because you are in the center room of this building. There are…were multiple warriors here, and despite your apparent lack of health, it is easy to see that you are the strongest. A warrior such as yourself should have no trouble conquering a place such as Wave, even without Hazumi-chan aiding you. Those are the reasons that I assumed you were Gato."
Haku stepped forward slightly "Don't you know what Gato looks like?"
"…No."
"Sorry to tell you, bastard, but I am most definitely not Gato, we only work for the man."
Naruto tilted his head to the side. "Then where is he?"
Zabuza snorted "Hell if I know." Nodding his head Naruto began to leave the room to see if he had perhaps missed a room before Haku ran over and grabbed his arm. "Naruto, wait. If your looking for Gato, you can simply stay with us. We'll meet him when our mission is done to collect our pay. You can take care of him after that."
Naruto paused mid-step turning his head so Haku could see half of his face. Smiling lightly he continued on towards the exit. "As much as I would like to do that, I unfortunately have another task that I have to take care of. Don't worry though, I'm sure we'll see each other again soon enough, and we can catch up then."
Kakashi looked up from his spot on the roof as he sensed a presence suddenly appear behind him.
"So, did you finish your mission?"
He saw Naruto shake his head, though he did notice the small smile on his face.
Naruto looked up at the night sky. "No, I didn't get Gato. But I did have an interesting encounter."
Kakashi looked at him questionably before joining him and looking at the stars as well. "You didn't happen to encounter Zabuza did you?" he couldn't help but hope that he had found the swordsman and finished him off. One less thing to worry about on such a 'great' mission. He thought. After all Gato, while cause for concern with his mercenaries, wasn't really a threat as far as Kakashi was concerned. Zabuza however was a different matter.
"Yes I did actually." Naruto's words caused Kakashi to turn his head sharply towards the blonde standing next to him making his head slightly dizzy as a consequence.
"He looks to be almost fully recovered from your fight with him. I would not be surprised if he doesn't attack you at any time in the next day or two at this rate." He looked towards his sitting friend, the smile on his face not changing yet seeming to take on a cruel and mocking appearance to Kakashi. "I hope you and your team give an entertaining performance when he attacks."
Kakashi gave Naruto a deadpanned look "You enjoy making me suffer don't you?"
Naruto let a soft chuckle escape his lips "Just because I like a good fight every so often doesn't mean I don't like to watch other people fight some times."
At this Kakashi let out a relieved sigh. Now he could go in to battle with a little reassurance that everyone would come out alright. After all, he was sure Naruto would save his students, if only to save himself from being yelled at by the sandaime.
The both of them looked down towards the edge of the woods to see an exhausted Sasuke drag an equally, if not more so, exhausted Konoka towards the house.
After they entered Naruto asked "Is it wise to allow them to train to such a degree with a battle to come so soon?" Kakashi looked at him before heading inside "No it isn't, but they are more likely to be well rested for the battle after a full nights sleep."
As Kakashi disappeared from view a slight frown made its way onto naruto's face. "Minato, what do you think will happen when Zabuza attacks?"
Minato walked out from behind the chimney to stand next to his master a look of concentration on his face before answering. "Truthfully I don't really know dood. It could go either way in terms of who wins dood. But that's if you don't enter the fight at all."
Naruto nodded "I wonder how things will turn out?"
The next morning found team 7 minus Konoka heading towards the bridge with Tazuna. There was a noticeable amount of tension among the group as the knowledge of Zabuza's return weighed down upon them. "Kakashi-sensei. Is it all right to leave Konoka behind?" Sakura asked, worried about the choice in leaving her behind. Kakashi briefly looked at her before he have her his eye smile "Don't worry Sakura-chan, she needs her rest otherwise, she would be more of a liability than help."
Facing foreword, Kakashi couldn't help but feel worried, he hadn't seen Naruto since the night before on the roof, and he wasn't sure when Naruto would decide to help them in the battle, or if he would let them all fight and only interfere if they were about to be killed.
Seeing the village coming into sight he dismissed the thought, he'd simply do what he could regardless of the situation.
Looking down on the bridge from above stood Naruto, seemingly floating in air. A closer look showed that attached to his feet and going down to the ground were two small columns of ice, giving the appearance of floating in air. On his back, Minato hung watching the scene below as Zabuza and Haku went about knocking the workers out. "I wonder why they aren't killing any of them? Not the kind of actions you would expect from the demon of the mist, dood."
Naruto briefly looked at the prinny. "You are correct. More than likely he would kill them instead of knock them out. He probably is only doing this because of his apprentice."
As he spoke Naruto watched as Zabuza began creating a heavy mist to cover the bridge from view. Naruto's left eye twitched.
"How do I watch the fight now?"
"Looks like your brat is shaking again Kakashi, heh, poor kid." Zabuza's voice sounded throughout the mist hiding his location on the bridge.
Team 7 stood at the center of the bridge Tazuna in the center with Kakahi, Sakura, and Sasuke surrounding him.
The mist receded slightly to reveal a group of water clones of Zabuza preparing to attack the group from various angles.
Sasuke smirked as he eyed the clones "I'm trembling with excitement!"
Konoka looked at the cage of mirrors, having woken up to the sound of samurai trying to kidnap Tsunami, she had dispatched them before realizing something was probably happening at the bridge. She had just arrived to catch a glimpse of Sasuke get hit be a few senbon needles before launching a fireball at one of the mirrors.
She watched as it impacted but did no damage. Frowning slightly she thought about what she could do to help.
On the one hand she knew Kakashi could probably rescue Sasuke easily, but she wouldn't be much use against Zabuza and more than likely be nothing other than a burden.
On the other hand she could try and help Sasuke, the only question was how. Coming to a decision; Konoka reached into her kunai pouch and launched a handful of shuriken towards the mirrors. "Sasuke! Catch!"
She watched as a hand followed by the body of the hunter nin emerged from the mirrors and blocked the shuriken.
Quickly going through multiple hand seals, Konoka held her hands apart in front of her face while taking a breath. Holding it for a second, as she held her breadth, she gathered a small amount of wind in her hands. Katon: Great Infernal flame, exhaling the flame connected with the small pocket of air and exploded out towards the ice.
Haku, seeing the large stream of fire approach receded into the mirrors and jumped to the mirror farthest from the flames.
When they connected Sasuke had to shield his face as numerous flames began to enter the dome. While most of it was being blocked by the mirrors the few bursts that made it through managed to evaporate some of the water that was on the bridge leaving various spots dry.
When the flames died down, Sasuke looked to see numerous cracks along the mirrors that were directly hit by the jutsu. He began to perform the handseals necessary to perform his trademark jutsu when the mirror shattered and Konoka's body came hurtling into the dome to stop next to him.
Looking out of the dome he saw the hunter nin standing where Konoka had been standing. Looking behind him, he saw the numerous images of said nin still in the mirrors. Looking back towards the outside he grabbed Konoka and made a dash for the exit only to stop and jump to the side as a group of senbon came at him from above.
Sasuke watched as the nin from outside came to a stop where the mirror had been only to coalesce and transform into water before reforming into another mirror made of ice in just a few seconds.
"I will, admit that your friend's jutsu was powerful. It even managed to nearly break my technique. But I cannot allow that kind of attack to be used twice, snd with her now inside the dome, I need not worry about it anymore." Holding up three senbon between her fingers as claws Haku brought them in front of her mask.
"While you fought valiantly, I am afraid that this is where it ends."
She suddenly burst forth from her mirrors and attacked, her calm and clear voice heard clearly of the sound of their shouts of surprise.
"Goodbye."
"You're very disappointing to watch Kakashi. Did you know that?"
Naruto came to a stop next to the copy-nin. Kakashi was worse for wear, even expecting to fight in a heavy mist, he simply wasn't used to fighting in such conditions. Perhaps I've gotten to dependant on my eye. He looked up at Naruto who was standing next to him looking in Zabuza's direction.
"Well excuse me for not living up to your standards of entertainment." Kakashi told him. in all honesty he was glad. Now he could maybe catch his breadth before going to help his students. He had felt the heat from Konoka's attack and had been surprised. She had told him of her idea after witnessing a fire attack hit a wind shield during one of his lessons and he had agreed to help seeing the advantage it would give in battle.
They had worked on it, but he had never seen it or felt it for that matter be so strong at any time during training. Kakashi smiled, perhaps his students weren't in the most dire need for help after all.
Naruto began walking towards the demon of the mist coming to a stop a few yards away.
Zabuza eyed the blonde in front of him "what do you want brat, my fight isn't with you. hehehe, but I'll be happy to kill you now if that's what you want." Bringing his blade down to face Naruto he exclaimed "You got lucky last time since I was still recovering, but this time will be different!"
In response Naruto nodded his head "I expected no less from you, demon of the mist. but lets see how you fair against a true demon."
Deciding that he wasn't going to even bother with the new comer and finish Kakashi off as well, Zabuza flashed through multiple hand seals before calling out Suiton: Seiryuudan no jutsu. He watched as the water seemed to hit the man. As the water fell away he saw that neither Naruto nor Kakashi seemed to have been hit by the attack at all. It was then that he noticed what looked to be transparent objects reflecting light floating around the blonde.
Naruto brought his hand to the side in a sweeping motion causing the objects to suddenly fly up above him and come to a perfect stand still while becoming visible to Kakashi and Zabuza. What looked to be about ten different blades hung in the air behind the blonde, before they suddenly began to circle him at a fast pace. Reaching out, Naruto grabbed hold of the hilt of one of the blades, Zabuza recognized it as the one he had wielded in the hideout.
He blinked as Naruto seemingly disappeared from his sight only to reappear directly in front of him preparing to swing his sword.
Bringing up Kubikiri Honcho, Zabuza managed to block the attack only to hear a whistling sound heading towards him from behind and sides. Quickly casting a glance to see what caused the sounds, Zabuza's eyes widened as he jumped up to avoid being impaled by three of the floating swords heading towards him. as he came to a landing a few meters away from Naruto he watched as the swords stopped their course and return to slowly circling the blonde only to fade from view and become transparent once again.
Tensing his body, he prepared himself for whatever attack would be thrown at him, while trying to think of a way to end this quickly. He definitely didn't want to keep the fight going with an opponent who could control invisible flying swords. He caught sight of one of Naruto's fingers twitching. Thinking quickly he focused a small amount of chakra to his ears and caught the sound of something traveling towards him. Swinging his sword he felt it connect, and felt his arms go slightly numb from the force of the collision. Zabuza watched as one of Naruto's swords became visible and tried to push past his sword increasing in pressure against him. Increasing his strength, he managed to throw the sword back towards its wielder. Ignoring the feeling coming back to his arms he chased after the redirected blade. Reaching his opponent, Zabuza attempted to cut Naruto horizontally.
Naruto grabbed hold of the blade Zabuza threw back at him with his free hand and brought it up to block the attack, impressed by the strength of the attack Zabuza was putting into it. Jumping up slightly he allowed Zabuza's sword to throw him away put some distance between them. As he turned to face Zabuza, he caught sight of Haku's dome of mirrors behind him. An idea quickly appeared in his head, though he decided to wait and see if he would bother to use is.
He watched as Zabuza's constantly shifted back and forth as though he was fighting a group of people, which confused him, as they were fighting one on one. He briefly glimpsed the location of his swords and realization came upon him. Since Zabuza couldn't see the swords, he was probably trying to figure out where they were. Naruto figured he would throw the swordsman a bone and canceled the concealment seals on the floating swords, allowing them to be visible to the world.
Zabuza tensed as he watched the eight remaining blades slowly become visible while they lazily circled the blonde above his head. He was cautious as he regarded Naruto, expecting an attack. Though he was thankful to now know the location of the weapons, he couldn't help but ask "Why are they becoming visible?"
Naruto regarded him for a second, his face betraying nothing to the demon of the mist. "You were more focused on finding a way to locate my swords instead of fighting. Now that you know, you will be able to put more concentration into our fight." He shrugged his shoulders "That is all."
Zabuza smirked before charging towards him, Naruto mimicking his actions. As the two got close they both attacked, Zabuza going for a horizontal slice while Naruto attempted to chop Zabuza with both of his blades. As the three swords met, sparks began flying between the two. Naruto quickly brought up his left arm and smashed it down against Kubikiri Honcho. As his sword connected he did the same with his other hand. He repeated this over and over again, each hit slowly driving Zabuza to his knees as he defended against the sledgehammer like hits against him.
Thinking quickly, Zabuza allowed his arms to go slack. This caused Naruto to suddenly lurch foreword from the lack of resistance and push against Zabuza. Using the force from Naruto's attack and his blade being being pushed against him, he managed to jump backwards to safety.
Reaching the edge of the bridge and breathing heavily, he began to quickly look around for a good spot to launch a surprise attack and turn the battle to his favor. Looking around he briefly caught a glimpse of his sword and grimaced. The blade had a few cracks in the middle, he would only be able to block a few more attacks before the blade broke and left him unarmed. Shouldn't have given up on kunai and shuriken when I got the thing.
He jumped to the side to avoid three of the swords and watched as they cut through the steel structure like it was a piece of paper, not slowing down in the slightest. He turned and fled as the blades seemed to stop and turn towards him as though looking at him before giving chase.
He jumped as Naruto appeared in front of him trying to cut at his chest. As he passed over he swung down in an attempt to behead the man. His sword was stopped when one of the swords the stayed with Naruto came down and intercepted his attack.
Naruto turned around and changing his left arm's grip, switched his hold of the sword to a reverse grip. Pointing his pointer and middle fingers at Zabuza he calmly called out "Mega Fire."
A large burst of fire exploded out from his fingers and hit Zabuza causing him to scream out. Naruto watched as the flames covered Zabuza before getting doused and snuffed out by the water clone exploding as it was dispelled. His eyes widened as a large torrent of water rushed towards him from over the side of the bridge. His blades quickly came to be in front of him, in an attempt to stop the attack from reaching him. Taking the brunt of the attack, they managed to prevent Naruto from coming to any serious harm, though he has still pushed back and over the bridge to the water's surface below.
As he approached the water he quickly let go of his swords and bringing his hands together quickly shouted out "Float!" his decent began to slow and as he was about to reached the water, he quickly froze a small amount of the surface before coming to a land as the spell's affects wore off and his decent suddenly sped up the last foot or so. Slowly standing up on the small platform he had created Naruto looked around, spotting Zabuza a little ways away from him going through what looked like a long string of handseals.
"Suiton: Nigenteki Seiryuudan no jutsu"
Naruto stood impassively as two dragons made of water emerged from the water around Zabuza's feet, encircling each other before approaching his location. Extending his right arm foreword towards the incoming water his swords that had begun to circle again him all burst into action.
Zabuza watched as all ten blades seemed to fly towards his jutsu cutting and shredding the dragons causing them to dispel before they reached Naruto. He quickly created a handful of water clones to attack and watched as the blades did the same to his clones. Cutting them all down before getting close to their target, he looked towards where Naruto stood only to gape as a large swirling storm the size of a large horse seemed to be floating above Naruto's head. It looked like a glass sphere, and inside was a torrent of swirling white winds.
Suddenly swinging his arm down, Naruto brought the enclosed storm down onto the water in front of him. Realizing he was in danger, Zabuza gathered chakra to his feet and launched himself into the air and watched Naruto do whatever it was he was doing. He watched as the storm came into contact with the water that it seemed to break open. A glowing white shockwave seemed to travel along the water. The water freezing and turning to solid ice as it spread.
Landing lightly Zabuza noted the fog his breadth created when breathing out. Looking around he saw that the ice seemed to go as far as he could see in the mist he had created. Looking up he watched as what looked to be small leftover bits of the attack slowly fall from above giving the illusion of snow. As he looked over towards Naruto, he seriously began to doubt his being able to survive the fight as he saw Naruto calmly staring at him, not winded in the slightest, sword in hand and the other nine once again keeping vigil from just above his head.
It was odd though, he reflected. The chances of him dying were all but a reality. Yet he actually felt at peace at the prospect of falling to an opponent of such skill. He smirked and hefted Kubikiri Honcho and prepared to fight. Launching himself towards the blonde, Zabuza allowed himself to smile as he suddenly felt a he did the day he found Haku. "What's your name boy?!" as he rushed foreword, Naruto grabbed a hold of one of his swords and parrying the strike. "Uzumaki Naruto."
Zabuza attacked again, ferociously attacking Naruto, his arms burning from exhaustion. His reserves were spent, using such powerful justus and maintaining the mist. yet he felt none of it in the exhilaration he felt from the battle. Pushing himself past his limits, he saw Naruto twitch from his attack. Going foreword he felt on of the swords cut into his shoulder. Ignoring the pain, Zabuza reached out and grabbed a hold of Naruto's head. Swinging him around, he threw the blonde back towards the bridge and jumped after him.
Kakashi watched as Naruto suddenly came flying up from below the bridge only to impact with the bridge and roll to a stop. He saw Zabuza come up just behind him, a large cut in his shoulder as he chased after the blonde.
As he reached the blonde he swung down trying to cut the blonde in half. His blade was stopped again, but not by any blades. In front of him stood a mirror of ice coming out of the bridge in front of Naruto. Looking around he spotted the ice cage that Haku created and saw her flying between the mirrors, unaware of what was going on over here. He heard the sound of something like a stone slab moving and watched as more and more ice mirrors sprung up from around the bridge's surface, some of them detaching and floating in the air at odd angles and positions.
Naruto came to a stand and felt for any injuries on his person, he noticed a few cuts on his arm that he must not have felt when Zabuza used his sword, as well as a small cut on his check, probably from landing on the bridge. He was incredibly impressed with Zabuza. In his eyes, Zabuza had rightly earned the title of demon of the mist. it was with that thought that he decided to go all out. Creating mirrors of ice, he slowly regarded Zabuza's reaction to their presence.
Naruto couldn't help but smile in tandem with Zabuza as he saw the man's expression. Truly he was a warrior, only feeling completely alive in a battle of life and death.
Jumping back, Naruto melted into the ice before his image vanished from view. Zabuza, having trained Haku, knew exactly what was going to happen. Jumping to the side and swinging his sword he watched as Naruto emerged from a mirror to his left duck under his attack only to continue running and disappear into another mirror. This continued back and forth before Zabuza heard a whistling in the air. looking towards the source he saw that Naruto's blades were coming to their location from under the bridge. As they came close, the split up and began to attack him in tandem with Naruto, who would emerge and swing at him with one of the nearby blades.
A small gust of wind was the only warning he had when in his peripheral vision, he saw the edges of the floating swords that continually protected Naruto coming towards his neck to decapitate him and slice his body up. Looking foreword he saw Naruto emerge from a mirror and charge towards him.
Unable to dodge all of the blades in time, he allowed a content smile to grace his lips. Issuing forth a battle cry he charged towards the blonde.
If he was about to die, then damn if he wasn't going to go down in style.
"Is this the first time you have seen a comrade die?"
Haku's voice traveled throughout the dome, the only one to hear the voice was Konoka, cradled over the still body of Sasuke Uchiha. Konoka herself was no better, a third of her body looked to have been impaled with the small needles. She could feel her consciousness slipping away as she watched the hunter-nin prepare to attack.
The two had held up against the continuous onslaught of senbon for a good while. But as time wore on they were constantly hit with glancing blows and losing energy. Sasuke had acted as defender to try and buy her time to perform her jutsu again and give them the opening they needed to get out. With his sharingan finally awakened it had helped somewhat, but the lack of experience in its use caused him to misjudge attacks by a few milliseconds which had cost them in the end.
Sasuke had taken a few hits to the legs before Konoka's arm was hit breaking her concentration causing her to break the jutsu.
Seeing her chance, Haku had launched a large amount of needles at the falling kunoichi in the hops of knocking her out. So she was surprised when the Uchiha had pushed her out of the way and taken the brunt of the attack.
Konoka watched as the world seemed to be getting darker. She looked at Sasuke. Is this it? She thought. Am I going to die here? Like this? Anger started to fill her being. After everything I did to become a ninja, I'm going to die here, before I can accomplish anything? Watching a teammate die and doing nothing!?
Haku watched as the girl's eyes hardened with resolve even as she was about to faint. Haku was impressed with the girl, though slightly sad for having to lie about killing her teammate. Even now she hated the thought of killing and still felt horrible for telling a lie.
She was broken from her thoughts as she saw a red mist start to form around her feet. Watching the girl she tensed as she felt mana coming from the mist. This is impossible, even if humans can harness mana, it takes decades to even manage to sense it. How can one so young generate mana?
Haku's thoughts were hectic as numerous possibilities flashed through her head. The only thing she could do at the moment however was knock her unconscious. She was too tired to keep the fight going any longer, and she was worried for Zabuza.
She gripped her senbon tightly and using her remaining strength charged at the glowing teen.
She would not allow this creature to harm Zabuza or Naruto, regardless of the consequences.
Naruto Zabuza and Kakashi all froze as a foreign energy seemed to saturate the air all along the bridge.
Kakashi froze as flashbacks of feeling a similar energy nearly fourteen years ago when he had felt said energy before.
Zabuza froze because the energy felt like what Haku sometimes generated when she got really mad only slightly different. The fact that there was the strong possibility that it wasn't Haku, the fact that he stood the chance of seeing Haku angry really didn't help his feelings calm down.
Naruto stopped as he didn't expect to feel mana being used. He knew Haku was fighting Konoka and Sasuke and knew she was strong enough to not need to use it to win. What caused him to frown was that more than likely it was Konoka that was the one creating the mana.
Kakashi recovered and began heading over to where Naruto and Zabuza stood. Watching as the mirrors Naruto created melted and turned into water, both looking towards the dome where the other battle was being held.
"Naruto. I'll take care of Zabuza, you go help out the others."
Naruto looked at him for a moment before nodding his head and walking into the mist towards the other end of the bridge.
Zabuza glared at the scarecrow "You know what's going on?" Kakashi nodded "I think so. And if I'm right then Naruto is probably the only one who can handle it in this situation.
Zabuza smirked before charging at him, Kubikiri Honcho ready to strike "Want to wager on what happens?"
Kakashi eye smiled "Sure. What do you have?"
Sakura was not enjoying herself. First she was stuck guarding Tazuna by casting a small area genjutsu to make them invisible. Then she had to watch as Sasuke was attacked then subsequently trapped. She had tried casting genjutsu on the fake oinin, but the glass seemed to act as a shield, and the illusions did nothing useful. After that she had to watch that hussy try and help Sasuke, to get on his good side only to end up not really helping at all.
Now she was feeling this really creepy energy that was making her skin fell like there was something oozing on top of it trying to get to her insides.
None of that really creeped her out though compared to the winged, peg-legged orange penguin that was standing on the railing watching her in an unblinking gaze. She knew it was a backpack, it had straps on its back and she had watched as Naruto had placed it there. But the fact that it still looked like it was staring at her wasn't really helping her feelings at the moment at all.
The wind was knocked out of her as Haku was punched in the stomach and launched into one of her mirrors.
None of her attacks were doing anything against the red headed berserk girl. Her attacks were either deflected or dodged. Her speed was easily kept pace with making it difficult to doge the child's attacks.
Her eyes narrowed. Diverting her mana from her mirrors into her being, Haku recovered and charged towards the red head. Landing a punch she saw that the girl didn't look to be in control of her actions, more than likely relying on her instincts at the moment. Capitalizing on the lack of coherent thought of her opponent, Haku rushed in to engage Konoka in taijutsu.
Mana coursing through her body, her speed and strength were now slightly above those of Konoka's. Landing multiple hits, she was pushed back as a loud roar was issued, a wave of crimson mana bursting forth in a massive wave.
Haku was thrown back again only to go flying through a mirror. The crimson energy had disrupted her own from the sheer amount that was in the attack causing her to briefly lose her focus.
Struggling, and finally managing to come to a stand, she watched through her mask's eye holes, Konoka quickly approaching, clawed hands extended likely to impale her.
Haku felt all of her energy gone. The demonic ice mirrors had taken up a majority of her mana. Her tired body had not been prepared for the sudden burst of mana and as such was in a state of shock. She futily struggled to get her body to move, but her commands were ignored and left her defensless.
Haku smiled softly and closed her eyes, hidden by her mask, awaiting the finishing blow to land. At least Naruto-kun is alive.
The sound of something slamming into the ground in front of her caused Haku to open her eyes and see what caused it. in front of her she saw Konoka imbedded into the bridge face down, ice covering her entire body up to her head. Looking at her face she looked to be unconscious. Standing next to her was Naruto looking back at Haku calmly.
Reaching for her mask, she noting that pain shot up her arm with every move. Removing her mask she regarded Naruto with wide eyes before looking down at her feet. She couldn't believe this. Naruto had had to save her again! Tears began to well up in her eyes. Why did she always need someone to come help her.
She was broken from her thoughts as a hand landed on her shoulder before she was pulled into a hug, she suddenly found her Naruto's shoulder taking up most of her view. She felt his chest rumble against her as Naruto chuckled. "Looks like I still have to come to your rescue. Huh, Hazumi-chan."
Haku could only smile and rest her head on his shoulder. She whispered out. "I told you before Naruto-kun. My name is Haku now." She pouted a little as he let her go and move her away from him. he poked her head while he smiled at her. "No, to me, you'll always be Hazumi-chan. The little girl I have to keep looking after. If you want me to call you Haku… well, you know what the payment is."
Haku rubbed her forehead where he had poke her and scowled at him. She hated that he wanted her to do that, it was so embarrassing. She was about to tell him that she wouldn't do it before he suddenly looked behind her and scowled at something. Walking past her she could tell that he was interested in something. Turning around to see what it was, she saw that Kakashi was looking in their direction with a confused look. At least she thought so, the mask made it difficult to tell.
Zabuza however, was giving the best glare he could at Naruto as he walked over to the two. As Naruto came to a stop next to the two junín she watched as Zabuza began yelling at him, even with a kunai lodged in his arm he managed to gesture wildly and occasionally point at her. she was too far away t hear to hear what was being said, but based on Zabuza pointing at her, it had to be about her. walking slowly in their direction, she came to a stop only a few feet away from them.
The group began looking around as the sound of clapping filled the air. Zabuza begun to lessen the amount of chakra in the mist near the end of his fight with Naruto, and it had been slowly receding. Looking over towards the edge they saw what looked to be a small army of mercenaries. In front of them stood a small man in a business suit, sunglasses, and holding a cane, he was the one that had been clapping.
"How disappointing Zabuza. I had honestly thought you could handle these people." Gato sneered at him "Hah, looks like only thing that was impressive about you was your reputation."
Zabuza sneered back at the short man. "Heh, what are you doing here fucking shrimp?"
Gato glared him, not managing to affect Zabuza with the glare. "I am here because of a change in plans." He chuckled "You're really quite expensive. You know that Zabuza?" taking a step foreword, he gestured to the group of mercenaries behind him. "For the amount I paid for your services, I managed to hire all of these fine gentlemen, and still have some left over. And it got me thinking. If I killed you here and now, then I wouldn't lose as much money. So I guess the reason I am here… is because I am—"
Everyone looked confused as Gato simply froze, not moving a muscle. The shinobi looked at each other wondering the cause before they saw Naruto giving a tiny smirk. Turning back to see what he was smirking at, they focused on Gato.
All of the mercenaries took a step back as red lines began to crisscross Gato's head. Soon after the lines grew until blood began to spill from them all. From his ears, nose, eyes, and mouth, blood began pouring out. Before they could figure out what had happened, blood seemingly exploded from Gato's body which caused it to drop into multiple bits. Everyone on the bridge stared at the now chopped up tyrant. Kakashi and Zabuza were the only ones to figure out how it happened.
Looking around, neither of them spotted any of Naruto's swords lying around.
The mercenaries quickly broke out from the shock of seeing their boss suddenly get cut up from nothing and unable to figure the cause shifted the blame to the most likely suspects in their eyes. Turning towards the group they started drawing their assorted weapons and began advancing towards them. "You just killed our payment bastards!"
All of them tensed but relaxed when Naruto stepped in front of them. "You can relax, I'll handle things here."
Seeing the blonde haired man walk towards them, they couldn't help but laugh. The laughter however, died in their throats as he simply disappeared from view. After looking around the bridge for any sign on him, a cry from the center of the group caused all heads to turn towards the sound. Seeing the man who had vanished was now standing amongst them, the mercenaries spread away from him in a circle. All of their faces set into a scowl as they realized he was probably going to be somewhat harder to kill than they first thought.
Those that had a clear view of his face became unnerved as they stared at Naruto. A predatory smile had appeared on his face. What scared them the most was the crimson eye that seemed to be glowing a malevolent color.
As a few took a step back shouts of pain began to pop up from around the band of fighters as random members of the group simply fell to the ground. Cut to ribbons like Gato. It was only when they spotted what looked like semi visible swords floating through those cut up that they reacted. Some rushed towards Naruto, in the hopes that killing him would stop them.
Naruto's smile grew bigger as he watched them approach. He slowly raised a hand above his head and held his palm open to the sky. Every one paused and watched as the blades flew off to stop next to the shinobi before returning their attention to the blonde. Naruto's eyes were closed but his smile was still there. Opening his eyes he looked at the mercenaries before him. his voice carrying across the area.
"Demi."
A black dome suddenly sprung forth from his open palm and surrounded Naruto and the remaining mercenaries. As the dome touched the bridge it suddenly contracted. Pulsing every few fet, it would slowly shrink in size. What everyone outside noticed was that regardless of how much it shrunk, none of the people that were in the dome could be seen. After a bit they saw the dome continue to shrink, Naruto's body coming more into view as it got smaller, focusing in his hand. Around him was an empty bridge devoid of any sign that anyone had been standing there a few seconds ago.
Naruto looked up at the small orb, now able to fit in his hand nicely. Inside it, the bodies of everyone near him stood compacted into themselves hundreds of times over as the gravity in the orb increased to epic proportions. Still holding it above his head, he closed his hand, the orb shattering into dust that floated in the wind away from the bridge.
Naruto allowed his smile to transform into a smirk.
Mission complete.
Turning back towards the shinobi he bagan heading to them when a loud cry broke the silence.
"Sasuke-kun!"
Looking over, everyone saw Sakura holding a very disoriented and confused Uchiha Sasuke. After Haku saw everyone giving her a questioning glance, she sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. When everyone walked over Kakashi spotted Konoka, still incased in ice beginning to turn blue. After looking at Naruto, Naruto removed the ice.
Some more noise heading towards them alerted them to the arrival of the inhabitants of Wave. As they arrived the villagers looked around in confusion. Looking towards the Konoha shinobi, Kakashi simply shrugged his shoulders and told them that they had missed everything, which caused them all to sweat drop.
Naruto, Kakashi, Zabuza, and Haku, all stood on the pier on the lake next to Tazuna's house. It had been a week since the battle on the bridge and all of them had recovered from their injuries and were discussing what the two missing nin would be doing next.
Zabuza looked at Haku, then to Naruto, "So how do you two know each other?"
The two looked at him briefly. Naruto turned his attention back to the lake as Haku took the initiative and began speaking, only to be cut off by Naruto. "I would explain it, but then I would probably have to explain it to the hokage as well, and instead of repeating myself, I will explain when we arrive in Konoha."
Zabuza looked at him for a second before understanding flashed through his eyes. "What?! And what makes you think Me and Haku are going with you back to Konoha?!"
Naruto simply looked at him with a raised eyebrow "What makes you think Hazumi is going to go with you?" They ignored Haku's pouted whisper of "It's Haku."
Zabuza came to a stand in front of him, their heights equal. "Listen buddy, I don't care who you think you are, but Haku is coming with me, and I'm not going to Konoha. I'm a missing nin in case you forgot. The instant we step foot there we'll be arrested."
Naruto simply stared at him, though Zabuza thought he saw his eyes hared ever so slightly. "She is coming with me." The two were glaring at each other both looking as though they were about to start fighting before Haku stepped between the two and pushd them apart. She turned with her hands on her hips and glared at Naruto "Naruto-kun, we'll decide if we go or not, not because you say so. Understand?"
Not seeing him agree with her, Haku glared even harder at him until he finally sighed and nodded his head. Smiling at him, Haku turned around and glared at Zabuza entering the same stance as she had just used against Naruto. "And you Zabuza-sama, of course we're going. Can't you see how good an opportunity this is? I'm tired of running around all the time. Unlike you I would like to have the prospect of a soft bed and hot shower waiting for me at the end of the day."
She glared at Kakashi quickly as he struggled to contain his laughter at the sight of the demon of the mist getting talked to by a little girl "Quiet you!" Kakashi scratched the back of his head and bobbed his head in apology.
Turning back to Zabuza, she held up a hand stopping him from talking. "No, I'm sure it will be alright Zabuza-sama. Naruto-kun, and Kakashi-san will undoubtedly vouch for us. Right?"
Naruto and Kakashi nodded their heads letting Zabuza know they would vouch for the two.
Seeing he was caving, but was still resisting the idea, Haku decided to bring out the big guns. Walking in front of him, she looked up at him with big watery eyes, and sniffed her nose, giving him the sad puppy dog eyes. "Please Zabuza-sama."
Zabuza tried his best, but he hated to see Haku like this. He knew she was faking, but he couldn't help himself. Looking for help he saw Kakashi watching in amusement, and Naruto had a hand over his eyes to keep him from seeing. His attention returned to Haku when he realized he was on his own.
A minute later his resolve left him and he agreed to go causing Haku to jump up and hug him in thanks.
Standing on the bridge the Konoha Shinobi were bidding the Wave villagers farewell as they began heading back to Konoha after the bridge's completion earlier that week.
Konoka was trying hard not to cry as she sad goodbye to Inari. She walked over to where her team, plus Zabuza, Haku, and Naruto were waiting. As they vanished from sight Tazuna looked around. "So what should we name our bridge. How about 'Tazuna's super awesome bridge'?"
Tsunami's palm smacking against the back of his head let him know that the name was rejected.
Looking back towards where the group left he watched Inari continue waving to them even though they had disappeared and said. "How about 'The great Konoka Bridge' named after the girl who inspired the villagers to stand up for themselves.
A round of cheers was his answer from the village.
A/N: yeah, sorry again for the wait. i don't know when i'll get the next update out, maybe around new years. but don't quote me on that.
so ends the wave arc. chunin exams are coming up, so that should be fun.
a breif glance into Naruto's past in the next chapter for those who are curious. hint: its gonna be good!
also, i'm thinking about changing the summary for the story since i don't feel like it matches, but nothing comes to mind, any ideas would be appreciated.
again, point out any mistakes.
please review!