Scattered Remains

Chapter 6: The Demon Awakens

After Naruto's talk with Kakashi the rest of the week was filled with surprisingly intense training led by Kurenai and eventually Kakashi. Naruto was further surprised by the sheer improvement made by the other genin, he watched as each one grew by leaps and bounds, at one point he even wondered if they would surpass him only for him to shake his head and redouble his training. He had come to the realization that during his time as on a genin team he had begun to ease up on his training something that he found to be unacceptable. While he really didn't care about being the strongest he simply refused to fail at his self-proclaimed mission of being able to protect everyone he cared about, and if they were stronger than he was they would be protecting him.

Currently the two teams were enjoying their meals only to be disrupted when Tsunami's son Inari came bounding into the room. "Why do you all try so hard! Gato'll just kill you all, just like he did anyone else who tried to defend this place. You're all doomed to die like all the rest."

All of the shinobi were surprised at the outburst. "Gato is a worm incapable of killing even the weakest of shinobi. All he has is money and an ass ton of thugs all of which I could kill as easy as you would squash an ant under your foot." Naruto said in a calm voice.

"What the hell do you know of our suffering! I bet you live in a nice house with your family and enjoy a nice cushy life. You don't know what kind of pain Gato has put us through, I'm sure that you've never experienced anything like the hell we have to live through every day."

This was clearly the wrong thing to say as the temperature in the room dropped several degrees and the knife that Naruto was holding was crushed under his grip. "Hell you say? You haven't seen hell; nothing even close to it, you can claim such a thing when you have been hated and beaten by damn near everyone in your home, when you have been carved into, stabbed, burned alive, and left for dead for three days until eventually someone came to save you. When you live six years of your life trying to survive on barely enough money to buy a single meal a day, on top of having to constantly make repairs to your home causing you to starve for days simply because some asshole decides to break down your door or shatter your windows. When you lay awake at night terrified of going to sleep because people constantly are trying to kill you."

"You know what the best part is. You have no clue as to what the fuck you did to deserve such treatment, and after years of not knowing you begin to wonder if maybe you really are the demon that they claim you are. That is hell." With that Naruto stopped releasing the killing intent and stormed out of the room.

Haku was searching for herbs to help Zabuza, when she came upon a clearing that seemed like it had been ravaged by a hurricane. Trees had been uprooted and were covered in slashes. The ground had been torn up giant patches of exposed dirt where there had once been grass. 'What could have done this?' She wondered as she walked into the clearing looking around in awe at the damage.

Her eyes widened when she saw a body lying on the ground next to a tree that hadn't been completely toppled. She walked over slowly seeing a masked boy wearing a forehead protector on his his bicep with the leaf insignia. She gasped when in a split second she found herself on the ground with a kunai to her neck. A moment later she was released "Sorry about that." The masked boy said rubbing the back of his head.

Haku shook herself out of her slightly dazed state and stood up brushing the dirt off herself. "No, it's my fault I really shouldn't have tried to sneak up on you"

"Naruto Uzumaki" he offered his name.

"Haku" she responded.

"So what brings you out here?" Naruto asked. Haku looked around the clearing as if searching for something.

"Well I was here to pick some herbs to heal my friend but it seems that they were all destroyed." Haku frowned. "Well I guess I could help you find some herbs" Naruto offered the girl who smiled and nodded.

They were walking through the forest, occasionally Haku would pick up an herb and explain its use to Naruto. "Why do you fight Naruto-san?" Haku asked randomly which surprised Naruto who wasn't expecting the question.

Naruto thought for a moment "I guess I fight so that the people I care about won't suffer" He answered after a moment.

Haku nodded "I believe that those who fight to protect their precious people are the ones who are truly strong in this world"

"Do you have a precious person Haku?"

"Hai" Haku responded "He is the man who helped me when I needed it most."

"That's good, I'm sorry but I really should be getting back. It was nice talking to you Haku" With a wave Naruto took off in a shunshin.

Haku stared at where he once stood for a moment. 'Naruto Uzumaki. He certainly is interesting' with that thought Haku turned to head back to the base where Zabuza was lying injured.

After Naruto's afternoon with Haku he returned to Tazuna's house. When asked as to what he was doing he simply answered "Training" which everyone seemed to accept. The night went without incident and Naruto went to sleep still thinking about the girl that he had just met.

When Naruto opened his eyes the next morning he immediately thought something was wrong. He didn't know what it was but he felt like something really bad was about to happen. He ran downstairs and saw Tsunami in the grasp of two samurai holding blades to her neck while Inari yelled at them. Naruto sighed quietly and wondered why his life could never be easy.

"Sit down brat!" One of the samurai yelled pushing the boy onto the ground and preparing to slash him when his sword when he suddenly found that he couldn't hold his sword anymore because his arm had been sliced off. The samurai turned behind him to see Naruto with his ninjato drawn and the blade covered in blood.

"YOU BASTARD I'LL KILL YOU!" the samurai yelled picking up his sword with his other arm slashed at Naruto who was hit. Though much to everyone's surprise he disappeared in a puff of smoke. A moment later the one-armed samurai found himself headless. "Wajarri!" The other samurai yelled and dropped Tsunami growling while rushing at Naruto with his sword over his head only to find himself in the same situation as his friend.

Naruto knelt down next to Tsunami "Are you okay?" Tsunami nodded " Good, now where'd everyone go?"

"They said that they were going to the bridge and to tell you to head over there when you woke up." Naruto helped Tsunami to her feet and without hesitation sprinted out the door ignoring Inari's calls of his name. After all he had lives to end.

"Son of a bitch" That was the response Naruto had when he reached the bridge. Mist partially obscured his view but even with it he could see the warzone that the bridge had quickly become. Kakashi was fighting Zabuza and a black haired man who carried a red katana with Kurenai while Hinata and Shikamaru were fighting a girl with long white hair who seemingly used bones for weapons. Sasuke and Kiba seemed trapped in a dome of ice and he quickly identified Sakura as the one protecting the bridge builder. He quickly that judging by the pin cushions that Kiba and Sasuke had become that they probably need his help the most.

Naruto jumped into the dome and promptly was forced to block senbon as they went flying towards Sasuke. "You guys good?" He asked blocking more senbon that the masked hunter-nin inhabiting every mirror threw at him. "Do we look good?" Sasuke muttered sarcastically as he was prone on the ground barely able to move. Naruto just shrugged as continued deflecting senbon quickly angering Haku.

'How the hell can he even track them!' she thought angrily continuing to throw senbon after senbon and seeing each one get blocked. 'Screw it' She thought leaping out of the mirror and charging Naruto at a surprisingly high speed. Naruto who wasn't expecting her to charge braced himself as she rammed herself into his chest knocking the air out of him. Before he could even think of counter attacking Haku was once again in a mirror.

'I need to break these mirrors' Naruto thought grabbing Sasuke as he, Kiba, and Akamaru were forced to dodge when ice shards crashed where they had been a moment earlier. 'We don't have enough room to dodge all of this shit forever' Naruto thought frantically dodging ice.

'This should do it'' Naruto thought handing Sasuke to Kiba he began to flip through seals even as he continued to dodge. "Futon: Gale Force Barrier!" Wind picked up around the three genin and one dog as it began to deflect anything thrown at them. Naruto continued "Katon: Grand Fireball Jutsu" He blew out a fire ball into the barrier which caught fire and began forming a flaming tornado around them.

"Your weak flames can't melt my mirrors!" Haku yelled only to be forced out of the mirrors when the tornado picked up speed and began leaking out of the dome. After a few moments the flames had destroyed the ice dome.

Naruto cancelled his jutsu and looked at the hunter-nin. Kiba was holding Sasuke up to his feet. "Kage Bunshin!" a clone of Naruto came into existence picking up Sasuke and moving him out of the way. "What was that you said about not melting your mirrors?" Naruto asked turning to Kiba asked "You think that you and Akamaru could finish her while I go help out Kakashi-nii?" He had already seen that Hinata and Shikamaru had taken out the white haired girl and both were out cold on the ground next to Sakura and much to his surprise Kurenai had been defeated and seemingly dragged away from the battle by Sakura as well.

"Leave it to us!" Kiba exclaimed arrogantly. Akamaru barking in agreement.

Haku gritted her teeth she knew that she had no hope of beating Kiba now that they had destroyed her mirrors. That and the fact that she was a long range fighter while Kiba specialized in Taijutsu. All in all it seemed that her chances of survival had suddenly plummeted to near nothing.

Naruto nodded and leapt off towards his next opponent. Kiba crouched down Akamaru at his side and a moment later they struck. Even with all her speed the sheer power of Kiba and Akamaru's attacks were more than enough to force her back. She tried her best to maintain her distance only to find that against the two of them and their near perfect synchronization any attempt she made would quickly end with her barely avoiding being torn to shreds.

Within minutes she found herself defeated at Kiba's feet. She looked up at the Inuzuka "Kill me" She pleaded. Her request surprised Kiba. "Why the hell would I do that? You've already lost and you can't do any more damage so what would be the point?" Haku shook her head "I have failed my master. I have no reason to live any longer please, I beg you, kill me" Haku bowed her head to Kiba. "I won't do it so forget about it. Why the hell would you even want to die for that bastard Zabuza."

"He saved my life. I'd do anything for him and now I failed him so I want to die." She whispered. She was surprised when her head snapped to the side as Kiba punched her.

"Even if you failed him you shouldn't want to die. If you have no reason to live besides serving Zabuza then you have to find one for yourself!" Kiba shouted at her. Her eyes widened behind her mask. She thought back to the afternoon she had spent with Naruto. He was a rather quiet person but he seemed to respect her even joking with her occasionally. She couldn't deny that it was the most fun that she had in quite a long time.

She looked across the bridge and saw Naruto fighting Zabuza and Shin. Even though he was fighting a losing battle as she knew that Shin was easily just as strong as Zabuza and that even the copy-nin would eventually fall to their combined efforts she saw that Naruto was still fighting with everything he had even as he was continually knocked aside and was covered in cuts. Her eyes widened when she saw Shin launch a fireball at Kakashi who dodged and saw that the fireball was on a direct path for Naruto. She made a decision in that moment and disappeared in a burst of speed praying that she made it in time.

Even with Kakashi at his side Zabuza and Shin were quickly proving to be quite the challenge. Naruto was beginning to feel the strain of using a ton of chakra from all the jutsu he was launching at the two. No matter what he tried the two would dodge and Kakashi would be forced back by the other man's ability to launch fire out of his sword.

"What the hell do we do?" Naruto asked as he dodged yet another sword strike by Zabuza and kicked him in the stomach forcing the former jonin back. "Not much we can do except keep fighting with everything we've got!" Kakashi shouted back ducking under a horizontal swing by Shin. Naruto sighed at his brother lack of a plan barely avoiding a slash from Zabuza who promptly slid his blade along the ground and hitting a vertical strike which made a shallow cut on Naruto's chest.

"You're pretty good kid but you can't keep this up forever!" Zabuza exclaimed continuing his onslaught on Naruto who continued to dodge or occasionally use his Ninjato to push Zabuza's blade away from him. 'Damn it he's right even with all my stamina I'm starting to tire out.' Naruto thought back flipping away from Zabuza.

Before Naruto could move he was surprised to find a giant fireball aimed directly at him. His eyes widened as their was no way for him to avoid the attack. He felt the wind get knocked out of him and saw that the masked girl had knocked him out of the way from the fireball. He hit the ground and saw her get consumed by the fire. The battle seemed to stop as both Shin and Zabuza were surprised at what had happened. "Damn you Haku, you useless tool!" Zabuza said .

Naruto recognized that name 'She saved me, but why?' Naruto climbed to his feet and stared at the charred remains of the girl in shock. Zabuza and Shin chose that moment to strike both moving to attack Naruto. Kakashi tried to stop Shin but was surprised at the girl sacrificing herself for his brother that he didn't act fast enough.

Everyone stared in shock at what happened next. The three unconscious members had awoken just moments before Haku had sacrificed herself for Naruto and stared in shock at their teammate and student.

The reason for this was that before Zabuza and Shin reached him red chakra exploded around Naruto knocking the two of them back. "What the hell!' Shin shouted in shock at the sheer amount of killing intent leaking from Naruto in that moment.

"You two. I'm going to kill you both, and there's not a damn thing you can do to stop me" Naruto said all this in a deadly calm voice. He walked up to Zabuza who picked up his sword and moved to strike the genin only to be surprised when the boy ducked under the blade and punched Zabuza in the jaw, breaking it and knocking him on his ass.

"The Demon of the Mist, that's what they call you right? Well then I suppose you need to be educated on how a real demon fights." Naruto brought his foot down on Zabuza's neck. The swordsman tried to gasp in air from the crushing pressure that Naruto was exerting on his neck. Shin seeing this struck while he was distracted only to find himself lifted by his neck by the boy. "Are in that much of a hurry to die? Well then I suppose you can go first!" With that Naruto clenched his fist around the black-haired man's neck crushing his windpipe and dropped him to the ground leaving him clawing at his neck and trying to draw in breath.

"You don't get off that easily 'Demon' you get to have a little fun before you die." Naruto lifted his foot from Zabuza's neck who inhaled desperately. Naruto picked up Zabuza and Shin's swords and threw them across the bridge so that Zabuza couldn't reach them.

"Stand up you piece of shit!" Naruto shouted picking up the man by his arm and forcing him to stand. "Here's the game you get one shot, hit me with everything you've got. If you can force me to move from this spot you live, if you don't, well let's just hope you don't have to find out."

Zabuza at the monster in front of him in surprise. He channeled all of the chakra he could into his arm and hit him as hard as he could. The boy's mask had a small crack in it but other than that the boy didn't move a centimeter..

His face twisted into a sadistic smile. "You lose" without another word he the ime he was finished all that was left a Zabuza was various chunks of his body that had exploded around the bridge when Naruto had shoved an explosive up Zabuza's ass and ignited it. That and a large river of blood.

Everyone on the bridge would be haunted by the images of Zabuza's death for the rest of their life and Sakura and Tazuna both threw up at the sight. Naruto turned when he heard clapping from the other end of the bridge.

"I have to thank you for taking care of Zabuza. Unfortunately it's time for you to die get him!" A short fat man yelled a huge army of thugs were behind him all preparing to rush at the monstrous blond..

Naruto chuckled darkly the red chakra around him swirling angrily. "Come at me please. I'll make what I did to Zabuza look like a comforting hug." This caused most of the mercenaries to piss their pants. One of them shouted running away "I'm out of here! I can make more money if I live!" This seemed to set off the rest of them who all began retreating leaving Gato behind staring at the demonic boy as he began walking towards him.

"Please spare me, I'll give you anything you want, money, women, drugs, anything, please." Gato begged.

"I presume you're Gato?" at the man's nod Naruto continued "Then you're about to help me complete my secondary mission" Gato looked at the man in front of him. "Yes, Yes, I'll do anything you want." Naruto once again adopted his sadistic smile. "Good because my mission is to kill you" Gato's eyes widened only to see black as Naruto lopped off his head with his ninjato.

Naruto turned to look at his teammates to see that most of them looked at him with shock in their eyes. Naruto sighed and slowly the red chakra receded. He walked over to them as Kakashi joined them.

"What the was that?" Sasuke asked. Naruto just shrugged at the question. "I have no idea." This caused several of the genin to face plant. "What do you mean you don't know!" Sasuke asked forcefully.

"I've never done that before as far as I'm aware so I have no idea as to what that power was nor where it came from." Naruto was lying through his teeth.

Flashback: When Zabuza and Shin moved to attack Naruto

Naruto was surprised to find himself in a long corridor that was completely silent except for the sound of water dripping. Naruto followed the corridor until he came upon a large set of double doors. Shrugging he pushed them open, surprised at what he saw.

Standing behind a giant gate was easily the most beautiful women Naruto had ever seen. She had long red hair that went down to her butt which was very shapely. He could see that her bust was rather large and that she had bright crimson eyes that stared into his and large full lips which were twisted into a smirk. She was dressed in a long red kimono that hugged her curves well. Behind her he was surprised to see nine tails swirling behind her.

"Are you done checking me out because we have quite a bit to discuss, jailer."

AN: I'll be finishing that flashback next chapter. I bet you were surprised at what I did with Haku I actually hadn't thought about what I was going to do with her until right when I began writing this chapter. Naruto has finally met Kyuubi and things will start getting really interesting from here. So to give you guys an idea of how things are gonna go next chapter is the end of wave, some other stuff will happen including Naruto confronting Sarutobi about the Kyuubi. He'll also be collecting Zabuza's bounty and keeping Shin's sword. Then after next chapter we'll be beginning one of two original arcs I'll have before the chuunin exams. Also there will be no mission to Snow mainly because I never saw the first movie and I really don't want to do it. The Kaguya was just a throw away character to give Hinata and Shikamaru something to do in this chapter so sorry if you guys wanted something with her. As for Naruto being overpowered remember that he's using Kyuubi's chakra and plus he's a lot stronger that canon Naruto who stood up to Orochimaru in his Kyuubi form so I think that this Naruto being able to take out to jonin level shinobi is believable.

So as always I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, if you have any questions, suggestions or complaints feel free to express them. I'll see you guys with next chapter which should be out sometime next week.

-RequiemofDarkness