Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto
AN: 92 reviews, 72 favorites, 107 follows. Hot damn, thank you guys for all of the support for this story. I'll be honest and say that I didn't know that this story would be going so well. I'm actually thinking of a couple more Naruto fics that I wrote down in my notebook. Not sure which I'll do next.
Enjoy
Chapter 7- The Land of Waves Part 2
A half a day traveling on the road found Team 7 and their client Tazuna walking along the dirt path out of Konoha and into The Land of Waves. Kakashi, of course, was looking bored with his hands tucked into his pockets, his one eye lazily scanning over the scenery and then the genin. Sasuke was strolling behind Tazuna, his hands tucked away in his pockets like Kakashi's were. Kakashi could tell that the young Uchiha was just itching to fight someone, wanting to test out his skills to see where he stood. Kakashi would need to make a note to himself to sit Sasuke down one day and explain to him why revenge isn't the way to go. The last thing that the world needed was two psycho Uchihas out there.
Naruto was standing near Sakura and Naomi, the baby being held safely by her dad. When Naruto first told them this morning about the baby, Kakashi was of course thinking about telling the Hokage about it. This was something that would definitely cause more problems for Naruto then the kid already had. And plus, the story just seemed a little weird to Kakashi. Who would leave a baby alone in the woods for anyone to take? A part of him was feeling stupid for agreeing to take this baby with them on this mission. Even if it was only C-Rank and the only threats they'll most likely encounter are bandits, Kakashi still thought that Naruto should've left the kid behind with someone else.
The biggest reason why was because he didn't want to see Naruto destroyed if something were to happen to her. Kakashi could tell just how much that blonde idiot loved the kid. He already knew Naruto's reaction if something were to happen. Naruto's been through too much for a kid his age. The poor boy didn't need guilt on his conscience on top of everything else. Kakashi sighed. If something did happen, Naruto could only blame himself for it.
Tazuna's facial expression caught Kakashi's attention. The older man occasionally looked from ahead of the path towards Naomi. The expression that underlined the man's face whenever he looked at the child was one that Kakashi could easily recognize as guilt. Why would the man be looking guilty whenever he looked at the child? Why did he look guilty in the first place?
It was then when Kakashi noticed that there was a puddle on the side of the road. His lone eye looked sideways toward it as he kept walking, not wanting to draw too much attention. It wasn't rained in a few days, possibly a week or two. Not even a cloud had been in sight all that much recently. The jonin sighed. Did these shinobi think they were fooling anyone? Well, by the looks on his genin's faces; whoever it was in the puddle sure fooled them.
Looking again at Naomi, Kakashi thought of the chance of the baby getting hurt in this possible upcoming fight between his team and the shinobi in the puddle. This is exactly why Naruto should've just left her back in the village. He didn't know who could be in this puddle, although they couldn't be all that smart for using such a dumb trick; but their fighting skills were still unknown to Kakashi. Having a plan in mind, he motioned for Naruto to come closer. The blonde was confused but made his way over to Kakashi anyway. The jonin eye-smiled at him, "Mind if I hold Naomi for a bit?"
Naruto's confused look seemed to dissipate once he heard Kakashi say that, a smirk forming onto his face. He handed his adopted daughter over to Kakashi. "You can't resist her cuteness, can you Kakashi-sensei?" he asked.
Kakashi didn't answer him, only grabbing the baby, whom proceeded to try and pull his mask down. Kakashi ignored the cute act and increased his guard, knowing he had to act fast if something were to happen. As if on cue, two chains shot out of the puddle and went to encircle him. Using his speed, he substituted with a log and henged it to look like him. He and Naomi were safe in the trees as he watched the henged log sliced into two, his genin looking on in shock and fear.
Except for Naruto. Kakashi watched as the boy stood there and watched the two enemy ninja come after him, his breathing getting faster and his hands balling at his sides. He was angry; really angry. Kakashi figured this would be the lesson that he needed to show him what happens when you bring a baby on a mission. Kakashi only felt bad that he, for now anyway, saw his daughter 'ripped' to pieces.
He would apologize for that later… if the lesson sunk into the blonde's head, which Kakashi was seventy-percent sure it would, and thirty percent it wouldn't. Naruto was still a stubborn blockhead from time to time. Kakashi knew that after this, they were turning around and bringing the kid back to Konoha.
…
Naruto's anger reached places he never thought could reach. After handing Kakashi-sensei Naomi, the two were then ripped to pieces by two bursts of chains that shot out of that puddle on the side of the road. Naruto saw the two enemy ninja coming after him with their chains, but didn't make a move to get out of the way.
No… these guys were gonna pay. They were gonna pay for what they just did.
Jumping into the air to avoid the two ninja, Naruto took out a kunai and threw it in the direction of the chest of one of the ninja. The kunai ricocheted off of the chain as the bastard brought by his chest to protect him. Naruto growled as he started falling back down to the earth. The second guy shot out his chain towards Naruto, the blonde not being able to defend himself due to being stuck in the air. Another kunai came out of the blue and impaled the guy's chain into a nearby tree.
Sasuke's hand was still outstretched as he glared hatefully at the two ninja. These bastards just up and killed a baby! A baby that couldn't even defend herself! Memories of the Uchiha Massacre flooded Sasuke's memory banks as he roundhouse kicked the other shinobi in the chin, still distracted by the kunai Naruto threw before. Said blonde landed on the ground and let out a mean left hook into the shinobi Sasuke just kicked, his anger clouding his mind.
The second shinobi Sasuke's kunai impaled on the tree clawed at Naruto, the jinchuriki having to be pulled away by Sasuke, but not before the claw graced Naruto's right hand. Sasuke quickly scooped up Naruto's discarded kunai as the Uchiha genius saw the first shinobi stirring and coming back to. He threw the kunai and impaled the spot next to his other kunai, both of the ninja now stuck on the tree.
Naruto glared. "You guys are dead… I'm going to kill you for what you did."
The first guy scoffed, "I like to see you try! We'll kill you and then the old man!" the kunais broke off of the tree and the two shinobi were ready to engage in another round with Naruto and Sasuke. But it was hard to fight when you were stomped on the skull really hard by a seasoned jonin. And to add insult to injury, the jonin was holding a baby.
Naruto's anger quickly vanished upon seeing that his daughter was alright. "Naomi-chan!" he bombarded Kakashi as he took the baby from his arms. "Daddy was so scared you were gone!" he hugged his daughter close to his chest as Sakura came running from the spot she was frozen in during Naruto and Sasuke's little rumble. It was only when Kakashi and Naomi reappeared that she broke out of the little trance.
Kakashi, before deciding to talk to Naruto, turned his head over to Tazuna, whom was sweating in nervousness. "Care to explain why this shinobi said he was gonna kill you? Because, from the mission description, we were only supposed to protect you from bandits, not," he kicked the enemies. "Chunin level missing-nin. These are The Demon Brothers."
Tazuna stuttered, "W-What do you mean?"
"I'm not deaf. I heard what this man said about going to kill my genin and then you. We didn't sign up for these circumstances. If you have shinobi coming after you, then this isn't a C-Rank, but a B-Rank borderline A-Rank mission."
"We're just genin," Sakura piped up. "This is too advanced for us."
"I guess it doesn't matter anyway," Kakashi shrugged. "We're going back to the village. Naruto…" the blonde stopped his pampering of Naomi to look at Kakashi. "You're bringing her back. That's an order." Before the jinchuriki could open his mouth, Kakashi held his hand up. "Look at what just happened here. If I wasn't around, then Naomi would be dead."
"But sensei…"
"But nothing!" he sternly countered. "Do you really wanna keep her along after what just happened? Do you want her to die?" Naruto shook his head, opening his mouth to counter the jonin. Kakashi, once again, held up his hand. "If you took the time to listen to me, then I would've been able to tell you that I know someone who can watch her while we're away. But you're too stubborn to listen to me."
Naruto looked down, "I promised though that I would take care of her and protect her. I promise though, she won't get hurt if she stays."
"Stop Naruto," Sasuke shook his head. "Just shut up and think for once. It was stupid to bring her here in the first place anyway. I know that you don't want her to get hurt. This time we got lucky, but what about the next time? What if we're not lucky?"
Sakura nodded. "You love her. She's important to you. You'll feel guilty if something happens to her."
"But-"
"Naruto… I promise you… this guy I know won't tell anyone. He'll keep it to himself."
Naruto didn't want to be away from Naomi, not trusting anyone to watch his little girl without him being there. He promised when he took her in, that he'll always protect her and give her what he never had. In a way, he felt that by leaving her with someone else, he'll be abandoning her and breaking his promise. He didn't have a whole lot of reasons to trust anyone with her, not having good experiences with people growing up. But, it was either take Kakashi's word, or run the chance of Naomi getting killed.
"I would choose soon," Kakashi spoke back up, confusing the three genin. "That claw had poison on it, and Naruto… it scraped your hand. If you don't get it out soon you will die."
Naruto's eyes widened, not even noticing that the claws had even came in contact with his skin. Before he decided to run around like an idiot, he calmly handed Sakura Naomi, and then he started running about screaming about how he can't die yet and that he still has so much to accomplish, making everyone around him sweatdrop at his behavior.
"We have to go back anyway for his hand. We'll drop Naomi off and then we'll…"
The sight of Naruto picking up one of the discarded kunai and stabbing his hand made Kakashi stop talking. More blood flowed out of the hand as Naruto winced in pain. His teammates gasped in shock as he raised his hand.
"Upon this wound, I make this pledge to protect Naomi. I will never let anything happen to her as long as I'm still standing. I will not let her down. I never go back on my word. That's my nindo, my ninja way."
Naruto had this small smirk on his face as the blood flowed down his hand, determination set in the blonde's eyes. He meant everything that he said and he would do anything to keep it. Kakashi couldn't help but feel some pride in his chest. Naruto reminded him so much of Minato-sensei that it kinda scared him. When the Fourth found out that Kushina was pregnant, he made a speech similar to Naruto's about how he'll do anything that he can do to protect and make his unborn child proud of him. Kakashi might've been stunned, but his decision still stood.
"Nice job on getting the poison out," the jonin complimented. "But if you don't stop the bleeding… you'll still die."
Naruto started shouting about how the world was against him and seemingly wanted him dead for some reason, as no matter what he did he still apparently faced the possibility of dying. Naomi was getting a kick out of watching her dad jump around and bounce like an idiot, imitating him and bouncing in Sakura's arms, the action getting a small smile out of the kunoichi.
Kakashi sighed. "Stop moving. Let me check it." Naruto stopped his running around and listened to his sensei, whining the question if he was gonna die. Kakashi looked at his hand and saw that the wound was already healing on its own, much to his amazement. 'This must be from the Kyuubi.' He noted.
"Am I gonna die?"
Kakashi proceeded to wrap up his hand. "Nah. You'll be fine." He said, the blonde genin jumping for joy. Kakashi looked around to Tazuna. "You do know that we don't have to continue this mission, right?" the old man nodded. "But… we'll escort you back to Wave Country since we're already almost there and then we'll decide what to do from there." He looked to Naruto, "And as for your problem… if we decide to continue with this mission, I'll send for someone to come and get her. And don't argue," he saw Naruto getting ready to give him a headache. "This is for the best." Naruto lowered his head and slowly nodded. "Alright, let's continue."
…
"The Demon Brothers failed!" a short man with a cane exclaimed to a much bigger pale man. "You said they would do the job. I'm starting to question whether or not I should even keep you around…"
The bigger man's large sword swung and stopped just a few inches short of the short man's neck. Behind the pale man were two more shinobi, one looking around the age of a teen and the other looking around to be that of a late-teen.
"I'll go myself and rest assure… this sword will be the last thing that he ever sees." A smirk formed behind the bandages around the guy's mouth. He pulled the sword back. "Those Demon Brothers are chumps compared to me."
"You better kill that old geezer, Zabuza." The short man warned. "Or you can say goodbye to your money."
"Calm down, Gato. Don't get your panties in a bunch." Gato growled before he and his goons behind him walked out of Zabuza's hideout. When the sound of the door closing stopped echoing from how hard the man shut it, he spoke. "I don't like that midget, but he has money, and that's all I care about." He looked to the two behind him. "Haku, I'll take Riku with me to take out the old man. Whoever he has as his bodyguard must be good enough to take out the brothers. You'll stay hidden and be ready to get us out of there if things go bad."
"Hai Zabuza-san." Haku nodded.
The other teen, now identified as Riku, sighed at Zabuza. "Why do you need to take me with you? I'm pretty sure that a powerful ninja like you can easily take out a feeble old man and his puny escorts." There was a mocking sense in his voice, finding the idea of someone like Zabuza needing his help to be funny.
Zabuza growled and raised the sword. "You wanna test me, boy? I don't think you do. You led me to Gato for the money; you're worthless to me now. Don't make me kill you."
Riku paled before nodding at the missing-nin. He just met Zabuza and Haku a month ago after they got into a fight over his supplies that they stole. Riku impressed Zabuza by managing to hit Haku while he was using his impressive speed. Sure he was nowhere near as strong as Haku, but the fact he kept up with him impressed Zabuza. And when the boy mentioned that he was bringing those supplies back to Gato and getting paid for it, Zabuza decided that he could use this kid as his contact to the old man. They didn't like each other though and probably never will.
Haku sighed at the behavior. "We're ready to go when you are, Zabuza-san."
Zabuza nodded, looking at Riku still to see if he made another wiseass comment. Smartly, he didn't and nodded alongside his companion for the job. Zabuza shouldered the giant blade.
"Here I come, old man. You better have said your goodbyes."
…
Tazuna had told Team 7 the story of his country while on the ride over to The Land of Waves. How Gato, the billionaire of Gato Industries, had managed to take over his country and bankrupt it, keeping almost all the money for himself and charging outrageous prices for the goods that were left in the country. So, being the good Samaritans they were, Kakashi and Team 7 agreed to finish the mission with the promise that the Wave Country pay for the full cost when back on its feet. Tazuna agreed to it, intending to do that anyway, he said. Kakashi would call for someone to get Naomi when they reached Tazuna's house, figuring it be stupid to wait out in the open for a day for someone to come.
Now Team 7 was in the woods of Wave, their guards now up after the previous encounter with The Demon Brothers. Sasuke was taking the rear with Kakashi taking lead. Naruto and Sakura taking the left and right respectively, Naomi safely in Sakura's arms, sleeping peacefully.
That peace didn't last long.
A giant sword was coming for them.
"Get down!" Kakashi ordered. Sasuke tackled Tazuna to the ground while Naruto and Sakura fell on their backs, Kakashi diving soon after. The sword encased itself on a tree bark, one figure jumping on the sword and another landing on the tree branch above. Kakashi saw that the bigger figure was shirtless and wearing bandages around his mouth and the smaller figure was wearing a crimson t-shirt with black shorts. His dark brown hair hung across his face as a mist headband donned his forehead, a slash down the middle like the other man. Kakashi recognized the two.
"Zabuza Momochi and I believe the boy is Riku Kurosaki. An A and B-Rank missing-nin from Kirigakure."
"You actually know us," Zabuza mocked. "I am surprised."
"Well you did stage an attack on the Mizukage and this one here," he gestured to Riku. "Killed his family before fleeing the village."
The similar tale between this Riku and Itachi made Sasuke's blood boil.
"No wonder the brothers failed. Kakashi of the Sharingan. It's an honor to meet you." Riku boasted.
"The feeling's mutual." Kakashi grew serious. "Naruto… Sasuke," both boys looked to their sensei, noting the seriousness of his tone. "I don't know how strong this Riku is. I need you two to fight him while I handle Zabuza. Sakura," the pinkette nodded. "Take Tazuna and Naomi and hide. This is gonna get ugly. We'll come find you when the job's done."
Sasuke cracked his knuckles, "Don't hold me back, dobe."
Naruto glared. "I was gonna say that to you."
Zabuza laughed, "You make it sound like you'll win."
Kakashi was already raising his headband. "Oh believe me… we will." A crimson eye with three black tomees was revealed, making Sasuke gasp in familiarity. "I'll tell you later, Sasuke; just focus on your fight."
Riku sighed, looking to his two opponents. "Let's move out of the way so these two can have fun. I'll need space while I'm pummeling you two into the ground." He smirked. "You guys don't even look strong."
Sasuke and Naruto's eyebrows twitched. "You'll regret saying that." Sasuke was hot on Riku's tail while the boy hopped through the trees. Before Naruto took off, he turned back to Sakura. "You'll keep my little girl safe?" Now he felt really stupid in bringing her here. He should've listened to Kakashi and told someone else. If they lived through this, he wouldn't make the same mistake again.
Sakura nodded with a smile. "With my life. Go and kick his ass."
"Kick ass." Naomi repeated her chosen mother, making both genin and Tazuna look at the girl in disbelief. "Daddy kick ass."
Naruto grinned, "You bet I will, baby." He took off after Sasuke and Riku.
Zabuza snorted. "A genin and already a father. His last mistake will be bringing his kid places they shouldn't be."
Kakashi gave him a two-eyed stare. "Naruto's not the type to fail easily. He and Sasuke will take Riku out and I'll take you out. No one's seen this Sharingan before and lived to tell the tale."
"Bring it,"
The two jonin clashed.
…
Naruto, Sasuke and Riku landed on a field just a little away from where Kakashi and the rest were. Naruto and Sasuke stood on one side and Riku on the other, cracking his neck to get ready.
"You guys are dying here."
Sasuke smirked. "I was just gonna tell you that."
Naruto looked to Sasuke, "Ready?" the Uchiha nodded. "Let's kick his ass then!"
The two-on-one fight started.
End of Chapter 7 of The Fox's Cub
I did say someone else was gonna be on Zabuza and Haku's team.
Kakashi's ideal babysitter will arrive either in the next chapter or the one after and will bring someone else with him to help with the Zabuza thing. I always thought it was dumb how Kakashi didn't call for help after the first fight with Zabuza
I probably won't show too much of the Kakashi vs. Zabuza fight and might just focus on Naruto and Sasuke vs. Riku.
If you wanna know what my other Naruto fic ideas are tune in next time.
Next Time: The Land of Waves Part 3
