Reviews:
Guest:
Glad you like it. Yeah, those scenes still give me trouble, so I'll likely be avoiding them from now on.
A/N: I have to say, I'm both glad and surprised that people still favorited my story after the rather…well, let's call it lackluster previous chapter. That being said, some comments made by a now ex-reader has made me realize two issues with the story. The first being that the introduction of the love interests have been and will be very…condensed, meaning most of them will be at least introduced by the end of the next arc. Unfortunately, this is a problem I can't change as I've already got the details hammered out and changing them would involve rewriting previous chapters. The second issue is that the…romantic aspects (non-lemon parts) of the love relationships has been a little lacking. I will try to fix this in upcoming chapters, but romance still proves to be an issue for me. Anyway, please remember to review with any comments, questions, suggestions, or constructive criticism that you might have.
'This is a person thinking.'
This is a demon in someone's mind speaking to their host.
This is a person speaking to the demon in their mind.
Chapter 7:
Battle on the Bridge!
The day after, the group had begun to divide up their turns to protect Tazuna. When they weren't protecting the old bridge builder, the genin spent their time training for the battle that they knew was coming. Naruto and Wukong typically just slept wherever they happened to fall in exhaustion. One early morning, several days after they'd arrived at Tazuna's home, as the mist began to settle, two women, one in a pink kimono and having long black hair and the other wearing a light blue kimono and having short green hair, were walking through the forest, carrying baskets filled with herbs. They found a pair of men collapsed in a clearing. One had spiky blonde hair and was dressed in dark green. The other looked older and was wearing dark green clothes with spiky black hair and, to their surprise, had a tail. The two girls blushed at the sight of their handsome appearances. The black haired girl approached the older looking one, who was against a tree, while her companion approached the blonde. The elder girl reached out to touch the monkey-tailed one, but before her flesh touched his, his eyes suddenly opened and he grabbed her by the wrist, surprising her.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Just a pair of sisters collecting some herbs for a sick friend," she said, still in a calm tone, even if she was worried on the inside.
Wukong let her go, "Sorry to scare you. There's some dangerous people looking for us and people that sneak up on us when we sleep tend to make us paranoid."
"It's alright. You know, you two shouldn't be sleeping out here. You could get sick," the woman said.
"Thanks for your concern, but we'll be fine," Wukong said as he picked up a pebble and tossed it at his sleeping brother, "Oi, Naruto-kun, get your lazy butt up!"
The pebble hitting his headband made Naruto jerk up into a sitting position, startling the green-haired girl, who 'eep-ed' in surprise. Naruto rubbed his eyes to get the sleep out of them before he noticed the two girls.
"Eh, who are you two?" the younger Uzumaki asked.
The elder woman smiled, "I'm Haku and this is my younger sister, Fu," she said gesturing to the green-haired girl, who was staring at Naruto.
"Nice to meetcha!" Naruto said, giving the two sisters a fox-like smile, "I'm Naruto and this is my older brother, Wukong!"
"So what are you two doing out here, Haku-chan?" Wukong asked, making the elder girl blush.
"Like I said, we're collecting herbs for someone who's sick."
"Oh, would you like some help?" Naruto asked.
"We would appreciate that. Thank you," Haku said before explaining to the two what they were looking for.
After a minute of gathering the herbs, Fu said, "So, you guys never said what you were doing out here."
"We were training," Wukong said, "We're shinobi of the Leaf Village."
"Are you training for anything in particular? Are you just becoming stronger to protect someone precious to you?" Haku asked.
"Kind of yes to both questions," Wukong said, "There's this scumbag that's been strangling this country and he's hired some strong ninja in order to take out the nation's last hope. We also want to protect each other and our friends, not to mention our girlfriends back home."
Haku nodded, trying not to show it on her face that 'scumbag' was a very accurate term to describe Gato. The man disgusted her with his lecherous gaze looking at her and Fu, his slimy nature, and his cruelty. Even though the man was just a means to an end, Haku hated that they had to work with him. In fact, there was only one person Haku wanted dead more: the current Mizukage, Yagura.
"Haku-chan?" Wukong said, snapping the woman out of her thoughts.
"Yes?" she asked.
"You alright? You seemed a little lost in thought for a second," Wukong said.
"Oh, I'm fine. So, you said, you two had girlfriends?"
"Yeah, our village put us in something called the CRA, against our will I might add, that says we have to have a certain number of wives by a certain point. Don't mistake it for say that we're just building harems or something. Bro and I care deeply for our girls. I know if anything happened to Anko-chan, Hana-chan, or Yugao-chan, I don't know what I'd do," Wukong said.
The two girls smiled as Wukong looked dreamily into the sky, remember the faces of his three loves.
"That sounds like it'd be difficult to deal with," Fu said, looking more at Naruto than at any herbs she was picking.
"Yeah, it's a little weird, but we'll always do whatever it takes to make them happy," Naruto said.
Haku smiled, "I'm glad to hear that. We two have each other and someone else that we desire to protect. He saved the both of us and we will help him any way we can." Naruto and Wukong both nodded, understanding the desire to help one's precious people. "We should be heading back now. I'm certain that we will meet again," Haku said as she and Fu began to leave.
"Hey, Haku-chan!" Wukong called after them, making them look back at him, "Tell Zabuza that when he's all healed up, we'll be waiting for him and to really consider if Gato seems like the sort of man to hold up his side of the bargain because from what we've heard, he isn't."
The two girls looked surprised at having been exposed for a few moments before nodding and continuing on their way.
"Hey, bro, how'd you know that they were the two tracker ninja?" Naruto asked.
"Their scents were the same as before, besides, the green hair is kind of a giveaway," Wukong said.
Naruto facepalmed at not realizing that, "So, should we get back to training?"
"You know it!" Wukong said, as the two brothers got to training, using their shadow clones to train in multiple subjects at once.
Knowing that it wasn't their turn to protect Tazuna, the two brothers trained all day, only stopping to take the time to eat a few meals. By the time the two brothers made it back to the home of the bridge builder, they were so exhausted that they had to hold each other up while they walked.
"Have a good workout, you two?" Kakashi asked, looking pleased at their desire to train on their own.
"Yeah, we made lots of progress!" Naruto said smiling, which was copied by everyone else, save for Sasuke, who frowned in frustration at their continuing to surpass him.
"But, we kinda spent too much energy, so we're heading for bed now," Wukong said as they headed upstairs to their respective bedrooms, falling asleep the instant their heads hit their pillows.
The rest of the team followed suit about an hour later. The next day, Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke woke up with the Tazuna family. The Uzumaki brothers, still tired from the previous day of training, couldn't be woken up by anything short of the world ending. Figuring it'd be best to let the two brothers rest, the team and the bridge builder headed to protect the elderly Tazuna as he worked. It took them about twenty minutes to reach the bridge and the sight that they found made their eyes widen in horror. The other workers were either unconscious or dead from injuries.
"Wh-who did this!?" Tazuna yelled in horror.
As if to answer him, mist started to cover the area.
"This fog is laced with chakra," Kakashi said quietly, "That can only mean one thing."
Just then, Zabuza and his two saviors, both still wearing their masks, appeared in front of the squad.
"Hey, there, Kakashi, did you miss me?" Zabuza asked sarcastically, "Hope you're ready to die because this time, your sharingan will be useless."
With that, the two teams of ninja attacked each other. It was about that time that Wukong woke up. He looked at the clock and saw that it was a lot later than it should have been.
"Crap!" he yelled pulling on his clothes after changing out of the pajamas. Then, he ran into the room Naruto was staying and kicked the younger Uzumaki in the side, "Naruto, wake up! We're late!"
That shocked him awake, "What!?" Naruto then hurryingly got dressed.
The two then rushed downstairs, where Tsunami told them that their squad had wanted them to rest from their training. The brothers, after leaving some "preparations" in case anyone decided to come after Tazuna's family, headed for the bridge at full speed. About ten minutes after they left, two thugs broke into their home and grabbed Tsunami.
"Mommy!" Inari shouted, coming into the room after hearing his mom scream.
The two thugs looked at the young kid, "What about the kid? Do we need him too or can I cut him up?" the large eye patch wearing thug asked his partner.
"Nah, we just need one hostage, so go to town," the other thug said.
"No! If you touch my son, I'll bite my own tongue off and die!" Tsunami shouted, resisting against the thugs' grasp.
The larger thug sighed in annoyance, "Thank your mom, brat. Now, let's go, woman."
They began to lead the captured woman away from the house, when Inari, taking a kitchen knife, ran out to confront them. He wasn't going to let his fear control him anymore, the story he overheard of Naruto's life made him reach this decision. He was knocked back by the thugs and they prepared to kill the small boy, but suddenly numerous copies of Wukong and Naruto burst out of their hiding places and quickly beat the living crap out of the two thugs.
"W-Wukong-kun? Naruto-san?" Tsunami started.
"Not exactly," one of the Wukongs said, "We're shadow clones. The bosses thought a coward like Gato would try something like this, so they left us to guard the place while they went to help their team. Sorry, we waited so long, but we had to in order to make sure you and Inari wouldn't get caught in the crossfire."
One of the Narutos walked over to Inari and helped the kid up, "Boss would be proud of the courage that you showed. You've become real brave," the clone said, giving him Naruto's trademark smile.
Inari began to cry, this time with tears of happiness, as the clones began to dispel after tying the two thugs up. Just then, the brothers were approaching the bridge, when Naruto heard Kumiko start speaking to him.
Oh, Naruto-kun, I just remembered something that I'd meant to tell you earlier before we got…distracted, she said.
What's that, Kumiko-chan?
That green-haired girl, Fu, I think she's the host to a demon just like you.
You sure?
Yes, but I'm afraid that I can't tell which one it is. Sorry, Naruto-kun.
Don't worry about it, Kumiko-chan. That's better than not knowing at all.
Wukong, seeing the strange look on his brother's face, asked, "Hey, bro, what's up? You kinda faded out for a second."
"Kumiko-chan told me that Fu-chan might be a host to a demon like me," Naruto explained.
Wukong nodded solemnly, "Did she have any idea what we can expect from her?" Naruto shook his head, "Well, we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it. At least, we know Tsunami-chan and Inari-san are alright."
The two brothers double-timed their way to the bridge. When they got there, they found the three ninja of both sides facing off against each other. Zabuza was facing off against Kakashi, Sasuke was in what appeared to be a dome of ice mirrors with a bunch of senbon needles sticking out of his body, and Sakura was avoiding rounds of stinger-like projectiles being shot at her from Fu's mouth. Tazuna was hiding behind a pile of lumber. The other jinchuuriki seemed to be holding back, as she wasn't using her demon's chakra. The brothers' arrival caused all fighting to suddenly stop.
"Naruto, you help Sakura. I'll help Mr. Sunny Disposition in the dome over there," Wukong said, jerking his thumb at Sasuke.
The last Uchiha was actually glad about the two brothers' arrival because it gave him the chance to not only get out of the bind that he was in, since he couldn't escape the dome with every attempt just leading to him taking more damage, and finally making the two brothers suffer like he has.
With that in mind, Sasuke slapped his hands into a sign just as his opponent threw another barrage of senbon needles and shouted, "Substitution jutsu!"
He disappeared in a puff of smoke and in his place…was a very surprised Naruto, much to the shock of all of those present. Even the enemy ninja, well, besides Zabuza, were shocked that he'd make his ally take the attack instead.
Wukong, however, reacted faster than anyone else, so he slapped his hands into signs and shouted, "Substitution Jutsu!"
In a puff of smoke, Wukong switched positions with his brother just before the senbon barrage hit, so the elder Uzumaki took the devastating hit instead of his brother. Wukong was knocked to the ground by the power of the attack. He managed to get his feet underneath him and shakily stand up, only for him to drop back to his knees. The senbon had hit a number of his nerve clusters, causing him excruciating pain and his strength to drain out of him.
Naruto was the first to recover from his shock, as he ran to Wukong, shouting, "Bro!" He went to his older brother, kneeling by his side.
Wukong coughed up some blood, showing that he'd suffered internal injuries. He opened his eyes and Naruto saw in Wukong's eyes what he himself felt bubbling up in his gut. Pure, unadulterated rage. They had never really liked Sasuke, knowing that he'd always felt like he was superior to everyone around him, but they'd never thought he'd actually be willing to sacrifice one of his teammates to save his own skin. Their rage caused their power to explode.
Naruto's chakra was beginning to mix with Kumiko's, making her scream at her host and lover, Naruto-kun, no! You're not ready to use my chakra! If you do, you'll go into berserker mode!
Naruto was too far gone into his rage to even hear her. Demon chakra surrounded him in a red aura, his eyes turned to read slits, his nails grew, and the whisker marks on his cheeks became more emphasized. He dropped to all fours to show his animalistic ferality. Wukong's anger took a few moments to fully activate, but when it did, where Naruto's was like a bonfire, Wukong's power eruption was like a volcano, destroying the seal holding it back forever. For the first time since he was small, Wukong's full power was unleashed. The eruption of power could be sensed for miles. Virtually everyone in the Elemental Nations sensed it. The civilians, not having the trained senses of ninja, just felt it like a chill up their collective spines, but the ninja of the world knew what it was, even if it was an energy they didn't recognize, they knew what it meant: death. The Hokage jerked up from his paperwork when he sensed it, instantly recognizing it from when Might Guy scared the infant Wukong and, rather than merely knocking the jonin out like they'd told him, the single punch sent the spandex-wearing jonin through three buildings, two trees, and a cabbage cart, much to the dismay of its owner. Sarutobi could still hear his cries of "My cabbages!" that were heard from around the village. Sarutobi also remembered as the one and only day that Wukong's hair flashed golden.
Back in the Land of Waves, Wukong had an aura of energy surrounding him like a bonfire, the part of the bridge literally cracking under the weight of his power. The power continued to grow until his hair turned golden, at which point, it stabilized. Under the pressure of the killing intent being sent out by the two, all fighting once again froze.
"Sssaaaassssukkeeeee," Naruto growled, preparing to pounce on his traitorous teammate.
"Naruto!" Wukong yelled, getting his snarling brother's attention, "His time will come, but now focus on the true opponent," he said, pointing at Fu.
Naruto snarled and nodded before charging at Fu. Haku tried to use her speed in order to cut him off, but her advance ended with Wukong's leg colliding with her masked face.
Haku looked up at Wukong, the power radiating off of him, almost suffocating her, as her mask cracked and fell from her face in pieces.
"As much as I don't want to fight you, Haku-chan, I will if you don't surrender," Wukong said.
Haku stood up, her legs shaky for a few seconds, "I can't surrender. Zabuza saved my life, gave me a purpose. I have to serve him to repay that debt."
"Idiot," Wukong growled, "What's the point in thanking someone in saving your life if you still won't live it!?"
With that, Wukong charged at her again and Haku dove into the mirrors. The mirrors, however, were quickly found to be not as unbreakable as previously thought, since the monkey-tailed ninja managed to punch through them with seemingly know effort. She tried to move from mirror to mirror, but every time she left one, Wukong would appear in front of her in a burst of speed and hit her again and again.
Zabuza watched it out the corner of his eye in shock, 'Haku-chan's being surpassed to such a degree in speed!? How's that possible!?'
While Wukong was fighting Haku, Naruto was in a similar brawl with his counterpart, Fu.
Shit! Chomei shouted when Naruto burst out of the dome, Fu-chan, you've got to use my power now!
Right! Fu thought as she slapped her hands together to gather her chakra, but before she could, Naruto blurred out of existence, making her look around for him, 'Where did he go?' she thought just before he appeared behind her, "Shit!" was all she could say before his roundhouse kick sent her flying, knocking off her mask. She managed to flip to her feet and activated Chomei's chakra, surrounding Fu with green chakra. "Now, we can fight on equal ground!" she shouted before making handsigns, "Stinger Barrage!"
She shot a wave of chakra-made stingers from her mouth at Naruto, who worked to dodge them.
"Fox Slash!" Naruto yelled as he slashed the air, aiming at the girl, causing chakra slashes to shoot at her. Fu managed to dodge into the air, only to find it was a distraction to allow Naruto to get in close and punch her square in the face.
This only proved to make her stumble back, which gave her space to used another jutsu, "Secret Ninja Art: Pincer Attack!" The demon chakra surrounding her arms turned into pincer-like shapes, which she used to slash Naruto across his stomach.
He clutched the wound on impulse, but on seeing it was shallow, he charged again, this time creating shadow clones when he did, but Fu was ready for that as she used her "Secret Ninja Art: Scaled Sneak Jutsu" to blind the clones temporarily. Seeing an opening, Sasuke tried to use his Fireball Jutsu to hit the green-haired girl, not caring that Naruto would get caught in the attack as well.
What he didn't count on was what effect his actions had on his number one fan girl. When she saw the cruelty that he showed the first time, her mind just froze, she couldn't believe the boy she'd had a crush on for so long would do something like that, but when she saw that he was going to do it again, her mind began working again and she decided that he wasn't worth her attentions anymore, so she quickly went through handsigns and hit the unprepared Uchiha with a genjutsu that effectively took him out of commission.
Just then, Haku was on the ground, exhausted from Wukong's attacks and from throwing her senbon that could no longer even pierce his skin, but she saw that Zabuza had been captured by Kakashi's ninja hounds and the Cyclops was about to hit the assassin with a finishing move, so she created another ice mirror to transport her in front of Zabuza to intercept the attack. Kakashi saw her move at the last second but it was too late he couldn't stop himself to try and redirect it back at Zabuza. Stop he did, however, he looked at his arm that was still crackling with lightning chakra and, to his surprise, he found someone else's hand on his arm, stopping him in his tracks and saving Haku. His eyes followed the hand up the arm to see that it was Wukong that stopped him. The genin had managed to not only move from fifteen feet away fast enough to make it there before his attack hit, but also managed to stop him with one hand.
"That's enough, Kakashi-sensei," Wukong said, "Have your hounds let Zabuza-san go."
"What? What are you talking about? He's the enemy!" Kakashi said, confused.
"Not anymore," Wukong said, looking at his brother, who was still battling Fu. They were both panting heavily and had taken serious damage from each others' attacks. "Naruto-kun! Fu-san!" Wukong called making both of the jinchuuriki freeze in mid-attack, "That's enough, the fight's over."
"What are you talking about, Wukong-san?" Kakashi asked, "The fight's far from over!"
"No, it's over now. Zabuza-san, Haku-chan, and Fu-san were only fighting because that's what they were hired to do, because they were being paid," Wukong explained before looking over his shoulder at the unfinished end of the bridge that was still covered in mist, "But that's not the case anymore, is it, scumbag?"
The ninja heard someone laughing from within the mist, "That's right! While I would have preferred that some of you died, I suppose we can remedy that now that you're all exhausted." The mist cleared to reveal an ugly, fat man with a large number of thugs behind him, "Whoever kills the most of the men gets a raise and the first pick of the women!"
"Zabuza-san," Wukong spoke to the now freed rogue ninja, "Are you able to fight?"
"Of course, brat, don't underestimate me. Just toss me a kunai knife," Zabuza said, standing up with his arms hanging limply at his sides.
Wukong tossed him one and he caught it in his teeth, the bandages that normally covered his mouth long since torn off.
"What about you, Kakashi-sensei?" Wukong asked.
"I'm fine, but don't expect many powerful attacks from me."
Wukong nodded, "Alright, I'll go in first and you two follow behind me to get anyone that I miss. Bro, Fu-san, Haku-chan, and Sakura-san, you guys take care of anyone that slips by us! Save Gato for last. I want him to get a full picture of what happens when you piss off shinobi!" With that, Wukong charged at the thugs, making handsigns before slamming his fists together to make lightning spark around them. He leapt into the air, pulling his fist back and yelled, "Lightning Style: Fist of Raiden!" before slamming his fists to the ground, causing an explosion of lightning chakra, either electrocuting or sending thugs flying, depleting a third of their number.
Zabuza and Kakashi charged after him using kunai to kill more of the thugs. A few of them tried to bypass them, but between Naruto's fists, Fu's stingers, Haku's senbon, and Sakura's genjutsu, they were quickly taken down. When the last thug was down, Gato had a look of horror as he tried to back away from the victorious ninja.
"He's all yours, Zabuza-san," Wukong said, backing away to give him room.
"W-wait, I-I'll give you anything! Money, power, women, anything you want, just spare me," Gato begged the former swordsman of the Mist.
The swordsman, instead of answering, charged forward and drove the kunai in his mouth into Gato's chest, piercing his heart. He then threw the dead criminal businessman off the bridge to make him crash to the water. Just then, a large mob of local townspeople led by, much to the surprise of most of the ninja, Inari and Tsunami. Tazuna came out of his hiding place and asked if the fight was truly over.
"Yep!" Wukong said, smiling, seconds before the golden aura around him dissipated and his golden hair turned back to black. When it did, he passed out, falling flat on his face. Naruto, exhausted from his use of Kumiko's chakra, followed suit a moment later.
It was a full day before either of the Uzumaki brothers woke up. When they did, they were sharing a room. Wukong found his head being cooled by a wet cloth with Haku watching over him, with a small smile on her face. Naruto was in a similar position with Fu and, to his surprise, Sakura watching over him.
"Hey, girls, thanks for taking care of us," Wukong said, sitting up, smiling at Haku, who blushed at his attention.
"Yeah, thanks," Naruto said, smiling his trademark smile at Sakura and Fu, making them blush, just like Haku.
"It was our pleasure, Wukong-kun," Haku said.
Wukong slowly stood up, his leg's still stiff from laying too long.
"Be careful, Wukong-kun," Haku said, grabbing his arm to make certain that he was steady as he rose, blushing at his bare chest, since they'd had to take his shirt off to get to some of the injuries.
Naruto was in a similar situation with blood dribbling out of Sakura and Fu's noses. The two brothers, with slight help from the girls, made their way downstairs where everyone else, including Kakashi, Zabuza, Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari, was waiting.
"Glad to see you both are up and about," Kakashi said, eye-smiling at them, "I trust you're fit enough to be out of bed?"
"Yeah, we're just milking it to get some attention from pretty girls," Wukong joked, earning a playful smack from Haku.
"That's good. Now, would you mind explaining what that power of yours that you used?" Kakashi asked, to which everyone else nodded with curiosity as the Uzumaki brothers sat down at the table with the girls taking their position next to the brother of their interest.
"Yeah, bro, what was that? It was awesome!" Naruto said.
"I'm not sure really. I mean, when I was little, my power was so great that the Fourth Hokage felt the need to seal most of it away, since the power made me at about jonin level in terms of flat-out strength, until I learned to control it. Since I've never seen anyone with this power, I'm guessing that it may be a bloodline trait. The Hokage said that when I was a baby, they found me in some strange sphere that might have been a transport of some kind, though I've got no clue where I was transported from," Wukong explained.
"Hang on, you said that the Fourth Hokage himself sealed your power away, so how are you able to use it now?" Sakura asked, knowing the skill in the Fourth's use of seals.
"I guess the power of my anger caused my power to break through and destroy the seal," Wukong said, "Kind of like a storm causing a reservoir to break through a dam."
"How much of your power was sealed away?" Haku asked.
"Not sure, definitely most of it. If I had to put a number on it, I'd say that it was about 99%."
"WHAAAAT?!" everyone shouted in surprise.
Wukong shrugged and then noticed that there was a person missing from their group, "Where's Sasuke-teme?"
"He's upstairs in his room. He'll likely be punished for what he tried to do to you and Naruto-san," Kakashi said.
Wukong stood up and started walking back upstairs, "You'll likely hearing some noises in a few minutes. Please pay it no mind." With that, he left the confused group behind. He quickly found the room that Sasuke was in and opened the door.
"What do you want, loser?" Sasuke said when he saw Wukong enter.
His answer came in the form of Wukong's fist slamming into his face and sending him flying into a wall. Before he could move, Wukong grabbed him by the front of his shirt to bring him eye-level.
"Listen here, you little shit stain," Wukong said, "You want to get stronger to avenge your clan, fine, more power to ya, but trying to kill me and my brother for whatever fucked up reason that's going through your screwed-up head is going too far!"
"What do you know!?" Sasuke yelled angry at him, "You and your idiot brother don't even have a clan, so why aren't you alone like me!? Why do you deserve to have a family!?"
"That's why you did it!?" Wukong asked before driving his knee into Sasuke's gut, his injuries from the previous fight keeping him from mounting any kind of defense, "Did you ever think for a second that you wouldn't be alone if you stopped acting like an arrogant prick!? If you showed other people a bit of kindness, you dumb ass!?"
"Shut up! You don't know anything! I have to get stronger to kill my brother and the people of the village are too weak! They'll only hold me back!"
Wukong hit him again, "You really are a dumb ass! Where did your brother become as strong as he is!? In the village! Sure, most people can't stand up to your brother, but that doesn't mean that they can't teach you something to help if you stop acting like everyone is inferior to you and just asked for help! If you keep this up, you might be as strong as your brother, but you'll also become him!"
With that, Wukong headed back downstairs, where everyone was already eating breakfast. He was thankful that no one made a comment. After about half an hour, Sasuke came downstairs and knelt down before bowing to the group.
"I'm sorry for everything I've done. I was too blinded by my jealousy, arrogance, and need for vengeance by that's no excuse. There is no excuse for what I did. I will understand if you turn me into the Hokage, I deserve no less, but no matter what I will try to change myself now and I hope that you'll find it in your heart to forgive me," Sasuke said, bowing so that his forehead was touching the floor.
Kakashi and Zabuza, as the two most experienced ninja and most able to detect falsehoods, could see the truth in his words. Everyone was looking between Sasuke and the Uzumaki brothers, since they were the ones that Sasuke hurt the most.
Wukong shrugged, "I'm not one for holding grudges. If you're truly sorry and intend to change your ways, that's good enough for me. What about you, bro?"
Naruto's eyes were hidden by his bowed head until that question when he lifted his head to show his trademark smile, "Eh, if the jerk wants to make it up to us, he can buy us a bunch of ramen once we get back!"
This made almost everyone face-fault, save for Wukong, who started laughing, and Sasuke, who smiled sadly and muttered, "Huh, loser, you'll never change," this time without any malice.
The next few days, the ninja, including the ones that had originally been trying to kill Tazuna, protected him while resting up. Fu and Naruto became a lot closer over the time due to having similar childhoods that involved being hated and mistrusted by most of their home villages. Wukong was glad that Naruto finally had another Jinchuuriki to talk to, since only they can truly know what it's like to be one. He and Haku became close as well, due to them both having adoptive younger siblings that suffered greatly from others. Once the bridge, which the people of the area decided to call the Great Uzumaki Bridge, was completed, the Leaf ninja prepared to leave. They said their goodbyes to rogue ninja and Tazuna's family.
"Say, Zabuza-san, where will you all go now?" Wukong asked.
"Well, Kakashi-san said that an old…friend of mine is trying to succeed where I failed and take down that bastard Yagura, so I figure we'll head to help out."
Wukong nodded and turned to Haku, "See ya, Haku-chan. Be safe," he said, giving her a hug, missing the blush on her face as she returned it.
"You too, Wukong-kun," she said with a smile.
"Bye, Fu-chan!" Naruto said giving the girl a hug as well.
"Bye, Naruto-kun," she said sadly, "D-do you think we'll see each other again?"
"Course we will!" Naruto said, giving her a thumbs-up and smile.
Tsunami made her way to Wukong and whispered, "I'm sorry that I can't give you an answer yet, Wukong-kun."
"It's not a problem, Tsunami-chan, there's no time limit on it. If you want to give us a shot, then you know where to find me," Wukong whispered, giving her a peck on the cheek, before smiling, "Besides I'm probably not ready to be a dad just yet," he teased.
Tsunami giggled at that, while Wukong joined the rest of his squad and they went on their way. Zabuza noticed the sad expressions on Haku's and Fu's faces as the Leaf ninja left, which surprised him, since Fu always seemed to have that annoyingly endearing smile on her face and Haku always seemed emotionless.
He sighed and rubbed the back of his head before addressing his adoptive daughters, "Fu-chan, Haku-chan, you know, if the rebels need the aid of the Leaf village, it'd probably help if there were a couple ninja that were supportive of our cause," he said scratching his cheek.
The two girls looked at him in shock, "Z-Zabuza-san, a-are you saying…?" Fu studdered.
"You're saying we should join the Leaf!?" Haku finished.
"W-well, ya know, you don't have to, but I figured you'd want to be with those two boys, so—urk!" Zabuza was interrupted by the two girls grasping him in a bone-crushing hug.
"Thank you, Zabuza-san!" the two girls said before running after the Leaf village shinobi in hopes of joining the village to be with their two crushes.
Zabuza sighed after they were out of hearing range, "Daughters are such a hassle."
The group made pretty good time back to the village, since they didn't have a civilian to slow them down. When they got back, they decided to head to the Hokage's office to inform him of the mission's success and get Haku and Fu inducted into the village. On their way, they ran into Hana, who was surprised to see them, but was happy to see her beloved.
"Wukong-kun!" she said, rushing to embrace him. Haku felt a little jealous, even though she already knew about the CRA.
"Hey, Hana-chan," Wukong said, kissing her on the lips, "I'm happy to see you again."
"Um, Wukong-kun, could I speak with you? I need to tell you something important," she said.
"Uh, sure," Wukong said, turning to the rest of the squad, "Hey, guys, is it alright if I catch up with you?"
"Sure," Kakashi said, nodding, before leading the group, including a now even more jealous Haku, to the Hokage's office.
Wukong led her into an alley before asking, "So, what's up? Did something happen?"
"Oh, no, well, yes, kinda. Um, this is hard to say," the Inuzuka eldest said, nervously.
"Take your time, Hana-chan," Wukong said, smiling reassuringly.
"I-I'm pregnant…with your child," she said.
Wukong gave one of the few acceptable responses to this statement.
He fainted.
A/N: Aaaaannnddd cut! There's chapter 7! Please remember to review with any comments, questions, constructive criticism, or suggestions that you might have. Oh, and a virtual pat on the back to anyone that gets the cabbage cart reference.
Wukong Harem: Hana, Anko, Yugao, Haku
Naruto Harem: Fu, Hinata, Ayame, Kumiko,
