Chapter VII

End of the First Journey

Disclaimer: What is Kishimoto's is Kishimoto's; I do not claim it. This story is not part of the original one, it's just something I created and its sole purpose is entertainment. Enjoy.

In the morning

Team 7 headed out for the bridge with Tazuna, leaving Inari and his mother at the simple house above the water. Ino still felt tired, but the rough circumstances were making her question her own limits. Even though she knew that, this time, she had Kakashi-sensei going with them, she still wished they could just return to Konoha, where they could rest without having to worry about their enemies.

They quickly reached the bridge. Once again, they were amazed by how advanced the process already was. The mainland, on the opposite side, seemed now easily reachable, as the second half of the building was nearly complete. The working men weren't too worried either, now that their work was on its final stage. Their faces showed hopeful civilians, fighting for their freedom. Soon, they would be rewarded for their hard work.

"So, all we have to do now is watch over Tazuna, right?" Shikamaru whispered to Kakashi-sensei. The jounin nodded in confirmation.

"But don't underestimate your task, Shikamaru. We don't know if our enemies will appear again."

"I don't think that will happen!" Naruto jumped into the conversation. "Ino probably just scared them away!" He laughed, as if he was making fun of Zabuza.

"Which means they might come back with more men." Kakashi explained. "Please, be attentive, all of you." The kids accepted the order.

As they walked along the bridge, they received many looks from the builders: some were interrogative, others were pleased and, yet, there were people who looked at them expressionlessly, as if their presence made no difference. Reaching the limit of the building, where the majority of the workers gathered, Tazuna made a hand sign as if to tell them they had arrived. Kakashi nodded and the old man got to work.

The jounin never took his eye off his client, but Naruto quickly got distracted. Observing the working men, he was learning a lot about they had been able to build such a big bridge, which turned out to be a much more complex procedure than what he was expecting.

Besides the excitement of seeing new things and new people, he was also quite anxious. In the bridge zone, the mist was present again. Even though it wasn't Zabuza's or nearly as dense as the enemy's fog, it was enough to remember him of the terrible moments he had gone through just a few days earlier. The slight deficiency in sight that the haze was causing threw chills down his spine, every once in a while.

Looking at Ino, he could see she wasn't comfortable either. Adding the bandage on her head and the lack of energy she had to deal with, she was probably feeling even worse than him. Taking a look at Shikamaru served to calm himself down, as the Nara seemed as laid-back as ever, his right hand on his pocket and his boredom expression revealing his personality. Concerning his sensei, he didn't seem too nervous either, though Naruto knew he was probably more attentive to his surroundings than what his facial expression let know.

"Naruto," The jounin said, keeping his eye on the scenery. "when our enemy comes, I want you to stay calm."

Stay calm? He wasn't calm to begin with… "How do you know he'll come?" The blond didn't want to show his current apprehension, so he tried to sound as stress-free as he could.

"Gatō is a very powerful businessman and this bridge would mean a substantial money loss. Zabuza will come."

This stressed Naruto even more, not to mention the waiting they had to go through. One hour passed and no sign of the swordsman... Shikamaru was on the edge of falling asleep. How could he be so untroubled? An hour and half… Ino wasn't so worried anymore. As the time passed, his teammates seemed to start believing no one would come. Two hours… At this point, even Naruto began to question the villain's arrival. However, Kakashi was as observant as he was in the beginning, which meant they shouldn't be totally carefree yet.

"Prepare yourselves." The sensei whispered. They all jumped in surprise. Naruto's heart started beating faster, again. This was it. As soon as Kakashi said so, Zabuza landed on the bridge, walking from the side they had initially come from and carrying his gigantic sword on his shoulder. By his side, a never before seen person marched. Judging by the long dark hair and the feminine face, Naruto would say it was a girl. However, not knowing why, he wasn't completely sure.

The two enemies stopped a few meters away from them. This time, they didn't seem to have the minimum intention of fighting, but as they had still brought their weapons, Team 7 could never be sure. The workers had stopped and slowly walked away, with fear of being attacked by the serious-looking newcomers. Therefore, the two factions stood front to front, ready to battle at any given moment. None of them moved or talked for about ten minutes, when Zabuza gave a short step back, alerting Team 7. Blankly, he dropped his sword on the ground, making a big echoed metal noise.

"Me and Haku didn't come here to fight, Kakashi of the Sharingan." He finally said. "We came to surrender."

This caused different reactions on the Leaf group. The jounin was wary. He didn't believe things would be solved that easily. Shikamaru was mainly relieved, which would be expected, but he also shared a feeling of curiosity with Naruto and Ino, relating to their sensei's title, «Kakashi of the Sharingan». As much as they knew, the man had never used such powers in front of them, and he didn't even have the same eyes as Sasuke… right? Adding to that, they now knew that the stranger's name was Haku. Zabuza continued:

"I know you must be doubtful, but allow us to show our honesty." Both the grown man and the youngster dropped all their weapons on the floor. This included kunai, shuriken, senbon and all the other commonly used tools. Haku then looked directly at Ino and Zabuza talked again. "We won't ask you to drop your weapons. We just want you to listen to us."

"Continue." Kakashi replied.

"You, girl, have found an extremely valuable weapon: that ring." Now, both enemies were staring at Ino. "We won't try to take it away from you, since once it attaches itself to a person, it won't come off until said person dies. You have the power to summon beasts that you wouldn't be able to by yourself: the dragons." Ino nodded. Everything was still too hard to believe in. These events were all happening too fast. "Then please allow Haku to explain what he can to you about it. Compared to all the existing knowledge about it, his isn't much, but he can certainly tell you more than what you already know about it."

Naruto was still surprised by finding out Haku was actually a boy. Kakashi hadn't dropped his guard. "Why would you want to help us?" He asked.

"As you probably already know, we were at Gatō's service. Our objective, like the Demon Brothers', was to kill you, so the bridge wouldn't be finished. We don't know how the girl found the ring, but when we discovered she had it, I tried to kill her before she discovered its powers. If she did so, Gatō's hopes of ruining the bridge would be destroyed. Unfortunately for us, I wasn't able to do as I wished. Now that she knows how to use the ring, I won't even try to take her on a fight, so I ripped our contract with Gatō apart."

This gave Ino a lot to think about. First of all, she was glad that they didn't know she couldn't activate the ring's powers again. She knew that, if something caused an extreme rage inside her, the dragon would probably be summoned again, but she didn't know how to do it in normal circumstances and she surely didn't have enough chakra to perform a full attack with the beast, yet. Second of all, she wondered how much power she could unleash from that ring that would cause Zabuza to avoid fighting with her.

"That doesn't exactly answer my question." Kakashi said.

"Now that we have no deal with Gatō, we mean no harm to you. We don't consider you our enemies and neither should you. Given the fact that Haku has useful information to give, I would suggest we become allies, in the case of future troubles."

"It would, of course, be of your best interest to be allies with a dragon fighter, wouldn't it?" The Leaf jounin insinuated. A grin grew on Zabuza's face and he actually laughed a little.

"It would." He confirmed. "I don't see the problem, here. We're fine ninjas, both me and Haku, and there are never too many allies, are there?"

"You're also a missing-ninja."

"When a single ally can make the difference between life and death, it doesn't matter if he's a runaway or not."

The Yamanaka looked at her sensei, as if trying to find the answer to her dilemma: should she trust Haku? He didn't reply to her and she understood: she had to make a decision herself, this time.

On the one hand, she had never seen the boy before and, the last time she had encountered one of his «friends», he had tried to kill her. It was definitely too soon for her to be able to trust in Zabuza, but she had never fought the second one. She held no grudge against him. The only thing holding her back was the fact that he was on the bandaged older man's side.

On the other hand, their plea seemed fairly reasonable to her. The explanation made perfect sense and she found it difficult to doubt them and to find another reason for their current actions. Plus, Haku's young face and serene posture contributed for her to unconsciously smooth her suspicions against him in her own mind. Concerning this last fact, she knew she shouldn't think like that and that her actions could lead her team to danger but, for once, she would like to know what was going on with her and that ring. That boy represented a chance for her to know more about her new powers.

As would inevitably happen, she decided to trust in their new «allies», stepping forward and saying: "Tell me then, Haku, about the ring and the dragons." She advanced until she reached the middle point between the two factions. Haku did the same and, under the surveillance of the other four people, they talked.

"There is a total of four rings like yours in this world." Haku started. "As the legend says, each of them summons a different type of dragon."

"The legend?" Ino questioned.

"Until now. From the moment you found it, the myths were proven to be truthful." In the back, Naruto grimaced. Everyone kept saying she had been the one to find it, when it had, in reality, been him and him alone.

"But the ring was originally just a rock." The girl said.

"Yes, that has two purposes. Firstly, it allows the ring to disguise himself more easily in the natural environment. And, before you ask, even though it doesn't have a human mind or anything like it, it has two instincts: to disguise itself and to look for a person it «thinks» would be a good dragon ninja. Secondly, if it was always a ring, anyone who found it would be able to put it on and use its powers. Using its oval shape, it can find the certain person first and only then transform into a ring."

"But, even if it was always a ring, wouldn't it be able to block its powers from unwanted users?"

"No. Once one puts it on as a ring, the powers are given to the said individual until he inevitably dies."

"Why me, then?"

"I don't have the answer to that question. The choosing method of the four rings is exclusively known by them. However, as you are the first person to ever find one of them, you might find the answer to your question during your future training with the dragons. Who knows…"

"Am I the first one?"

"Of course. I already told you: until now, this whole story was just a myth, told to the children so they would dream about dragons and fairy tales at night."

"I'd never heard such a story…" She was suspicious.

"Ask anyone about it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who knows of it."

Ino ignored the silly suggestion. Myth or not, her powers were real and even if the information revealed to be false, she would eventually find out. In any case, they could always deny to be allies with those people. "What more can you tell me?"

"Only one more thing: you found the purple ring, which means the dragons you summon have the affinity of lightning and, even though they can fight using other elements, they will need to train harder for that. The other three rings are: red, with the fire affinity; white, with the ice affinity; black, with the storm affinity. That's all I know."

Ino had read about the elemental affinities when she was in the Academy, since they were also present in ninjas. She just had one final question. "Since the ring chose me and my dragon has the lightning affinity, does that mean I have that same affinity?"

"I don't know." Haku admitted. "But, now that I think about it, that is probable."

After some seconds of wondering, Ino decided that the amount information was satisfactory and that they should accept Zabuza's suggestion to become allies. The conversation between them was concluded. Haku returned to Zabuza's side and, as she was about to return to her teammates, she saw a man running towards them. He was very little but, behind them, a more robust man ran.

"Gatō and his body guard…" Zabuza mumbled. The businessman stopped near the Yamanaka, sending an ugly look at the swordsman as he passed by him. She didn't pull out any weapons since Gatō didn't seem to wish to attack her. His security guard stood right behind him, also seeming peaceful. The bridge-builders suddenly approached, forming a wide circle around them. Their faces showed angry looks of disapproval and hatred.

"You!" The tiny man pointed at her. She held back a chuckle. "You are the one with the bloody ring, aren't you?!" His voice was aggressive.

"I am." She answered calmly.

"Would you consider working for me?" The businessman's voice was now so much soother that it surprised everyone. His proposal was so absurd to Ino that she didn't even know how to answer it. "Please!" His voice tone rose again. "I'll pay you whatever you wish!"

"I'm sorry, bu-"

"Tell me, girl! What do I have to do so you work for me?!"

She sighed. "There's nothing you can do, sir. But if you could let these people finish their bridge…" The Yamanaka tried.

"And what choice do I have, after all…?" Suddenly, the man became sad and disheartened. Ino almost felt sorry for him, if he hadn't caused so much suffering.

Tazuna stepped forward from the middle of the crowd, facing the little man. "Does that mean…"

"Yes!" Gatō exploded in anger. The man was a random combination of emotions. "I'm done with this bloody village!" Like that, he furiously walked off, accompanied by his tall body guard.

In the next day

Team 7 stood on the other side of the newly finished bridge, ready to leave for Konoha. Next to them, Tazuna, Inari and Tsunami smiled. The woman approached Ino and Shikamaru.

"As I promised…" She said as she handed them their new clothes.

"I can't wait to try them on, Tsunami-san! Thank you so much!" Ino squealed in joy. Naruto laughed, remembering the flower situation in the forest.

"Thank you, Tsunami-san." Shikamaru said as a grin grew on his face.

"And thank you for all the help." Tazuna talked to the whole team. "Me and the other builders have been talking, and we decided to call the bridge Freedom, since that's what it symbolizes to us."

"That's a wonderful name." Kakashi nodded.

"Shall we go?" Shikamaru voiced. A crow flew above them, cutting the blue sky with its dark wings, and landed on Kakashi's shoulder.

"It's a message from Konoha." He explained. He took the piece of paper from the bird's small leg and unrolled it, reading the note for everyone to hear. "Danger. Return as quickly as possible."

After-chapter annotation: here it is! This chapter was smaller because I had no more time… I'm sorry. Next week, I'll be busy too, so please expect a new chapter only two weeks from now. Even if short, I hope you enjoyed this new chapter and, as always, I count with your reviews!