[Where we left off]

Naruto was the last to get to the gate with only a few minutes left, the scroll that Ayako gave him and its contents was still fresh in his mind. Right now though, he had to focus on the mission and helping Team seven, despite whose on said team.

"Naruto."
Kurenai spoke up once the blond was there.
"Now that you're here, I want you to send some Shadow Clones ahead to assess the situation. Shino's bugs will be assisting you in this one."

"No problem Kurenai-sensei."
Naruto spoke before summoning three clones and sending them along. Shino's bugs attached themselves to the clones as they ran forward at a good speed.

"Alright."
Kurenai started as she turned towards the forest.
"Let's go."
And like that, Team eight was off on their first, real mission.


[Ayako's home, hours later]

Right now Ayako was enjoying some relaxing tea as she was sitting in her living room. Naruto had already long since left and Kazuma had already returned to Naruto's seal since said blond would be on a long term mission. She had the house to herself and intended to simply relax and laze about for the day, only that was when she felt the presence of many others gathering about around her home. Sighing and resting the cup onto the table, Ayako stood up and went to the front door right before a knock could even start. She opened the door to see the semi surprised look of one of the civilian council members standing there. Ayako recognized this woman as she was the one who had that banshee spawn on Team seven. Also she was the one who kept insisting that Ayako leave Naruto entirely. Right behind her was a few members of the civilian and shinobi council members. Ayako recognized the shinobi such as Tsume Inuzuka, Hiashi Hyuuga and Shibi Aburame.

She tilted her head a bit and raised an eyebrow at the assorted people standing in front of her home.
"Is there something I can help you with?"
She asked as she noticed them look a bit uneasy.

"Well Ikumi-san,"
The Haruno spoke in a sweet tone that was obviously fake.
"We were just curious as to how well you're doing with the Uzumaki."

Ayako could tell that something was off about them being here, but decided to play along regardless.
"Everything's going just fine actually."
She crossed her arms and leaned on the door frame.
"Any particular reason why you ask?"

"We just wanted to inform you that there is going to be a party held next month for all shinobi and civilians to attend."
Tsume answered her with a smirk.
"We were hoping you and your pup would come by."

There were so many red flags right now. Ayako didn't know what they were planning, but whatever it was, she would have to tread carefully. With a smile, she answered.
"Sure. Sounds fun. I'll let you know more when Naruto-kun gets back from his mission."

That seemed to satisfy them in the least, so she closed the door on them. Ayako waited a few minutes as they group left. She sighed before calling Ruby and Onyx.

"Ahmya-sama?"
They both started in unison.

"Apparently there's gonna be a party next month."
She started, getting confused looks from the two dragons.
"I want you two to find out just what's really going on, discreetly this time."

The two knew that 'discreetly' meant to be even stealthier than before. With a bow, they answered her.
"We won't disappoint you, Ahmya-sama."

They disappeared as quickly as they had arrived and Ayako let out a sigh.
"Humans."
She shook her head and went back to her tea that was now considerably colder now.


[Wave]

Team eight had arrived in Wave in only a few hours at normal speed. They were shocked to find that most of the small village was nearly desolate with people lazily walking about in a haze of despair. It was strange to see a village look like this. Buildings that looked like they should be condemned housing people, children whose bones you could see clearly through their raggedy clothes, bodies lying on the ground, the dead on display in the center of the village itself. Naruto looked around with his eyes wide, as did the rest of his team, with Hinata on the brink of tears. Kurenai sighed as she noticed her genin's looks of shock.

"All we can do now, is regroup with team 7 and try to resolve this issue."
She spoke with an authority to her voice to snap her team out of it.

This seemed to help out as Naruto huffed.
"Then when we do, we'll save Wave from whoever is doing this. Believe it!"

That helped even more as Hinata and Shino took a deep breath and believed in their squad mate and friend.

Kurenai actually smirked at the blonds way with words and couldn't help but smile a little later. She shook her head and got back to business.
"Shino, have your bugs find team 7. Naruto, use your clones and form a perimeter wherever they are when we get to them. Hinata, make sure you have your kit ready. I get the feeling that some of them could be hurt."

The three nodded as Shino sent his bugs out. It didn't take long for them to find the team. They all went along for a short while, passing through the village's people in the process, until they made it to a small, two story house with nothing really interesting about it. Kurenai approached the door and knocked while Naruto made around ten clones to circle the perimeter. A woman opened the door rather nervously. She was fairly tall, long dark blue hair and black eyes. She looked to the Kurenai first before turning her attention to the three kids.

She looked back at Kurenai with a worried expression.
"Can I help you?"

Kurenai smiled, calming the woman down a bit.
"My name is Kurenai Yuuhi, Jounin of Konoha, and this is my squad."
She pointed to each of them individually.
"Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuuga, and Naruto Uzumaki."
They each waved to her, or in Shino's case nodded.
"We're the backup for team 7. Is Kakashi Hatake in here?"

The woman relaxed as she let the group inside.
"He's unconscious for now, but the others are fine."

She explained as they entered the living room to find team 7 about. Sasuke was leaning against a wall, not caring about the current situation and thinking that he would've acted differently in the fight earlier. Kiba was laying on the floor, relaxing with his dog. Sakura was fawning over Sasuke, as usual. Kakashi was laid on the sofa. The three noticed the new team step in and had a mixture of reactions.

"What the?!"
Kiba started as he immediately up in anger.
"Why the hell is he here?!"
He pointed towards Naruto, still furious at how the 'demon' had snatched 'his' girl from him.

"Yeah!"
Sakura started in her usual, banshee-like voice.
"We don't need his help! We have Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke just looked at Naruto and huffed as he looked away.

Okay. Maybe their reactions were what you'd expect of them.

Kurenai ignored them and went to see how Kakashi was doing. She wasn't any at all surprised to see he had chakra exhaustion judging by how out of it he was. This was definitely not gonna be easy for her as she really didn't like the way team seven was in general.

You had an overconfident Inuzuka trying desperately to prove he is the top dog around here, and failing miserably by the way.

A fan girl with no real skill to begin with other than apparently good chakra control.

Lastly was an arrogant, revenge driven Uchiha who really shouldn't have been given the opportunity to be a ninja until he had real psychiatric help.

All in all, this team should not have been formed in the first place.

Kurenai sighed as she knew that for now she was on her own. At least her team were a solid unit, even if she still felt a little hesitant towards the blond of the group.

After checking up on Kakashi, Kurenai turned to see that both Sasuke and Kiba were challenging Naruto to a fight, despite the fact he was trying to ignore them. She had to give it to the blond, he knew how to show restraint.

With a sigh, Kurenai got their attention.
"Alright, seeing as though Kakashi-san is going to be out of commission for a while, I'll be in charge of team seven."
Before either Kiba or Sakura said anything, Kurenai cut them off quickly.
"That is the end of discussion. Now, I want a full report of what happened before my team and I arrived."

As much as the genin team didn't want to admit it, they had no choice in the matter. Sakura explained what had happened, the run in with the Demon Brothers, Tazuna's explanation of why he deceived them, their idea of continuing the mission despite it going from C to A rank so quickly, and the subsequent fight with Zabuza Momochi. Sasuke cut in at the last part, saying that he, Kakashi and Kiba easily dealt with the supposed 'Demon of the Mist' but that a hunter nin took him out and left.

Team eight, knowing that's not what hunter nin do, knew something wasn't right. Kurenai was hesitant now. If Zabuza had help, then that made this mission a lot more complicated for them.
"Alright, seeing as though most likely that Zabuza is alive, we'll be training in the meantime until he shows himself again."

"What do you mean?"
Sasuke started with a sneer towards his temporary sensei.
"That hunter nin killed him."

"Hunter nins also decapitate the head and burn the body on sight."
Shino added in his usually stoic way.

"Meaning that Zabuza is alive and recuperating just as Kakashi is."
Kurenai spoke.
"I estimate that he'll be back on his feet within the week, meaning that we have seven days to prepare for him."
She looked to the rest of team seven.
"Tell me how far Kakashi has gone in your training and we'll go off of that."

"So far all we know is teamwork."
Kiba answered with a grin.

Kurenai face-palmed, knowing that Kakashi's laziness would be this teams ultimate downfall.
"Okay. If that's the case, then we'll have to make due."
She turned to her team.
"I'm leaving all of you to watch after Tazuna while he works on the bridge. I'll train Kakashi's team in the basics sense I'm pretty sure he hasn't even taught them how to walk up trees yet."

Team eight nodded in agreement while team seven was outraged. How could she, a genjuutsu expert with a tracking team, just take away an assault teams mission like that? To them it was outrageous.

"Naruto, use your clones to guard the house when Tazuna leaves."
Kurenai spoke to the blond who nodded to her.
"Shino, have your bugs form a perimeter with those clones to alert them when a threat shows."
Shino nodded.
"Hinata, Make sure to stay closes to Tazuna and use your Byakugan to see whatever is out there."
She also nodded. This is when Tazuna and a young boy came into the room and saw the other ninja.

"So, you guys are the other super team to help?"
The old man asked.

"That's right Tazuna-san."
Kurenai answered as she quickly explained the plan they were to do.

While that was going on, the boy had had enough.
"You're all just going to die anyway."
He said in a low tone but loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Why even bother? There's no place here for a hero anymore."

"Inari."
Tsunami started right before she was cut off by Naruto.

"I don't know how bad it has gotten here for you Inari, but know that there will always be a place for heroes."
He started with a smile.
"We are going to do everything in out power to protect your grandfather while he finishes being a hero for Wave. Okay?"

Inari was taken aback by this at first, but then shook his head and ran up the stair in frustration. Naruto could tell that the boy had lost someone important to him and hoped that they could all work to stop this Gato person. Fortunately, Naruto had a good idea on how to do so, and all he needed was the help of a former Mist nin.


[The next day]

Kurenai had taken team seven to train early in the morning after breakfast while her team went with Tazuna. Like she ordered, Naruto left his clones at the house with Shino's bugs, but before he ever left the house with his team, he had left to find Zabuza, leaving clones in his stead. Hinata noticed that the Naruto next to her was a clone, but a subtle wink to her and she smiled and nodded in understanding.

Right now, Naruto was in a meadow of flowers and herbs within the forest. He took a deep breath as he enjoyed the scents and how peaceful everything was before noticing a very familiar fragrance. He turned and saw th kneeling form of an old friend picking the herbs and placing them in a basket. With a smile, he walked over.

"Long time no see Haku-chan."
He spoke up, getting his attention.

Haku looked up in surprise at who was walking towards him and gave a big smile.
"Naruto-kun!"
He stood up quickly and ran over, despite the pink kimono restricting his movements so much, and hugged the blond tightly.
"I missed you so much, Naruto-kun!"

Naruto hugged the boy, yes boy, back and smiled himself.
"I missed you too Haku-chan."
He hugged the boy only a few years older than him for a couple more seconds before releasing his grip.
"So, how'v you been?"

Haku smiled to him and went back to the basket of herbs.
"Me and Zabuza-sama have been doing just fine Naruto-kun."

"Uh-huh."
Naruto started with a foxy grin on his face.
"So you guys definitely didn't have a run-in with a Konoha team to kill a bridge builder?"

Haku froze a bit as he should've known this wasn't a coincidence. Turning towards the blond, he answered.
"We were. Me and Zabuza-sama took a job from that filthy pig, Gato."

Naruto noticed the sneer from saying the mans name as Haku picked up his basket and began to walk to the hideout.
"I'm assuming you don't like the guy, Haku-chan?"

Haku stopped and turned to the blond with a pout.
"He thought I was a girl!"

Naruto nearly busted out laughing at Haku's face. True, for a boy to have such a lithe body, angelic like face, long and beautiful hair and a personality to match would of course give the wrong idea. It surely brought Naruto for a loop the first time he met Haku and Zabuza a few years ago in Mist.

Composing himself when he noticed Haku playfully scowl at him, Naruto had to ask.
"So I'm gonna assume that the only reason ya'll accepted this job is because of what's going on in the Mist village."
Haku frowned at that and nodded.
Well, I think I have an even better Idea for how ya'll can help the rebels against Yagaru, if you're interested."

Haku perked up at this proposition and hurried to lead Naruto to the hideout. It took a few minutes, but the two finally reached it just as Gato and two of his thugs were leaving. Thinking fast, Naruto took off his headband and stuffed in his pocket so they wouldn't see the leaf symbol.

"Ah, so the pretty boy has a boyfriend I see."
Gato spoke in a mocking way as the two past him, but before they entered, one of Gato's thugs grabbed Naruto by the arm to stop him.
"And just who might you be? More help I have to pay for, or just some sort of boy toy for the little princess here?"

Haku had to really restrain himself from killing Gato right then and there for talking down on not only himself, but also Naruto. Naruto on the other hand, had other ideas. Fast as lighting, the thug was down on the ground with Naruto's foot on his throat. Both Gato and the other thug were surprised as they barely saw what happened. Naruto had a grin on his face the entire time as he enjoyed seeing the small mans reaction.

"If you insult Haku-chan again, or get one of your guys to touch me again, then I will make you wish for me to kill you."
To add a little extra, since he did wake Kurama, Naruto added a little chakra to his eyes to make them change to red.

Gato got the message and quickly turned and walked away. Naruto relaxed and took his foot off the man's throat. Both thugs quickly left to follow their boss while Naruto and Heard Haku giggle a bit. The two went inside and Naruto saw the man in all his bandaged glory.

Zabuza Momochi lying on a bed with bandages wrapped around his torso and neck. The second Zabuza saw the blond, he couldn't stop the grin on his face as he wanted to rise up to greet the kid properly. Unfortunately he couldn't due to his injuries. Haku went to his side quickly and prepped the herbs for him. While he was doing that Naruto just smirked and walked to the other side of the bed.

"Wow Zabuza-sensei."
He started.
"Never thought I'd see the day that you'd lose to a single jounin and a bunch of green as grass genin. Seems you've lost your touch since the last time I saw you."

Zabuza started to chuckle only to cough because of his injuries.
"Uh, don't make me laugh kid. Damn, my body's barely holding out as is."
Haku finished making the medicine and began to apply it to Zabuza. The man let out a breath as he could finally breathe a little easier now. He looked back up to see Naruto's semi-concerned face.
"Don't give me that luck kid, you know it'll take more than a few lucky shots to take me out."
This caused the blond to smirk.
"So, been a while. What are you doin here kid, or did you come here for that rematch you were craving before?"

Naruto chuckled himself at this but pushed that away for now.
"Nope. Came here for a mission actually."

"Mission?"
Zabuza started before seeing Naruto take out his headband from his pocket.
"Huh. Sonovabitch. Guess you weren't joking back then."
Zabuza was finally able to at least sit up in his bed with help from Haku and Naruto. He leaned onto the bed frame and looked back at Naruto.
"Well, a deals a deal I suppose. What's your one favor kid?"

"Easy."
Naruto tied his headband back on and continued.
"I want you guys to join me in stopping Gato and saving Wave."

Zabuza and Haku were taken aback a bit by this, but Zabuza simply shook his head and chuckled a bit.
"Still the ballsy kid from before huh?"

He saw Naruto shrug to him but nod regardless.
"Alright. I'm not really liking the way he's treatin' us anyhow, especially Haku-kun."

Haku blushed a bit at this.

Naruto smiled as this was a whole lot easier than he thought.
"Alright then. We're gonna have to figure out a way to end this Gato guy without him knowing. We do that, then the riches that he has can go to Wave while a good percentage can go to you guys and the rebels."

"Good. So kid, what's your plan?"
Zabuza asked, liking the sound of this more and more.

Naruto smirked as he knew this was going to be fun.


Sorry for the lack of action. Next chapter will have it though. Promise, Lol.

Really hope no one is upset that I kept Haku a boy and played on the joke that he looks like a girl. I just got that feeling that that would've happened for some reason.

Till next time,

Ja Matane