Α
Sasuke tapped his foot against the wooden boards he was sitting on, arms folded behind his head as he watched the massive team of Naruto clones go about their work. The clone work group was dressed in a variety of different and, Sasuke noted with an unamused sigh, hodgepodged clichés. Although their fashion sense left much to be desired, their workmanship seemed to be of an honestly impossibly high caliber; Sasuke was no expert in masonry or carpentry, but he was fairly certain that Naruto wasn't either. Of course, Sasuke could be wrong, though certain factors suggested he wasn't; he'd certainly learned more than a few interesting and very surprising facts about his fairly young sensei over the course of thus mission, not the least of which was his ability to use the same army of clones he now saw working. Naruto's supposed title as Konoha's One Man Army suddenly made a lot more sense.
He watched as a worker Naruto hammered away at some sort of framework or scaffolding; truthfully, Sasuke wasn't sure what it was the clone was working on, but that wasn't the important aspect of the situation. The strange part was when the Naruto accidentally struck it's own thumb, causing it to burst into a puff of white smoke. Sasuke could do nothing but stare at the pure surrealism of watching two other Narutos, dressed in equally surreal clothing, step up to take the, for lack of a better term, 'dead' one's place. They fell in and continued it's work, abet only after making a few barbs directed at the now dispersed clone's ineptitude.
Sasuke was no expert on jutsu (not for lack of trying, of course), but he was of course familiar with bunshinjutsu, and the fact that Bunshin were chakra-intensive constructs that tended to be fairly binary in in their mental abilities, rather than heuristic. Sasuke had caught himself having conversations with Naruto's clones, a fact that was, in retrospect, somewhat disconcerting, particularly when he'd talk to one and then mistake another for the same one. He wondered if that was why Naruto had started making each one so distinct looking, but attributing such cerebral actions to his teacher was still a difficult thing for Sasuke to do. It got even stranger when the actual Naruto would bring up the conversation at a later date.
Regardless, he had no knowledge of a technique that let someone create a clone seemingly out of pure chakra, with no elemental substance to stabilize it, and certainly no clone technique that could actually interact with the world that allowed for such vast numbers of clones to be created. Even jounin had trouble creating more then half a dozen clones, or so Sasuke had read. But Naruto had, day after day, created these near perfect replicas of himself. And they got better, too! Each day they seemed to increase in skill; Sasuke had been on guard duty for the past week and a half, when they weren't busy running team drills and working on mastering the techniques that Naruto had shown them. The first day he'd seen them they were sloppy, uncoordinated, and generally only barely a help at all; only the sheer numbers produced made up for their ineptitude. The various other workers on the bridge had become more like area foremen, directing them as best they could.
But the very next day, that changed. The clones moved with a sense of purpose and experience, as if they'd been working for weeks, not hours. They still made stupid mistakes, and still required near constant guidance from the foremen to get things right, but the difference in ability was clear as day to the young Uchiha, and it had caught him yet again off guard. He was beginning to resent Naruto's ability to do that. It only got worse the next day he saw them; they were working as if they'd done this for months at a time, and it seemed to snowball with every new day. Now, the clones could work almost unsupervised, only rarely making minor mistakes that had little impact on the project as a whole. The foremen had gone back to work as simple craftsmen, giving guidance to their same faced workforce only rarely.
Sasuke sorely wished he'd have watched his sensei perform whatever technique it was that he was using to make these clones; one glimpse with his sharingan and he'd actually get what the jounin was up to. Strangely, he found himself reluctant to activate it so freely, particularly after Naruto had lectured him on not relying on it. The Uchiha had realized that the jounin's words had cut deeper than he'd thought, and had been more carefully chosen than he'd thought at first; Naruto had attacked his pride as he built him up. But even recognizing it for what it was, Sasuke still couldn't shake the advice, and he'd barely even used the sharingan over the past week.
He'd had plenty of chances too; the team had been running training drills, familiarizing themselves with the use of their new techniques as well as how to integrate them into team formations, along with simple techniques and exercises such as tree walking. It was something that the whole team picked up on thankfully quickly, no doubt due to the hours of practice they'd had already manipulating chakra. Sasuke had found it less tedious than he remembered, particularly given the fact that both his teammate's actually seemed to be keeping up, to a degree at least. Shikamaru was pulling out tricks with wire and shuriken that actually had Sasuke jealous for a brief moment, and Hinata's flowing form was augmented by her new-found watery abilities. Sasuke hadn't used his sharingan during any of these situations, having no reason to do so. He could have learnt the secrets of his teammates techniques, but felt no drive to do so. He wasn't entirely sure why.
Indeed, the only time he had activated his sharingan had been out of surprise; during a spar with Hinata, he found that he actually was beginning to need his doujutsu to keep his edge. Sasuke realized that even though he'd known that his Hyuuga teammate was improving, he'd vastly underestimated her progress. It was somewhat humbling, and equally stinging to his young ego. Sure, he was winning, but by a closer and smaller margin every time. He made a mental note to redouble his efforts when the mission was over. For now, of course, he was stuck watching a thousand blond-haired goofs work on a bridge.
It was not, particularly, something he considered an enjoyable experience. He let his mind begin to wander, thinking of other ways to manipulate the principles and techniques he'd been learning for the past few days. He fell into such a distracted state that he almost didn't notice the fog that seemed to roll in from nowhere, blanketing the area with a thick mist. Sasuke was no fool; he knew exactly what was going on as it did, and a feral grin crossed his face. Finally, a fight. He was about to say something to one of the nearby clones when he noticed that it seemed suddenly exhausted. It burst a few seconds later, followed by a storm of pops as all the other Naruto's around began to wink out of existence.
This did not bode well. Sasuke leaped up from his spot, heading towards the predesignated rally point. The rest of his team was supposed to meet there if something unexpected happened. Sasuke couldn't shake the sudden feeling of dread that washed over him, wiping away his earlier hubris and replacing it with a dull throb in the pit of his stomach.
Something was very, very wrong.
Β
It was Hinata's first reflex to activate her special eyes when the mist rolled in, the young girl also being not a fool. She had been placed towards the center of the work zone, the intent being that her byakugan would allow her to scout out and sound a warning faster from such a position. She felt small as she realized she'd failed in her job, given that someone, no doubt that masked shinobi who had attacked them weeks ago, had clearly gotten at least close enough to use his mist technique and hide his final approach. However, she would not let that shut her out; even if she'd failed to spot him first, she could at least spot him now. Or, so she'd hoped. That hope was dashed the moment she whispered out the name of her gift.
The bright glow of the mist almost blinded her for a moment, the vapor having been infused with chakra. It made sense when she thought about it in retrospect, but at the time she was simply more angry with herself for her lack of use. She was useless as a sentry now: not only was she unable to spot an approaching foe, she'd been further rendered useless by the attack. It was a disgrace.
Hinata shook her head of the thoughts, with some difficulty, as she pushed off from her perch on top of a stack of cut stone. She let the self-recrimination pass as she headed towards the rally point. She might have failed as a sentry, but she wouldn't be the source of their mission failing. Naruto trusted her; he told her she was doing good, that he valued her on the team. He'd spent time to teach her The last thing she'd do would be to let him down any more.
Γ
Honestly, Shikamaru felt life was so very unfair to him. He'd expected a nice and fairly leisurely rise in his shinobi career, hardly the combination of heavy training and missions that were more than they seemed that he'd received instead. Indeed, he'd expected to be placed on a team with his long time friend and long time nag, Chouji and Ino respectively, maybe led by that curious jounin who had kept challenging him to intelligence tests disguised as games; pointing out the deception was just too troublesome, so he went along with it. Still, Asuma-san had seemed to be an interesting guy, and Shikamaru wouldn't have minded him as a sensei at all. Instead, he'd received a hyperactive, unpredictable, and remarkably young sensei along with the classes token dark and mysterious boy with a troubled past (though he was getting better, sort of) and what Shikamaru had assumed was a shrinking violet wallflower but turned out to be a shrinking violet wallflower with an inferiority complex (Though she was getting better too, sort of.)
The Nara boy actually liked his team, he really did; he couldn't help but like them, really. All those exercises, small missions, and the brief moments that seemed to spring up out of nowhere more or less guaranteed that. Plus, his sensei was just too fascinating for Shikamaru's good; even when he told him things straight up, Shikamaru couldn't help but feel there was some hidden meaning behind everything. Or maybe there wasn't. Or maybe Shikamaru was just going to go insane at the persistant conundrum that was Naruto Namikaze. Regardless, he presented a puzzle for Shikamaru that actually was hard, and that was something that the boy knew he subconsciously craved. But even with all the redeeming features, he still couldn't just shrug off the fact of how unlucky he seemed to be as of late. It seemed that for every blessing there were two curses.
Case in point, his duty guarding the bridge's construction. Shikamaru was stationed with Naruto-sensei, the real one that was, and was right next to the bridge-builder himself, Tazuna. It was a pathetically easy 'job,' if one could call it that at all. But that was all fine for Shikamaru; finally, no more training for awhile, just some time to sit, and wait, and watch his beloved clouds. And it was so very cloudy as of late. But, sure enough, it couldn't last. He simply sighed as the mist began to roll in. What a drag.
However, his thoughts turned from dejection to actual worry when he noticed his sensei's various clones, yet another facet of the jounin's mystery, begin to suddenly keel over and dissipate. His hand instinctively fell to the set of scrolls now hanging from his side; he'd taken to carrying three in a holster on his right and three vertically in his belt on the right side of his back. He began to pull one up as the actual Naruto moved next to him and Tazuna. Shikamaru knew things would be troublesome when he saw his sensei grinning.
"Seems like Zabuza is finally making his move," Naruto said, looking around. He paused a moment and turned to his young pupil with an intense expression on his face, "I was expecting some tricks, but this one actually is new to me. He'll come after me first; I'm the real threat. You need to take ojii-san and meet up with Sasuke and Hinata-chan."
Shikamaru raised his eye at the honorific, almost missing it as Naruto seemed to have. The Nara boy said nothing; there was nothing to say. He placed a hand on Tazuna's shoulder, guiding him away as a sinster laugh began to echo around them. Shikamaru's blood began to run cold, but he kept moving, heading for the rally point. Naruto, on the other hand, simply stood, arms folded across his chest.
"Its about time you showed up, you know. I was beginning to worry you had gotten scared and ran off!" he said, earning a momentary reprieve from the sinister laughter.
"Hardly, brat. But I can admit when I need time to prepare for a kill; you should consider yourself honored, you're one of a select few that has ever made me do that." the voice replied in a deep rumble, and for the briefest of moments Naruto could make out a shimmering shape in the veils of the mist. He dropped into a ready stance instinctively, hands moving in front of him, one above the other. But, to his great displeasure, he found that his father's gift was also being countered by whatever strange jutsu that Zabuza had stumbled upon. That meant this was going to be very, very hard and he was going to have to try something very, very different.
Awesome.
Δ
Shikamaru arrive last, hindered somewhat by the bridge-builders age and distinct lack of shinobi training. Hinata gave him an relieved expression, while Sasuke remained remarkably impassive given the situation, but the pineapple-haired genin was more than used to that by now. Sasuke could keep his cool under almost any circumstances; of course, Shikamaru had also learned that was just his way of not pissing his pants in fear, and dealing with the less then amusing hand he'd been given. It worked, he supposed, so who was Shikamaru to judge.
"Shikamaru!" Hinata said, expression falling for a moment, "I'm sorry, I messed up; I didn't see them coming."
The Nara boy just shook his head and chuckled.
"Only you would beat yourself up about being snuck up on by someone who can outclass us like that." he said with an only half-forced smile. He turned to Sasuke as he spoke, finding that being around his teammates was having a strangely calming effect on his frayed nerves.
Sasuke said nothing, but agreed, or Shikamaru assumed it was agreement, with his trademark Hn, still standing in what more or less amounted to his relaxed stance, hands in the pocket.
'On second thought,' Shikamaru mused, 'Maybe that is a bit annoying.'
His thoughts were jarred, however, when a slick voice began to rise up towards them. Shikamaru spun around, trying to pinpoint its location. The mist was weaker here, as if it was receding, gathering towards where sensei had stayed. The laughter lacked the the gravelly menace of Zabuza, but it had it's own sinister twinge, a sort of dark playfulness that spoke of psychopathic dreams. Shikamaru wondered if he wasn't letting his aforementioned frayed nerves get to him, but whatever the case, the laughter was far from friendly. He also noted that it had a different quality than Zabuza's; it seemed to rise up to them, rather then bear down from all around. Shikamaru looked at his feet, realizing that he was so off that he hadn't noticed the few inches of water that had gathered beneath his feet.
Water.
Shikamaru just about threw Tazuna on top of a pallet of hewn stone, leaping back onto the platform of a large manual crane. His teammates, much to his approval, followed his lead almost instinctively; Hinata landed on a rack of boards, and Sasuke perched himself on the tip of the same crane, which creaked momentarily under his relatively light weight but otherwise remained standing. The sinister chuckling continued, eventually morphing into a slick voice that made Shikamaru's skin crawl. However, his instincts proved accurate, however, when a small swirl in the surface of the standing water began to become something more. It rose up slow, as if deliberate, and Shikamaru found himself running his hands across the wooden rollers at the core of his scrolls, trying to find reassurance in the texture.
"You're pretty sharp, kid," the voice said. It was young, probably no older then he was, and laced with a cocky assurance that reminded Shikamaru of his Uchiha teammate. The form rose, becoming more and more humanoid as it did. Shikamaru's eyes fixated on the long extension that extended from where his hand should have been; a sword, from the looks of it. It shifted, gaining a metallic sheen just as Shikamaru noticed he'd been staring at it, and not at the man who held it. Or boy, rather. He was right in his assumption of age, as the boy standing in front of them now, dripping with water that seemed to roll off unnaturally, was definitively no older than he or any of the other genin were. He held his sword downward, flicking it once and sending a shower of droplets across the surface of the water.
His hair was white, and he wore a simple purple tank top and a pair of grey-blue pants. Something hung from his waist, a something that Shikamaru at first thought was a scroll but later realized was a drink bottle of some sort. As the boy looked up, staring at the trio with purple eyes and a snaggle-toothed grin.
"You might even be sort fun, maybe." the figure said, swaying slightly like the ebb of the tides. His sword remained rigid in his hand as he did. He brought it up, as if seeing it for the first time.
"Never gets old, you know." the boy said with a chuckle. He turned back to his targets, lifting the blade to point at the old man.
"I was going to ask you to hand him over, but I think I'll just do this the fun way instead." he said, grin widening. The three genin settled down into defensive stances, eager to take on this new foe; they'd trained for this. But Shikamaru couldn't still shake that feeling that it wouldn't be enough.
Ε
Naruto spun around from the force of the blow, drawing upon all the control he could muster not to grab at the gash that had appeared on his left arm, joining countless other red swaths that marked up his body and had torn his clothing to shreds. He could feel the wound already beginning to nit itself back together, but it would take some time, and it was slowing him down; each strike seemed deeper and closer. But for his plan to work, it had to be this way. Naruto found himself doubting his original plan, but was too well committed to pull out now; that would just lead to his death, regardless. He had to stay the course, else it was all going to be over.
The jounin spun back as he felt the blade swing in once more, Zabuza making another hit and run strike on his wounded prey. The blond-haired jounin threw himself back at the last second, very tip edge of the massive sword nicking his chest and carving a crimson gash into it. Naruto couldn't suppress a flinch as the pain shot through him, but had little time to think on it as the woosh of the blade once again reached his ears. He spun again, but this time did something more. He brought one of his arms downward, over the strike, attempting to divert it downwards.
A dull thud echoed in the misty air.
Ζ
Shikamaru discovered something new about the kagemane no jutsu and, by extension, likely most all of his clan's hiden techniques. It was something useful to know, for in his career a a ninja he could imagine more then a few situations in which it could be the key piece of information that was the difference between life and death. Unfortunately, at this rate, Shikamaru was unlikely to live long enough for that to matter. Which, in retrospect, sort of made his discoveries fairly moot. Which really, really sucked.
Those tidbits was that the kagemane no jutsu and, by logical extension, the rest of the Nara Clan's shadow techniques, did not work worth a damn on water. They also didn't work worth a damn when a mist kept messing up with the little bit of shadows that remained on dry land, and also that someone who could dissolve into liquid was more or less immune to being controlled anyway, a fact likely related to the first tidbit he'd discovered. Of course, what this meant was that his standby techniques had been rendered as moot as the discovery itself in this fight, and he wasn't happy about it at all.
"Hmph, you've got some fun tricks, but you're no match for a Houzuki," the boy said as he leaped out the water, only half-formed. He rushed forward like a tidal wave, gaining solid form as he reached his target, Hinata in this case. His sword flashed, but Hinata was able to somersault back, flipping off the pallet of boards she'd been forced to move to and onto one of the railings of the bridge instead. Tazuna clung to the arm of a crane, thankfully out of reach from, their liquid opponent, at least while they were still at least a modicum of threat to their foe. Though how much of a threat was unknown; Hinata's attempts at using water techniques had proved fairly pointless, either because he absorbed them, or because the strange mist seemed to be rendering them useless, nearly impossible to maintain. Sasuke's fire techniques fared no better.
Shikamaru was at a loss; he was supposed to be the brains of the team, while Hinata supplied the finesse, and Sasuke supplied the grumpy, and sometimes the brawn when he could be bothered to do so. Right now, however, he was completely stumped, and his teammates didn't seem any better than he. They'd tried team formations. They'd tried team formations modified given the scenario at hand. They'd tried wining it. The last one had earned them nothing but a collection of bleeding wounds each, razor-thin gashes from where the boy's katana had scored a glancing blow.
The Nara boy hoped that their sensei was doing better, but for some reason had the strangest feeling that he was doing almost as bad as they were. He shook his head of such thoughts as the water-changing swordsman took yet another chance to strike at them, this time leaping up to strike at Sasuke. The raven-haired boy flipped upwards, clinging to the narrow and likely unstable crane arm. The sword struck against the arm, casting sparks across the water. They hit and sizzled for the briefest of moments, and Shikamaru's brain began to whirl in his head. It could almost work.
He snatched one of the scrolls off his hips, whipping it out and letting it unfurl in the air. His hands flew insanely fast; the seal chain was short, a fact that the boy was thankful for. He pressed both hands into marks on the scroll, releasing the seals with a small burst of smoke. He was following up even before the scroll hit the water and smoke faded, tossing out six reels of medium gauged ninja wire that spread out in a hexagon pattern, sinking somewhat into the water though he retained positive control of the other ends.
"Hmm, now what the heck do you think you're going to do with this?" the boy said, still submerged beneath the shallow water. His laugh faded, however, when he noticed that Shikamaru wasn't the only one on the move. Sasuke's hand was beginning to spark, small arcs of lightning dancing across his finger tips. Shikamaru just grinned; that was two for two that Sasuke had figured it out, not bad, for a gloomy, antisocial jerk. Their water-bodied foe said nothing more, but reacted all the same. He leaped out in a straight drive, aiming to strike Sasuke with a mortal blow. But it was almost frenzied and sloppy compared to the earlier strikes; predictable in it's trajectory. So predictable that it left him wide open for a swirling rope of water that wrapped around his blade and jerked him down. The rope faded not long after Hinata formed it, but lasted just long enough to divert his path.
Their foe slammed hard onto a wide pallet of hewn stone just as Sasuke released his own line of wire, connected to a shuriken. He curved it down and around, all seven wires binding together as he released the stored electrical charge. The boy looked on in shock as the thin-layer water suddenly electrified and the wires began to glow a sudden red. Much of the water boiled and evaporated, leaving only small bubbling puddles.
Sasuke released his wire and his grip, assuming an attack stance, as did his teammates, as he spoke a simple phrase.
"So, who's laughing now?"
The boy had nothing to say.
Η
Zabuza's eyes were bulging out of his head; the Kubikiribouchou was pinned to the ground, Naruto's palm slammed down on the flat of it's massive clever blade. The missing-nin was well acquainted with the heavy weight of the massive zanbatou, but now it felt double, if not more; even with all his strength he couldn't seem to make it budge. He stared into Naruto's blue eyes, noticing the absolutely wicked grin plastered on the young jounin's face. What had that brat done?
"See you later!" Naruto said with a smile, causing Zabuza's mind to boggle in confusion. What the hell could he mean by that? He found out moments later when he was thrown back, black lines and blocks tracing across the surface of the blade. The unseen force picked up the large man and slammed him back into the other side of the bridge. He collided with a pallet of stone blocks, causing great cracks to spiderweb out from the impact and drove the wind from the missing-nin's lungs. It was a wholly unfamiliar sensation for the man.
Indeed, Zabuza was suddenly at a loss for what to do, unknowingly very much feeling like a boy he'd kicked in the chest and slammed into a tree a few weeks prior. They say that there are some things that people never forget, but for Zabuza apparently the feeling of being truthfully disadvantaged was not one of them. He'd fought so long with his weapon on his back if it wasn't in his hand, and against so many foes vastly inferior to himself that he'd actually forgotten what it was like to be the weaker of the two. He had known he needed something special to take on his foe, and the plan should have been flawless; the Hipou: Kirisame was a technique that was made for shutting down brutal fighters like the blond-haired brat. Naruto couldn't use his clones or his elemental techniques, and it masked Zabuza's presence so much that he could avoid the jounin's taijutsu abilities as well. It was a beautiful plan.
He was reminded, of course, of the old saying that no plan survived first contact with the enemy. The missing-nin realized in a flash that the shock had ended the little bit of focus he'd needed to maintain the misty jutsu, and the already thinning technique began to fade. Worse, he knew he lacked the chakra to put it up again, let alone maintain it for more than a few seconds.
Zabuza's vision cleared enough to see Naruto approaching him slowly, and his massive cleaver blade simply laying on the ground. This was not how it was supposed to be! He had plans, he had dreams! He was meant to rule, not be taken out by this sniveling little punk!
"Suigetsu!" he called out, intent on trying anything he could to salvage this. With the boy's help, he could double team this brat and end this. Yes, he could salvage it still. He knew he could. He had to.
Θ
The cry for help reached the three genin, their elderly charge, and their watery foe just as the three had begun a slow circling, setting up one of the three-way assaults that they'd been practicing for so long, but never truly had a chance to apply. Sasuke, for one, was eager to try them out; he was always the spearhead, after all, and he was eager to proves his prowess once more, particularly after the shameful game the water-bodied bastard had played with them earlier. The cry only bouyed his spirits more; it was one of obvious distress, which meant that Naruto was cleaning Zabuza's clock. Sasuke was annoyed only that he hadn't been able to do anything against Zabuza himself, but if vicarious vengence was all he could get, then he would take it. For now.
He lunged forward, sending a feint right hook towards the boys head before snapping out his left hand in a straight-away for his chest. He frowning internally as he saw the boy begin to shift and evade; it was still hard for the Uchiha to adjust his aim, even with the sharingan, and Sasuke mused that it was likely the damned wierdness of the kid's body that made it that way. Still, though burnt that neither of his strikes connected, his job in the attack was still completed as he drove the boy back into the waiting grip of Shikamaru's kagemane no jutsu.
The shadow technique had not worked well on their foe before, but they hoped still that it would hold him long enough for Hinata to execute her part of the attack and deliver a finishing blow to their target before he could recover. She launched into a modified version of one of her family's kata without hesitation, hoping to disrupt the boys ability to escape with jolts of chakra, despite the fact she was having a hell of a time keeping track of his tenketsu. However, that little problem ended up not mattering, as the genin of Team 7 sorely underestimated the boy's reaction time and the speed of his liquid techinque. He dissolved away, launching up and swirling around Sasuke and past their formation, heading back towards the sound of the frenzied call for help. Sasuke launched after him without a second thought, and Hinata was almost about to join him until Shikamaru called out for her to stop.
"We've got a job to do," he said, shaking his head and jerking a finger back towards the bridge builder they were tasked to protect, "Sasuke will be Sasuke, but we can't leave Tazuna alone."
Hinata frowned; even with the cry she couldn't help but worry about Naruto. It was foolish, perhaps, but she felt the drive to protect him. Yes, him, a legendary jounin and war hero. She wanted to protect him. So very foolish of her. She'd never be able to do that that. At least, not right now.
But maybe some day.
Ι
Naruto had drawn one of his trademarked forked kunai as he approached Zabuza, giving him a wide and insulting grin as he rushed the half-downed missing-nin. Zabuza's facemask had been torn somewhat when he was thrown back, falling down to half reveal a mouth full of sharp, shark-like teeth that ground as he tried to push himself up. However, it was Zabuza's turn to grin as he felt a low-rumble through the ground, one he heard only due to his close proximiy to it. Naruto, on the other hand, was caught off guard as the miniature tidal wave washed over him, diverting his course as he struggled to remain standing. The jounin fell back into a more ready stance as the new foe revealed himself, a scowl forming as he saw just how old the boy was.
"Its about time, Suigetsu." Zabuza muttered, finally pushing himself up. He fell into his own taijutsu stance, one that showed both his physical state, given the wobbling he was still doing, as well as showed his lack of time actually using it, given how basic it was. Suigetsu, on the other hand, seemed more fresh, if a little exasperated. However, Naruto saw something else in the boys eyes besides his frustration and killer spirit when he noticed the large sword left abandoned on the bridge; he saw greed, and knew in an instant that Zabuza had no true ally here. Still, this Suigetsu was an unknown factor, and Naruto wasn't just about to trust that his lack of loyalty to Zabuza implied any sort of kinship with the Konoha nin.
His suspicions were quickly confirmed as the boy completely ignored Naruto after seeing the abandoned cleaver, slowly walking over to it with a transfixed gaze on his face.
"Suigetsu, what the hell are you doing?" Zabuza shouted, knowing full well what the boy was intending, but blocked off from doing anything about it by his true foe. Suigetsu simple began to chuckle as he reached down and picked up the weapon, symbols and black lines having faded away, returning it to it's original form. The boy struggled to lift it, but focused for a brief moment and caused his right arm to bulge suddenly, transforming him into an almost comical caricature of a person, but allowed him to heft the blade never-the-less.
"Sorry, Zabuza-sempai, but I think this is where we part ways," Suigetsu said without looking up. He did so only to glance at Naruto for a moment, "And you too, Namikaze-san; I've got no issue with you. In fact, I think I'd actually have to thank you."
Suigetsu waved and lept up onto the railing of the bridge, taking a bow before he fell backwards without another word. Naruto noted that the splash sounded particularly unnatural, but so had the boy. He shrugged and turned back to Zabuza, shaking his head.
"Some teammate you got there, loser," he said coolly, just as Sasuke arrived. Naruto glanced at him with a frown; he'd have to have a talk with the Uchiha boy about abandoning his post, but there was a time and place for that. He shifted his focus back to the missing-nin, just as yet another voice cut through the cold, fading mist.
"I should have known you'd fall through, Momochi." it said, and the three shinobi turned to find Gatou himself at head of a rather sizable horde of armed bandits, mercenaries, and other assorted cutthroats. Naruto just had to laugh as Zabuza made a look like he was choking on his own tongue; his world was falling down around him, it seemed. Not usually one to indulge in schadenfreude, the young jounin simply found it hard to feel bad when the person in question was someone like Zabuza.
"Figured you'd either manage to succeed, in which case I could just finish you off myself, or else I'd just finish it myself, after finishing you off. Either worked for me, really. Seeing as you've clearly failed, being the useless jackass you are, I suppose we'll be going with the latter option," the short statured man said. The goons behind him grinned, many running their fingers along their weapons or adjusting their grips; they were eager to get this show on the road, either due to their desire for pay and loot or the simple base desire for blood and destruction.
Naruto watched the little exchange with a small bit of amusement, mixed with the disgust he felt for the short tyrant. On the other hand, sometime told him that he wasn't going to have many problems with Zabuza, at least not for now; the missing-nin might harbor resentment for Naruto's part in him losing his sword, but the treachery of his 'allies' would now rank a far higher concern, no doubt. He also noted that Sasuke seemed confused; Naruto wasn't surprised by that, however. Smart as the boy was, he was working with less than complete information. It would have been unfair for the jounin to expect him to understand the nuances of it all.
"Seems you're not my problem any more, brat." Zabuza said as he drew a pair of kunai that curved back on one edge from his belt, if they could still be called kunai given they'd lost the original intent of throwing in the process of making them better melee weapons. Even if they were small, the two weapons seemed to bring back an aura of familiarity and competence to the swordsman. Naruto took a step back as the killing intent radiated off the man, even more than the swordsman had turned on the jounin during their fights, now or prior. He'd apparently been correct, but still underestimated the sheer depth of the missing-nin's anger.
Zabuza shot off in a blur, fatigue seeming to have left his angry body as he did. Gatou, apparently suddenly aware of his vulnerably, retreated into the press of thugs, who seemed actually somewhat perturbed that a lone man was now charging at their line with two knives and a devilishly angry look on his face. Three more confident warriors, one ronin from the distant Land of Iron even channeling a bit of chakra into his sword as he did, stepped forward to fight the shinobi. Unfortunately, even that disgraced warrior, experienced at least enough to channel some chakra, was not able to stop the demonic rampage that Zabuza went on as he began tearing into the morass of armed goons.
To see one man nearly route what was easily a company of men was somewhat impressive to Naruto, even if he had done it himself. Of course, he had done it when there was nearly that many of him, not on his own, and not with two knives that seemed to somehow be seeking out the throats of the enemy. I mean, really, how did Zabuza do it? A throat here, a juglar there? It was quite disturbing, even to a war-hardened jounin like Naruto. And the gleeful look on the missing-nin's face, despite the random wounds which he seemed to accumulate without much care. It was hardly mortal, but the fact that none of them seemed to slow him down at all was just a bit disconcerting. All in all, it just weirded him out, you know? People weren't supposed to be able to take wounds like that without effect.
The irony of that statement did not escape him.
Sasuke looked, for the most part, like he was going to vomit. For all his bluster, watching the massacre that Zabuza wrecked upon the mercenaries and hired blades was simply proving to be too much for his still-young mind. Naruto knew that there was little hope in trying to shield him from it now, and made no move towards the young boy. The young sensei made note to spend a fair bit of time dealing with the fallout; hopefully, in the end, it could turn at least into something good for him. It was early to teach him about the cold realities of their lives, but what was done was done.
Zabuza ducked under a horizontal slice, launching himself upward and jamming the twin knives into the mans head with such force that it split like a melon. Red gore splattered back, covering a cowering Gatou who now stood at the edge of the bridge's construction; he was caught between a demon from hell or a drop into it.
"It's time to send you right to where you belong, Gatou!" Zabuza shouted. The short man was rooted in the spot, stream of yellow trickling down his leg, and didn't even raise a hand in defense as the missing-nin drove both kunai into his chest, picking him up off the ground, and drove him from the edge of the bridge. Zabuza followed, eyes still wild with anger.
Naruto simply watched all of this, and then sighed as he watched the shinobi follow his prey into the water. Perhaps that was for the best, however. The jounin was surprised, however, when Sasuke spoke.
"I-is it over now?" he asked in a voice far too meek for such a driven boy, in Naruto's opinion. The jounin shook his head.
"Sadly, no. I suspect we've got one more thing do to for ojji-san," he said softly, hands moving in a slow set of seals. He turned back to the horde, watching as they began to rally themselves, turning towards Naruto and Sasuke with greedy looks. Their faces turned to shock, however, when a strong breeze suddenly washed over them and they felt a curious compulsion washing over them. The few strong enough to resist for a moment found a small piece of paper stuck to their bodies in some location, and peculiar black blocks and lines traced across their body. Terror filled them, and the rally turned to rout as the scrambled away from the source: Naruto.
The jounin watched as the last of the sealing tags settled and the summoned breeze died down, shaking his head as the thugs scattered; some unlucky bastards who had taken two tags had even lept off the bridge in their frantic terror.
"What did you just do?" Sasuke said in that same meek voice. Still, it was good that he was not so taciturn; it was best to keep him talking, to stave off the shock of what he'd just seen.
"A paper seals and a fuuton jutsu I made to deliver them; it's not really all that useful of a seal," Naruto replied calmly, but frowned when he noticed Sasuke was still just staring at the carnage wrought by Zabuza's rampage. "It makes'em fearful, and then run away. But, it only works on weak, untrained minds. Useless against most shinobi above genin; wouldn't work on you, you know."
Sasuke jolted somewhat, he inclined his head, feeling Naruto's hand on his shoulder. The grip was light, and Sasuke found it oddly reassuring.
"Come on," Naruto said, "Lets go find Hinata-chan and the others."
Κ
Two weeks had passed since the incident on the bridge. The time was spent training, for the most part; with their only true threat gone, Naruto had set up Team 7 back on a tight regiment. It had seemed odd for the, admittedly, wounded and weary genin, though Naruto had an ulterior motive for keeping them so busy: his concerns over Sasuke's mental state had meant that he wanted to keep the boys mind busy, so that he wouldn't have time to focus on all he'd seen during the attack. The others were simply dragged in because Naruto wanted them working and training as a team, and because he knew that if he'd had Sasuke separated from them than he'd draw more attention to his efforts to busy the boys mind. Better they all were tired, but together, than rested, but alone.
He taught the Uchiha boy a new technique to keep him even more occupied, a small Katon jutsu that Jiraiya had taught him years ago after Naruto had nagged him to death about it. Naruto never had much skill with Katon techniques, really, or any elemental techniques that weren't of his native wind affinity, even if he had a somewhat working knowledge of them; there was a reason he relied on Fuuton jutsu in combat. They came easy when in the press of battle, more so than spending the vital few seconds it took to refine and convert his chakra to the abnormal elements. Still, always a jutsu fiend, he studied them anyway, and it proved to his teams benefit now, so it had worked out for more than simple enjoyment or control training in the end.
Naruto was constantly impressed by Sasuke's ability to adapt the little Naruto taught him into a number of practical applications; the boy had a natural talent that made the jounin honestly jealous. Then again, where would he be had he not spent all that time training instead of worrying and thinking about less savory facts of his life. He had banished such thoughts as he had when he was younger, by turning to hard work; in this case, however, it was a slightly more manual and physically productive endeavor. Still, it was only going to last so long, and the team was getting restless; they missed their home, not used to being away from home for so long. How different they were compared to Naruto at their age...
The days seemed to fly, thankfully, and Naruto's exponentially growing abilities as a bridge-builder meant that the work went quickly, and the bridge was finished post haste. The trio of genin and their jounin sensei were now on their way back to the Land of Fire, being the first patrons of the completed bridge. All the world that Naruto had done earned him permanent recognition from the grateful populous, who were quick to name the bridge the Great Namikaze Bridge, much to his apparent chagrin. Shikamaru and Sasuke had found it somewhat out of character in just how reserved and embarrassed he seemed about having something named after him, though Hinata just found it cute.
Team Seven had been traveling for a day now, mostly in silence. They genin beamed, almost as much as Naruto, at the success of their mission. The three were moving in harmony, settling into a traveling security formation without knowing it, and Naruto just watched with the pride one gets from watching one's efforts rewarded. He supposed he should have figured that a brush with death would have brought about the bonds that could be fostered only in the face of such danger. Not that he was going to be suggesting that Itachi add it to the Academy curriculum, of course, but he would not deny it's effects.
Sasuke shifted the weight of his pack somewhat, glad to feel it lightened by the inclusion of a few seals despite the feeling of strangeness that carrying so much and yet it being so light brought him. Shikamaru had taken it upon himself to help his teammates out, his rapid grasp of sealing techniques allowing him to lighten some of their load, though time, and the pair's lack of ability in memorizing all the seal releases meant that it was somewhat more limited than Shikamaru's extensive efforts on his own equipment; Shikamaru no longer carried any bag on his back at all, replaced by seals imprinted on cloth wraps, marked into his clothing, or traced onto some of the scrolls he now wore on his hips and legs.
The Uchiha had figured fairly quickly that, if Shikamaru had become adept as he was, than Naruto must have truly remarkable abilities as a fuuinjutsu practitioner, a fact that added yet another odd and out of place element to the blond-haired shinobi and made Sasuke once gain furiously confused about who the hell their teacher was. The man seemed so larger than life, but somehow remained relatively unknown. Son of a war hero, and one in his own right; former teammate of the Godaime Hokage, and a confident still; capable of creating armies of physical clones, yet never showing even a hint of physical exhaustion; skilled at the rare and precise art of sealing, yet apparently as simple and childish as a pre-teen at times. He seemed like something out of a bad shounen manga.
Sasuke shook his head at that thought. Bah, maybe not. Who would read a manga about child ninjas anyway? Nobody, that's who.
Hinata, on the other hand, was having a very different set of thoughts. Her first C-ranked mission had turned out to be something far more. Not only was she now a junior genin with an A-ranked mission under her belt (or so she would be when they finally returned to Konoha,) she was also now at least somewhat adept at elemental techniques, something she really had never even considered until Naruto-sensei had brought it up. And she was good at them! Even she could admit that; Naruto was not just being nice; she could see her successes with her own two eyes. Even Sasuke, of all people, had seemed impressed. Which was yet another thing. Both he and Shikamaru seemed to actually like her. Well, Shikamaru did at least, in his own way. And Sasuke at least wasn't so cold. And Naruto-sensei... he seemed always happy to have her around, always eager to teach her, and push her too. And for the first time in a long time. His fervor was infectious. Even Shikamaru seemed more driven, as if that was even possible.
It wasn't always so obvious though, like now. Even though he had his place in the formation secured, Shikamaru had taken his leave of introspection, unlike his two teammates, and taken to the old hobby of his as the team moved closer to home: cloud-watching. There was little else to say about him, really. He'd done too much thinking as it was; it was time to take a break from it all and enjoy the simple things.
After all, you never know when things would get crazy again.
Ω
Gaiden Α
Naruto stared across the arena floor, wondering how in the hell he was going to do this. He had never been faced with a situation like that before. Well, perhaps that wasn't entirely accurate: he'd been in plenty of situations where he'd been at a loss for any sort of a plan, and had gone by the seat of his pants, and nothing less. But even then he had the non-plan of 'wing it.' Now, with his current opponent, he wasn't even sure that was going to work: he was facing the only person who seemed to know every plan he'd ever come up with on the fly, ever trick to stop him in his tracks. He was fighting of two people who could stare into his soul.
Itachi stared at him with those strange eyes of his; red iris with the trio of black tomoe that swam slowly around the central black pupil. His hand rested on the hilt of a sword, small fan-like charm hanging from it's hilt. Naruto knew Itachi wouldn't use it, not against him, it was just a nervous tick. That almost reassured the genin; Itachi seemed as uneasy as Naruto did. The fact that he'd already activated his sharingan seemed to prove this even more, now that Naruto thought about it. Naruto let his spirits rise somewhat, but still couldn't shake that empty feeling in the pit of his gut.
Screw it, he was going to go with winging it again. The ten-year-old Naruto threw his fingers up in the seal that would later become his trademark, and earn him a name on the battlefields of a war that still raged. But today, before it all could happen, he was instead calling upon something that had already become his multitool of a technique, the one stop answer to so many problems he had. Sensei hadn't enjoyed his over reliance on the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, but he could hardly argue with it's effectiveness. Of course, his opponent was no strange to the technique, for more reasons that simply being his teammate.
"You're going to have a hard time beating me with a technique that I taught you, Naruto-san." Itachi said, still remaining as rigid as he had before, even as the smoke settled to reveal a veritable horde of his long-time teammate, and friend. They all grinned at the same time, pushing off at the same time, and rushing in at the same time. But only one spoke, and it said only one thing as Itachi finally dropped into his ready stance.
"Oh yeah, Itachi? We'll just see about that!"
Gaiden Ω
Author Note:
Wave arc, complete! Next up, a very different Chuunin Exam! Trust me, it's going to be a ride unlike any other Chuunin Exam you've read before. Forget everything you remember, cus nothing is quite what it seems anymore.
Of course, before that, I'm toying around with the idea of doing up Naruto Sensei Gaiden, a series of single-scene pieces that will flesh out the world a bit, and show the Senseiverse version of some of your favorite characters. That said, I'm interested in seeing what people WANT to see for this, and am taking requests. So, if there is some facet of the story you want to learn about, let me know in a review.
Jutsu notes!
Firstly, the jutsu known as Hijutsu: Kirisame is, as stated last chapter, Secret Technique: Mist Rain. It is similar to the Kirigakure no Sato technique, with the added fact that it drains chakra from techniques exposed to it. However, it takes significant chakra to activate and a fair bit to maintain, depending on the area covered, and a significant area must be covered when it is activated. Mostly used by Kirigakure's elite Hunter-Nin, it is intended to be used by multiple shinobi at once, thus countering the cost issues. And making finishing a fight quickly more possible.
The techniques that Team 7 used were explained last chapter. Just a taste of things to come in that regard.
Naruto's techniques were Souke Fuuin: K'uei, or Paired Trigrams Seal: K'uei, and Souke Fuuin: Gein. The former causes a specific target to be unable to manipulate a sealed object, and can cause a violent backlash when activated. The latter creates a mental state of fearfulness, or amplifies one, and causes the user to feel a strong desire to flee the person who placed it. The Paired Trigrams comes from the Book of Changes, or I'Ching, and the symbols look very much like the seals used by Danzou, as his seal also uses the trigrams. Naruto has many seals of this sort: the Paired Trigrams were developed heavily by Minato, along with the help of Kushina, and Naruto has inherited much of the information and notes on them as a result.
Additionally, he used Haijutsu: Shippuukami, or Distribution Technique: Paper Hurricane. The latter uses wind to control and place large batches of seals. Additionally, the name is a minor pun: Kami can be translated as Paper, but also talisman or charm if spelled with different kanji.
Finally, to those that have noticed mistakes in my chapters, rejoice! I have a beta, a good friend of mine who is one of the main catalysts for many of my Naruto ideas. He will be going through all the chapters and fixing up minor details, as he has done with the first three already. I post this because I loath to make people wait, and really want to move on to later parts of the story, so I figure I'll keep posting till he catches up.
Oh, also, minor change. To clarify, I had a minor glitch in my timelining, so this is just to be clear: Naruto was five when the Kyuubi was sealed, and is eighteen during this story. All of the other characters you've seen are, currently, the ages they were at the start of the series, usually between 12 and 13 for the genin.
