Chapter 9 up and running! This chapter consists of the last of the Wave Mission. I decided to go with Dragon Man 180's suggestion, so I hope you enjoy it!

ONE WEEK LATER, AUGUST 25TH

Naruto trained relentlessly for the next few days as well as commiting to his duties in guarding Tazuna and the bridge-building crew. He even managed to finally walk on water, even if it was a little unstable. The only things out of the ordinary that happened as that one night, he fell asleep near the creek he trained at and woke up to possibly the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen hovering over him.

Of course, Naruto was ultra-bashful, but made small talk with the girl.

"M-my name's Naruto Uzumaki, nee-chan!"

Said 'nee-chan' giggled at his enthusiastic greeting. "Hello, Naruto-kun. My name is Haku."

"Haku-neechan, what are you doing out here?"

"Collecting herbs for my precious person. He was hurt pretty badly and I'm trying to help him."

"Precious person?"

"Someone dear to me. Do you have someone like that, Naruto-kun?"

He thought for a moment. His thoughts ran through some of the people he knew. Ichigo came to mind. The Sandaime, Iruka-sensei, and Takeo and his wife, Sanae came to mind as well. His teammates just barely squeaked by in his opinion. "Yeah, I do."

They kept up the small talk for a little while longer until Haku had to get going. She had never met anyone quite like Naruto before, but was glad that she did. He almost became something of a little brother to the lonely girl. He told her a lot about himself and she felt like she'd known him her whole life. She could even tell that he was quite lonely himself.

He had come to sleep on the roof of Tazuna's house and generally stayed away from his team outside of training, meal times, and duties. He wasn't rude about it, but kept his distance from them at all times because he didn't trust them, especially Kakashi and Sasuke. Sakura had become some what of a wild card. At times, she would be openly hostile to him as he expected, but a few times, she was sort of nurturing to him, as if she did care about him on some level.

Another night, however, wasn't as pleasant. With the arrival of Ichigo and his newfound knowledge of and help from the Kyuubi A.K.A Saki, his nightmares were getting fewer and farther inbetween, but this night, he had a massive nightmare.

The bad dream was of some of the times that he was beaten as a small child in the orphanage. From inside of her seal, Saki was doing all she could to calm him down as he was pulling a bit on her chakra in his fright. It wasn't long before his pained screams pierced the night, making the inhabitants of the house awaken in fright.

Ichigo was already there, trying to calm him down when he sensed the rest of the team had awaked and he had to hide himself again. As he pulled back, he asked Saki to do what she could for him, to which she immeadiately agreed to. She frantically tried to awaken her vessel, but the seal blocked most of her influence over him. The most she could do was try to coax him into calming down, then comforting him to keep the nightmares at bay.

Kakashi reached out with his senses and detected a faint signature of the Kyuubi's aura. 'Is the seal being breached?!' He thought in a panic as he rushed to the rooftop. The rest of Team 7 and Tazuna had followed right after him and were greeted by an unsettling sight : Naruto was engulfed in a blood red haze, screaming and convulsing as though he were in intense pain. His hair was wild, he had what appeared to be fangs and claws, and his whisker marks had deepened.

Sakura and Tazuna were about to go forward to have a better look, but were held back by Kakashi. "No. Don't get too close to him right now. Wait for it to die down, then we could possibly do something about this." He ordered.

Sasuke watched in almost perverse fascination at what was happening to his teammate. He had seen that crimson aura come from Naruto before and saw how powerful it made him. He could feel the raw power flowing, erupting from him in waves. 'This power...Why does HE have it and not me?!?'

Within the seal, Saki was beginning to succeed in calming her vessel down. She held him in the tightest embrace she could manage while. Slowly, the haze around him began to die down and he stopped convulsing and screaming. He began to do something that he hadn't done of a little over half of his lifetime, cried openly even though he wasn't conscious for it.

Ichigo was watching from a nearby tree, holding himself back from rushing to Naruto's aid. He needed to see how the team handled this and how Kakashi would react.

Naruto's closed eyes were flowing with tears as he let out pained sobs and moans in his sleep. "N-no...I've been good...why are you hurting me? I'm not a monster...I don't wanna be alone..."

Saki couldn't stand her vessel being in such pain. This nightmare made his other ones pale in comparison and there was very little she could do to help. In a move of desperation, she threw herself into the seal with all the strength she could muster and managed to weaken it a bit. Seeing her opportunity, she seized it and let her consciousness seep out into the world.

Suddenly, a red aura flared to life beside him and Kakashi pulled the team back. As soon as the flare died down, a ghostly figure could be seen sitting seiza beside him with a sad look on her face. Kakashi first thought that she was a ghost until he saw her features. She had long crimson hair and eyes, nine long fox tails and red fox ears, and an elegant kimono.

The one-eyed man paled when he figured out just who that mysterious woman was that pulled Naruto's head into her lap and began to sing a hauntingly beautiful lullaby while stroking his hair affectionately. He got into a defensive stance, which Sasuke mirrored, but Sakura wasn't so sure.

The pink-haired girl stood spellbound by this beautiful woman's song and how she seemed to care greatly for Naruto. The song ended and Naruto was once again sleeping peacefully. The ghostly fox-woman's eyes shone with tears in the moonlight. "My precious little kit...I will protect you from your nightmares and what that foolish village has done to you. I love you, my little Naru-chan." She told him sadly as she gave him a kiss on his forehead and vanished like a wisp of smoke.

The team all heard what he was saying and had various reactions. Tazuna and Tsunami were filled with sympathy for the poor boy. Tazuna had a pretty good idea of how Naruto was treated and that accounted for what he heard. Tsunami wondered morbidly what could have possibly happened to the boy to cause such horrifying nightmares.

Kakashi was starting to feel guilt over how he handled Naruto in the past, but stopped it ruthlessly. He was still angry with Naruto, as he believed that he stole the life of his teacher and the life of his remaining teammate, Rin. He wanted to eliminate him, but the Hokage would ask questions and his team and the client were there, so he let it go.

Sasuke was visibly angry. He found that Naruto had outclassed him again. He had a power that made his pale in comparison and that was something he couldn't stand. He sneered in disgust and was about to leave the roof until Sakura called out to him.

"Sasuke-kun, shouldn't we at least bring a blanket up here for him?" She asked in a concerned tone.

He turned and glared at her. "Leave that dobe up here. I couldn't care less about what happens to that loser." He growled out as he jumped down from the roof.

Tazuna and Tsunami both shook their heads sadly and climbed down off of the roof. Sakura stopped Kakashi before he could leave himself. "Kakashi- sensei, who was that woman? Why did she look so much like a fox and why does she seem to care about Naruto so much, of all people?"

"I can't tell you, as its a village secret. The punishment for letting it slip is death. The only people who can tell you are the Sandaime and Naruto himself. I doubt that Naruto would tell anyone about it willingly, though." He told her as he jumped down from the roof.

Sakura was torn in two. Her fan-girl persona and Inner persona were warring inside of her over what to do. The fan-girl wanted to follow Sasuke, but the Inner wanted to know more about what happened and if she could help in any way. "What the hell could have happened to him?! What have we done?"

"So what? That dobe made Sasuke-kun angry with me! He can stay up here and freeze for all I care!"

"That's it!! I've had it with you!!" I.S roared as she threw herself at the fan-girl, subdueing her rather quickly and gaining control of her body. Now in the driver's seat, she went to find a blanket for the boy who had suffered so much. She came back with a blanket that was on the bed he was supposed to use and draped it over him. "Sorry, but this is the best I can do for now." She told him sadly as she hopped down from the roof to get some sleep.

THE NEXT MORNING, AUGUST 26TH

The next morning came around very quickly. The rest of Team 7 was to follow Tazuna to the bridge today. Kakashi noticed that Naruto was still out of it, but left him to sleep and rest. He had heard the pulling on demonic chakra could be quite taxing for Jinchuriki and could sap their strength very quickly. Sasuke and Sakura began to complain that Naruto was just being lazy, but he dragged them out the door anyway.

At Gatou's compound, Zabuza and Haku were gearing up to go and fulfill their contract with the corrupt business man, to kill Tazuna at any cost. Haku was thinking back on the time she met Naruto in the forest and gave a sad smile. She felt that the short blonde genin could have become the best friend he ever had, but she would have to fight and possibly kill him. Zabuza was somewhat impressed with Naruto. The boy had actually managed to keep him and his clones at bay while freeing his sensei, very good for a fresh Genin.

The fat little man wasn't happy with just killing Tazuna, however. He sent two of his better swordsmen to Tazuna's house and wanted to take his daughter Tsunami into his slave business and kill his grandson publicly as a warning to all who would oppose him.

By the time Team 7 and Tazuna reached the bridge, a thick mist blanketed the area and Tazuna's work force was badly injured, but still alive. A cold laugh sounded from the mist.

"Zabuza...He's here." Kakashi warned his team. "Sakura, stay with Tazuna. Sasuke, with me." He ordered as they took their positions.

Zabuza was busy taunting Kakashi and his Genin as he made a comment on Sasuke's trembling. "I'm trembling...with excitement!" The Uchiha replied. But as he said that, Haku made a move toward Tazuna, but was cut off by Sasuke, who began to square off. Kakashi and Zabuza soon began their own liitle dance as kunai met zanbatou.

Back at Tazuna's place, Gatou's men had already arrived and captured Inari and Tsunami. Naruto awoke amid the commotion and moved to see what was going on. He rushed in to help, taking the two mercenaries down quickly, but it wasn't enough. They were quite angry that someone had interrupted their fun and retaliated full force. They proved to be quite skilled with their blades as Naruto was constantly kept on the defensive and being pushed back. He couldn't fight to his full capacity due to having Tsunami and Inari to protect.

Ichigo was watching nearby and decided that it was time to break cover and make himself known. He appeared in a blast of water just in time to block a slash that would have taken Naruto's head off and threw the mercenary back with a burst of strength. "Uzumaki-san. Are you alright?" He told him in a calm voice. He still had to play the part of an ANBU who was dispatched to assist their team and any familiarity would blow his cover.

Naruto looked to see a tall fox masked ANBU staring down at him. "Y-Yeah. Thanks." He said, stunned. 'What's an ANBU doing here?' He wondered.

Ichigo nodded and flickered away, only to reappear behind the two thugs resheathing his blade as they fell, a spray of blood coming from their throats. "Uzumaki, where is your team?"

"T-They're at the bridge...wait a minute...you don't think Zabuza is attacking again, do you?!"

"Yes, I do. Let's go."

"Right, ANBU-san!"

With that, the two of them made a mad dash toward the bridge, hoping that they would make it in time.

Back at the bridge, Zabuza and Kakashi were deadlocked and Sasuke and Haku were in a stalemate. Haku grew tired of playing around, so she went for her bigger jutsu. "HYOTON : SENSATSU SUISHO." He called out calmly as needles made of ice formed out of the vapor in the air and began to rain down on Sasuke, peppering him without mercy. Sasuke was growing angrier with each passing second of the battle. It seemed as if the hunter nin was merely toying with him, brusing his pride. He had even activated his Sharingan during the fighting, but it was of little use and it was draining his chakra away. "Get out here and fight me properly, you coward!!" He screamed.

Haku scoffed lightly. "I thought that this is how shinobi were supposed to fight, using tricks and traps. Not full scale, one-on-one warfare. Surely, your sensei has taught you this since the blonde one is so adept at it since he actually managed to keep Zabuza-sama at bay." Haku commented.

Sasuke let out a growl of indignation. "Hn. Never compare me to the Dobe. We Uchiha are superior to him, you and everyone else. Ever your master is a weakling compared to me, so spare me your parlor tricks. First I'll kill you, then that Dobe will die. I WILL be superior." He sneered.

Haku felt anger for the first time in years. "Is that so, Uchiha-san?" She growled beneath his mask as he blazed through handseal.

The two Jounin were doling out blows of their own, with Kakashi sustaining various cuts and gashes, but Zabuza was in much better condition. Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi spotted Haku making more hand seals for something really nasty. "Haku's actually gonna use it. Your brat really should learn when to keep his trap shut." Zabuza commented .

Sure enough, Haku was gearing up for something big as sshe finished going through seals. "HYOTON HIJUTSU : MAKYO HYOSHOU!!" Haku cried as mirrors made of ice formed a dome around him and Sasuke.

"Now Uchiha-san, I am serious." He said calmly as he seemed to melt into one of the mirrors. The Hyoton user began to flow from mirror to mirror, launching barrage after barrage of senbon at him. Sasuke was trying his best to fight back, but he just couldn't catch him in time to do it effectively.

Suddenly, a massive gust of wind ripped across the bridge, blowing away the heavt mist to reveal to figures. One was tall and dressed as a Konoha ANBU with a fearsome looking fox mask. The second turned out to be Naruto, seemingly fully recovered and ready to fight.

"Uzumaki, go and help your teammate while I deal with Zabuza Momochi and help your sensei." He ordered crisply.

Naruto felt that this ANBU earned his trust back at the house and did as he was ordered. "Hai, ANBU-san!" He replied as he made some Shadow Clones to infiltrate the ice dome and look for weaknesses. What he saw when he got there was one of the last things he wanted to see : Sasuke was turned into a human pincushion, lying face down and wasn't moving.

He felt his hackles rise and his demonic chakra rise within him. Haku noticed the new arrival. "Is this the first time you've seen a friend die?" He asked almost remorsefully. "This is the life of a shinobi. I do not like to kill, but if my master wishes it, I will kill my own heart to do it and serve him with my life."

"Shut up." Naruto growled, his voice beginning to change. "I never liked Sasuke. I hated him, even. But even so, he was my teammate and comrade, you BASTARD!!!!" He screamed as a massive gout of demonic power erupted from him.

Back with the Jounin, Ichigo intercepted a sword blow meant for Kakashi's head then swiftly kicked Zaubza away. "So, I have a new playmate. A Konoha ANBU, no less. This might be fun."

"Hatake, fall back. I will take it from here." The masked nin commanded.

"What are you doing here?" The copy-nin demanded.

"Hokage-sama got your message and dispatched me to deal with this." He replied firmly, betraying nothing since the man was a Jounin for a reason and would be able to see through an act.

"I can deal with this myself. Leave here now!"

"Hold your tongue and ego until the enemy is silenced, Hatake." He shot back, nearly cleaving Zabuza's head in two with an overhead slash, but he blocked just in time. The two seperated, gauged each other and charged into each other with various sword blows and taijutsu attacks. After a full minute, they seperated again.

"Hey, you're pretty good with that blade, ANBU-san." He commented with a hint of respect along with a nasty gash in his side.

"You're not bad yourself. You reputation as one of the Seven Swordmen preceeds you, Momochi." He replied.

Back inside the ice dome, Haku couldn't believe what she was seeing. 'This boy, what IS he?! This chakra...so powerful and filled with rage...' She thought in a panic. She lashed out, hoping to take Naruto down before things got worse, but her senbon were swatted away like they were toys.

Outside the dome, Kakashi, Zabuza, and Ichigo halted when they felt the Kyuubi chakra. "What is that?! What's going on?!" Zabuza asked in a slight panic.

"The Kyuubi...Is it breaking free?" Kakashi wondered aloud.

"No. I can sense that Uzumaki is still in control. He is now becoming a true jinchuriki, able to control some of the demon's power."

Zabuza couldn't believe what he just heard. "That blonde brat is a jinchuriki?! Of the Kyuubi?!" He shouted, wondering just what he had gotten into. He knew about jinchiriki and he knew that messing with them is as near to suicidal as one could get. Even one who could control a mere fraction of their beast's power was still a massive threat.

Kakashi began to stand up and was about to go and try to stop Naruto, but Ichigo held him back. "Let him deal with this on his own He has his own battle under control, unlike yours."

With Tazuna and Sakura, they felt the overwhelming power that exploded from the dome and could see a blood red haze inside. Neither one of them had ever felt that kind of power before. They remained rooted to their spots, not wanting to go near the source.

Inside the dome, Naruto was kicking the crap out of Haku, finally bashing him through one of his mirrors and disrupted the jutsu, subsequentially shattering the rest of the mirrors. Naruto continued to rain blows down on the now helpless Haku in a berserker rage, leaving her looking as though she'd been mauled. He finally finished up with a punch to the heart.

The face mask he wore cracked and fell away, revealing a face that the young blonde knew very well. He let his rage fall away and stared in horror. It was Haku beautiful face. "Naru...to-kun...This is how...it was meant to be...You did nothing wrong." She told Naruto with a sad smile.

"No...this feels...so wrong!"

"Naruto-kun...you only did this to avenge...one of your precious people. I'm glad...that I got...to know you." Haku told him as life faded from her eyes.

"I'm glad too, Haku." He replied with tears in his eyes, closing Haku's for her. Sakura shot past him to get to Sasuke who she was busy crying over.

"Sasuke-kun!!" She wailed loudly over his body. Naruto felt terrible, but he was too numb from his own troubles to be of much help.

Before anyone could move or do anything else, the sound of clapping came from the other side of the bridge. There stood Gatou and a small army of his thugs. "Bravo. Thanks for killing that brat and saving me the trouble, kid. She broke my arm, so death would have been the least of her worries. I would have made use of her until there was nothing left." He sneered as he kicked Haku's corpse.

"You bastard!!!" Naruto roared as he began to charge, but was stopped by the ANBU nin. "Uzumaki, calm down." He ordered calmly but firmly.

Zabuza turned his attention to the fat man. "What are doing here, Gatou?" He snarled. "I told you I'd do the job."

"Why pay you when I could just have them weaken you and then kill you all? I could keep my money and had over your head to the Mizukage for your bounty." He told them with a cruel laugh.

"So, you were going to betray us all along, you little pig-man. I should have just killed you." He growled as he turned to the Konoha ninja. "ANBU-san, Hatake. The old man is safe from me. You're not my enemy anymore." He told them as he faced the small mercenary army with his Kubikiri Houchou at the ready.

Ichigo sighed behind his mask. "Very well, Kijin no Kiri. Uzumaki, Hatake. Back away. This is his fight now."

They complied and the heavily wounded Zabuza took off like a shot into the throng of men. He fought like a man possessed, a demon. But in the end, he was still mortal, as he was taking lethal damage. He managed to rip through the crowd and reach Gatou. With the last of his strength, his relieved Gatou's shoulders of his head and collapsed in a bloody heap.

The thugs were all outraged. "He killed our meal ticket!! Let's raid the village and take it all!!" They clamored.

'This is bad. I've got no choice but to use it.' Ichigo decided in his thoughts as he began to gather as much water and wind as he could around the crowd. His concentraition was obvious, as he was glowing a gentle blue as he did it. When he finally had enough, he let it all go. Wind and Water dragons literally began to rain down on them, ripping and shredding them all in a bloody and violent show.

When the final dragons fell, there were only a small handful left alive. "Looks like I missed a few. Easily correctable." He commented as he flickered over to them in a burst of speed and released his Viper Blade. One lash rended two in half with disturbing ease as he continued to slaughter the last of them. Two slashes later, it was all over.

Inari showed up with the villagers. They looked like they were ready for war, arming themselves with crossbows, pitchforks, axes and other tools. Ichigo turned to them. "Sorry, but you're a little late to the party." He told them in a sheepish tone, chuckling a little bit. "Looks like I overdid it a bit." He commented lamely as he made his way over to where Zabuza lay.

Naruto couldn't help hearing that. "A little bit?! That was little for you?!!? I'd hate to see what you'd consider overkill!!" He exclaimed.

Kakashi had the same sentiments. He'd never seen someone with such a powerful command over wind or water like him. I was like he owned the two elements, bending them to is will. 'I can't copy this! What the hell is he doing?!' He thought as he covered up his Sharingan eye to save chakra. 'Who is he? Never seen or heard to him before. This is something I'll have to ask the Hokage about when we get back.'

"Hey, ANBU-san. Could you...carry me over to where Haku is?" Zabuza asked him in labored breaths as his time grew short. Ichigo nodded solemnly and granted his request. He carried Zabuza over to the girl's body and laid him down beside her. "Thank you..." He told the masked blonde as he turned his attention to the girl his thought of as his daughter. "I'm sorry, Haku. I...should have done better...you deserved better. I hope that you don't go where I'm going and that you'll be happy there. Good...bye." He said in pain as he regarded Ichigo again. "I have...one final request. I'd...like to see the face... of the one who avenged me." He confided in him.

Ichigo nodded his head while pulling his mask off slightly so the dying man could see his face.

Zabuza gave him a proud smirk, knowing that the ANBU gave him the rare honor of seeing his face, dying with that same expression on his own. Naruto stood off to the side, bowing his head in respect for the deceased as Ichigo closed his eyes for the final time.

He stood up slowly, concentraiting hard as he held his hands in front of him as water collected around him. Suddenly, a small tidal wave crashed over the bridge and washed away the bodies of the thugs and most of the blood.

"There. Clean up mostly done." He commented as he turned to Team 7.

He walked over to where Sasuke lay and checked him. He knew the boy wasn't dead, so he pryed the near hysterical Sakura off of him and pulled the senbon from his neck carefully, bringing him back to consciousness almost immeadiately. "He'll live. He got off easy compared to your teammate, who did the brunt of the fighting and took the opponent down. Why haven't you checked on him yet?" He questioned.

Sakura tried to defend her actions, but came up with nothing to say, thanks to her Inner burning away at her other persona's selfish reasonings with ruthless efficiency.

When he got no answer from her, he sighed, created two Kage Bunshin, and turned to the rest of the party. "Kakashi, order your team to the client's residence to re-group and recover from their fatigue and wounds." He commanded while giving it instructions to escort the team, the client and his family to their house and await him. "I will take care of the bodies of Momochi and his apprentice." He finished as he and the remaining clone went to go bury the bodies properly.

Naruto sprung to his side. "Could...I go with you? To help bury them, I mean. Haku...was just like me, and I killed her. I feel like I owe her this much." He asked the tall ANBU sadly.

He looked to Kakashi and saw that he brooked no argument with that desicion, or more like he was too busy with the Uchiha to care. "Okay. Follow me, Uzumaki. We'll bury them on the bluffs over looking the bridge." He told him.

The two of them set off with the bodies as Sakura watched the two of them with mixed emotions, as her two personas were still struggling for dominance within her. Her inner wondered if Naruto was handling his first kill alright and was worried about him, as he DID do most of the fighting and took down a strong opponent. That same side was also wondering what that red chakra was and just who that ANBU that saved their sensei and their team. He was powerful, very powerful if he could just eradicate that many mercenaries in one blow. Her fangirl persona was, sadly, still harping on about how Naruto was just a murderer now and that he stole Sasuke's victory from him, but was frightened of the ANBU, whom she thought was a monster for killing that many people in cold blood.

On the cliffs, Kitsune and Naruto had just finished laying Zabuza to rest, plunging his zanbatou into the ground to act as a headstone. As they reach for Haku, they saw that she was moving ever so slightly. Naruto's eyes flew wide.

"HAKU-CHAN!!!" He cried as he contacted Saki. "Saki, can you help her?! Please!" He pleaded with the Fox demoness. She was one of the first friends his own age that he had and he was going to do whatever it took to save her.

Saki reached out and sensed her faint life force. "Naru-chan, I can't promise you anything, but I'll try. Place your palm over her heart and I'll do the rest." She ordered.

Naruto complied and let Saki's crimson chakra flow into the near-dead girl's body. Slowly, color started to return to her cheeks and her breathing steadied.

Ichigo watched on in awe. He knew exactly what was going on, but Saki's power never ceased to amaze him. He was glad that this girl was being given a second chance at life. She seemed like she was very kind and from what Naruto told him, he almost saw her like a big sister. He paused, however, when he thought of how to explain this to the Hokage.

'How AM I going to spin this with the old man?' He thought as his brows furrowed. 'I guess I'll play this by ear. I just gotta be careful about it. I have a bad feeling that if the fact that she has an unknown bloodline gets out to the wrong people before I have measures in place, the council will try to whore her out to the Uchiha. I can't and won't let that happen, for her sake and for Naruto's.' He added. He already knew that Kakashi and Sasuke would have to be watched very carefully and if they showed signs of harming her or Naruto in any way, he'd take care of it personally, then hand them over to Anko and Ibiki when they got back.

Naruto was clutching Haku for dear life, just glad that she wasn't dead.

"Haku-neechan..." He sobbed into her battle kimono. Haku was still trying to shake the cobwebs from her head as she heard him crying.

"I'm...not dead?" She breathed out.

"No, you're not Haku-neechan!" He told her happily.

She looked over at the tall ANBU next to him nervously, but something about his aura calmed her down considerably. "Don't worry, Haku-san. I will not harm you. I wish to extend to you an invitation to join Konoha, since you were never a registered kunoichi and you have no alliegences. I will bring you before the Hokage personally and will make sure that no harm befalls you." He told her softly with a slight bow.

Neither Haku or Naruto could believe it. Haku couldn't believe that the solution to her problem had been offered to her and Naruto was shocked that this ANBU was being so nice. He had been cordial to him and treated him like a person. Now, his new precious person was going to live in his village and again this ANBU member helped him.

Haku's head was spinning from all of the news, both good and bad. The good news was that she and Zabuza were no longer under Gatou's thumb and neither was Wave Country. Zabuza had personally slayed the tyrannical businessman and she now had safe passage into Fire Country and even an invite to become a Konoha shinobi. However, she had lost Zabuza. She was happy, though, that he had been avenged by the tall ANBU before her and she at least knew that Zabuza cared for her as if she were his own daughter. She and Naruto passed out from exhaustion shortly afterward.

Kitsune sighed as he collected both of the kids in his arms and left the area in a cyclone of water, bound for Tazuna's house.

A/N: 9th Chapter down , ? to go. Who knows where this is going to stop? To those who like this story and always add it to their favorites, please tell me what you think of it. Just spare a few moments and words to tell me how I'm doing. Ciao!