Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.
AN: So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.
Thank you for all your reviews, follows, and favorites…your words of encouragement are truly, truly appreciated.
Kakashi's sensitive nose finally picked up the scent of a large body of water up ahead. Finally! We're almost there. He had been leading his team at a punishing pace, cutting a direct path from the Land of Fire's capital to the Land of Water. They had had to stop for a break once, when Sakura missed the jump to the branch ahead of her due to fatigue – only Naruto's quick reaction had saved her from serious injury. He had been glad to notice that while Sasuke had been slightly winded, he could still clearly continue for longer. Neither he nor Naruto had even felt the exertion of the pace yet. After that quick break, they had resumed their tree jumping towards wave and were now finally approaching it.
Kakashi stealthily led his team on a circuitous route to the targets house; intending to conceal their presence from any hostiles in the area, for as long as he could. When they got close enough to the client's house, they dropped down to walk the rest of the way. Walking at the head of the formation, his lack of reading material expressing the level of his seriousness, Kakashi cut an intimidating figure. Without breaking stride, he casually called out,
"Genin Nara, report."
Sakura and Sasuke were startled – though Sasuke hid his surprise better – and turned to notice Shikamaru emerge from a shadowed portion of the forest they were cutting through. Running a lazy gaze over the team, he replied in a voice tinged with relief,
"We encountered the first sign of hostilities a few hours after leaving Konoha – two chunin, The Demon Brothers. Asuma-sensei took them out then got the full story from Tazuna-san. Ino wanted to continue and eventually managed to convince sensei to as well. Next we encountered A-rank missing in, Momochi Zabuza. Sensei engaged with him and got injured, though he was able to injure him in return."
Given a simple nod to his report, Kakashi continued on towards the house in the clearing, Shikamaru following along with the rest of Team 7. Before he got to the door, it was flung open to reveal the visibly relieved face of Yamanaka Ino. Rushing forward, the blonde haired kunoichi spoke in an anxious tone,
"Kakashi-sensei, thank Kami you're here. Asuma-sensei is hurt, can you help him?"
Giving an eye-smile, Kakashi replied,
"I'm sure Sakura can be of some help with that. Why don't we go inside to see him, hmm?"
At the mention of Sakura, Ino finally noticed the students that trailed behind the legendary jounin. She cast a disbelieving glance at Sakura, completely doubting her usefulness in the situation, and then turned an adoring smile on Sasuke. Sakura's buried fan-girl reared its head and she growled at Ino to back off. Before the girls could start going at it, Naruto cut in between them, successfully distracting them from their petty arguments and reminding them of the seriousness of the situation. Sasuke didn't bother with them and simple followed the male members of his team into the house. With a shake of his head, Shikamaru followed after the two girls who had scrambled to follow Sasuke inside.
The members of Team 7 entered a guest room, after greeting Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, to find Chouji keeping watch over his sensei. Asuma's labored breathing was the only sound in the room, and even from the door, Kakashi could make out the bandages and dried blood on his torso. Motioning for Sakura to attend to his downed comrade, he stepped inside the room.
Sakura nervously stepped forward and initiated the Shousen no Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique) and began to assess Asuma's condition. The gathered members of Team 10 felt rising hope as they watched Sakura work on their sensei. Their hopes were somewhat dashed though when Sakura ended the jutsu and spoke, with an embarrassed blush on her face,
"I'm sorry sensei, there's not much that I know how to do yet. I was able to diagnose him to find that he had damaged ribs and has lost some blood. I was also able to heal some of the internal damage, but I can't do anything for his fever."
Kakashi nodded to show her that it was fine, and that any little thing helps. Before Ino could let her anxiety get the best of her and cause her to deride Sakura, Naruto stepped past them, the green glow of the Shousen no Jutsu illuminating Asuma's pale features. He placed his right hand on his chest and the left on his forehead. In a clinical tone, Naruto began to list the damages,
"He has three cracked ribs and two broken ones. He has lost a lot of blood and has internal bruising on some of his major organs. The major external injury is the cut running down his chest, and he has a high fever."
Before the stunned and disbelieving gaze of the gathered ninjas, Asuma's breathing became less labored and some of his color returned to his face. They watched in amazement as the visible bruises seemed to age from angry purple to the yellow of almost mended skin. Even the massive cut running along his torso was healed somewhat. With a final surge of green chakra, Naruto moved back as Asuma took a deep breath and opened his eyes.
The members of Team 10 forgot their surprise in favor of crowding around their sensei, expressing their relief at his return to consciousness. Naruto calmly ignored Kakashi's probing gaze and Sasuke and Sakura's stunned and annoyed looks, all in favor of watching the reunion of Team 10. Asuma finally turned his eyes to the amused gaze of his fellow jounin, and spoke in a slightly questioning tone – knowing that Kakashi wasn't all that capable with medical jutsu,
"Ah, so they sent you huh? Thanks for patching me up."
Kakashi lazily motioned towards Naruto, causing Asuma's eyes to widen in surprise, before he gave the blue eyed ninja a look of gratitude. Naruto merely inclined his head in acceptance of his thanks. He then said,
"I'll leave you guys to it and go and check up on the clones I left to watch the house."
Before Shikamaru could fully berate himself for getting distracted from his watch, Naruto glided out of the room, and not too long after, they heard the sound of the front door closing.
Giving Kakashi a look, expressing that he wanted to talk to him about whatever that was later, Asuma turned back to reassuring his students.
Later in the evening, after Kakashi and Asuma had talked in more detail about the mission and their respective students, the eight Shinobis sat around the dining table, along with Tazuna and Tsunami. An initially empty seat was left beside Tsunami for her son, Inari.
During the meal, Inari kept scowling at the ninja seated around the table, slowly causing Sakura and Sasuke to become uncomfortable – having not had to put up with his behavior before. He seemed to find fault especially with Naruto, who throughout the meal had blatantly ignored him, not even giving any response to his dark glowers. After dinner, Naruto thanked Tsunami for the meal and promptly left the house, after mentioning that he would take the first watch.
Asuma wanted to protest, thinking that Naruto had already done enough for the day, but he relented when Kakashi pointed out that the kid had more stamina than any two of the ninjas present, combined.
Naruto had been sitting on the roof for thirty minutes before he heard the sound of someone climbing up to his spot – attempting to do so without being noticed. With no prior warning to indicate that he was aware of the person's presence, he spoke softly,
"Is there something you needed, Sasuke?"
Startled at being detected, Sasuke's brows furrowed before he decided to continue with the reason he had followed his teammate. Clenching his fists and speaking in a forceful and demanding tone, Sasuke replied,
"I want to know where you learnt the things that you know. "
Taking Naruto's silence as confusion, he elaborated,
"A few years ago you were just a dead last wannabe ninja who was never going to amount to anything. Then you vanish for three months, only to return like this. I want to know how."
Without turning his head, Naruto spoke into the air,
"And you Sakura? Do you also want to know the answers to these questions?"
Sasuke twitched, and then internally berated himself for letting his need for answers distract him from his surroundings. Sakura scrambled fully onto the roof and spoke up with a huff,
"Yes I do. Where did you learn the medical jutsu you used? How did you learn to use a sword like you did? Also, how come you can do all those things like…like…tree walking and even seal less, silent ninjutsu?"
Sasuke's annoyance at Sakura's intrusion was forgotten as she pointed out other pertinent issues. Together, the both of them turned demanding gazes on their final teammate. Naruto's shoulders tensed, causing the other two to lean forward – thinking that they were getting to him. They flinched back in surprise the next moment as Naruto threw back his head and let loose belly aching laughter.
Sasuke and Sakura were too annoyed at being laughed at to appreciate how pleasantly smooth and deep Naruto's laugh was. After he had gotten over his amusement, Naruto stood and turned to face his teammates, fully aware that Asuma, Kakashi, and the genin of Team 10 were listening in to their conversation. His face was devoid from any of his previous amusement, and with a serious tone that cut deeply into his demanding comrades, he said,
"Get over yourselves. You seem to be suffering under the absurd belief that I owe you any explanations. When I was the dead last wannabe ninja, did you not ridicule and deride me? Now that I am skilled and capable you believe yourself privy to my secrets? Ridiculous! We are teammates, and inherent in that description is the understanding that during missions I watch your back and expect you to watch mine. However, nowhere in that definition is the understanding that you have any right to know anything personal about me. We are teammates, but you spent years showing me that we are not friends."
Over the course of his speech, Sakura had been growing more shamefaced, while Sasuke had grown tenser and tenser. Neither of them had anything to say to the stark truth that Naruto had just hurled into their faces, and so they turned to leave. Concealed in the shadows, Asuma and Kakashi shared grim looks, while in the house, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino shared confused glances.
The next morning, Tsunami's cry of surprise had most of the present ninja hurry downstairs to find out what was wrong. They stopped at the entrance to the dining room when they noticed the breakfast spread that was laid out on the table. While it was true that most of it was made of fish, it still smelled and looked appetizing. Tsunami's surprised look revealed that she was not the one responsible for the wonderful meal. Naruto appearing from the kitchen, carrying what looked like tea, answered the question of who prepared the meal.
Tsunami turned to him to protest, but he interrupted her with a shake of his head and an eye-smile. Smiling fondly at the kind young man, she sat in the seat he pulled out for her. The others got over their surprise and took their seats at the table. Chouji was the first to try some of the food. The others watched as his eyes widened in obvious surprise, before he began to pile on more food – which was the signal for everyone else to tuck in.
Naruto graciously accepted the complements that came from their hosts and the members of Team 10. He also mentioned to Tsunami that the rest of the fish he caught was placed in the freezer. Thanking him again for his help, she began to clear away the dishes, turning down the kids' offers to help her.
Kakashi gathered the six young ninjas around him and began to explain the situation in wave and how they would go about completing their mission,
"I discussed with Asuma, and we came to the conclusion that the hunter ninja who interrupted your encounter with Zabuza is an accomplice of his. Taking into consideration the damage Asuma was able to inflict on him, I give him four more days before he is recovered enough to launch another attack. So, here is what we'll do: Chouji, Ino and Shikamaru will guard Tazuna today, while Sakura will stick with Tsunami during the day. Sasuke and Naruto, I want you two to gather more information about the situation in wave. We will meet again after dinner to share our findings, any questions?"
Seeing that none of them had any questions, he motioned them to move out. The students of Team 10 followed Tazuna to the bridge, while Sakura left to join Tsunami in the kitchen. Sasuke threw a glance at Naruto, then left to complete his mission. Naruto stood up to leave as well, but he was stopped by Kakashi's voice,
"Naruto…"
Naruto glanced at him at that pause. Sighing, he turned fully to face his teacher and said,
"Kakashi-sensei, if this is about what happened yesterday night, don't worry. No matter what my feelings about them are, they are still my teammates…I will not become worse than trash."
Taken aback at Naruto's statement, Kakashi smiled with pride at his student and simply nodded. As Naruto prepared to leap into the trees surrounding the house, his acute hearing picked up Asuma's words,
"He's a good kid Kakashi."
"Yes he is."
And then in a tone filled with amusement, Asuma inquired,
"Kakashi-sensei?"
Naruto didn't bother with trying to muffle his laughter at Kakashi's drawled reply,
"Hmm? You say something Asuma?"
Sasuke gazed intently at the rowdy men who had just left the bar. He had identified them as possible employees of Gatou and had been tailing them for the past few hours as they moved from bar to bar, occasionally stopping to harass a passing villager. He hoped that they would finally be returning to whatever stronghold Gatou had set up. He stalked them stealthily as they moved towards a huge building, from which he could hear the sounds numerous men talking. He jumped to a tree closer to the building and looked into one of the higher windows there. He spied a gathering of about sixty men – bandits, judging by their weapons and dressing. He looked around, casting out his senses as well, but he couldn't detect any Shinobis among them. Taking another moment to memorize all that he could about the gathered army, he left to return to Tazuna's house for dinner.
As he was jumping to another rooftop on the way, he noticed a flicker of gold in the corner of his vision. Stopping on the next rooftop, he turned to see that it was his teammate's gold hair that drew his attention. Looking closer, he noticed that Naruto was surrounded by a group of kids, ranging from about four to ten years old. He seemed to be playing with them. Bewildered, he took some time to confirm that his initial suspicion was indeed correct. Now he was incredulous, assuming that his teammate had wasted time with the children instead of completing his mission. He turned back to look at the scene, only to lock gazes with the searing blue eyes of his fellow team member. He was startled for an instant, before he scowled and turned away. Still he noticed how the kids were obviously reluctant to let Naruto leave, before he created a clone to the amazement of the children. Leaving the clone to stay with the kids, Naruto jumped to the building Sasuke was on, and with a glance at him, took off towards Tazuna's house.
Tsunami had used the fish Naruto caught, as well as the few things she was able to buy from some merchants, to prepare the evening meal. During the meal, she and Tazuna spoke about their day, making sure to express gratitude towards the ninjas that were protecting them. Ino and Sakura then began to talk to Tsunami about girl stuff, while Tazuna engaged Asuma in a discussion.
During the course of the meal, Naruto had been aware of Inari's steadily worsening mood. So when the little boy slapped his hand on the table, Naruto was not among those who flinched at the sudden noise.
"Why do you bother? What makes you think that you can stand up to Gatou? What's the point in trying when you're all going to die anyway? "
Inari ran his gaze along those seated at the table, pleased to notice that he had grabbed their attention, until he noticed the repeated sound of chopsticks clinking against ceramic. Turning to Naruto, who was still eating, he snarled out,
"And you…you piss me off the most! Didn't you hear what I just said? You're all going to die, so why do you bother trying? There are no such things as heroes, so just give up before you die!"
Silence reigned in the room until Naruto finished his meal. Murmuring his thanks to Tsunami, he turned his gaze on Inari. After giving him a thoughtful look, he said,
"You must really hate your grandfather…and your mother too."
Visibly taken aback at that statement, Inari gained a look of confusion on his face, but before he could respond, Naruto continued,
"You say that we are all going to die and so we shouldn't bother trying. Yet, we are assigned to protect your family – your grandfather and your lovely mother. That means that, by your argument, we should stop protecting them and let Gatou do what he wants with them. Therefore, you must hate them."
Inari's mouth opened and closed at Naruto's words, unable to think of anything to say, while the others watched on. Standing up, Naruto began to clear away his used plates, and while doing so, he continued to speak,
"You say that heroes do not exist. I say otherwise, but you are entitled to your opinions. I will say this though: All it takes for a hero to be made is for someone to standup when others would sit down. It's for one person to raise their head when others would keep their heads down. It's for someone to speak out when others would remain silent. It's for someone to say enough, when others would just roll over and take it. At the end of the day, evil can only exist when good people do nothing. "
On that final note, Naruto left to place his dishes in the sink, leaving the room in silence with Inari slumped and considering the words Naruto just spoke.
The eight ninjas from Konoha were gathered around the table in the dining room, all leaning over a map of Wave village, as they each gave their assessments of the situation. The students of Team 10 reported that nothing was amiss during the time they spent with Tazuna at the bridge, except for some of the man's workers deciding to quit out of fear of Gatou. Sakura spoke about the poor living conditions she witnessed when she followed Tsunami.
When it got to Sasuke's turn, he leaned forward and reported about the men he tailed, while marking out their location on the map. He mentioned what he noticed about the state of their weapons and any signs of sword training. He made sure to detail their numbers and anything else he might have heard them talk about. When he was done, he threw a slightly condescending smirk at Naruto, assuming that his teammate had wasted the entire day playing with the children and as such, had nothing to report.
Naruto began to speak in an even tone, all the while placing markers on the map to denote the locations of the places he was speaking about,
"Gatou has a total of 250 mercenaries in his employ. Most of them spend a majority of their time in these three bars, located here, here, and here. He has four buildings set up for their housing at these locations. There are four lead bandits, each in charge of sixty men, who seem to have had some samurai training. These four bandits also have reasonably good equipment – armor and swords. The bandits patrol the village from time to time, usually harassing the villagers. As for Gatou himself, he is located in the huge building at the center of that little island. He always has six bandits with him, and from what I saw, those six are the best trained of all the bandits he has. I was also able to locate the hideout of Momochi Zabuza and his ninja accomplice, called Haku."
As Naruto had begun speaking, eyebrows had been steadily rising at the detailed and comprehensive report. Sasuke, in particular, was completely flummoxed at how much Naruto had been able to learn during the course of the day. However, when Naruto mentioned the missing Nin, eyes widened all around. He continued before anyone could interrupt him,
"I was able to spy on them enough to know that this Haku has some knowledge of healing herbs and as such, Zabuza should be ready to attack in two days at the earliest…tomorrow, if he pushes himself. One final thing, I also learned some information that suggests that Gatou plans to gate crash the confrontation between us and pick off the survivor."
Done, Naruto leaned back and gave the others time to digest his long report. Being a prodigy, Kakashi was the first to process all the information and reach the proper conclusion,
"Gatou never planned to pay Zabuza in the end. Also, after the fight, the survivor might be tired enough to get taken out by such a large force of bandits."
He then cast a serious gaze at the genin gathered around him before meeting Asuma's eyes. Reading the reluctant acceptance in them, he continued,
"Seeing as how Asuma is not yet healed enough for a confrontation so soon, I will be facing Zabuza alone. This means it will fall to all of you to handle the accomplice as well as the mercenaries who might come after."
The grim reality of the situation fully dawned on the gathered genin, and most of them found it hard to fathom. The genin of Team 7, having already had their first kills, were not as nervous as the others though. Nodding once he saw that they understood the situation, he dismissed them from the meeting, telling them to get as much rest as they could since they would all be following Tazuna to the bridge the next day. He turned back to Asuma to finish planning for the impending confrontation.
During breakfast the next day, everyone was on edge. Sensing the tension in the air, the civilians were quiet all throughout the meal. None of them commented when Kakashi casually suggested that Tsunami and Inari should probably stay in all day with Asuma. After the meal, the genins of Team 7 and Team 10 followed Kakashi out, leaving Asuma to guard Tsunami and Inari.
Kakashi instructed the genin of Team 10 to follow Tazuna towards the bridge, while Kakashi would lead his team through the trees, attempting to maintain the element of surprise. When they arrived at the bridge, they all noticed the heavy mist that hung in the air, obscuring everything. Having already gotten Asuma's account on Zabuza's modus operandi, Kakashi knew that today was the awaited confrontation day. He was pleased to notice that Shikamaru had correctly interpreted the situation, and that he had gotten the attention of his teammates.
When they got closer to the bridge, they were all able to see the unconscious and, in some cases, dead bodies of most of the bridge workers. With a cry of horror, Tazuna rushed towards the nearest person, asking what had happened. With his last breath, the worker replied,
"A…ugh…A demon"
A malicious chuckle cut through the heavy fog, instantly putting the gathered ninja on edge. The silhouette of two people, one tall man and a shorter person, became visible in the mist. Slowly emerging from the dense fog, Zabuza was revealed, with a relatively short masked effeminate ninja beside him. Giving off another hair raising chuckle, he inquired,
"What's this, baby genin without their mother hen of a jounin sensei? Well, this should be over quickly then."
In a blur, he was standing next to Chouji, his massive zanbatou already on a course to cleave the genin in twain. The sound of metal hitting metal cut through the air as a silver haired figure was suddenly there, blocking the fatal attack. Zabuza's eyes widened in shock, before he choked on his breath, as a blade erupted from his chest. Barely managing to turn his head around, his eyes landed on a mop of golden hair.
Even with his sword pierced through the Demon of the Mist's chest, Naruto's eyes were focused elsewhere. The impaled figure standing near him suddenly turned into water, as the clone was dispelled by the fatal hit.
The sound of slow, mocking applause came from somewhere else, as another Zabuza stepped into view, his eyes locked on the genin that had taken out his clone.
By this time, the other genin were only just catching up with Naruto's actions. The members of Team 10 were extremely shocked at the speed and proficiency their peer displayed. However, Zabuza's voice pulled them out of their contemplation,
"Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Ninja. I'm looking forward to this fight. Haku, take care of the blond haired one."
In a flash, Kakashi engaged Zabuza, taking their fight away from the rest. Haku stepped forward to fight Naruto, but he was interrupted by Sasuke.
"I'll be your opponent."
And before any of the others could respond to that change, he dashed forward to clash with Haku.
Naruto merely turned to the rest and told them to get into formation around Tazuna. He turned back to face the mist, keeping an eye on the respective fights going on at that time.
Kakashi used the kunai in his right to deflect the swing of the zanbatou, and then he followed up with a blurring jab towards Zabuza's torso with his left. The kunai held in his hand plunged into his opponent's chest, but he never faltered as he ducked in time to avoid a beheading strike from behind. Placing his hand on the floor, he sprung back with a full kick, which was only just blocked by Zabuza's quick reflexes. He still got pushed back though, allowing the two ninja to pause for a moment. Finally deciding to stop feeling each other out, the two blurred towards each other, significantly faster than before.
Sasuke used the pause between their exchanges to take another measure of his opponent. He wasn't too certain if it was a boy or girl he was fighting, but it didn't matter. His opponent was fast, maybe even faster than him, although his hits were stronger. They had been going at it for a few minutes and neither was gaining the upper hand. He focused on his opponent – Haku – in time to hear a voice,
"Please surrender. I do not wish to harm you."
Scoffing at that statement, Sasuke dashed back in with a round house kick aimed at Haku's head. Having learnt by now, Haku elected to dodge instead of block. Leaning back out of the way, he returned with a series of lightning fast jabs which Sasuke only just managed to block. Suddenly pulling a senbon out of the air, Haku lurched forward to disable Sasuke, only to have a kunai interrupt the path of his needle. Knowing that he stood no chance of overpowering the other ninja, Haku finally decided to use jutsu. Speaking to Sasuke, he said,
"You should have given up when you had the chance; now, you have already lost."
Sasuke's eyes widened as he noticed his opponent weaving one handle seals. Suddenly Haku stomped his foot and said, Hyoton: Sensatsu Suishou (Ice Release: Death by a Thousand Flying Water Needles). His gaze was drawn downwards as he noticed the movement of the puddle of water next to them. Suddenly, the water sprang up into the air and froze into lethal ice needles before his disbelieving eyes. Knowing what would come next, Sasuke's eyes frantically searched for an escape route. Wanting to smack himself for being dumb, he channeled chakra to his legs and blurred out of the way in time to escape being made into a pincushion.
Haku glanced left and right, looking for his elusive prey, before a shadow had him looking up, only to receive a powerful kick to the face. Sasuke smirked as he watched Haku painfully get back to his feet. His smirk left his face at Haku's next words,
"I did not want to go this far, but for Zabuza-sama I will kill my heart, and kill you."
Hyoton: Makyou Hyoushou (Ice Release: Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors)
Sasuke watched with rising trepidation as a dome, made up of numerous ice mirrors, rose up around him. Haku stepped into the mirror nearest to him, and suddenly, his image appeared in every single mirror. Every single one of the images held up a couple of senbon and took aim. Suddenly the air was filled with flashing needles and before Sasuke knew what had happened, he found himself stabbed in numerous places – needles sticking out everywhere. His eyes widened as his body lurched forward in shocked pain. Haku brought up another hand with senbon while Sasuke was pulling out whatever senbon he could get to. He vanished from the mirrors, blitzing through the air at insane speeds, leaving Sasuke with many more senbon sticking out of his body. Against his will, a scream of intense pain was wrenched from his throat as he fell to his knees; his body incapable of putting up with the strain.
Kakashi whipped around at the pained sound coming from where the genin were. Before he could go and check up on them, Zabuza was suddenly in his face, swinging at him. Having already revealed his sharingan eye, he was able to dodge the swipes and retaliate when he saw an opening. The figure in front of him turned to water at his fatal strike, causing him to whirl in surprise, searching for his foe. A quicksilver flash of intuition had him speeding towards Tazuna, arriving just in time to get the old man out of the way of Zabuza's strike. His maneuver was not without cost however, and he gained a long gash along his chest for his troubles. Not even flinching at the pain, he lashed out with a powerful kick which connected and propelled Zabuza away from the genin. Pausing in his dash to re-engage the nukenin, he locked gazes with Naruto and after a moment, he nodded at his student.
Naruto threw a glance at the four genin behind him as his sensei dashed off once more. He spoke up in his usual calm and unbothered tone,
"Stay and keep an eye on the old man. Sakura, prepare to give aid to Sasuke; I'll be returning with him shortly."
He then turned back to the mist, and vanished without a trace.
Haku prepared to throw a final barrage of senbon at his opponent. They had been at it for minutes now, and Sasuke had noticed that over time, he eyes were getting more attuned to Haku's dazzling speeds. Finally noticing that he could almost follow his enemy's movements, he realized that he must have awakened his bloodline limit – The Sharingan. A quick glance into one of the mirrors revealed that his deductions were spot on. It was pointless however as, after attempting to use a Grand Fireball to melt a mirror, and failing, he was too low on chakra to do anything with his Sharingan except watch his death approach. He looked on as Haku prepared what would be the last of the senbon barrages. Knowing that he couldn't do anything to prevent it, he waited to die.
As Haku vanished from his mirror, zipping across the air at tremendous speeds, uncountable senbon cut through the air – all aimed at vital spots on Sasuke's body.
They never hit.
There was suddenly a blur of red, silver and gold continually surrounding Sasuke, followed by a sound like tinkling bells as every single senbon was deflected by a metal blade moving so fast that there was practically a circle of unyielding metal around him. Both Sasuke and Haku gaped in disbelieving shock as Naruto slowed down from his high speed movement around Sasuke, having just knocked all the airborne senbon out of the air with his ninjato.
Sasuke was in a state of shock. His Sharingan had been active when his teammate came to his aid, and still, all he was able to perceive was an indistinguishable blur. Impossible, his mind shouted, no can one can be that fast.
Haku shook off his shock and observed the newcomer. Before he could say anything to him, Naruto spoke,
"I heard you when you said that you wanted to avoid the bloodshed. So, I will give you the chance to surrender now, before I am forced to take you down."
Looking at the new arrival, Haku was filled with the certainty that he was no match for the blond haired ninja before him. Brushing off whatever reservations he had, he prepared to pepper the two ninjas with more senbon.
Seeing Haku preparing his assault, Naruto sighed out sadly. Before Haku could begin to move, Naruto spun and faced the exact mirror which contained the real body of Haku. Haku's eyes had not finished widening in surprise before Naruto intoned, Raiton: Gian (Lightning Release: False Darkness).
A bright white spear of crackling lighting flashed out of Naruto's mouth, covering the distance to the ice mirror in an instant. Haku was unable to dodge it in time and so braced himself for impact as the spear reached the mirror, not expecting what happened next.
The spear of lightning tore through the mirror like Haku's senbons cut through the air moments before, causing Haku to let loose a gasp of pain as the bolt propelled him away, shocking him terribly.
Sasuke's wide eyes travelled from the newly made hole in the dome, to his teammate. He suddenly felt a powerful surge of glee as he realized that he had had his Sharingan trained on Naruto when his teammate was performing the technique. His feeling of triumph was ruthlessly squashed in the next instant when he remembered that his teammate never used hand seals. The gleam of amusement in Naruto's blue eyes told Sasuke that he knew what he was thinking. Gritting his teeth, he turned away from his teammate in annoyance, only to be startled as he felt a hand on his shoulder, before the world blurred around him. He noticed that he was suddenly standing a few yards away from the other genin, just in time for his legs to finally fail him. Sakura and Ino caught him before he fell and began to fuss over his injuries, while arguing with each other on who should get to treat him.
Seeing that they had everything in hand, Naruto turned to return to the lying figure of Haku. Approaching the slightly smoking body on the bridge, Naruto noticed that Haku was lying face down. As soon as he was a few steps away, Haku's body shifted, thrusting a senbon towards his eye. A few scant inches from impact, Naruto moved.
Haku's thrust pierced through the head of the afterimage left behind by Naruto, even as his body was already curling from the impact of the elbow planted in his gut. He was suspended in that position for the length of a breath, before momentum kicked in and he was propelled viciously further into the mist.
Walking forward, Naruto sensed that Gatou had finally arrived. Deciding to wrap things up, he clapped his hands then threw them forward, while intoning, Fuuton: Reppuushou (Wind Release: Gale Palm). A surge of chakra laced wind tore through the mist, easily dispelling it and revealing the entirety of the bridge for all to see.
Zabuza was standing on the bridge, bleeding from various wounds on his body, and his eyes widened as soon as he noticed the defeated body of his accomplice lying close to him. Kakashi was perched on top of one of the high rise beams directly above Zabuza, also with injuries of his own. Both their heads whipped to Naruto as he continued to walk forward. Casually raising an arm, Naruto pointed to the other end of the bridge. Slowly, they both turned to see Gatou standing at the head of a huge bandit army. By this time, Haku had painstakingly gotten to his feet and limped to Zabuza's side. Zabuza's quick mind correctly deduced the reason for Gatou's presence. Gritting his teeth, he spat out,
"Gatou, just what in the hell do you think you are doing?"
Giving an oily smile to his employee, Gatou responded,
"Why, taking out an insurance policy of course. Missing-Nin are quite expensive my friend, I'm sure you understand."
Realizing that neither he nor Haku was in a good enough shape to take on all the bandits without risk, he turned to Kakashi.
"It seems like our business here is done Hatake."
Giving a nod to him, Kakashi jumped down to his blond haired student's position, sparing a moment to glance at the other genin gathered around Tazuna; reassuring himself that they were fine. He turned back to face the situation at hand, cursing himself for getting carried away and using up as much energy as he had. He snapped out of his internal musings as he noticed Naruto stepping forward towards Zabuza and the fake Hunter Nin.
Zabuza and Haku tensed slightly as Naruto approached them. They didn't drop their guards even as he stepped past them, closer to Gatou and the bandits. Turning his suddenly frigid gaze on the people in front of him, he spoke in a tone that effortlessly cut through the air, causing shivers of discomfort due to how lethal he sounded,
"Just to be able to say I tried, I will give each of you the chance to leave here unharmed, as long as you never disturb this village again."
Even Zabuza and Haku gaped at the genin for a moment, before the raucous laughter of the bandits drew their attention again. Naruto simply took another step forward, and partially slid his sword out of its sheathe; preparing to draw it. Snorting at the child in front of him, the lead bandit stepped forward and shouted out,
"Come on boys, let's kill these pieces of trash and the old man. Then we can have our way with the rest of the villagers."
The resulting roar of approval from the other bandits was so loud, it almost shook the bridge, also masking the sound of Naruto's blade returning to its sheathe. The other genin paled slightly at the prospect of having to kill the bandits before them. The sound from the bandits was abruptly cut off as the air stilled and a crackling sound cut through the air.
Everyone focused on Naruto to find his right arm held above his head, with his hand curled as though he were holding a javelin. In the cusp of his hand, yellow lightning crackled merrily away.
With a steadily increasing hum in the air, Naruto's emotionless voice cut through the air like a herald for Death, Raiton: Rairyuu no Houtengeki (Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd).
A glowing yellow halberd of supercharged death flashed into existence in Naruto's curled hand, which he then promptly threw forward. The attack sped through the air, reaching the front line of the gathered bandits before anyone could react. By that time, the bladed part of the halberd had widened to equal the width of the bridge, ensuring that it got everyone in its path. It sliced through the bandit horde, flash frying internal organs, evaporating the blood in their veins, and destroying their brains.
Moments before it got to Gatou, who had long since retreated to the back of the group, it abruptly narrowed to the width of a man's torso. It pierced through Gatou's chest and carried the screaming man out over the water, where it promptly detonated.
Once the resulting lightshow ended, only the ash drifting down to the sea was left as proof that Gatou ever existed.
Naruto turned around to find Zabuza and Haku gaping at him with widened eyes. Looking past them, he met the proud eye of his teacher, and then the shocked and slightly frightened faces of his fellow genin.
As he was walking back to the others on the bridge, a clone of his landed beside him, threw him a scroll, and then dispelled itself in a brief flash of lightning. He ignored the curious gazes of his teammates and turned to face Zabuza and Haku who tensed under his cool gaze. He unrolled the scroll partway and swiped his finger along it. With a small puff of smoke, a bag was suddenly in his hand. He tossed it at Zabuza, who reflexively caught it. Looking inside, his eyes widened again as he noticed the large amount of money in it. Casting a questioning gaze at Naruto, he received a simple nod in response. Surprising Kakashi and the others watching them, he inclined his head towards Naruto, then turned with Haku and vanished from sight.
Naruto returned to Kakashi's side in time to catch him as his chakra exhaustion finally caught up to him. He noticed that his sensei couldn't even summon up the energy to cover his transplanted eye, so he did it for him – to the visible relief of his teacher. Together, they made their way back to the rest of their team and the old man.
AN: Finally. I've been waiting to reach the chunin exams and really get started on the main parts of the story. Thank you for putting up with these relatively droll parts of the story so far. Hopefully, we can kick it into high gear with the next one.
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