Chapter 10: Wave Mission: Nicknames?

Naruto and his team sat down to dinner the last night before Kakashi would be back to full health. Now that Kakashi was reaching full strength again, Kakashi himself was preparing for Zabuza to appear again soon, which would be most likely within the next few days. He had told his genin as such and they had all nodded, agreeing to be prepared for his accomplice.

In regards to training, Sakura had mastered the tree climbing exercise within the week. She had come home exhausted everyday but she wore a proud smile at the end of the week as she sat next to her teammates.

Sasuke had managed to finally reach the top of the tree about halfway through the day yesterday and had been working on mastering this exercise, he had never thanked Naruto for his help but he rarely called Naruto a dobe nowadays, something Naruto had noted with interest.

Naruto was constantly watching Tazuna on guard duty, but what no one knew was that he used this time to study the Genjutsu he had memorized the seals for and get the appropriate level of chakra for each technique. Despite figuring out the main problem with his Genjutsu, Naruto had needed to train with his techniques, just as with any jutsu, in order to get them down correctly and begin to master them. It had, initially, been a question of how much of his chakra he would have to use to get the Genjutsu to catch. After he had managed that against his clones, he kept using those techniques in order to get used to the way the chakra flowed within him and how the Genjutsu required him to use his chakra. The ultimate goal of this was to make it so he could cast Genjutsu with just a single movement of his body, something that he had been enamored with once he read about it in his Genjutsu book.

He could proudly say that he could do almost all of the Genjutsu he had memorized the handseals for and one of his own self-made Genjutsus. He was rather excited to try it out in a combat situation, and, though he knew that was hazardous, he knew that Kurenai had approved of all of his Genjutsu and said that they would be able to be used in combat once he had tested them himself to make sure they would be cast.

Naruto looked up from his food and noticed that Inari was glaring at him as he and his team sat there with a happy and carefree air surrounding them. Naruto shrugged the little boy's glare off and continued to eat as he listened to Sakura speak to Tsunami about cooking skills while the rest of the table simply sat in silence, enjoying their meals.

"Why?" Inari whispered but Naruto caught it. He turned his gaze onto the little child as he gave him his full attention. He noticed that Inari had some tears accumulating on the edge of his eyes, "Why do you bother to try so hard? No matter how hard you train, you still won't be able to match Gatou's men. No matter how hard you try, the weak will only end up getting trampled by the strong. You're going to get killed." he yelled at the team.

Sasuke scoffed and Sakura looked a bit upset at the boy's outburst. It was Naruto's expression that hardened, his icy blues locking all form of irritation behind their reflective glaciel appearance, "You're wrong kid. Don't lump us together with you." he said coldly to the young wave resident. Tsunami, Tazuna and Kakashi all shivered at his tone, something they couldn't get used to since it came from a child, or in Kakashi's case, his sensei's happy-go-lucky kid.

Inari scoffed, "What the hell do you know about me!" he shouted as his tears started flowing freely, "You're always training and acting like Gatou's men won't even phase you, you act so damn high and mighty just because your a ninja. You're nothing like me! You don't know how hard life can really be." he finished as his tirade came to a close.

Kakashi looked over to Naruto, his eye widening at a look he had thought he would never see again. Kakashi felt his body shiver as he looked into Naruto's eyes. Naruto's eyes were no longer their glaciel appearance as before, they had morphed into a rolling maelstrom of anger and contempt. Kakashi could almost hear the snap of Naruto's handle upon his emotions as he glared at Inari with all of the force of his emotions.

Tsunami and Tazuna seemed shocked at Naruto's sudden change in attitude. The kid hadn't been the happiest around them but he was never one to get angry or brood. The sheer amount of contempt that Naruto had in his gaze made them wonder what the hell he had gone through for what Inari had said to trigger this type of response.

Sasuke and Sakura stared at Inari before turning to Naruto and flinching back from his eyes. They never knew Naruto could ever hold anger within his gaze but the sheer amount within those blue stormy eyes was enough to curdle any man's stare.

Inari started to shiver when Naruto's eyes had locked onto his own and Naruto spoke in a low voice, "So, its okay for you to sit around your house moping like some tragic hero? Each and every day simply wasting your time crying your little eyes out? What a waste." Naruto said.

Inari's body shivered and his eyes were puffy from his crying but he still managed to retort, "You have no idea how much I have lost!"

Naruto's stare didn't waver at all, "Your father." he said solemnly, "I'm sure Kaiza would be turning over in his grave. His son being a coward and all." he said with contempt.

"Naruto! You've said enough!" Sakura said as she shot up and glared at Naruto. Naruto turned away from the table and stood, he scoffed before walking out of the house and into the woods surrounding the house. The whole table watched as he left, a single question running through their heads, "What the hell happened to him?"

Naruto awoke to the sound of yelling outside the house. He blinked his eyes as his brain rushed to catch up with what was happening.

"Stop! If you hurt him, I'll bite my tongue off." Tsunami yelled from outside. Naruto heard two men grunt before one responded.

"Lucky brat, you get to live. Let's go we only need one of them." the man said before Naruto heard Inari start to sob.

As this happened, his mind caught the position of the sun and the fact that it was much later in the day than he had thought. He realized that the men out there must be thugs sent to kidnap Tazuna's family in order to get some leverage on the bridge builder, probably in case Zabuza failed. So, Naruto crept out of his futon, noticing he was still dressed, and peered out of the window down to the dock that surrounded the house.

He saw the two men, one of which had Tsunami in a hold and the other looking at the crying Inari, both had swords strapped to their waists. One had the oddest assortment of tattoos littering his body with an eyepatch and a rolled down shirt bunched up at his waist leading to zebra style pants. The other wore an overcoat with a black hat and beige pants with tattoos around his eyes.

Just as soon as Naruto took this in, Inari let loose a loud cry, causing Naruto to smirk at the kid's renewed courage. "Wait!" he yelled at the two.

"Looking at her pretty skin really makes me want to cut something kid. You shouldn't be an annoyance." the man with the tattoos said.

"Get away from my mom!" Inari yelled, ignoring the man's threat and charging forward. The two men smirked looking at the kid's blind charge with amusement.

Naruto watched as Inari approached the two men. He was five steps away when the one with the overcoat said, "Cut him." and both of the men took stances with their hands on their swords. He had reached three steps away when they both started to unsheath their swords in preparation for their swings. He was one step away when Tsunami yelled out, "Inari!" and both of them men swung their swords at the kid who dared to interfere with their job, one with a happy smile on his face, the other with indifference.

Inari's body hit the ground, his face stuck in his clenched eye pose as he charged at his opponents. Tsunami stared in shock as her son's body was cut to ribbons in front of her and her eyes started to leak tears while she fell to the floor, her legs losing the will to keep standing after seeing one of the last people in her family having perished. The two men simply scoffed at the boy with contempt and amusement at his foolish attempt to save his mother.

They were both shocked when they saw, not blood, but sakura petals start to pour from the three pieces that the boy they had supposedly cut to pieces. The sakura petals started to increase in number until a particularly violent wave of wind seemed to blow up and they covered their eyes in an attempt to block their eyes from damage. By the time both of them could see again, they couldn't see any part of Inari in front of them. They both looked a bit shocked at that until they noticed that Tsunami had disappeared as well.

"Damn!" the one with the tattoos said as the sakura petals started to swirl around them. "Genjutsu! I hate ninja!" the man said.

"You two made three mistakes today." a disembodied voice drifted to them. Both of them placed their backs to each other as they drew their weapons and set themselves in a defensive position. "The first was working for scum like Gatou." the voice said from seemingly everywhere, "The second was attacking those under my own protection." a hint of annoyance flowing into the voice which caused the two samurai to take a swing in one direction together, both of them hitting nothing, "The final mistake, was attacking innocents during battle." the voice said before they both felt weights on their backs and their throats being sliced by cold metal before they began to hold their throats in a futile attempt to stem the flood of blood that came from the deadly attack.

"Genjutsu: Sakura gensō"(1) Naruto said as he stood about ten steps away from the two men, he watched as the two began to move around almost as if blind to the world. His eyes had returned to their icy blue as he looked at the scum that had attempted to kill Inari. He made two Kage bunshin and turned to Tsunami and Inari, both of whom were looking at Naruto in awe at how fast he had gotten them away from the two samurai.

He spoke then, his voice slightly warmer than before, "Good job Inari. Your father would be proud." Inari smiled widely from Naruto's praise, having heard a little about Naruto's childhood from Kakashi, Inari felt a bit connected with Naruto. "Tsunami-san, is there any place you can go hide until this day is over with?" he asked as he looked over at the matriarch that had been watching the house.

Tsunami nodded, "Then please head there now, These shadow clones will protect you until you reach there and act as guards." he said as he made another ten clones and sent Tsunami and Inari on their way. He turned back to the two samurai as Tsunami and Inari went around the house. He saw his shadow clones draw their kunai across the men's throats and winced slightly as he watched their shocked expressions turn into horrified looks before watching as their eyes slowly dimmed with each flow of blood that escaped their bodies.

Naruto was a bit surprised the men hadn't dispelled the Genjutsu since he had known about it but he supposed it didn't matter since the man was now dead. He felt a sliver of pride as he realized he had just successfully used Genjutsu during combat. But that was crushed by another feeling.

He felt remorse for killing the two but he couldn't leave them alive. They were enemies and had already tried to kill a person under his protection, a child no less. They were dead the moment they swung at Inari. He sighed before pushing them into the water and having his two clones wash the blood away before it stained as he looked over towards the bridge. He would have to deal with his emotions later, right now, his team needed him. He jumped up into the trees and quickly began to travel towards the bridge.

Naruto arrived at the bridge, hidden by the mist that Naruto could tell was Zabuza's since it had his chakra in it just like the last time. He looked at the bridge for a moment before deciding coming up the side of it would be better than running along the top of it and began to scale the walls from down by the water. As he reached the top of the bridge, he stopped when he heard, "Makyou Hyoushou."

Naruto slowly peeked over the edge of the bridge and took stock of the situation before rushing in like he might have done before his forced transformation. He saw Sasuke standing in the middle of some ice mirrors, senbon riddling his body with blood dripping from the many cuts on his body. He saw a flash and Sasuke suddenly had more senbon in his body than before, he assumed that was the accomplice's jutsu.

He panned his view to look over at where he felt Kakashi's chakra battling Zabuza's. He saw that the two were in a tense face off that Kakashi desperately wanted to get out of because of his frequent glances over at Sasuke's battle. He also noticed that Sakura was shaking slightly but her face held a determination that hadn't been there the last time they faced Zabuza. She and Tazuna were behind Kakashi with her acting as the last guard. Naruto quickly decided that Kakashi could handle Zabuza and that Sasuke was in need of his help more at the moment.

Naruto made a shadow clone and waited for the appropriate moment for him to jump in. He saw his chance when he saw Sakura speak to Tazuna and jump away from him, tossing a kunai at the mirrors and Naruto watched as Zabuza's accomplice melted out of the mirrors and grabbed it. He instantly threw his own shuriken at the person in the mirrors, it hit the person managing to knock the person out of their jutsu and land outside the circle of mirrors. He signaled the Kage Bunshin and it jumped up onto the bridge as he snuck under it and popped up on the other side as the whole contigent of ninja were distracted by his Kage Bunshin's loud entrance.

"Uzumaki Naruto is finally here! Nothing to fear." his shadow clone yelled out as Kakashi, Sasuke, the Hunter-nin, and Zabuza all looked over at him. Kakashi smiled as did Sakura while Sasuke held a grimace of pain. The Huner-nin's face was obscured and Zabuza seemed to have a twitch in his eye. Naruto smirked as he quietly snuck into the circle of mirrors, years of inadvertant stealth training making it easy for him to do so without catching attention.

Zabuza's arm seemed to twitch and four shuriken flew out towards Naruto. Kakashi and Sakura watched with widened eyes as the shuriken flew true and lodged themselves in four different lethal points on the body. Zabuza seemed to smirk as Naruto looked down in surprise and the Huner-nin stood from his position. "Naruto!" Sakura yelled in disbelief.

Naruto suddenly smirked, "Fooled Ya!" he said before poofing into smoke and the entire contigent blinked except Sasuke who finally spoke from his place under Naruto's arm. "You... (cough) dobe." he said weakly. Naruto smirked as he lifted Sasuke and began to leave the circle of ice mirrors. Every eye snapped to where Naruto and Sasuke were now standing and Kakashi eyesmiled in pride.

Zabuza didn't take too kindly to how Naruto had fooled the man and said, "Haku, kill that boy." with annoyance in his voice. The hunter-nin, finally named in Naruto's case, Haku nodded before rushing into one of the mirrors in an attempt to keep Naruto from leaving the circle of mirrors. Naruto increased his speed, slightly cursing Sasuke's loud mouth and hoping to beat the ice-user's own rush. It was not to be as Naruto was right about to leave from the circle when he was stopped by a hail of senbon that he had to jump back to avoid. He cursed and set Sasuke back on his own feet, both getting ready to fight this enemy.

"Their finished in that jutsu Kakashi. Now, let's get this started!" Zabuza said as he looked at Kakashi. Kakashi merely stared at the man as he tried to figure out if he was going to be able to get around him and help Sasuke and Naruto, "Can't use Kage bunshin and if I leave, he will just kill Tazuna. Damn! But how does that kid have such a jutsu..." he thought to himself as he heard his student's grunts of pain.

"A Kekkei Genkai!" Kakashi said. Zabuza laughed maniacally as he nodded to Kakashi's assumption and Kakkashi cursed again.

Naruto's eyes darted everywhere as he looked at the many different reflections of his enemy. "Why the hell did you come in here Naruto! You should have attacked from outside." Sasuke reprimanded. Naruto rolled his eyes, ignoring the fact that if Sasuke had kept his mouth shut he could have managed to get Sasuke out of here. Sasuke just scoffed and began doing handseals, "Katon: Goukyaku no Jutsu" he said as he inhaled a large amount of air and exhaled, sending a particularly large amount of fire directly at one of the ice mirrors.

"Good call Sasuke, the fire should melt the ice." Naruto thought. Both he and Sasuke were surprised when the ice mirror simply seemed to have a bit of condensation on it from the intense heat. Haku chuckled as he looked at his enemies. "A fire of that level won't do anything to my ice." Haku said as Sasuke and Naruto were suddenly riddled with more senbon. Naruto grunted and saw Sasuke fall to a knee as his usage of chakra and his wounds took their toll.

"Then I'll just break every single one of them!" Naruto said as he summoned up close to 15 more clones and they all separated while heading to their own mirrors. Naruto blinked as flashes began to appear and the memories of his clones' short lives began to replay. Naruto saw as each was destroyed by a Haku while stabbing it in the neck. He cursed as he felt each of his clones disperse and his own body become riddled with senbon yet again, he knew his regeneration was working on the cuts but the senbon inside his body would cause more damage if he pulled them out. Both he and Sasuke were looking around trying to find the real one.

"I suppose I should just tell you, trying to find the real me is useless. You will never be able to follow my movements. This jutsu uses the reflections to move myself to each mirror. From my point of view... you seem to be moving in slow motion." Haku said. Naruto and Sasuke cursed. Naruto considered removing the weights around his legs but decided that they awarded him more protection on than increasing his speed if what Haku said was true.

"No jutsu is invicnible Haku-san, every shinobi knows that. Its just a matter of finding that weakness." Naruto scoffed as he looked at Sasuke out the corner of his eye, "Sasuke is almost dead on his feet. I need to get him out of here. I only have that one Genjutsu I can use. If this doesn't work... I'm going to be out of tricks." he thought. He began to make the hand sign for the Kage Bunshin when Haku spoke again.

"I see." Haku said, noticing Naruto's now ice cold eyes and Sasuke's burning determination, "It is hard for me to kill my heart and become a true shinobi. If possible, I like to avoid bloodshed. But, I see that you two are determined, very well, I will kill my gentle heart with the cold blade of a killer and become the tool Zabuza-sama needs of me." Haku said right as Naruto began to move again, "This bridge is where we shall fight for our dreams, your dreams and mine. I fight to protect those precious to me, to fight for that person, to work for that person, to see his dream made real. For that, I can kill you." he said right as Naruto spoke.

"Ninpo: Shadow Clone no Jutsu" Naruto yelled as close to 30 clones appeared and they all started to jump up into the air to attack the mirrors again.

"Foolish!" Haku said as he disappeared and became that flash again to destroy the clones. He missed Naruto's smirk as he began his own hand seals, he saw that Sasuke was now beginning his own handseals too. He ignored Sasuke as he rushed through his sequence and whispered out, "Genjutsu: Kankaku chūdan."(2)

Just as Naruto finished his own jutsu, Sasuke exhaled again and let loose his own fireball as Naruto's final clone dispersed. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise as he saw Haku appear in the mirrors again with the tail of his kimono burnt from Sasuke's attack. Naruto turned to Sasuke and noticed his eyes. "Sharingan." he said quietly but Sasuke heard him. Sasuke turned to Naruto and his eyes widened as he saw his reflection, catching sight of his precious sharingan spinning in his eyes. Two tomoes were in his right eye and his left eye had one tomoe. Sasuke smirked superiorly.

Naruto nodded and turned his attention back to Haku, "Those eyes. I see, you are of the Uchiha Clan are you." Haku said, "Then this battle must end now. I regret to kill you but there is a limit to how long I can keep up this speed." Haku's chakra spiked and Naruto cursed mentally, "Dammit, he dispelled my Genjutsu before he even left the mirrors. Did he notice it or was that merely a fluke?" Naruto thought to himself as he felt a few more senbon hit him and he fell to a knee as the pain began to build.

Sasuke dodged the senbon and yelled, "Just try to dodge Naruto. He is slowing and he must be close to losing what chakra he has left." Naruto grunted as he attempted to stand from his place. Just as Sasuke said this, Sakura's scream could be heard from the thick mist that had accumulated at the other end of the bridge. Both Sasuke and Naruto's heads snapped to it as a bolt of fear shot through the two of them.

Haku saw his chance and took it, a spike of chakra alerted the two konoha ninja as Haku emerged from his mirror. Naruto's eyes could see only a flash as Sasuke thought to himself, "Damn! Make it in time." All Naruto felt was his body being pushed as he fell to the floor and then the sound of senbon entering the body. He looked back to see Haku laying on the floor with Sasuke standing over Naruto himself, "All you ever do is get in the way, Dobe." Sasuke said before he coughed up blood, a huge splash of it landing in front of his hurt body. Naruto's eyes widened in shock.

"Sasuke!" he said urgently as he began to stand back up.

"Geez whats with that face, you (cough) moron." Sasuke said as he looked back at Naruto.

"You idiot! I didn't ask you to save me!" Naruto shouted, his blue eyes staring into Sasuke's lone exposed Sharingan eye.

"I don't know why. My body just moved on its own." Sasuke said as his eyes began to glaze over. Naruto's eyes widened even further as he rushed forward, his pretenses of keeping his speed hidden completely gone, as he reached Sasuke before he even fell an inch. He looked down at the Uchiha's eyes, his own speaking his concern as he looked at him. "That (cough) man, my brother, (cough) I swore I wouldn't (cough) die until I had killed him." Sasuke said, his voice fading with each word, "Don't you die too." he whispered out as he fell limp in Naruto's arms and his eyes closed for the final time. Naruto's eyes reflected Sasuke's still body as he stared at his teammate's death, his mind having gone blank at the information that Sasuke had died.

"He landed a blow on me without flinching, and died to protect you. To protect a precious person, knowing it was a trap and still willing to jump in. He is a shinobi that deserves respect." Haku said as he rose from his position, watching as Naruto's eyes kept staring into Sasuke's closed ones as he gently laid his body down on the ground, crouching above his body in a protective stance. "Is this your first death of a friend?" Haku questioned, his tone light, like he is talking of the weather, "This is the way of the shinobi." he said as he began to merge into a mirror again.

Naruto's eyes never left Sasuke's face, his mind finally catching up to what had happened and what had been done while he had stood by and simply watched, his mind flashing with instances of comraderie with Sasuke, which despite their oddities, Sasuke and Naruto did have a few. Naruto's feelings about Sasuke had gone through a major change, Naruto still felt a small connection with all of his teammates. The fact he had helped Sasuke proved that, so it wasn't surprising when Naruto's reaction was violent by the death of his first... comrade. "I will never forgive you!" Naruto thought as he looked down at his teammate.

Then, he felt it. The unimaginable power. The unstoppable hatred and anger that encompassed that power, the roiling emotions that came behind this new revelation. Naruto's mind instantly reached for the power he needed. He felt his hairs stand on end and his anger swell as the power began to fill him. His emotions swept aside in a veritable tidal wave of hatred and anger that led to Naruto's body snapping his head straight at Haku's mirrors and his voice saying, in a low and gravelly tone that sounded more malicious than anything Naruto himself could ever achieve, "I'll kill you!" he snarled out as his canine teeth sharpened, his hair began to sway in the power well that he was becoming, his nails sharpened into claws and his eyes changed from his icy blues to a malignant red with slitted pupils leading to Haku's surprise behind his mask.

Naruto felt the power swell and swirl around him as his anger grew. The red chakra becoming visible to the naked eye as it began to swirl and twist around him looking almost like a whirlpool from Haku's highest mirror before the very top of the chakra swirl morphed into a snarling fox's head and the concrete of the bridge began to get cut from the chakra.

Haku watched in fascination as the cuts on Naruto's body instantly started to heal and the malignant aura of whatever Naruto was doing began to swell out and encompass the area surrounding them. "What Killer Intent. He is totally different!" Haku thought to himself as he saw Naruto's gaze whip around and stare at the real him. Haku raised his arms and sent his senbon flying as Naruto came charging at him.

Naruto continued running forward and let loose a roar as the senbon came close, the roar combined with his chakra deflecting the senbon. "He deflected them?" Haku though to himself. Naruto started to look around furiously in every direction, Haku came dropping in from the top but Naruto easily flipped himself to the side with his increased reflexes and actions being enhanced by the Kyuubi's youki. Haku landed and dashed off towards his next mirror. But Naruto was not having it, he dashed forward and disappeared from sight as he appeared next to Haku, grabbing the boy by his leg and slamming the surprised Ice-user onto the ground.

Haku stood back up but was instantly caught by Naruto's hand as he roared again, causing Haku to grunt as he tried to hold back the force of chakra that Naruto was sending out against his mirrors. Naruto seemingly smirked before sending his punch straight at Haku's facemask. Haku went flying and crashed through his own mirror, skidding to a stop at the edge of the mist that Zabuza created. Naruto stood in the middle of the crumbling ice mirrors, looking like a demon in human skin as he glared at Haku.

"I am sorry Zabuza-sama. I cannot defeat this boy." Haku thought as he watched Naruto close in for the kill. Naruto seemed to appear next to Haku and Haku simply closed his eyes to accept his fate. But, Baruto grabbed the kid by the throat and slammed him back onto the concrete, keeping his hand around Haku's neck as he glared down at him, his eyes now his normal blue.

"What's the matter? Can't kill me even though I killed your precious friend?" Haku questioned as he looked up at Naruto with dead eyes. Naruto scoffed as he looked down at Haku.

"Precious? He is only precious to me in regards to my team. Other than that, I have no interest in him." Naruto stated coldly.

"Your actions state otherwise." Haku said. Naruto merely shook his head.

"I have another reason for that. But tell me, why would you work for such scum as Zabuza?" Naruto asked with a hint of curiousity.

Haku smiled, "Back when I was a child..." Naruto clenched harder on his neck as he heard Kakashi say something in the mist while Zabuza cried out in pain.

"Short version Haku-san, or you may fail yet again." Naruto said coldly as the mist began to drift away.

"He is my precious person." Haku said while smiling sincerely, Naruto's hold on his neck faltered right as Kakashi yelled out, "Chidori" Haku and Naruto both heard a sound that resembled those of a thousand birds chirping. Naruto looked up to see Kakashi standing with his hand encased in what looked to be lightning while Zabuza was being held down by dogs with bandanas on their bodies or necks.

"I will say this once more, surrender Zabuza." Kakashi said.

"Never!" Zabuza replied as he struggled against his bindings. Kakashi sighed before beginning to move forward almost instantly disappearing into a flash as Naruto let go of Haku's neck.

Naruto looked down at Haku, seeing the desperation and pleading in those eyes, so very much like his own, Naruto's cold mask broke and his emotions burst forth. Thoughts about how much he hated not being able to help Sasuke and he wasn't even a true precious person like Haku seemed to feel about Zabuza. Naruto closed his eyes, shaking his head slightly, "Go save him, but you know he is just going to die anyways." Naruto said tiredly before turning and leaving Haku as he made his way back to Sasuke's body. Naruto made a Kage Bunshin, who kneeled down and picked up Sasuke's body as Naruto's sensor told him that Haku had saved Zabuza from Kakashi's attack. He sighed before turning around, intent on helping Kakashi.

He saw that Kakashi had ran Haku through with his jutsu, something which Naruto found intriguing about the piercing ability of such an attack. He also noticed how blood was splattered all over the bridge where Kakashi was standing as Haku's blood poured from his still body. Zabuza had a slightly shocked look in his face as Kakashi was looking at Haku with confusion.

What Naruto was unprepared for was for Zabuza to smirk at his sensei, "Seems I really got a good tool." and bring his huge blade around with his right arm as his left hung limply by his side, smacking the flat of his giant blade into Kakashi and Haku, whose body was stuck on Kakashi's arm thus weighing him down, and sent them crashing into Tazuna and Sakura knocking out the rest of his team.

Naruto began to take stock of the situation by first sensing Zabuza's chakra pool. He noticed the man's chakra was extremely depleted from his fight with Kakashi. He also noticed that he hadn't lifted his Zanbato from its position after it had slammed into the concrete of the bridge from his swing which knocked out his sensei. Finally, Naruto saw that the man's chest was heaving as he took big breaths through his bandages. Naruto's face set back into an emotionless mask as he began the handseals to the same Genjutsu that he had cast on Haku. "Genjutsu: Kankaku chūdan" he whispered to himself as he cast the Genjutsu at Zabuza.

Naruto waited, tensed after he had cast the Genjutsu, expecting the jounin to sense the invading chakra and immediately dispel the Genjutsu. He began to stalk forward, his hand grabbing a kunai from his pouch as he stealthy took a few steps and leaned down, his fingers reaching for the weights on his legs. He let out a low breath as he pressed the release button on his weights just as Zabuza seemed to get some strength back into his body as he started to raise his blade. Naruto, knowing he had only one shot at this, quickly channeled chakra to his legs to reach his maximum speed, around low-jounin level when he could run in a straight line, as he dashed towards his opponent.

Zabuza's ears twitched and that was all the warning Naruto got as he appeared to streak towards Zabuza. Zabuza swung his cleaver around in an arc behind himself to attack his opponent but Naruto smirked as the blade passed harmlessly in front of him, his Genjutsu worked, and stepped into the man's guard before he could recover, slamming his kunai into Zabuza's sole remaining usable arm.

Naruto was rewarded for his efforts as he heard Zabuza grunt in pain and, realizing that his Genjutsu had been released by said pain, jumped back as Zabuza's arm fell limp by his side, his huge Zanbato sticking up out of the ground from where he had tried to slash Naruto with it. "You!" Zabuza said as his eyes widened at who had injured him, "You're the one who hurt Haku weren't you! How the hell did you evade my attack?" Zabuza almost shouted, "There's no way I missed hitting someone like you." Zabuza announced.

Naruto looked at him with cold eyes, but his expression could almost be taken to be screaming, "Are you fucking stupid or just plain ignorant?" as he stared Zabuza's panting frame down. Naruto finally spoke, "Do you really expect me to tell an enemy, even if you're gong to die, my secrets?" he asked, a tone of annoyance well hidden in his otherwise emotionless voice.

Zabuza just stared at Naruto for a few more tense moments, Naruto waiting for an attack he knew Zabuza could initiate and probably win even with just his feet, and Zabuza simply tilted his head back while roaring with laughter as his useless arms swung by his shaking torso, "You must be the only real shinobi on your team Kid. Even Kakashi has lost his edge but yours remains as sharp as mine. What's your name?" Zabuza asked.

Naruto's eyebrow rose as he noticed his clone had finished laying all of the knocked out bodies behind him while closing Haku's dead eyes. He nodded, "Uzumaki Naruto. Now..." he was cut off as he looked over to where a short balding grey-haired man with glasses and a cane as he looked at Zabuza and Naruto with a condescending gaze. The thing that both shinobi noticed though, was the huge mob of thugs that were standing behind the man.

"Gatou, what do you want?" Zabuza said as Naruto turned his body so he was facing the thugs, while still keeping a part of himself in guard for an attack from Zabuza's direction. He silently started to pay closer attention to his bloodline as he allowed his senses to pick up any incoming threats while Zabuza continued talking, he was trying to make sure that no shinobi were hidden within the massive amount of thugs.

"Well, you see Zabuza. The plan has changed a little. Well, not for me, since I planned to do this since the beginning. You see, I never planned to pay you Zabuza." Gatou said as he talked in a voice that just spoke of how little respect he had of Zabuza, "This is how it is, I can't hire regular ninja since they are too expensive and will probably betray me because of their loyalty." Gatou said while making air qoutes about the word loyalty, "So, I get you missing-nins who are easy to take care of afterwards. I let you weaken yourself by fighting the people I need you to then I kill you with numbers. See, it costs me nothing since I already pay these guys and they get a huge reward for killing you. Its just good business." Gatou said.

"Uzumaki Naruto, it would seem I no longer have a reason to want that bridge builder dead. Hence, I no longer have a reason to fight you." Zabuza said. Naruto just nodded as he confirmed there were nothing but thugs in the group.

"There are no shinobi within the group Zabuza-san. If you wish, I can incapacitate them." Naruto said. Zabuza looked over at Naruto before shaking his head.

"A sensor, I should have known. No, my time has come. My arms are useless and my shinobi career is ended, let me die the way I wish to. Lend me a kunai." he said to Naruto. Naruto nodded and tossed him a kunai which he caught in his teeth, having ripped his bandages with his sharpened teeth. He then charged towards the group of thugs, his eyes set on Gatou as Gatou sensed the danger and turned around, running into the midst of his thugs.

"Kill him!" he yelled and the thugs all smirked while stepping forward menacingly. What made them pause was the aura that surrounded Zabuza as he ran forward, many thugs stopped and muttered, "Demon." as he continued ot run past the thugs while they riddled his body with their weapons. Naruto watched as the man charged forth with his own goal. He ran past some 300 thugs and reached the back of the group, running past Gatou's quivering form before speaking a few words Naruto couldn't hear and, with a single swipe of his head, decapitated the greasy business man, before kealing over from his many wounds. Naruto bowed his head in respect for the man's choice of death.

Naruto suddenly grew very aware of the fact he was now standing in front of some 250 thugs that were all staring at their meal ticket's headless body. On top of that, they were all armed to the teeth, even the ones that had stabbed Zabuza. So, knowing that he had enough chakra to do this once, he began to do the handseals to the only Genjutsu he thought could work against this many people, while speaking, "You guys should run. Zabuza was weakened, and I am not." he said as he continued his hand signs, only 80 more to go.

The thugs looked hesitant for a few moments, their eyes darting from Zabuza's prone form back to Naruto's hands as he started to build chakra for his technique. Some of the thugs felt their hairs begin to stand on end but one lone voice cried out, "Look at how many of us there are! Theres no way he can take us all." the voice shouted, only 50 more seals to go. The thugs gained confidence and began to beat their weapons in their hands as they were beginning to get hyped up on killing the shinobi, "Then after we kill him! We can ransack the town!" the same voice rang out as Naruto continued his hand signs, only 30 more to go.

Naruto felt their gazes turn upon him and he smirked as they only just now started to run, ten hand signs left and Naruto spoke, "Since you didn't heed my warning, take this!" he said as his hand signs finished and he called out his technique, "Genjutsu: Burēdo no senjō"(3) he said as he held his final hand sign with a foxy grin in place on his face.

The thugs continued running before suddenly blinking and starting to look around. Naruto had disappeared as did the bodies of his comrades. They all began muttering to themselves as they looked around, a few raising their weapons in defense as they took their stances. Suddenly, a myriad of different blades appeared on the surface of every solid landscape in their field of vision. The weapons that appeared seemed different each time, in front of the head thug, was a wicked looking katana with a ragged edge, near the edge of the bridge was naginata that stood almost 10 feet into the air from where it was plunged into the ground, yet another weapon was sticking out from the railing on the opposite side, this time a trench knife with fingers for the knuckles. As the thugs looked around, they were slightly awed and, at the same time, scared of each of the blades appearing on the surfaces. Naruto suddenly appeared in front of the thugs again and one thug yelled out, "There he is! Get'em."

Naruto simply smirked as the thugs began moving as a unit while trying to reach him. He reached down and pulled the katana from the ground and blocked an attack as screams began to ring out from the back and sides of the group of thugs, even in the middle where the thugs had thought they were safe, Naruto's were appearing everythwere where there was a weapon and grabbing ahold of it before attacking the closest thug. "This is my first time using this technique, I hope you like it." the Naruto's said as they continued to hack and slash into the thugs.

After about half of them had fallen, the thugs began to hack and slash at the Naruto's that had appeared, but anytime they managed to land a hit, the Naruto would simply shrug it off and it would heal inordinately fast as the Naruto kept attacking, even when someone cut Naruto in half, the Naruto simply looked down at his legs and said, "Well, that was unpleasant." before his legs reattached themselves and he cut the thug that had cut him.

Finally, one thug dropped his weapon as he saw there was only about 50 thugs left and said, "What are you?"

Naruto's cold eyes reflected in the light as he looked at the man, "Anything I want to be." he said before the thugs screamed.

Naruto panted as he held his handsign in place while the thugs stood there, their eyes glazed over as Naruto assualted their minds. He saw a few of them begin to move around and was about to curse when he noticed that many of them were started to stumble around drunkenly. Before Naruto knew it, close to 80 thugs had simply walked off the bridge and fallen to their death while still under his Genjutsu.

Naruto felt the villagers getting closer and released his Genjutsu, his panting under control as he appeared nonplussed that he had just cast a Genjutsu over almost 300 people during his first real battle. The thugs blinked and they slowly realized that they were no longer being massacred by immortal little men with innumerable weapons. But their resolve had been broken, Naruto could see them casting fearful looks at him.

Suddenly, a crossbow bolt came crashing down in front of them and Inari's voice rang out, "If you come any further then the citizen's of wave will fight you with all that we have!" he yelled.

Naruto just smirked before turning back to the thugs, all of whom noticed that his gaze was now on them, that foxy grin back on his face like before, "Boo!" he said, that was all it took. The thugs turned tail and began to run towards the edge of the bridge, grabbing ahold of ladders they had there and quickly taking off in the boats that had been floating down at the bottom of the bridge.

"Grandpa!" Inari said as he ran to the bridge builder's side. Naruto smiled at Inari, a slightly forced one but his first to the young boy.

"He will be fine Inari. He just got knocked out." he said as Inari nodded and Naruto turned to the villagers. "Could you guys please help me with my knocked out team members and Haku and Zabuza and..." he trailed off as he looked at Sasuke with remorse, wishing he could have done more.

"Ugh! My head, what the hell happened." Sasuke groaned out as he sat up, holding his head. Naruto's expression ran through so many different emotions no one caught them but the biggest showed as Naruto smiled down at Sasuke.

"You got knocked the hell out that's what happened. Teme." he said. Sasuke snapped his head towards Naruto and looked at Zabuza and Haku's bodies. He began to clench his fist until Naruto spoke, "I didn't kill them. Stop brooding and get your ass over here. We need to get back to Tazuna's house and rest." Sasuke shot a glare at Naruto before standing and weakly starting to walk away. Naruto sighed.

"Could you all please put Haku and Zabuza's bodies in preservation for a day or so, until I can dig them a grave?" Naruto asked, to which some men grabbed the bodies and began to move them away. Naruto turned to the rest, "Please grab my team members and Tazuna so we may go back to his house, also, could some people wash this blood off?" he asked as he pointed at where Haku had died. The men nodded before Naruto smiled, "Thanks guys. Now, I think I'm going to pass out, goodnight." Naruto said as he fell face forward, the mental exhaustion of what he had just done combined with pushing himself against Zabuza and Haku having finally caught up to him.

No one noticed the shadow that jumped away in the trees on the mainland once Naruto passed out.

Naruto sighed as he looked at the two modest graves that the villagers had dug in his absence. He had been knocked out for the better part of three days. During which, the wave members had dug the graves in honor of what he had done and Naruto had simply added Zabuza's weapon to the two graves. The bridge was to be completed the next day so they would be leaving tomorrow right after they cut the ribbon for it.

Dodging Kakashi's questions about how he had managed to defeat Zabuza actually was quite simple, he told him that Gatou had shown up right after he knocked Kakashi out and no one even knew of the Genjutsu he used against the mob of thugs that had knocked him out for so long. That was the thing about using Genjutsu against that many people all at once, it required a great deal of split concentration. Something Naruto had managed only by using the adrenaline from his fights, but the result was the mental exhaustion taking its toll on him and causing him to pass out for so long.

After saying Gatou showed up, he spoke of how Zabuza killed half of the thugs before being killed himself and then the villagers had shown up. Explaining away his exhaustion as huge amounts of fatigue, he had managed to bypass Kakashi's questioning. Though, he would put the real events in his report, he hoped Kakashi wouldn't go read that after he submitted it. He didn't want his relationship with Kurenai to be found out just yet and if they found out about his Genjutsu, they would undoubtedly suspect Kurenai, since she was the only qualified Genjutsu master in the town. But Naruto shook that off as he looked at the graves again.

"I wish we could have met in a different life Haku. I only met you on the battlefield but I get the feeling you and I would have been able to be friends had we met elsewhere." he said before turning to Zabuza's grave, "And you, I will always honor those whom die by their own decision, Thank you Both." he said before turning away, "I promise you this Haku. I will protect my precious peoples, just as you protected yours." he thought to himself as he walked back to Tazuna's house.

Naruto and his team stood, packed and ready to go as Tazuna walked up to the ribbon and cut it to the cheering of the citizens of Wave. Naruto smirked slightly, he was in high spirits after seeing how the kids he had noticed slept outside, now had Gatou's manor to sleep in. Sasuke kept his usual grimace as Sakura smiled and waved to the public with Kakashi reading his porn.

Once the cheering had died down a bit, Kakashi simply turned and began to walk away, "Time to go home Team Seven." he said, Sasuke grunted and began walking as well as Sakura followed him after bowing to the people of Wave. Naruto, however, walked up to Inari and spoke.

"Gonna be strong Inari?" he asked, and Inari nodded and tears began to form in his eyes before he rubbed them away. "It's okay to cry every once in a while just not constantly alright Inari?" Naruto said as he put on another sort of forced, sort of genuine smile on his face. Inari nodded before the tears started to roll down his cheeks. Naruto wasn't eager to talk to the little kid but he had been inordinately mean to him, he felt he should have encouraged him slightly. Naruto tussled his hair before turning and walking off towards his team.

"What's the name of the bridge Tazuna?" one of the workers asked.

"How about the Super Awesome Tazuna Bridge?" he offered, the crowd booed his suggestion before Tsunami spoke quietly, "The Great Naruto bridge. In honor of the young man who brought hope back to the people of this country." she said.

The crowd was silent for a moment before they burst into cheers for the name and Tazuna carved the name into the plaque at the end of the bridge.

One Week Later at Kumogakure

"Raikage-sama! I have a scout here to see you." The Raikage, a burly dark-skinned man raised an eyebrow as he looked at the door to his office, "Send him in." The door was opened and none other than his cousin, one of the best scouts they have in the field appeared before the man as the door closed again. The Raikage's eyebrows raised a bit higher, "What is so important you couldn't send a message?"

"I have important information that I think you may find interesting, especially considering the upcoming Chuunin Selection Exams." the scout said. The Raikage merely settled into his chair.

"I don't see how any genin could warrant the attention of my BEST scout." the Raikage implying heavily that he doubted his cousin's claim.

"You will." The scout said with certainty, "when you hear what he has done, and who he is, but first, have you sent out our Bingo Book for this month?" he asked. The Raikage shook his head.

"Then I want you to add this Genin, under a High C-rank, engage with caution warning." the scout said which caused the Raikage to sit forward.

"No Genin has ever been assigned anything above a low C-rank with a capture on sight. What makes this guy so good?" he asked.

The scout seemed to smirk behind his mask, "Now, do you believe this warrants my attention? Konoha has been hiding a diamond in the rough, I call him Konoha's..."

End A/N: OOOOOH! Let's see his new Moniker for this Story in the Next chapter Cya!

Jutsu:

(1)Sakura Illusion- Naruto can use Sakura petals to distract, conceal or harm the opponents in his Genjutsu. Very Versatile.

(2)Sensory Disruption- As the name suggests, causes people who are under its effects to misjudge anything they take from their senses, things not affected would be Sensor BLOODLINES, not chakra detection as that is a skill which comes from your senses, and Sage Mode.

(3)Battlefield of Blades- Naruto's first original Genjutsu. He researched all the different types of blades from a book within the library to create this Genjutsu. As explained, the weapons will appear all over the battlefield, similar to Ichigo's bankai training if one must think about it, and allow each Naruto Illusion to take up arms to harm the opponent. A very deadly and versatile Genjutsu as Naruto can control the amount of blades that appears, thus one may never know if they are in the Genjutsu until they are attacked.

Okay a few reviews: First off I can already tell someone is going to be unsatisfied that Naruto has tapped Kyuubi's youki because of Sasuke but seeing someone you have been connected with for so long, not to mention they have been working together during this mission, would lead to Naruto's overprotective side coming forth.

Secondly, I feel unsettled with Naruto's reaction to Haku but at the same time I think its what Naruto would do and I just couldn't word it correctly. That is the main reason this chapter is a day late. Let me know what you think, just remember I have changed Naruto slightly its just that he doesn't go so far as the canon in helping others.

Finally, The scene with Inari is one that I feel should always be put in, its the first time in Canon you ever see Naruto's 'anger' and I tried to incorporate that into this fic. Naruto hasn't blown up to anyone other than Kakashi so this is Sasuke and Sakura's first glimpse of Naruto's underlying anger, something I think is pivotal for the team.

People have been commenting on Naruto's use of 'his jiji' and the like, the confrontation with Naruto and the Sandaime is about to come to a headpoint within the next two chapters, just be patient, though many seem to dislike the Sandaime so I wonder how I should write it, I was leaning towards him forgiving him while slowly building trust back... I'll ponder it some more. One thing to note though, when I say Naruto thinks of 'his jiji' thats like you thinking, 'my grandfather' its not childish or possessive just something you do for someone you consider close, like 'my mom'. or something.