Hello everyone. Sorry for the long wait. I've returned, and here is your Chapter 10!
And thank you all for your reviews. I appreciate all the help I can get to make my story better.
To answer some of your questions:
ThomasNealy: I'm afraid I don't quite understand your question. Isn't that because Naruto wants to get back to his old level that he pushed himself to training? Like I said before, the time travel had nearly crippled Naruto's body, to the point that the only jutsu he could use effectively at the moment is the Shadow Clone Jutsu, which requires almost no chakra control at all. And about the Tailed Beast power, I have explained it in Chapter 8. So he has to train everything from the start, which is not an easy thing.
TigrezzTail: Yeah, this is actually how I view Hinata in the first part of the manga. I didn't think that Hinata was afraid of her family; it's just like, because of her soft personality, his father ignored her to choose Hanabi, who was more willing to fight than her, to train. It's not like Hinata was ever abused by her father, or her family in canon.
Krazyfanfiction1: Naruto's new power will be very interesting, I assure you. Just wait for it!
Now, enjoy the new chapter!
Chapter 10: Unexpected
"Wha… what the heck just happened?" Naruto coughed out; the heat around him was making it hard to breathe. Had it not been for Kakashi and Zabuza, with their incredible reflex of jonin-level shinobi, conjuring walls of water around them right in time to protect the three of them, they would have been fried being hit by the fire blast directly.
"Leave it for later!" Kakashi yelled. "Are you all right, Sakura, Sasuke?"
"I'm alright!" The voice of Sakura rose up behind him.
"Haku!" Zabuza also screamed. "What about Haku? Is she okay?"
"Over here!" Sasuke's voice echoed through the fire screen. "She's safe with me!"
"WATER STYLE: WATER STREAM!" Zabuza bellowed, performing quick hand seals. A large stream of water blasted out of his mouth, which wasn't covered by bandages now, quickly extinguishing most of the sea of fire around them, leaving the bridge covered in a cloud of smoke.
A mixture of anger and fear suddenly riled up inside of Naruto. It was not from the boy himself, but from a certain Tailed Beast residing in him.
'What's wrong Chomei-chan?! Settle down!' Naruto asked in panic, trying his best to calm his beetle friend down.
'It's him.' The Seven-Tailed Beetle snarled in a tone completely different from her usual cheery voice. It was full of rage, and there was a hint of fear too. 'I can never forget this chakra signature. This is the one who captured me and Fuu during our timeline!'
"Who had just attacked us? Show yourself!" Kakashi roared, pulling his hitai-ate up again. He was almost out of chakra, but this was a matter of life and death and no moment to be stingy.
From within the cloud of smoke, the masked figure of Kakuzu, missing-nin of Takigakure, stepped out.
Chaos had broken out inside Naruto's belly.
"What the fuck? WHAT. THE. FUCK?" Shukaku screamed, while running around hysterically in a speed quite fast for a chubby tanuki like her. "Why does the Akatsuki decide to strike so soon?"
"Shukaku, calm down!" Isobu snapped. Shukaku turned back and grabbed the turtle's head, pulling him close to her face.
"Calm down?! You're telling me to CALM DOWN?! That man is a member of the Akatsuki, and right now we're stuck with a Naruto who doesn't have any useful jutsu, and cannot even use our power properly! We're dead!"
"Shukaku's right," Gyuki said grimly. "This is the man who single-handedly took down Chomei and her jinchuriki. If we have to face him right now, we're as good as dead. That's if there hadn't been any of his associations around…"
"No, I don't think we have to worry about that."
Every head turned toward Kokuoh. "What do you mean by that?" Goku asked.
"Look at him," the horse answered calmly. "If he's in the Akatsuki, he has to be wearing their signature cloud-shaped cloak, but now he's not. Therefore I assume that he's not in the Akatsuki… at least not yet, and we won't have to worry about his partners."
"But even so, he will be one of the Akatsuki, Kokuoh-nii," Matatabi noted. "He is still a very powerful enemy. And Naruto isn't prepared for an opponent like him."
"I know," Kokuoh agreed. "It seems his target wasn't Naruto, though…"
"Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja, and Zabuza Momochi, the Devil of the Hidden Mist," Kakuzu drawled, cracking his neck menacingly. "It seems that midget didn't give me false information. But Kurenai Yuuhi, the Genjutsu Mistress is not here… No matter, I'll hunt her down later."
"That bastard Gato…" Zabuza snarled. "I shouldn't have trusted him. To sell me out to the like of you…"
"You know him, Zabuza?" Kakashi asked; his eyes didn't leave the newcomer.
"Of course I know him!" the Mist shinobi growled. "He is Kakuzu, bounty hunter, and missing-nin of Takigakure. He is the one who is responsible for the death of Kushimaru, one of my teammates when I was still in the Seven Swordsmen!"
"Ah, I still remember that one," Kakuzu laughed cruelly. "Fifty million ryo bounty, not a bad little haul for a hunting day. But don't worry; your own bounty in the bingo book is not bad, either."
Sweat started to drip from Kakashi's eyebrow. If what Zabuza said was true, then they're facing someone who could take down a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist single-handedly; and if he had killed Kushimaru Kuriarare, one of the most bloodthirsty members of the Seven Swordsmen of all people, only for the bounty, how many other powerful shinobi would that monster have hunted before, and after that?
There's no doubt that they're facing an incredibly powerful enemy. And right now, the only ones capable to fight on his side were two almost exhausted jonin.
"Can you still fight, Kakashi?"
Kakashi grimaced when Zabuza voiced the question he was having inside his own head.
"I can still hold out for a bit, but not for long," he answered.
"Great," Zabuza muttered. "Then you just stay there and look pretty; I'll take on that bastard alone."
"That's just suicidal, Zabuza," Kakashi noted. "Don't you see how powerful he is? He nearly turned all of us into barbecue with only one fire jutsu!"
"I know," Zabuza snarled. "But this is a matter of honor. This bastard will pay for messing around with members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist!"
He stood up, and brandished Kubikiribocho again. The blade of the gigantic sword gleamed as if agreeing with its wielder.
"How honorable," Kakuzu laughed; his laughter was dry and unamused. "That Kuriarare also said that before I killed him."
And Zabuza snapped. He leapt at Kakuzu in a surprisingly fast speed, and swung his sword so hard the only thing everyone could see was a black flash aiming at the Takigakure missing-nin's waist. And Kakuzu seemed to be too slow to dodge or to do anything else to stop the blade from cutting him in half.
"Die, bastard!"
But, much to Zabuza surprise and horror, the blade just slammed at Kakuzu's waist and stopped dead right there. He struggled to push on, but it didn't even budge.
So… hard…
"This is the best the Devil of the Hidden Mist can do? So pathetic."
Zabuza's eyes widened when his enemy cocked his fist back. Instinct told him to withdraw his sword and use it to shield himself right before the fist landed on his chest. Flesh and bones collided with steel, causing a deafening "clang" and sending Zabuza flying. The man slammed hard on the ground, bounced a few times and could only stop himself by stabbing the sword on the bridge surface.
Zabuza grimaced; both his arms felt numb and were shaking violently.
What the… What kind of human is he…?
His trend of thought was cut abruptly when Kakuzu covered their distance with just a leap, his fist cocked back again. Zabuza ducked and rolled away, right in time before the fist connected with the ground and made a small crater in hard concrete.
Screw ninjutsu; this guy's taijutsu was one of the most horrible Zabuza had ever seen. The only one he could think of who possessed something as powerful as this was Tsunade Senju, one of the Legendary Sannin.
If taijutsu and kenjutsu don't work… how about ninjutsu?
"Water Style: Giant Vortex!"
The dangerous water cascade surged up from under the bridge and crashed down on Kakuzu's head. The missing-nin was seemingly drowned under a ton of water dumping on his head.
"Ha! Take that… huh?!"
Much to his horror, Kakuzu walked out from under the raging jutsu, soaking wet, but completely unharmed.
"The power of that jutsu was impressive, Devil of the Hidden Mist. Your heart will make a good replacement, I must say."
Sweat rolled down from Zabuza's temples. He didn't understand what the bounty hunter meant when he said "replacement", but that couldn't be anything good. However, now he understood why Kushimaru Kuriarare was murdered so easily by this bastard. This enemy was way too powerful for him, no, for anyone to take on alone…!
Suddenly, a kunai soared past him, aiming right at Kakuzu's head. The missing-nin raised his hand to block, and the knife bounced off his skin harmlessly.
He just didn't expect the kunai to explode in his face.
At the same time, a hand grabbed Zabuza and pulled him back a safe distance.
"I thought you're not going to fight," Zabuza asked, and Kakashi answered him with a grin under his mask.
"Well, that's when I didn't have enough chakra, but now I have more than enough. Besides, I've promised Naruto that I won't let you die, and I'm keeping that promise."
Kakashi's body was now, literally, glowing with vibrant red chakra.
00000
(One minute ago)
"What do you think you're doing, Naruto?" Kakashi asked when Naruto stood up, his hand holding a kunai.
"Do you even have to ask?" Naruto stared at Kakashi as if he had lost his mind. "Zabuza is losing out there! We need to help him!"
"Are you out of your mind?!" Sasuke, who had just carried Haku out of the battlefield, yelled. "That man was a monster! Even I know when I am outmatched! If we go out there, we'll be killed for sure!"
"Well, if we don't, Zabuza will be killed!" Naruto retorted. Sasuke bristled.
"I just cannot understand you, Naruto! What is that Zabuza to you, anyway? He's a murderer who had just tried to kill us! Why do we have to risk our life for him?"
Anger filled Naruto's head. He opened his mouth, ready to throw an insult to Sasuke's face…
"Naruto, as the leader of the team, I command you to settle down." The voice of Kakashi suddenly rose from behind him. Naruto snapped his head back.
"But…"
"SETTLE. DOWN."
Naruto flinched when he looked at Kakashi's eyes. He gulped, and obediently obeyed the command.
"This time I agree with Naruto, Sasuke," Kakashi continued. "Kakuzu is targeting me and Zabuza, and both of us are no match for Kakuzu. If we let Zabuza fight alone, we'll all be killed. We can only stand a chance if we cooperate with Zabuza. So I'll go out there, and you guys stay back. This is not a fight you can take part in."
He pulled out a soldier pill from his pouch, popped it in his mouth and stood up. "This is not much, but it will have to do…"
Then he felt Naruto tapped his shoulder.
Suddenly, a rush of chakra surged through his body. It raged through every inch of his chakra pathway, but… it didn't hurt. It was… warm, and lively. And incredibly powerful, too. Kakashi felt his body refreshed completely, and stronger than ever.
"Sensei," the boy behind him whispered. "Stay safe, and win for me. And sensei, five hearts."
Kakashi nodded, despite not understanding what the boy had just said. He stood up, and leapt towards Zabuza and Kakuzu.
He didn't see Sasuke looking at Naruto with narrowed eyes.
00000
"So you're here to lend me your pity?" Zabuza scowled. It's obvious he wasn't thrilled with the idea of being saved by his enemy.
"You can kill me for that later, Zabuza," Kakashi answered. "But right now, what we must focus on is Kakuzu if we don't want to be killed."
"But what can we do?" Zabuza asked while glancing at Kakuzu, who was now coughing from sucking a bit of smoke into his lungs. "That bastard is just, like, invulnerable from all my attacks!"
"Don't worry, I already have an idea on how to beat him," Kakashi answered calmly, then frowned, "but first he needs to stop moving. I don't think my ninken can bind him to the ground like they did to you before..."
Zabuza grimaced, but then grinned.
"If that's the only thing you need, then consider it done."
Kakuzu raised an eyebrow when Zabuza, once again, faced him alone.
"I thought you have learnt your lesson and cooperate with Kakashi. It seems like you really want to die alone, huh?"
"I don't need the help of that copycat," Zabuza smirked. He brandished the Blade of Executioner again. "I will take you down with my own hands."
"Foolish little boy. Well, that's your own choice," Kakuzu shrugged. He made one hand seal. "Now die. Fire Style: Searing Migraine."
The deadly fire blast was aimed at Zabuza once more, but suddenly from nowhere, Kakashi emerged and slammed his hands on the ground.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall!"
The wall of earth sprouted from the bridge surface, effectively blocking the sight of Zabuza and Kakashi from Kakuzu's view, and the fire jutsu exploded harmlessly on it.
"Now… Hidden Mist Jutsu!"
The mist screen covered the whole bridge again, but this time, it was so thick that everyone on the bridge couldn't see something even if it was right in front of them.
But Kakuzu only laughed.
"You think that kind of child's toy can help you hide from me? Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"
Wind Style?!
A tornado much, much stronger than that wind blast of Naruto before exploded from Kakuzu's body, throwing all the genin off their feet and clearing the mist screen away. It also revealed a surprised Zabuza who had just got to Kakuzu's place with his sword crashing down at the Taki missing-nin. Naturally, he caught the blade with his hand just like before.
"This is getting old. But now, it's over."
The extremely powerful punch finally connected with a sickening "thud", and Zabuza let go of Kubikiribocho, coughed, and collapsed to the ground.
…and turned into water.
"...What?! A water clone?"
Another Zabuza was right behind him.
"Yes! Now, fly!"
With a mighty roar, Zabuza slammed the flat of his blade at Kakuzu's face, hard, and the bounty hunter was sent flying away like a baseball. His body soared across the sky about sixty metres, and fell into the water of the river with a loud "splash".
Everyone winced. Naruto facepalmed.
'Yeeeaaaahhhhhh! Home run!' Gyuki hollered inside Naruto's head.
"That's just humiliating," Sasuke noted. Sakura nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. Invulnerability or not, that must have hurt."
Kakuzu's head emerged from underwater. "You've done it, brat," he growled, pushing himself up on the water surface. "There's no way I'm going to hold back any more after this."
"Hold back this!" The voice of Zabuza suddenly rose up behind him. "Water Prison Jutsu!"
Kakuzu snapped his head back, but he was not fast enough; the water in the river around him rose up, forming a hard, spherical cage around him, effectively locking all his movement.
"Kakashi, now!"
From afar, Kakashi shot toward them like a bullet; his right hand was crackling with the familiar blue lightning of his trademark Raikiri.
Kakuzu's eyes widened in realization. The Zabuza who had just smashed him into the river was also a clone. The Hidden Mist Jutsu from before wasn't to hide Zabuza for the purpose of attacking; it was for him to make water clones to set up this trap.
SQUELCH!
The Lightning Blade pierced Kakuzu's chest cleanly with a gurgling sound.
"You think I didn't notice that?" Kakshi said while pulling his hand out of Kakuzu's chest. "You used a ninjutsu before you engaged us to harden your body to the point it was as hard as diamond. And after that, your body was impervious to Water ninjutsu. Only a powerful Earth Style jutsu can have that kind of effect. Sadly, even the most powerful Earth technique has a glaring weakness against Lightning. And unfortunately for you, I have a powerful technique of that very same element."
The Water Prison dissolved, and Kakuzu's body fell down and sunk into the river.
Kakashi and Zabuza looked at the body disappearing into the dark green water for a while. Then Zabuza spoke out.
"Is he really dead?"
Kakashi nodded. "He should have been. I'm very sure that I have taken out his heart when the Raikiri landed."
The two of them looked at each other.
"So… what now?"
"Nothing," Zabuza shrugged. "Gato betrayed me, so there is no reason for us to fight any more. Unless…" he suddenly grinned, "you still want to be killed for showing pity on me?"
Kakashi chuckled. "I appreciate your offer, but no thanks. I still have many things I want to do in my life."
He reached onto his headband, covering his Sharingan up again…
And his instinct screamed at him to get the hell away from the place he was standing.
"Zabuza! Look out!"
But his concern was redundant. Feeling the killing intent himself, Zabuza had jumped away right before the water exploded violently below his feet with a loud "BOOOM".
Emerging from underwater was Kakuzu, but he looked nothing like he had been one minute ago. His body was now taking a monstrous form with black tendrils piercing through his skin, forming grotesque tentacles on his back and below his neck. At the places where should have been his shoulders lay two strangely looking masks, and next to them, there were two gaping holes with the seemingly fragments of two other masks, from which a disgusting looking substance was leaking out.
What… what kind of monster is he…?
That was the thought both Kakashi and Zabuza was sharing. What looked like a mouth in Kakuzu's real face, which settled in the middle of the two masks, cracked open with a snarl.
"You two bastards destroyed two of my hearts… You will pay for it, with your own!"
Two of my hearts!?
Now Kakashi understood what Naruto meant when he said 'five hearts'. Because of having more than one heart, he couldn't be killed with a normal attack to the heart like other human beings.
The mouths of the two masks on his shoulders opened, and Kakashi suddenly felt a thrill of foreboding.
"Fire Style: Searing Migraine."/"Wind Style: Pressure Damage."
The two familiar jutsu were casted once again. But this time, wind amplified fire, and the firestorm created was much, much more powerful than the combination jutsu Naruto and Sasuke had done before.
"Water Style: Water Wall!" Zabuza cried out desperately, and a large wall of water was erected around the two shinobi, but the effect was just trivial; the raging flame swept across them, and the water barricade was only barely able to hold on.
In just a second, the river was bathed in a sea of fire. Kakashi let out a choking cough; the heat of the fire and the steam coming from the water under his feet were making it very hard to breathe.
Then suddenly, from inside the flame, tendrils shot out, aiming at Kakashi and Zabuza's faces.
"Fuck!" the two ninja cursed, swinging their sword and kunai to cut the black threads, but even more of them shot out, restraining their hands and tying them up completely.
Couldn't use jutsu any more, they could just stared helplessly when Kakuzu stepped out from behind the flame while cackling menacingly.
"Your hearts are mine!" he laughed like a psycho, while some more black threads sprouted out from his body and hovered in front of the two restrained shinobi, ready to impale them to rip their hearts out of their chests.
Is this it, Kakashi thought, closing his eyes, is this the end of me? I still haven't fulfilled my duty with my team, with Naruto… I still haven't done anything to save Rin, and Obito…
Obito.
Kakashi's eyes snapped open again. How could he forget about it? He still had one more jutsu, which didn't require any hand seal…
But he still hadn't ever used it successfully before…
But there's no time to hesitate. If it didn't work, he would have to make it work.
He concentrated every last drop of chakra in his body. There was only one chance; he needed to put everything he had into it!
His Sharingan morphed into the pinwheel shape of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
"What… What is this?!" Kakuzu screamed in panic when a vortex appeared right in the middle of the fabric of space right on his chest and started sucking him into it. He struggled with all his might, but it was all in vain; one of his arms and the mask on that shoulder had been sucked completely into the black hole. The tendrils approaching Zabuza and Kakashi stopped abruptly on the air right when they're about to stab on their chests, and were slowly being dragged away from them.
Kakashi, meanwhile, started to feel an aching tingle in his left eye socket.
Come on… Keep it going… Just a little bit more…
"No! No! This is not happening! I'm immortal! Die!" Kakuzu screamed hysterically before his head was sucked into the black hole; a tendril was launched at Kakashi's heart, but missed, and stabbed the Sharingan master's stomach instead.
"Urgh!" The Konoha jonin cringed when the black spear impaled his stomach; his left eye snapped shut, and the black hole vanished, bringing half of Kakuzu's body into the alternate dimension. The only thing of Kakuzu remained in the battlefield was his legs and bits of the black threads in his body, which were now all sinking into the greenish water below them, releasing the two shinobi they had been binding.
Kakashi slumped down; the Mangekyo technique had drained him more than he had thought. Even being charged with chakra of the Kyuubi before, he could feel his body being exhausted to the core. He only had enough chakra to keep himself stable on the water surface.
For a while, the genin, Zabuza, and Kakashi himself, no one could utter a single word. They were all too appalled by the incredible jutsu Kakashi had just pulled out. Finally, Zabuza croaked.
"Is… is it over?"
Kakashi didn't bother to answer. Even if Kakuzu hadn't died, without his head he would never have been able to do anything to them any more. Besides, even if he could, there was no way Kakashi and Zabuza could handle another battle with him.
"Well well well, look what we have here. Seems like the famous Copy Ninja and the Devil of the Hidden Mist are not as powerful as people say now, huh?"
Everyone snapped their head back to find a blackglassed midget in a suit standing on the bridgehead; a battalion of thugs fully armed was standing behind him.
"Thank Kami for delivering you into my hands," Zabuza snarled. "You will die today for betraying me, Gato."
"Oh?" Gato smirked. "By you and what army?"
An arrow stabbing the ground right in front of his face answered him.
"How about this army?" A voice echoed in the air from the other side of the bridge. Gato looked up, and broke into sweat when seeing all citizens in the Land of Waves, with Inari leading, together with Team 8, standing there, weapons ready.
"Besides," the voice of Zabuza suddenly rose next to his ears, "who said that I need help to kill a bastard like you, Gato?"
Gato's arrogant smirk dropped like a rock, and he looked like he had just pissed himself.
"Uhhh… please don't kill me?" he whimpered.
"Too bad," Zabuza said, and with a swing of his sword, Gato became a dead body without its head.
Team 7 and everyone else sweatdropped when Zabuza continued to brutally mowing down the army of bandits.
"So… our work here is done?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah," Kakashi nodded. "Although I think we're not going back home for a while with the bridge being damaged like this…"
They looked back at the bridge. What looked like a nearly completed great bridge one day ago had become riddled with holes and burning marks, and littered with corpses.
No one saw a figure on a cliff afar warping away in a spiral vortex.
Haku's eyes fluttered open.
The first thing she knew was that she was facing a wooden ceiling, and that she was lying on a soft, comfortable bed.
And after realizing that, the first thing she wanted to do was to fall into her blissful slumber again. It was too long since the last time she slept on a bed. It was much, much more comfortable than the sleeping bag she usually used during her constant travel with Zabuza-sama.
Wait. Zabuza-sama.
Everything rushed back into her head with the might of a hammer blow.
She remembered the fight on the bridge, when she had been forced to use her most powerful jutsu, and the two boys from Konoha melted that most powerful jutsu with a combination of wind and fire, and she was knocked out by a punch to the face.
She bolted upright and looked around. She was in a small bedroom. Wooden walls. Small desk at the corner. Naruto-kun sitting on a chair next to the bed. Electric light bulbs on the ceiling.
Wait. Naruto-kun?
"Ah, Haku-chan, you're awake!"
Yes. Naruto-kun.
"Eep!" she yelped, unconsciously pulling the blanket covering her body up, muffling her voice in the process.
Despite being a powerful ninja, Haku was still a girl. And having a boy in her bedroom, well, not quite her bedroom anyway, looking at her sleeping face…
Haku's face burned up dangerously, and she opened her mouth, ready to scream…
…only for a hand of Naruto muffling her before any sound could come out.
"Shhhhhh!" Naruto exclaimed in panic. "Don't scream; do you want Zabuza to castrate me? He has been trying to do that for a while after I said I would look after you when you slept!"
"Wait," Haku's eyes widened. "Zabuza-sama is still alive?"
"Of course!" Naruto gave her a foxy grin. "And he seemed to be quite worried about you, Haku-chan!"
The embarrassment was quickly replaced by a smile of relief and happiness. "Thank goodness…" Haku sighed.
Then she remembered. "Wait, Naruto-kun, where am I?"
"You're in Tazuna's house," Naruto answered. "Gato was dead, and you probably won't want to go back to his place anyway, so…"
Haku winced. She could still remember how she and Zabuza had tried to kill the bridgebuilder when they were coming back from Konohagakure.
"Why did you spare me?" she asked sadly. "We were trying to kill you back then. We are your enemies."
"Not anymore, Haku-chan," Naruto shook his head. "You only did that because of the contract between you and Gato. Now Gato died, all the conflicts between us are over. Besides," he chuckled, "Zabuza and Kakashi-sensei worked together to defeat Kakuzu, so it's a tie now, eh?"
Haku blinked. "Who is Kakuzu?"
"Oh yeah, you were fainted during their fight, right? Kakuzu was a bounty hunter who wanted to take Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza's heads! You should have seen how they fought together; it's totally awesome!" Naruto nodded.
Haku blinked again. This boy… just a few hours ago, she had just tried to kill him. And now, he's acting like they'd been friends for years.
Haku'd never had a happy childhood. When she was still a child, her father had killed her mother, and had also tried to kill her. And Zabuza-sama had rescued her, and since then she had become his weapon. She only existed to kill for him, to do anything he wanted her to do, nothing else. She never had a friend, and she didn't understand what it would feel to have a friend. Inside her mind, there was only Zabuza-sama, and she would do anything to satisfy him.
But now, having the blond boy in front of her talking to her casually with a huge grin on his face, she felt a strange sensation blooming inside her heart. It was… warm. Is this the feeling of having a… friend?
"But I don't deserve to be your friend," she voiced her thought unconsciously. "I… Kyah?"
Her voice was cut off abruptly by Naruto wrapping his arm around her waist.
"Silly Haku-chan," he grinned foxily. "I don't care whether you deserve to be my friend or not; the only thing I know is that I want you to be my friend, and that's enough for me to accept you. Now, stop moping around and come downstair to eat; everyone's waiting!"
Then he dragged her out of the bed, despite the poor girl's frantic struggling.
Everyone was standing in front of the newly completed bridge.
With the help of Zabuza and the shinobi of the Leaf, the bridge was completed in only a few days. And now, it was time to say farewell.
"I'll miss you, Naruto-niichan," Inari said while bawling into Naruto's shirt, which was now replaced as his old one had a hole on it during the battle. Naruto grinned, although his eyes also had a shed of tears.
"Don't worry, I'm sure we will meet again someday! Until then," he gave the boy a wink, "make sure you become strong to protect everyone here, promise?"
"Promise!" Inari answered with a huge grin on his face.
While the children sharing their tearful goodbye, Kakashi looked at Zabuza.
"So what are you going to do now?"
Zabuza shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I'll try to lay low for a while. I'm starting to feel tired of all the meaningless fighting. Besides," he chuckled, "I have the duty of a father to fulfill now, after all."
He rubbed Haku's hair, who was now blushing from happiness and embarrassment.
"Oh?" Kakashi eyesmiled. "So the deadly Devil of the Hidden Mist has become a harmless puppy now thanks to a little girl, eh?"
"Say that again, and I'll show you harmless," Zabuza growled, though his voice was more playful than menacing.
Leaving the two adults there bickering, Haku walked towards Naruto and his friends. The others still cringed a bit when she got near them, but she let it slide. Obviously, it's not easy to forgive someone if she had just tried to kill them before.
"So, I guess it's goodbye now, huh?" Naruto looked at Haku's eyes and sighed.
"Yeah," Haku nodded. "It's sad I could only be your friend for a while…"
"Don't be silly," Naruto grinned. "Once a friend, forever a friend; haven't you heard that? Oh, maybe you don't, but don't forget it. Even if you're far away, you'll still be in my heart!"
Haku smiled. When she smiled for real, she looked so cute. "Thank you, Naruto-kun…"
Then she did something no one could ever expect. She grabbed his cheeks, and kissed him on the lips.
Naruto's brain went numb as if it was dumped into a pit full of ice.
Then he felt massive killing intent exploded behind him. He turned back, and saw Zabuza standing right next to him, Kubikiribocho raised high, and a demonic aura cloaking his body.
"You'd better run, brat."
Naruto didn't need to be asked twice.
'Well, at least this time your first kiss was not from a boy,' Kurama snickered inside his head.
'Shut up, Kurama! Heeeelllppppp!'
Meanwhile, Kiba and the others had to try their best to restrain Hinata when a similar demonic aura started flowing out of the white-eyed girl.
"Good bye everyone!"
"Good bye Konoha shinobi! Thank you so much for helping us!"
Eyes of everyone in the Land of Waves followed the back of the two Konoha shinobi teams until they disappeared behind the forest.
"Those children are awesome…" Tazuna murmured. "I can't believe ones so young could change people so much. The whole Land of Waves is united now, and it's all thanks to that boy."
"Yeah," Zabuza nodded. "They're just normal genin now, but I can see they will become legends in the near future."
"So what should we name this bridge anyway?" Someone in the back yelled. Tazuna shook his head.
"Don't worry everyone. I think I have found a perfect name for the bridge."
"What is it?" Someone asked loudly from the crowd. Tazuna grinned.
"The Great Naruto Bridge."
"We've finally found you, Zabuza-san."
Zabuza narrowed his eyes when the three ANBU of Kirigakure dropped down to the ground in front of him. He reached the hilt of Kubikiribocho on his back, but a masked shinobi in front of him raised his hand.
"Please wait, Zabuza-san. We're here to deliver a message from the new Mizukage."
"A new Mizukage, huh?" Zabuza mouthed. "So the revolution has finally succeeded. Tell me, what do you want from me?"
"The Mizukage invites you to return to Kirigakure, sir. She wants you to once again become the leader of the Seven Swordsmen. She promises if you return, all the bounty on your head which originates from Kirigakure will be erased completely." The ANBU pulled out a scroll from his shuriken pouch and handed it to Zabuza. "Here, sir, this will make everything clear."
Zabuza glanced at the ANBU warily, then received the scroll and opened it carefully.
It was, indeed, an official documentation from the Mizukage. It basically stated the same things the ANBU had just said: invitation to return to the village, forgiveness from the failed assassination, etc. But when he looked at the signature at the bottom of the letter, his eyes widened.
The name in the signature was Mei Terumi, with a tiny symbol of a heart at the tail of the last 'i'. She only used that signature in letters for her close people. The letter in his hand couldn't be of anyone else but her.
Mei-chan…
"Haku," he rolled the scroll closed, and looked at his newly adopted daughter, who was standing next to him, with a smile. "Get your luggage ready; we're going home."
And there you have it. The Wave arc is done. But what will happen after it? The Chuunin Exam?
For anyone who was wondering, Fire Style: Searing Migraine is not an original jutsu of mine. According to wiki, it is the TV translation of Kakuzu's Katon: Zukokku, and I think that is one of the rare instants TV translated names sound cooler than the literal translations. Seriously, Intelligent Hard Work?
There is a reason why Kakashi was exhausted after using Kamui only once. In canon, the speed of Kakashi's Kamui improved dramatically over time. And together with it, the chakra cost for it seems to be reduced to the point Kakashi could use it a lot of times in only a few hours. So I came up with a theory that the chakra used for Kamui is spent on maintaining it, not on activating it. The faster the jutsu is executed and completed, the less chakra it costs. And this is the first time Kakashi uses Kamui, so obviously the speed of the jutsu is much slower than that in Naruto's timeline.
And this will not be the last time you see Haku and Zabuza in my story. Well, I wonder what will happen if Hinata and Haku meet each other again in the future :3.
And a bit of ZabuMei at the end. Yeah, I think it will be kind of cute if it actually happens in canon.
Please review :x