Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Katekyoshi Hitman Reborn! I just wish I did.
Beta: the lovely Midnight-Kitsune11. Thank you for all your hard work. :-)
Pairing: At this time there is NO pairing for this fic! People keep asking me who I'm going to pair Tsuna with, but I don't plan to pair him up with anyone at this point in time. There might be some hints, but at present that's just the attraction of Tsuna's Sky flames at work. Some people tell me some of the Zabuza moments make them feel like this will be a Gay/Yaoi fic, but I leave that up to your own interpretation.
AN: Thank you all for all your wonderful comments and reviews! The inspiration is fresh at the moment! I wrote this chapter in one day! Yay! XD
Enjoy lovelies xxx
Chapter 10: Uzu's treasure.
Zabuza took the two bodies outside to take care of them. Together with Haku he would take a look around and see if there was anyone else here. Kakashi was sealing away their heads.
Ryuji had mentioned Kiri shinobi, but... With what happened...
What had happened anyway? Why had Tenzen killed the older man? Was he after the box? How desperate did the man have to be to wait years for something that he might not ever get? As Ryuji had said, Skies were rare. There hadn't been any clue that one, if there still were any alive, would have come this way...
Tsuna bit his lip.
He hadn't really gotten to know the old man, but still... Having another flame active person around would have been nice.
"So they went through all that trouble for that little box?" asked Sasuke. "What's in it?"
Still in Hyper Dying Will mode, Tsuna carefully un-clenched his fingers from around the box. He wanted to open it as Kakashi called out to them.
"Keep that closed, Naruto. We'll deal with it later. Come here you two."
Tsuna approached his sensei with a nod.
Sakura was crying and their sensei was clearly feeling very awkward. He was kneeling next to her, gently patting her back.
Tsuna sighed in exasperation and shook his head at the man.
Kakashi smiled sheepishly.
Tsuna handed his sensei the box and placed his hand on Sakura's shoulder, gently turned her around and gave her a big hug. She desperately clutched at him, buried her face in his shoulder and cried.
Both Kakashi and Sasuke flanked them awkwardly, almost as if they were standing guard.
Tsuna couldn't help but feel uneasy in this situation. He had hugged Sakura to help the girl, to comfort her, and while his relationship with his team was improving, it wasn't... he wouldn't call them friends yet. To be honest, out of the three of them, if he really had to choose, he felt closest to Sasuke. Even if Sasuke had always brushed him off and ignored him... It was a work in progress...
Still, he felt antsy. He couldn't wait for Zabuza and Haku to get back. Having his cloud nearby would help soothe his nerves.
"Let's get back underground." said Kakashi as Zabuza and Haku entered the room again, almost as if summoned by Tsuna's thoughts.
"At the moment everything is calm, but I wouldn't hang around too long here." muttered Zabuza to their sensei. The Konoha shinobi nodded in agreement.
Haku approached Tsuna, holding open his arms. "Give her here, Naruto-kun. I'll take care of your team-mate."
Together they pried Sakura's fingers loose and Haku gently carried her back into the tunnels as Tsuna opened the door. He kept it open as everyone got in and released it. The stone door melted back into the wall. The array didn't appear again, but it seemed the hideouts were still safe.
Or as safe as they could be while the enemy had been inside...
They entered the room they had been in earlier. "Grab all our stuff. We're leaving immediately." Kakashi commanded.
He handed Tsuna back the wooden box and urged them on.
Tsuna wasn't sure how long it took them to run back out of the village and towards the port, but it seemed to pass in a flash.
As they reached the sea, Kakashi-sensei created a shadow clone, who disappeared into the ruins.
"He'll warn the captain tomorrow. Zabuza, you know the shortest road to the mainland from here?"
"Of course." grunted the man. "Come here, kid." He gestured towards Tsuna and knelt down.
Carefully Tsuna got onto the man's back, while Kakashi did the same for Sasuke, who surprisingly didn't protest. Haku was still carrying Sakura.
Sakura might have been the only one of the genin who could water walk, even for a bit, but she clearly wasn't in any condition to do so.
Feeling tired, Tsuna finally stopped using his flames. This was the longest he had kept them activated in this life. With a sigh, he buried his face in Zabuza's broad back, careful with the sword and fell asleep.
-o-o-
Tsuna woke up when Zabuza gently put him down. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around.
They were in a forest. Sasuke was setting up camp with Haku and Kakashi was talking to Sakura who, though still upset, seemed much calmer than before. She clearly had had time to wash and put on some other clothes.
Two tents had been set up and Sasuke was lighting a fire.
"Finally awake, brat?"
Tsuna cleared his throat. "Where are we?"
"Halfway between Wave and Konoha." answered the man.
Kakashi motioned everyone around it while Haku was busy plucking a few birds.
"We still have about two hours to go to Konoha. We could have made it there today, but we all need to calm down a bit and have a talk." Started their sensei. "Now, Naruto, I need you to be very honest with me. You," he motioned to Zabuza, "shut up for a second. I'll come back to you."
The man sneered.
"Naruto, have you had any time to think about all you learned today? Ryuji-san gave us a lot of information and with his sudden death... Are you alright?" Kakashi asked him sincerely.
Tsuna gulped but nodded. After all, Ryuji hadn't told him anything he secretly hadn't known yet, but Kakashi didn't and couldn't know that.
And while the violence in the Uzukage's office had taken him by surprise, he had been basking in Zabuza's presence for the last few hours. The close proximity of his Cloud had helped him calm down and relax.
"Alright, now about Zabuza. Do you want him to come to Konoha with us?"
Tsuna blinked in astonishment.
"Now wait just a sec-" started Zabuza.
"Shhh." Kakashi brought his finger to his lips towards the man. "Let Naruto talk first."
The missing nin twitched.
"NO! Nononono! I mean, of course I want him to come!" Tsuna turned towards the man, who watched his panicking Sky with wide eyes. "Yes, I want you to come and stay with me, but only if you want to! I would never make you do something you don't want to. I mean, I'd like you to come, but you don't have to come just for me and I-"
"Oi, calm down brat." Zabuza ruffled Tsuna's hair awkwardly. "You're rambling. I won't be making any long term arrangements, but for now, I'll be coming with you." He smirked at the boy.
Tsuna felt like a huge weight had lifted from his shoulders and he couldn't help but smile brightly at his Cloud.
Wait...
His Cloud?
Tsuna blinked.
Yes, his Cloud... Zabuza would never replace Kyoya, no one could ever replace his first family, but that didn't mean his family couldn't grow...
He looked up the man with a look of wonder in his eyes.
When had this happened? In Uzu? Or before, during training in Wave?
He shook his head as he saw Zabuza growing uncomfortable and turned back towards his sensei.
Kakashi watched them both attentively, and with narrowed eyes.
Tsuna felt himself bristle defensively. "Is there a problem, sensei?"
Kakashi eyed him. "No, after what Ruyji-san had told us, I suspected something like this." He admitted with a sigh. "Still, explaining this to the village won't be fun..."
"The only one who needs an explanation is the Hokage." interjected Sasuke. "The shinobi council might try something, but there isn't much they can do, with the approval of the Hokage and the support of two clans, right sensei?" Sasuke arched an eyebrow at the man.
"It's very nice of you to support your team-mate like that, Sasuke." replied Kakashi.
Sasuke's eyebrow rose some more, almost in challenge.
"And of course, seeing the situation, I will also support Naruto in this."
"Good, neither of us might have a seat on that council, but we are both the last of our clan." he turned towards Naruto. "Well, all three of us."
Tsuna smiled in gratitude.
"The biggest problem we'll have will not be explaining this bloodline, it'll be to make them understand why it is necessary to allow a missing nin from Kiri access to our village." sighed Kakashi softly.
Zabuza snorted. "I'll cooperate with your Hokage as long as his demands are reasonable and he lets me be around the kid. If not, we can always leave and go back to Uzu to start fresh there."
Kakashi glared at the smirking man.
"Hopefully it won't come to that. Now," Kakashi changed the subject, "Why don't you open that box, Naruto."
"Yes, let's see what the old man died protecting all those years." grumbled Zabuza.
Sakura entered the conversation for the first time. "But how do you know he was protecting that box? He could have-"
"Sakura-san, I think it's quite obvious if you think about it." interrupted Haku gently. "Ryuji-san stayed in those ruins for a reason. If there was nothing left to protect, he would simply have left all the bad memories and the village behind."
"Oh, I guess that makes sense." muttered the girl.
Tsuna gently got the box out of his backpack. It wasn't sealed in any way, so he could open it without trouble.
He gasped. Inside were eight rings!
One simple silver one, without decoration. But the others...
A set of Dying will rings!
Made out of black metal, the rings made him think of small branches who held a round, pointy gem in place. They were all identical, except for the colour of the stones. Red, blue, green, yellow, indigo, purple and...
Tsuna's hand shook as he gently lifted the Sky ring up and studied it.
It was orange. An orange stone... The Vongola ring had been a sky blue, which had never made sense to him as the Mare ring and the Arcobaleno pacifier had both been the exact same colour as the ring he now held between his fingers.
"Rings?" asked Haku curious. "Like Ryuji-san's?"
"I think so, one for me and one for each of my guardians, I think." He pretended to be confused.
"What about that simple ring than?" asked Sakura.
"No idea." He replied and he honestly didn't know. He put the Sky ring on the ring finger of his right hand and tried the simple silver ring on his middle finger.
Sky users could use boxes and rings from all flame types if he recalled right...
He focused his will and the Sky ring lit up with flames instantly. The silver ring took a few seconds longer, before it too lit up in flames.
The flames brightened briefly and the ring changed form. Seeing it shocked him and the flames disappeared.
Was that?
But that wasn't possible... Was it?
He brought his hand closer.
It was!
Natsu!
The ring was still plain silver, but now instead of just the band, there was an image.
An image of a familiar lion cub with a little cap and with a large mane.
Could it really be Natsu?
"It changed." observed Sasuke out loud. "Maybe you need to try it again?"
Tsuna gulped but refocused his will.
A little lion fell in his lap and immediately jumped into Tsuna's arms to cuddle. Almost automatically Tsuna hugged his little friend tightly.
"Now that is something you don't see every day." Remarked Kakashi dryly.
Tsuna released the cub, who turned to greet the other people around.
"Gao~"
"Kami-sama, he is sooo cute!" squealed Sakura happily.
Natsu grew shy and buried his face in Tsuna's stomach. The blond gently petted the cub to reassure him.
"Those are your flames right?" asked Zabuza as he pointed at the cub's mane and the end of his tail.
"Seems like it." Tsuna smiled happily.
He felt so happy he could cry!
"And he came out of that ring? Strange animal..." muttered the man deep in thought.
"Almost like a summon." reflected Kakashi.
"Or a nin animal. Like Akamaru." Sakura smiled softly at the little guy.
Sasuke eyed the cub sceptically. "You think it can fight? It sure doesn't look like it."
"Akamaru's small as well. I'm sure Natsu will be a good partner." Tsuna frowned at the Uchiha.
Sasuke blinked at the blond with wide eyes and then abruptly looked away.
Tsuna tilted his head in confusion at his reaction.
Sakura squealed as Natsu imitated him, tilting his little head in the same way.
Kakashi chuckled while Zabuza had to look away from the cute scene.
"You gave him a name already?" giggled Haku happily.
Tsuna shrugged as he gathered the cub in his arms. "It just seemed to fit."
"Gao~" Natsu beamed up at Tsuna in obvious delight.
"That's strange. I wonder if it means something." Sasuke pointed back towards the box.
"Huh?" Tsuna saw what his team-mate was pointing at.
On the inside of the lid was the drawing of a chibi figure that could only be Byakuran smiling happily and giving a peace sign.
Tsuna felt like face palming.
"Gao~!"
TBC.
Most of you saw this coming, but I hope you liked it anyway xD
Next: Finally arriving in Konoha.