Haku silently dusted in the bedroom Naruto was asleep in; it had now been three days since the battle on the bridge. Shendu had suggested that blond shinobi may take a while to physically recover from what had happened. Kakashi and Zabuza had trusted the dragon's knowledge on the matter and let it be. Sakura had been studying a book she had found in an antique shop in town that she and the dragon had found; Haku wouldn't say it had consumed the girl, but she had barely put it down. The only time she didn't have her nose buried in the book was when she was eating, checking on Naruto, or sleeping.
"How's he doing?" she heard the Uchiha boy ask.
"Nothing noticeably different today Uchiha-san," she answered as she looked at him with a soft smile "you two must be rather close. You check on him almost every hour."
"He's my best friend," Sasuke replied as he sat in the chair next to Naruto's bed "we've known each other since before we were in the shinobi academy. He's like a brother to me."
"I see; so he is precious to you?"
"I guess", with a sigh "what do you think that red chakra that came from him was? Every time I've seen chakra being manipulated for a jutsu it was blue."
"Perhaps it is something unique to the Uzumaki Clan," Haku suggested "I wish to ask you a personal question if that is alright with you Uchiha-san."
"Ok" with a curious tone and looking at her.
"What did Shendu-san mean when he said 'darkness finding its way into your heart'?" bluntly "There must have been something terrible that happened."
"My parents were killed right in front of me by Orochimaru, the Snake Sanin" he answered coldly "and I will avenge my parents and the other clan members he killed. Then I will kill the one he was trying to find."
Haku put her finger tips on Sasuke's chest before he could even blink. His pulse was strong and steady; she knew he was serious. There was something else she could feel as well.
"I believe you when you say you want to kill Orochimaru," she said gently "but I don't think your heart is dark or evil. You won't kill the one he was looking for when he killed your clan members; you don't seem to be the type to kill in cold blood."
The young Uchiha stared at Haku with an almost dumbfounded look on his face. Someone wasn't trying to talk him out of avenging his parents or clan members' deaths; she was trusting that he would instead.
"Why aren't you trying to talk me out of it like everyone else?" he asked.
"Because, I understand wanting to avenge your family. When I was a child my father, mother and I lived happily, but because of something beyond my mother's control and something I did" she recalled as she took her hand away from Sasuke's chest "my mother was killed by a mob lead by my father. After they killed her, they came at me. The next thing I knew, my Kekkei Genkai reacted to the threat and I ended up killing everyone there. I had inadvertently avenged my mother, but at a terrible cost; I was all alone. At the age of seven I was nothing more than a street rat struggling to survive. I had no purpose in life other than to simply survive to the next day. For several months I lived like that.
Then one day, I look up and I see Zabuza-sama standing there looking at me. His eyes were different from everyone else's. His eyes didn't have any pity in them, but I could see empathy for my situation in them. The world didn't care if I lived or died but instead of being full of anger and hate because of it, I still tried to survive. He took me under his wing and told me that he would put me to use until I found my purpose in life other than simply surviving. He trained me in everything he knew and I had refined my own skills, my Kekkei Genkai. And as I did I found my purpose in life; I would live to survive Zabuza-sama and help him achieve his dream if it cost me my life."
"You'd die for him?" in disbelief.
"I was willing to on the bridge had your friend not saved my life by intervening. I'm happy he did though; I am able to reflect on my life and still able to make choices for the future."
"What choices have you decided on so far?" curious.
"I will still help Zabuza-sama achieve his dream, but I want to do it by spilling as little blood as possible. The Yondaime Mizukage has performed a number of terrible crimes since he came to power. It is under his reign that the Civil War of Kirigakure came to be; the end goal of it for the Yondaime Mizukage is to eliminate everyone who possesses a Kekkei Genkai. By any means."
Sasuke's eyes shook when he heard this. There was something like this going on in an ally village and Konoha wasn't doing anything about it?! He couldn't even begin to imagine the war crimes that must have happened, that were most likely still happening, because of this civil war.
"How could anyone…"
"Fear of the unknown and fear of the different" cutting him off "the Yondaime Mizukage's predecessors had used clans with a Kekkei Genkai in wars and this lead many regular shinobi and people to view them as a weapon to be used in times of conflict. And during times of peace, they were viewed as monsters and threats to everyday life. No one is sure what triggered the Yondaime Mizukage's hate of Kekkei Genkai, but it must be stopped."
The ice user went back to dusting the room after the silence began to get awkward. She knew her talk with the Uchiha didn't fall on deaf ears; she had his attention the entire time and it wasn't for her looks. He was listening intently throughout the conversation and even now he looked to be digesting her words.
"Oh" they heard Kakashi say as he walked pass the door frame "there you are Sasuke-kun; I see that you and Haku are becoming friendly with each other. I was hoping to continue your training since we have the down time meet me downstairs in about thirty minutes. That should give me enough time to find Sakura-chan."
Sasuke grumbled under his breath as he got up and went downstairs. He didn't like that he was being accused of 'getting friendly' with someone; he didn't have the time for that. As long as Orochimaru is alive, he needed to get stronger so he could avenge his parents.
-Outside-
Sasuke and Sakura stood in front of Kakashi waiting for him to say something, but his masked face was buried in his book as he snickered. Neither one of them knew or wanted to know what the masked jonin was snickering about. A few more minutes of this passed before Kakashi closed his book and put it away.
"Thank you for letting me finish that chapter" with a smile "as I had mentioned earlier. Since we have the down time and there are no threats against Tazuna's life anymore, I believe it is a good time to introduce elemental chakra. Sasuke-kun, you have already gained experience with elemental chakra so could you please explain it to Sakura?"
"Elemental chakra refers to one's natural affinity to turn use their chakra to manipulate an element; for example, every member of the Uchiha clan excels in Fire Style ninjutsu but that's not the only ones we can do. As someone becomes more proficient in an elemental chakra, they can create the element from nothing or if they use the element around them they are able to amplify the power of the jutsu."
"Very good Sasuke-kun," Kakashi said with a smile as he pulled out two quarter sheets of paper "given your rates of growth from when Team Seven was officially formed I believe it is time to begin training on elemental chakra and jutsu. Sasuke has already demonstrated his natural affinity for fire style and a base use of water style from when he was able to copy the water clone jutsu from Haku-san. These papers will tell us what your natural affinity is" giving both Sasuke and Sakura a paper "go ahead and focus your chakra into the paper and we'll see what you can do."
Sasuke and Sakura did as they were instructed and focused their chakra into the papers they were given. Sasuke's wrinkled before it turned to ash; Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this. Sakura's paper went limp; for some reason this didn't surprise the jonin too much.
"Looks like you have two base affinities Sasuke-kun, rather unusual but there's never been anything normal about our team, fire and lightning" Kakashi said touching his chin with his finger in a thinking motion "Sakura-chan, your affinity appears to be water. Some people believe that your personality tends to be based on what element you have a natural affinity for."
"If that's the case then Naruto-kun should have an affinity for wind cause he never stops talking" Sakura jokingly laughed.
"No need to make jabs at someone who can't defend themselves Sakura-chan," the scarecrow said with a sigh "now what would be the best way to do this? I could make a clone and train each of you one on one that way; however I doubt I have enough chakra just yet to do that effectively. I can train you two in turns, but that would take time. I wonder if Haku-san would be willing to train you Sakura-chan…" looking up to the tree's leaves.
The next few days were spent with Kakashi working with Sasuke to improve the Uchiha's chakra control during an elemental jutsu. Sasuke made easy work of this and began to practice his signature jutsu while running on water. Kakashi could see that something was eating at the preteen boy but didn't want to try to pry into it; he was there for Sasuke if the boy needed or wanted to talk about whatever it was though. Sakura and Haku had spent the first day training on the pier working on the very basics since Sakura had no experience with elemental jutsu. By the third day, Sakura could successfully make three water clones with pulling water from the ocean; the only downside was that she had to use a lot of chakra to do it.
"Very good Sakura-san" Haku said as the younger girl made the three water clones again.
The pink haired genin had been pushing herself harder than what Haku believed she should in learning the jutsu. Right now the only thing keeping the water clones stable was the level of chakra control the girl had. If the girl were to fight against either Sasuke or Naruto, Haku believed that Sakura could win should she be able to keep from getting hit simply because she was able to use the ideal amount of chakra for each jutsu she used; never wasting any chakra or time in performing them.
"Thanks," Sakura said slightly panting "that might be all I can do for the day though."
"You have been pushing yourself rather hard these last few days. May I ask why that is?" the ice user requested.
"On the bridge, all I could do was stand there and hope I wouldn't get attacked. When Zabuza came at me to get to Tazuna-san I froze and Naruto and Kakashi had to save me. The only time I was useful on the bridge was when I had to use that sword to save Naruto from the Fire Chi and even then, I was afraid I was going to mess that up. I don't want to become a damsel in destress who can't do anything herself; that wouldn't be fair to Naruto or Sasuke."
"I see," pushing her hair behind her ear and looking towards Sasuke "Sasuke-san seems to be an interesting person. What do you know about him?"
Sakura fell to the ground hearing this.
"Why do you ask?!" with a mix of curiosity and anger.
"He seems to be a good person with a lot of torments," looking back to Sakura "maybe I can help him put those torments to bed. He already told me his mother and father were killed by the Snake-Sanin Orochimaru, but I don't know anything else."
"As a kid he was always polite to everyone, his grades while we were in the academy were always top of the class for the boys…"
"I have already noted his combat capabilities" cutting her off.
"He is tormented, back when we were in the academy I never realized how much. Now that I'm on the same team with him I can see how much so. He tends to be cold to a lot of people, the only few people he hasn't been completely cold with is Naruto-kun, his brother Itachi-dono, and Kakashi-sensei. I'm worried his torments will take him somewhere he might not be able to return from."
"I see; thank you. I believe we should call it a day on your elemental chakra training" with a smile "how is your studying going in regards to that book you got last week?"
"HEY NARUTO-SAN IS AWAKE!" they heard Inari shout as he was running to them.
Everyone turned to the boy and had a surprised look on their faces. It had been a week since the bridge incident and everyone was worried they were going to have to find Naruto a professional doctor to pull him from the coma he had fallen into. Immediately everyone began rushing back to the house to check on the blond boy. When they got into the house they saw Naruto glaring at Zabuza; it was the most intense the leaf shinobi had ever seen him.
"What's he doing here?" Naruto asked pointing at Zabuza.
Everyone understood Naruto questioning why Zabuza was still in the Land of Waves; the rogue nin had tried to kill just about everyone in the room.
"A form of community service I guess would be the best way to describe it," Kakashi answered "how much of the fight on the bridge do you remember?"
"Enough to know I killed Gato in cold blood" he answered seeming content with the answer Kakashi gave him about Zabuza.
"And what about after that?" Sakura asked with concern.
"Nothing," looking to the ground "just red, and an uncontrollable anger."
"After you killed Gato the Fire Chi took over your body" Shendu said "then…"
"DON'T TELL HIM!" Tazuna shouted cutting off the plushie.
Shendu let out a growl to the old man; while it wasn't as intimidating as when he had his true body, it was enough to get a point across. The dragon didn't want to keep things from the hatchling any longer. That was the reason the blond had ended up in a three day coma and was just now waking up. He needed to teach Naruto how to use the talismans regardless on if the boy wanted to or not.
"The boy has a right to know" Zabuza said back "trying to keep him in the dark will only make matters worse!" he looked to Naruto "After you took out Gato, this Fire Chi thing took control of your body and you turned on all his goons. You killed about half of them before we could get the Fire Chi out of you using a Good Chi Spell."
Naruto's eyes shook with disbelief. He had killed more than just Gato in cold blood; there was blood on his hands that shouldn't be. Anko had always told him that there was going to be a day when he was going to have to kill someone. It's a part of being a shinobi; he understood that. It was the manner that he did it that he wasn't ok with. Tears began to run down his face and he walked towards the door.
"Naruto-kun…" Sakura started to say.
"I just…" without looking back as he opened the door "I just need some time."
With that Naruto left the house and closed the door; Kakashi knew that the best thing right now was to let him have some space. After a few hours, someone would need to talk with him who understood the situation Naruto was in. Unfortunately he didn't think that anyone here would be able to talk with him. It was going to be a while before Naruto gets out of this funk.
"When should I talk with him?" Zabuza asked.
Everyone just looked at the Swordsman of the Mist with a confused look. Only Zabuza knew of the horror that the Mist Shinobi Academy held for its graduation exams; he knew that he was the only one who would be able to connect with the boy about this. He knew what it was like to blindly kill someone; to see nothing but red until something or someone snapped you back to reality.
"Give him a few hours" the scarecrow answered as if he read Zabuza's mind "let him be to his thoughts for now."
The Demon of the Blood Mist nodded and went back to reading the book he had bought from the store earlier that day. It was a good read, but wouldn't label it as 'can't put it down'. It kept his attention as he recovered from his injuries and kept the Tsunami woman from fussing at him about anything so he wasn't going to complain about it.
-Several Hours Later; Forest-
Naruto sat in the middle of an opening and blankly starred forward; he was still having issues processing what he had done. It didn't help that he couldn't remember what he had done. The sound of birds chirping filled his ears as he remembered how he had killed Gato for the sixtieth time it felt like. He remembered slicing through a few of Gato's goons and sending Gato into the air before ripping his head off with the chain. The blood that rained down on him as he turned back to the mercenaries before he blacked out completely.
"Care to talk about it kid?" he heard Zabuza say behind him.
Naruto quickly jumped up and took a defensive stance with a kunai in hand; he knew that Zabuza was interested in the bounty that was on his head for some reason. He charged at the rogue jonin and took a swing with his kunai. The large man had ducked under the knife and threw the blond boy a small distance. Naruto got back up and readied himself again.
"If you want to spar I'll amuse you," Zabuza said as he took a stance "I could go for loosening up a bit."
Naruto rushed Zabuza and swung again with the kunai; as the mist-nin went to grab his wrist Naruto spun around to throw a kick at the man's head. Zabuza ducked beneath the kick allowing the boy's foot to pass over his head without even touching his hair. As the foot landed on the ground, Zabuza pushed Naruto away from him. The boy was fighting with basic taijustu skills and had a decent foundation to develop his own style if he learned a few more basic styles. There was another style present though, as if he has attempted to mirror someone else's style but hadn't been taught it formally.
The leaf genin flipped his kunai around and made an upwards swing to slice into Zabuza's chest. The mummified jonin jumped backwards a few feet and then front kicked the blonde's chest sending him backwards. There was a puff of smoke and a log was left where the boy once was; this boy was better than he had given credit originally. He felt a sharp pain in his back where he was stabbed in the shoulder. He could practically feel the boy grinning at the fact that he managed to get behind him; a smirk grew underneath his bandages as he began to turn into water. His water clone fell to the ground and he used the water to catch the genin in a Water Prison Jutsu.
"Not bad," Zabuza admitted "maybe you'll be able to get me in a few years if you train hard."
"Time must be moving pretty fast" Naruto said with a smirk before he puffed out of existence.
Zabuza quickly spun around and grabbed the real Naruto's wrist then slammed him onto the ground in an armbar.
"Your timing could use a little work but still pretty good given your age," Zabuza said again just before he let the boy up "we gonna keep fighting or are you going to let me talk?"
"What did you want to talk about?" as he got up.
"The weather," he answered sarcastically "what happened on the bridge; you killing Gato and his mercenaries. Shendu had told us it wasn't your fault; the Fire Chi had blinded you and caused you to do all that."
"It doesn't change what happened" he said back.
"You're right it doesn't" coldly "but I know what it's like to just blindly kill someone, or at least attempt to anyway."
"Wha… What do you mean?"
"Imagine this, you're sitting at lunch with your friends at the academy; graduation is in less than a week. Everyone is talking about what the previous final exams were; which jutsu have been commonly picked, what kind of curve balls could be thrown at you, and such. Then when the time for the final exams comes around, everyone is in the same room and waiting to find out what the exam is. When they announce it, it was a curve ball none of us had thought of; an all-out fight to the death" with a dark look in his eyes.
"What…?" as his eyes shook "you mean…"
"Yes," he answered "you couldn't stop fighting until your opponent was dead. Those you considered your friends were your enemies now and it was a life-and-death fight. Yet another curveball, you weren't paired against someone; it was a free for all. Everyone against everyone. I had entered only a few months before that so I didn't have very many friends but I decided to make it quick for them. After that day I earned the title Demon of the Blood Mist; I used the Hidden Mist Justu to kill each and every one of them with such speed, the mist turned red."
Naruto tightened his grip on the kunai in his hand; he wanted to know where this was going. Zabuza had just said he had killed his classmates, his friends as if it was nothing.
"After that I distanced myself from just about everyone around me. Then I met a girl, fell in love, and I had even proposed to her. Not long after we were engaged, she became pregnant; I was going to be a father. But this woman was unique, she had a kekkei genkai and I didn't care; I loved her and was happy. However, the Mizukage cared; when he found out that she had a kekkei genkai, he ordered an assassination. Of course, my woman was very tough and she had killed the group that had been sent to kill her, but when I got there it was too late. I was no longer going to be a father."
Naruto's grip lightened so much that his kunai fell to the ground. He suddenly knew where this was going.
"In that brief moment, I had lost control of my anger. That is when I went to attempt to assassinate the Mizukage. I had gathered our friends and we killed anyone who got in our way. If it hadn't been for my fiancé then I would have been killed that day because of my anger, because I was blinded. I learned that day that I needed to better control my emotions. It was because I had been blinded by anger that I had killed some of the ones that I considered my friends. But you, you had killed Gato and some low lifes who deserved it; I can name three of them off the top of my head who had killed just for the hell of it.
The best thing you can do I learn from what happened and move forward. Be better than what I was. Right now you might not be on the same level as I was at your age, but I can see you have a shit ton of potential."
Naruto stood silently for a while and processed what he had just learned. It was a good bit to take in and try to make sense of but there was one thing that he knew he could do to keep from blindly killing.
"Thanks," Naruto said "I think I know what I need to do."
"What's that kid?" Zabuza asked narrowing his eyes while being ready to react.
"I'm never using the Dragon Talisman again" as he picked up his kunai and walked away from the rogue-nin "that's the only way I can guarantee I won't get out of control ever again."
Zabuza watched Naruto walk back towards the house; he knew that his message had fallen on near deaf ears. He wanted the boy to take the hint that he needed to learn to control the power he had instead of trying to hide from it. This was going to be a long process for the blond to fully grasp what his potential truly is, but he won't be able to do that if he tries to hide from who he is and what he has.
"Hatake has his work cut out for him" Zabuza sighed as he looked to the leaves and reached into his tool pouch.
When he pulled his hand out there was a small picture in his hand and he looked at it with a slight smile that was hidden because of his bandages. His spitfire of a fiancé didn't let him get away with much of anything but he loved her for that. He looked at her red hair and remembered when they first sparred, he had used a kunai and managed to cut several strands off. That ended up resulting in him being hospitalized for a while. After that they had a weird relationship, almost love-hate but eventually he asked her out and things just went from there.
"Good times" as he ran his thumb along the picture.
-Tazuna's house-
Kakashi looked at Naruto and knew the boy needed to start training again; he just seemed too spaced out. He didn't think it would be good for him to stay like that for too long. Luckily he had just the thing for him.
"Hey Naruto" Kakashi said "that jutsu you've been working on; what is it?"
This snapped Naruto out of his daze and back to the room. He felt like he had been sitting there for hours; a look at the clock showed he had been.
"Uncle-Ero-Sanin didn't tell me the name of it" Naruto said "it was a sphere of swirling chakra almost like a typhoon."
"Did it look like this?" Kakashi asked as he made the Rasengan in his right hand.
"YEAH THAT'S IT!" Naruto said surprised and happy.
"I suspected as much. Since Jiraiya-sama isn't here I guess I can show you the final step to the Rasengan" as he got up "come with me; we're going to need some ballons."
Naruto followed Kakashi into town and several people were giving him weird looks. The young blond suddenly felt like he should've waited back at Tazuna's house for his sensei to get the balloons. Some were staring at him like how some of the villagers in Konoha had stared at him after he first activated the power of the Tiger Talisman; like he was a freak, a monster, or something worse. He didn't ask for the powers he has and he has been doing the best he could to keep from relying heavily on them but Shendu has always wanted him to be more open to using them in combat.
"Don't let them see it gets to you" Kakashi said as they rounded a corner.
"What?" the pre-teen asked.
"Keep your head high and don't let anyone see that it gets to you," the scarecrow reiterated "as a shinobi you can't let it show that certain things get to you. But as a human everyone is affected by those same things. The best thing you can hope to do is not let others see that it gets to you on the level it does."
"But I killed people in cold blood" Naruto said while looking down "how can I pretend that it doesn't get to me?"
"During the Third Shinobi War my teammate Obito gave his life to save me and Rin-chan. The entire right side of his body had been crushed and he used his final words to give me a gift; a gift that felt like a curse for a long time" as he touched where his scar was on his face "he had Rin-chan transplant his left Sharingan eye where mine had been lost earlier during the war. There were times when I'd look at myself in the mirror and want to gauge the eye out because of the painful memories it brought to the surface. If it weren't for Rin, I don't think I would have been able to recover and see the true value of the gift he gave me. With it I am able to protect the village even better than if I didn't have it."
"What was he like?" Naruto asked.
"A lot like you" with a smile as he rubbed the blonde's head "he was my squad's hyperactive knucklehead with dreams of becoming the Hokage and protecting everyone he loved."
They bought the balloons and went back to Tazuna's house; Naruto seemed to get different looks this time. Several of them were more open and friendly, others appeared to be apathetic to what had happened on the bridge. A couple of people had even voiced that they were glad Gato was dead because it meant that their village could finally get to how it was supposed to be. Kakashi knew that Naruto was still too young, both physically and mentally, to be able to cope with what they were saying about what he had done; one day he would understand it though.
As they came back to the house, Naruto saw a familiar pair of wooden sandals at the door as well as the voice of the owner of said sandals coming from inside. The blond rushed into the house and saw the legendary toad sanin sitting at the table with Zabuza laughing about something.
"Uncle…" Naruto said sounding like he was about ready to break down into tears "Uncle-Ero-Sanin…"
"Hey kiddo" Jiraiya said "I'm sorry I'm late. My informant had more intel I needed to check out than I thought."
Naruto rushed over and gave Jiraiya a hug; he needed a familiar parental figure at the moment. The white haired Sanin wrapped his arm around his godson and let the boy get it out of his system.
"I'm here for as long as you need me to be Naruto" the old man said softly.
Zabuza motioned for Kakashi to step into another room so they could talk and Kakashi gave a nod. They went to another room and closed the door.
"What's on your mind Zabuza?" the scarecrow asked coolly.
"I didn't think anything of it before but seeing him next to Jiraiya-dono it makes his lineage obvious" the mist swordsman answered.
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Blue eyes, blond spikey hair" Zabuza said going into detail "the only thing different is his personality. I'm guessing he got that from the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero of Konoha and not the Legendary Yellow Flash of Konoha."
Kakashi's eye narrowed at Zabuza; no one in the village had been able to make that connection. He unconsciously became tense at what this could mean. While he had Zabuza's sword sealed in a scroll and on his person, the man hadn't earned the title Demon of the Blood Mist for no reason.
"Relax Hatake" the rogue nin said "I'm not gonna run to Kumo with this information. But I would like to use it to leverage Haku and mine's freedom from you."
"And why would I do that?" Kakashi asked as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Because I'm sure you don't want the boy finding out just yet. All I want is to return to Kirigakure and finish what I started; the Mizukage is a tyrant who needs to be killed for the safety of all Kekkei Genkai clans."
This caught Kakashi off guard; noticeably rising his visible eyebrow. Zabuza had attempted to kill the Mizukage in order to allow clans with Kekkei Genkai to live in peace? The man had a bit of an ironic sense of honor to him but it was a sense of honor.
"They will find safety with or without you," with a shrug "you need to have a better argument than that Zabuza."
Zabuza tightened his hand into a fist; he had no choice but to open up yet again.
"Jiraiya-dono told me that my fiancé is still alive and leading the rebellion" Zabuza told him "Naruto knows my reasons for wanting to kill the Yondaime Mizukage."
This caught Kakashi's attention; it was something he could understand. If he was in Zabuza's position he would want to rush to Rin and help a rebellion. Even more so if he had thought she was dead.
"I'll see how my team feels about letting you and Haku go" as he put his hands in his pockets.