Disclaimer: If I own Naruto, no one ever told me. WHERE IS MY CUT OF THE PROFITS!

Chapter 10: Beginning of a Battle on the Bridge,

Zabuza smiled as he flexed his muscles. He was recovered, and that meant that the mission was back on. He heard two sets of footsteps outside his doorstep and turned, expecting to see his two students. He was only half right.

Haku smiled pleasantly as he walked into the room, the business tycoon Gato right behind him. Zabuza scowled.

"So this is the legendary Demon of the Bloody Mist eh?" asked the fat man with contempt in his voice, "You have been on the mission for almost a week now and Tazuna is still alive. I have a right mind to sell you to the hunter-nins."

Haku narrowed his eyes, an uncharacteristic look for him, "Zabuza-sama has simply been waiting for the most opportune time to make his move. Who are you to question him?"

Zabuza noticed a thin senbon needle appear as if out of nowhere in Haku's hand. And he gave his student a meaningful look. They needed the money that Gato was offering, and they didn't want to risk their hunters looking into the death of a famous business man.

Haku grudgingly relaxed his arm.

"I am ready today Gato. I promise you that you will have your dead bridge builder by the end of the day." He glared, "And I will assume that I will have my payment for me by then as well."

Gato laughed cruelly, "With your efficiency I don't think that you deserve half what we originally agreed."

Two more sets of footsteps arrived outside and Gato's twin samurai bodyguards entered the room. They gripped their sword's handles and grinned menacingly. Gato continued, "As a matter of fact, why should I give you one seventh of what you requested when you have taken more then seven times longer then you promised?"

Zabuza reached for his sword handle underneath his blankets, but Naruto beat him to it. The blonde-haired boy appeared out of seemingly nowhere and slid his kunai underneath Gato's neck. The samurai reached for their blades only to find their sheathes empty. Haku held them both at their own master's throats.

Gato glared at Naruto, "What do you think you are doing brat?"

Naruto smiled, "Well I think that I am threatening you because of that stupid thing you just said...but honestly I can't be sure."

Gato cursed, "Fine...you will get your full pay." he said grudgingly.

Naruto nodded and shoved the fat man out of the room. Haku quickly followed suit with the twin samurai.

Naruto smirked as he watched the three sulk away and turned back to his sensei, "So I hear that we are going to make our move today."

Haku nodded, "Today we put this messy business behind us."

Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously, "Do we really have to kill the Konoha ninja?" he asked, "I don't give a darn about the Jounin and I hate that Satsu freak, but I wouldn't want to end the potential of the other Gennin."

Zabuza scowled at him, "If they become too much of a bother then we will have to stop them Naruto, you know that. Why do you care about these Konoha ninja anyways? I thought that you severed all of your ties to that place."

Haku began laughing, "That's because he's sweet on the pink-haired girl!"

Zabuza opened his eyes wide in shock as Naruto glared daggers at Haku. The older boy continued regardless, "Ever since I told him where she was training he has sneaked down there every day to watch her."

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and pouted, "I watched her because it was my job to gather info on our enemies." he argued.

Haku snickered, "Yeah but you went down to see her way more often then any of the others."

Naruto flung a kunai at Haku, who simply grabbed the blade out of the air. It took Naruto a lot of effort to keep his voice even, "She was the only one training constantly who I could find. The Inuzuka, Aburame, Hyuuga and their sensei spent most of their time guarding the old man and after Kakashi caught me watching him train the Uchiha he hid himself somewhere and I couldn't find them again."

Zabuza shook his head, "It doesn't matter Naruto, if it can be avoided we will not kill the Konoha ninja, but I cannot make any promises." He turned his head outside the window, "At in one hour, we attack."

Sasuke smirked as he stood on guard at the far end of the bridge. It was now nearly complete and it couldn't be much longer until Zabuza and his dobe of a student would be here. If they didn't show up by the end of the day...then they would be out of time.

He twisted his eyes to see his two teammates, Satsu and Sakura, the latter of which was standing as far as she could from the former. Kakashi was here as well, but his presence was hidden by an elaborate genjutsu that Kurenai had set up. Team 8 was at the other end of the bridge, standing guard from an attack from the most easily accessible and obvious route. Something in his gut told him that today would be the day that it happened.

And he would be ready. His training with Kakashi had netted astounding results. He was ten times the ninja that he had been only a few days ago.

His gaze shifted to Sakura and he couldn't help but wonder. He had very little contact with her over the past few days but when he did see her he couldn't help but think that she looked guilty, as though there was something that she was hiding from everyone. He hated when things were being hidden from him.

He mentally cursed at his pathetic teammate and focused his gaze onto Satsu. Kakashi had promised to grill him when they returned to Konoha but there had been no time here. Satsu too had secrets. In truth, Sasuke supposed that he had his own secrets as well, but he had good reason for keeping his secrets. Better reasons then Satsu's wretched arrogance or Sakura's apparent guilt.

He felt someone appear behind him and turned to see Kakashi, who had a grave look on his face. "They are here," Kakashi's voice was serious, "They aren't making any attempt to sneak in. They will attack soon."

As if summoned up by his words a thick mist covered the bridge. There was no doubt, Zabuza Momochi was here.

Naruto waked boldly into the village. He had a mission to accomplish here. While Zabuza and Haku attacked the bridge, he would go to Tazuna's house and find bridge-builder's blueprints. They would find a weak point in the structure, plant a bomb, and kill him along with his bridge.

He turned his head down in shame. He still didn't like this. Killing a man for money, even if it was a man who was willingly going to wreck an entire village for his own profit, even if it was a man who could let his own village fall into starvation and die, was despicable. He hated himself for it.

While his head was down, he noticed something odd. He fell down onto his hands and knees and began sniffing. Then he twisted his face into a contortion of disgust. Gato's bodyguards had been here. Their scents were somewhat covered by the horrible smell of alcohol, but it was definitely them.

Why? Why were they here? What possible reason could they have for leaving their masters side, even for a moment? He began following them.

It didn't take him long to realize that they were heading towards Tazuna's house. A flicker of suspicion entered his mind as he now ran towards his destination. Something was wrong here. Why on earth would Gato send his men into Tazuna's house when he knew that the bridge-builder would not be there?

He reached the house in record time. He saw the door broken down and a young woman on the ground outside, her head bleeding profusely. Naruto ran to her. She was conscious, but just barely.

"What happened here?" Naruto asked urgently.

The woman flicked her eyes to Naruto's face and began crying, "They took Inari." she whispered, "They took my son."

Naruto wasn't sure who Inari was, but he knew that this woman couldn't stay on the floor here. He lifted her up into his strong arms (an odd look considering that she was a decent bit larger then him) and dashed into the building, placing her on the first couch that he came to.

He immediately noted the pictures on the coffee table. They were of Tazuna, sometimes along with the woman, sometimes with a very young, grumpy looking boy.

Naruto turned back to the woman, "Who are you?" he asked. He already suspected, but he had to confirm.

"I am Tazuna's daughter." she answered weakly.

Naruto simply nodded, "Don't worry," he spoke in a soothing voice, "I will save your son." And he was gone.

Zabuza walked through the mist onto the bridge. Haku stood ready at his side. Hatake Kakashi stood defiantly across the bridge from him, Tazuna behind him.

"So Kakashi, we meet again."

Kakashi nodded, "For the last time I hope."

Haku walked forward, "It is a pleasure to meet you again Kakashi-san. I hope that you don't begrudge me my deception too much."

Kakashi shook his head, "Of course not, you had to defend your master. Any ninja would do the same."

There was a tension in the air that seemed incredibly fragile. Neither party wanted to be the first to break it. But a first move had to be made.

It was Zabuza who attacked first, five copies of him appearing as if out of nowhere in a circle around the Gennin.

One of the cones smirked, "Well would you look at that, the kiddies have already made some improvements. Although the Uchiha is still shaking like a little mouse when faced with a tiger."

Sasuke grinned, "Don't underestimate me Zabuza-san, I am shaking with excitement."

A large, swirling mass of claws shot at the Zabuza clones from the other end of the bridge, tearing them apart and reducing them to water. The mass stopped swirling in mid-air to reveal Kiba, who was grinning devilishly, Akamaru on his back.

Sasuke rushed the real Zabuza but was intercepted by the hunter ninja. Their kunai locked together and they both began pushing against each other.

"Don't bother kid," Zabuza spoke, "Haku is way beyond your level, you would be better off just running away."

Sasuke grinned in response, "Again, you underestimate me." he pushed harder.

Haku turned his head down towards Sasuke, "Please Uchiha-san, I would rather not kill you. Won't you please just retreat so that we can do our job."

Even if Haku had not seen them, he would have heard the two other Gennin, Kiba and Satsu, charge him from either side. Haku sighed, "I see I will have to give you a demonstration." Haku raised his one free hand and flicked through a set of hand signs. "Hyoton: Ice Lance no Jutsu!"

Each of the Konoha ninja watched in shock as the water left behind from Zabuza's clones transformed into ice, and created three long, thin spikes that each shot toward one of the Gennin. Kiba and Satsu were just barely able to dodge the ice lances.

Sasuke was forced to relinquish his hold and twist away, though the ice did manage to graze his side. A thin trickle of blood rolled down from his shallow wound.

Kakashi shook his head in disbelief, "Jutsu with one-handed seals? I've never seen that before!"

Zabuza smiled and nodded, "Haku comes from a special clan just like the Uchiha, he can do plenty of things that you have probably never seen before."

Naruto followed the scent of the two samurai for over two miles, and he was getting worried. Obviously Gato had lied to them, Tazuna had a family. Did that make everything else he said a lie as well? Was Tazuna really a treat that could destroy the economy of the land of waves, or was he the good guy? Was Gato the one who was trying to do so much damage? Or was he simply greedy?

There was only one way to find out. He needed to find this Inari and ask him what was happening. The woman had fallen unconscious and he didn't want to stress her out by constantly trying to wake her up. Besides, this Inari might need his help. He would get his answers, and if Gato had been trying to trick him into doing something horrible...then he would pay dearly.

He reached the end of the trail and jumped into a tree. He could see them, the taller, scared one with an eye-patch had the boy slug over his shoulder. Inari was struggling weakly, ropes bound his arms to his sides and his mouth was gagged.

Naruto felt his anger overtaking him, but he forced it down, knowing what could happen if he let it get out of control. He was going to kill these samurai, but not out of anger. That was the wrong way of doing this. Justice, not anger.

He catapulted himself out of the tree and landed in front of the still somewhat drunk thugs. They blinked in shock, not quite coherent enough to understand why he was there.

"Hey, 'aint you Zabuza's twerp?" asked the silvery-haired one. The last thing that he registered before he fell unconscious was Naruto's fist flying toward his face.

Naruto swept the feet out from underneath the tall one and caught Inari before he hit the ground. He jumped back a few feet and quickly tore the gag and ropes off of the young boy.

"Who-who are you!?" Demanded the kid.

Naruto glared down at the prone figures of the two samurai. When they didn't seem to be getting up anytime soon he turned to Inari and grinned his famous grin, "I am the greatest ninja in the world and I have decided to help you save your grandpa and kill Gato"

Inari gave him an incredulous look and kicked him in the worst possible place to kick a guy. As an amazing testament to his toughness Naruto was able to stop himself from falling to his knees, though he did bite his lip to stop from screaming and his eyes watered up from pain. Inari bolted.

Naruto was in front of him before he had gone more then ten feet, "What the heck was that for!?" he yelled, "I just tell you that I am going to save your grandpa and you attack me!?"

Inari glared at him, "You can't save my grandpa! No-one can! Gato is unstoppable. He has an entire legion of ninja and samurai at his disposal. If try and fight him you are seriously going to die! Everyone else who has tried has ended up like that!"

Naruto wasn't exactly sure what to make of Inari's outburst. Eventually he settled on anger, "Listen you punk! I don't have the time to listen to whatever your sob story is! Your mother is badly hurt back at your granddad's house and you need to go and tend to her." He turned away, "Only a coward runs away because he thinks that something is hopeless, so if you are a coward then just go back home and help your mommy and stay indoors like a good baby should. If you don't want to be a coward, which I doubt, then gather the villagers and bring them to the bridge. Either way Gato is going to die tonight, but maybe your people want to play a role in that." He turned back toward the bridge, "See ya coward." he finished before flickering away.

Back on the bridge the battle had gotten underway. Zabuza was fighting alone against both Kakashi and Kurenai. Haku was fighting Sasuke, Kiba, Shino, and Satsu all at once. Sakura and Hinata stood guard over Tazuna.

Sasuke stood back to back with Kiba as he tried to keep up with the insanely fast Haku as he jumped from ice mirror to ice mirror. Both boys were covered with dozens of thin needles of ice.

Sasuke was furious, "Who the heck are you!" he called angrily, "Where is that blond dobe! I wanted to fight him!"

Haku's voice seemed to emanate from everywhere at once, "Naruto is not here, he will join us shortly but for now you will have to content yourself with me."

Another barrage of needles shot from the mirrors and Sasuke yelled out in pain before collapsing. He slowly struggled back onto his feet and cursed. He had not wanted to use his new powers until he met up with Naruto again but it was becoming increasingly obvious that he would not be able to make it through this fight without them.

Before he could make a move Haku struck at him again.

"Gatsuuga no Jutsu!" Yelled the Inuzaka who then transformed once again into a spinning mass of blade-like claws before circling around his teammate. When the assault ended Kiba fell out of his Jutsu and onto the ground. He had taken most of the needles before they made it to Sasuke.

The Uchiha glared as he flashed through his own set of hand seals, "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" a small barrage of fireballs shot from his mouth and slammed into the ice mirrors. However, like when he had used his Goukakyuu Jutsu earlier in the fight the ice didn't seem to be at all effected by his fire. Sasuke cursed.

Haku fell from the top mirror, he stood directly in front of the Uchiha. Kiba was down, and he did not seem to be getting up anytime soon. Sasuke was not faring a whole lot better. Shino and Satsu were separated from them by an ice mirror that divided the oval shaped cage that held the Gennin.

"Please surrender yourself," Haku pleaded, "Your teammate is already defeated, and you are obviously on your last leg. Though you cannot see from here, your other allies on the other side of my ice mirror cage are faring little better. Just lay down and I will allow you to walk away with your lives."

Sasuke shook his head, "No...'pant'...No stinkin' way. I am going to prove that I am better then that Naruto, and I am not giving up until I have the shot to do that."

Haku sighed, "You will never be able to defeat Naruto, Uchiha. He may not believe so himself, but the truth is that he is far stronger then I. You cannot defeat me, and you certainly cannot defeat Naruto."

Suddenly a sharp cracking noise turned both ninja's attention to the dividing mirror. Haku opened his eyes wide in shock as it was broken in two and fell to the ground. "Impossible." he whispered.

Satsu stood behind it the once ice wall, his fist hanging in the air from where he had punched through the it. He was panting heavily. Shino stood behind him, his composure totally unshaken although he was covered in blood and ice needles.

Shino spoke, "We appear to have discovered a weakness in his abilities. His mirrors are held together with chakra, and since my insects devour chakra..." he waved his hand over the battlefield and his insects swarmed out from behind the ice.

Sasuke grinned as he make his hand seals for a second time, "Katon!" he called out eagerly, "Housenka no Jutsu!"

Haku dashed out of the way of the incoming fireballs. His now drained shield didn't fare quite so well. They were water before they touched the ground.

Sasuke grinned, "Looks like the tables are turned hunter-nin!"

Haku did not seem worried. He simply made another hand seal and spoke, "Hyoton: Demonic Ice Armor Jutsu."

Now his ice grew up from the ground and covered his body, creating a suit of armor that looked similar to something a shogun would wear. A long spear of ice appeared in his hand.

Zabuza swung his sword in a downward arc, his eyes closed shut. It was a simple strategy that would have probably not worked for almost anyone else on earth, but he was a master at killing someone through the use of sound alone.

He had tried, multiple times, to slip through Kakashi and Kurenai's defenses and kill the bridge builder with as little effort as possible. Unfortunately they proved much more adept then he had anticipated and had stopped him at every turn. He would have to at least incapacitate them.

One advantage of the mist was that he could focus on one of his foes without having to worry about the other one. He wasn't certain that he could defeat both Jounin on his own, but one at a time should not be that difficult. Even if one of those ones was the legendary copy ninja Hatake Kakashi.

"You know you'll never get away with this." Kakashi spoke, "I know all about your past, and all about why you had to become a missing-nin in the first place."

Zabuza chuckled, "You mean how I tried to assassinate the Mizukage? Don't bother trying to rile me up with that. I am glad that I failed actually."

Kakashi frowned, "Why is that?"

"You people from Konoha tried to form a mob and kill one of your own a few years back. He survived and I found him and nurtured him into a strong ninja. If I had not failed in my assassination, then I would never have had the chance to fix your villages much greater failure."

Kakashi blanched, but it was Kurenai who spoke, "The boy's fate was a sad one, but we are not responsible for it. The things that the boy went through were reprehensible, but I can understand why the villagers did them. Fear makes people do terrible things and no parent wants their children to be around a child that even has the smallest possibility of being dangerous or unstable."

Zabuza laughed his frightening laugh, "Really? I have lived with his for years and I have never seen anything to suggest that he is unstable. He has become one of the greatest ninja I have ever know, and he is forever by my side. He told me that he once had dreams of protecting the people of Konoha. Now he only fights for me."

"It is not our fault." Kurenai persisted.

"No...perhaps not directly, but you could have saved him. You could have been humane to him at least rather then treating him like a pariah. You may not have been the ones who gave him so much pain, but you did not help him either. I was the only one who did that. You are just as much to blame as them, Konoha ninja. Now wallow in your own shame."

Kakashi hated those words. He hated Momochi Zabuza. He hated himself. He hated because he knew that his enemy was right. The boy should have been his responsibility. His own sensei had wanted that. But he had turned away, turned away because he was afraid. He had been far too hurt by his sensei's death to allow himself to be the person that he should have been. He had watched over Naruto from afar, making sure that he was safe and healthy, but never letting his presence known because he didn't think that he could bare the pain of caring for another person so soon. Not after he had lost the last person that he had ever cared for. And now it was too late, he could not make amends.

Zabuza's words stung so badly because he had always blamed himself for exactly this. He didn't see until it was too late Zabuza's guillotine blade descending onto his shoulder.

Raptor2001: I already stated that one of the two would die, either Haku or Zabuza. I shall not reveil which one it is until it happens. Naruto will return to Konoha eventually, but not as a citizen. He will participate in the Chunnin exams. And I totally agree with the slow romance thing. Don't worry about that, they won't get together for a decent while.

jstrife: Naruto is as strong as Chunnin exam Neji, I don't think that he could beat Kurenai at this point. Don't worry, I don't plan on abondoning this story.

TheUnrealInsomniac: And you get another one! Yes, I think that Naruto helping Sakura was a good thing. He still loves Konoha in his heart of hearts and he wants to feel a connection to it again. At least that is how it started out, very quickly he found himself drawn to Sakura. He is already fond of her, though that will take a long time to change into something else.

BatsintheBellfry: I understand liking NaruHina, but this fanfic will definately be NaruSaka, and KibaHina. I will have Naruto and Hinata become friends eventually though, so you should be happy with that.

where r my chips: Naruto has a dual elemental affinity, water and wind, but being trained by Zabuza, he focuses much more on his water one. He will learn a few wind jutsu eventually though :)