Nice Job Fixin' It, Hero!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other crossovers I may put into this work of fiction.
Reviewer's Corner (From Ch. 9):
Fox of the Blood Moon: Thanks for your suggestions and comment!
Start
After introductions had been finished, Naruto sat down with Tazunas' family and Team Seven. He saw their headbands and asked, "I see you guys are from Konoha. Did you hire them for a mission, Tazuna-san?" From Team Sevens' perspective, he was very polite, but Sasuke could feel some of the loose ends seeping through.
He rubbed the back of his head, "Well, I don't know if I should be saying so, but yes! I've needed some help getting back here. Bandit attacks and such. I was worried for my safety." As he was a stranger and someone who was clearly not from Wave, Tazuna did not disclose all the details of the mission. He did, however, wish to keep the boy at arms length, seeing as he did save his daughter.
Naruto turned his head to the other Konoha nin, "Well, I'm glad you guys made it here safely. Wave is a beautiful place with lots' to offer. It would be a shame for the Master Bridge Builder to miss a chance at this bountiful area." He smirked and took a sip of tea offered earlier. "How are you guys?"
The team looked at each other, unsure of how to answer. Sasuke answered for them, "We're good, but who are you?" He wanted to know, as he could feel something off about that guy. "Heh, I'm just a traveler." He felt some suspicion from one of them, but couldn't exactly tell which.
Haru thought about it and asked, "How did you get here safely? Don't you know what these islands are like?" The question was on everyones' mind. He looked from his tea, "Hmm, what do you mean?"
She was confused, "You don't know how this land is?" She felt something odd about the boy, but couldn't feel what it was. He was grinning like an idiot, but there was an obvious deeper intelligence to his façade.
It was to Kakashi that there was nothing to gain from asking questions, so he tried to have calm them down. "Hey, hey, why don't you guys calm down with the questions for a bit? We've only just got there." He laughed calmly. They were confused about the sudden segway, but didn't question him.
"Well, why don't we help get you guys settled in for the week? You're bound to be tired." He showed them to their rooms, while they unpacked their stuff. Kakashi looked at Naruto, but didn't say anything.
'Kakashi Hatake. How interesting.' He sipped his tea and went to go grab his stuff. "Ah, Tsunami-san, I have to be going now." He bowed out of the door.
"Why are you leaving now? You've only just returned, and you helped out so much." Naruto simply waved, "I don't want to impose, I can tell things are going to be tense for a while." He left the door as a boy of eight years old walked in.
Tsunami said to the boy, "Inari, say hello to our guests who helped save your grandfather from an assassin." Tazuna looked outside for a sign of Naruto, but found no one. He asked, "Hey Inari, have you seen a boy walk outside here?" The boy shook his head. "Where…"
An undisclosed location…
Zabuza sat on a couch in a headquarters located in Wave. The building belonged to Gato, as did nearly everything else in the country. The aforementioned man looked at him, smirking, "So the rumors about the 'Demon of the Hidden Mist' are just rumors? I'm starting to think my investment was worthless. Maybe I should just have you killed now?" The man speaking stepped out of the shadows, all short, gray-haired, with a cane and an entourage of two bodyguards.
He sighed, "Do what you want, I don't care. I just want another chance to take on Kakashi." He smirked. Gato frowned and pushed up his glasses, "As long as I don't have to pay you." He twirled his cane and left the building for his next destination. The bodyguards approached Zabuza and tried to look tough, but failed miserably.
They felt daggers against their knives, "Boo." They were scared out of their minds, "What are you doing? Your boss has already left." They ran away, afraid of what Haku might do to them.
"That was unnecessary, I could have handled them myself." He was bored since there were no recent confrontations. "What's the status on the mission?"
Haku stated, after studying his notes, "Apparently Naruto has gotten friendly with the bridge builders' family. Things should be proceeding smoothly after the next week." He pocketed his notebook. "Zabuza-sensei, what will you do in the meantime?"
He grabbed his sword from behind the couch, "I'll do some independent training." He walks out of the building, swinging his zanbatou haphazardly. "I'll see you guys in a few days."
Ayame walks out from another room, yawning, "Oh, Zabuza-sensei left than?" She had her sword with her. Haku nodded, "Yes. Shall we go train, than?" She nodded, just before Naruto walked in.
"Hey, you two." They acknowledged him coming back. "I just saw Zabuza-sensei head out, what is he doing now?" They informed him of his state, "Ah, I see, that's cool." He sat on the couch, tired.
Ayame asked curious, "So, what are the Konoha nin like?" Haku was interested about them as well, hearing of Konohas' generosity and being an overall decent village.
He put his hand to his chin, "If I could put it in one word… odd." They were both dismayed at such a simplistic description, but would wait to see for themselves. "They all seem pretty strong, if the plan goes ahead successfully, we shouldn't have to fight." He smiles.
Back at Tazunas' House…
The entire time Inari sat at the table, he didn't say a word, only leaning forward, eating quietly. "Inari, say something to our guests, you're being incredibly rude." He simply got up without saying a word, heading up to his room.
Sasuke looked at him, but said nothing. After he thought the younger boy was out of earshot, he asked, "So, he must have been like that for a while, huh?" She nodded sadly, "Yes, you're correct, Uchiha-san. He's been sullen ever since that time." As Sasuke was about to press further, Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder.
He gritted his teeth, 'Huh.' He resumed eating, bowing and heading to his room. "Hold on a moment." Sasuke stopped at the bottom step, "Yeah?" Kakashi fixes his posture, "It looks like you guys are stronger than I thought, but you all will need some more training for the fight ahead."
Sakura asked, "What! Do you expect us to fight against Zabuza?" He looked at her oddly, "Of course not. No, no." He put his elbow on the table, "Someone at Zabuza's level is likely to have back-up. I'm sure he'll bring them when we meet again." He pointed to Sakura, "You, Sakura, will need the most help."
She had a half-surprised face, "What? Why do you have to be so mean, Kakashi-sensei?" He scolded her, "Sorry, but it's the truth. You'll need to improve if you'll stand a chance against one of his lackeys. I will help you, if you want it." He gently lowered his tone at the end.
After being berated, she had to acknowledge her situation sadly. She gave up, "Please help me." He clapped, "Okay! We'll get up nice and early for training!"
Next day…
When Kakashi said nice and early, almost no one had believed him. He woke them up and led them to a clearing with many trees. "Okay, everyone, today we'll be practicing your chakra control by climbing trees." Sakura raised her hand, "But Kakashi-sensei, we already know how to climb trees."
Sasuke shook his head, "No, we're not climbing trees that way." He stepped to a nearby tree and channeled chakra to his feet, and walked up the tree. "I've already mastered this one and I'm working on the water walking exercise." He jumped off the tree.
He asked the other two to demonstrate if they had the ability, but only Haru was able to do it, although not as effective. She fell down, "Ouch…" She sat up gingerly. "I think that was better than last time."
Kakashi folded his arms, "Hm, all right, since Sasuke can do the tree climbing exercise, he should guard Tazuna today. You two should keep working at it." The two males walked away. They both did as was suggested.
As the two walked, Kakashi asked, "What do you think of Naruto?" He knew of Sasukes' sharp mind and keen intellect and wished to pick his brain.
He racked his thoughts, thinking about the short time he met with the boy. "He's… different from other people. He may be hiding something, but his attitude is so erratic, I don't know if it's his real self or a mask." He tried to think from another angle, but failed in that respect.
Kakashi agreed with him, "Well, we'll hopefully learn more soon enough." After their conversation, they reached the bridge. Kakashi walked back to the training area while Sasuke helped Tazunas' crew.
Tazuna, eager for the young ninjas' aid, cheerfully said, "Looks like you've made it. We can use all the help we get." He pointed to a gang of workers and Sasuke rushed over. A tired looking worker stumbled to the master bridge builder, "I'm sorry, Tazuna, I don't think I can do this anymore. I've got my wife at home to think about. It's just not our time yet. I hope you understand."
Tazuna scowled at his worker. "Get off this bridge than! You're fired! I don't want any cowards to be working on this bridge. I want this bridge to be a symbol of the future, a bridge of hope, not despair! Sasuke, I want you to help him back home safely." The young man had just finished the workers with their task and aided the worker safely home. Tazuna put on his hard hat and started barking out orders.
With Haru and Sakura…
The two girls were sweating and tired from running up the tree. The trees they used had many notches at different places, signifying the length the two had run up to. They both saw that Haru was better, but Sakura was making smooth progress.
The two gave thumbs up to each other. "It looks like you two are doing well." They saw Kakashi slowly walking back.
He looked up and whistled, "It looks like your making good progress, but until you can walk up there, it's still no good." It was sad but the truth.
They both stood up, determined to walk their way to the top. "Oh, one more piece of advice. When doing any chakra controlling exercise, think only of the exercise. Unnecessary thoughts cloud the mind and will only hamper your progress." He walked away.
They decided to follow his odd sounding, but convincing, advice.
Later that night…
Sasuke and Tazuna both returned after a hard days work. He managed to sneak a little training in, due to learning Shadow Clone Jutsu. Though the jutsu strains a normal user heavily, he could make one without too much trouble.
Tazuna thanked the boy for the help, "Think nothing of it; I'm just doing my job."
Kakashi, Sakura, and Haru came back a little while later. While they were both tired, Haru appeared to be more worn out. After trying the tree climbing exercise, Sakura was shown the water walking exercise.
"Why are you soaking wet?" Sakura explained her situation.
Sasuke just laughed, "I get what you're feeling. That's tougher because of the constant friction between the water that forces you to constantly change how much chakra you have to use." He patted her on the back, "You should get the hang of it soon."
A shout came from the top of the stairs, "Why do you constantly train when you're not going to win? You don't know anything about this place and all you want is money! You're nothing but thugs and mercenaries who know nothing of what it's like to suffer!" Inari walked downstairs, arms trembling and tears pouring out his eyes.
Sakura was about to walk up to the boy, but was stopped by Sasuke. He walked up to Inari and give him a critical eye, "You don't know what it means to suffer. Imagine, living to eight years old, you're whole life, surrounded by loving family, until all of it is taken away from you in one night. You've got your whole family with you, but most of my family, including my mother and father, are gone. I don't feel like eating." He walked outside into the night.
The team had heard of most of the information, but wanted to make sure of it. "Is that true? What happened to the Uchiha clan?"
Kakashi sighed, "All that, and then some. Most of the Uchiha clan, including Uchiha Fugaku, died during the Kyuubi attack. Four years ago, most of the rest were somehow spirited away. All that's left is Sasuke, his brother Itachi, younger sister, and his uncle, Uchiha Keisuke." He recounted the sad state of one of Konohas' most prominent clans.
They didn't notice the still crying Inari run up to his room. When Haru walked up to see the child, she saw him holding up a picture containing a smiling man with a cross-shaped scar. "Why can't I be strong like you?" His tears slid off the glass picture frame.
The next day…
Sasuke took the night to calm down after telling the others of his hidden pain. He realized he had others worth loving, but two large chunks of his life had been taken away, and nothing ever erases that kind of pain.
After a night of punching trees and practicing his exercises, he found a cozy area to sleep in. As he woke up, he could sense a presence, both familiar and unfamiliar. When his eyes fully opened, he saw a familiar smirk.
He pointed, "You!" It was the boy they met two days earlier, Uzumaki Naruto.
He sat down, "Yes, it's me. Uchiha Sasuke, how goes it?" He offered his hand, Sasuke taking it tenderly. 'What's you're angle?'
After he put his hand away, "Well, it looks like you're getting some pretty intense training done. What's your deal?" His tone changed.
Sasuke had never been asked that kind of question before, "Er… my deal? What do you mean?"
Naruto quickly laughed, "You know, your deal. Why do you want to be strong? What do you live for?"
He was genuinely confused since he had never given why he did what he did. Of course, he had been asked that question before, but was never required to answer.
After mulling it over, "I want to protect my remaining family members. I'll do whatever I can to help them."
Naruto thought about his answer and said, "Well, I can see under your shallow answer is an iron-clad resolve." He reached into his pocket and handed a ring with a mitsudomoe. "I want you to have this. If you're anything like I hope you are, you should be able to achieve your true desire."
When the ring reached Sasukes' hand, he felt the strange urge to put it on. When he looked up, he saw no sight of the blond. He proceeded by leaving the area.
With Naruto…
He said to himself, "Farewell, Shining One. Perhaps we'll meet again, sooner or later." Things had been progressing faster than he had thought. To start, he had been able to hand over the ring to someone earlier than he thought. He thought about the previous weeks events.
Previous week – The Tower…
After gaining their mission and training for a few days, Team Zabuza was called back to the tower, though only Naruto was truly requested. After heading down the elevator, Naruto was escorted by a scientist to see the director, Yamaki.
Yamaki greeted him feverously, "Welcome back, Naruto! How is your team doing with their new weapons? I need your feedback."
He waved his hand horizontally, "They haven't been able to try live targets yet, though Ayame is at least getting stronger. What did you add to that thing anyways? It's much heavier than before."
He laughed, "I'm sorry, but that's top secret until I get the clear from the big guy upstairs. Please follow me." He lifted up his glasses as he showed the boy deeper into the laboratory.
After passing through many rooms and a few doors, they walked into a room with many tanks. They stopped at a certain tank. "Naruto, allow me to unveil, our power source!"
Low lights were turned on at cue, showing inside the large tank, a man with shaggy red hair attached to several tubes. He had a red mane and something that seemed to be a tail?
The boy was shocked beyond belief, "What is this?"
Yamaki made a shushing motion, "Shh! You'll wake him… her… it… up!" He began whispering. "This is the power source for our whole experimental section. You don't think we have all the power just from regular electricity, do you?"
Naruto was unsure what to think of, "Well, now that you mention it…"
Yamaki looked around, after understanding the situation, "Alright, we can speak normally." He cleared his throat, "You see, for our experiments, electricity just isn't viable. Luckily, we have a large amount of alternative energy and a happy volunteer."
Naruto could tell something was off, "I'm not so sure… Why is he dazed like that?"
Yamaki patted the cell, "Draining energy will do that to you, I'm afraid. Now…" He pulled a lever and the tubes retracted into the machine.
The man awoke and scratched his ears. He saw Yamaki and snarled, "Why did you wake me, human?" Yamaki pointed towards Naruto. There was a twinkle in his eye.
"Ah, I see." He closed his eyes and seemed to focus. After a short time, a ring appeared, falling into Narutos' hand.
Yamaki raised an eye. 'Ah, I see.' He put his hand in his pocket, searching for something.
Upon closer inspection, Naruto saw nine scratches. He looked at the tank again, but saw nothing in there. He looked aback, "What!"
He felt a tug and as he turned back, he received another ring with a mitsudomoe.
"Okay, what's with the rings?" Yamaki turned around, "I want you to give the second ring to a man with great potential. A 'Shining One', if you will. This ring should glow when you run into one." He left to open the door and they both left.
Current Time…
As he walked back to the headquarters, 'Who knew it would be him?' He opened the door and saw the rest of his team.
They all acknowledged his coming back. He spoke when he sat down, "So, when will we do this thing?"
Ayame answered him, "We'll attack a few days from now, when the bridge is nearly finished." He nodded, understanding the situation. "Well, what should we do now?"
They decided to spend the rest of the time training for their encounter.
After Sasuke walked back to Tazunas' home, Team 7 would spent the rest of the time training as well.
Encounter – Battle on the Big Bridge…
From the time everyone started training, they were gearing up for the big confrontation. The night before, an anonymous challenge letter was delivered. "We will finish this tomorrow morning." The note was signed Momochi Zabuza.
After reading it, Sakura gasped, "Is this serious?"
Kakashi nodded, "I'm afraid so. We'll have to take this threat seriously." He turned to Tazuna, "Do you think you can warn your builders to stay away?" The old man nodded.
"I'll try my best, but I can't guarantee anything."
Kakashi eye-smiled, "That's all I need."
The next day…
After waking up, team 7, with the exception of Sasuke, escorted Tazuna to the homes of all the workers and issued a warning.
"I'm sure that Gato will try to do something nefarious to Tsunami and Inari. I've gotta see this through." They all nodded and prepared to leave.
15 minutes later – Bridge building site…
When the group made it to the bridge, there was no one in sight. They all sighed with relief, just as a mist rolled in. Kakashi uncovered his Sharingan eye, "Just in time."
Three figures appeared out of the thick mist. One was obvious Zabuza, while the other two had the entire hunter-nin ensemble. One had the regular hunter-nin ensemble, but the others was slightly different. She also seemed to carry a large cleaver her own size with little difficulty.
Zabuza seemed to nod, causing his companion to throw her cleaver in the air and deftly catch it, performing a haphazard sword-dance in the process. He counted team 7's numbers.
"Where's that Uchiha runt of yours, Kakashi? I was hoping to have my prize pupil mutilate him a little!" His associate stepped on his foot, "OW!"
The words echoed in their minds, "What did you mean 'pupil'!" This information caused some great concern with Kakashi.
One of the ninja face-palmed, "Why did you reveal that information to them? It's supposed to be a secret!" He simply shrugged.
He mock apologized, "It's not a big deal. They won't live long enough to report it." He charges straight to Kakashi, intending to make a killer strike. Kakashi managed to pull a kunai and block his sword.
As the two instructors were fighting, team Kakashi made a protective circle around Tazuna and waited; and waited. "What's going on! Aren't you going to try and kill Tazuna?"
There was no answer. Sakura was irritated while Haru was confused.
Tazunas' House…
While two monsters clashed, another occurrence happened far away. The door to Tazunas' House was kicked down. Sasuke heard the ruckus from his room upstairs, but was too late to do anything.
He ran outside and saw the two goons, "Hey! Let that woman alone!"
One of the two, a man with a purple hat and white hair, Zori, yelled, "What are you going to do about it! We've got the hostage right here! If you make a move, I'll kill her!" He put his sword near her throat.
Sasuke was in a pinch, 'Damn it! I can easily kill him but I need a distraction.'
Just than, Inari ran down, "Jerks! What are you doing to my mom?" As soon as he saw the four outside, he rushed down as soon as he could. He ran past the ninja and tried to take the two thugs by himself.
Nevertheless, he failed, falling victim to Zoris' partner, Waraji. "What should we do about this kid?" Zori looked at Tsunami, "We only need one hostage. Just kill the damn kid and lets go to the boss."
As Waraji made his move, Inari was taken out of his sight. "Where'd he go?" He was suddenly knocked unconscious.
As Zoris' eyes widened, he too was knocked out.
Inari woke up from the blow to the head, just to see the two thugs lying on the ground. Tsunami ran up to him and hugged him with all her might. "But what happened to those two."
They looked for Sasuke, but he was no longer there.
The Bridge…
While Kakashi and Zabuza were still fighting it out, the two made no moves towards Tazuna.
Although it was good for Sakura and Haru, it was starting to get on their (Sakura) nerves.
Ayame twirled her sword around, getting into combat stance. Haku motioned forward and whispered, "What are you doing? This isn't part of the plan!"
She spoke listlessly, "I'm bored. I'm just going to rough them up a bit." Haku felt no need to hold her back, but watched just in case things went a little far.
As she neared them, many whizzing sounds pierced the mist. She managed to dodge the projectiles in time. The two from the Kakashi team looked towards the origin of the objects.
It was Sasuke who threw the kunai. He hurried to the fight scene.
He saw the two fighting, along with the masked nin. "What is going on?"
The two girls filled him in, "Okay, but that doesn't explain anything." He faced the two nin, "What is going on here! Why aren't you trying to kill Tazuna right now!" One of the masked nin disappeared, causing him to look aback.
He blocked a senbon with his kunai. He heard a sound of light laughter through the mist, "You're very good, Uchiha Sasuke." The masked nin from earlier appeared in front of him, "But not good enough!" 'Secret Jutsu: A Thousand Needles of Death!' Water from the mist and the water clone he had made earlier coalesced above the two, turning into many needles.
He manages to dodge the needles at the last second, but Sasuke wasn't so lucky.
As Haku walks up to his seemingly unconscious form, he throws a deadly left hook. Haku is thrown off balance while Sasuke gets up without a scratch.
He was genuinely surprised. "How! That technique should have been flawless!"
Sasuke clicked his tongue, "It's a secret." 'Fire Release: Great Fireball!" He made quick hand signs and breathes a large fireball out of his mouth.
Though the fireball covered a large radius, it only managed to slightly singe his opponent.
With his mask burnt, he feels no need to wear it anymore and throws it away. The two girls were shocked that Haku was a boy. "You're a boy! You totally sound like a girl!"
He laughs, "Don't let my exterior fool you, my gender is indeed male." As he was about to do a secret technique, a shuriken was thrown.
A gruff voice sounded out, "Don't bother continuing this fight!" A power dissipated the mist.
A fourth masked ninja, but different from the hunter-nin masks, walked in. He had a large bag slung across his shoulder.
The two doing the actual fighting were stunned, but Zabuza put his sword away, "Are the preparations ready?" The boy nodded. "Good."
He walked up to Team 7, who blocked his path. "You're in the way. Move!" They did as they were told, as the masked boy gave the bag to Tazuna.
"Old man, this should be enough to get Wave by for a couple months. We're expecting your co-operation when we ask for your business. Nod if you understand!" He nodded, unsure of what exactly was going on.
The boy nodded, just as a large entourage came by, with Gato at the head. The midget mob boss shouted, "Hey brat! Come back here with that money!"
Once he saw a slightly worn Zabuza and Kakashi however, his thoughts segued. "So, Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Hidden Mist, is unable to handle an old bridge builder?" He laughed, which signaled for his mob to laugh as well.
Zabuza spat towards him, "Tch, worthless scum. You're words are worth as much as your ill-gotten money. I don't need you." His jibe touched a cord, as Gatos' cane struck the ground.
He grinned widely, as an entourage of real hunter-nin appeared from behind him. "These guys came earlier, asking for information about you. I turned them away, saying that you weren't here, but after I heard about the large reward, I just couldn't help myself. So, go get him!" The four moved not an inch.
He grew angry, "Aren't you going to bring him back to you kage? Isn't this supposed to be your job?" He turned to one, before receiving a jab to his face. "We don't take orders from a washed up has been like you, old man!"
His grin turned into a frown, growing enraged at the behavior towards one as great as him. "Washed up has been!" He gestured to his henchmen, who all stepped back, giving the man space. "I didn't want to have to do this right away, but you give me no choice!"
He pulled out a brief-case, seemingly from nowhere. He opened it and revealed a complicated mechanism, with what looked like a circle of sorts. He pricked his finger on the needle in the middle. Blood began to spread within the circle in a complicated array.
The array shone as a strange being appeared. Everyone was shocked at what appeared to be a composite figure. It appeared to be composed many leaf like objects, with a sash around where its' neck was.
Taken aback, Gato was frightened, and a bit pissed off, "What are you! This isn't what I wanted! You're an abomination! Kill it!" His henchmen, unsure of what to do, obeyed their bosses orders.
Kakashi moved towards the creature, but was stopped by Zabuza. "Let them do their thing. They have to learn." Kakashi could sense the bloodlust about to erupt from the former mist nin. He saw the hunter nin weren't making their move either.
Normal attacks seemed to be bouncing off the creature. None of the mortal weapons being used had any effect on the abomination. It still appeared to be looking at Gato, who was scared out of its' mind.
After a short time and many worthless hits, it started to assault the henchmen. The bodies slowly piled up as Gatos' men were starting to run away in terror.
"What the hell is that thing!" Soon enough, only Gato was there to face the monster. With nowhere to go, he begged forgiveness, but was only given death. His lifeless corpse was thrown away, useless to the creature.
On the sidelines, everyone in Team Kakashi was sick to their stomachs. This kind of bloodshed was technically unheard of. Zabuza whistled, "The old man was able to pull off that kind of summon? I didn't know he had it in him."
Their eyes raised, "What kind of summoning is this! There is nothing from the spirit world like this!" Zabuza laughed, "Oh ye of little knowledge. Just let the big boys handle this." He grabbed his sword and ran to the monster.
He ran the sword to the ground, making sparks during his run. As he raised his sword, it appeared to be on fire. He struck the monster down, causing it to fall. "Cake."
As he walked away, a large fireball struck it. He turned back, saw the fire, and turned to the origin. It turned out to be Sasuke, but the masked nin had his hand out. 'Shit.'
Zabuza walked back to his associates, but walked up to Sasuke. He noticed the ring, "You better take care of that ring, you hear, brat? It'll come in handy some time soon."
The lead hunter nin walked up to Zabuza, "Momochi Zabuza, come with us, unless you want to be killed. You're associates are free to walk away as they like as long as you don't resist." He raised his hand, as one of the hunters took his sword away. They all disappeared.
Just as things were starting to calm down, the villagers, with Inari at the front, came to. "Where did those guys run off to?" They all seemed to miss the pile of dead bodies, for good reason.
The masked nin walked up to them, "You may have missed the fighting, Inari, but we'll have one hell of a celebration, seeing that Gato is gone and Wave is finally set free!" He took off his mask, revealing himself to be Naruto.
Inaris' eyes shone, just like all the villagers. A pale Tazuna, who had just seen a horrific sight, just realized that their entire country was now set free.
That night was a celebration worth remembering. Over ale and food, the three had told of their daring plan to infiltrate as hunter nin searching Zabuza, and aid the country in need. Although they did manage to hide their true objectives fairly well.
As everyone got patched up, they enjoyed the night all they could. Then came morning…
When morning came, the three nin from before had all disappeared. Even the usually stoic Sasuke and the ever-observant Kakashi hadn't been able to sense them at all.
Sasuke snarled angrily, "Must have been all that ale they offered me. Damn, I've never drunk so much in my life. I have such a headache." As he felt he was about to throw up, he looked at his ring, one of the tomoe was emitting an eerie glow.
Thinking nothing of it, he hurled his guts out.
Haru and Sakura however, had a different story. During the night, they both spoke with Haku, who was very kind. Ayame, however, was a different story. In short, she seemed almost the antithesis of Haku.
Haku attempted to coax Haru into singing, after a few drinks. She got up, and sang her heart out, before stumbling off the stage. She did receive a wide applause from her audience, however.
Sakura, did not. She was booed off the stage as soon as she started to sing.
Haru was left with a note, "Keep going!" Sakura just received nothing.
She was biting her lip, "You got a compliment from a cute guy while I get nothing! That's so not fair!"
Haru pointed something out to her, "I think you've got something here." She pointed to a scrap of paper, which when seen by Sakura, caused her to squeal with joy. Haru simply smiled at her friend.
When they headed to the bridge, they were surprised that it was built over the few hours they had slept. The other surprising fact was that it had 'Leaf x Whirlpool' painted on it. "What the!"
End
Lols, finally I'm done the Wave Arc. I'm so happy I can move onto the next one. It'll take a while to gather my thoughts though, so please review.