Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with it, other than being a fan. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own the OC's and any techniques and weapons I add to the story.

A/N: Zabuza and Haku make their appearance in this chapter. How will things go down this time?

Chapter 9: Blazing Crow vs Bloody Demon

They were told to be as quiet as possible on the boat, something that Naruto and Hinata were all too glad for. Sasuke was not letting them hear the end of what had happened between them the previous night, and had the photos primed for blackmail. Both Naruto and Hinata were planning to secretly burn those photos at the first opportunity. Most likely when Sasuke was sleeping.

Itachi had turned away from the rest of the party, facing the waters and discreetly focusing some chakra into the palm of his hand. A spark emerged from it and he smiled. "I've pretty much got it down," He thought with some satisfaction. "This Pulse Imprint Jutsu does not require much chakra, but the control is very important. I don't want to kill him by mistake…"

The boat pulled up to the dock, and they departed. There was still some distance between them and Tazuna's home.

….

The air somewhere else in the Land of Waves cracked like it was glass, and two figures stepped out of the resulting rift. The first was a tall blue skinned man with a shark-like face and a large sword wrapped in bandages strapped to his back. His attire was a set of black robes with red cloud designs. The other figure was nearly as tall, but that was the only feature that was not obscured by his attire, which was made up of black gloves, boots, and completely black robes, with the hood's shadow completely obscuring the face.

"That method of travel you guys use is useful, but I thought that we weren't ready to seal the tailed beasts yet?" Kisame asked the man next to him. "So why are we going after this one already?"

"Lord Raizen has reason to believe that the host of the Kyuubi has been getting stronger at an alarming rate," the cloaked man replied in a deep voice without so much as a twitch. "If we were to wait to capture him, our chances of succeeding would decrease. Since this is the first time he will be out of the village, this is going to be our best chance at taking him. Besides, even if we are forced to kill him, the Kyuubi should reform by the time we need it if we move now."

"Hmph, I still don't see why I have to be partnered with you. You are not even a full member of the Akatsuki, you just work under one who is."

"Because Lord Raizen has complete confidence in my abilities and trustworthiness, which is more than your leader can say for most of your members, especially after the stunt the one called Orochimaru pulled when he possessed the body of one of my comrades and fled your organization."

"That was his actions alone. Not the organization as a whole."

The cloaked man did not respond to this, preferring to simply walk towards their destination.

….

"Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Bloody Mist, " Itachi said in a neutral tone as the swordsman stood casually on the handle of Kubikiribocho, which was embedded into the tree it had hit when the team had avoided it. "It is an honor to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine, Itachi Uchiha, Blazing Crow of Konoha," Zabuza replied as Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke fell into a defensive position around Tazuna. "I see it is no wonder the Demon Brothers failed."

"They were truly insults to the Demon name," Kurama snorted from within Naruto. "Of course, this fellow is much worthier of the title."

"Everyone, get back," Itachi said as Zabuza jumped back down, grabbing the handle of his large sword and pulling it free as he went. "This man is far beyond any genin, even you three. Before he was even an academy student of Kirigakure, he was able to slaughter an entire year of students without any mercy. Keep Tazuna safe!"

"So you've heard about our little graduation exercise," Zabuza said as he raised one arm and cast a hand sign with the other. "Hiding in the Mist Jutsu!"

"Be on your guard!" Itachi shouted to his team with the mist gathering thickly and obscuring Zabuza. "Zabuza Momochi is the greatest known master of the Silent Killing Technique. If you relax for even an instant, you will be dead before you even know you slipped up!"

After he had said that, a massive amount of killing intent hit the team and Tazuna, causing Hinata, Sasuke and Tazuna to freeze in mortal terror, and even Naruto shivered, and they heard Zabuza's voice from somewhere within the mist. "8 points of instant death…liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart…which one should I go for?"

"I can't speak for me, Hinata or the old fart," Naruto said, despite the atmosphere they were in. "But you should go for Sasuke's brain, he does not use it much anyway." The shock of Naruto actually cracking a joke under the killing intent caused Sasuke and Hinata to snap out of their stupor, Sasuke having almost stabbed himself out of fear. Somehow, Naruto's relatively calm demeanor seemed to instantly calm his companions. One of the things Felix had taught Naruto is that those who you are close to are sensitive to your thoughts. If you are calm, they will be more likely to be calm, whereas if you are panicking, odds are they will be as well. An attitude, both good and bad was infectious.

"Hmm, I see that a genin already has the will to resist my killing intent. Let's see if you have the skills to match!"

"Behind us!" Hinata shouted, having had the presence of mind to activate her Byakugan to spot Zabuza. Indeed, Zabuza had gotten among them and was swinging his blade at Tazuna. Naruto reacted fast, coming between Zabuza and Tazuna and drawing Arashikatta an instant sooner than Zabuza would have expected. He managed to block Kubikiribocho at the last possible moment. Of course, even though he had trained harshly, his body was still that of a twelve year old's so without Sage Mode he ended up being thrown back very hard against a tree by the man's brute strength. He did manage to slow the attack though, just enough for Hinata and Sasuke to get Tazuna to safety.

"Ooooh," Zabuza said with interest. "No wonder I was spotted, you have a Hyuuga brat among you. It must be my lucky day, it seems you are a member of the Main house. Not only that but you have another Uchiha with a Sharingan as well. And then there's you…" He turned to Naruto who sheathed Arashikatta and made a Shadow Clone while glaring at Zabuza. "Not only where you able to withstand my killing intent at full blast and help your teammates do the same, but you are fast, and that blade being shorter than its sheath to allow for faster drawing than an opponent would anticipate. That gives you a good shot at ending most battles quickly… and a Shadow Clone to boot! It is actually a shame I will have to kill you three, you would have been almost worthy of the title of ninja if you had some experience…"

"Damn!" Itachi shouted as he tried to rush to his team's aid, only to be stopped by another Zabuza.

"Now, now Itachi, don't interrupt them, let the brats play with my Water Clone a little. Besides, I would like to fight you a little, one on one…"

"Be careful what you wish for! Fire Style! Giant Fireball Jutsu!" Itachi shouted as he launched the large inferno at Zabuza, who dodged, only for Itachi to move with blinding speed and impale him with his katana. Before Itachi could celebrate, Zabuza dissolved into water.

"I'm not that easy," Zabuza said as he stabbed Itachi through the heart from behind with a kunai, only for Itachi to dissolve into crows and reform beside the demon, already forming signs for his next fire style attack.

"Neither am I."

"Naruto, be careful!" Sasuke shouted, watching his friend form a Rasengan with assistance from his clone, to Zabuza's surprise. "Wait, why is Naruto using a clone to form the Rasengan? I thought he did not need to do that anymore…wait…"

"He can form the Rasengan?" Zabuza's Water Clone thought, intrigued. "That's a high level technique, made by the Yondaime Hokage… I see, this brat is his son, though he clearly can't use the technique without an extra set of hands, at least not yet. Still, to be able to use it at all at that age… Perhaps I shouldn't kill him… I could probably make a decent amount of money if I took him alive and returned him to Konoha for a price…"

"Don't worry Sasuke!" Naruto shouted. "Water Clones only have about 10% of the original's power! I should be able to handle it! You and Hinata just keep him away from the geezer!" With that he dispelled his clone and charged the water clone.

"Pathetic," Zabuza said, not even bothering to dodge, instead swinging Kubikiribocho at Naruto, hitting him with the side and flinging him back again, the Rasengan dispersing as the boy lost his concentration. "It's over for you!" the water clone shouted as he dashed forward sword raised to strike the potential cash cow unconscious rather than kill him. Naruto recovered quickly, though not quickly enough, or so Zabuza thought. With a smirk, the blonde formed another Rasengan and charged again, causing the Water Clone's eyes to widen in horror. "He can actually do the technique one-handed? He let me think he needed a clone to do it, so I would underestimate him! I should have expected such a trick, especially after seeing his sword!"

"Rasengan!" Naruto cried as he slammed the sphere into the Water Clone's unprotected torso, causing the water it was made of to fly all over the place.

"N-Naruto-kun did it…" Hinata said, amazed.

"I'm not surprised," Sasuke replied. "He always was a little unpredictable…"

"Quite impressive brats you lead Itachi," the original Zabuza said as he dodged another swipe from Itachi's katana. "The blonde in particular has earned a place in my bingo book if he survives."

"That's assuming you survive, Zabuza," Itachi replied, dissolving into crows again, following being sliced in half by Kubikiribocho.

"That trick is very annoying!" Zabuza growled, swinging again at the point where Itachi reformed. Itachi ducked under the blade, and stabbed forward. Zabuza dodged, but got kicked in the gut by a follow-up attack. Zabuza flipped to recover, and cast a few hand signs. "Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!" From the water, a massive dragon rose, only to be met by another, Itachi having copied the technique with his Sharingan. Both attacks canceled each other out.

Before Zabuza could try again, he spotted Itachi casting several fast hand signs. "Fire Style: Pheonix Flower Jutsu!" Several small balls of fire were launched at Zabuza, who laughed.

"Water Style: Water Wall!" A wall of water rose between the swordsman and the flames, causing them to be extinguished on impact… but doing nothing about the shuriken and kunai Itachi had thrown hidden in them. All of them hit Zabuza full force, all of them in painful but not fatal areas. "Blast it," Zabuza growled as he backed up fast to avoid Itachi's next dash, only to slam into a tree that Itachi had hidden in a genjutsu. He was stabbed through the gut, again non-fatally and pinned to the tree by the katana, which Itachi released and started forming hand signs.

"It's over for you," Itachi said as he breathed in to launch a fire style jutsu to finish the job. Before he could however, two senbon came from the trees and pierced through Zabuza's neck "killing" him instantly. Itachi smirked. "So far so good."

"I must thank you for giving me the chance to strike," a masked hunter nin said, jumping down from hiding. "I have been tailing the man for weeks, but did not have an opportunity until now."

"W-what just happened?" Hinata asked, staring with shock at the masked ninja.

"It seems as though our friend here decided to help finish the job for us," Itachi answered as he retrieved his katana, caught Zabuza's body as it fell, before bending down, and under the guise of checking to ensure he was dead, he used his body to conceal the head from everyone else's line of sight. He gripped the head, cast a single sign with the other hand and said quietly, "Pulse Imprint Jutsu." Once that was done, he slipped a note between Zabuza's head and the cloth of his headband. "There, now all I have to do is hope I did not kill him by mistake." He rose and said to the hunter nin, "I take it you are a hunter ninja, deployed by Kirigakure to dispose of Zabuza to prevent him from revealing any village secrets, that correct?"

"You are indeed correct," the masked ninja replied as he picked up Zabuza's body. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must dispose of the body." With that, he vanished.

Itachi frowned and, acting like he was missing something, muttered, "Odd."

"Um… big brother?" Sasuke asked tentatively, once they were on the road again. "Why would a Kirigakure hunter nin be after Zabuza, I mean, why would a Kirigakure ninja of Zabuza's standing reveal village secrets."

"Because he became a missing nin after attempting to stage a failed coup d'état against Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage," Itachi replied, causing Sasuke to frown. After what had happened over four years ago, the term coup d'état was a sore subject for him. "What confuses me is why the masked ninja would lug the body away like that when it is standard procedure to dispose of the body immediately. It's almost like…Shit!" His eyes widened as though he was just realizing something. Once again, Naruto found himself mentally applauding Itachi's acting skills.

"We've been duped, haven't we?" said blonde grumbled, his own acting ability having improved thanks to Felix insisting on it over the past twelve years, to avoid blowing their cover.

"What are you talking about?" Tazuna asked, clearly stumped.

"It appears as if our mysterious assistant only pretended to kill Zabuza for us, and helped him escape," Itachi growled, faking frustration as Sasuke's, Hinata's and Tazuna's eyes widened extremely fast.

"B-but, didn't you m-make sure he was d-d-dead, Itachi-sensei?" Hinata asked fearfully.

"Yes, he lacked a pulse, that was for sure. But the tool used to "kill" him was senbon, which needs to be very precise to kill. Anyone with the skill to do so, and enough extra medical knowledge can instead put their target in a near-death state, one that can fool even some of the best medic ninja. I can't believe I didn't realize sooner!"

"So what do we do, Sensei?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, fortunately, it will take some time for Zabuza to recover, about a week, which will give us some time to prepare, now that we know who we're up against. Hopefully, that was the best ninja Gato could hire, there are not many missing nin with reputations like Zabuza's. With luck, he'll be forced to wait for Zabuza to recover before he can make is move. You all handled yourselves very well, and with a little more training for the next week, we should have a fighting chance when the time comes."

….

"First, I should cut the bandages from his mouth to let the blood flow out, and then…" Haku muttered to himself as he reached for Zabuza's face, a pair of surgical scissors in hand to cut said bandages. Before he could however, Zabuza's hand snapped up to grab Haku's wrist.

"Enough, I'll do it myself," Zabuza said as he pulled the bandages from his mouth and moved to spit the blood from it.

"Awake already I see."

"You sure can be brutal," Zabuza muttered as he pulled the senbon from his neck in a rough manner. Then he suffered a sense of Déjà Vu, as a burst of pain flared through his head, all the memories of the future and the different version of the past where he had fought Kakashi returning full force now that he was conscious again.

"Zabuza-sama, what's wrong?" Haku asked as the older man clutched his head with his right hand. "I've told you to be careful with pulling those out, if you've gone and done something permanent to yourself…"

"I'm fine, Haku, just… give me a minute." Haku frowned and nodded, still concerned for his surrogate father. Zabuza growled as the pain receded. "Haku, did Itachi do something to me before you got me out of there?"

Haku frowned and said, "Nothing that I am aware of, except when he checked to make sure you were dead…" His eyes widened. "But then he seemed to make sure he was hiding your head from view…"

"Whatever he did, it seems to be a very elaborate genjutsu that implants false memories. I remember fighting the Copy Ninja Kakashi instead of him in the same situation, the Hyuuga girl being replaced by a pink-haired brat, the blonde not nearly as competent as before, though he did still manage to pull one on me when I trapped Kakashi. Then, I remember acting the exact same way I did when I woke up before the memories came, though that can be explained by another effect of the genjutsu.

"But the weird thing is, it gave me "memories" of events after this. I don't know how he could do that unless he knew about you, because I remember fighting Kakashi again with you with me, and they included everything about you, your name, your fighting style, even your mannerisms. We lost, somehow you to that Uchiha and blonde brats, the blonde showing some kind of hidden power and me to Kakashi, and only surviving when you took a fatal blow for me." Haku's eyes widened at this. "I continued to fight, only for Kakashi to disable my arms, followed by me getting backstabbed by Gato and his thugs, though I managed to murder the little midget before I died, after the blonde… said a few things to me that made me cry over your death…"

Haku frowned and said, "That is an odd genjutsu, and no doubt very potent."

"I'm not even done yet. After that, a few years later, some sick bastard restored us to life with a forbidden jutsu, along with several other dead people and used us to fight a war, in which we fought against Kakashi and some of his allies again, one of them the pink hair I mentioned. After the battle, we were sealed because we couldn't even die again. And one of the weirder parts is that before the battle really got started, I asked about the blonde, and Kakashi had told us that he became a great ninja, and we were the ones who set him on the road to where he was." Zabuza rubbed his head in deep thought, causing him to feel the note Itachi slipped in his headband. Frowning, he pulled it out and opened it. He beckoned to Haku to read over his shoulder, stating shortly, "It's addressed to both of us."

Haku complied, and read, "To Zabuza and Haku,

"You have probably already come to the conclusion that you are under a powerful genjutsu Zabuza, but I assure you that this is not the case. In truth, if your memories have returned, that means the jutsu worked, if not, then I have some explaining to do. Haku, if Zabuza really is dead, that means I accidentally killed him, which also means I need to do some explaining to you. Those memories I mentioned are not false ones, nor are they implanted. The Pulse Imprint Jutsu I used merely restored your memories that were suppressed. This occurred when Naruto and a man named Felix used a powerful fuinjutsu and turned back time."

Both Haku and Zabuza's eyes widened at this before narrowing as they continued, "As unbelievable as this sounds, think about this: how did we know about Haku, and how she fights?" Haku and Zabuza snorted. Apparently Itachi, for they were sure that he was the one who wrote the letter was unaware of Haku's true gender. "If I had used the Pulse Imprint Jutsu to view your memories, which I could have done, I would have needed much more time to come up with the details if it was a genjutsu. That should prove that the memories were already there. All I know about you two was told to me by Naruto, who remembers everything about the future. If I was trying to lure you into a trap, I could have just killed you two after Haku's stunt so there would have been no need.

"More will be explained by me and Narutoat a place Haku and he met while she was gathering herbs. I can restore her memories as well, and we can discuss our future options.

"-Itachi Uchiha."

Zabuza groaned as he read the last of the letter. This was going to lead to a massive headache later, though not as bad as the previous one, hopefully. "Well, Zabuza-sama?" Haku asked. "What should we do?"

"I think that we should at least hear them out. Too many pieces fit into place to disregard this."

….

"And that is our plan for the next week," Itachi finished while they were eating their meal at Tazuna's, inhaling in Naruto's case. He had just told them that Naruto and Sasuke would train together every day, with Naruto trying to finish the Hiraishin with Sasuke working on the Chidori. Itachi, Hinata and a Shadow Clone of Naruto would accompany Tazuna to the bridge. Hinata would be Tazuna's bodyguard and use her Byakugan to regularly check for danger. At the first sign of trouble, the Shadow Clone was to dispel and Naruto and Sasuke would come running as fast as they could.

"What's the point? You are all just going to die if you fight Gato," Tazuna's grandson Inari stated as he entered the room. "You are better off if you just run, you'll live longer that way."

"And just who are you?" Naruto demanded as the boy's mother, Tsunami chided him for lacking confidence in the group protecting Tazuna.

"Hmph, I'm going back to my room," Inari said sullenly. "There's no point talking with people who are signing their own death warrants. What's the point of fighting when you are only going to get killed?"

As Inari left, Tazuna said, "You'll have to excuse the boy. He has never been the same since that day…"

"That day?" Itachi asked.

Tazuna nodded and proceeded to explain about Inari's stepfather, Kaiza, who had been a village hero ever since he saved Inari from drowning, and helped the village weather a flood. When Gato had come, Kaiza had tried to stand up to him, but had only been publicly executed. "Ever since, Inari had lost his faith in the world," Tazuna finished. "He no longer believes that heroes exist."

"Yeah, well I'll prove him wrong," Naruto said moodily as he left the house.

Itachi sighed and said, "Better help him if he's going to train. You two stay here and hold down the fort."

….

"What took you so long?" Naruto asked as Haku came into view. Itachi was leaning back against a tree.

"You are Naruto, yes?" Haku asked. "What exactly are you going to explain to me?"

"Well, first, you should let Itachi restore you memories."

Haku nodded and stepped towards Itachi, who placed his hand on the boy's head, cast the hand sign and said, "This is going to hurt quite a bit, believe me, I know."

"It's okay," Haku said. "I'm prepared."A few minutes later, Haku got up rubbing his head, saying, "I guess Zabuza-sama wasn't being a baby."

"Sorry about that. I don't exactly take much pleasure in causing a young lady such as yourself pain."

"Oh, about that," Haku chuckled as Naruto let an evil grin show. "I'm actually a boy."

Itachi paled and said, "What? But you-" He whipped towards Naruto and asked, "And why didn't you tell me this?"

"And miss the look on your face Itachi-sensei? I thought you knew me."

"I'll remember this…"

Naruto and Haku laughed at Itachi's embarrassment before Haku asked, "So what next?"

Naruto paused and said, "Well, there is really no reason for you to start another coup against Yagura, he is no longer Mizukage. Am I correct in guessing that you and Zabuza started it because you knew he was was being controlled?"

"Yes, and I normally would be surprised that you would know that, but after the time travel story, you probably found out a lot of things."

"Yeah, well you don't need to do anything anymore, and it was Felix who had found out after doing a little research on the subject. Zabuza was rather loyal before Yagura started acting up, so it wasn't hard to deduce. The new Mizukage is not being manipulated, so there is no need to try again."

"So I guess Zabuza-sama and I need a new goal in life. It's not like we can go back"

"How about helping to stop the bastards who caused this trouble in the first place? Once we make sure you two survive this, you can go about it anyway you choose."

"Maybe…do you think Konoha has room for two more ninja?"

A/N: Next chapter we'll see a battle between Zabuza, Itachi and Haku vs. Kisame, and Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke vs. a mystery OC from the Elder Dimension, and the chapter will be titled Secrets and Shattered Memories.

Sorry, Femhaku fans, but I did not feel like changing Kishimoto's original idea for the character, other than sparing him. Besides, there are way too many possibilities for humor this way to pass up, heh heh…let's just say Kiba is going to be veeery embarrassed later.

Please. Review!