The Yellow Maelstrom
Summary
Shortly after failing the graduation exam, Naruto steals the forbidden scroll and finds a scroll addressed to him inside. Armed with it, he will strive to become the best as his heritage is revealed to him and he rocks the Shinobi world as a force to be reckoned with.
Thanks again to all of you who continue to review and read. Please continue to do so. I'm sorry for being away for a while the reasons on my profile. Hope you all enjoy this chapter.
Remember, I don't own Naruto.
"Normal Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Kyuubi"
'Kyuubi Thoughts'
+++++Flashback+++++
Jutsus being used/ reading letter, note
Mission to Wave Part 3
Naruto woke up the next morning feeling better than he had for the last few days. Last night, he had spoken with Hikari and had apologized to her for ignoring her for so long. It's not like he wasn't hearing her, he just didn't want to speak with anyone at the moment. She had noticed that he was still confused about what his sensei had spoken to him about. She decided that this lesson was one if best figure it out on his own.
The two had spoken throughout the night about any and everything. At present, Naruto was headed to the house to meet the rest of his team to find out what they had planned for the day. On arriving he noticed that they had just started breakfast so he slid into an empty chair and began eating after saying good morning to everyone.
"Ok guys" said Kakashi "as Sakura informed up last night, Zabuza is still out there. However, if our information is correct, Zabuza will recover in one week at the end of which he will attack us again."
At the end of this all of the Genin nodded and waited for some more information.
"Out of all the things that I can teach you" he continued, "none of them will aid you in our next encounter with Zabuza; we simply don't have enough time. What I will however be teaching you is elemental manipulation, a high Chuunin to Jounin level skill. This will help you greatly in mastering your elements and will be an advantage for you in the Chuunin exams that will be held in Konoha in about 2 months."
All three of them had been listening and were a little surprised that their sensei already considered them ready for the exams. Not to mention, he was going to teach them something that was usually taught to high Chuunin and Jounin.
"After breakfast, we will be working on this and you will continue for the rest of the week."
"Hai sensei," they all replied.
After completing their breakfast, the team made their way to a clearing away from Tazuna's house. Kakashi had made a Kage Bunshin to guard Tazuna for the day.
"Ok, now each of you knows your elemental affinities, therefore we will be working on each separately. Unfortunately for you Naruto, since you have four of the main elements, you will have to work harder than all of the others. You will be working on your wind element first while Sasuke will be working on mastering his fire element. Sakura, since you only have one will focus on it. Now let's get to work."
Creating two Kage Bunshins, one taking one student as well as the original, they all went in different directions.
Kakashi and Sakura walked a short distance away from their initial starting point before stopping.
"Sakura," began Kakashi while taking out wet cloth from his equipment pouch, "to begin your chakra manipulation training, you will be using this damp piece of cloth."
Sakura was a bit confused but listened nonetheless. Her sensei would never say something like that unless it made sense.
"What you will basically be doing is separating the water from the cloth with your chakra. While doing this, try to 'feel' the water inside of the cloth without touching it. Now I'm not going to lie to you, this will take a lot of concentration and time and I don't expect you to complete it during this week, but if you are able to complete this, we will be able to continue on to the next exercise."
Sakura nodded her assent and began to work on her delegated task as Kakashi stepped away and observed his student.
Sasuke and Kakashi didn't go very far away. When they stopped Kakashi turned towards his student.
"Sasuke, I know that you may be a little more experienced than the other in this area, however, we will be working on you mastering your main element; fire. Now as you may already know, fire is said to be wild and untamed, much like a wild animal. With your training, we will be fixing that problem. After completing this, you will be in complete control of any Katon jutsu that you use and you will be using even less chakra to maintain it while increasing its power. The first step of your training will be to control fire on one of your finger tips. When you have gained sufficient control, you will be moving on to more fingers at a time. The training is considered complete when you can maintain a flame on all ten fingers." Said Kakashi with a smile, remembering his own training for that element. Up to this day, he remembered the number of times he burnt his fingers almost to a crisp. He quickly demonstrated how by generating the flames himself on his fingers, one by one.
"I'm in for a long day aren't I?" stated Sasuke. "Well, here goes"
Using a small Katon Jutsu, He lit up some sticks that they gathered on the way and started the exercise. On his initial attempt, his fingers got burnt and if he wasn't trained as he was, he would have screamed out. Instead, he just grunted and glared at his sensei who just eye smiled at him.
"I'm in for a really long day" he sighed.
"Alright Naruto, to begin your elemental manipulation, you will be trying to slice a leaf in two with just your wind chakra. To tell you the truth, elemental manipulation is going to be the hardest for you because you have four primary elements. As a result, to gain mastery over any of them is going to take you a lot more time than most people. For you however, that won't be a problem because you have the Kage Bunshin hence you can cut your training time down significantly."
"Ne sensei, I don't think I will be using the shadow clones at the start. When I get the hang of the exercise, I'll use them." Said Naruto
"Ok Naruto," replied Kakashi, "That's your choice. If you need any help, I'm right here."
With that, Naruto picked up a leaf and began the exercise.
That's how the team spent their first full day at Tazuna's residence. At the end of the first day, Naruto had made no progress at all and was a bit frustrated as he learned that Sasuke had been able to maintain the flame on one of his fingers for a few seconds before it went out of control. Of the three of them, Sakura had made the most progress. She had been able to separate the water particles from a quarter of the cloth. That however was to be expected as Kakashi mentioned something about her having extremely good chakra control, even better than him.
The second day, they fell into the same ritual and practiced throughout the day, stopping only to eat and rest occasionally, or in Naruto's case, just to eat. By the end of the second day, Sakura was able to separate one third of the water from the cloth. It still took a lot of time to do it and a lot of concentration; something that she purposed to do during their third day of training. Sasuke was now able to control the flame on one finger tip indefinitely but had trouble controlling more than one took too much concentration and time so he would be working on that the next day. Naruto had made the least progress among them and was beginning to get even more frustrated, though he never showed it. He was only able to get a very small cut on the leaf. He had approached Hikari that day and was a bit disappointed to learn that she knew next to nothing on wind chakra manipulation. The only advice that she could give him was that he should envision the chakra the way he wanted it; as a blade of wind. After trying it out, he was finally able to get the small cut on the leaf. Though it was progress, he still felt that he should have been able to go further.
The end of the third day of elemental manipulation met similar results for team seven. Sakura was now halfway through the first level of her training while Sasuke was thirty percent of the way there. Naruto was unable to progress further than he had the previous day and was even more frustrated. To make matters worse, Tazuna's Grandson, Inari, had been at dinner that night and had been very rude to Naruto because he smiled so much. They had just been told about Kaiza, Inari's father who had died when he stood up to Gatou.
Unable to hold in his frustration, He had whipped the kid up and held him against the wall.
+++++Flashback+++++
"What do I know about pain and suffering?" asked Naruto with a thin smile
"Look at you;" said Inari, "You're all smiles while Gatou goes around killing people. You're all gonna die, so just quit while you can."
"What did you say?" asked Naruto in a calm voice, the smile wiped off his face.
"Yeah, I'm sure when you leave here you'll be going back home to your family while my dad is still dead. Just leave us alone!" he cried. "You're gonna die too, so maybe then your family will learn what my pain is! Just die you worthless scum."
At that moment, all the members of team seven stiffened. If there was one subject that they knew not to cross around Naruto was disrespecting his dead family.
Before they could blink, Naruto was across the room with Inari in one hand and the other very close to his Kunai pouch, as if struggling to stop himself from reaching for a kunai. He was also pouring out a bit of killing intent that was felt all across the room.
"You think I don't know what pain is? You think I don't know what it's like to be alone?" asked Naruto, his killing intent rising. "Let me tell you something kid, get your facts right before you speak. Ever since I was born, I was alone; I never knew the love or embrace of a parent. I lived in an orphanage for four years of my life and got beaten at least once a week till they kicked me out. From then I lived on the streets for a month before the Hokage found me and gave me a place to stay. You think I don't know? Huh? I've had more assassination attempts than I can count. I've been hated and beaten all my life for something I have no control over but unlike you, I stopped crying years ago. At least you still have a mother and grandfather, cherish them while you can." Finished Naruto before relenting on his killing intent and releasing Inari.
"If you need me, I'll be outside sensei," said Naruto before stepping out. As he was stepping out, his teammates looked at him and had to hold in the involuntary gasp that wanted to come out. His eyes were the coldest blue that they had ever seen, even worse than when he had killed Gouzu. With eyes like these, he could freeze hell over.
"Is all of what he said true?" asked Tsunami with watery eyes.
"Hai," replied Kakashi with a tired sigh, "if anything he sugar-coated it. There are some things that have been done to him that not even the Hokage would have been able to survive."
A solemn atmosphere had settled around the table and none of them felt like finishing dinner. Sasuke had known that Naruto's life had been bad, but this was unimaginable. No one should have to face such a life. Sakura had similar thoughts except before becoming a part of the team, she had no idea that his life had been so bad. Afterwards, she had understood why as well, since Naruto had told them about Kyuubi or Hikari, as he called her, near the end of their two month training trip. It seemed like there was a whole lot more that she had yet to learn about her blond team mate.
+++++Flashback End+++++
This brought him to his current situation; busting up trees like there was no tomorrow.
"Naruto, Take it easy would you, you're destroying everything in your path!" yelled a frantic Hikari, "At the rate you're going you'll exhaust all of your chakra."
Her cry however, fell on deaf ears as Naruto continued to tear through the trees with gusto as he let out all of his pent up frustration. He continued this for another hour until he fell over exhausted and low on chakra. Soon afterwards, blissful unconsciousness claimed him.
A figure approached the sleeping Naruto with extreme caution. She had a basket on her left hand while collecting some herbs.
'This is one of the ninja's whose sensei fought against Zabuza-sama.' She thought. 'I could kill him with a snap of his neck in a few seconds,' her hand reaching forward towards his neck as she thought this. 'But it just doesn't seem right' she thought finally.
As she was about to touch him, she felt his hand on her wrist.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He said calmly with his eyes still closed.
"My apologies, I just thought that you shouldn't be sleeping out here, you could catch a cold if you do." She said
Finally opening his eyes, he was greeted by quite the sight. Bending over him with her arm outstretched was arguably one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen. She was dressed in a pink hakama with black and white spots all around. She also had on a smile that dazzled him.
She giggled at him as he continued to stare at him. "You know, it's impolite to stare," she said.
He turned away quickly while a small blush crept unto his face.
"By your headband, I would guess that you're a ninja, right?" She half asked half commented.
"Hai," he replied, "We're here for a mission"
"Ok, so what are you doing out here so early in the morning?" she asked
"Training," he replied simply and a bit cautiously because of the number of questions she asked. "What about you?"
"I'm gathering herbs," she replied, "I prefer to do it in the morning because it's cool and quiet."
"Need some help?" asked Naruto
"Sure" she replied while showing him the type of herbs that she was collecting.
"I'm Naruto, by the way." Said Naruto
"Haku" she said
The two continued to talk for some time, with Naruto telling her what life in Konoha was like. She also informed him that she used to live Mizu no Kuni but because of the civil war had to flee for her life. She suddenly asked him a question.
"You said you're a ninja, right?" at his nod, she continued "Why do you fight, Naruto?"
He suddenly stiffened. He clearly remembered his sensei asking him the same thing
+++++Flashback+++++
"What do you believe in Naruto, why do you fight so hard?"
+++++Flashback End+++++
He was shocked that this person would ask him the same question.
Seeing his visage, she elaborated
"Do you have anyone that is precious to you? People you care for?"
He thought for a while thinking of all those people in his life, but slowed down when he came across a few. 'Iruka-sensei, Sandaime Oji-san, Ayame-chan, Old man Teuchi, Konohamaru, Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke and Sakura. I guess I do have people in my life that are precious to me.'
"Hai," he replied with a content smile, "I do"
Haku smiled when she saw the smile on his face.
"It's only by protecting what is precious to you that you can become truly strong," She finished.
Realization dawned on Naruto as he understood what she meant by that last line. If someone is precious to you, you would do all that you can for them. Just like he had done for Sasuke when he was in danger; he protected a friend who was precious to him. That's why he fought, to protect what was precious to him, to save a comrade and friend, and that's why he would continue to fight.
"Arigatou Haku, you've helped me more than you'll ever know," said Naruto with a smile which she returned.
"However, regardless of how grateful I am, I won't allow you to hurt my comrades, Hunter-san," said Naruto.
Haku stiffened as he mentioned that, her empty hand ready to reach into her pouch, only to find it missing.
"How'd you know? So I guess you are going to kill me now," she said matter-of-factly.
"You smell the same," said Naruto, "but I won't do you any harm, just try to convince Zabuza to call of the attack. If he doesn't then my team cannot be held responsible for its actions. Besides, you might be able to gain amnesty in Konoha."
Haku wanted to believe what Naruto said, but even if she did, it would be Zabuza's choice whether or not to accept. She was tired of running away from all of the hunter-nin all of the time, but she would do as Zabuza commanded, she was his tool after all.
"I will speak with him," she said, before leaving the clearing created by Naruto the night before.
"Why didn't you capture her Naruto-kun," asked Hikari within his mind.
"Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't. Her eyes remind me too much of myself. I'd feel like one of the villagers striking at me."
"Ok," she replied, "but you should not make it a habit of fraternizing with the enemy." She said playfully.
"Nah, I won't" said Naruto as he began to make his way to the house.
As soon as he reached inside, he called Kakashi over and relayed the option that he had given to Haku. He said that he hoped they accepted as the leaf could use some more Shinobi.
When Naruto left, Kakashi smiled at his retreating figure. It seemed like he had finally gotten over killing Gouzu and would be able to better perform his duties.
Team seven continued their routine for the next three days. They would go out, with a clone of Kakashi each while the real one went to guard Tazuna, to continue their Nature Manipulation. At the end of the third day, Sakura was able to completely remove the water from the cloth, but the amount of time it took was too long so she had a long way to go before mastering it. Sasuke could now maintain a flame on eight fingers for quite some time, but was still unable to go any further. Naruto had made the most progress from three days prior. From only being able to make a small cut on the leaf, he was now able to slice it in half with a lot of concentration; hence he had yet to master it.
Overall, Kakashi was amazed with the progress that his students had made. They had taken to elemental manipulation very quickly and he was very proud of them. At the end of the sixth day however, they met together and decided not to train the following day as the likelihood of Zabuza attacking was very high.
The following day, they all woke up early to prepare as they all expected a long day. Naruto hoped that Zabuza had accepted his invitation since it would be less troublesome that way. Before leaving for the bridge, Naruto made a few clones and had them patrol the area around the house in case Gatou's thugs came around. After everything had been settled, they went to the bridge.
A thick mist was all the team and bridge builder saw when they neared the incomplete end of the bridge. Looking around quickly, they noticed that all of the workers had been knocked unconscious, most likely by Zabuza, but no blood was spilled.
"Momochi Zabuza, it seems like you didn't accept my students' proposal to you," said Kakashi as they prepared for battle.
"Hmph, who said I didn't consider it," said Zabuza, "It just seems very unlikely that your Hokage would pardon someone like me, I'm the Demon of the Bloody Mist after all."
"Not everyone is like the Mizukage, Zabuza. Besides, your goal was admirable, you just didn't have the means to pull it off," said Kakashi, "We'll give you another chance Zabuza, stand down or we may have to use force. If you do, you'll have the choice of returning to Konoha with us or continuing to run from the Hunter-nin, your choice."
On the side of Zabuza, a masked figure appeared and spoke to him, but not loud enough for the others to hear.
"You know Zabuza-sama, they seem to be genuine with what they say. Maybe we could consider it."
"They may seem that way Haku, but a Shinobi's greatest skill is deception. They could be lying to us," countered Zabuza.
"Hai, Zabuza-sama," said Haku.
Zabuza looked down at Haku and was a bit saddened by what he saw. Haku seemed like she really wanted to stop running but he didn't want to take the chance. It wasn't out of self preservation, no, it was because he wanted to protect Haku. He may have brought her up as a tool, but to him, she was more than that. She was like his little sister who always looked out for him while he protected her.
Sighing loudly, he decided to give in to her.
"Oi, Kakashi, to the victor goes the spoils," he said.
Kakashi nodded and the team separated to fight their respective enemies. Kakashi stepped towards Zabuza, while Sasuke and Naruto went towards Haku. Sakura stayed behind to guard Tazuna. All of the Nins faced each other as if waiting for some unmentioned signal to begin their deadly dance. A few seconds passed before the five jumped into action.
Sasuke and Naruto rushed towards Haku with kunai drawn. Naruto had already advised Sakura and Sasuke to drop their weights since they might have to do battle. Also, theirs had to physically un strapped while his was done with a mental command. Naruto looked at Sasuke and nodded to him. Team seven had worked on their teamwork so much that they could communicate with simple nods and seemingly random hand gestures. Sasuke nodded in assent while Naruto slowed his pace. Sasuke would engage up close while he would provide support if needed.
Sasuke tried rushing his opponent with his kunai but Haku was able to keep up with his speed and blocked the assault. The two continued on with Taijutsu with none of them being able to get the edge over the other. Had he been a part of another cell, he would have probably used his bloodline limit. Over time, while training with his team, he had learned not to rely on his Sharingan too much. It was a mistake that many bloodline users made and paid for it with their lives. As such he had trained tirelessly to be able to fight without relying on it unless necessary. Now was one of those times that he would have to resort to it. His opponent was a little faster than him, and matched almost evenly in Taijutsu.
Pushing chakra to his eyes, they changed from black to red with two tomoes in each eye. When Haku saw them she took an involuntary step back.
'What is this? Could it be the legendary Sharingan of the Uchiha clan?'
"It seems like you finally decided to get serious," said Haku.
"Hn," grunted Sasuke, a bit of his former self showing up, "Let's get this over with."
With that, the two once again launched into battle, this time with Sasuke landing most of his blows while Haku was hard pressed to even get a hit in. Jumping back, she put some distance between the two of them and quickly ran through some seals then called out the name of her technique.
"Hyouton: Sensatsu Suishou"
Water rose from the sea below and formed a large number of ice needles and flew towards Sasuke at high speed. Seeing the incoming needles, Sasuke added chakra to his feet and jumped into the air to avoid them. While in the air, he did some seals then called out
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu"
A large fireball sped towards Haku and was unable to mount up a proper defence so she tried to move out of the way by leaping back.
When Sasuke landed, he had to dodge to the side as Haku came at him again with her fist reared back. He caught it nut was surprised when she began speaking.
"You are at a disadvantage here," she began. Sasuke's eyebrows rose in amusement, "Your right hand is currently occupied, but mine," she said while going through one hand seals, "are not. Hyouton Hijutsu: Makyō Hyōshō"
Instantly, water rose from the sea below and formed a dome of mirrors around the duo. Away from them, Naruto clenched his fists. It seemed that he would have to aid Sasuke. Running towards the dome of mirrors, he jumped in with his kunai drawn.
Zabuza and Kakashi had been watching their subordinate's battle and both were impressed. When Zabuza saw Haku form the Ice Mirrors, he smirked then spoke to Kakashi.
"It seems that Haku decided to take things up a notch. No one has ever survived her ice mirrors, and I don't think that brat will do any better."
"We'll see about that, Zabuza, besides he has Naruto with him. They should be done in a while," responded Kakashi.
"Confident aren't you. Well let's get this show on the road."
He gripped his sword and charged Kakashi, intent on finishing the fight as quickly as possible. Kakashi however pulled out his Ninjato to block the strike and uncovered his Sharingan eye. The two engaged in a fast paced Kenjutsu battle where Zabuza seemed to have the upper hand. Though Kakashi was well versed in Kenjutsu, it was not his forte since the only reason he was able to wield a sword was because of his time in ANBU and his more recent training. Zabuza continued to push Kakashi back gradually. Seeing his position, Kakashi leapt away. As soon as he landed, he began forming hand seals. Seeing this, Zabuza quickly formed the hand seals for his Kirigakure no jutsu and seemed to disappear into the mist.
When Kakasji was finally done he called out
"Katon: Karyuu Endan" while blowing a large jet of fire into the mist while spinning all around. This served two purposes, to remove the mist and to have Zabuza reveal his position. As expected, Zabuza's position was revealed when he had to jump away from the fire. Furious at having his position revealed, he was about to rush Kakashi but was stopped when he felt cold metal against his neck. Looking up he saw Kakashi but had no time to ponder further as he was cut across his stomach.
When Naruto arrived, he was amazed by what he saw. All around him were images of Haku, each with a few senbon needles in each hand. He looked at Sasuke and noticed he had his Sharingan active and only appeared to have one or two needles on him. Pulling them out for him, Sasuke spoke to him
"Speed is the key to overcoming her attacks. As long as we are faster than her, she can't hit us."
"Got it," replied Naruto. He immediately removed his chakra weights and felt like a huge weight had been removed from his shoulders making him feel lighter. The two then exploded into action each covering the others' back.
Haku was surprised by the efficiency with which they worked. She couldn't find any openings. Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke realized that even if they were faster than their opponent, if she stayed hidden it would do them no good. Naruto decided to try a different approach.
"Why don't we stop this useless fighting Haku."
"I wish I could Naruto, but as long as Zabuza-sama wills it. I will fight till I no longer have any breath," she replied.
"Why are you so loyal to him anyway?" asked Naruto.
"Because when I had nothing, he saved me." She replied
She then proceeded to tell them how in her country, people with bloodline limits were hunted and killed. Her father was one of those who hunted them and when her bloodline surfaced, she ended up killing him and a mob to save herself after he killed her mother. She explained that she had been ready to give up on life and would have had she not met Zabuza. She was saved by him and would follow him to the depths of hell. She was his tool to be used as he commanded.
At her proclamation, Naruto was saddened because he had gone through something similar. Had it not been for the Sandaime he might have gone over the edge. Luckily for him, he didn't. He looked up at Haku
"You know Haku, when we get out of this mess, we could probably start anew."
"I don't know. For Zabuza-sama, I will kill my emotions and become a true Shinobi."
Both Naruto and Sasuke sighed. It seemed like they would have to continue fighting.
"Ready Sasuke?" asked Naruto while holding up four fingers so only he could see.
"Hai," he replied.
The two then blurred through seals so quickly that before Haku even had time to react, they were done.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu" said Sasuke then Breathed out a large ball of fire.
At the same time Naruto called out the name of his jutsu
"Fuuton: Daitoppa"
The two techniques joined each other and the fireball grew to four times its normal size and covered more than half of the dome. Seconds later, a shattering sound was heard and the entire structure crumbled.
Haku had been caught in the fire but was not burnt too badly. She was however low on chakra as she used most of hers to cushion her fall and shield her body from the flames. The two boys headed out and heard a groan. When the area cleared, they saw Haku on the floor near exhaustion. She still tried to stand but was unable to.
"Haku," began Naruto, "It would be for the best if you stayed down. You need medical treatment so please refrain from moving."
She still tried moving again, so with a nod to Sasuke, Sasuke moved towards her and chopped her behind the neck. She immediately fell unconscious leaving the two others to their own devices.
"Hey Naruto, lets go see if Kakashi-sensei is finished with Zabuza."
"Hai," he replied and they both made their way over, with Haku slung over Naruto's shoulder.
A steady drip was heard as the Zabuza struck with the kunai turned out to be a Mizu Bunshin. Kakashi ducked quickly as Zabuza's sword passed over his head. The two continued battling, this time using Taijutsu but Kakashi had the upper hand and was about to try to finish the fight before a loud snort was heard. The two stopped momentarily and stared at the newcomer.
"Gatou," said Zabuza, "What are you doing here?"
"Demon of the mist. You know, I don't think you deserve that title Zabuza. More like baby of the mist. You couldn't even take out an old bridge builder" sneered Gatou while the eighty or so thugs around him laughed.
"Gatou," growled Zabuza
"Pah, you know what Zabuza, I didn't feel like paying you so I called up a few of my little friends. There're gonna finish you off then finish your job. Besides where's that whore you had with you?"
At the mention of Haku, Naruto narrowed his eyes while Zabuza glared at him.
"What do you want with her?" asked Zabuza
"I just want to repay that slut for breaking my arm. Afterwards I think I'll give her to my men so they can relieve their selves," He said. At the mention of that, all the thugs sported hungry looks like when eyeing a piece of meat.
Now, Naruto was growling lightly at the man while Zzabuza let his killing run wild.
"You dare to threaten her?" he said while turning to Kakashi "Kakashi, we no longer have any reason to fight. Maybe when this is over, you could take Haku to Konoha with you. As for me, I have a crime lord to butcher" he finished.
Naruto, though angry, thought to himself that probably if Haku was awake would be rethinking her status as a tool. He walked over to Sakura and laid her at her feet.
"Mind taking care of her for a while? I think Zabuza might need some help."
Sakura nodded and He walked over to his sensei with Sasuke leading the way. The three made their way to Zabuza and after a brief talked charged the small army of thugs. The fight, if it could be called that lasted less than a minute. With Zabuza and Kakashi in the front and Naruto and Sasuke bringing up the rear, they cut through the thugs like a hot knife through butter and finally came up on Gatou. Zabuza got the killing blow in when he decapitated him with his sword. Many of the thugs were killed by either Kakashi or Zabuza. Naruto and Sasuke however tried to hold back from killing them but were unsuccessful a few times.
When the four were done and were heading back towards Sakura, loud cheering was heard behind them. When they turned around, most if not all of the village was present, each person brandishing some kind of homemade weapon.
When everyone had finally calmed down, they were told what happened they all decided to go to the town square to celebrate while the ninja's went home with their comrades.
On the way home, Haku woke up and was relieved to see Zabuza walking in front of her. It seemed like they would be going to Konoha after all. With that thought in mind, she drifted back into unconsciousness with a smile on her face.
When they arrived at the house, Naruto was informed by one of his clones that two Samurai had tried taking Tsunami hostage and would have succeeded had one of the clones not found them near the house and knocked one of them out then questioned the other. The clone had also noticed Inari following him, who, after seeing Naruto's display and speaking with him, rounded up all of the villagers and went to the bridge.
A few days later, the group of Shinobi was standing on the far end of the completed bridge saying their farewells to the people of Nami no Kuni. They had been able to complete the bridge a few days ahead of schedule, especially with the help of Naruto's Kage Bunshins. He hadn't used them before because of his training, but now that they were done for a while, he produced them in large quantities.
Zabuza and Haku also accompanied team seven as they stood saying good bye to the people. At first some people had been weary of them but by the end of the first day, most of them had warmed up to them.
The Shinobi's, finally able to leave, crossed the end of the bridge leading to Hi no Kuni.
On the bridge, one of the random villagers shouted out a question.
"So what are you going to name the bridge Tazuna?"
"Let's call it the Super awes-" he started but was cut off by a smack to the head courtesy of Tsunami.
"We'll call it The Great Naruto Bridge" he said, "In honour of Naruto Uzumaki and his team, ninjas of Konoha who spurred Inari on who went on to motivate our people and give them hope," he finished.
A loud cheer was heard from the crowd as they cheered on Naruto and the rest of the team even if they were absent.
That's a wrap folks, thanks for reading. Don't forget to review.
Jutsu Translations
Hyouton Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishou – Ice Style: Death by a Thousand Flying Water Needles
Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu – Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique
Hyouton Hijutsu: Makyō Hyōshō – Ice Style Secret Jutsu: Ice Crystal Mirrors
Kirigakure no Jutsu – Hidden mist technique
Katon: Karyuu Endan – Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Projectile
"Fuuton: Daitoppa– Great Breakthrough
Mizu Bunshin no jutsu – Water Clone Technique
Nami no Kuni – Wave Country
Hi no Kuni – Fire Country
Don't forget to review. Well that's all for now. See ya.