Chapter 11: Wave Arc 3
Welcome back my many, many, loyal fans! I trust your time away from this wonderful story was pleasant, yes?
So now we're ending the Wave Arc with the historic event of the battle on the bridge, and there are a few things that are going to be changed. I will also explain those changes at the end of the chapter to help you guys understand what had happened.
PLEASE READ THIS NEXT PART! IT IS VERY IMPORTANT!
I am so SO sorry. I just looked back at what I said for the attack on Uzu and I saw that I wrote that 93% of the enemy SURVIVED. I meant to say that 93% DIED, but apparently my brother admitted that he changed it to survive when I wasn't writing, and I was about 1,000 words away from that sentence so I never knew until I read the reviews closely. I've gone back and fixed that so future readers won't complain.
Please forgive me for my stupidity.
Another thing, people have been asking me about how a civilian can get past trained ninja and the Hokage in Chapter 1 to attack Naruto. Allow me to explain, it was the best scenario I could come up with, and the ones I saw in the other Jiongu stories said that he stumbled upon the scroll from a loose floorboard, or that Kakuzu gave it to him. I wanted to make Naruto's receiving of the Jiongu unique, so Chapter 1's events were what I came up with
I apologize for this being late, but I had a lot of trouble coming up with the events that are in this chapter. I wanted to make it different and unique while changing things from canon to what I think would have been better.
Let's begin.
(Tazuna's House)
Shino had just closed the door to his room after laying Naruto on the bed. The blond had worked himself to exhaustion in order to try and perfect a secret technique that he was working on. The bug user walked downstairs where everyone else was waiting.
"He's in a bed," Shino said.
Kurenai nodded and Kakashi said, "This is most likely when Zabuza and his accomplice will attack, so everyone's going to the bridge in order to help protect Tazuna. But I'm going to have to ask that you stay here Kiba."
"Why? I can help!" The young Inuzuka protested.
"With Akamaru still hurt, your attacks are going to be less effective, and I have a feeling that Gato might send some of his thugs here to take Inari and/or Tsunami hostages," Kakashi explained.
Kiba sighed and said, "Alright, but you guys better kick some ass for me!"
"To be precise, we aren't going to be kicking anyone while we're fighting," Shino said.
Everyone stared at Shino and Kiba placed a hand on the Aburame's shoulder and said, "Shino, my friend, it's an expression, not something I literally meant.
"Then why did you not say something more accurate?" Shino asked.
"Okay, we're going to work on your people skills some more when we get back to Konoha," Kiba told him.
"Can we get a move on?" Sasuke grunted as he patiently stood near the door while trying to get away from Sakura, who was trying to cling to his arm.
Kakashi sighed, Sasuke might have been a prodigy, but failed to grasp what he has been trying to teach him and Sakura from day one. That fighting alongside his allies would be better for him, but the young Uchiha would rather use his teammates as meat shields. It didn't help that Sakura would rather help Sasuke instead of anyone else either. In fact, Kiba was the only reason that they passed his test since he was able to convince the two to work together.
"Alright then, let's get moving," Kurenai said.
(Zabuza's Hideout)
The Kirigakure no Kijin crushed an apple with his hand and grinned under his bandages. He then stood up and swung his mighty sword over himself until it rested on the magnet attached to his belt. This time, he was wearing a shirt.
"Once again, you've outdone ourself with your medicine Haku," Zabuza praised as he fixed his mouth bandages.
"It was nothing Zabuza-sama, are we going to attack the bridge builder today?" Haku asked.
Zabuza nodded, and the door opened, revealing Gato, his two bodyguards, and another figure. He was about 26 years old and wearing a grey sleeveless vest and black pants with armored shins. He had black fingerless gloves and black shinobi sandals. The most noticeable part about him was his bandana that had the emblem for Kumogakure no Sato, only with a slash through it, signaling that this was a Nukenin.
"Who's this?" Zabuza asked.
"This is Ren Boruto, another criminal I hired to make sure that you two kill the bridge builder," Gato told him.
"We don't need a babysitter," Zabuza said, glaring at the midget and his thugs.
"Don't think of me as a babysitter, think of me as an...acquaintance. Once this mission is over, we won't see each other unless we're after each others bounties," Ren told him. Zabuza's danger meter rose when he heard these words, since Nukenin don't really talk about their bounties unless they were in a ceasefire zone, which this most definitely was not.
Haku gave Zabuza a sideways glance through his mask, not trusting Ren at all. 'The name Boruto sounds somewhat familiar. Perhaps Zabuza-sama knows.'
Zabuza sighed and said, "Fine, but don't get in my way. Or you'll find out how painful it is to be bisected down the middle." Ren gulped and began to sweat a little.
(Later-Bridge)
The Konoha ninja and Tazuna had arrived at the bridge to see that there was a thick fog covering the area. Further into the bridge, everyone saw that the workers were either knocked out or incapacitated.
"What...what happened?" Tazuna asked as he took a step back.
"Everyone get ready, Zabuza is here," Kakashi said as he drew a kunai.
"Perceptive aren't you Kakashi?" Zabuza's voice rang out. Everyone tensed as they tried to pinpoint the Nukenin's location. Ten figures stepped out of the mist, revealing themselves to be Mizu Bunshin's of Zabuza.
"Decided to send your clones to take care of something you can't?" Kakashi asked as he lazily looked at the clones.
The real Zabuza could be heard scoffing. "Yeah right. But I've got one of your gaki's shaking like a leaf."
Sasuke was indeed shaking, but when he looked up, his eyes only showed determination. "I'm shaking...with excitement." Sasuke then vanished and reappeared next to Kakashi, and all of the Mizu Bunshin fell apart. Zabuza and his partners appeared on the opposite side of the bridge as the mist cleared up a little.
"Looks like you have a rival in speed Haku," Zabuza informed his partner.
Haku nodded. "So it appears."
"Who's your new friend?" Kurenai asked when she saw Ren.
Zabuza bit back a groan and said, "Ren Boruto, Gato wants the bridge builder out of his way, so he hired another Nukenin to assist me. I feel insulted that I have to work with a Kumo ninja, Nukenin or not."
"Ah, that's right, before you left Kiri you had multiple run-ins with Kumo ninja who were after your sword," Kakashi remembered, having heard about Zabuza's many battles with Kumo shinobi.
Hinata began to shiver when she heard the word's 'Kumo ninja' leave Zabuza's mouth. Shino noticed and placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, she relaxed and gave Shino a small smile as a form of thanks.
"Why does the name 'Boruto' sound familiar?" Kurenai asked.
"I don't know, but we don't have time to think about it right now," Kakashi told her.
"Sasuke, I want you to take care of the fake Hunter ninja, your speed should be able to match his. Sakura, stay with Tazuna," Kakashi ordered, to which his students nodded in confirmation.
"Hinata, Shino, I want you to attack that Kumo Nukenin while Kakashi and I take care of Zabuza," Kurenai said. Hinata panicked a little, but managed to scrounge up some courage and nod her head along with her teammates.
Sasuke and Haku vanished instantly, reappearing moments later clashing kunai against senbon. Kakashi and Kurenai then charged at Zabuza, ducking under his sword as he swung it in a wide arc. Ren drew a kunai and threw it at the remaining members of Team 8, forcing them to dodge as he went after them.
(Sasuke and Haku)
The Uchiha scion and the fake Hunter Ninja were vanishing in blurs and reappearing with sparks being created between them. Sasuke then jumped back and threw a few shuriken at Haku, who just deflected them with his senbon.
"I must admit, your speed is impressive," Haku said when they clashed once again. "But I'm two steps ahead of you."
"Two?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes, first is the fact that we're surrounded by water, and the second fact is that I have one of your hands occupied," Haku explained, he then brought up his other hand and began to make a chain of one handed seals.
'One handed seals?! But that's impossible!' Sasuke thought. He was broken out of his thoughts when Haku then slammed his foot on the ground, causing the water to rise up and surround them.
"Sensatsu Suisho!" Haku declared as the water turned into a thousand ice needles, all of them aimed at Sasuke. Before the needles hit, Haku jumped back and looked at ground zero, only to jump back as a shuriken flew at him. Haku looked up to see Sasuke coming down upon him, aiming with his kunai.
Haku dodged the blow, but couldn't avoid the kick that came afterwards, sending him skidding across the ground.
"It appears I'll have to use that after all," Haku murmured, he then made a unique hand seal and began to focus his chakra as it came out of him and blew around like an icy wind.
'His chakra,' Sasuke thought, 'it's so cold.' He heard a cracking sound behind him and turned to see an ice mirror forming, he looked back at Haku, only to see that he was then surrounded by a dome of mirrors. Twelve of them were ground level, eight of them were above the first set and angled downwards, and the last one was above the dome, facing the ground. Haku then entered the mirror in front of him and his reflection was every mirror.
"Makyo Hyosho!" Haku declared. Moments later, Sasuke could be heard screaming in pain.
(Hinata, Shino, and Ren)
The trio of fighters were at a standstill. Hinata and Shino were surrounded by the Aburame's bugs as they acted as a shield since it was the only thing keeping the Nukenin from attacking them. However, they couldn't land a hit on the former Kumo ninja either since he had more experience and was able to avoid their attacks.
"These little pests are starting to annoy me," Ren growled as he avoided another small swarm of insects that Shino sent his way.
"Suiton: Teppoudama!" Ren opened his mouth and shot out several water bullets at the bug shield, drenching the insects and forcing them to retreat.
"Suiton: Water Whip!" Ren then swept his hand across one of the puddles made by one of Zabuza's clones and formed a whip in his hand.
"Hinata, it appears that our opponent is skilled in water techniques instead of the lightning techniques from Kumo," Shino said as he called upon more insects.
"Hai, we h-have to be more c-careful then since th-there's a lot of w-water around," Hinata told him. Shino nodded and sent another small swarm at the Nukenin, but Ren just swiped at them with his whip, dispersing them and knocking away the hidden shuriken within the swarm.
"You'll have to do better than that to beat me!" Ren taunted as he charged forward and swung his Water Whip at the Genin. Both of them dove to the side to avoid it, and Hinata raced forward to land a few hits on Ren's tenketsu on his right thigh.
Ren growled and backhanded Hinata, sending her skidding across the bridge before she lightly hit a crate. Hinata quickly got up, only to duck as Ren came flying at her with a kick. She rolled out of the way and threw several shuriken at Ren, but the Nukenin just twisted his body so the projectiles flew past him and over the bridge.
Shino then appeared next to Hinata while throwing a small swarm at Ren. The former Kumo ninja just dispersed the bugs with his whip and threw a kunai at the Genin, which was deflected by Shino's own kunai.
"Eight Trigrams Air Palm!" Hinata threw an open palm at Ren as the force behind it sent a blast of air at her opponent. Ren received the full force of the attack and was sent backwards, slamming into the metal beam behind him.
"Heh...you're good for a couple of Genin," Ren said as he stood up and flexed his Water Whip. "But you won't be able to beat me. I think it's about time I took this seriously." He then threw his whip forward and it cracked against Shino's chest, sending him flying backwards.
"Shino-kun!" Hinata yelled as she watched her teammate get hit. A second later, the Water Whip was wrapped around her wrist and drag her forward till the Nukenin had grasped her by her wrists with his remaining hand.
"Now I recognize you! You're the Hyuga heiress that my brother tried to kidnap all those years ago!" Ren exclaimed. Hinata looked at him in shock and fear as he continued. "Yes, my brother Arashi Boruto attempted to kidnap you under the guise of being in Konoha to form a treaty. But your worthless clan killed him and sent us a fake body as an insult! But if I return to Kumo with you, I'll be hailed as a hero for accomplishing one of our long-time goals!"
Hinata began to struggle greatly in the Nukenin's grip before she decided to take a page out of Naruto's book: Do something completely unexpected. She reared back her leg and performed a skill only known to women. The Kick in the Balls Jutsu was deadly when used by a women that was either angry, insane, or scared, in this case, Hinata was of the latter category.
Ren dropped Hinata and gripped his groin in pain. Hinata began to run to where Shino was when she felt a sharp pain on her side, causing her to scream and drop down to the floor in pain. She looked back and saw Ren with his Water Whip glaring at her with pure rage. He had struck the young girl with a shuriken that ripped open her jacket and sliced her porcelain skin.
"You bitch! If I didn't need you alive I'd kill you right now!" Ren snarled as he brought up his whip and cracked it against Hinata's side, drawing out a scream of pain from her.
"But I don't think that Kumo would need you untouched," Ren said as an evil grin took root on his face. If Hinata was scared before, she was absolutely terrified right now. But before Ren could do anything, something hard impacted against his chest and sent him flying. Hinata then looked up to see the blood red eyes of her savior.
"If you touch her...I'll kill you!"
(Earlier-Tazuna's House)
Naruto groggily opened his eyes to see the brown roof of the house. He realized that he was in Tazuna's house in the upstairs room. He felt strangely disappointed that he wasn't in his bed with Hinata, much to his confusion.
He was broken out of his thoughts by a crash from downstairs and a loud barking. He quickly opened the window and held out his arm as Titan slithered out of his sleeve and landed on the ground before taking it's original form. Naruto then ran downstairs to see Tsunami in the clutches of two thugs with swords, and Kiba and Akamaru standing in front of Inari while holding a kunai.
"Great, another brat," the first thug groaned.
"Why are you complaining? It's just another person we can cut up," the other thug told him with a sadistic grin on his face.
"Naruto, you got anything that can beat these guys? Anything I can do would hurt Tsunami-san," Kiba asked.
Naruto nodded and said, "I've got something in mind that will work."
"You'll only do something if you don't care about this pretty lady right here. But I know that your mission is to defend the bridge builder's family so you won't," the first thug sneered.
The next thing the thugs knew, there was an incredible pain in the back of their heads knocking them out, releasing their grip on Tsunami in the process. Titan had snuck behind the two and clobbered their heads while they were distracted.
"You really are the most unpredictable ninja!" Kiba laughed
Naruto laughed along with him. When they calmed down Naruto asked him, "So where did everyone else go?"
"They went to the bridge, Kakashi-sensei thinks that today is when Zabuza attacks. He wanted me to tell you to head there when you woke up," Kiba said.
Naruto nodded and reabsorbed Titan before saying, "I'm heading there now, make sure that these two stay safe." Kiba nodded and Naruto ran out the door towards the bridge.
"How is he strong?" Inari asked.
Kiba turned to him and said, "It's because he fights to protect his friends. Something that Kaiza did when he stood up against Gato."
Inari looked at Kia in awe before he then ran for the door.
"Hey! Where ya going?!" Kiba yelled.
Inari turned back to him and shouted back, "I'm going to get everyone to stand up to Gato!" He then went and ran into town. Kiba smirked and began to set some traps incase some more thugs came for Tsunami.
(Unknown)
On the outskirts of Konoha, the western forest to be more precise, a group of ANBU were crowded around a metal hatch that was disguised as a tree stump. They were the ROOT Surveillance Squad assigned to infiltrate Danzo's facility.
"Boar, is it unlocked yet? All this waiting is troublesome," Deer asked.
"Almost," Boar replied. An audible click later, "Done. We're in."
"Alright everyone, let's proceed with caution," Hummingbird ordered. "Falcon, take point."
The bird masked ANBU nodded and entered the hatch first, the rest of the team following him. The team made their way into the facility where it was dimly lit and seemingly rundown.
"Do you detect anyone?" Tenzo asked Falcon.
Falcon shook his head. "All I can see are a few rats and small closets that have cleaning supplies in them."
"Let's keep moving, they should be deeper within the base," Hummingbird said. The team continued moving through the poorly maintained facility until they came upon a heavily locked door.
"Is this where we have to go?" Chameleon asked.
Tenzo nodded. "This is where Danzo kept most of his failed experiments. So this would be the best place to start looking."
"Alright, Boar, start unlocking this one, Tenzo, help him. The rest of us will provide cover incase any ROOT members come by," Hummingbird ordered. The team got into their position while the two ANBU started to unlock the door.
"Hey, Tenzo," Boar started as he worked on the sealing matrix that was keeping the lock shut, "is it true that some of Danzo's experiments would be worse than the ones that would be found in Orochimaru's bases?"
Tenzo stopped for a moment before saying, "When I was a member of ROOT, I always thought that those experiments were just like any other since I had no real common sense until I met Kakashi. But now that I'm able to determine right from wrong and understand what our morals are, I can say for certain that Danzo's experiments were worse than Orochimaru's at times."
All the team members heard this and thought about how much of a monster the councilman was.
"Hokage-sama has a suspicion...that Danzo turned Orochimaru into what he is today," Chameleon stated.
"What makes you think that?" Falcon asked.
Chameleon turned to him and said, "Hokage-sama thinks that Danzo prayed upon Orochimaru's desire to understand the secrets of the world in order to make him do most of the atrocious experiments for Danzo's benefit. That way, none of it could be tied back to him."
"What would make Hokage-sama think that?" Boar wondered as he removed the seal. Tenzo then stuck out his finger as a small piece of wood stuck out and he inserted it into the lock.
"It's because Dazno would often meet with Orochimaru a lot back when he was a Konoha ninja," Hummingbird explained.
"It's unlocked," Tenzo announced as he pushed the door open.
"Let's keep moving," Hummingbird ordered.
(Bridge)
Naruto arrived at the bridge to see a dome made of mirrors crafted out of ice. On each mirror was the reflection of the fake Hunter Ninja facing the center of the dome. On his knees looking like a pincushion was Sasuke, glaring at the reflections with eyes that looked like they were starting to turn red. For some reason, Naruto's stomach felt a little hot when he saw Sasuke's eyes. There was also an irritating feeling in his eyes that quickly went away after a moment.
He looked over and saw that Kakashi and Kurenai were engaged in a heated battle with Zabuza. The Jounin sensei's were using their unique abilities to try and outwit the Nukenin. Kakashi tried to use his Sharingan, but Zabuza would have his eyes closed or not look at the eye directly. Kurenai wasn't a Taijutsu or Ninjutsu user, so she would try to capture him in a Genjutsu, but it wasn't very easy.
The young Uzumaki looked around, but couldn't see anyone else, so he considered that Sakura and the rest of his team were protecting Tazuna somewhere within the mist. So he decided to go and help Sasuke since he KNEW that he didn't stand a chance against a ninja of Zabuza's caliber.
"Yo Sasuke, need any help?" Naruto asked as he ran towards the dome and stopped just before the edge.
Sasuke turned to him and noted how much clearer Naruto looked. He would have answered Naruto, but was too focused on trying to figure out when the next volley of needles was gonna come.
"Attack the dome from the outside, he can't hit you from there," Sasuke said as he ripped a senbon out of his arm, letting some feeling flow back into the limb.
"You can try," Haku told them, "but my mirrors can't be broken or melted. Just surrender and I will spare your lives."
"Let's hit one mirror with a Katon jutsu from both sides!" Naruto suggested as he made several hand seals. Sasuke, seeing what he was doing, began to make the same set of seals.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Both Gennin shouted as they breathed out fireballs that both hit a mirror. Haku was lucky that he was in a different mirror at the moment as the mirror the two ninja attacked began to melt, making it deform and lose its perfect shape before the fire stopped and the two Genin took deep breaths.
"Impressive, no one has ever melted my mirrors to this degree before. But I'm afraid that your skills won't be able to help you here," Haku said. He appeared behind Naruto and kicked him into the dome before he could react, and crashed into Sasuke, sending both boys onto the ground. Haku then stepped back into the mirror as his reflection was shown everywhere once again.
"So, teme, what can he do in this place?" Naruto asked as he pushed himself onto his feet.
"He can throw senbon from every mirror," Sasuke explained. Naruto was startled for a moment before he grinned and put his hands into a cross seal. Twenty Kage Bunshin appeared surrounding the two.
'What is this? These clones are solid,' Sasuke thought as he looked at the twenty trenchcoat clad blonds that surrounded him.
"That won't help," Haku said. A second later all the clones exploded and both Sasuke and Naruto were being struck by countless senbon. Both of them screamed in pain as they tried to protect themselves, only to fail as most of their backs, arms, and legs were struck by the needles. Naruto was thankful that his threads were able to push out the needles, but it still hurt when they hit him. Sasuke was getting frustrated by how he was easily being hit while he couldn't hit the Hunter Ninja ever since he made the dome.
'I've got to stay calm and focus. See everything about this jutsu, and act!' Sasuke thought as he watched a reflection of Haku. Haku raised his arms and Sasuke's eyes widened before he jumped away as senbon stabbed into the area he was previously in.
'What?!' Haku was very confused, as was Naruto. Sasuke couldn't dodge the senbon before. When Sasuke looked up, both of them could see his red eyes, his right eye had one tomoe while his left one had two.
'The Sharingan? He activated it?' Naruto thought. With Sasuke's activated Kekkei Genkai, the battle would be easier. He also groaned as he realized that it would make him even more of an ass.
Naruto might as well have been a psychic. "With these eyes, I can never be defeated," Sasuke gloated. Naruto proceeded to slam his face into a nearby mirror and groan.
Haku stuck his head out above Naruto's and asked, "Is this his normal behavior?"
Naruto looked up and told him, "No, it's worse now. Me and my friends have been dreading this day because THIS would happen." Haku patted his head sympathetically and went back into the mirror before throwing a senbon at Sasuke, breaking him out of another fantasy of killing Itachi.
"Those eyes don't make you all powerful you know," Haku stated.
"Shut up! You're powerless against an Uchiha with their Sharingan!" Sasuke growled. Naruto went and slammed his head against the mirror once again, already feeling sorry for Kiba and Akamaru. He would have to send them a gift later.
Behind the mask, Haku rolled his eyes. He threw several more senbon in areas that left Sasuke with no room to dodge, cutting him in several places.
"If I was powerless, then how was I able to land several hits on you just now?" Haku taunted. Sasuke saw red and grabbed a kunai with an explosive tag on it and threw it at a random mirror. Before it could hit the mirror, Naruto raced forward, grabbed it out of the air, and threw it over the bridge hard where it exploded harmlessly over the water.
"You baka! Are you trying to kill us all" Naruto yelled.
"Out of my way! I'm the only one that can beat him!" Sasuke yelled back. Naruto growled, but before he could say anything, a senbon whizzed past their faces, forcing them apart.
Please surrender, I do not wish to hurt you," Haku told them. Sasuke saw this as an insult and performed another Fireball Jutsu, only for it to impact the mirrors and cause them to drip a little. Haku then threw a large volley of senbon that pierced Sasuke from all angles, causing him to scream out in pain.
"Sasuke!" Naruto cried as he watched his fellow Genin become a pincushion. Once the vicious barrage was over, the Uchiha fell to the ground unconscious from the pain.
"You bastard! Jiongu: Spiderweb!" Naruto roared as he threw out his threads to try and capture Haku. The fake Hunter Ninja was surprised at both his ability, and the amount of threads that were coming out of his body. Haku jumped from mirror to mirror, slicing threads and trying to hit Naruto with the senbon. With every move that Naruto made, he unknowingly channeled chakra into his eyes, making everything become clearer and start to move in slow motion, allowing him to set up a trap..
Unfortunately, on Haku's latest jump, he tripped over a thread that Naruto cleverly placed, and missed the mirror, crashing into the ground where Naruto wrapped several threads around his legs and proceeded to slam him into the ground multiple times, leaving the fake Hunter Ninja dazed and weak. Naruto then brought his opponent closed and slammed a metal gauntlet into Haku's gut. With the injuries that he had received and the exhaustion of keeping the mirrors in existence finally catching up to him, Haku fell limp to the floor, finding no more energy to move. He could barely get any feeling into his limbs.
Naruto stalked over and reached for Haku's mask and pulled it off, revealing his face.
"Haku?!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Hello Naruto-san, I'm sorry you had to find out about this," Haku apologized.
"But...why? Why work for someone like Zabuza?" Naruto questioned. Haku then proceeded to explain how Kekkei Genkai were heavily despised in Kiri and how his father killed his mother and proceeded to kill him, only to be impaled when Haku activated his Kekkei Genkai by accident. Haku then told him about how he met Zabuza and swore to become his perfect tool.
"But now I am broken and have no use to Zabuza-sama," Haku said in a sad tone. "Please, kill me."
Naruto shook his head. "I'm not going to kill you Haku, you're my friend."
"But...I have no value anymore," Haku protested.
"Bullshit!" Naruto exclaimed, sending the fallen ninja a small glare. "With your abilities, you're more than worthless! You're a powerful person with amazing abilities, so don't sell yourself short!"
Before Haku could respond, a scream pierced the air, a scream that Naruto recognized.
"HINATA!" Naruto cried as he ran off into the mist towards where the scream originated. Haku, feeling all of the energy leave his body, closed his eyes and embraced the blissful silence of unconsciousness.
Naruto ran deeper into the mist till he saw three figures, one taller than the other two. He recognized Hinata and Shino down on the floor, the latter looking like he was knocked out while Hinata was holding her side in pain. Ren was standing over her with a lecherous grin on his face, at least from Naruto's point of view.
The blond unknowingly called upon the Kyuubi's chakra, deepening his whisker marks, elongating his canines, making his hair get more wild, and turning his eyes into crimson orbs with red slits. He raced forward at unimaginable speeds and slammed his gauntlet into Ren's chest, sending him flying.
"If you touch her...I'll kill you!" Naruto snarled as he glared at Ren, unleashing a large amount of KI at the Kumo Nukenin.
On the other side of the bridge, the three Jounin were engaged in combat when the malevolent aura swept over them.
"This feeling...it's like that night!" Kakashi realized.
"Did the seal break?" Kurenai asked with worry. Zabuza was faring no better since this feeling reminded him of two people who could give off the same type of aura, only on a lower scale.
'This is worse than either Yagura or Utakata! It HAS to be one higher than six!' Zabuza realized, a slight shiver crawling up his spine.
Seeing that the mist lightened slightly due to Zabuza's distraction, Kakashi zoomed his Sharingan onto the source of the KI. He was able to see the blurred image of Naruto standing over a wounded Hinata while facing off Ren, crimson red chakra running through his veins. He then looked over to the other side to see Sasuke and Haku unconscious. But what REALLY caught his attention was the large mass of small chakra that was on the unfinished side of the bridge.
"Called for some more reinforcements Zabuza?" Kakashi questioned, much to both of the other Jounin's confusion.
"What are you talking about? It's only me, Haku, and Ren," Zabuza told him.
Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "Then explain the large group on the other side of the bridge."
Zabuza raised an eyebrow and glanced over to where Kakashi was mentioning. Since he created the mist around them, he was able to see through the technique if he wanted to, and he was able to see a large amount of thugs gathering on the other side.
"What the Hell's going on?" Zabuza questioned.
"Looks like Gato is planning to betray you," Kakashi stated. Zabuza narrowed his eyes and let out a string of curses that made Kurenai blush.
"I suggest we call a truce, but continue to fight in order to find out what's really happening," Kurenai suggested. The other two agreed and continued their fight, although not as intense as before.
"You little brat!" Ren snarled as he got up. "I'll make you beg for me to kill you once I'm done maiming you!"
Naruto said nothing as he crouched down and flexed his clawed gauntlets, a low growl coming from him as he glared at Ren. He had sent out a thread that began to stitch up Hinata's wound that Ren had given her. While the red chakra Naruto was emitting looked threatening, Hinata found it quite soothing as the thread stitched her up as it also had the red chakra running through it. It made Hinata feel warm and safe.
'Please Naruto-kun, please don't get hurt,' Hinata thought as she watched Naruto with worry in her eyes.
Naruto growled and darted forward at speeds that surprised Ren. The Nukenin was caught off guard as Naruto slammed another fist into his chest. Ren was able to stay on his feet this time and ducked backwards as Naruto came sailing over him with the clawed gauntlet aiming to rip him apart. Ren raised a knee and struck Naruto in the gut, but recoiled at the red chakra burned him.
"What the Hell are you?!" Ren screamed as he created a Water Whip and tried to wrap it around Naruto's neck, only to watch as it fell apart and evaporated as soon as it touched his skin. He then narrowly dodged several threads that were aiming at his chest.
Naruto brought out Fox and Titan, bringing the odds into his favor in terms of numbers. Fox ran forward and slashed at Ren with a claw, forcing him to jump backwards, only to have to jump into the air to avoid Titan's heavy fist as it soared to his head.
'What is this brat?! He's not human! Is he like that Cat bitch back in Kumo?' Ren thought as he tried to figure out what was with Naruto. The blond had jumped into the air and shot a swarm of threads at Ren, who fished out a kunai and proceeded to hack away at the swarming threads.
Unfortunately, Ren already had a few chakra points closed, courtesy of Hinata, so his stamina was at a low level, which resulted in him getting sloppy and make mistakes. One such mistake allowed a thread to pierce his left shoulder, lowering his guard and letting another thread pierce his right shoulder. With both arms hanging limply, Ren was helpless and at Naruto's nonexistent mercy.
"Stay away, stay away!" Ren screamed as he struggled to get free.
Naruto stalked forward along with Fox and Titan, the Jinchuriki's red eyes boring holes into his prisoner while Fox snapped his mask in an attempt to look like snarling. Titan just settled for slamming his fists together.
"You won't hurt anyone ever again," Naruto growled as several threads squirmed out of his back and reared back before shooting forward, digging into Ren's chest. Ren had no time to scream as the threads ripped out his heart, killing him instantly.
"Water," Naruto muttered as he pulled out a scroll and unraveled it. He pushed chakra into the kanji for water and unsealed a mask. This one had blue markings, a small opening for a mouth, and two eyestalks. He placed the mask onto the mass of threads that held Ren's heart and watched as it began to morph. He wasn't the only one as Hinata and a now awake Shino observed as the threads began to take shape.
It looked like a crab with a large shell, ten legs, and two large claws. The creature itself reached up to Naruto's waist in terms of height, but only because it's legs were crouched down. Naruto's new construct clicked it's claws and walked around for a few moments before crawling back over to Naruto.
The blonds eyes were glazed over. The reason for this? He was doing something that some people might think that was long overdue...
(Mindscape)
Naruto opened his eyes to see that he was in a dimly lit hallway that looked like a sewer. He was standing ankle deep in the water and decided to start walking down the sewer, wondering where he actually was.
Several minutes of walking later, Naruto could see that he was standing before a cage that had a small sealing tag on it.
"So my jailor finally appears to talk to me," a deep voice stated as two red eyes with black slits opened and observed Naruto. "I guess the third time really is the charm."
"Judging from the fact that you called me your jailor, I can only guess that you're the Kyuubi, correct?" Naruto asked, already knowing the answer. The shadows within the cage moved away to reveal a bright orange fox that towered over him. Rabbit like ears adorned his head and nine tails swished through the air behind him.
"Interesting, I was expecting you to be either shaking like a leaf, or to be yelling at me," the Kyuubi mussed. "But none the less, I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Pray tell, why aren't you angry with me?"
"I want to be angry with you, honestly I really do," Naruto began. "But there's something in me that's telling me that it's not really your fault that you attacked Konoha."
The Kyuubi raised an eyebrow and said, "I admit, that I attacked Konoha all those years ago. But the exact details of that night are blurry, however, I believe that with time, I'll be able to remember everything. However, I do remember feeling like my actions were being forced."
"You're very different from how the stories portrayed you," Naruto noted.
"Well no one ever wanted to get to know me, they just believed that I was a wild beast that did nothing but destroy," Kyuubi explained. "However, I did destroy villages for a good reason in the past."
"How can destroying villages have a good reason?" Naruto asked.
Kyuubi chuckled and explained, "Simple, those villages were harboring a great amount of evil within them. If that evil were to be left alone, it would have brought catastrophic events in the future."
"Well, I guess that's kind of a reason," Naruto replied, rubbing the back of his head. "But I can't really complain for something that's already been done."
"Now you really interest me," The Kyuubi muttered as he laid down on his giant paws. "Why don't you hate me? I made your life a living Hell."
Naruto shook his head and told him, "It's not really your fault that the villagers can't tell the difference between a kunai and the scroll it's sealed in. I just have to prove to them that I'm not you. Last time I checked, I look nothing like your furry ass."
The Kyuubi's eye twitched as he remembered the same exact insult being given to him by a certain redhead with a fiery attitude.
'They're so similar, it's scary,' Kyuubi thought. "Then you must be angry with me for attacking your village."
Naruto gave him a look and said, "Didn't you say it wasn't your fault? That you felt like you were being controlled?" Seeing the Kyuubi nod his head with a confused expression, Naruto grinned and said, "Then there's no need for me to be angry with you."
"You are VERY interesting, I've never seen anyone as forgiving as you since the days of the Rikudou Sennin," Kyuubi said. "I think you should go now, I can sense a large amount of people gathering on the bridge, and none of them seem to be on your side."
"How can you tell? We've been in here for only a minute or two," Naruto asked.
"Apparantly, that minute or two was long enough for someone to gather an army. From what I can tell, they're even aiming to betray those two that are still alive," Kyuubi explained.
"Then I have to go and help everyone," Naruto said with determination. But before he left, he turned back to the Kyuubi and asked, "Hey, what did you mean by third time's the charm?"
The ancient Bijuu chuckled and told him, "This is the third time I tried to talk to you. The first time was when you were a baby and had just gotten your Jiongu, the second was when you first killed. You ran right past the cage and retreated into your mind."
(Back on the Bridge)
Naruto opened his eyes to see that the mist had cleared up a lot, allowing the entire bridge to be seen. Sakura was crying over Sasuke's prone body with Tazuna nearby, Haku was still unconscious from the strain of the battle. Shino was nearby Hinata, using what little medical knowledge he had to try and help her with her injuries. The Jounin and Zabuza were at a standoff as they faced what was on the other side of the bridge. Naruto turned to see that there was a small army of thugs, and standing in front of them, in all of his midget glory, was Gato.
"I'm very disapointed Zabuza, you're being beaten by a scarecrow, a woman, and a bunch of brats," Gato said with a smirk on his face.
"Gato, what's the meaning of this?" Zabuza asked as he looked at the mass of thugs.
Gato's smirk got bigger and he said, "You see, you Nukenin cost too much while these thugs will work for the minimum wage. So I'm going to kill you all and get some bounties if there are any. But I will spare the girls, I'm sure that there are some buyers in Kumo who would love to get their hands on that Hyuga girl."
Everyone heard a snarl and looked over to Naruto and saw him standing in front of Hinata protectively along with his hearts. Kakashi's eyes widened as he saw the constructs, not knwing what they were while Kurenai guessed that the new crab-like creature came from Zabuza's other associate, who was most likely dead.
"Look at this, a little brat thinks that he can be a hero," Gato laughed.
"Calm down Naruto," Kurenai ordered while she eyed the thugs in front of her.
"I've never seen anything like that before. What kind of jutsu is it?" Kakashi wondered as he watched Fox, Titan, and the newly created Crab stand by Naruto.
"If Naruto trusts you enough, he'll tell you. It's one of his most guarded secrets," Kurenai explained. Kakashi nodded and diverted his attention back to the thugs in front of him, but quickly turned back to Naruto once he noticed something.
"Kurenai, look at Naruto's eyes!" Kakashi told her. The other Jounin and Zabuza, who's curiosity got the better of him, turned to Naruto and looked at his eyes. Gone were the bright blue eyes that the blond was known for, in their place were red eyes with black pupils. But what was orbiting the pupils was what shocked everyone, two tomoe were surrounding his pupils.
Naruto had the Sharingan.
"But...how?!" Kakashi softly cried, very thankful that Sasuke was unconscious at the moment so he couldn't see Naruto. Sasuke would have had a cow, and that's an understatement.
'What's up with my eyes? Everything's clearer and there's a blue fire in everyone's belly,' Naruto thought as he looked around.
"You have the Sharingan kit," Kyuubi explained.
"W-what? What do you mean? And how are you talking to me?" Naruto questioned.
"First off, think of what you want to say to me, we don't want people thinking that you're crazy," Kyuubi told him. "As for you having the Sharingan, I think it has something to do with that Uchiha's heart that you absorbed all those years ago. This battle probably helped you unlock it with all of the stress that your going through, especially when you were defending the Hyuga girl. As for me being able to talk to you, I'm able to do that now because we've created a mental link when you came into your mind to speak with me."
'I never thought that the Jiongu would be able to take in bloodlines,' Naruto thought.
"It was probably because of my presence in your body," Kyuubi said.
'What makes you think that?' Naruto asked.
"Because I'm able to speed up your healing and regeneration, my chakra probably put some changes in your Jiongu and body, allowing you to absorb that Sharingan. You could probably absorb other bloodlines as well," The fox explained.
'That just makes me more awesome!' Naruto was giddy on the inside, but was still radiating an aura of anger on the outside.
"Naruto!" Hinata called, breaking him out of his trance.
"Huh?" he looked back to her, only to receive a hug from the indigo haired girl. She wrapped her arms around his neck and boldly gave him a kiss on the cheek, albeit, a brief one. But it made him blush at the contact.
"Please be careful," Hinata whispered as she loosened her grip and fell to the floor, not quite healed yet. But Naruto caught her before she hit the ground and handed her to Shino, who took her and lightly scolded her for not taking it easy.
Naruto turned back to the thugs to see that they were slowly advancing while Kakashi and the others were slowly backing up. Kakashi had an unconscious Sasuke and Sakura in his arms, he mostl likely had to knock out the banshee in order for her to let go of the 'last' Uchiha, while Zabuza had Haku over his shoulder.
"Kit, I'm going to implant a jutsu into your mind, one that will take care of these weaklings," Kyuubi said. Naruto felt a rush of information and immediatly knew what Kyuubi was talking about, although he felt his head throbbing at the rush of info.
"I can't do this too often since the mental strain of putting information directly into one's mind is painful to you, unless you were a Yamanaka. Be warned, the chakra required for this jutsu will either knock you out after it's done, or make you exhausted," Kyuubi told him. Naruto nodded and walked forward along with Fox until they were standing in front of the Jounin.
"Naruto, what are you doing?! We have to fall back!" Kurenai shouted.
"Please, leave this to me," Naruto said as he started to make hand seals.
"Come on, let's just kill them and get our money!" the lead thug yelled. All of the others responded with a unified cry and charged.
'Ne, Inu, Tora,' Naruto thought as he channeled chakra into Fox, who opened his mouth and a small fireball lit inside.
'That jutsu...!' Kakashi thought as he recognized the way the chakra was being molded with his Sharingan.
"Katon: Zukokku!" Naruto shouted as the fireball in Fox's mouth shot forward and hit the ground. The second it hit the metallic surface of the bridge, the small fireball turned into a roaring inferno that raced towards the thugs and Gato and enveloped them in the flames. Once the fire cleared, only ashes remained as evidence that there was a small army there.
Zabuza's eyes widened as he saw the blond Genin perform a high B-Rank jutsu and not fall unconscious. However, Naruto did fall to his knees as sweat covered his body from the exertion of that technique. This was one of the few times that Naruto, the stamina freak, would become exhausted without it being due to a lack of sleep.
"He...actually pulled that jutsu off..." Kakashi muttered as both his students fell from his grip and fell to the floor face first.
"Ugh...Zabuza-sama..." Haku moaned as he tried to move.
"Take it easy Haku," Zabuza ordered as he laid the Hyoton user on the ground.
"I'm sorry...that I failed you," Haku said as he weakly looked up at the Nukenin.
"It's fine," Zabuza sighed, "you can't win everything. Just look at me, I lost in my fight against Kakashi last time."
Haku was stunned, he was sure that he was going to get some form of punishment for his failure. But this...this wasn't what he was expecting.
"Though, I'm not sure about what we should do now," Zabuza sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.
"How about you come to Konoha?" Naruto suggested, causing everyone who was conscious to look at him in surprise.
"Naruto, you can't just offer asylum to a Nukenin," Kurenai told him.
"I'm sure that Jiji would love to have someone as special as Haku in the village. He'd also like to have an expert swordsman like Zabuza who also has an awesome sword of his own," Naruto said.
"Brat, why would I even consider going to Konoha with you?" Zabuza asked.
"Aren't you tired of all the Hunter Ninjas chasing you everywhere you go?" Naruto asked.
"He does make a good point," Haku agreed.
Zabuza sighed. "Alright, I suppose that I am starting to get tired of all the running. I'm tired of living this kind of life. By the way, who's 'Jiji'?"
"That would be the Hokage," Kakashi informed him.
Zabuza and Haku's eyes widened at this. "You telling me this blond brat's the Hokage's grandson?!"
"Nope," Kurenai shook his head, "he's just his grandfather figure."
Zazbuza groaned and rubbed his temples. "I suggest we go now before I get an even bigger headache."
Kakashi nodded and picked up his students once more, Zabuza helped Haku to his feet as he was starting to feel them again. Naruto picked up Hinata, much to her embarrassment, and Shino was being assisted by Kurenai.
"I must admit, your partner is very well skilled in knowing where to aim with his senbon, he brought down Sasuke with a well placed strike," Kakashi said.
"It didn't help that he was too busy boasting about how I would never be able to hit him ever since he activated his eyes," Haku said.
Kakashi sighed and muttered, "So much for all those teamwork exercises."
"Yeah well, Haku was awesome with his ice mirrors. I barely knew what was happening!" Naruto praised.
"Naruto, I'm confused, why do you refer to Haku-san as a boy?" Shino asked.
"Because he told me that when we were in the forest, but I never knew that he was working with Zabuza, or that he was a guy," Naruto answered.
"But, my insects tell me that Haku is a female," Shino said, making the blond stop in his tracks, along with everyone else who thought that Haku was male.
"WHAT?!" Naruto yelled.
"Uh, surprise?" Haku weakly said.
(ROOT Base)
It had been a while since the team had passed the locked door and entered the lower chambers of the facility. They had not run into any ROOT agents, only seen labs that had either strange chemicals with animals in them, or dried blood on the floor.
"Tenzo, are you sure this is the right way?" Boar asked.
"I'm sure, we're almost at the holding cells, that's where Danzo would hold either the failures or people who were next on the experimentation list," Tenzo told him. Eventually, the team came upon another door, only this one wasn't locked and opened easily. If you count it falling to the floor right off the hinges 'opening it'.
"This just tells you how well they cared for this place," Chameleon remarked.
"Let's keep moving, they should be close by," Hummingbird ordered. The ANBU squad dashed into the facility and raced past cells that had their lights turned off, not allowing the ANBU to see who was inside.
"This should be it," Hummingbird said as he stopped in front of a door marked: Project Super Soldier. Underneath the label was 'Failure' written in red letters. Hummingbird pushed open the door to reveal a small lab with two figures tied to tables, one a woman, the other a young girl. Both of them were naked, barely awake, and half-dead.
Hummingbird and Deer dashed to the woman while Boar and Falcon went to the girl Hummingbird brought out a flask of water and pressed it to her mouth, helping her swallow it while Deer removed her bindings and covered her with a spare cloak. The same thing was done to the young girl.
"Commander, is she who I think she is?" Deer asked as he gazed at the comatose woman.
"Yes, she is," Hummingbird answered as he lifted the woman into his arms, seeing that her long hair had turned a dirty brown from dried blood and...other things that couldn't identified with a simple observation. He looked over and saw that Falcon had the little girl in his arms, she was crying, most likely from a nightmare by the way she was whimpering.
"Let's go, we need to get these two to Tsunade-sama immediately," Hummingbird ordered.
"Sir!" the ANBU team raced out of the facility, intent on getting back to Konoha as fast as possible. Unknown to them, a weak chakra pulse shot out of the woman and spread out through the forest as soon as she felt that she was going to be safe.
(Tazuna's House)
A tired Naruto was asleep on his bed as a slightly worried Hinata sat near him. It wasn't that she was worried if he was hurt, just worried about what he was going to think about what she had done before he did that powerful Katon jutsu. Would he think that she was being weird and not want to be her friend anymore?
Before she could think of any more depressing thoughts, she heard a moan coming from the bed. She looked and saw Naruto smile in his sleep and snuggle into the pillow even further, seeming like he was being comforted by something. Seeing that Naruto was happy made Hinata smile as she began to gently rub the stitch that was still in her side. It was barely noticeable, but was still there. It pulsed with a warming chakra that kept the Hyuga heiress feeling happy.
Inside the seal, the Kyuubi shot up with pure shock written on his face. Never in a million years would he have even imagined to feel that chakra again. One of his claws started to feel hot as a small feeling of guilt snaked its way into the fox's soul.
"Overcoming the impossible must run through YOUR genes after all," Kyuubi muttered as he laid back down on the water, a small, barely noticeable smile on his face.
FINALLY FINISHED! This chapter took FOREVER to write. All the fights, the infiltration, and other things wore me down. I think I deserve a nice nap, don't you agree with me?
So Naruto has his third heart, AND the Sharingan. Didn't I tell you guys that I was planning a surprise? I'm sure that some of you had figured it out from Chapter 2, but if you didn't, don't feel bad.
I know that most of you are going to complain about Naruto not getting Haku's heart for the Hyoton, but HEAR ME OUT! I have a way for Naruto to get the advanced elements WITHOUT having to take their hearts. If you want to find out, you'll have to wait for the Chunin Exam Finals where I'll reveal that.
I'm sure that all of you have figured out the identity of at least one of the people being rescued from ROOT, that will be revealed next chapter where many tears will be shed and hearts melted.
One last thing to address, this is a good Kyuubi/Kurama story. So we're not going to have any fits of rage to be released from the seal, no evil temptation, none of that crap. He's still gonna act like a smug ass every now and then, but overall, Kurama's going to help Naruto earlier on instead of LATE into the story. This is a FANFICTION, so some facts from the anime/manga are going out the window. And don't yell at me for it, I've seen fanfictions where it happened, I'm not the only one who's done it.
Please Review! Ciao!