J: Woo! Reached my goal! Once again, thanks for your support! So, I proudly present the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Oh come on, I've been doing this disclaimer thing-y for like 11 chapters...give me a break.
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Gaara groaned as he scanned his surroundings. He was alone in the room and judging by the lack of the banshee voice, he was the only shinobi left in the house. To put it simply, he was left behind. He bit his lower lip, trying to suppress the urge to grit his teeth. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a woman scream.
Quickly, he headed downstairs just in time to see Tsunami being held by two amateur looking samurais. "Let go of me," she said, panic flashed across her face. Inari, who was standing a little away from them, growled.
"Let my mom go," he said, and he stepped one of the samurai's foot.
The samurai jerked a little. "You brat," and he picked up Inari by his short's collar.
Inari trashed and kick but he didn't stand a chance. The samurai was much bigger than him. Out of nowhere, a fist of sand came and punched the samurai, Inari heaved a sigh of relief before glancing around for his savior.
Gaara stood in a loose position, his arms out and his eyes scrunched up in concentration. "Close your eyes," he told Inari. Inari quickly did as he was told. "Sabaku Kyu (Desert Coffin)," the sand wrapped the samurai like a coffin and the other samurai dropped his jaw in horror. Inside the sand coffin, came muffled yells. "This death will be painless. Sabaku Soso (Desert Funeral)," said Gaara, and the samurai was crushed.
Almost immediately, blood began to spray out of the sand. Tsunami screamed in fright, while Inari was fighting the urge to reopen his eyes.
The samurai who was holding Tsunami, dropped her in fright and quickly turned tail and ran. Gaara caught up with him without breaking a sweat and in a smooth motion swept some blood across his neck and took out his sword. "Shuuri (Crimson Justice)," he said, a hint of edge in his voice. The blade turned red and then it appeared at the samurai's stomach, having ran through it.
With a gurgle of blood, the samurai dropped to the floor and never moved again. Shukaku grinned as he witness his host mercilessly killed the idiotic humans. Gaara gave a nod to Tsunami and left before she could thank him.
Inari's eyes had a determined look as he watch his savior head to the bridge and he decided it was time to stop being a coward. He told his mom of his plan. Tsunami was surprised but she agreed, happy to see him in the light of her husband.
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Gaara glared at Naru as she tried her best to feign innocent while Hinata and Sasuke were fighting Haku, or in Hinata's case, make sure that the Uchiha is unconscious and stall time. Naru was protecting Tazuna and was sheepishly rubbing the back of her head as she saw a pissed off Gaara.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" he asked, his fist clenched tightly together.
Naru twitched a little at the killer intent Gaara was unconsciously giving out. "Erm, Gaara," she looked around, trying to find a good excuse. She glanced at Haku and saw the Uchiha. "He's finally unconscious," she jumped in success, ignoring the horrified look from the Haruno. Then, her mind came across an idea. "Gaara-kun, look, Hinata's in trouble,"
The effect of that sentence was immediate as Gaara whipped his head over the direction of Hinata. Without a second thought, he ran to help her. Naru breathed a sigh of relief. Her plan was killing two birds with one stone. Now that Gaara's gone, she was safe. Add to the fact that if either Hinata or Gaara were to 'die', those jonins won't suspect them so much.
Hinata silently thanked Naru as Gaara came over to help. She had to save chakra for later. She caught Naru's eye and Naru told her of her plan. Hinata sigh a little at her friend's cunningness. Poor Gaara didn't even know that he was tricked. She looked at Haku in the eye and when nobody was noticing, pointed at her neck.
Haku immediately understood what Hinata wanted and threw a senbon needle at her neck and Hinata went into a deathlike state. Gaara noticed the needle's position and gave a nod to Haku.
A few meters away, Mitarashi Anko was trying her best to pretend that she was beating up Zabuza. She glanced nervously at Hatake but he didn't seem to notice. He was concentrating at Zabuza.
"Blood bunshin," Zabuza whispered, as he created a bunshin that could fake his death. He gave his signal to Haku and she nodded. Just in time, Kakashi did the seals for Chidori and thrust it at Zabuza. The 'Zabuza' collapsed and the body was left there.
Haku took a deep breath and started to cry over 'Zabuza's body.
"Haha, I see that the mighty Demon of the Mist has fallen and his whore too," said a voice. Everybody, save for Sasuke, who was still knocked out, and Sakura who was fawning over his 'dead' body, winced at the language Gatou was using.
Gatou was looking at them confidently and behind him stood about a few hundred of rogue bandits.
"Must resist killing him. He'll die later, don't worry," said Naru, who was doing her best to calm herself down. Zabuza's signal went off and Naru grinned. "Finally. Guys, he's mine," she screamed to her friends.
Zabuza, who was hiding, shook his head in disappointment. 'Oh well, there's always the killing to look forward to,' he reasoned to himself.
In a yellow flash, Naru appeared in front of Gatou and grinned blood thirstily, causing her three whisker marks to look more feral looking. Gatou resisted the urge to piss in his pants and summoned the courage to say, "I'll give you any amount of money," he told her.
Naru gave a false sugary look and replied, "Sorry, not interested," and then he saw a flash of red and dropped into nothingness.
"Where am I?" said Gatou, as he observed his surroundings.
Suddenly, he screamed as his left leg felt like they were on fire. He glanced at his leg and it was indeed on fire. He used his remaining energy to try to shake off the fire but it was effortless.
His shoulder had a blade ran through and his eyes felt like some kind of bird had plucked them out.
Naru's face was emotionless as she stared at the gruesome torture in front of her. Next to her was an old scale. She looked at it for a while before placing a drop of her blood on one side. The scale tipped slightly and she walked over to Gatou to take his blood. She did the same thing on the other side of the scale. This time, the scale tipped a lot and immediately Gatou's screams became louder.
Naru still had the same blank look on her face as she watch Gatou's soul being eaten by a summoned demon. Finally, it was done.
Gatou didn't understand what was happening to him. He could see his life flashed in front of him.
Flashback
Gatou glanced at his mom in worry. Her body was bruised badly and she also had some whip marks across her back, showing the red bloodied skin. "Kaa-san?" he asked, trying to contain his anxiousness.
His mom, who was sprawled on the floor, used the last of her strength and motioned him closer. He quickly scrambled to her side. "Gatou, promise me that when you grow up you will never be like your father,"
Gatou was confused. "Why?" His father was his role model.
"Just promise me," she said urgently. He nodded, unsure of what to do in this situation. "Good boy, be nice when I'm not around, ok? Remember that I will always love you," she said. With a shudder, she took her last breath and left the world.
Six-year-old Gatou didn't understand what was wrong with his mom. A few minutes ago, his father had said that he wanted to speak in private with his mom. A little while later, he reappeared out of the room looking quite pale. The next thing he knew was that his mom was on the floor like that.
He didn't understand.
Now, a forty-six-year-old Gatou understood but it was too late. Too late to fulfill his promise to his mother.
Flashback End
He looked at his killer in the eye and smiled. "Arigatou, shinobi-san," he whispered and died. Just like that. Naru gave a small sad smile and walked away from the murder spot as Gatou slumped down.
"Your welcome," she whispered into the wind.
"How dare you kill our paycheck," said a man, and with a loud war cry, he and his partners ran forward to exact their revenge.
Gaara took out Shuuri and began to slice down some thugs while Hinata who, with the help of Gaara, managed to take out the senbon, was now dancing away in the middle using some water jutsus to flush them away.
Mitarashi Anko grinned to herself. Loud and bloody, just how she liked it. With a kunai in her mouth and hands, she dashed forward, ignoring Kakashi's advice to think of a strategy first. In the midst of the battle, she met up with Zabuza and grinned. "How many?" she asked.
"So far, thirty-two," he replied, a confident smirk across his face.
"I win, thirty-three," she told him. She threw a kunai in a practiced motion at the thug that was closing in on her and said, "And that, my friend, makes thirty-four,"
"I like your style lady, but that doesn't mean you're going to win," and they took off, determined to outdo each other.
Kakashi sighed at the antics of those two, not even bothering to wonder how Zabuza was alive. "I'm starting to doubt if their jonin," he said as he took down a thug.
"You know, Kakashi-nii, what freaks me out the most is that both if them remind me of you and Gai," said Naru who mysteriously appeared at his side. At this, Kakashi grew rigid with fear as what Naru said was completely true.
Naru watched in amusement as Kakashi spaced out for a moment before returning to reality. She swept a calculating look at the rest of the enemies and said, "Well, only a few hundred more to go,"
"Naru-neesan," cried out Inari.
Naru turned around and saw Inari. Behind him were more or less all of the villagers. She grinned. "Back up," she told everyone. She gave an enthusiastic wave, completely ignoring the blood that was soaking her clothes.
The thugs were having second thoughts about attacking them and being the coward they were, they ran away. "A job well done if I do say so myself," said Naru and she gave a pat on her back.
Everybody present sweat dropped a little.
Then, as if that didn't happen, she turned to Kakashi. Kakashi's spines were tingling and it screamed danger alert. That was proven true when Naru gave her cutest eyes to Kakashi and said, "Kakashi-nii, may Haku-chan and Zabuza-oyaji come to Konoha with us, pretty please,"
Kakashi knew he was in deep shit as his will power was going down at the sight of those eyes. Those big round innocent blue eyes that seemed to grow more pitiful by the second.
Zabuza was twitching as Naru made it sound like she was asking her father if she could keep a dog that she found wandering outside her house. Add to the fact that he was being called Zabuza-oyaji. He was only twenty-eight for god's sake.
Naru was going to use her secret weapon, burst-into-tears, when Kakashi gave a reluctant nod. Inwardly, Naru grinned. She didn't even have to resort to her best weapon and she had already won. "Arigatou, Kakashi-nii," and she took out an icha icha volume and passed it to Kakashi.
Kakashi immediately forget everything and was clinging to the book as though it was his life.
Anko chose to ignore this but with every page he turned, her hand was inching closer to the kunai in her pocket.
"Hear that, Haku-chan, you get to come with us and we can keep Zabuza-oyaji," said Naru.
Hinata looked at Naru and thought, 'Never get on her bad side. Naru is as sly as Kyuubi-nii,' Gaara, as if he could read Hinata's thoughts, nodded his head in agreement.
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Sasuke glared at Hinata. How the hell were they stronger than The Uchiha. Uchihas were supposed to be the best. He grit his teeth in anger. According to the pink haired freak, he was struck unconscious by Haku and was left out at the entire battle. Needless to say, he wasn't pleased. Uchihas were placed at the front lines, they were not suppose to be unconscious and unable to fight.
Sasuke clenched his fist in anger. He refused to be beaten by dobes. He walked up to Naru and said, "As an Uchiha, I demand you to tell me where you get all that power,"
Naru frowned. "I'm sorry, Uchiha-san, but if I were to take on a student, I would like politer ones so I'm sorry but I refuse to teach you anything," she said, in a sweet voice. Everybody could hear the underlying tone of threat laced into that sentence. Everyone except Sasuke and Sakura.
"How dare you treat Sasuke-kun like that," said Sakura. Sasuke on the other hand, was seething.
"Teach me, dobe," he commanded.
"Uchiha, don't you dare raise your tone at me," said Naru. Hinata and Gaara were watching this verbal fight, amused, as though it was a tennis match.
"What's the score?" asked Hinata.
"Naru-2, Sasuke and Sakura-0," replied Gaara automatically.
Anko felt like cheering for her student while Kakashi felt slightly left out. He was torn between admitting justice and standing on his student's side.
…
…
…
"Go Naru, you better win this thing," he yelled. Kakashi has chosen his side.
Sasuke, oblivious to what was happening among the audience, sneered and said, "As a clan head, I have the authorities to order someone like you around," he told her.
Naru snorted and said, "I will not teach you and that is final," this time, killer intent came with her words and Sasuke was frozen at the spot.
Anko nervously tried to break the sudden awkwardness, "Come on brats, time to pack your bags cause we're going to leave in twenty minutes,"
The gennins immediately followed her advice while Kakashi went to the fridge to see if there was anything to eat.
(This part/section is dedicated to Akane Cross)
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"Bye bye," waved Inari to Team 12, Kakashi and Kabuto. They (excluding the banshee and emo) waved back and said their goodbyes. "Visit when you have the time," said Inari, trying to resist the urge to cry.
As the villagers watch the retreating backs of the heroes that saved them, Tazuna asked, "So, what should we name the bridge?"
"How about the Wave," suggested someone.
"Zumi," someone else suggested.
"How about the Great Naruto Bridge," asked Inari. Everybody nodded in agreement.
"The Great Naruto Bridge it is then," said Tsunami, and she hugged her son.
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Zabuza and Anko were talking to each other and were both seemingly happy.
Gaara tilted a little to Naru's side and asked, "What are they talking about?"
Hinata was the one who answered, "Their talking about their killing styles. In detail. They're also talking about what they like most about blood. It's rather gruesome if you ask me," she said as she joined the conversation.
Naru nodded her head thoughtfully. "You know, if they were to marry and have kids…" Naru trailed off.
At this point, Gaara looked horrified, "My god, I don't even want to imagine what their kids are going to be like," But the damage was done, and in their minds, they could imagine little Zabuza look-alikes playing with kunai and licking blood at the age of seven. Playing with swords and killing snakes in the winter. Asking their parents to teach them some deadly jutsu.
The gennin in team 12 paled a little at that. "You know what, let's pretend the subject was never brought up," said Naru. Gaara and Hinata nodded in agreement. Needless to say, they never looked at Zabuza and Anko the same way again.
Team 12 sighed in relief as they saw Konoha. "We're finally home," said Hinata and she smiled. Just as she was about to walk through the gates, the chuunin guard asked her to prove her identity. She froze as she stared into the eyes of one of the chuunin guard.
"Hinata, what's wrong," asked Anko, her brows furrowed. Naru looked at the eyes of the guard and realization dawned her.
"Gaara, he's a Hyuuga," she told him. Naru hit Hinata's head, pushing her head down to avoid eye contact.
"Idiot, it's time we go in," she said, trying to act mean, hoping it would snap her out. It did and Hinata immediately walk past the gates, not bothering to flash her ID. Kakashi rubbed the back of his head nervously while Haku and Zabuza hid their confused expression.
"She's with us. She just doesn't feel so well today," said Gaara, in a desperate attempt to cover up the whole thing. The chuunin guard nodded hesitantly. Everybody watched in silence as Kakashi explained who was Zabuza and Haku before passing the gates.
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"…so can you please enlist them as shinobis," said Naru, giving her puppy dog eyes for effect.
Sandaime Hokage thought things over. "Fine, but they will be under the watch of two ANBU members for half a year before I can trust them," he told Naru. Naru pouted a little before agreeing to the conditions.
Before the Hokage could tell them where they were going to stay, Naru had already dragged them to the direction of the NRH. "Come on Zabuza-oyaji, Haku-chan, we're heading to NRH," she said excitedly.
"I'm not even going to comment on that," said Zabuza while Haku stifled a giggle. Gaara sigh and tried to recall how he first felt when he saw NRH. If he was right, he felt like an adopted bunny that was being shown to his pen. He snorted a little and grinned as he saw Zabuza's expression. Oh he definitely knew how Zabuza was feeling right now.
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"Gaara, explain to them where is where and give them some snacks later on. I'm going to check on Hinata," said Naru.
"Why can't we switch jobs," he asked. He didn't really like Zabuza and wasn't that close to Haku either. Sure, they're friends, but Hinata and Naru were closer to her since they were girls.
Naru sigh in annoyance. "Hinata needs a girl. You're too quiet so you won't help her. Much." she said, shrugging lightly.
Gaara saw some sense and grunted before heading to the living room. Naru them walk over to Hinata's room and lightly knocked. She twisted the doorknob and opened the door and the first thing she noticed was the lump on the futon.
She closed the door and sat by Hinata's side. She shook her body lightly. "Hinata, how are you holding up?" she asked. She sighed as she saw Hinata shook her head.
"Tell me. How do you feel right now?" asked Naru.
"Stupid," came the choked, muffled reply.
"Evaluate," said Naru.
Hinata gathered her strength and sat up. Her faced was tear-stained and Naru could see that she was struggling to fight back the tears. "N-Naru, I'm s-so stupid," she said softly.
"Why?" Naru patiently asked.
"Today, when I saw the Hyuuga guard, I had this yearning feeling," she said, as she used her sleeve to wipe off the tears that were threatening to come out, "I hate the Hyuugas so much that if it weren't for you, I'd probably ended up like Sasuke,"
"That bad huh," Naru joked, earning a playful punch in the arm by Hinata.
"Yes," she took a deep breath, "But deep down inside, I love the Hyuuga clan. Maybe it runs in the blood," she said and she sighed. "Naru, I miss my clan. I miss Hanabi. I miss the branch house members that were so nice to me. I miss the Hyuuga clan's surroundings. I miss my room. I miss a lot of things, I guess," Hinata laughed. "Oh what am I saying? I bet that I sound silly don't I?"
Naru shrugged, "Those are words from your heart. They aren't silly. Hinata, I'm sorry to remind you this but this is reality, you're banished from that clan…" Naru's eyes softened, "…but I'll do what I can," she told Hinata.
"Get some sleep, it's been a long day. I'll get you dinner later," she told her.
"Ramen?" Hinata asked, hoping she answered no.
Naru grinned. "Hinata, I'm not that evil. Rice with some sushi," she told her, and she left the room.
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"Ji-ji," Naru said playfully, as she entered the Hokage's office.
"Naru, to what I owe this surprise," he asked, trying to conceal his curiosity.
"I would like to have a talk with Hyuuga Hiashi, as a clan head," she told him. The Hokage stared at Naru in shock.
"As a clan head? Naru, I don't know what you're talking about? What do you mean?" he asked. Inwardly, he was panicking. 'How in the seven layers of hell did she find out?' he thought.
"Don't feign ignorance. What I mean is the Namikaze clan," she told him. Her eyes flashed a brief red.
Sandaime, shocked, could only reply, saying, "Very well then. Is tomorrow afternoon fine with you?" he asked. She nodded,
"By the way, Hokage-sama, no one besides the Hyuuga head is to know that the Namikaze clan head is still alive," she told him. "If word slips out, I'll destroy all that is precious to Konoha," she said, and she left.
The Sandaime Hokage could always reply back by asking her what could a gennin do but he could feel the Kyuubi's chakra, add to the fact that her tone meant business. He decided that he would just sit back and watch how the whole thing plays out. Not to mention that he had to ask someone to keep an eye on Naru.
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"Anko-sensei," Naru said, as she nodded her head in acknowledgement.
Anko didn't understand what just happened. She was planning to ask for a week worth of leave to train her gennins when she had accidentally stumbled across the fact that Naru was the last member and clan head of the Namikaze clan. "I trust you heard nothing at all," asked Naru. Anko could only nod in reply.
As Naru started walking away, Anko called her, "Naru, why are you doing this,"
Naru stopped walking and said, "I have to repay something for my frien-, no, my sister," and she started walking away again.
"You knew I was listening. Then why didn't you-"
Naru glanced back and smiled, "Because you're my sensei. I'm suppose to trust you," and she walked away.
Anko slumped down the floor. Years ago that had been exactly what she had said to her sensei, Orochimaru and look how she ended up now. She vowed there and then to keep Naru's trust. She refused to let Naru suffer the same thing she did.
With a determined expression, she walked in the Hokage's office, and instead of asking for the one-week's leave, she said, "I would like to take a two week's worth of leave. After that, team 12 would like to have an A-rank mission," she told him.
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J: Done! Yeah! Hope you guys like it so keep supporting me!
Hint in next chapter: Ayumi's appearance
Hope you enjoy this chapter!
