Why fight?

*Takigakure no Sato*

Shibuki and team eight were crouching by a bush, hiding from the missing-nin that had attacked them in the town plaza, "Who the hell were those guys dattebayo?" Naruto asked the shaking Taki-nin.

His answer came not from Shibuki, but from Fuu, who jumped down from the trees and landed by them, "That was Suien" she scowled at the name, "he taught Shibuki back when he was a kid, one day the bastard took a bottle of Hero's water and fled the village, but not before killing Shibuki's father, and almost killing him"

'Well I suppose that's enough to make anyone jumpy' thought Naruto.

"A-ano, what IS the Hero's water?" asked Hinata "Y-you've said that it's important, b-but not why" She flushed as Fuu turned to her.

The green-haired girl made to speak, but the still-shaking Shibuki beat her to it "The Hero's Water is a special water that comes from a spring that's high on nature chakra" he shivered and gained a faraway look, "Because of that any person that drinks it gains a boost in raw power, at the cost of years of your life, it's about the same as opening the Chakra Gates"

*Flashback*Shibuki age seven*

"Ne, Ne, Otou-sama, look" a seven year old Shibuki came running to an older man that had obvious resemblance to the kid.

"Ah, that's pretty Shibuki, where did you find it?" the man asked. Shibuki had flower between his hands, it was just blooming, a contrast from the other plants around, which had done so a few weeks ago.

A girl with a mint green-dress came up to them, smiling as if there was nothing wrong with the world, "Ne, Shidō-oji-san, can we go it something?"

The man chuckled at the girl, "Of course Fuu-chan, what would you like?"

The young girl started whispering to Shibuki, who shook his head and whispered to Fuu in return. Shidō shook his head at their antics, even if they weren't related the two were as close as real siblings.

A thickness in the air came to him as the two kids discussed and Shidō started to channel chakra into a water bottle by his side.

A shadow covered him and Shidō threw himself to the right, three seconds later a water sword shattered the bench he had been sitting on.

A man with shaggy hair was holding onto the sword that had almost crashed him, "Well old age hasn't diminished your reflexes, that's for sure" Suien chuckled, "Doesn't matter, by the end of the day I'll be gone from this hell-hole and you'll be death"

Shidō put himself between the kids and Suien, "If you think you can kill me you are mistaken Suien" the water from the bottle floated and formed a sword in front of the aged Taki-leader, "Takigakure Ryu: Mizukiri no Yaiba"

Shido blocked a strike from the rouge-nin and recoiled from the force behind the blow. The man parried a stab to his navel and countered with a high slash to Suien's chest, but the man leaned to the left and cut Shido's shoulder, "What's the matter old guy" the rouge taunted, "am I too fast for you? Maybe too strong?" Shido grunted as he blocked an overhead blow.

"You drank The Water" It was a statement, "You drank the Hero's Water outside of battle" his response was a laugh and a slash to his chest, "You know this will never be forgiven Suien, You'll become a missing-nin!" his statement was punctuated by a stab to the shoulder.

Suien only laughed in return as he thrust his water sword overpowered Shido's own, "As if I care," he parried a blow and stabbed the Taki-leader in the chest "Don't worry though, I'll be back when the time comes," he said as he watched the life leave Shido's eyes "And I'll kill your son just as I killed you, and there's nothing he can do against his sensei if I drink The Water again."

Suien walked away from the corpse, and didn't look back as the children rushed over to the death body of the Taki-leader. The rouge didn't know that his actions would make a coward and an ice cube out of the crying kids.

*Present*

"Both of us changed that day, he for the worse and I for the better, but whatever" Fuu scoffed as she looked around.

Naruto looked down in thought 'What would happen if I drank it?' he asked.

'Probably the same as if you went into a one-tailed-cloak, and I could probably heal whatever damage it deals to you' said Kurama who was actually wondering what would actually happen.

'There was one time I drank that water during the Third Great Ninja War' said Kushina, 'My team met up with one from Taki and they offered us some of it as a platoon from Iwa attacked us.'

'What happened? Said that you had a friend here right?' asked Naruto

'The Water left me in bed for three days, and yes I had a friend from this village, but we stopped contact shortly after the war' said Kushina, 'wonder if she still works as a ninja?'

'Your mother's lack of social memory aside' said Kurama, ignoring Kushina's indignant shouts 'If they offer you take it and use it in the case you need a boost, my chakra may be more potent, but until you learn to control yourself better it's dangerous to use with people nearby'

'Yeah, yeah, and you call Kaa-chan a worry wart'

'I'm not a worry wart DATTEBANE' her shout gave him a small headache.

He shook his head and chuckled sheepishly as everyone turned to look at him, "sorry, spaced out for a second, what did you say?"

Fuu scoffed again "I said that Shibuki will pay you another mission if you help him get rid of Suien-Teme" the Taki-leader nodded weakly.

"And what will you do?" asked Shino. His bugs had been buzzing nervously ever since the girl had dropped down, almost as when he had first met Naruto.

"Me? Meh" she snorted, "I'll work against them getting the village's treasure, but as long as they stay the hell away from…" a flare flashed against the canopy and Fuu sighed, "alright I'm helping you deal with the fuckers, they got to the Water already."

Naruto tightened his hitai-ates and adjusted his goggles (he would have to get those tightened) before addressing his teammates and the orange-eyed girl, because Shibuki was a useless load right now, "You know where they are, take point"

Fuu scoffed, "Don't tell me what to do reddie" but she complied anyway.

*Hero's Water well*

Suien's followers were just lounging around and waiting for either their leader or the enemy, "so when are they supposed to come here?" asked Murasame to Kirisame.

The woman shrugged, "Dunno, Don't care, they could just hide and we search them, more fun that way"

Hisame watched as the Fuuma chunnin played cards with a deck someone had brought, a large pile of Ryo was sitting there, waiting for someone to get a better hand; he should just take before they saw him.

Suien came into view dragging people that had been tied by their hands: kids, women, men, even a couple of ninja he had managed to capture and wouldn't be a nuisance to deal with as most of the ones on the village were no match for his troops; the best of Taki was barely scratching the borderline B-Rank, while the missing-nin from his Fuuma followers were either a firm B-Rank or a borderline A-Rank.

Up in the trees Naruto watched fuming as he saw the hostages being led by Suien, "We need to do something."

Fuu snorted, "That much is obvious reddie, but there isn't much we can do from here," why, oh why couldn't she get a smarter partner? 'Well, at least Shades looks smart' she thought

"I've already sent some kikaichku to them, but they are being swatted away" Said Shino, a slight frustration on his tone.

Naruto looked at his left arm; did he have enough water for the one jutsu Haku had taught him? Did he want to use when there were so many people that could get caught in it? It was a dangerous move, "How many can you get without giving us away Shino?"

"If they have enough logic they will notice as soon as one falls" He said in his usual monotone, "But I could get there of them at the same time"

Naruto nodded as he watched the people down below; one of the men wearing grey jackets had dragged the hostages and tied them to a tree, "do you have anything that can produce acid?" he asked the silent gennin.

Shino shook his head but Fuu raised her hand, "I can do something like that" she said, glancing at the tree the prisoners had been tied to, "It will take a while, and will probably leave me with a sore throat, but I can free the people down there."

"Then do it" Naruto couldn't get more out as he heard a laugh coming from the ground; a rouge had slapped a kid that said that Shibuki would come to them, yet the man was still shaking with fear as he looked at the enemy that outnumbered them. He should have brought the blood clone instead of leaving it to get more money from D-ranks; it would have given them some more manpower. "Shino, start with those bugs, the sooner the better" the Aburame nodded.

A few small dark spots went out from the sleeves of the Aburame, and Fuu was surprised when she saw they were actually a strange kind of beetle. The tanned girl watched as the spots went invisible to her, she assumed they went to annoy the invaders, but she couldn't be sure.

As they waited for whatever was going to happen, Fuu started to gather chakra around her stomach and throat, so she could use the Hijutsu: san no tsuba, a jutsu she had learned from one of the few high-level scrolls that Taki owned. It allowed her to use the acid that the stomach naturally produced, enhance its corrosiveness with chakra and then spit it out before it could damage her. She liked to say that she had it mastered, but the truth was that she had heard of people that could do the jutsu faster and with fewer risks to their health, while whenever SHE did it would leave her sore until her healing dealt with it.

Soon enough, though not as soon as Naruto would have liked, five of the Fuuma fell, he nodded to his teammates. Leaving a shadow clone behind to take care of Shibuki, Hinata, Naruto and Shino jumped down, while Fuu jumped to the tree where the hostages were held.

Hinata engaged in a fight with one of the remaining Fuuma, using her flexibility to dodge the shuriken he threw at her and sealing his tenketsu whenever the opportunity presented itself, eventually shutting his body down, but receiving injuries along her arms and torso, leaving her unable to fight her next battle fully.

Shino engaged with two of them, keeping them at bay with his bugs and hitting them whenever they got close, this repeated itself until both his opponents were down from chakra exhaustion, he himself had lost some beetles from the few water jutsus his opponents had managed to launch..

Naruto entered a fight with the remaining three, making liberal use of the kage bunshin to help him fight, whenever a clone was dispelled another would take its place soon after, that coupled with the relative unpredictability of his taijutsu style allowed him to knock them out after some minutes of battle.

Fuu had released the prisoners, who had, almost immediately, gone to hide in town, far away from where the fight was taking place, and as she had nothing else to do other than wait until an opening presented, she went up to take care of Shibuki and wait for her throat to go back to normal.

Suien laughed, even as he saw his troops fall, it didn't matter, Hisam, Kirisame and Murasame would be more than enough to kill the three brats and he could deal with Shido's brats when the time came, the Hero's Water was just that good, though he would prefer the Jiongu that Kakuzu of the Black Threads had stolen.

"Hahaha, so you beat the Fuuma, so what, even without the Water we are more that powerful enough to deal with you," he said, and the Ame missing-nin behind him smirked arrogantly.

Without thinking, and against all advice his mother and Kurama gave him, he launched himself against the rouge ninja, an enraged expression on what was visible of his face.

His punch was grabbed roughly by a water whip inches from hitting his target. He was back to his teammates as Kirisame pulled on the jutsu.

"You shouldn't even try, just go away and we let you go away with just minor injuries" Suien smiled superiorly at the gennin, only to dodge a kunai to his face, "your doom" he said as he signaled his followers to attack.

They met halfway, Shino crossing Kirisame, Hinata with Hisame and Naruto with Murasame. Up in the tree, Shibuki, who had calmed down some, and Duu watched the fights develop.

*Naruto vs. Murasame*

"So, the brat thinks he can beat me," Murasame taunted as he held back the kunai the kid had, "How sweet, I'll have you know that I'm way stronger than you"

The gray-haired man pushed Naruto away and nailed him in the face with his forearm, making the red-head's head snap to the side. The Ame-nin followed with a round-house kick that Naruto lessened by pushing chakra out of his arm a few seconds before the kick landed to lessen the damage.

The chakra also had the side effect of pushing Murasame slightly off-balance, something that Naruto capitalized on. Pushing chakra out of his arm to use the momentum, Naruto clawed at Murasame's face, but his hand was caught and the older shinobi threw him over his shoulder.

Righting himself mid-air, Naruto blocked the punches and kicked the Ame-ninja threw at him, wincing when the force behind them was more than what his chakra pushes could slow down.

The red-head caught a kick meant for his chest, losing some air as the force behind it drove his hands to his chest. He felt his weight drop to zero, something they hadn't done since the first fight he had had with Hagane. Gathering all possible strength, Naruto pushed Murasame's leg upwards, and kicked the other from under him.

Murasame was impressed with the brat; his balance had been disturbed five times now, with this one being the second major loss, not even Hisame, the flirtiest woman he had met, could do so with her use of innuendos and use of her suiton: suiben had managed to do so in the time he had been fighting the brat. Catching himself with his hands, he performed a kick that would have made any break-dancer proud, hitting his opponent twice in different parts of his torso.

Naruto felt the air leave his lungs as the kicks impacted, yet he moved in time to dodge a drop kick. He thrust his hands at Murasame's face as the man recovered from his attacks.

His aim was true, as was his timing. Just as the light-haired man finished straightening up a hand nailed him in the solar plexus, followed by another to the collarbone.

A clone appeared behind the staggering man, kicking him in the back and pushing him back to the original red-head. Naruto used kawarimi to get out of the range of the fight, materialized his kogane no buki and went through some hand-seals as he saw his clone get dispelled.

"Suiton: Suichū hari no danmaku" he shouted. Needles rose from the poodles that had formed when one of his teammates or their opponents had been thrown into the lake they were fighting by.

Murasame rolled to the ground as he heard the shout, and just in time as needles made from water passed right above his head a few seconds later. Narrowing his eyes, the missing-nin made his own chain of seals as his brat of an opponent rushed at him. "Doton: Sekisō" a spear made from rock raised itself from the ground and the rouge grabbed it before using it to block a stab that would have caught him in the chest. "Sorry brat, but as I said, I'm too strong for ya" said Murasame.

The man pushed forward with all his strength, making Naruto stumble. Murasame used that moment to hit the kid with the side of his weapon, knocking him away from the battlefield. Smirking, the Ame-nin turned to watch the other two fights.

*Hinata vs. Hisame*

The older woman had no trouble dodging the attacks coming from the young Konoha-nin, being one of the smartest kunoichi of the Pre-Pein Ame, she had learned to read body language, which allowed to read incoming attacks from all but the best and fastest opponents, something the little girl was not. "Oh come on little girl, is that the best you can do?" That as something she loved, messing with minds.

Hinata was already tired from her fight with the Fuuma from earlier, but didn't let that stop her, her training wouldn't go to waste, not if she had any say in it. With strength she thought had left her and great help of her flexibility, her attacks doubled and her opponent seemed to struggle some when dodging.

"Ah, so the little girl still has a fight, I wonder where you found that strength." Hisame saw Hinata's eyes flicker to the sides, where the older woman saw her teammates fighting, "Ah, so they inspired you," The rouge smiled, "Well if you want to impress your teammates you shouldn't hide that figure" She saw a blush begin to rise, and another flicker of her eyes, "If you want someone to notice you start wearing something less baggy and more reviling, you know like my shirt" the woman showed even more cleavage than before.

Hinata felt herself about to faint, something she hadn't done since a couple of years after she made friends with Naruto, activating her byakugan in order to not have to witness the blatant display, she continued her attack with less energy and fierceness, slipping as the older kunoichi continued to tease her as the battle progressed, yet some part of her mind registered and took notes of what Hisame said.

Still, the young Hyuuga stuck to what little her Father actually taught her, with her eyes flaring, she shouted "Hakke sanjuuni sho"

"Ichi sho" Hisame dodged the single strike.

"Ni sho" the kunoichi dodged one and redirected the other.

"Yon sho" two of the palms managed to hit the older woman.

"Hachi sho" three more palms buried themselves into the Ame-kunoichi, the rest were dodged.

"Juu-roku sho" of the sixteen palms only five hit the target tenketsu.

"Hakke sanjuuni sho" twelve of the strikes found their target, with the other being stopped or dodged.

"Well, I've gotta say" Hisame was panting hard as she rubbed the bruised the little girl had given her, "I never expected a Hyuuga, too bad you weren't faster, for you that is" she made hand-seals, in her condition she would have to force it, but the jutsu would beat the little Hyuuga, "Suiton: mizurappa" she spit three consecutive water bullets, throwing the younger kunoichi away and knocking her out.

*Shino vs. Kirisame*

"C'mon, C'mon, C'mon, attack, I want to hurt you a lot before I kill you" Kirisame was the strange one on his team, because he had been an orphan since his birth, he had no one to teach him. Then Hanzo had told him that his parents had been part of his troops, and he joined the corps. After his first kill his mind had started to loose itself, resulting in a rather bloodthirsty personality.

"Why should I attack?" the ever silent Aburame "The obvious advantage is with you, logically I should tire you out first before giving you the final hit."

"I don't care what you should do, I care about what I will do" Kirisame rushed at Shino, who dodged his initial attack, but was hard pressed to dodge the following ones.

Eventually dodging turned little by little into blocking, which had the fortunate side-effect of leaving kikaichku in the body of the Ame-nin.

As his opponent began to tire out, Shino started to get some hits in, first they were minuscule; a punch in the shoulder, a kick in the shin. But they increased in frequency and intensity; solid kick to the stomach and fists to the chest, yet the crazy Ame-nin took in stride, not letting the hits get to him.

Kirisame was having trouble staying awake as the battle progressed, and he knew that the brat in front of him had something to do with it, so he had to deal with the boy fast. Backpedaling some while flipping through hand-seals for one of his easiest jutsus, he said, "Suiton: atsuryoku nagare no jutsu"

Throwing his hands forward, a pressurized stream of water shot from behind him and sent Shino barreling towards a tree, where the Aburame slammed into the trunk.

As the jutsu ended Kirisame could see Shino sitting there with his shades cracked and his coat in tatters. A maniac laugh escaped the older shinobi, just as he felt what was left of his strength leave him.

Collapsing to his knees, the last thing he saw was the kid he had thrown get covered by a thousand insects.

*Naruto*

The red-head crawled over to Hinata as he saw Suien approach her. A burst of strength as Kurama's youki entered his system allowed him to stand and limp his way there.

The man watched as the Konoha kid showed some of the strongest wills he had seen as even in his injured state, "Tell me kid, why do you fight so hard?" the spiky-haired man asked.

Naruto glared from where he was standing, never once stopping to rest, "I fight… because you injured innocent people." The red-head kept getting closer to Hinata, "I won't stop fighting until you… are defeated because I promised that I would hep Shibuki"

Suien laughed, as did his two still-standing accomplices "haha, so you promised a coward, he'll run at the first sign of trouble," he had to admit, seeing a brat remain standing made some of his respect go to the kid.

Naruto was recovering some, as the youki got him back to pristine condition, "He's the leader of this village," his words didn't have effect in the missing-nin, but they made Shibuki pay attention to him, "He's meant to fight for his village, even if it kills him," he was standing next to Hinata now, "He may not be very brave, but he has a good heart, as does her sister, even if they hide it" the words struck deep within said people, "I'm not going to let you take the place they love, and I'll fight to the my end if that's what it takes to stop you."

Naruto's eyes changed to a deep red with silted pupils as he stared at the opponents that would no doubt overwhelm him. Yet unknown to him, his previous words tang in the head of both Shibuki and Fuu, who stared at him in shock as he stood defiant.

Shibuki's hands strayed to his leg pouch, close to where he kept the standard issue bottle of Hero's Water, should he drink and risk the same fate as his father?

Fuu felt a headache as her tenant/prisoner made itself known, 'Thatboy is Kyuubi's container, kill him, I must defeat the Nine Tails' Youki flared inside of her, making her skin scaly and her eyes wider.

Glancing to her left, she saw that Shibuki was holding his bottle to his lips, his face set into a steely expression. He glanced to her and saw that she was semi-transformed. Sharing a nod, the two of them jumped down.

'Heh, so the Nanabi wants a remach' thought Kurama as he felt the youki coming from the green-haired girl. Oblivious to this, Naruto looked to his sides and said, "So you're joining the fight"

Fuu answered, her voice as changed as Naruto's, "Yeah, we couldn't leave you to fight alone reddie" she smirked, ignoring the screams from her bijuu.

"You said it yourself Naruto" Shibuki's voice was filled with power, a result from drinking the water, "I'm the leader of this village, and I'll die to protect it"

A stare down between the two sides ensued, and Suien used the tense moments to drink from a flask: the Water he had stolen.

Both sides launched toward the center of the plaza.

And that closes this chapter, not as I had hoped it ended, but I couldn't bring myself to do it any other way.

Don't expect any updates on friday, inspiation has left me since last week and it isn't coming back any time soon,

On the poll Karin has once again proved to be wanted, and is now just one vote away from Fuu.

On other news, I'm planning on writting a story for fictionpress, so leave some feedback regarding if I should do it or wait some more.

San no tsuba: acid spit

Suiben: water whip

Suichū hari no danmaku: water needle barrage

Sekiso: earth spear

Mizurappa: water bullet

Atsuryoku nagare: pressure stream