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World 3 Scene: 1: Shinobi Shaman of Konoha

Unknown Dimension ‒ Naruto's Room ‒ Unknown time

Naruto laid on his bed, provided to him along with the room, same with everyone else. He stared blankly at the ceiling, not feeling the least bit tired. His mind was too active to even fall asleep.

He knew who his parents were. After 14 years, he finally knew who his parents were!

His mother...Kushina Uzumaki.

He smiled widely at that. He knew who his mother was. Like any orphan, he always wondered who his mother was, what she looked like, and especially what she was like.

Then there was the case...of his father. Minato Namikaze, aka the Fourth Hokage, aka the 'Greatest Hokage Konoha ever had' (debatable on that last account);

Aka, the one who sealed the Kyuubi inside him. Thus damming him to a life of loneliness and isolation.

He didn't know what to think about this. One part of him hated his father for making him a Jinchuuriki. Hated him, for leaving him alone.

On the other hand, he felt happy and proud to be the son of a Hokage, not to mention a member of the Uzumaki Clan. To know that he wasn't some no-name clanless orphan, filled his heart with peace, his doubts since childhood vanishing.

His mind was divided on how to accept this news.

He loved his mother, even not knowing her, he felt a warmth spread though him at the mere mention of her name. A once faceless woman, clearing up a bit. Though while still foggy, he could clearly see a warm smile and eyes full of motherly love.

A smile crossed his face. 'Kaa-san...'

Now, his father on the other hand...

A part of him knew, that if he ever saw his father, he wouldn't know how to react.

He would either cry and hug him...or beat the shit out of him in anger. Probably both, with the latter being the first action.

A sigh escaped his lips as he sat up. Thinking on all of this wasn't going to do him any good. Maybe he could ask Shin in the morning to find out more about his heritage?

Getting up from the bed, he moved toward the bathroom on the side of the wall. As he took care of his bodily needs, he was unaware of the door to his room opening silently as a figure snuck in, the door closing without a sound as the figure hid in the shadows of the room.

The bathroom door opened, and Naruto walked out, the sound of the toilet flushing behind him. Getting back on his bed, he tried to go to sleep.

Unfortunately, it was easier said than done, as he continued to toss and turn. It was useless, his mind was too worked up with all that's been happening, especially the shocking news of his parents. Sighing, he flipped to his back, staring up at the ceiling once more. As Shikamaru would say...

"Troublesome."

"Oh? And what has you so troubled Foxy?"

It was only the hand that covered his mouth and a strong grip around his waist, that stopped Naruto from flying up into the air with a manly (read: girly) shout (scream).

With wide eyes, Naruto looked at his assailant. Only to see, not the face of an enemy, but the grinning face of one Anko Mitarashi.

That was worse, in his opinion.

"Now, now Foxy-kun. Everyone else is sleeping, so no shouting. Okay?" The grin she gave him showed him that it wasn't a question. Sweating nervously, Naruto gulped, before nodding. Her smile growling, she released her hold on his mouth, letting him speak.

"A-A-Anko-sensei-"

Anko cut him off, wagging a finger at him in disapproval. "Ah ah ah! We're not sensei and genin right now. So its Anko-chan, gaki!" She told him, tapping him on the nose. His face burned a bit in embarrassment.

"Um...ok. Anko...chan." It would do him good to not argue with the dangerous woman, who could summon deadly snakes at any time. Anko smiled brightly, nodding in approval at the suffix. Clearing his throat, he continued, "What are...are you doing here?" He asked, wondering just why the crazy snake jonin was doing in his room. Was this a prank?

Anko put on a mask of innocence, as if she was doing nothing wrong. He didn't buy it for a second. "I just came to see how my favorite gaki was doing, is all." She said, batting her eyelashes at him. She just got a deadpan look. Really? "So! What's got you so troubled, Whiskers?" She asked, a genuine curious and a hint of concern in her eyes.

Naruto bit his lip, wondering if he should tell her. He felt uncomfortable talking with the woman ‒ due to the fact that their last meeting ended with her cutting his cheek, licking the blood off, all the while pressing her...*ahem* womanly parts against his back.

He was lucky he didn't suffer any...dreams throughout the exam.

On the other hand...he felt so confused about everything. Maybe talking to someone could help him out?

He didn't feel like talking to Kakashi-sensei or Ero-Sennin. To Tsunade-Baachan or Shizune-neechan. Not even Iruka-sensei.

He didn't think they could understand how he felt right now. Even Iruka, who was an orphan like him, couldn't understand the situation on finding out your own father sealed the very beast that nearly destroyed his home in his own son. To unintentionally put him on a path of loneness and neglect.

They didn't understand the burden of being a Jinchuuriki. To be hated by your own home and be seen as a demon! They would never, and will never understand him!

Naruto blinked, shaking his head off such thoughts. Where did those come from?

Suddenly, his eyes widened when he was pulled forward, and his head laid on something very soft. He blinked when he heard as well as felt a soft thumbing followed by a beating rhythm.

His eyes grew wide as his entire face turned red when he realized his head was laying on Anko's chest, to which he realized even further, that she wasn't wearing her trench coat! Leaving her in only her fishnet shirt and skirt!

Anko smirked down at the blonde, who was trying his hardest not to let his mind linger on how soft the feeling was, and how warm the contact felt. "Silly little fox! You can trust me. Tell Auntie Anko what's got you so bothered. I won't bite...unless you want me too." She whispered the last part, but Naruto ignored that.

He bit his lip, thinking it over, before coming with a decision. "It's...everything. Watching other counterparts of me, and what they are capable of. It makes me wonder...what's so special about me? I mean, one Naruto goes to a school of heroes, another one is the father of a demon baby, he even has a wife! And a younger me has two special nee-chans! And I...I..."

"You feel jealous." Anko noted. Naruto flinched, but nodded slowly. Anko chuckled, pressing him tighter in her embrace. Naruto's cheeks burned a bit in embarrassment, but gave no other expression. "Sheesh gaki, it's alright to feel jealous. I might not show it, but I get jealous when I see couples, or families together. That's the life of an orphan. You just can't let it affect you and bring you down. Were the other yous kick ass? Yes, they were. But so are you. You can't feel so down. If you want to be stronger than the other yous, then get stronger! Isn't that what you do? Prove people wrong and get stronger?"

Naruto thought about it, and realized that Anko was right. Why was he feeling jealous of his counterpart? They were him! So what if they were stronger than he currently was? He just needed to train hard and become stronger than...himself! If that made any sense. 'And besides! If they could be so cool, so can I!' He thought, seeing the 'logic' behind it. If other Naruto Uzumakis were cool, so was he!

That made sense, right? Right!

"And let me guess...the other problem's your parents. More specifically, your old man." Anko said. Naruto winced at that, before frowning, giving a small nod against her chest.

"I don't know what I should think about that." He muttered, but Anko heard him clearly. "I mean...all my life, he's been my hero. My idol! I wanted to be like him, to be as strong as him, and surpass him! To one day be the Hokage, and be respected and loved by the village, like he was. But then I learned that he sealed the Kyuubi in me...all I can think about, was 'why'? Why did he choose me as the container? Why did he have to make me the bastard Kyuubi's jailer, and have everyone hate me?" He revealed, his eyes stinging in the storm of emotions he was feeling. Anko was silent, letting the blonde let his heart out. "And now...now that I learn that…that he's my father, my own dad...I don't know what to do! My own father made me a jinchuuriki! He put this demon in me! Why?! Why did he do it?!" She felt him begin to shake, and simply held him. It was the least she could do.

How many times had he cried and no one held him?

She knew what that was like.

She heard him begin to let out small sobs, making her frown. 'He's mask is starting to drop.'

"Why?" He sobbed, tears falling through the chain mail shirt, and hitting her skin, but she didn't care. "Why did he do this to me? Why did he have to leave me alone? I hate him!" He shouted, tears of sadness and anger falling down his cheeks.

"Why? Why did he do this? Why did he have to mark me?! To leave me alone! I thought he loved me! I...I hate him. I HATE HIM!"

Anko closed her eyes, memories of dark times making themselves appear. She fought them off. Raising a hand, she ran her fingers through Naruto's yellow hair. She laid her chin on his head. "I wish I could tell you, gaki. But sometimes, life just plain sucks, and will fuck with you. Many things will be unfair, I know. But you're a stubborn gaki, and I know you will push through them. I may not know why Yondaime-sama sealed the Kyuubi into you, but if I had to guess, I say it's because if there was one person he could count on to keep the furry bastard locked up, it would be his own son." She stated, Naruto growing silent, his sobs dying out before stopping. "Now, I'm probably the last person to be giving comfort to someone's anger against someone, but you shouldn't blame your dad. I mean, the guy died sealing the Kyuubi in you ‒ no offense ‒ and obviously didn't know how bad your life would be. So it isn't his fault."

A part of her would have said that that blame would belong to the Sandaime, who was the one to announce the kid's status ‒ she was there to see the announcement. However, she kept silent. Last thing she wanted was to shift the kid's anger, when she was trying to calm him.

Naruto was silent, thinking over her words in his head. He knew the woman was right, as much as he didn't want to admit it. As much as he wanted to blame his father for having some part in his hellish childhood, being hated by the villagers, and leaving him alone (before he met his precious people); he knew it wouldn't do anything. He didn't want to me like Sasuke, constantly living his life in anger and hatred. He was mad, yes the feeling burning deep in his chest, but he would not let it control him.

He knew what being angry did, recalling the immense anger he felt back when he first tapped into Kyuubi's chakra at the fight against Haku. But then he also remembered how he had nearly killed her.

He didn't want to do it again, killing someone in anger.

Sighing, he let himself relax, feeling emotionally drained, sinking deeper in Anko's hold. Anko, also feeling his tired state, ran her hand gently through his hair, providing him comfort. While she wasn't one to comfort, as if anyone who knew her would be shocked, she felt connected to the kid, feeling kinship. Both had crappy lives, had the village glaring at them constantly, and put on masks to hide their pain. Him, a mask of happiness and joy, pranking people for closure. While she tortured people, using them as outlets for her own pain and anger.

In the end of the day, all they wanted to do was crawl into a corner, away from eyes, and cry. Letting out all their anger and sadness. Wishing for someone to comfort them. Give them the warmth they longed for.

And now they have it, in a way. She comforted the blonde with his revealed parentage and shocking news and anger. She was being there for him. In a way neither the Third and Iruka could never be, at least that was her opinion.

'Only someone who understands can comfort you.' Was what she thought. 'And maybe...he can do the same with me.' She thought wishfully to herself.

She didn't know what she felt for the blonde. Years ago, when she had first found out about his treatment, she tried to help him out. Even from a distance at the time ‒ who knew what the villagers would do if the "Snake Whore" and "Fox Brat" were spotted together. It would be a blood bath! ‒ she did all she could. Leaving him money at his bed, leaving fresh groceries ‒ unlike him, stores knew better than to kick her out ‒ or leaving fresh and new clothes.

At the time, she felt like a pseudo older sister looking after her little brother. At times, though just barely there, there was a soft of motherly feeling when she became an adult. Too bad her adoption requests were never accepted ‒ damn council!

But it was later on, that the feeling grew into something else. She would label it as an attraction. She didn't care about other's thoughts and views! She was a shinobi! They could die any day now, so they didn't care about morals, to an extent. She would admit that the kid was cute ‒ especially with those adorable whiskers and blue eyes that could make the ocean itself green! ‒ even teasing about it with her friends, much to their discomfort. But then the stories came.

About his team's battle in Wave.

Then surviving a run-in with Orochi-pedo! (Kami she wanted to kill the fucker!)

His preliminary match against the mutt gaki. Now that was funny as shit! She laughed so hard!

Becoming the apprentice to Jiraiya-sama. Pervert he may be, but he was incredibly strong.

Taking on a live Biju! And saving the village from destruction. (She was one of the few that actually believed the story of Naruto being the one, not Sasuke. Thankfully there was an ANBU there to provide support and facts.)

Then the meeting with the Akatsuki.

Bringing back Lady Tsunade.

And lastly, saving a whole Country from dictatorship in the Land of Snow.

She grinned. He had done more incredibly things in his year as a genin, than many other shinobi had done in their whole lives! 'I wonder what else he'll do in the future.' She thought, growing very excited at the thought! What was next? Stopping a war? Saving the world?!

All in all, her interest in Naruto Uzumaki had grown largely, becoming one of a small affection. And a part of her, one that was denied the opportunity to experience romance in her youth, hoped there to be something there in the future, if she played her cards right.

Looking down, her grin fell into a small smile when she saw the gaki sleeping peacefully on her chest, his shallow breaths ticking her skin. Smiling, she grabbed the blanket and covered them both. She snuggled into the warm mattress, feeling herself beginning to fall asleep. Before slumber took her, she had one last thought.

'I wonder if there is a world out there we could be possible.'

She had no idea...

The Next Morning?...Day?...Next Scene

Given that the rooms provided did not have any windows ‒ as there was no sky to look out at ‒ the only way to know there was a shift of day, was by the room either brightening (to symbolize 'day') or darkening (symbolizing 'night').

And so, with the darkness of the room fading and giving way to a blinding white, the occupants within the room groaned in protest, cursing the light and fighting to stay within the realms of slumber. Unfortunately, it was not to be.

As Naruto was waking up, he felt very comfortable, and at peace. A contrast to the mental turmoil he was going through just the other night. As he was waking up, he felt a nice warmth. It drew it him, embracing him in its protection. He smiled softly as he hugged his pillow, pushing itself to its soft skin, the sound of its heartbeat soothing him. He just wanted to stay like this forever...

Wait a minute.

'Skin'? 'Heartbeat?'

And just like that, the memories of the other night crashed into him. More importantly, the last few minutes before he fell asleep. With his eyes closed, he broke out into a cold sweat. His tone paling by the second. It became even worse, when he heard her speak.

"You sleep good, foxy?"

He then felt something wet on his ear.

. . . .

"AHH!" In a flash that would make his sensei wonder if he knew his father's other technique, Naruto appeared on the other side of the room, clinging the wall tightly as he stated at the chuckling Anko, his whole face burning a bright red. 'Did she just lick my ear?!'

Anko laughed at his reaction as she set up from the bed. Betrayed by his hormones, Naruto couldn't help but trail the bouncing orbs on her chest, the flesh just barely covered by the fishnet shirt she wore.

If only he was lucky...

He shook his head, shaking away such thought. No! Bad Naruto! Bad! His action only seemed to amuse Anko even more.

Snake: 2 Fox: 0

"Like what you see, Foxy?" She couldn't help but tease him, stretching her arms behind her, purposely pushing her bountiful chest out.

Naruto made the right choice to not look her in the eye...or general direction. Not with her current state of attire.

It wasn't that he was embarrassed or anything...too much. After all, he already knew some bit of the female nudity appearance. After all, he did create the Sexy Jutsu when he was just a kid. But he wasn't a pervert. All knowledge he got were from curiosity to perfect his technique, determination to make it perfect, as well as inspiration after sneaking a pick at the old man's weird books he didn't know what they were about at the time.

He respected women, as taught to him by a kind nurse he met in the hospital when he was younger ‒ it's sad she moved out of the village the year after, after getting married. He would never perve on a woman like Ero-Sennin always does.

Anko smirked. She really liked teasing the gaki. Unfortunately, she would have to cut her fun short. Her smirk lessened to a soft smile. "Feeling better, gaki?"

Naruto glanced at her, before closing his eyes. He then nodded. "Yeah...thanks, Anko-sensei." He did feel better, and he had her to thank.

Anko smiled. Standing up from the bed, she walked over to Naruto, and took him by complete surprise, when she bent down, and gently kissed him on the forehead. Leaning back, she smirked at the flustered blonde. "Think nothing of it, foxy! I just didn't like my favorite genin being all moody. I like your cheerful self better. However, of you really want to thank me..." She had a thoughtful look on her face. Naruto shivered, a sense of dread going down his spine. She smirked at him. "You will owe me a favor, gaki. One day, I will come to you for that favor, and you must do it. No backing out."

'Don't take it! Don't take it! Don't take it!' Naruto's conscious shouted at him. The thought of doing any favors for Anko Mitarashi was never a good sign!

"Deal." He said.

Kami damn you, Naruto! You fool!

Anko smirked, hiding a hidden excitement at him agreeing, and made for the door. "Great! Well, I better get out of here before someone sees me in your room and starts asking question. Later gaki!" And just like that, she left his room.

Staring at the door in silence, Naruto stood frozen for a while, before silently walking to his bathroom.

He needed a cold shower. A long cold shower.

Minutes Later

Soon, everyone was dressed and fresh, and walked 'downstairs' ‒ they didn't know whether to call it a 'floor' or 'level' of the solid dimension ‒ to where the 'viewing room' was to look for Shin, to ask if there was a kitchen or something.

Only to look on in surprise, as where a couch once laid, was a long table with many chair, enough for everyone. Set on the white sheets, were a large amount of food, all of them as delicious as the next! The genin, most of all Choji, were practically or literally drooling, stars in their eyes.

At the head of the table, was Shin. Looking over at them, he smirked. "Morning everyone! I hope you are all fully rested and ready to continue." He gestured to the food. "Well now, go ahead and help yourselves." They didn't need to be told twice, as everyone quickly went to the table, and took their seats. Tsunade and Jiraiya at the head, next to Shin, followed by Shizune next to her master, Tonton in her arms, and Iruka. Iruka, Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto. Kono, Moegi, and Udon sat beside the blonde. Then Kurenai, Anko, Shino, Kiba, Hinata. Akamaru on the floor behind his master with a doggy bowl. Asuma, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji ‒ who was already stuffing his face. Gai, Lee, Neji, and finally Tenten beside Shin.

"Itadakimasu!"

With a prayer, they started eating. As they ate, the group held conversations, except for Sasuke, Shino, Shikamaru, and Choji ‒ the latter focused more on his food. Naruto was talking with the younger kids about the other versions of Naruto, the kids saying how cool they were and how ‒ in their minds ‒ that made him cool as well, much to the blonde's embarrassment. Meanwhile, while she talked with Kurenai, Anko would at times glance at the Naruto, and seeing the genuine happy smile on his face, his happy laughter, would smile as well. She was glad the gaki was better since last night.

Soon, all the food was gone, and everyone was fed. Seeing this, Shin clapped his hands, and in a flash, the table vanished, and couch appeared once more. "Now that everyone is rested and fed, we can continue with our third world." 'And it's about time. Feels like FOREVER since we've moved on and reached the third world.' He thought to himself as he made the all too familiar sphere appear. He decided to pass the sphere to Shizune. Looking at the sphere curiously, Shizune placed her hand on it. Instantly, the location changed to an all too familiar location.

"NO!" Many shouted out in anguish, making Shin laugh.

They had appeared on the yet to be unfinished bridge in Wave. Again.

Twelve year old Naruto Uzumaki cursed under his breath as his body was once more riddled with senbon. Beside him his rival and teammate, Sasuke Uchiha, had just as many senbon protruding from his body as he did. Though the last Uchiha seemed to be doing much better recently as he started to block the senbon heading in his direction with a senbon he had pulled out of his own body, briefly Naruto thought he saw that Sasuke's usual black eyes were a blood red with a few tome in his pupil meaning that the raven haired shinobi had activated his clan's kekkei genkai the Sharingan.

Sasuke growled. "How many times are we going to be seeing the same thing over and over again!" He demanded. He was getting sick and tired of seeing him getting his ass kicked by that Haku person! Can't they just move one!

"As many times as they appear." Shin stated, not bothered by the glare the Uchiha sent him.

Their opponent was a fake Kiri Hunter-nin with a kekkei genkai of his own that allowed him to use Hyouton jutsu and was an expert with senbon. At the same time their sensei, Kakashi Hatake, fought against Zabuza, the Demon of the Hidden Mist, and their third teammate a pink haired girl by the name of Sakura Haruno protected the bridge builder Tazuna, the man they were hired to guard until the bridge they were currently fighting on was completed. Naruto struggled to get up in a kneeling position only to see the Hunter-nin prepare another barrage of senbon needles. Naruto instinctively closed his eyes in preparation for the pain that was sure to follow in seconds, silently cursing the fact that he couldn't go all out. Only to be surprised when he didn't feel anything, though he heard the senbon impact against something, and heard Sasuke let out a startled gasp.

"What the hell?!" Sasuke asked bewildered, starring at the senbon that had fallen harmlessly around them.

Everyone wondered what happened. What happened next, shocked them. "What the hell?!" Kiba shouted.

What Naruto could see and Sasuke couldn't, even with his Sharingan apparently, were the two muscular' ogre like creatures standing protectively between them and the confused Hunter-nin. For the most part the two ogres looked remarkably alike with the exception that one was red with two large horns coming out of his head, a pair of upward pointing tusks, carried a bottle axe, a five point star at the center of his head and a point at the center. The other ogre was colored blue with a single horn coming out the middle of his head and two downward pointing tusks, and a five point star shaped diamonds at the center of its head. They both had black armor on their hands and feet, with the only difference being the markings on the armor being in their respective colors, and black claws.

"What the? What are those things? And why can we see them when the other me can't?" Sasuke asked, looking at the two demonic looking creatures that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Shin explained. "Right now, we are seeing through A-Naruto's point of view. We are seeing what he sees. What those are, will be explained soon."

Meanwhile, Naruto was as white as snow, shaking hard with sweat coming down his forehead. 'Gh-Gh-Gh-GHOST!' He mentally shouted. As far back as he could remember, Naruto had a critical fear of spirits, more so evil ghosts. And now, it was taking full effect.

Everyone looked at the frozen, white Naruto in confusion, before shrugging and turning back to the scene.

Naruto knew that their names were Goki and Zenki respectively and that the reason that he could see them and none of the others could was because they were a couple of shikigami, spirits, which he knew personally. Though Naruto felt some relief at the two shikigami's appearance he also paled slightly. 'If they're here,' Naruto thought, 'Then that means…' The blonde shinobi trailed off at the end as his ears picked up the sound of footsteps.

Kiba raised a brow, seeing the slight scared look on his 'rival's' counterpart's face. "Wonder what's going on?"

"Spirit?" Asuma asked, surprised by that, along with the others. Though not by much, as they lived in a world of sentient chakra beings, and favored the god of death, even able to summon it.

Meanwhile, Anko was poking the frozen Naruto on the cheek, having fun messing with him as he rocked in place like a statue.

Suddenly, a bucket of cold icy water appeared over the blonde, and spilled over him, getting a loud yelp of surprise. Shaking his head, Naruto glared at Shin, who looked away, whistling innocently. 'Can't have our man of focus missing the fun, can we?' The god thought with a smirk.

The footsteps were loud enough for everyone to hear, Kakashi and Zabuza having stopped their fight momentarily when they heard Sasuke's confused statement, and looked towards where the footsteps were coming from. From the mist emerged a girl around the same age as the Gennin of Team 7. The girl had short dark blonde hair, which could almost be mistaken for light brown hair that came down to around her shoulders, with a long red bandanna tied around her head. She had on a short sleeved jet black kimono that stopped at mid-thigh that was held closed by a dark blue obi, and black shorts underneath. Around her neck she had on a blue bead rosary and a blue bead bracelet around her right wrist. The girl had on a pair of wooden sandals with red straps and she was holding a stick with a knapsack tied to the end. The blonde girl had slightly tanned skin and black eyes that had an apathetic look to them.

He didn't know why...but when he first saw her, Naruto felt a shiver of dread go down his spine. 'Why do I feel scared of that girl, yet also care about her? Why do I feel I should run as fast as I can?'

As the girl looked around at the gathered people, not at all concerned with the fact she had just walked into the middle of a shinobi battle; her gaze eventually came to rest on Naruto's downed form. A look of disapproval flashed across her face at the sight of his condition.

"Hey what are you doing here?!" Sakura shouted at the unknown, to most of them anyway, blonde girl. "It's dangerous here you need to leave right now!" The pinkette warned.

The girl didn't even spare Sakura a glance.

"Hey Anna," Naruto said, nervously scratching the back of his head out of habit, as he identified the girl as Anna. "Long time no see."

"So the other Naruto knows her." Kakashi noted, wondering what the connection was.

Sasuke spared his teammate a brief glance, wandering how he knew the dark eyed girl, before focusing his attention on their opponent but any attempt of an attack by the masked-nin was once more inexplicably blocked like before.

Naruto gulped uneasily when Anna didn't say anything and just continued to stare at him. "Um, what are you doing here?" He asked her.

"What sort of greeting is that?" Anna replied, eyes narrowed and a frown marring her otherwise beautiful face as she placed the knapsack on the ground beside her. "I came all this way and this is how I find you? On the ground beaten, you've obviously been slacking in your training." The blonde girl said before a smirk took the place of her frown. "I'll have to fix that," She stated definitely.

Naruto started to sweat lightly at Anna's declaration, while he trained hard every day what Anna called training Naruto called torture. Even with his insane stamina the blonde shinobi found himself exhausted after a few of Anna's set exercises.

Naruto instinctively flinched back, unconsciously sensing the dread his counterpart was feeling.

'My Kushina senses are tingling.' Jiraiya and Kakashi thought with shivers as they looked at the girl. It could have been their imagination, but they could have sworn they saw the feared redhead taking the blonde girl's place.

Scary

"For now you'll have to take care of the mess your in." Anna finished, crossing her arms under her chest.

Then, unseen by everyone but Naruto and Anna, a man appeared out of thin air right next to the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. The fact he lacked legs and his bottom half was instead that of a ghost made it clear he was also a spirit. The male spirit had black eyes and long gray hair that was pulled back into a spiked ponytail with a few bangs framing his face. He had on a black kimono shirt that was left open to reveal his muscular chest, a white sash around his waist, and a white haori over it. On his shoulders and forearms were' red plated samurai armor. The ghost had a katana on either side of his waist held in place by a white sash. And, although they couldn't currently be seen, Naruto knew that the spirit wore black hakama pants, had the same red armor plating on his legs, and simple waraji sandals. The ghost's name was Amidamaru and he was also Naruto's Guardian Ghost.

"Wow! That guy looks cool!" Naruto and Konohamaru said, with Moegi and Udon nodding.

"Another spirit?" Kurenai wondered.

"Amidamaru," Naruto said, greeting the spirit happily his previous nervousness disappearing at the sight of his partner. "It's great to see you."

Everyone took note how A-Naruto knew the spirit, and wondered how. As well as how only he was able to see them.

"I am happy to see you as well my friend." Amidamaru replied before becoming serious and taking in the situation that Naruto found himself in. "Though I see that you're still getting yourself into trouble." The gray haired Guardian Ghost finished in a slightly accusing tone.

"Hey, it's not like I mean for these sorts of things to happen!" Naruto protested loudly. "It just always seems to turn out his way." The blue eyed shinobi finished in a mutter. Seriously Naruto swore he once had an epic adventure one day when he just went out to get some ramen.

'So true.' Team Seven thought, as well as Tsunade, knowing the team's mission track record.

"Who the hell are you talking to dobe?!" Sasuke demanded angrily. "Have you gone insane or something?!"

'Teme.' Naruto huffed.

Naruto smirked at the raven haired boy but didn't bother answering, after all it was way too complicated trying to explain what he was and who he was talking to, as he pulled out some of the senbon that were impaled in his body now that he had some time to recover. The reason he looked tired before wasn't because he was low on chakra like Sasuke, he filled an entire forest clearing with Kage Bunshin when he beat Mizuki-teme to a bloody pulp, but because the Hunter-nin had hit many pressure points throughout Naruto's body with his senbon. Anna had given Kyuubi more than enough time to heal such minor wounds by having Zenki and Goki protect him and Sasuke.

Beneath his mask Haku watched astounded as Naruto proceeded to pull out the senbon that had been stuck in his body effortlessly. 'What is he?' Haku wondered.

Naruto grinned. "The Number One Most Unpredictable Ninja, that's what!" He declared, getting chuckles.

Anna watched on as Naruto picked himself up, his legs just shaking the smallest bit as she recalled Zenki and Goki to her side with a mental command. She wouldn't admit it, or show any indication what so ever, but Anna had been concerned when she saw Naruto on the ground riddled with senbon. It was relieving to see him stand back up with a confident grin on his face again. The dark eyed girl was focused completely on Naruto and didn't even react to the sound of two people approaching her position.

Anko smirked. "Oh, looks like the gaki has a special girl." She said, much to Naruto's embarrassment.

"Hey didn't you hear me before?" Sakura's annoyed voice came from the side. "If you're going to stay here then stay close to me. I'll protect you."

Anna almost scoffed at Sakura's declaration. "Be quiet," Anna told the pinkette plainly without even looking at her.

"What?" Sakura said surprised before getting angry. "Hey what's your problem?! I'm just trying to keep you safe!"

"I seriously doubt you can keep anyone safe." Anna retorted, finally looking towards Sakura out of the corner of her eyes. "What exactly have you done on this mission? There is not a speck of dirt on your clothes or a scratch on you. So what exactly have you been doing to help? Because as far as I can see you've just been useless," The blonde girl stated.

Sakura flinched, but a hand on the shoulder from Ino helped comfort her. She gave an appreciated nod.

"That's not true," Sakura refuted. "I've been guarding Tazuna all this time like we're supposed to." The green eyed girl said gesturing to the older man standing beside her.

"And how many times has he been attacked since you all got here" Anna asked already confident that she knew the answer. When Sakura failed to answer it just confirmed what she already knew. "Just like I thought, until you can actually backup what you say I suggest you just stay back and be quiet." Anna finished, shifting her attention back to Naruto in time to see him pull out a scroll from the pouch on his waist, leaving Sakura completely speechless.

Zabuza whistled lowly, having heard everything Anna said to Kakashi's female student. "Whoever that girl is, she is brutal." The Kiri-nin said sounding almost impressed.

"I like her!"

"Of course you do, Anko." Kurenai sighed.

"Who is she?" Kakashi wondered out loud. 'I've never seen or heard of her before but,' The Jounin continued mentally his gaze shifting from the blonde girl to his own blonde student. 'From the way they were interacting with each other they obviously know one another.' The Copy-nin concluded, before turning his attention back to Zabuza in preparation for their fight to continue. 'I'll just have to ask Naruto about her after this is all over.'

Naruto did his best to hold back a chuckle as he heard Anna tear into Sakura. "Anna hasn't changed a bit." The whisker marked shinobi commented offhandedly.

"Not in the slightest." Amidamaru confirmed his tone a mix of found nostalgia and painful remembrance.

"If I'm going to avoid making things worse for myself I can't afford to hold back." Naruto declared unsealing a wooden sword from the scroll he had pulled out of his pouch.

The group raised brows, wondering what A-Naruto was doing. Tenten especially wanted to know, seeing the wooden sword. So this Naruto had some knowledge in swordsmanship?

"What the hell are you going to do with that?" Sasuke demanded, "It's completely useless. This isn't the time to be playing around!"

"Heh, just watch me teme." Naruto told his teammate. "You ready Amidamaru?" The blonde Jinchuuriki asked his partner.

"Always," Amidamaru replied his form bursting into translucent energy before reshaping into the shape of a small sphere with some of Amidamaru's features like his eyes, hair, and shoulder armor.

"What the?" Asuma muttered.

"Spirit Form!" Naruto called the small spirit ball that was Amidamaru held in his hand, "Unity!" He finished, pushing the sphere into his chest, as a new energy flooded his system, his orang jacket forcibly being opened by the energy. When Naruto eyes snapped open they were far sharper than they ever had been before.

"Whoa!" Naruto shouted, seeing how different his counterpart suddenly became. The female genin looked away, their cheeks flushed pink as they couldn't help but admit that A-Naruto looked really cool like that.

The senior shinobi also were shocked. 'His eyes! They suddenly became as sharp as a war veteran's!'

Sasuke looked at Naruto bewildered. 'What's this new energy? It's like chakra but it's not at the same time. I can't get a good enough read on it.' The raven haired Uchiha wondered the little he could see of the energy that Naruto was releasing because of his Sharingan. 'It's not only that,' Sasuke continued. 'The dobe's posture is completely different from before.' He observed looking at Naruto intently. 'It's almost like he is a completely different person.'

'That's much better.' Naruto thought to himself. 'I've been suppressing my furyoku for a long time it's nice not having to anymore.' The shinobi finished.

"'Furyoku'?" Neji wondered.

Haku watched Naruto take a stance with the bokken, eyes closed. Experimentally throwing a single senbon at the blonde the black haired teen was happy to see that Naruto was forced to block it, as it meant that whatever was preventing him from attacking the two Gennin before no longer was protecting them.

'I must hurry,' Haku thought. 'I'm almost out of chakra. I won't be able keep my jutsu active for much longer.' The fake Kiri Hunter-nin finished mentally and without another moment's hesitation he shot out of the ice mirror and into another one as the black haired teen began his attack.

"You better be ready for this dobe because here he comes." Sasuke said, his Sharingan working overtime to keep up with Haku's insane speed as he went from one mirror to another, and senbon started to rain down on them.

Naruto didn't react to Sasuke's statement or pay much attention to the approaching senbon.

"Focus, Naruto, steady' your breathing and clear your mind." Amidamaru advised his partner, his astral projection form appearing beside Naruto in the same stance.

Jiraiya raised a brow at the samurai man's teaching. 'Is he a teacher of his? Interesting.'

Letting out a single steady breath Naruto and Amidamaru's opened their eyes at the same time and proceeded to knock every senbon heading their way out of the air, the bokken moving faster than anyone expected under their combined strength, chakra and furyoku being used in tandem to supplement the slashes. When Naruto blocked the last senbon he held the wooden sword to the side with a confident smirk on his face.

Tenten gasped. 'He was able to block all the needles with such coordination and agility! And with a wooden sword! How did he do that? Did he channel chakra into it? No, its not made of chakra metal. So how? And where did he learn such technique? Something like that takes years of practice? Is this even the same Naruto as ours?'

Haku and Sasuke stared at Naruto for a moment in stunned silence, Sasuke having survived the onslaught mostly thanks to his recently awakened Sharingan.

'How is this possible?' Haku thought astonished. 'That level of skill with a sword, even a bokken, would take years of practice, years that Naruto should not have.' The black haired teen concluded apprehensively.

'Excellent work Naruto.' Amidamaru said approvingly. 'I see that your skills have not diminished in the slightest in the last few years.'

'Yeah, well, Anna would have killed me if I let myself grow weaker.' Naruto replied with a chuckle, only half joking about what the blonde girl would do to him and Amidamaru really couldn't refute Naruto's claim. 'Now let's finish this.' Naruto decided taking the bokken in both hands and proceeded to channel furyoku into the wooden blade, "Celestial Slash!" With a single swing of his blade, in Naruto and Amidamaru's dual voices, the blonde shinobi released an arc of energy at the mirror that contained Haku.

"WHOA!" The blonde once more shouted, seeing the attack. The jonin and sannin were also shocked. The latter two had only seen something like that, be done by the trained samurai of Iron Country.

'That was a completely energy based attack! Something like that takes years, if not decades to do, especially someone so young!' The sannin thought to themselves.

Normally Haku would have stayed in one of his Demon Ice Mirrors confident that it would survive the hit, but his instincts were telling him to get out of the way, so the fake Hunter-nin sped out of the mirror he was standing in and into another one. Looking at the mirror her previously inhabited Haku was just in time to see it shatter into pieces the moment the energy wave hit it. Haku's mind was racing trying to figure out what he had just witnessed, how Naruto managed to perform a jutsu without hand seals, and know which mirror he was hiding in. Sasuke's fists were clenched tightly as he stared at the result of Naruto's attack before his eyes turned hatefully to Naruto.

'How does the dobe have such power?' Sasuke thought, as he remembered his own failed attempt to destroy the ice mirrors. 'I need that power to kill Itachi, he doesn't!' The Uchiha seethed silently.

Naruto glared at Sasuke. "Sheesh teme! You need to cool it!"

Sasuke glared at him, before looking away with a huff.

Naruto's eyes quickly scanned for Haku's new position. He wasn't a chakra sensor and Haku didn't possess any furyoku. The cerulean eyed shinobi wasn't even sure if you could track furyoku like you could chakra, so it was made harder to find the long black haired teen before he moved to a different ice mirror.

'Our only choice will be to wait for him to attack us and counter before he can reenter one of his mirrors.' Amidamaru informed Naruto. Naruto let out a sigh; it wasn't like him to just wait around for the enemy to attack but didn't have much of a choice, so he reluctantly nodded his head in agreement.

"Wow, the brat's actually being patient?" Tsunade teased with a shocked expression. "Color me shocked!"

"Hey!"

Haku watched the two Gennin, waiting to see if either would perform another surprise move, but besides both of them trying to determine which of the images was really him, neither did anything else. With little choice, knowing he would have to cancel his jutsu soon to conserve chakra, Haku began his attack once more this time attacking Naruto from behind in the hope of taking him out quickly and by surprise.

Sasuke was the first one to spot Haku, his Sharingan granting the raven haired boy the ability to see the other dark haired male exit one of his ice mirrors and throw a few senbon at Naruto's unprotected back. With a burst of chakra enhanced speed Sasuke moved to deflect the senbon and intercept the masked teen. Out of the corner of his eye Naruto noticed Sasuke dash at something behind him. Correctly guessing the cause Naruto spun himself around, slashing upward and unleashing another Celestial Slash.

Haku wasn't expecting for Naruto to suddenly turn around and release another slash of red energy that slammed into him and sent him crashing through the ice mirror he just came out of. The hit, loss of concentration, and the low amount of chakra he had left all resulted in the remaining mirrors shattering after he impacted with the first ice mirror and bounced across the unfinished bridge before coming to a rolling stop.

'Great job Amidamaru, I can take it from here.' Naruto thought to his Guardian Ghost before canceling the Spirit Unity causing Amidamaru to reform beside the blonde shinobi.

"Spirit Unity?" Kakashi asked.

"It will be explained." Shin said, getting a nod from the masked jonin.

"Very well Naruto." Amidamaru replied pleased with how well his partner performed under Spirit Unity after such a long time.

On the sidelines Sasuke watched on with a scowl on his face as he watched the class dobe beat their opponent when he couldn't. 'How is he so strong? Where is Naruto getting such power from?!' The last loyal Uchiha raged in his own mind.

Sasuke frowned, listening to his other's thought. 'Am I really that obsessed for power?' He couldn't help but question himself.

From where she stood Anna, though the mist obscured most of her view of the fight, knew what the end result was and was pleased with Naruto's victory over the ice user.

Naruto made his way towards the fallen Hunter-nin, as the masked shinobi slowly picked himself' off of the ground his mask cracked right down the middle. The whisker marked shinobi suddenly stopped though when Haku stood to his full height and his mask broke in two to reveal a face that Naruto recognized.

"You," Naruto muttered in disbelief.

Naruto sighed. Yeah, that was always a shock.

Haku gave the shocked younger boy a sorrowful smile. "Why are you hesitating Naruto? I'm out of chakra you should finish me off while you have the chance." The black haired boy said regretfully.

"What?!" Naruto said thoroughly confused.

"I've failed Zabuza-sama." Haku stated sadly. "He has no need for a broken tool, so please kill me." The Hyouton user pleaded.

"Why would you go so far for a guy like Zabuza?!" Naruto demanded instead.

"Do you remember what I said about precious people, Naruto?" Haku questioned the blonde shinobi, as Naruto thought back to the first time he met the effeminate looking boy.

Naruto clenched his fists in anger, angry at how Haku had sacrificed herself for Zabuza. "Damn it, Haku." He growled quietly.

Flashback

After a very late night of intense training, 'Heh wouldn't Anna be proud,' Naruto thought momentarily, the blonde Jinchuuriki woke up to the sight of the prettiest girl he had ever seen. Suddenly a shiver that spoke of his imminent demise went down Naruto's back. As it turned out the girl's, at least he looked like a girl to Naruto, name was Haku and she was gathering herbs to help a friend recover quicker to which Naruto offered to help her with.

"So," Haku began after gathering all the necessary herbs. "Naruto do you have someone that you consider precious?" He asked the younger boy.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Naruto asked him back, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

Haku smiled at the whisker marked boy before going into an explanation. "I believe that one is only truly strong when they fight to protect something they consider precious." Haku told him. "Do you have someone precious that you want to protect?" He asked again.

Naruto thought over Haku's question, but it didn't take long before the images of different people started to appear in his mind, all he would consider precious, most prominent of those that appeared in his mind was Anna. "Yeah I do," Naruto eventually answered with a fox like grin on his face.

Haku nodded his head once. "Good, then you will definitely become stronger in the future." Haku said turning around and beginning to walk away only to stop after a few steps and look back at Naruto over his shoulder. "By the way I'm a boy." Haku stated clearly before leaving.

"What?!" Naruto shouted, before gripping his head in frustration. "I CAN NEVER TELL IF SHE'S A BOY OR A GIRL! MAKE UP YOUR MIND!" He shouted to the sky. Everyone sweatdropped.

Shin grinned in amusement.

It took a while but eventually what Haku said registered in Naruto's mind.

"WHAT?!" Naruto's shout could be heard from miles around.

Far away a certain blonde itako felt vindicated, though she still planned to give the person she was searching for hell when they eventually met up.

Naruto whimpered. Even Kyuubi, inside him, felt a shiver of dread from that 'Anna' girl. She was a dangerous one.

End Flashback

Naruto nodded his head to indicate that he did remember.

"Zabuza-sama is the person I consider most precious to me." Haku informed the boy he saw so much of himself in.

"But why him?" Naruto enquired, still not seeing why Haku would go so far for Zabuza.

"Zabuza-sama saved me, not only my life but from my own loneliness as well. If not for him then I wouldn't be here." Haku said softly as he recalled his own past. "For the sake of the one who saved me and his dream I was willing to do anything."

With the battle between them over Anna had moved closer to get a clearer view of what was going on and had heard what Haku had just said. A wave of understanding washed over the normally indifferent girl, and by the look on Naruto's face and how he glanced over at her it seemed he noticed the similarities in Haku's reasons and how they met. 'He's…'

"But," Haku continued, "I failed to do what Zabuza-sama asked me to do and defeat you and your teammate. My usefulness to Zabuza-sama has come to an end, I'm a broken tool. I no longer have a reason to continue living." The ice user finished sadly.

"What kind of bullshit is that?!" Naruto shouted angrily. "Don't you have your own dreams you want to fulfill! Why are you willing to throw away your life after a single loss?!"

"My dream is to help Zabuza-sama achieve his dream; I can no longer do that." Haku said in a resigned tone.

"But you aren't some tool for him to throw away." Naruto argued, "You can have your own dreams separate from Zabuza. Live your own life!"

"I'm sorry Naruto." Haku replied with a shake of his head. "But I've already decided to end things here. All I ask is for you to carry out my wish."

'Damn it Haku! Why do you have to be so stubborn!' Naruto mentally shouted.

"Why the hell are we even arguing this?" Sasuke cut in, stepping in front of Naruto, as he pulled out a kunai. "He is an enemy if he wants to die then so be it!" Without a second thought the last loyal Uchiha threw the kunai aimed straight for Haku's heart.

Naruto glared heavily at Sasuke. The anger behind it enough to make his eyes flash red with Kyuubi's chakra, making the Uchiha sweat. He quickly moved away from the angry blonde.

Haku closed his eyes in silent acceptance only to snap them open a second later pull out a senbon and deflect the kunai at the last moment. "I'm sorry," Haku apologized, though who he was apologizing to and for what was a completely unclear. "But there is one final thing I must do for Zabuza-sama." He stated before forming an ice mirror with the little chakra he still possessed and stepping through it.

Naruto's mind raced as he tried to figure out where Haku had gone, his eyes widening when he came to one possible conclusion. "Damn it," Naruto muttered, clenching the bokken so tightly that it shook slightly in his strong grip. Turing in the direction that Kakashi and Zabuza were fighting Naruto took off channeling chakra into his legs to enhance his speed.

'I hope you make it, other me.' Naruto thought as he looked on, his anger gone for the meantime.

Kakashi's and Zabuza's fight was winding down to an end. Zabuza was being held in place by Kakashi's ninken, one arm rendered useless, while the Copy-nin held a ball of lightning in the palm of his hand.

"This is your end Zabuza." Kakashi said with a deadly seriousness.

Zabuza let out a mirthless chuckle. "You've said that once before, Kakashi." Zabuza pointed out, "Yet here I am."

"A mistake I'll be sure to correct right now." Kakashi replied, as he dashed at Zabuza and thrust his lighting covered fist at the former Kiri-nin, "Raikiri!"

"Ten bucks says Zabuza lives." Anko suddenly spoke up, raising a hand with a grin.

Asuma smirks. "I'm in. Put me down for 15."

Kakashi pouted, not that it could be seen with his facemask. "Must you doubt my skills?" He asked.

Anko shrugged as she piled up the money. "Just a gut feeling." She said.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes/eye at her. "Well then, 50 says my other kills Zabuza." He said, taking out the money. Anko grinned at the challenge.

"Alright then."

Gai smirked. "I TOO SHALL TAKE PART! 15 on my youthful rival!"

With the bets made, they turned back to the scene.

Several things happened at once in the span of very little time. First an ice mirror appeared beside Zabuza, which Haku stepped out of to stand between Kakashi and Zabuza, as he threw a senbon needle through the scroll that summoned the ninken dispelling the jutsu. Next was Naruto's sudden appearance and releasing a Celestial Slash, unconsciously channeling chakra along with furyoku into the bokken, the arc of energy a dark violet instead of red. The Celestial Slash impacted with Kakashi's Raikiri draining it of most of its power and diverting it from its intended path so that it hit Haku on the right side of his chest instead of his heart.

Kakashi's eye twitched, while a laughing Anko and Asuma collected their winnings. Gai sighed as he gave the two his cash. "So much for skills. Eh, Kakashi-chan!" Kakashi said nothing, just shooting a glare at his student, who chuckled sheepishly.

Initially Kakashi was surprised by Haku's sudden appearance and Naruto's interference. He wondered what had possessed his student to act as he did, but could tell that by Naruto's intervention that the black haired teen would live instead of being fatally wounded, as it stood the fake Hunter-nin would still need medical attention soon or he would die of blood loss.

"Hm; seems you served one final purpose Haku." Zabuza said, unconcerned for his subordinate's condition, grabbing Kubikiribōchō with his single still working arm.

"Damn you, you bastard!" Naruto shouted at A-Zabuza, not that the man could hear him.

"I'm glad," Haku managed to murmur his eyes starting to glaze over.

Kakashi's eyes widened in shock as Zabuza swung his zanbato prepared to cut through Haku to get to him. Without much delay the gray haired ninja grabbed ahold of Haku and jumped away. When Kakashi landed a short distance away the Copy-nin had more than a hint of disgust in his eyes for the rogue Kiri-nin. 'To think he would go so far just to win this battle.' Kakashi thought silently to himself.

Naruto snarled. These events were really getting on his nerves!

"Why did you do that?!" Naruto shouted at Zabuza incensed by the swordsman's actions. "Don't you care about Haku at all?"

"Please kid," Zabuza scoffed. "Haku is a tool to help me defeat my enemies. If he has to die so that can happen so be it, he knows what I expect of him." The wielder of Kubikiribōchō stated with a cold indifference.

"How can you say that?" Naruto muttered darkly. "You mean everything to Haku! He told me you saved his life as a kid. After all this time how can you think of him like some tool to be thrown away when it's no longer useful? Did everything you two went through mean absolutely nothing to you?!" The blonde shinobi demanded everyone's attention focused solely on him.

Anna watched Naruto intently a proud look in her eyes as she was once more reminded of one of the reasons she fell for the knuckleheaded, whisker marked, cerulean eyed boy, and made her confident in her decision for the future.

Anko, seeing and hearing the girl's thoughts, pursed her lips in thought. It would appear she was the only one to catch that.

"That's just how things are in this world brat." Zabuza replied, though there was a slight strain in his voice that only Kakashi and Anna picked up on. "The sooner you accept this fact of life the better chance you have of surviving in this world."

"No," Naruto responded shaking his head. "I refuse to accept that. You saved him, trained him, took care of him, and became Haku's family. I just can't believe that you did all that and still only see him as a tool." The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki denied, staring directly at Zabuza with a fire in his eyes. "If this world is really like you said then I'll just have to change it."

Shin, Tsunade, and Jiraiya smiled softly at the blonde, both theirs and A-Naruto as they had the same determined look.

"Do you really think a fresh out of the academy Gennin could accomplish something like changing the world?" Zabuza said incredulously. "How would you do it?"

"Someday, someday I'm going to be Hokage!" Naruto answered instantly and with a steely determination. "When that day comes I'll be strong enough to change things." The shinobi said surely. Though becoming Hokage wouldn't be the only factor in the future that would allow Naruto to make a difference in the world.

The shinobi picked that last thought up, and were surprise, wondering what else the alternate blonde sought.

Zabuza looked at Naruto unsure if the kid was being serious, while the brat had shown some surprising moves he didn't look like he had what was needed to become a Kage.

"As inspiring as this all is." Anna said, cutting in. "We have unwanted company." She said looking toward the unfinished side of the bridge.

All the shinobi, and Tazuna, turned their heads in the direction that Anna was looking to see that the mist had cleared enough to reveal Gato with a bunch of mercenaries standing behind him.

"Gato," Zabuza said disdainfully, eyeing the mercenaries carefully.

"Burn him!" Anko shouted with a fist in the air.

"Calm down Anko." Kurenai said.

"Neveeer!"

Gato a short man in a business suit had a sneer on his face as he spoke to Zabuza. "Some demon, I send you to kill one old man and you are all but beaten by a bunch of kids and their sensei. Heh, you're more like a baby demon." Gato said arrogantly sure that the mercenaries standing behind him were enough to keep him safe.

Zabuza nearly snarled at the short business mogul's insult. "Explain yourself Gato, what are you doing here?" The rogue Mist-nin ordered.

While Gato went on about his reasons for him betraying Zabuza, Kakashi was looking down at the raven haired boy in his arms and assessing his injury and treating it to the best of his ability. 'There that should do it.' Kakashi thought managing to momentarily stop the bleeding. 'He'll need to be properly treated later, but at least for now he won't bleed to death.' The Jounin finished contemplating with a sigh of relief.

Naruto also sighed in relief. "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei.

Kakashi nodded with an eye-smile. "Of course, Naruto.

Gato noticed Kakashi out of the corner of his eye after he got done talking to Zabuza. "So that little shit is still alive, huh?" Gato asked rhetorically a smirk plastered on his face. "Good I owe him for breaking my arm. I'm sure breaking his arms and legs before killing him will make us even."

Zabuza directed a large amount of killing intent at the midget business man for his threat. "Looks like we no longer have a reason to fight Kakashi." He stated factually.

"Looks that way," Kakashi said in agreement, as he stared down the mercenaries.

"Alright boys," Gato started banging his cane against the ground to draw attention to himself. "Kill all of them, and as a reward you can have the girls to do with as you please." He said much to the mercenaries cheering.

"Not going to happen." Naruto muttered angrily, dropping his bokken, and pulling out a kunai. In order to protect Anna, Naruto was prepared to kill whoever threatened her. Sakura too he guessed.

"I'm ignoring that last statement." Sakura deadpanned, as Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly at his counterpart's way of saying it.

"Listen brat Gato's mine, you got that?" Zabuza told the blonde shinobi making sure he understood it wasn't up for debate, as he grabbed his zanbato with his one good hand.

"Fine with me," Naruto replied indifferently, though he wished he could get his own hands on Gato for what he did to the Land of Waves.

"Naruto," Anna called to the blonde Jinchuuriki, causing him to perk up and look at her. "I expect you to defeat at least 25 of those thugs or I'll triple your training." The blonde itako said absolutely.

Naruto blinked with a dead look. "I don't know why...but I hope my other does get 25."

Naruto noticeably paled and broke into a cold sweat. Not even bothering to say anything back to Anna, the whisker marked shinobi focused his attention completely on the mercenaries across from him, as he formed a single hand sign, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled loudly, as in puffs of smoke ten Kage Bunshin were created. "You heard her." The cerulean eyed teen said to his clones each of them with a couple of kunai in hand.

Kakashi let a sigh, "Guess I don't have a choice but to join in too." He said in his customary lazy tone, as he created his own group of Kage Bunshin.

Refusing to wait another second Zabuza dashed at Gato Kubikiribōchō slung across his back.

Gato's eyes grew wide and fearful as he watched Zabuza quickly get closer, his image being overshadowed by that of a demon. "Ah! Stop him don't let him get any closer!" The businessman yelled in a panic, as he tried to put as many mercenaries between him and Zabuza as possible. The mercenaries tried to follow their employer's order but found their way impeded by a group of blonde and gray haired shinobi.

"Where the hell do you think you're going Gato?!" Zabuza shouted after cutting some mercenary that had got in his way across his chest.

"No, stay away!" Gato exclaimed fearfully, seeing that everyone who got too close to Zabuza had been quickly dispatched he resorted to begging. "Please spare me! I'll triple what I was going to pay you!" He pleaded as he reached the end of the bridge.

"To late Gato," Zabuza replied. "Die!" the rogue Kiri-nin said swinging Kubikiribōchō and decapitating Gato, his head landing on top of his neck. "You never should have crossed me." He stated with finality before kicking the corpse off of the bridge, the head rolling off after it, and then made his way through the crowd of mercenaries. Not one of them was even trying to stop him.

This far, the genin were used to the death, thought the academy students still had to have their eyes covered.

Everything was quiet for a moment, except for the sound of Sakura throwing up from the gruesome sight of Gato's death, before shouts of anger started to rise from the surviving mercenaries.

"Hey you just killed our meal ticket!"

"What are we going to do now?!"

"We'll just have to take our fill from the village."

"Let's go!"

Just as they all were about to make their way towards the village a single arrow came out of the mist and struck itself right in front of the mercenaries. Looking towards where the arrow came from they were surprised to see all the villagers of Wave armed to the teeth with whatever they could use as a weapon, and at the front stood Inari with a crossbow in hand.

"Alright, Inari!" Naruto cheered.

"If you want to get to the village," Inari started. "You'll have to get through us first." He stated, the villagers loudly voicing their agreement behind him.

"Inari," Tazuna murmured in amazement at seeing his grandson, daughter, and every person in the Land of Waves ready to defend their home.

"Well it's about time." The original Naruto said, much more lighthearted then before.

"Heh, don't you know that the hero usually arrives at the last second." Inari replied with a large grin, repeating Naruto's words from earlier.

"Don't forget about us." Kakashi said standing by his Kage Bunshin. Sasuke though injured, low on chakra, and a little tired was prepared to join in. "And I'm sure that Zabuza won't mind joining in." The Jounin said casually. Naruto and his clones ready to continue as well.

"I could work off some steam." Zabuza said a blood thirsty look in his eyes that spoke of the oncoming slaughter.

The surviving mercenaries froze in place, they were now completely outnumbered their own group dead, heavily injured, or unconscious. Having to face the shinobi and an entire village would most likely result in their deaths, so they did the smart thing for once in their lives and ran for it making their way toward the boat at the end of the bridge that had originally brought them. Some of them preferring to jump off the bridge rather than wait. Seeing the mercenaries retreating caused the villagers to erupt in a cheer celebrating the fact that they were finally free of Gato's tyranny. While the villagers were celebrating the shinobi gathered near Haku's injured form, Zabuza taking a close look at the black haired teen's injuries.

"Kakashi-sensei what do we do now?" Sakura asked, looking at Zabuza warily.

"Are you stupid or something?" Anna asked walking up to the group, stopping beside Naruto. "Don't answer that I already know the answer. With Gato dead there is no reason for Zabuza to be after the old drunk anymore." She said as if it were obvious.

"I already know my counterpart and her are not going to get along." Sakura said with a sigh.

"She's right Sakura our battle with Zabuza is over." Kakashi said pacifyingly in order to calm his most short tempered student, before turning a curious eye to the two blondes. "Though that leaves the question of who' you are Miss. Naruto, you seem to know her mind telling us who your friend is?" He finished by questioning his student.

Naruto scratched the back of his head in nervous embarrassment. "Uh, this is Anna Kyoyama and-" Naruto began.

"-And I'm not his friend. I'm his wife." Anna stated cutting in and causing Naruto to face palm at how she just came out and said that.

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

"...WHAT?!"

"Wife?!" Ino shouted.

"Not again!" Kiba shouted in jealousy. First Hilda, and now Anna, another cute blonde?! Why did all the good things happen to Naruto?!

Naruto was slack jawed, frozen in place. Like with Hilda, the idea of being married at a young age, was crazy to him.

Anko had a wide smile on her face, though it would twitch at times. Hinata was as still as a statue, her face a cold blank that would make her father proud, much to the worry of her team.

Asuma raised a brow as he took a suck of his cigarette. Blowing out a smoke, much to Kurenai's annoyance, he spoke. "Kid sure moves fast."

"WHAT?! HIS WIFE!" They all shouted at once, even Zabuza stopped looking at Haku over as he looked at the two blondes in surprise. With a shinobi's life span it wasn't unheard of for them to get married at a young age, but twelve seemed like an extreme even for them.

"Well I will be, eventually." Anna amended. "After Naruto keeps the promise he made to me." The blonde girl finished, giving Naruto a meaningful look that all but said that he would be keeping his promise.

Naruto sighed in relief. It looked like his other wasn't married yet. Though that brought up question of this 'promise' He made with Anna.

Naruto let out a mental sigh while thinking that Shikamaru was right and girls were troublesome, all the while knowing that if he said it out loud Anna would make his life hell.

Naruto felt the glares of the girls aimed at the back of his head, and gulped nervously. Blame Shikamaru, not him!

Shikamaru, feeling the glares also aimed at him, no doubt from Ino, sighed. 'Troublesome women.'

Now he would have to figure out a way to explain what Anna meant without revealing the existence of spirits, the tournament, or the fact that he was the first ninja to become a shaman, a person who could communicate with spirits and fight alongside them.

Now that caught the adults by surprise. "A Shaman? For a shinobi to also be a shaman? I've never heard of something like that." Asuma muttered, rubbing his chin. Shamans were a rare thing in the Elemental Nations. Even ninja monks that serve temples, weren't anywhere as good as shamans. They were still shinobis, and too in-tune to chakra. Shamans on the other hands, were connected immensely with spiritual energy and the spirit world. Many monks had tried to be in-tune with both sides, but were unsuccessful. For A-Naruto to be the first shinobi-shaman, was very surprising, and interesting.

Anna narrowed her eyes at Naruto. "I can still read your mind." Anna said quietly so none of the others could hear her.

Tsunade raised a brow. "Can she really read minds?" She asked, impressed by that.

"Sorry!" Naruto apologized immediately though he knew that it would be useless to apologize at this point and that Anna was going to make him suffer through her training regimen no matter what.

"How bad could Anna-san's training be?! I bet it is very youthful!" Lee shouted with fire in his eyes at the mention of training.

Shin chuckled mysteriously. "Oh, you'll see."

Though Kakashi and Zabuza didn't know what exactly Naruto was apologizing for they recognized the look Anna was giving Naruto as the one all women gave their boyfriend/fiancé/husband when they were in the doghouse and couldn't help but start praying for the kid.

The next day Haku's eyes opened groggily as he woke up in a room he didn't recognize. Sitting up in the bed he found himself in Haku grimaced in pain as his hand instinctively went to his right shoulder from the pain he felt from there.

"Easy Haku, don't push yourself." Zabuza's gruff voice said from off to the side. "If you move around too much you're going to end up opening your wounds." He warned.

Despite Zabuza's warning Haku's head instantly snapped toward the source of the voice to see his master leaning against the wall by a window, with Kubikiribōchō resting beside him. Besides a few bandages, more than the ones Zabuza usually wore to cover the lower part of his face, and the fact that he had his arm in a sling he looked relatively unharmed. "Zabuza-sama what happened? Where are we?" Haku asked, as he tried to stand only for Zabuza to make him lie back down.

"We're in the old bridge builder's home." Zabuza started to explain.

"But-" Haku started to say only for Zabuza to stop him.

"Gato double crossed us, he showed up at the bridge with a small army of mercenaries shortly after you passed out." The rogue Kiri-nin informed him. "With our contract terminated I teamed up with Kakashi and his students to deal with Gato."

Haku nodded his head in understanding, but there was something that he still needed to know. "Zabuza-sama, how am I…" The black haired teen trailed off at the end, unable to finish his question.

Though left unfinished Zabuza knew what Haku was going to ask. "You have the blonde brat to thank for that. Whatever that jutsu he used was, it took the brunt of Kakashi's attack and redirected it towards your shoulder." Zabuza informed him, while gesturing to his wounded shoulder.

"Naruto," Haku mumbled, a bit surprised that he owed the younger boy his life, especially considering he had asked him to take it earlier.

Naruto smiled, glad A-Haku was alright.

"Yeah him," Zabuza said with a far off look appearing in his eyes at the blue eyed boy's name before he pushed off the wall. "I'll bring you some food in a second." The rogue Jounin told him. "Later Kakashi and I will be raiding Gato's compound, his students will be staying behind to look after the bridge builder, be sure to get plenty of rest." He finished.

"Understood Zabuza-sama," Haku replied.

Outside Anna was proving to be a true slave driver when it came to training, as Naruto knew very well and was unable to do anything about it. Not even complain in his' own head!

"Come on Naruto after this you still have to do 300 squats and a 30 mile run around the island." Anna told her blonde fiancé, as she watched him do pushups from under the shade of a nearby tree.

Naruto paled white at that, along with the other genin...except for Lee, who was cheering and shouting about Youth.

Asuma chuckled with a sweatdrop. "Wow...girl really is a slave driver. She might give Gai a run for his money."

Kurenai also sweated at the intense workout the girl was putting her 'fiancé' through. "Well, we've seen that she has his best interest at heart. Though I wonder what she was pushing him so hard for." She questioned, getting shrugs.

"YOSH! Such youthful spirit! Anna-san's Flames of Youth burn bright! We must follow her example after this! Team Gai! We will increase our training!" Gai shouted, making Tenten and Neji pale hard at that, while Lee gave his sensei a salute, his eyes teary with happiness.

"Yes Gai-sensei!"

'NOOOO!' The other two of Team Gai mentally shouted in horror.

"254…255…256… This is insane!" Naruto said between gasps.

"Ehh! She wants me to do all that?! She's insane!" Naruto shouted, fearful of the torture his counterpart was going though.

Lee gave Naruto a thumbs up, along with a blinding smile. "YOSH! Naruto-kun! You're Flames of Youth blaze bright! We must train together one day!"

"Not happening, Bushy Brow!" No way he was getting involved in their insane training!

"Quit complaining." Anna replied indifferently. "I told you I would triple your training if you failed to defeat at least 25 of those thugs."

"WHAT! I definitely beat more than 25 of those assholes!"

"Language, Naruto!" Shizune scolded the blonde.

"But I beat like 34 of them." Naruto replied without stopping or losing count of the pushups he was doing. If he lost count, then Anna would make him start all over.

"Wrong your clones beat 34, you only managed to defeat 17 of them." Anna shot back.

"She counted!" Kiba asked in shock.

Naruto's jaw dropped, opening and closing, but no words came out. Kakashi sweatdropped. "Talk about seeing the loophole."

"Now speed it up before I decide to add another 100." Hearing Anna's threat instantly caused Naruto to speed up.

"She's a monster!" Naruto shouted, flinching back from the scene. 'She's scarier than an angry Sakura and Baa-chan, and she's not even doing anything!'

A few minutes later Naruto was lying on the ground completely exhausted after getting done performing his last pushup.

"Alright you can rest for 5 minutes before you get back to training." Anna said, cutting the blonde shaman a small break.

"SHE'S SO YOUTHFUL!" Lee shouted.

Gai nodded, joining his precious student. "YOU ARE RIGHT, LEE! HER FORM SCREAMS YOUTH! WE MUST TRAIN TO ONE DAY MATCH HER YOUTHFULNESS!"

Lee looked at his teacher with wet eyes. "You are so wise, Gai-sensei!"

"LEE!'

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!'

"GAI-SENSEI!"

BAM!

"Seriously, that gets really annoying." Shin said, a large mallet laid on his shoulder, while the green spandex duo laid on the ground, with large, smocking bumps.

Sasuke and Sakura had also been watching their teammate train and now that he was resting the pink haired kunoichi tentatively approached the blonde. Something Anna immediately took note of and watched carefully, she never liked the color pink especially when it was a girl's hair color. "Hey, Naruto, is that girl really your girlfriend?" She asked him. It was the question at the forefront of her mind since she just couldn't see anyone wanting to actually date the blonde shinobi. "I mean she sure doesn't act like it. This training she is putting you through alone is ridiculous."

"Anna's not my girlfriend." Naruto said already recovering, one of the few benefits of being a Jinchuuriki. "She's my fiancée." He corrected her obviously. Old man Hokage made sure he understood there was a big difference between a girlfriend and a fiancé when he was younger.

Naruto raised a brow. "There's a difference?" He asked. Never being in that kind of relationship before, but secretly wanting to, he didn't know of the difference. Instantly, Jiraiya appeared by his student's side, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

"Yes, there is. You see, by idiotic student, a girlfriend, is a young female to which you form a loving, thought at times temporary, relationship with, but may or may not break off. A fiancé, however, is a permanent pre-marriage, where you are to be stuck one woman for the rest of your life. Never again to be given the joy of having interaction and fun with other women!"

BAM!

"Don't put such thoughts in his head, you perv!" An angry Tsunade shouted at her knocked out pervert of a teammate. Sighing, she placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, and lead him away, to explain to him the real difference.

"Yeah about that," Sakura continued, not at all appeased by Naruto's answer. "Why is she your fiancée you didn't explain that?"

"It's complicated." Naruto replied uneasily avoiding direct eye contact with the green eyed girl.

"You said that yesterday." Sakura persisted. "But if an idiot' like you thinks it's complicated then it's probably not."

Sakura groaned, before sighing. The more she would see her counterparts badmouth Naruto, the guiltier she felt about the way she had treated him in the past. She wanted to make it up to him. So far, she only liked the first counterpart she saw, the one that was actually nice to Naruto. She wondered if she will see more of that kind. (AN: Seriously, apart from a few I know, is there any other Nice Sakura fics? C'mon people, don't be hating!)

Anna glared at the pinkette for the insult toward her fiancé. Sure she knew that Naruto wasn't some genius prodigy, but only she was allowed to insult him. Naruto was also growing frustrated with the Sakura's pestering.

"To put it simply," Naruto said, a bit of an edge in his voice. "After saving her I promised after I won something I would marry her." The blonde shinobi finally told her.

Kiba raised a brow. "Wonder what he saved her from?"

Shikamari hummed. "And there was that thing about winning something. Wonder what that is?"

At that moment, Tsunade and a flustered Naruto returned. Tsunade had taken the time to not only explain the difference between a girlfriend and fiancée, but also some of the duties a husband-to-be should follow. Let's just say, some of the 'duties' make him not want to be in a room alone with a female for some time.

Sakura noted the change in Naruto's tone and wisely decided not to push it, but there was one final thing she wanted to ask. "Ok, but if you had a fiancé then why did you ask me out on all those dates all of the time?" Sakura questioned him. "I never figured you as the kind of guy who would cheat on his fiancé." She told him bluntly.

Everything suddenly became deathly silent and Naruto began to noticeably sweat, sweat that had nothing to do with the training he was doing before and shake fearfully.

Everyone shivered, a sudden gust of cold wind passing through them.

"Eh?!" Naruto gasped, catching the glare in Anna's eyes, and paled. "Sakura-chan! Why'd you have to betray me like that?!" His teammate just sacrificed him to the monster that was Anna!

Sakura chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head, with her tongue out.

"Naruto, sweetie, what is she talking about?" Anna asked moving towards them, a false politeness in his voice.

All male genin and academy students, quickly hid behind their teachers, the primal instinct of detecting female fury activating.

Naruto shook his hands wildly. "It's a misunderstanding!" Naruto said desperately. "I asked Sakura to get ramen with me, so we could hang out as teammates. I never said it was a date. I would invite Sasuke a couple of times as well." He told her honestly hoping that Anna would believe him. Now that Sakura thought about it, as she slowly backed away, Naruto never even mentioned the word date when he asked, it was just something she automatically assumed whenever he asked.

'Well, that's another difference between the two Narutos.' Everyone thought, as their Naruto used to constantly ask Sakura out almost constantly before.

Anna stared Naruto down with narrowed eyes. She knew he was telling the truth, but she had to make it absolutely clear she would make him suffer a painful death if he even thought about cheating on her. "Alright breaks over slacker get back to work." Anna ordered him.

"What?! But it hasn't been 5 minutes yet." Naruto complained.

"Stop whining you have a 40 mile run waiting for you before doing 450 squats." Anna told him coldly.

"Why do I suddenly have to run more miles and squats than before?!" Naruto asked loudly.

"Do you want me to make it more?" Anna asked him back.

"So cold!"

Anko grinned, liking Anna's dominance in her and A-Naruto's relationship. "I LOVE that girl!"

Naruto didn't even think about it for a second before he was up and already running. "No Anna!" The blonde shinobi replied.

"Good," Anna muttered as she walked back into the house, already planning to send some ghosts to keep an eye on her blue eyed fiancé to make sure he didn't slack off. "Which reminds me," The blonde girl said out loud. "I expect you to go with him Amidamaru." She said looking to her right at empty space before Amidamaru appeared right where she was looking.

"Of course Anna," Amidamaru answered before disappearing once more to follow after his shaman, not wanting to incur the blonde itako's wrath.

Anko laughed. "Even ghosts are scared of her!"

A few days later saw the bridge completed and everyone saying their goodbyes to the people of Wave.

Kiba groaned. "Finally we finished that mission fast! I'm getting sick of seeing the same thing over and over again! If we go to a world and have to see Wave again, can we just skip it?" He asked Shin. The other shinobi nodded in agreement (along with the audience behind the fourth wall) getting tired of constantly.

Shin tapped his chin in thought. Humming, he shrugged. "Maybe. If we appear on the Bridge again, I'll just give a small recap. Don't worry, soon we'll hit the fun worlds."

Some sighing in relief, others groaning, the group just turned back to the scene, hoping they can just leave Wave and move on.

"Thank you everyone," Tazuna said to the group of Konoha shinobi, Anna, Haku, and Zabuza, though the last three the bridge builder was a little skittish around. Zabuza and Haku for obvious reasons and Anna for different reasons entirely, "Without you this bridge would never have been finished and we would have never been freed of Gato."

Naruto smirked, puffing his chest out, hands on his sides. "Yep, we're awesome." He said, Sakura and Sasuke smiling/smirking in agreement, allowing a moment of pride to fill them. Everyone rolled their eyes.

"No thanks necessary Tazuna, we were simply carrying out our mission." Kakashi said casually while waving his hand back and forth lazily. "We will bill you for the upgrade in the mission later." He finished.

Kakashi chuckled with a glint in his eyes. The old man thought he could fool him and only give C-rank mission pay? After all the crap he suffered through?! Hell no! He had taken great guilty pleasure in making the man pay. Sure most of the pay came from the income taken from Gato's bank, but still. Spoils of war.

"Right," Tazuna replied awkwardly.

"Tazuna," Anna said stepping forward.

"Yes, Miss Anna?" Tazuna replied, standing at attention a bit at the sound of the dark eyed girl's voice. Over the last few days the old drunk had learned what tended to happen to those who crossed her.

"That's how scary she is." Naruto muttered. Anna was a dangerous girl. Maybe even more than Hilda. Pity his counterpart for being engaged with her. Pity him.

"I want to know if you do renovations and restorations." Anna enquired.

"Well it is not my specialty but I can do it." Tazuna answered, even if he had never done it before Tazuna was prepared to learn, and fast, if it meant not displeasing the blonde girl.

"Good there is something I will need restored and renovated back in Konoha." Anna informed the man. "You can have a few days to settle things here before I see you in Konoha." The way she said it left no room for argument.

Naruto raised a brow. "Wonder what she wants renovated." He questioned.

"Right," Tazuna agreed hurriedly.

While Anna and Tazuna were talking Naruto and Inari were saying their respective goodbyes, the little black haired boy doing his best not to cry, "Come on Inari what's with the tears?" Naruto asked softly.

"I-I can't help it." Inari replied, losing his fight to hold back his tears. "Great now you're going to make fun of me and call me a cry baby." He said trying to wipe away his tears.

"What are you talking about," Naruto said, putting a hand on top of Inari's head and rubbing his head messing with his hair. "It's okay to cry every once in a while, especially when your happy, as long as it's not the only thing you do." He told the younger boy with a grin.

Naruto smirked at the young Inari. It's been a long while since he last saw him and his family. He wondered how they'd been. Maybe if he was lucky, he could get a mission there again and visit them.

Meanwhile, Konohamaru saw the interaction between his boss and the other kid, and puffed his cheeks in jealousy. Naruto was his boss and aniki! Who did this guy think he was?!

Shin saw this, and chuckled. If Konohamaru and Inari ever met, that would prove to be interesting.

"Really?" Inari asked looking up at Naruto through tear filled eyes.

"Yeah," Naruto responded reassuringly. At that point Kakashi said that they were heading out. "Well goodbye Inari, take care of your mom and grandpa." The blonde shinobi said, moving beside Anna as they all started to leave.

"Bye Naruto remember to visit us!" Inari shouted to the whisker marked shaman's retreating form.

"You bet!" Naruto called back, waving his hand over his shoulder. "You can try visiting too when your grandpa is in Konoha."

As they watched the shinobi and Anna leave one citizen of Wave brought up one important fact.

"Hey we still have to name the bridge." A villager voiced.

"That's right," Tazuna said in realization, as he gained a thoughtful look on his face as he stared at one shinobi in particular, "How about the Great Naruto Bridge?" The old man suggested, "In honor of the shinobi that gave Inari back his courage and who in turn gave us all the courage to make this day possible, and proved that there are such things as heroes." 'Not to mention anyone who can handle that girl is simply amazing.' Tazuna thought with a shiver.

"Wait, WHAT?!" Naruto shouted in surprise. This was the first he was hearing about this. (The first time it was mentioned, he was unconscious.)

Shin smirked at him. "And it happened in your world too, kid. You inspired Inari to get up his ass and stand up to Gaki, who then got the whole village to take a stand as well. As such, they named the bridge after you."

Naruto stared at him in shock, mouth agape, while the group cheered for him, Iruka ruffling his hair. Slowly, a smile grew on his face. A real smile. One of true happiness. Shin and Anko saw this, and smiled as well. Anko thought the smile looked great on him

Tazuna's suggestion was meet a unanimous cheer from the crowd and it was agreed that, that was an excellent name.

After crossing the bridge and walking for half an hour Zabuza called everyone to a stop.

"This is where we go our separate ways." Zabuza informed the group, much to Sakura's relief.

"If you don't mind me asking what will you do now?" Kakashi asked his fellow masked ninja.

"I've been thinking of going back to Kiri and joining up with the resistance group." Zabuza answered him uncaringly. Though afraid of returning back to the Land of Water, and sad to be saying goodbye to the friend he made in Naruto over the course of the last few days, Haku informed his master that he was ready to follow him anywhere. "You're not coming with me Haku." Zabuza told the ice user.

"What?" Haku asked confused.

The group was also surprised, wondering where the man was going with this. The grownups however had an idea...

"It took me a while, but I've finally realized what the blonde brat said was true." Zabuza stated, ignoring Naruto's shout of indignation at being called a brat. "All this time I wasn't training you to be a tool. I trained you to be my successor." The Mist Jounin said seriously causing Haku's eyes to widen in shock. "I want to pass Kubikiribōchō to you when you've become strong enough, but that is never going to happen if all you do is follow me around, so this is where we part ways as well. Go with Kakashi to Konoha, since you were never officially a ninja for Kirigakure you should have no problem joining their ranks. Grow strong Haku because the next time we meet we'll see if you're deserving of my sword and I won't be holding back when that day comes." Zabuza told his apprentice.

Naruto's eyes widened. Haku was going with the Konoha group. He didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand, his friend could be seen more. However, there was question on Haku's feelings in being separated by someone so close to him. He knew how loyal Haku was to Zabuza, and being told to separate for a time, would sadden the ice user.

"I, I understand Zabuza-sama." Haku said the sadness of being separated from his father-figure clearly evident in his voice.

Zabuza turned his attention away from his student to look at Naruto. "Naruto," Zabuza started once more, using Naruto's name for the first time. "I don't know if you will be able to keep your word to change this world, but I'm looking forward to seeing what you accomplish." He finished before turning around and jumping into the trees disappearing from the line of sight almost immediately.

"We should continue making our way to Konoha." Haku said after a moment of silence, the others agree and hurrying back to the Leaf Village, Naruto unexpectedly picking Anna up and carrying her on his back to speed up the process.

"I get the feeling my other is going to regret doing that." Naruto muttered as the scene faded away.

Asuma rubbed his chin. "This could be interesting. To see the first shaman/shinobi ever..." He said, the other jonin nodding in agreement, Gai shouted about how youthful it would be.

Jiraiya hummed. "That still brings up questions. Like how Naruto knows Anna. What was this 'tournament' business about? And how is A-Naruto able to see spirit?" He questioned, with Tsunade nodding in agreement.

"All your questions will be answered next scene." Shin told them. Nodding, everyone looked back at scene as it began to start.

End of chapter!

It took a LONG while, but we finally got to the third story! Damn, 25 chapters, and we JUST got to the third story! And we still have HUNDREDS to go through! I can tell you that by the time we make it to the half-way point, we will be in the 100s chapter.

Sorry for taking so long to post. I was working on the next chapter of Superior Spider (no I haven't finished it); I want to finish the first part of the story (it being the introduction chapters). By far, there are only TWO more chapters left. Maybe three. Don't know.

After I finish with that, I will shift my focus on another story. It is between Ashurado no Kami or A pirate's life for me as those are my top 2 most demanded stories. It will be a 5-chapter update for all stories (minus this one, as it comes and goes). So after 5 chapters, I will again shift my focus.

So decide, debate, and fight over amongst yourselves which it will be.

And as agreed, I have posted the list of stories I am either going to do, or debating on doing it, in my profile, along with the summaries. So check them out to see what's up ahead. It is also updatable, so I might or might not add stories every week.

And be sure to follow my Twitter to be kept up-to-date on my events and chapter progress!

Also, I start class next week. It is Monday through friday, every month for the next six months. So it may or may not make updates slower. Sorry about that.

That's all for now! Ja ne!