Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, One Punch Man, or any other Anime/Game/Movie referenced to in this fanfiction

Naruto: First of his Kind

Chapter Nine: The Battle on the Bridge Begins

"Talking"

Thinking

"Shouting" - Emphasized Word - Jutsu

Naruto opened his eyes and looked around, seeing he was still on the bed. It had been a couple of days since that little encounter with Sasuke in the forest. The day before, Kakashi-sensei had explained to them his theory that Zabuza; and Naruto had finally learned the name of the guy too; was still alive and would be back sometime that week to continue where they left off, so he was going to restart their training.

He knew what that meant, Sasuke would get preferential treatment, while he and Sakura were left to their own devices for the most part. Not that Naruto had any problem with that particular arrangement, it was just an interesting development. He finished dressing up in his usual attire and walked down to the living room of Tsunami's home, where the rest of his team was already waiting.

He noticed Sasuke was already there, as was Kakashi, but Sakura seemed to be missing, probably still asleep. He couldn't really hold it against the girl, they weren't given specific times to present themselves, so each could do what they felt like.

"Sensei...I have been thinking and haven't found a solution to a problem that's presented itself to me…" He heard Sasuke say, and turned his head to his pupil, noticing that Kakashi didn't do the same, continuing to eat and read from that orange book of his. "I can't continue with part of the training regimen you have arranged for me, as this village is much smaller in size than Konoha, so running laps around it wouldn't be as effective...should I still do it? Do I do something else to compensate? What should I do, sensei?"

Naruto chuckled good naturedly and turned his attention to the food, beginning to eat some as he thought about Sasuke's question. It was true that Wave was that much smaller than Konoha, but it would still help his speed training, but on the other hand so would sparring with him...after a moment's thought Naruto, who gulped the bit of food he had in his mouth, turned his attention back to Sasuke.

"It's simple, really. You'll be sparring with me daily until we go back to Konoha, that should compensate for the lack of running, as I will make you use your maximum speed if you even want to stand a chance." He said simply and went back to eating. They ate in silence for a while before Sakura made herself known by muttering an apology before sitting down next to Sasuke and eating something herself.

"Okay...now that everyone is here, I can tell you what we'll be doing for today. We'll be going into the forest and I'm going to have you all climbing trees...without the use of your hands." He explained, to the shock of absolutely no one present. Naruto already knew about such a training method, and he made sure Sasuke knew it too during their time together. From the lack of reaction, he assumed Sakura knew about it in some way or another, so they all just stared at the Jonin and he sighed at the lack of reaction.

"Just meet me at the forest behind the house after breakfast." He said simply and went back to his book.

Naruto, with Sasuke and Sakura at each side, walked into the forest and the blond couldn't help the sigh that escaped his lips as he stood there waiting for his sensei. He already knew this exercise, he wasn't entirely sure why he was participating in this big farce of a training, but he was the man's Genin, and as such was lower in the hierarchy, so he would comply.

"Ah, I see you're all here...good." Kakashi said, looking at the gathered Genin for a moment before he turned to one tree and began walking toward it, sticking to it by channeling chakra into his feet. Naruto sighed, everyone had seen him stand on water during his fight with Zabuza, hadn't they? Water Walking was a more advanced technique, and he had mastered that.

The Jonin explained to them what he wanted them to do for the training and left them to their own devices, even Sasuke stayed this time around, meaning he hadn't taught the boy Tree Climbing yet. He wondered what they were wasting their time on if he couldn't even teach the basics...but he let it all slide, it wasn't his problem, besides Sasuke was showing progress with his training, and Sakura seemed to have finally gotten herself out of whatever world she'd been living and had shown some progress herself.

"So you want us to do this" Naruto said as he began walking up the tree without problem, before walking back down and looking at his Jonin-sensei for confirmation. The man just looked at him for a while before sighing and nodding. "Well myself and Sasuke already know that exercise, so we'll be training separately...if that's okay with you, sensei?"

Naruto didn't want to cause problems with the man, he was sure Kakashi was one of the strongest ninja in Konoha, but the fact that he surpassed that without even trying showed how much he'd slacked in training. At least that reasoning made sense to Naruto, as in his mind anyone could achieve what he had if they took their training seriously.

"Very well...just make sure you aren't late for lunch, Sasuke has training after that." Kakashi said and Naruto nodded, walking away with Sasuke following close behind, leaving Sakura to her own devices, as even Kakashi left after that altercation.

He dodged and weaved around Sasuke's punches and kicks. He had told the Uchiha that his training for the day would be trying to land a hit on him. He used enough speed where Sasuke could still keep up, but the boy seemed to be distracted as his normally near flawless fighting style felt sluggish.

"Something bothering you, Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he dodged yet another attempt from his pupil, who stopped a moment and looked at him, as if debating with himself if he should explain the situation or not.

"It's our talk from yesterday, sensei. It's been on my mind as of late, and I find myself rethinking some things about my choices...for example, you are the strongest person I know, and I know for a fact that you didn't have the best time growing up, but you still fight to protect people instead of revenge. And then there's me...my brother was always a kind person and cared about everyone in our family…"

"But even before then my mindset was never on protecting other, it was on being strong for the sake of strength...and after the talks I had yesterday, with you and with Haku...I feel like that's...wrong."

Naruto could see it troubled him on some level, the talk he'd had the day before with this Haku person, and even though he didn't really know what was said, from his question he could summarize it was about precious people mostly. "Sasuke...there's really nothing I can say that can change what you feel, as your emotions you have to sort out yourself, but I can offer some advice."

"Don't let your decisions in the past bother you. You wanted to be strong for the sake of being strong...that's fine, all you really need is the drive and you'll become stronger. Having precious people to anchor yourself to doesn't make you stronger by itself...it just drives you further, makes you train twice as hard, makes you understand that your strength is not just yours. And -" Naruto looked to his pupil as he spoke, seeing he had his attention entirely on him...well, except when he looked down to write down what Naruto was saying. The blond sweatdropped and took a breath.

"...what are you doing, Sasuke?" His voice showed how confused he was, and he took a step toward the Uchiha to try and see what he was writing, catching a glimpse of a few words, like Precious, and Drive, before Sasuke looked up and took the notebook out of his view range.

"Nothing sensei, just taking notes on the wisdom you're sharing with me." Naruto facefaulted and as he recomposed himself he couldn't help the sgh that escaped his lips, even though there was a smile on his face.

"I see...well, that was the gist of it." He said as a finish to his previous speech, not really bothering to continue anymore. He knew Sasuke was paying complete attention to what was being said, but that little interaction had gotten the inspiration right out of him, and he was sure he couldn't continue his speech in a convincing manner.

"Now then, as you have your own thinking to do, let's have you run a few laps around the village, I'll send a clone to keep you company" The part about keeping him safe was left unsaid. Sasuke nodded and turned around, shooting in a direction to begin his training, and Naruto quickly made a Kage Bunshin to follow the dark haired teen.

"Now, what do I do…" he spoke to himself, before Kakashi dropped down near him and looked at him seriously.

"Why do you train him?" He heard Kakashi ask and turned his attention fully to the man. He thought about it for a moment, truly, why did he accept training Sasuke in the first place? That was when he remembered the mission Jiji had put him on, and his palmed his face as he groaned.

"I first accepted training him because it was a mission from Jiji, but we became friends and I honestly forgot all about it...I haven't even reported back to Jiji on the progress he's been making...thanks for reminding me, sensei, I need to tell Sasuke about this." He said and moved away from Kakashi, leaving a confused Kakashi behind and jogging toward Sasuke to catch him while he was still close by.

It wasn't long after he parted company with Kakashi that he came upon Sasuke who was running at his highest speed around Wave. Naruto fell in stride with his pupil, dismissing the Kage Bunshin as he did so and turned his attention to Sasuke.

"Ne...Sasuke, we need to talk." He said, and the only sign that the other boy acknowledged his words was the grunt that accompanied his words. "Thing is, I kinda forgot about it during our training, or else I'd have said this sooner, but Jiji gave me a mission some time ago...that mission, in case you're wondering, was to keep an eye on the last Uchiha, to ensure he didn't go rogue." Naruto saw that Sasuke frowned at his revelation, but continued his run, not saying anything.

"I didn't know you when I accepted the mission, and if we had the relationship we have now beforehand I would have said no to the mission." Naruto sighed, still no answer, although the frown was gone from his face now. They continued going in an uncomfortable silence until Sasuke stopped running momentarily and turned his attention to Naruto.

"Why tell me any of this? You could easily maintain our agreement and report back to the Hokage without my knowledge of any of it...so why possibly ruin it by revealing the Hokage's intention to me?" Naruto looked at Sasuke for a moment before he answered.

"Well, to be honest it's a personal thing. You're my pupil, and although you may consider it wrong, in my mind a pupil is supposed to be able to trust their master, and keeping secrets, especially those that concern said pupil, is not the way to earn said trust. I will not be keeping secrets from my precious people." Sasuke's eyes widened at the revelation and he seemed to think for a long few minutes, before his attention went back to the path ahead of them and he shot onward, running at his fastest speed.

"Does that mean you tell everything to Anko-san?" Sasuke asked as he ran, with Naruto easily keeping up with him at an obviously light pace. "Even highly sensitive information?"

Naruto grinned at the mention of Anko-chan and nodded. "Yep! I tell her everything, like I said, no secrets are kept...and she tells me everything in return. The highly sensitive information bit we promise each other not to divulge to anyone, ever." Naruto explained, in simple terms, how he dealt with secrets around Anko-chan. There was nothing about him and his missions that she didn't know about...in a way she knew more about him than even the old man did.

In a much more comfortable silence, the duo continued the laps around the village of Wave, with Naruto looking out toward the sea, and Sasuke keeping his sight on the road ahead the whole time.

And thus did the days pass, Naruto and Sasuke would train together during the morning, and in the afternoon, Naruto would stay with the bridge builder while he continued the construction of the bridge that connected Wave to Konoha. Sakura would disappear sometime after lunch and only came back close to the time they went to bed, exhausted but with a smile on her face.

It was the morning of the first day of the weekend, and Naruto had opted to sleep in that day. He woke up late in the morning, stretching as he yawned and scratched his hair lazily. He got up and got dressed and was about to leave to go join his team on the bridge, when he heard a yell coming from outside the house.

He jumped out the window and came to the sight of two thugs harassing Tsunami, one of them even had Inari in his clutches threatening to slit the boy's throat unless she did as they told her. He made himself known as he ran at the one holding Inari hostage, and quickly took the boy from the man's grasp, leaving him holding onto nothing, before he came to the be in front of the other one, a bored look on his face.

"These people are being protected by us, you really shouldn't have threatened them." He said simply before launching a punch at the man's face with some strength behind it, making the man's head explode on contact, leaving his body to wobble in place for a few seconds before it fell.

He turned his attention to the second thug, who had a sword in his hand, and saw the man tremble in place for a moment before he let go of the katana and began running away from Naruto, yelling about monsters.

"You okay?" He turned his head to look at Tsunami, who had wide eyes at the destructive power of one punch from the blond. It took her a moment to process what he'd said apparently because a minute later she nodded her head and took Inari into the house with her, leaving Naruto on his own, and he decided to go to the bridge to see what his team was up to.

Sasuke, along with Kakashi and Sakura, were accompanying Tazuna to the incomplete bridge. They weren't sure, but it had been a week since the last confrontation with the missing-nin, and they believed he would make an appearance soon. As they came closer to the bridge, they saw some of the workers running away, mentioning something about a demon killing people off.

That put all four on edge. It was happening. Sasuke for his part was sort of excited to test his new strength against an opponent other than his master. He liked sparring with Naruto, but he always knew the outcome of that, he wanted to really test his abilities. They walked into the bridge just in time to see Zabuza cleaving another one of the workers in two, before shouldering the massive blade and turning his attention to them.

"Where is that blond bastard? I have unfinished business with him." The man growled out, and Sasuke had to hold back a snort. Right...because getting knocked out once isn't enough. Sasuke thought as he watched the second person.

It was the masked ninja Naruto had described before, but something felt familiar about that person, he just couldn't quite place it. He watched the masked nin, paying little attention to what was said between Kakashi and Zabuza, only hearing something about him being said by Zabuza.

"The black haired one is shaking like a branch on the wind." The missing-nin mocked and Sasuke looked down to his hands to see that indeed he was shaking, but he wasn't afraid. No, instead he was excited, it was his first real battle, nothing like that little encounter when they first left Konoha, that had been too easy, this time he knew he was up against strong enemies.

Zabuza then ordered his companion to attack, and attack he did, coming at speeds he knew Sakura wouldn't be able to keep up with, the masked ninja was only stopped when Sasuke, having drawn a kunai from his holster, rat at him and swung his weapon, only to be blocked by a senbon.

He kept the pressure on, attacking again and again, but every time he went on the offensive he was blocked; with some difficulty, he noted. They were in another struggle when the masked nin spoke for the first time and he swore he recognized that voice.

"I don't want to have to kill you...but you won't give up either, will you?" Sasuke answered that with an incredulous look that was understood for what it meant, as a moment later the masked nin continued. "While it's very impressive that you can keep up, I have two advantages over you...the first being the water around us, and the second being that I occupied one of your arms...you'll now only be able to run from my attacks."

After that the ninja began doing one handed seals, something he had never even heard of before, and as the chain of seals ended, from the water around him, senbon needles rose and came at him, causing the last Uchiha to dodge away from the enemy, giving the masked ninja some space.

"Time for me to go on offensive, I believe." Sasuke announced before launching forward and drawing another kunai from the holster so now he was dual-wielding them. He went for a downward slash but was dodged, and that much he had guessed would happen, so he went with the momentum and turned, bringing the other kunai to bear. This time he was blocked, so he continued his assault, he went for a low kick to get his opponent off balance, but the enemy jumped over his kick, and he smirked as he finished spinning with the momentum of the kick and brought his leg up for a kick to the enemy's chest, causing them to be sent flying back toward Zabuza.

Zabuza and Kakashi exchanged some words, he wasn't really listening, his whole attention was on the masked nin and their fight, he wanted to continue it, he hadn't felt this rush in...ever! After they finished speaking among themselves, Sasuke's eyes widened as Zabuza called for his companion.

"Haku...do you realize? At this rate we'll be driven back." The man said, and Sasuke couldn't believe his ears, that was Haku, the kind girl he met in the woods that day? He recalled their conversation, and how he hadn't asked much about her then, and he cursed himself in his mind, how could he have been so stupid? He should have known!

He had been distracted by his inner raving, he missed what they spoke next, but he didn't miss the many ice mirrors suddenly surrounding him, and Haku actually entering one of said mirrors. The next moment he was hit multiple times in the span of a few seconds. Her speed nearly tripled using those mirrors! She could barely keep up with him before but now he was the one on the defensive.

AN: And that's another one down. Woot! \o Ahem Anyways, I said on that notice I put out some days back I would be taking a few days (probably a week) to myself to get myself together to continue writing, given I just lost my PC, but some things happened irl and I needed something to keep me occupied or I'd go freaking insane lol Anyway, as you can see this chapter I'm still trying to get fighting scenes to work xD it's a work in progress so please be gentle on the reviews .

Speaking of reviews, we got some! Let's see what we have shall we?

Dr1zzy: =D Thanks for the review

Elven Boy 1111: Thanks! Hope you continue to like the story as it progresses.

Archangel Xireon Chaos God: LMAO Go random!

HeroLuffy726: Yeah, I see it...my bad on that one, I completely forgot about that cost for using Izanagi (I was going from what I remembered off the top of my head, should have researched more about it before posting). I can fix that, methinks, I just need to go back to that chapter and rewrite that section of it replace that line of thought with something else, or even add a few lines...hmm. Anyway, thanks for pointing that out for me, it would have otherwise completely go unnoticed .

Son of Sea 9 tail: Hehehe...well she's his pairing, so I can say it for sure, she won't die.

Mermizle: =P The things one has to go through...

Beastyd22: Hehe...he is too strong. He'll get an actual fight...eventually '0'

Draculyn28: Well, thank you...I try not to make the paragraphs too big, I also dislike the fabled Wall of Text but some paragraphs will be a little bigger than others. Hope my writing keeps entertaining you as that's part of the reason I write, entertaining.

Guest: =P Yeah, he does, doesn't he? Well, in canon he is a boy but by popular vote in this story Haku's a girl xD

Guest: Yeah, him being portrayed as the bad guy all the time just gets old really fast for me, so I wanted to try a different approach. Glad it's paying off.

Those were quite a few '-' let's hope next chapter I have more to answer xD

As always. thanks for your time and review 3

See ya o/