Trouble in the Land of Waves
I don't own Naruto.
Summary: Now Free of his masters Naruto and team ten head to the land of waves to help free them from the grip of Gato and his thugs along the road they fight Zabuza and his minions. Under the tutelage of Asuma sensei Ino hopes to return to Konoha stronger than Sakura, Shikamaru lazily goes through the motions and Naruto struggles in his role as a student to someone he believes to be beneath him.
Shikamaru's (POV)
"You forgot about us, didn't you?" Ino asked barging inside "You left us out there training for hours, Naruto kept drilling us and drilling us without rest, until he himself started to get tiered."
"How did they do?" asked Asuma sensei without acknowledging Ino's outburst.
"They are doing fine, their chakra control still needs work, but they can have short three-minute bouts," Naruto said sitting down next to him at the dinner table.
"I will go clean up," Ino said stomping of clearly annoyed that she was being ignored.
Shikamaru on the other hand refused to argue about it, sure he did not like being drilled to exhaustion and he smelled worse than he ever had. But he did not have the energy to argue about it.
"Well, we had a good day didn't we Asuma," Tazuna said bringing a large plate of food and a couple bottles of beer.
"Yes, we did," Asuma said lighting a cigarette "the bridge builders have decided to return back to work but we have to provide protection for them.
"That's good," Shikamaru said "how are we going to provide protection to all the builders?"
"That's when this lad comes in," Tazuna said taking a big swig of his beer "that thing you did while you fought the demon ninja, making copies of yourself, solid copies right?"
"Shadow clones," Naruto corrected and grabbed some of the food from the large plate "how many builders will there be?"
"Twenty-one, but many of them live near us," Tazuna said taking another swig of his bottle "So as long as the rest you do your part, we can keep them safe."
"Sure, I can guard them but there is something I need from Asuma," Naruto said facing Asuma sensei.
"You brat, I thought I told you to call me sensei," Asuma sensei said.
"Teach me then," Naruto retorted.
"Follow me," Asuma sensei said after taking a long drag of his cigarette and putting it out. He walked out followed closely by Naruto who had the faintest hint of a smile.
"Where'd Asuma sensei go?" Ino asked coming out of the bathroom with wet hair and the outfit she would often wear when tending her parents' shop "I wasn't done with him."
"They went to do some training," Shikamaru said grabbing some food of the plate.
"With Naruto? Isn't he tiered after making so many clones?" Ino asked before grabbing her stomach.
"Hungry?" Shikamaru asked "this food is for us, right Mr. Tazuna."
"Yes, I'm starving," Ino said and grabbed a rice ball "come on let's go see what they do for training?"
"I'm taking a nap," Shikamaru said closing his eyes.
"Come on Shikamaru I want to see what Naruto wanted to learn," Ino said pulling on the sleeve where his head band protector rested "maybe we can learn something too."
"Whatever he is learning will be more advanced than anything we can," Shikamaru said trying to shake Ino off but she wouldn't let go "I thought you said you where tiered."
"I am, but I really want to see what they are doing," Ino said in between bites of rice balls, still pulling on his sleeve.
"Alright, alright," Shikamaru said groaning and getting up.
Shikamaru got up and followed Ino as they made their way towards the clearing that they had been training at earlier. Shikamaru was annoyed that he had been dragged out here again and a small part of him dreaded being forced to train more. As they were getting close to the clearing a strange feeling of being watched crept over him, looking around he noticed a girl scurrying away past some trees on a small deer trail.
"What is it?" Ino asked when he took a step towards him.
"Nothing I just thought I saw something," Shikamaru said shaking his head 'What a drag.'
When they entered the clearing, they saw multiple Naruto clones fighting Asuma sensei their speed was impressive. Asuma was easily blocking all the clones strikes with his trench knifes, everyone of Naruto's clones were wielding their swords but they did not seem to be getting close. On the other hand, many of the clones disappeared in a cloud of smoke from strikes that never seemed to have landed.
"It's his chakra blades," Ino said as if she had noticed the same thing "it looks like they don't hit since they are invisible, but the blades are extended with the chakra."
After a few minutes, the last clone was dissipated, Asuma sensei and Naruto where locked in a power struggle as Naruto's sword was caught between Asuma sensei's blades. Ino had a look of disbelieve on her face. Shikamaru had seen Naruto fight before but it still impressed him to see it, this was nowhere near the level they usually spared at the academy.
"You're surprisingly good with that blade," Asuma sensei said as he looked down to his chest where a small cut dripped blood "you got me dead center in the chest."
"Not good enough," Naruto responded and after further examination Shikamaru noticed many cuts all over Naruto "good thing I removed my jacket."
"You are an offensive fighter, but you don't worry enough about your body which opens you up to attacks," Asuma sensei said pointing at many of the wounds he inflicted on Naruto "all of those would have been fatal if I had stabbed with deadly intent."
"So was my hit on you," Naruto said falling back and sheathing his blade "but the difference is my injuries heal faster."
As Naruto said this, he lifted his shirt revealing the number of small wounds that were already closing along with a plethora of scars of varying sizes and shapes. Shikamaru was amazed at his recovering speed, was this the power of the nine tails?
"But you might not be able to heal a punctured lung," Asuma sensei said pointing at one of the larger wounds on his chest "had I put more pressure here I would have punctured your left lung."
"I can, and have healed a lung," Shikamaru heard Naruto say in a low voice almost as if he did not want anyone to hear it.
"That was impressive," Ino said next to him drawing the attention of both Naruto and Asuma sensei.
"Of course, this brat would be impressive," Asuma sensei said lighting a cigarette and siting down on a stump "top of the class and all, reminds me of a friend of mine he too was a prodigy."
"A friend?" Naruto asked and for the first time Shikamaru noticed he had his bandages off.
"Yes, a friend," Asuma sensei said before taking a drag of his cigarette, "now you two need to accompany Tsunami to the market for provisions."
"So, we're not keeping a low profile anymore?" Shikamaru asked.
"There is no point anymore they saw me with the builder going home to home," Asuma sensei responded, "and you will go to display that there are more ninja helping the villagers."
"You think that some of the builders are still too scared to come still," Shikamaru said matter-of-factly.
"And if you see any of the thugs working for Gato causing problems I want you show the people what you can do," Asuma sensei said.
"But I just got clean," Ino complained.
"At least one of you should go, I don't care who, but you can't stay here," Asuma Sensei said taking a drag of his cigarette "I don't want you guys getting any ideas."
"But" Ino started but a look from Naruto seemed to have convinced her "fine, let just go Shikamaru."
"So, we came all the way out here just to be told to go back," Shikamaru said annoyed "what a drag."
"How do you think I feel," Ino responded shoving him.
"It's all pointless you know," Inari said as they had returned to the house.
"What?" Shikamaru asked not sure what the kid meant by that.
"It's pointless of you all to try and fight Gato and his men," Inari said looking down at his feet "you need to stop trying to help it's going to get grandpa killed."
"We're here to stop that from happening," Ino said clearly trying to soothe Inari down.
"Well, you should just leave you're making things worse," he said raising his voice while kicking some dirt at them before running off.
"Inari, that's no way to treat our guest," Tsunami said chastising the retreating form of Inari "I'm so sorry he has never been the same since his father died."
"How did he die?" Ino asked.
"He was killed by Gato and his tugs," Tsunami said her voice full of sadness and anger "well he wasn't his biological father, but Inari never knew him and Kaiza filled that role."
"Tazuna never mentioned it," Shikamaru said wondering for how long things had been this bad.
"My father rarely talks about it, he too was attached to Kaiza," Tsunami said a small smile appearing on her face "he was important to the whole village, so you can understand how hard it hit everyone when he died."
"We should get going," Shikamaru said looking up at the sky.
"Yes, Tazuna told me you would accompany me to the market," Tsunami said.
"I just need to get back into my ninja outfit," Ino said pointing down at herself.
"You can just catch up to us at the market," Shikamaru said annoyed.
"Aren't you guys too young to be ninja?" Tsunami asked, while she looked at some vegetables.
"It's not an easy life, especially if you're part of a prominent ninja family," Shikamaru responded looking around at the sorry state of the market.
"It's not much but it's all we have," Tsunami said clearly noticing the face that he made.
"Sorry, this is just new to me," Shikamaru said shrugging his shoulder.
"Don't worry I'll be quick," Tsunami said smiling at him and entering a small shop.
Shikamaru was sad to see the state of the people here, clearly the presence of Gato and his thugs has been taking a toll on their trade over the seas. Some kids ran past him from an alley followed closely by a dog all of which looked dirty and skinny. Shikamaru could not help but feel good knowing why they had decided to stay and help.
"Hey, you, what's in that crate?" Shikamaru heard a raspy voice yell and he could see across the market square as two armed men pushed an older man making him drop the wooden box, scattering all the fish the old man had caught.
"So, you're trying avoid paying the taxes for those fish," one of the two thugs who was not wearing a shirt asked when the box broke.
"And the protection fee," the second one said, this one had an eye patch.
"No, I was going to report these, I swear," the old man cried out in fear as the shirtless man started to unsheathe his long blade.
"How do you think Gato would deal with someone who refuses to pay his dues," the thug with the eye patch said.
"Well, you're not going to do anything to him," a familiar voice said, it took him a minute to realize who had said that.
"Now, now little lady don't you look nice," the thug with the eye patch said, and standing there holding a kunai in both hands ready to stand up to the thugs was Ino, now in her purple ninja attire.
"You might want to put that away before you get hurt," the thug holding the old man said shoving him to the ground and placing a foot on his back "someone will get hurt."
"I'm sure I can do more damage to you with this knife than you can with that sword," Ino said taking a step forward "Now let the man go and I won't hurt you."
"Oh, I'm so scared," the thug on top of the old man said shaking his hand dramatically "I'm trembling."
While Shikamaru could not see her face, he knew she was not happy that her threat was not being taken seriously.
"I take it you do not intend to leave this man alone," Ino said before throwing a kunai at the man's sword hand forcing him to drop the blade and step off the man.
Ino charged forward and drove the heel of her foot into the man's chest forcing him of the old man. The man wheezed in pain as he held his bleeding hand, Ino took that opportunity to help the old fisherman up.
"You little bitch," cried out the man with the eye patch drawing his own blade.
'Shadow binding jutsu,' Shikamaru rushed making his hand seals and the shadows expanded to force the two thugs to stay in place.
"You might want to mind your enemies," Shikamaru said under gritted teeth "I can't hold them forever."
"I knew you were nearby, ready to help," Ino said with a smug look on her face.
"What is this?" the thug with the eye patch said as he struggled to move.
Before he could keep struggling to break free a young man came around and struck him hard with a wooden oar knocking him unconscious. The second man who was still on the ground was bound and gagged by two other fishermen.
"Good, I was starting to get tiered," Shikamaru said.
"What are you doing?" the voice of another man asked, after turning Shikamaru noticed three more men coming down an alley way.
"Ino, you ready?" Shikamaru asked.
"You bet," Ino responded grabbing her own kunai from one of the fishermen who tied up the thugs "you get them with your shadow I poison them."
"I guess," Shikamaru responded.
'Shadow binding jutsu' with great annoyance he moved forward and expanded his own shadow and grabbed hold of the shadows of the men coming after them.
'Wind Style poison bullet jutsu,' Ino released breaths of bullets that exploded in a colorful array of gas enveloping the three men.
"Just like that you get rid of the bad men," Ino said happily, however it seemed that one of the men was not completely out of commission as he stumbled forward swinging a sword wildly all the while coughing. As he made it out the alley, he was assaulted by a few fishermen with oars knocking him unconscious after a few extra hits. A cheer sounded from all around them as the people in the market applauded their efforts.
"Thank you," The old fisherman that was being assaulted by Gato's thugs said, "but I fear that things will only get worse."
"Whenever anyone has tried to fight back, they send more to patrol and harass us," the old man said.
"We are here to protect the builders till the construction of the bridge is done," Ino said as a few men gathered the thugs and loaded them into a boat that would flow down the river.
"Let's hope it works like the builder Tazuna thinks it will," he responded collecting his fish from where he had dropped them.
"That was brave of you two," Tsunami said as they made their way out the market followed by a few more people who thanked them "this is the most lively the people here have been."
Haku's (POV)
"I saw the ninja from Konoha earlier," Haku said as he cleaned Zabuza's forehead "they are strong, I now see how they managed to defeat you."
"You better have been careful, they must not suspect of your involvement," Zabuza spat his mood had not improved since his defeat "we will kill them next time we meet."
"Without a doubt," he responded trying his best to ease his anger.
"Once we've finished them off, we can use the money to move against the Mizukage," Zabuza said anger flashing in his eyes as it always did when the Mizukage was involved.
"Sorry if we're interrupting," the annoying voice of Gato pierced the temporary silence "but I needed to know when you will be able to get back to work."
"I'm recovering as quickly as possible," Zabuza growled at the fat man "your nagging doesn't help me rest."
"Well, here are some news you might find interesting," Gato said getting closer, this made Haku angry "the word is spreading that the builders are going to go back to work under the protection of a powerful ninja from Konoha."
"Don't step any closer," Haku warned but his warning seemed to have gone unnoticed.
"And now I got little children ninja beating up my men as they try to collect the taxes," Gato said getting even closer "these are the same ninja children that defeated you."
"You need to leave now," Haku said anger rising within him.
"Perhaps I will inform the Mizukage of your whereabouts and have them help me with these ninjas from Konoha," Gato said attempting to touch Zabuza.
Haku would not allow it, and with the speed of a pouncing panther he grabbed Gato's arm and forced it at an awkward angle. This produced the satisfying crack as the bones in Gato's arm broke and the arm went limp, seconds later an even sweeter sound rang out from his lips.
"Ahh," the cry of pain that escaped his lips made the two men that came with him draw their blades, but they would be sorry. Haku appeared between the two men needles at the ready in each of their necks the points drawing blood.
"Haku stop!" Zabuza yelled sitting up from his bed "I am feeling better now, thank you for the motivation."
"We will leave then," Gato said cradling his shattered arm "I'm sure you will deal with the ninja of Konoha."
"Yes, and I'm sure you haven't forgotten of the payment that was promised," Zabuza said resting back down.
Ino's (POV)
"We took care of some thugs just like you asked us to," Ino said once they had all sat down to eat dinner "you should have heard the villagers praise."
"That is good," Asuma sensei said, "perhaps we will get even more help than we expect."
"You guys are exactly what we needed all along," Tazuna said lifting his bottle.
"Yes, it was a great sight to see the people so happy, it has been forever since something like that happened," Tsunami said bringing in more food from the kitchen "but I think the old fisherman is right, you need to finish the bridge and fast, before things gets worse."
"You guys should just leave," Inari said his voice low close to a mumble "you have done enough."
"Inari, the construction hasn't even started," Tazuna said trying to sound reassuring.
"I don't care about the bridge I just think they should leave, nothing they do will change anything," Inari said tears forming on his eyes "because they don't understand, they will never know the pain we go through every day under the heel of Gato and his thugs, they are here like idealistic fools thinking they can just change things without any consequences."
"I don't think you understand kid," Asuma said "Gato would have become ruthless with or without us here, your grandfather's defiance to build the bridge has already angered him."
"You know nothing of how we have suffered under their heel, of how much we have lost," Inari yelled now standing his fist balled up tightly.
"Then you should be proud of your grandfather and his willingness to fight back"- Naruto was cut off by Inari.
"Will get more people killed," Inari yelled his tears falling uncontrollably while Tsunami tried to console him "People have already been killed by Gato and he will not stop until he owns all of us."
"And is crying about it all you can do," Naruto said slamming his fist on the table "and I'm getting tired of hearing it, we decided to stay and help but we can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped."
"Naruto!" Ino exclaimed and she could not believe he was being so rude to the kid.
"I'm going to get some fresh air," Naruto said ignoring all of them and walking out the front door "kid, until you're ready to make sacrifices you will never be free of the oppression, whether it be Gato or someone completely different."
With that Naruto exited the house, an uncomfortable silence filled the room broken only by Inari's sobs and Tsunami's attempt to make him stop crying. Naruto had no right to speak to the kid like that, but he was not wrong. Ino knew he spoke out of personal experience; he was also under the heel of those he called masters.
"Let's finish eating," Tazuna said, they all agreed and resumed eating the feeling of triumph from their earlier encounter at the market now gone.
"We need to wake up early, we'll watch the builders as they work tomorrow, we can't have any surprises," Asuma sensei said after they had finished eating.
"What about Naruto?" Ino asked worried, he had not yet returned from his walk of fresh air.
"I'm sure he will be fine," Shikamaru said yawning, and she could feel just how tiered she really was.
"I will bring him in," Ino said worried that he would exhaust himself and be totally useless tomorrow.
"Whatever just know we will be getting up early again today," Asuma sensei said, she simply nodded and ran outside.
She walked remembering her way back to the clearing illuminated only by the faint glow of the moon, she found the clearing but stopped before entering the clearing.
"Why do you train so hard?" a soft voice said.
"There are many things I need to accomplish but as of now I'm too weak," Naruto's voice responded.
"Then you should have these," The voice said it was evident that whoever was speaking was smiling "and don't forget to get some rest it is important to your development."
"Thanks," was Naruto's only response.
Ino waited till the unknown person's steps receded to show herself, Naruto was sitting cross-legged quickly eating fruits from a basket. Naruto's eyes went wide with surprise and he stopped moving as soon as Ino had stepped into the clearing.
"I didn't hear you coming," Naruto said after composing himself.
"Don't mind me I just wanted to make sure you where okay," Ino said stifling her laughter at what she had witnessed "I guess you would be hungry after walking out at dinner."
"The fruit is really good, and fresh," was Naruto's only response.
Ino had always seen Naruto as composed and in control of himself, whether it was at the academy or receiving the abuse of the villagers. However, in this mission her perception of him changed a bit he was beginning to show some emotion.
"You weren't just talking about Gato earlier were you?" Ino asked.
"No," was all he said, his emotionless mask returning to his face "no need to worry about me I will return in a bit."
Ino simply nodded and headed back to the house, her thoughts returned to the night that Naruto, Sasuke and her had fought off his Masters, long enough to get help. Once in the house she looked at her left hand, the small, scarred spots where Naruto's skin had burned her hand. The sleeping mat was more comfortable than any bed had ever been to her that night, as soon as her head touched her pillow, she fell asleep.
Hello guys, again I'm sorry for the late update, but I hope you guys like it. Thank you all for the continued support.
To respond to some comments, I did not be giving Naruto the Rinnegan simply because Naruto is not a Senju and while he is the Ashura reincarnation its not enough for the Sharingan to evolve at least not yet. I also made Naruto have some minor weakening to the use of the Sharingan, in comparison to Kakashi he will not be completely immobilized and stuff. I added a small summary and will be doing so from now on unless you guys prefer it otherwise. Stay safe and healthy.
David out.