(A/N) A wild Zabuza and Haku appear!
Mito, now more alert and looking for jounin level signatures nearby, caught them immediately almost a half mile out.
"Warning, we have Zabuza Momochi out for this guy's head." She warned everyone, and while Lee, Neji, and her genin as well as Tazuna, all paled, Tenten lit up.
"Zabuza Momochi!? Of the seven swordsmen? Does he have his sword?"
"His sword doesn't have a chakra signature Tenten, I can't tell," Mito replied amusedly. "But I would assume he does. However he does have something with him that does have a chakra signature. An apprentice I suspect."
"We shall stay alert then!" Gai shouted. "Be wary youthful genin!"
"Right," Neji sighed.
"How'll we know when Zabuza's nearby?" Naruto whispered to Mito.
"There'll start being a heavy mist likely," Mito said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "And he'll probably throw his sword at us, Mist nin are foolish like that. And very dramatic."
"There's all that chakra infused water around them, of course they're insane," Neji sniffed.
"Most of the other nations say the same about us," Sakura piped up. "We have a couple books from other nations that mention how crazy they find us because we live in and around so much chakra infused wood."
"Have you seen our jounin?" Sasuke asked saltily. "Everyone's insane."
Mito chuckled. "It comes with the job. If you aren't a bit crazy there's something wrong. Some are just crazier than others."
"But you leaf nin are the nuttiest of all," an ominous voice came out of the heavy mist that had suddenly surrounded them.
"We do live in a forest," Mito quipped. "Many nuts."
Mito dove and tackled both her genin and the client to the ground as a massive sword came in hurtling over their head.
"Oh that's what you meant by the dramatic," Tenten said, eyes focused on the sword, now embedded in the tree. "I want the sword."
"If you can take it from me girlie, you can have it," Zabuza said, appearing on the handle of the sword, staring down at them threateningly.
Mito stood up, ushering her genin behind her. Gai had done the same with Neji, although Lee was standing next to him in a fighting pose, and Gai seemed to know better than to try and prevent Tenten from getting that sword.
Zabuza paused when he saw her. "An Uzumaki? Aren't you all dead? We killed you all."
"I am Mito Uzumaki," she replied, standing up fully. "You killed my people, prepare to die."
Zabuza's eyes widened, and he abruptly shunshined out of there, apparently leaving his sword behind. Tenten lunged forward and wrapped her hands around the handle, yanking it from the tree and almost overbalancing backwards. Mito caught the edge of the sword gingerly, letting Tenten get her feet back under her.
"Hahaha!" Tenten said proudly, holding it up. "Mine!"
"He'd better not come back or I really will kill him," Mito said, perhaps louder than was needed to reach her team, but she wanted Zabuza to know. She might still go after him later, but he wasn't quite as deadly without his giant sword. Which was currently disappearing into a seal Tenten had pulled out to put the sword away in.
"Always wanted one of those," Tenten said, preening once she'd gotten the sword away. "I'll find a scabbard later, then I can carry it around on my back!"
"Kiri isn't going to be pleased about that," Mito warned, although mostly just because she figured she ought to. Tenten and her team would likely be able to handle most things Kiri tried to chuck at them to get the sword back.
"They'll live!" Tenten chirped cheerfully. "My sword now!"
"Of course," Neji sighed. "More dummies will die then."
"Duh, what else would I use to learn this sword on? You two?"
"No thank you!" Lee added quickly. "The dummies are definitely the better option of the two!"
"Thought so!" Tenten said, grinning. "You'll help me set up dummies, won't you Sakura?"
"Yep," Sakura replied, sounding less than enthusiastic about it.
"Good luck," Naruto told her solemnly, patting her back.
"Not until we get back," Mito interrupted. "Speaking of which, we'd better get moving. Zabuza's still lurking in the area, and I'd rather get to Wave sooner rather than later."
"Of course!" Gai immediately added. "Onward with youth!"
Mito watched(and stopped her genin from watching) Tenten easily behead the two chuunin-level opponents and seal away the heads before burying the bodies with a fast earth jutsu.
"Why did Zabuza run off like that?" Sasuke asked a few minutes into walking.
"Oh I know this one!" Naruto said, wriggling as he walked. "Kaa-san told me this one! He's scared because Uzumaki were like a super big deal before they sunk into the ocean. They're alive n stuff, obviously, but like they haven't really told anyone, so a lotta people still think Uzushio's just gone, but it's totally not."
"He ran away because he didn't wish to die at my hand," Mito summarized. "He knew who I was, and I terrified him."
"Was it just because you're an Uzumaki, or was it because you were the Shodaime's wife?" Sakura asked, tilting her head.
"No one quite believes I came from the past," Mito replied. "So it is on my own merit. Naruto knows I've been going out on missions and reestablishing myself as a powerful jounin. The Uzumaki title only grants me further credit. It's likely no one's aware I am the Shodaime's wife, or, beating that, that we have the same name."
"Kaa-san's said that few people actually knew her," Naruto was quick to volunteer the information.
"I was the equivalent of an Uzumaki princess," Mito added quickly. "Although to most people, I essentially dropped off the face of the earth when I married Hashirama. With my new duties, I couldn't go out on missions much if at all, and when I had my children, they prevented it further. So I pretty much disappeared from the general shinobi population outside of Konoha."
"That's sad," Sakura huffed, folding her arms. "You're super cool n stuff."
"Well, either way, I am establishing my own merit, working my way up the bingo book levels. With any luck, soon I'll be S-rank at least." Mito smiled lightly. "The faster I reach that and the faster you make chuunin, the faster I can achieve a goal of mine."
"What is it?" Naruto asked, jumping up to hang off her arm.
"I'm not going to tell until I have achieved it," Mito replied, bopping him on the nose, laughing at the way Naruto's face scrunched up. "So perhaps you'll know soon."
"You'd better tell me soon," Naruto huffed, letting go of her and rubbing at his nose. "I wanna know."
"Of course guppy."
(A/N) Zabuza really just saw Mito and went YEET! And Tenten stole his sword because no one's going to stop her. I won't be posting in June, due to school and traveling and stuff, so I'll see you in July!