The week passed quickly, uneventfully. We continued to train, separating into the groups I had created that first day. When Haku, who had experience with poisons, offered to help Sakura with that aspect of medical ninjutsu, I began to have kenjutsu spars with Zabuza, both of us teaching the other new tricks or techniques. There was no new action on the bridge, as I had predicted, until six days had passed. This time around, I gathered everyone before hand to set up a battle plan.

"Okay, here's the plan. I want everyone to take a Hiraishin kunai. Even you two," I said, looking at Inari and Tsunami. "I wouldn't put it passed Gatou to attack a defenseless family. If you need me, throw the kunai and I'll feel it, got it?" I asked. Inari and his mother nodded understandingly. "Zabuza, Haku, I want you too already there. If there are people messing with the bridge or the workers, take them out. I don't care if you kill them or not just make sure they can't move. If Gatou shows up before us, throw the kunai at his feet and I take care of his bodyguards while Zabuza takes care of Gatou. I've already placed Hiraishin seals all over the bridge. Meaning: if you see a yellow flash, don't throw a kunai at it, it will be me and I will not be very happy.

"If I was completely wrong, Gatou doesn't show, and the bridge is finished on schedule, we can all go on with our lives after I find Gatou and let Zabuza beat the crap out of him. Any questions?"

"Yeah, what is everyone else doing while you do all the work?" Sasuke asked, glaring.

"Fighting each other. We need to pretend that we are still enemies. Sasuke will fight Haku while Kakashi and I fight Zabuza and Sakura will protect Tazuna with Koyuki and Kazura."

"Okay, why am I fighting you?" Zabuza asked, not wanting to get beat up by a twelve year old in public.

"You won't be fighting me. You'll be fighting a series of clones, mask off. If you dispel one, don't worry, another will take it's place. I'll be in the background, mask on, making sure Gatou shows up. Any more questions?"

Glancing around the kitchen table, I saw nothing but determination. I nodded before smiling at Kakashi.

"I'm the captain today, sensei."

"You really are stealing all of my lines," he complained weakly. "Besides, you've been the captain this entire mission, taicho," he replied chuckling under his breath. I smiled and stretched.

"Sasuke, are you up for a taijutsu spar? I'm pretty tired now," I said, challenging the Uchiha to prove my point to Sakura. Sasuke glared at me and pointed at the door.

"You're on."

"Let's go on the water, work on your chakra control," I said, yawning. Sasuke twitched angrily and grabbed my wrist, pulling me towards the docks. I only smiled. Even as tired as I was, Sasuke might need some medical attention from one pink haired kunoichi who had conveniently learned how to mend bones earlier today. I smirked, knowing that she'd react indifferently as he winced in pain.

I shifted into my warau akuma stance, grinning sadistically.

Six minutes later, four of my shadow clones carried a thoroughly soaked, bruised, and somewhat broken Uchiha Sasuke through Tsunami's front door. I laid him down on the table and called for Sakura to meet me in the kitchen.

"What is- Naruto, you have to stop beating him up," she groaned. "At least hold off until I get better at medical ninjutsu!"

"I thought this would be a perfect challenge. Subject has… two cracks ribs, a broken wrist, a cracked femur, bruises head to toe, and a very nasty looking cut on his upper left arm," I reported. Sakura logged the information in her mind, surveying the damage with her eyes, before staring at my incredulously.

"A cracked femur?" she nearly shouted. "You do realize that the femur is the strongest bone in the human body! How'd you crack the strongest bone in his body sparring? Did you use the warau akuma again?"

"Maybe a little," I said, trying to shrink under Sakura's rage and hidden worry. "I could've healed him up but I thought this would be a good way to test how your doing."

"So you kicked his ass to test me? That's sweet of you," she muttered, her hands already glowing with green energy. I smiled to myself as she kept a straight face as she healed his ribs and wrist before turning to me, looking exhausted. "Can you take care of the femur? I'm still tired from sparring with Haku," she said a little breathlessly.

"Sure. Go eat something and go to sleep, I'll finish with him," I said, watching Sakura walk to the cupboards and pull out some crackers. She ate a few before saying goodnight and walking upstairs. When I heard her door close, I looked at Sasuke, his eyes open.

"I'm going to kill you," he threatened. I might have been just a little scared if he didn't wince when I poked his leg.

"That's not very nice," I said, holding my now green hand to his cracked bone. When the bone was healed, I moved my hand to his arm. The cut was about five inches long and jagged, resembling a lightning bolt, and oozing blood steadily. I frowned at it, knowing it would scar. "You are going to have a scar, even with my medical ninjutsu. It looks kind of like a lightning bolt… How did you do this? I know I didn't cause this."

"Who knows," he muttered. I was about to ask him what's wrong when he beat me to it. "What's Sakura's problem?"

"What do you mean?" I said, focusing on the bruises on my teammate's ribs. He coughed and shifted his weight awkwardly.

"He's been acting… weird around me ever since she started with the medical ninjutsu. Do you know what happened?"

"Weird how?" I asked, moving my hand to the side of his head, also bruised and swollen. He grimaced but held still.

"I don't know; not screaming every time she sees me?" he suggested. I stopped healing him to look at him for a moment.

"Maybe she got over you. It happens. A person gets a crush and realizes that their crush can't stand them. They move on. I guess Sakura's reached that point in her life," I said slowly, watching Sasuke's eyes- the only part of him that betrayed emotion. First there was relief, then confusion, followed quickly by determination. I mentally congratulated myself for having correctly analyzed Sasuke's mind.

"You sound pretty familiar with disappointment," he smirked, I smiled and shrugged, focused on my hands and keeping the demonic chakra away.

"I guess. I was obsessed with Sakura a few years ago. I was lucky Hina-chan waited for me to snap out of that. I bet Sakura is pretty upset; she doesn't have anyone waiting for her since she and Ino fell out, competing over you."

"You're pretty comfortable talking about your feelings," Sasuke scoffed. I smirked and stopped treating him.

"You're pretty comfortable insulting the person who is healing you," I retorted. Taking pity on him, and knowing that we'd need him tomorrow, I resumed healing him. "Either way, between the two of us, I'm the one with a girlfriend. Okay, I'm not saying that you should stop hating fan girls, I totally understand that. I think you should try to let them down without crushing their hopes and dreams."

"Why?"

"Were you really Rookie of the Year? You are so oblivious," I said, shaking my head. Sasuke quieted and looked at me, wondering what I was talking about. "I'll explain this slowly for you. You can't rebuild your clan without getting married. Which, if you don't know, involves getting a girlfriend and proposing to her."

"You're pretty confident. How are you so sure of you and Hinata?" Sasuke said, rolling his eyes.

"Because I've already talked to her father. The paperwork is all taken care of, Hiashi was happy to be tied to the Namikaze name. I'm going to propose when she becomes a chuunin," I said, finished healing his injuries.

"That's ridiculous! You're twelve!" he sat up on the table, his eyes shocked.

"I'm a jounin. If you hadn't noticed, as soon as this team gets broken up I'm to be sent out on potentially suicide missions. On top of that, Hinata-chan is my soul mate. I picked up more than whiskers from Kyuubi. I know how to recognize my future mate. What do you have to say for yourself? You don't let yourself get close to anyone!" Noticing how loud I was, I bit my tongue while Sasuke came up with a reply, also quieting.

"If you hadn't noticed, everyone I've gotten close to is dead," he growled. I glared at him.

"So what am I? I was there with you Sasuke," I said quietly. "We were training and I bought you ramen. Or don't you remember? I was with you the first time you saw Fugaku and Tera. I was next to you when you saw the balance of Konoha. I've trained with you and sparred with you for years. If everyone you've cared for is dead, what does that say about me?"

I left Sasuke in the kitchen, walking to my room without looking back once. Landing on my blankets, thoughts of the last Sasuke came rushing into my mind.

Did you see what's inside my heart, Sasuke? If you saw what I saw… Save all of your hate for me. I'm the only person who can take it. When we fight, both of us will die.

I froze my thoughts, stopping the memories. I forced myself to fall asleep, focusing on tomorrow.

I didn't sleep well but I never expected to. I woke up first and woke Sakura up, leaving her to wake up the others as I went looking for Sasuke. Not finding him in the house, I dashed to the clearing we'd been using for training. Seeing him lying on the grass, surrounded by small craters and fallen trees, I smiled. It was Sasuke to spend all night training this time.

"Sasuke… Sasuke, wake up," I said, shaking him. When he refused to wake up, I frowned, seeing how little chakra he had left. It wasn't enough to be dangerous, but it could endanger the mission. Thoughts aside, I did another chakra exchange. He woke up as the chakra entire his system, jerking him awake. I held him down until his body accepted my chakra then released him, sitting down as my skin flushed red.

Glancing down at his healing scrapes, Sasuke flexed his muscles and noticed that nothing hurt.

"What'd you do?" he asked.

"Medical ninjutsu I created. I'm going to make it a kinjutsu as soon as we get back," I decided, feeling my own muscles slow before Kyuubi healed them.

"Why? It worked really well."

"Yeah but it can kill the user. Not me, a normal person," I said, calming the confused panic that rose in Sasuke's eye for just a moment. "If I had your or Sakura's chakra reserves, that jutsu would've killed me."

"What's it called?" Sasuke said, glancing at me.

"Chakra exchange. I transplanted my chakra into your coils. Very easy but dangerous for you."

"Why?" he asked, the suspicion narrowing his black eyes fractionally.

"Kyuubi. If I gave you any of his chakra by mistake, your body would reject it and fight it, treating it like an infection. That wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that demonic chakra is much more potent than human chakra. It would take over in a matter of minutes and dissolve your body from the inside out. Any questions?"

"Seriously?"

"No," I smiled before taking up a serious façade. "It probably wouldn't dissolve your body. Just give you a very painful, lasting death. But that's not important, I'm good at separating the chakras."

Sasuke didn't look convinced. I chuckled before getting serious again.

"Everyone else is leaving we need to- oh no," I said, feeling the kunai I'd given to Inari thrown.

"What is it?"

"Trouble at the house. Get to the bridge as fast as you can, I'll take care of Inari and Tsunami. Sakura isn't strong enough to really battle with Haku," I said closing my eyes. I put my mask on quickly, ready to disembowel some thugs. I stayed long enough to hear a confirmation but no longer, opening my eyes to the living room.

"I think I heard someone in the-" the man's next words were cut off as I slit his throat. I dashed behind his body and took him down. I took them to the front lawn and burned them with a quick but powerful fire jutsu. Seeing Inari staring at me with wide eyes, I saluted.

"Sorry I can't stay, if there's trouble here-" I was cut off my Sakura's kunai thrown. "Get the villagers, meet me at the bridge." Once again I closed my eyes, opening them to a battle. Kakashi and Zabuza were fighting, each seeming to give it their all. Haku was still hiding in the trees and Sasuke had not yet arrived.

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"On his way. I needed to go back to the house. Don't worry, Tazuna. Inari and Tsunami are fine. I need to help Kakashi… Kuchiyose no jutsu!" I shouted. Kazura, Koyuki, and Kyuubi appeared in a puff of smoke. "Sorry, Kyuu, need a little chakra," I said, putting a hand on his leg. He shrunk and my body converted the demonic chakra into usable chakra. "Koyuki, Kazura, defend Tazuna with Sakura. Kyuu, we're going to 'fight' Zabuza. Don't kill him."

"That ruins half the fun," Kyuubi complained, running with me towards Zabuza and Kakashi.

"Hey, Kakashi! Sorry we're late. Momochi Zabuza. I thought the hunter-nin killed you," I said, chuckling. Zabuza growled.

"Takes more than a few senbon to kill me," he insisted. I put a hand on my katana, drawing it in a fluid motion.

"How about a katana? Think that'll work, Kakashi?" I felt Sasuke arrived, skidding to a stop as Haku leapt out to meet him.

"Let's find out," he said, Sharingan glaring. I nodded, activating akuma no me.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" I shouted through my mask. "Zabuza! When you see your friends in hell, tell them Kiiroi Kitsune says hi," I smirked, knowing this was going to be a short battle.

I knelt, silent as Gatou began his victory monologue. Kakashi stood at my side, breathing deeply from the 'fight'. He and Zabuza did go full out. I got a workout.

"It's a good thing you're so vulnerable now, Momochi. I was planning on killing you anyway," he chuckled. Haku was safely out of the way, knocked unconscious by Sasuke during their match. "But, I had never expected to see the Kiiroi Kitsune. I never heard you were a team player."

"Araiguma, Pyrai, Suki, Yugito; I'm never by myself, if that's what you mean," I shrugged, standing.

"But a bunch of genin? You're standards are lowering, my friend," he laughed. In a flash, I had a kunai at his throat. His bodyguards moved towards me before falling to the ground, each slashed by Zabuza's Decapitating Blade, held in my right hand. I heard Zabuza complain about me taking his sword, cracking his neck as Kakashi helped him to stand.

"Don't insult my team. You miscalculated, Gatou," I whispered in his ear. I dragged him through the Hiraishin, locking onto Kakashi's kunai. Still holding the short man, I passed Zabuza's sword to its owner. "I told you that you could kill him," I said, releasing the man. Zabuza grinned under his bandages.

"Run, little man," he growled. Gatou jumped and ran towards Tazuna- only to have Haku jump up and slash a kunai across his chest. The man fell back. "You couldn't let me have one?" Zabuza asked Haku. The girl only grinned at the now bleeding man. I turned away as the man began to scream, turning towards his army of thugs.

"As for you," I shouted. "Anyone brave- or stupid, I don't judge- enough to face me? No? Not one person? Okay then, Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" I shouted, surrounding the army with clones. "Try not to get too much blood on the bridge," I said. Each of my clones grinned sadistically, their blues eyes turning red as they activated demon eyes. They stored their kunai and rushed the thugs, striking tenketsu instead of slashing their enemy. I watched as my clones did the work, turning to Zabuza and Kakashi, both looking at me with wide eyes. "What?"

"Naruto! You're scaring the jounin!" Sakura yelled from the other side of the bridge, walking towards us. Kazura and Koyuki walked at her flanks, Tazuna close behind. I smiled as Sasuke and Haku, flecked with blood, joined the group. I took off my mask and smiled sheepishly towards the jounin.

"Sorry," I said, scratching the back of my head. Zabuza laughed, turning towards Haku and giving her a proud nod. The girl beamed and her smile lost it's blood thirst, becoming gentler and sweeter. Kakashi rolled his eyes before pulling his Hitai-ate back over Obito's eye, turning to Tazuna.

"I don't think you'll have any trouble," Kakashi said, glancing at the thugs my clones had taken care of. Tazuna nodded, messing up my hair again.

"Nice work, kid," he chuckled. I ducked from his hand, grimacing.

"Stupid chakra," I muttered. Glancing up, I saw Sakura looking at me, confused. "Kyuu's chakra makes me grow slower. I'll probably be short for the next two or three years. Either way, I think this mission is over."

"Yeah. When we get back to Konoha this will be recorded as an A-rank and, when Wave recovers, I expect that we'll be paid for it," Kakashi said pointedly to Tazuna. He nodded, smiling sheepishly.

"Zabuza, Haku, you two should come back with us to Konoha," I suggested. "Sandaime is smart, he'll trust my word but he'll also want to meet you." The two nodded and I smiled as Inari and the villagers ran up.

"We missed it?" I heard Inari shout from the other side of the bridge. I shrugged and followed my kunai to him.

"Just barely. Ten more minutes and you would've seen everything. What's important is that Gatou is dead and his thugs are either dead or paralyzed. The paralysis will wear off after a few hours so I think you should decide what to do with them before that," I said, pointing at the hired hands. "Oh, yeah. I need the two kunai I gave to you and your mother."

"Yeah, she thought you might," he said chuckling, holding up two Hiraishin kunai. I smiled and took them back, resealing them. "Do you have to leave already?"

"Yeah," I said, looking back at Team Seven. "If I don't go with them the Hokage would be disappointed."

"You're pretty close to Hokage-sama, aren't you?" Inari asked, glancing at my team, laughing together.

"He's like my ojiisan. He let Kakashi adopt me and I'm pretty sure he's been pulling strings to make sure I'm safe when I'm in Konoha. I've been surrounded by ANBU for most of my life, they only stopped when I became an official elite jounin," I explained, thinking fondly of the Professor. I yawned and stretched as Sakura ran towards me.

"Naruto-sensei, we're getting ready to leave," she reported. Inari looked a little surprised at the suffix but I waved him off.

"I'm coming, I just want to say goodbye. I'll be back as soon as I can, Inari. Believe it," I chuckled. Inari nodded, trying not to look sad. I messed up his hair and gave him a smile. "Be a hero, Inari. Your country needs one," I said, walking back to the group.

Walking away, I heard Inari's voice, quiet and calm.

"They already have one."

I smiled. Once again, Tazuna and the villagers came up with a name and The Great Naruto Bridge was complete.