Haku and Naruto sat in Ichiraku Ramen. Haku was now the vassal of the younger boy, and had noticed that it was close enough to what he intended to do for Naruto in the first place, only now the Uzumaki boy was also responsible for Haku in turn so he was determined to be on his best behaviour.
Which is why he was absolutely not glaring at the scarred Konoha shinobi sitting on the other side of Naruto when no one was looking. Definitely not while they were all distracted by Naruto's retelling of his adventure in Nami no Kuni in between mouthfuls of ramen.
"So now I've been learning some ninjutsu from Haku-chan!" Naruto seemed to have finished his story by the middle of his fourth bowl, Haku and Iruka already done eating. Haku was just glad Naruto had somehow completely skipped over the part where Haku was Zabuza's accomplice or any classified information.
"Oh, so this young lady is Haku-chan?" Iruka asked. Haku wasn't sure how Naruto had managed to skip over the point where Haku was a boy, he wondered if that had been on purpose.
"Actually, I am a boy." Haku corrected, Naruto didn't even skip a beat while eating so Haku still was not sure if it was on purpose or not.
"Oh, but, uh." Iruka wasn't sure how to respond, and just looked at Naruto,
"Naruto-kun likes to refer to me as 'Haku-chan' because he thinks I am prettier than Sakura Haruno." Haku said with a smile, sounding quite pleased with himself. Haku was pleased to embarrass Naruto, it sounded to the others like he was pleased with the situation so Iruka and the Ichiraku chefs seemed surprised and Naruto coughed and spluttered, having to stop eating to recover.
Iruka decided to give Naruto a second, Ayame was just looking between the flustered Naruto and the smug Haku in surprise, and Teuchi followed Iruka's lead, "You can't prove I said that!" Naruto revealed he had indeed said that, "Maybe I'm just making fun of you for being a girly boy." he added, trying to turn the embarrassment on Haku.
Iruka almost decided to be the voice of responsibility, "Now Naruto, there's no shame in finding comfort in the arms of a fellow shinobi in the field." he decided to tease his former student instead,
"I did not!" Naruto declared, hiding his face with the bowl of ramen.
"It's true, I merely tended to his injury." Haku said to wind down the conversation, "Kakashi-san was the one inside Naruto." then bring it crashing down,
"What!?" Iruka, Ayame, and Teuchi shouted at a grinning Haku,
"Haku-chan quit being weird!" Naruto demanded, "That was an accident." he added, then winced at the shout from the other three and hastily amended, "I jumped in front of an attack! It's the injury Haku-chan was talking about."
"Wait, Naruto why didn't you mention getting hit by friendly fire." Iruka asked, concern evident on his face,
"Eh, it wasn't that bad." Naruto tried to placate, "Kakashi-sensei aimed it at someone else and I ended up in between with a shunshin no jutsu." he explained, assuaging most of Iruka's concerns.
"I see, so Haku was still in the area from your first meeting and nursed you back to health." Iruka guessed, "Which is why you fell for him, happens to a lot of injured warriors and nurses." he added with a grin.
"No!" Naruto attempted,
"Naruto-kun wouldn't you rather train?" Haku asked in an attempt to change the subject, Iruka was impressed, as sloppy as the subtlety of the subject change was Haku had really nailed Naruto's area of interest.
"Didn't you just get back this afternoon?" Iruka asked, deciding on not making it easy for Haku,
"Yeah but we only walked, and I just ate so I'm ready to go!" Naruto declared, "Thanks for the food!" he told the ramen chefs, reaching for his wallet, "I'll come back for seconds after training." he promised with a grin as he payed for himself and Haku.
"Good lad, paying for your date." Teuchi said with a smirk, not wanting to miss out on some last minute teasing. Surprisingly it was Haku who blushed and Naruto just laughed.
"He's my vassal, I'm responsible for him." Naruto said as he and Haku left. Iruka was surprised at that, he'd thought that part of the story had been embellished. It did explain why the boy was allowed into the village. Iruka wasn't even sure it was a good idea for Naruto to have a vassal, he determined to talk with Kakashi and the Hokage.
Naruto and Haku found a training ground with some water and targets, they ran through some muscle warm ups while Haku considered the village so far. Iruka seemed nice, but could be hiding his nature. Naruto had clearly been sabotaged, and not by Kakashi as far as Haku could tell. Also as a complete 180 from Nami, the general populace seemed to treat Naruto almost like a leper. The boy was mostly avoided, but Haku had caught one or two glares from angry older people. Konohagakure no Sato was safe, there seemed to be plenty of food, and the training grounds were large, but Haku couldn't help but hate it.
"So what are we doing first?" Naruto asked, breaking the hyoton wielder out of his thoughts.
"How about a taijutsu spar, then we'll see how your shurikenjutsu is?" Haku asked, he'd never had to train anyone before, but he remembered how he was trained well enough and Naruto needed no encouragement, only instruction. Naruto nodded at the suggestion and took on a fighting stance. It was less sloppy than it used to be, had less openings since Naruto actually raised his arms to defend his torso now.
The two made a seal of confrontation then dashed at each other, Haku opened with a light left jab that Naruto caught on his right forearm and powered through with a right straight. Haku weaved to the outside of the arm and attempted a front kick with his left leg which Naruto bunted with his right leg, then Haku stepped in, got his right leg behind Naruto's left and pushed against Naruto's guard before his right leg could touch the ground. Naruto rolled back, got to his feet, and tried a jumping kick that Haku dodged to the outside of. Haku moved in as Naruto landed and delivered a light jab to his unprotected back as Naruto twisted to defend himself.
Haku noted that Naruto was getting better as he stepped away from Naruto's fists, and the boy was energetic. Haku was just a bit too fast for him still, but as a result Naruto was learning to defend himself better against faster opponents. Haku glanced a right punch from Naruto on his left arm and stepped in to jab him in the chest with his right fist. Naruto may have been getting better, but Haku was fast.
"That should be enough for now." Haku stopped the taijutsu training short since he hadn't seen Naruto's shurikenjutsu yet. Naruto looked at the targets and threw some shuriken at them. Haku determined that Naruto was of the 'throw a bunch of them and if most hit its a good distraction' school of shurikenjutsu. Haku decided to teach Naruto better accuracy.
"Try one shuriken at a time, and really aim at your target, throwing multiple like that is good for caging in moving targets." Haku lectured, watching carefully and correcting Naruto's throwing technique for the rest of his shuriken.
Gradually over the next few hours, Naruto improved. It confirmed further to Haku that Naruto had been sabotaged in his training. Haku shuddered to think of how bad the boy had been before Kakashi got to him. Soon it was getting dark, Naruto didn't even seem to notice the sun setting so Haku decided he would have to get the boy to stop training.
"Naruto-kun I think that's enough for today, you should show me where I'll be staying from now on." Haku said, Naruto blinked owlishly in response, "Your home." Haku explained, trying not to be embarrassed. Naruto blinked again, then formed a hand seal, then there were six Naruto and five of him were running off.
"Right yeah, home, uh, let's eat ramen again first, I promised after all!" Naruto rambled. Haku was getting to know Naruto, so he knew something was odd about that but decided not to worry for now, figuring he'd let Naruto have his apparent favourite food for dinner.
After another batch of ramen, with less teasing this time, Naruto and Haku were standing outside Naruto's apartment as Naruto fiddled with the key. Haku wasn't sure why Naruto was fiddling since it was obvious he only had one key. Eventually Naruto put the key in the lock and opened the door. Inside five more of Naruto were still cleaning. Haku decided that was a fair use of kage bunshin, but really wished Naruto had thought to do this before. He didn't really blame Naruto, but the blonde probably should have guessed where Haku would be staying earlier.
The clones dispersed and Naruto walked in, "Aw man, my plants." he said sadly, looking over his unwatered plants. At least the place was tidier than he'd left it. Haku noticed Naruto had one bed, he should have guessed that since he was a young genin who lived on his own. Haku checked the fridge and cupboards. The fridge was empty and the cupboards were full of instant ramen. Haku considered that Naruto might have a problem. After checking that Haku found a spot to get comfortable.
"What are you doing?" Naruto asked,
"You only have one bed." Haku explained as he sat down,
"You gotta sleep in a bed." Naruto said, then realized what he was saying. Haku took some satisfaction out of Naruto blushing, he did not take satisfaction from Naruto's sudden and mischievous grin, "Besides, Haku-chan, we're both guys." the blonde said slyly.
This was a competition Haku was happy to lose, but after much insistence, which ended with Naruto declaring he'd just sleep wherever Haku did anyway, it seemed Haku would be unable to avoid the embarrassing situation.
The next day Kakashi showed up late to the team meeting, "I got lost." he excused lazily, ignoring the protest from Sakura and Naruto, "So how are you settling in?" he asked Haku.
"Naruto's bed is comfortable." Haku said with a straight face. To his credit Naruto tried not to react, but he did blush which gave Sakura the wrong idea. Sasuke didn't seem phased. Kakashi smiled under his mask and considered who to embarrass more.
"That's nice, now we should get a mission so he can afford to feed you." Kakashi decided to file the information away for later. It would be entertaining to bring up in front of someone who would get the wrong idea. The jonin lead the four to the mission office.
The system for a vassal ninja going on missions with their lord was simple, the vassal followed their lord. Naruto could have Haku do missions independantly and recieve the pay, but he was a genin so without a jonin or chunin they could only accept D ranks. Kakashi went back to taking D ranks for the team.
Over the next couple of days Naruto and Haku did more training, mostly Naruto while Haku supervised, and Haku did grocery shopping for Naruto. Haku had not enjoyed learning that Naruto was completely surprised at how 'cheap' Haku had acquired said groceries, he hadn't gotten that many things on sale. The boy wondered if the villagers wanted Naruto to kill them.
Haku had also altered his outfit a bit to avoid looking like he came from Kirigakure. Not exactly major alterations, he still wore a battle kimono, but didn't bother with a turtleneck anymore. He kept the choker. Haku had gotten a battle kimono with the spiral symbol he'd noticed on Naruto's jumpsuit after learning it was the symbol of the Uzumaki clan.
Naruto meanwhile had finally gotten the basics for Kirigakure no Jutsu and was already eager for more ninjutsu to play with. Haku tried to get him to practice stealth and shurikenjutsu to make use of the mist, which Naruto did, but the blonde genin kept asking for another ninjutsu to practice. Haku was happy to begin teaching him mizu bunshin no jutsu, Naruto wasn't a terribly slow learner and it made Haku feel useful.
"The seal is tiger." Haku instructed,
"Aren't kage bunshin better anyway?" Naruto asked as he struggled to get even one functioning clone to come out of the water,
"Well, sort of." Haku agreed, "Kage bunshin require far more chakra, but are a perfect physical clone, while mizu bunshin are a tenth of the strength of the ninja who made them. However mizu bunshin cost far less chakra, and can be used as mobile sources of water for other Suiton ninjutsu." he explained patiently.
Naruto nodded and kept practicing, Haku's words spurring the boy to push hard. The water was shaky at first but when making multiple mizu bunshin his chakra spread more evenly and eventually a group of five Naruto shakily stepped out of the water. They weren't perfect, and Haku could tell the mizu bunshin from their blonde creator easily, but they had the shape and movements down.
Haku was surprised at the speed Naruto was picking up this one, he knew that after kirigakure no jutsu any other suiton no jutsu would come easier as his chakra had adapted to water, but Naruto was picking up mizu bunshin quicker than expected. The blonde did not see it that way and groused about his imperfect clones, throwing himself into the training until he got the jutsu down.
It took Haku reminding Naruto to eat to get him to stop training when it came to ninjutsu, and while he didn't slack off in other areas of the training he didn't push himself harder than Haku did in those areas either. The jinchuriki was surprisingly stealthy for someone who wore a bright orange jumpsuit, his aim was getting better, and his taijutsu was much better. There were certain bad habits that would take ages to train out of his taijutsu still, but at least he kept his guard up now.
Even with Haku training him, it did not take Naruto long to get bored of D rank missions, being that they were effectively chores.
"We want another C rank!" Naruto said, pointing at Kakashi when he arrived that day. Sasuke and Sakura nodded in unison, making their agreement with being bored chores apparent. Haku just stood behind Naruto. It had taken Naruto less than a week to get bored of D rank missions.
"We'll see." Kakashi answered flippantly, "How has Haku-chan been fitting in?" he asked and Haku frowned, he did not like anyone but Naruto calling him that and he refused to admit what that implied, especially not out loud.
"I've acclimatized fine." Haku said truthfully, he didn't really like the people, but he did like Naruto well enough and it was a comfortable place to live. The boy was actually surprised at how little trouble he'd gotten from local ninja. Word had traveled that he was a vassal, he could tell from overhearing some whispers, but he'd mostly been let alone.
"Naruto-kun must be a good pillow then." Kakashi said, clearly enjoying his chosen torment. It was like T&I for kids in his opinion.
"I am not!" Naruto protested, fueling Kakashi's enjoyment further as he lead the team to the tower to collect a mission.
Kakashi wondered who else to embarrass, "You may not borrow him." Haku decided to turn it on Kakashi.
"Don't worry, he's all yours." Kakashi was not so easily outplayed. Haku was embarrassed again, not only from the constant insinuations, but from being outplayed by Kakashi yet again. Haku usually ended up embarrassed more often than Naruto, but only when the insinuations went over the blonde boys head, this was not such a case. Sasuke was just trying to tune it out, but couldn't help be silently entertained by Naruto being tormented by Kakashi. Sakura tried to look above the situation but was laughing at Naruto on the inside.
In the mission office, Kakashi requested a C rank, the Hokage raised his eyebrow at that but looked at the options, "Hm, well this one needs to be done." the old ninja said, "Another escort mission. This time it's a man named Shibuki, chunin and head of Takigakure no Sato." he explained.
"How is escorting the leader of a hidden village a C rank mission?" Sakura asked,
"Taki is rather small, but neutral and well defended against invasion, most don't bother to make enemies of them." Hiruzen explained.
Kakashi nodded, "Sounds like a much more normal C rank." he said, jinxing it entirely.
The Hokage lit his pipe and took a drag of tobacco, "Well that and if the mission does encounter enemy shinobi then your team is used to it." he added.
"Hell yeah! We're the elite genin team!" Naruto agreed eagerly,
"Well, most of us." Sasuke said, shooting Naruto down,
"You should not be so unkind to Sakura." Haku deflected calmly before Naruto could get mad at Sasuke, "I'm sure she'll do fine too." he added. Sasuke decided not to bother correcting Haku about which team members he was talking about and Sakura frowned.
Haku had kept it mostly hidden, but he did not seem fond of Sakura. It was obvious to Kakashi who witnessed the pale boy defend Naruto verbally from Sasuke by making it obvious that he thought of Sakura and not Naruto as the weakest link, more than once over the past few days even. If Sasuke noticed he gave no indication of caring, and Kakashi wasn't interferring since it seemed like Sakura might have started taking her training a bit more seriously in response to the jabs that Kakashi couldn't help but think were catty.
Haku's reason for disliking Sakura was simple, the girl was not nice to Naruto. Haku did not begrudge the girl for being weaker than her team mates, but it was an easy target whenever Sasuke tried to put down Naruto's weakness.
"Alright, so where is this Shibuki?" Kakashi asked, pulling the conversation away from any potential argument.
"The man has been busy, negotiating with myself and the various clan heads around the village. He'll be ready to go first thing in the morning." Hiruzen explained, "Don't be late." he added, looking at Kakashi.
Kakashi's eye crinkled in that way that indicated he was smiling under the mask, "I won't be." he lied.
To his credit, Kakashi was only half an hour late this time. Naruto and Sakura voiced their complaints anyway, Kakashi considered this inconsiderate.
The team met Shibuki himself, who was slightly older than Haku it seemed. The man seemed like a common long haired young man, except the fact anything sudden and loud, like a bird taking off, scared him. Sakura wondered how the hell this man was supposed to be the leader of a hidden village, Sasuke wondered who let the man be a chunin, and Naruto just felt bad that this guy apparently outranked him. Even Haku wondered if the man might be better suited to being an advisor or taking a desk job.
Despite what any of them thought of Shibuki, escorting the man home was their C rank mission, "This isn't your guys first C rank, right?" even if he was slightly rude.
"They've already had their first C rank, don't worry they handled fine, in fact it's why we have a plus one." Kakashi said, gesturing to Haku with the plus one comment.
"So how bad was it?" Shibuki asked, earning confused looks from all but Kakashi.
The copycat jonin grinned under his mask, "Worse than your average first C rank, it even got reclassified as an A rank." he said with some genuine pride.
"A rank!? They're genin right? I only payed for a C rank after all." Shibuki was clearly surprised at that.
"We're super awesome!" Naruto declared, not actually answering the question.
"Rank doesn't directly correlate to threat level." Sasuke explained, "We were probably trusted with this mission to show some respect and trust to your village." he added.
Shibuki raised an eyebrow, "Giving you this mission shows trust to my village?" he asked. Sakura looked confused too.
"There are three different Kekkei Genkai here." Sasuke stated as his way of explanation.
"This seems like something that shouldn't be discussed." Haku decided to quietly interject, and no one disagreed with the statement.
Kakashi was surprised with Sasuke, he knew the boy regarded his Sharingan highly, but it hadn't occured to him that the boy would think highly of other Kekkei Genkai. The jonin wondered if it had something to do with losing to Hyoton once before.
Sasuke hadn't asked for a rematch yet, but Kakashi had noticed the boy training harder. The sensei of the team had also noticed Sakura had started trying to keep up with Naruto and Sasuke during team training. The girl was very disheartened by how quickly a rift in power had appeared between herself and the boys.
Kakashi had noticed Naruto's improvements too, the boy was even getting faster. Presumably Haku had something to do with that. If he could get Sasuke and Naruto to replicate the team work they'd shown in Nami then they might be able to actually beat someone on Haku's level without scary demon chakra. Unfortunately it seemed only life or death situations could get those two to work together, training just didn't seem to pull it out of them in the same way.
The road to Takigakure no Sato was peaceful, but boring. Also Shibuki kept being startled by birds.
As Shibuki and his Konoha shinobi escort approached the entrance to Takigakure no Sato, two small children approached.
"Shibuki-sama!" The children chanted cheerfully in unison as they ran up to them.
Shibuki jumped at the first shout, but steeled himself, "Ah, hey kids, I don't have time to play right now." he said.
"Aw, we weren't going to ask to play." One of the children spoke, the young boy first.
The younger girl spoke up, "We're supposed to clean up the water before we play." she said sadly, "We just wanted to say hi to you, Shibuki-sama!" she added.
"Well luckily, I've brought these ninja with me to help with that." Shibuki said with a grin.
"Hey hold on, this was an escort mission not a chore mission!" Naruto declared, opposing the idea immediately. He refused to believe he'd basically just taken the equivalent of a D rank mission outside of the village.
Sasuke spoke up next, "This wasn't in the mission parameters." he said coldly, he didn't want to pick up trash when he could be training.
"Alright, but we're adding this as an extra D rank mission, payment expected." Kakashi spoke up, figuring it would be good for the kids to clean up some and they couldn't refuse if it was a mission.
Shibuki nodded in agreement and encouraged the two children to start. Haku shrugged and moved to take a spare garbage bag from the kids and start helping, Sakura followed his lead. Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other then Kakashi. Kakashi got the strangest feeling they were sizing him up, he smiled at them from beneath his mask since he knew that would be silly of them.
Kakashi shooed his hand, "Get to work, boys." he told them.
As the two boys trudged to the lousy chore mission, a bird screeched, Shibuki dived to the ground to dramatically take cover, and Kakashi accepted a letter delivered by bird.
"Hm, I should be back by the time you guys are done here, something just came up." Kakashi said after reading and burning the note.
Shibuki frowned but nodded his acceptance. Silently the village leader wondered how the Uchiha could think they were showing trust as Kakashi took off.
"So does your village have any heroes?" Naruto was trying to make small talk with the younger children to make the work go by quicker.
"Yeah, Shibuki-sama!" Shizuku, the young girl, said.
"Him? Why not a real hero? Like me!" Naruto said, showing he had indeed let the mission in Nami go to his head.
"Don't make fun of Shibuki-sama!" Himatsu demanded angrily, the young boy scowling at Naruto,
"Yeah! You're no hero! Shibuki-sama is!" Shizuku agreed vehemently.
"Sorry about Naruto-kun's attitude." Haku interjected to try and soothe the situation, "However, despite his manners he is the most heroic shinobi I've ever met." he added, causing Naruto to blush.
"This shrimp?" Himatsu, smaller than Naruto, asked disbelievingly.
"Who did he save then?" Shizuku asked, equally suspicious.
"Naruto-kun saved me." Haku said honestly, smiling as he took silent joy in Naruto's embarrassment. Naruto had been begging for it though.
"You just have to say that because you're his girlfriend!" Shizuku tried to guess.
"No, I'm a guy." Haku shot the idea down without his smile faltering. It was impressive, "Naruto-kun saved my life by pushing me out of the way of an A rank assassination jutsu, a blade of lightning chakra, and took the hit with his own body." it was more impressive that he said that so plainly, to children no less.
Now the kids were impressed with Naruto, which was what Naruto had clearly wanted, but he was still embarrassed by the way Haku had chosen those words.
Soon enough the sun was lower in the sky and the work was done. Shibuki was trying to hurry Team 7 and Haku to go home.
"Couldn't we just wait around for Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura was trying to negotiate.
"I know his lateness well enough, I need to get these kids home, you should go." Shibuki wasn't budging, oddly enough.
"Well why don't we come with you to escort the kids home?" Sakura suggested,
"No! Your mission is done so just go home already!" Shibuki snapped, losing patience with surprising speed.
"Fine." Sasuke agreed with Shibuki, turning to leave. Sakura looked surprised but moved to follow Sasuke.
"Why?" Sakura asked, curious.
"The entrance to their village is nearby, they must not want us to see it." Sasuke guessed, "Which is odd since our villages are supposed to be allies." he said rather hotly.
"Yeah we're allies at the moment, but who can be certain you won't betray us in the future, or have the knowledge stolen somehow?" Shibuki retorted.
"Hey we escorted you home and even helped clean up! Show a little gratitude!" Naruto demanded, getting angry at Shibuki for his attitude and getting into his face, much to the annoyance of the children.
Before it could escalate further a strained voice called out, "Shibuki-sama!" a civilian woman called out, looking pained and out of breath, "They attacked out of nowhere!" she said, which was generally how ninja operate, so not bandits.
The woman fell into Shibuki's concerned arms, revealing a kunai in her back, the younger children were distraught and Sakura quickly checked on the woman while Haku looked around.
"It's not too deep, so she should be fine, just unconscious." Sakura said, beginning first aid.
"Alright well now we have to stay and help!" Naruto declared, turning on Shibuki as if to dare the man to disagree.
"No you don't!" Shibuki disagreed.
Sasuke jumped at them, knocking both Shibuki and Naruto down, staring towards one of the many waterfalls. Haku landed in a crouch next to them with his senbon ready.
Naruto noticed Haku and reached for his kunai, looking around to see what was actually going on.
Out from behind the waterfall a group of shinobi came and tossed a hail of shuriken at them. Sasuke jumped ahead, eager to prove himself and test his mettle. The Uchiha drew a pair of fuma shuriken, keeping one hidden, as he jumped. Affixing ninja wire as he landed and tossing them, pulling the wires to deflect the smaller shuriken.
Using the wire Sasuke directed the fuma shuriken into the enemy shinobi, one of the large bladed weapons carved into the limbs of two of the enemy ninja, but the other got stuck when one of the blades sunk into the chest of a third.
One of the shinobi, a missing nin from Amegakure no Sato, had started hand signs. Sasuke activated his Sharingan greedily. Rat, dog, then ox, the ninja hit the water, tapped two fingers into the water, then whipped the still loose fuma shuriken out of the air.
"Suiton: Suiben." As the man said this he used the whip to deflect some of Haku's senbon out of the air, protecting the last two missing nin that Sasuke hadn't taken out.
Then Naruto was there, Haku's eyes widened as Naruto just appeared in front of and above the enemy ninja. His hands were still in the tiger seal when he appeared in a puff of chakra smoke, indicating his use of shunshin no jutsu, and the kunai was between them.
Naruto threw his kunai at the surprised missing nin, who dashed back to avoid it and shot out with the suiben, the blow of which caused Naruto to disappear in a puff of smoke. Haku glanced back to see Naruto had disappeared somewhere and was attacking with kage bunshin and shunshin combinations, supplemented by shurikenjutsu.
Three more Naruto appeared to attack and the three missing nin dodged the kunai and retreated as their apparent team leader took out the kage bunshin with his suiben as they retreated into the waterfall.
Naruto landed next to Haku, "Damn it." he grumbled, clearly incensed by Sasuke taking out more than him.
"Sakura get the kids and the woman somewhere safe." Sasuke took charge, "Shibuki, show us the way and we'll help deal with this."
Shibuki frowned but nodded. Sakura had bandaged the woman up and was moving to obey Sasuke. Haku was surprised, but fell into step without issue.
Shibuki lead the three Konoha ninja into Takigakure no Sato by the secret water ways. It was a nice enough place, seemed peaceful. Haku and Sasuke both noticed it was too quiet and no one was around.
Naruto eagerly got back on land, looking around and idly complimenting the village aesthetic. Haku followed Naruto and looked around warily. Sasuke moved in after Haku. Shibuki held back then went back into the water ways without alerting the three boys.
Sasuke and Haku both tensed as they noticed something wrong. Sasuke turned to face where he thought he'd heard something, putting his back to the water source. Haku leaped to Naruto's side, drawing senbon and landing in between Naruto and the direction Sasuke was facing.
Naruto realized something was going on and palmed a kunai in his right hand. They all jumped back as a group of bunshin of the missing nin from Amegakure melted out of the ground near them.
Naruto took the initiative this time and jumped into the fray to test the solidity of the bunshin. His kunai went through one without resistance and he grinned.
"This one is fake!" Naruto declared confidently before the bunshin stabbed him in the left arm, leaving the kunai there as it laughed at Naruto's enraged counter attack swinging through it harmlessly. Haku glared at the the group of bunshin and tried to figure out how to overcome this jutsu before Naruto got even more hurt.
Sasuke activated his Sharingan, "It's genjutsu!" he declared, "Get back Naruto, I'll deal with this one, you and Haku go find Shibuki." the Uchiha ordered.
Naruto jumped back, pulling the kunai out of his arm and holding it in his right hand alongside his own, "Fine." he agreed, clearly not happy. Haku didn't look happy about it either, but followed Naruto back into the water ways.
Sasuke pulled out one of his own kunai, tossing a pair of shuriken at the real body of the missing ninja as he did just to prove his eyes could see right through the genjutsu.
The man dodged easily but stopped maintaining the genjutsu, "So you saw through my kasumi jusha no jutsu?" the man asked, "You kids are something else."
"Are you going to talk or fight?" Sasuke asked impatiently,
"Settle down," the man responded, "don't they teach you brats respect in Konohagakure?" he asked, "It's polite to know each others names when we reach this skill level." the man said with a smirk.
"I don't need your name, just your head." Sasuke shot back and leaped at the man, only to stop as another Suiton: Suiben wrapped around his midsection.
"Well too bad, I'm Murasame. The kunoichi that got you is Hisame. I'm guessing from those eyes that you're Uchiha." Murasame spoke smoothly, it wasn't a question.
Naruto and Haku moved through the water ways, unaware of Sasuke's new plight. Haku was pretty sure they were lost.
It took them a lot of wandering around, but they finally found someone, and it was just the man they were looking for too. Shibuki was holding a jug of water and looking at it somberly.
"Shibuki! There you are!" Naruto called out as he and Haku rushed over.
"How did you two get here?" Shibuki asked after he got over jumping out of his skin at Naruto's voice.
"We were looking for you." Naruto said with a grin.
"We were lost." Haku said honestly, "Why do you look at that water with such sorrow?" he asked before Naruto could object.
Shibuki frowned and held up the gourd shaped glass jug, "This is Eiyu no Mizu." he said.
"It looks like water." Naruto said, not getting the big deal.
"It's more than water. This water is tapped from the sacred tree once every hundred years." Shibuki began, "It's said to increase the chakra those who drink it tenfold or more." he explained, shocking Haku and Naruto.
"Tenfold!?" Naruto voiced his shock and Shibuki nodded.
"In exchange, the lifespan is reduced by the same amount the drinkers chakra was in enhanced by. Many died drinking this water, including my father." Shibuki explained, "It's the duty of the leader of Takigakure no Sato to protect the Eiyu no Mizu," he continued as he curled in on himself, "which is why I can't let them have this."
Naruto and Haku frowned, Haku checked outside to see what the situation was. It was pretty bad. Naruto moved to see what Haku was looking at and his frown became a scowl.
The enemy had hostages, the whole village it seemed, including Sakura and the kids. Even Sasuke was tied up.
"Are you really just going to sit there and hide like a coward?" Naruto asked, not liking Shibuki's behaviour one bit. Haku was surprised Naruto was calling the man out, but if there was ever a time to do it, now was the time.
"I need to hide! They can't get the water!" Shibuki said frantically.
"Your father, he drank the water to protect this village, didn't he?" Naruto asked,
"What do you know?" Shibuki growled, confirming the theory,
"I know that sounds like a hero to me." Naruto said, turning away,
"It was the actions of a fool." Shibuki spat, getting frustrated with the topic.
"Those kids look up to you, guess they mistook you for your dad." Naruto said as he tightened his headband, "Hero or not, your dad sounds like my kind of guy." he finished as he jumped to get in position to attack, Haku following behind.
Shibuki sat there stunned.
"Haku-chan, stay hidden and move into position to take out the enemy near the hostages." Naruto said as he tested a vine, "I'll be the distraction." he finished with a grin. Haku nodded and used shunshin to dash between cover.
Naruto took a deep breath and jumped, swinging on the vine, "I am Naruto Uzumaki!" he shouted, getting the attention of everyone, "You are about to witness my ultimate-!" he began only to be cut off by his own yell of shock as the vine snapped and hurled him into the water.
A missing nin from Ame with a mask asked, "Who is this dumbass?"
"A team mate of those other two Konoha nin, there should be a fourth somewhere." Murasame answered.
"Kirisame, Murasame, deal with it." The apparent leader of the group spoke up.
"I'll deal with you!" Naruto shouted, mist pouring from the water on his position and obscuring visibility.
"Kirigakure no Jutsu?" Hisame questioned, surprised to see the jutsu used by a Konoha genin.
Kirisame and Murasame moved towards the water. As they did a swarm of Naruto bunshin rushed them, throwing shuriken ahead of them as they moved.
Hisame suddenly gave a pained cry as she dived to the ground, a pair of senbon in her left arm, she rolled to avoid more senbon and jumped when she was on her feet to avoid another handful from Haku, who dashed back to land on the surface of the water.
Kirisame and Murasame had jumped back to avoid the shuriken from Naruto's bunshin, and returned volley to pop some of them, revealing mizu bunshin as water splashed from their defeated forms. Kirisame growled and rushed to engage the clones in taijutsu.
"Hey, Suien! What's the plan here?" Murasame asked, moving to stand over Hisame.
"I'll handle this one, keep an eye on the hostages." Suien, the leader of the group, answered, forming a blade of water around a kunai without the use of hand signs. Sasuke and Haku both frowned at that, "Takigakure-ryo: Mizukiri no Yaiba." the man named the jutsu as he dashed at Haku.
Haku was pushed into a game of dodging, Suien was good. Haku decided that the man was not as good as Zabuza as he danced around the blade on the surface of the water, but couldn't land a good hit with his senbon and couldn't get the space to perform a ninjutsu.
"A hit and run type?" Suien asked as he deflected a handful of senbon with his watery blade, "A shame you're up against me then." he taunted confidently. Haku didn't answer and lead the man towards a spot shimering under the water.
Meanwhile Naruto had started mixing kage bunshin in, and armed with kunai they were pushing Kirisame back with numbers. Murasame moved to the soaked battlefield to assist.
As soon as Murasame kicked down a mizu bunshin Haku was there, dashing out of the mist and running through handsigns. Murasame and Kirisame both widened their eyes and glanced back to see Suien looking in confusion at something under the water.
Suien was confused, one second he'd been chasing Haku, the next he was gone and some senbon had actually grazed him. The man looked down and saw what looked like a polished rectangle of ice.
Haku landed near the two Ame missing nin, "Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suisho" the boy intoned and the water rose from the ground, shaping into razor edged needles as it flew at Kirisame and Murasame. Sasuke mentally cursed himself for not having his Sharingan active for that one.
The two targets jumped to avoid the needles and landed near Hisame as Suien dashed over, "The girl isn't good at close combat." the leader advised.
"I'm a boy." Haku corrected without missing a beat and a straight face as a group of Naruto bunshin used shunshin to appear surrounding the missing nin.
Half of the bunshin used henge, Haku's eyes widened as they took the shape of smaller versions of the Kubikiribocho, and the other half of the bunshin grabbed their new weapons and swung.
Suien was much better at kenjutsu and destroyed the weapons coming at him, causing water to splash as the mizu bunshin lost their form. Haku jumped at them.
Kirisame ended up taking a glancing hit to his right leg but destroyed the swords coming at him with a kunai. Murasame managed the same but suffered a glancing blow to his right arm.
Then the clones jumped them with kunai and were popped with puffs of smoke as Suien carved through them, looking annoyed. Haku landed near the man, hand in a seal unfamiliar to all but Sasuke, but this one he couldn't copy anyway.
Ice started rising from the water around the missing nin, then halted as Haku coughed. Suien had stabbed the boy in the stomach.
"Haku-chan!" Naruto shouted, the real one dashing out of cover. Suien scowled and moved to rip the water blade out of Haku, only to be halted by the young teenage grip on his arm.
Naruto pulled out a kunai and made the tiger seal, popping next to Suien with shunshin and thrusting at the man with his kunai, an angry glare levelled at his target.
Suien was forced to take to kunai on his left forearm with a grunt, the man scowled and kicked out, catching Naruto in the chest and knocking him back. Suien then punched Haku with his wounded left arm, removing his grip and knocking them bleeding boy down.
"I've had enough of this, Shibuki!" Suien called out, "If you don't bring the Eiyu no Mizu I'm going to start killing kids."
Haku didn't hear a response and tried to get up, checking where he was stabbed. It seemed non-lethal, luckily enough, but he'd need treatment. Idly Haku hoped Takigure had iryo ninja, just in case.
Naruto was not even slightly as calm and rushed Suien again, only to get kicked in the face by Kirisame. Suien ignored this and approached Shizuku, taking out a kunai as he did.
Murasame took a turn with Naruto, rushing to pummel the boy now that he was shaken. Naruto made five kage bunshin to defend himself against the older two shinobi.
Murasame moved in to punch the Naruto he assumed was the real one with a left straight as Kirisame lashed out to kick through the group with his right leg. Murasame had to pull back to block two kage bunshin, but countered with quick jabs and circled Naruto. Kirisame kicked through one bunshin, but the other jumped and the third ducked before the final Naruto caught the kick with an attempt to block and was knocked into Murasame who slammed an elbow into his back.
The remaining bunshin were dispelled by a snap kick combo from Kirisame, "Naruto-kun!" Haku called out in concern, shakily pulling himself to his feet. Hisame approached Haku, clutching the injury he'd dealt her and glaring down at him. The kunoichi delivered a kick to Haku's solar plexus that sent the wounded boy rolling.
Naruto growled and moved to rush Hisame but Kirisame intercepted to give him a kick to the solar plexus too, which Murasame followed up with a right hook that knocked Naruto to the ground.
Sakura was crying out for the enemy to stop and Sasuke was just glaring, "You've wasted enough of my time, Shibuki!" Suien called out, ignoring Sakura as he lifted his blade above his chosen hostage.
Haku gasped in pain and looked over at Naruto, "You got no time to worry about him." Hisame spat, moving to kick the boy again. Before she could a whirlwind of water slammed into her, knocking the kunoichi flying onto her back. The same spinning vortex kept going, slamming into Kirisame and Murasame too.
Then it disappeared and revealed Shibuki, "Let the villagers go, Suien. You wanted me right?" he asked with more confidence than he felt. Naruto got up and rushed to Haku's side.
"Well, here you are. Now where is the Eiyu no Mizu?" Suien responded, seemingly unconcerned by the visible chakra coming off of Shibuki.
"I drank it, so I'd have the power to defeat you!" Shibuki declared, "Takigakure-ryo: Mizukiri no Yaiba!" he created his own blade of water to match Suien.
"Well you can't have drank all of it, and it will do you no good. You're weak, ten times nothing is still nothing." Suien taunted, deciding to move away from his hostage and deal with Shibuki personally.
Naruto was helping Haku bandage himself and both kept an eye on the fight. It was a simple enough sword fight in Haku's eyes.
Unfortunately, Suien was actually pretty good at kenjutsu. The missing nin disarmed the village leader in spite of the power up, and Shibuki was subsequently stabbed in the gut.
"Like I said," Suien taunted, "You've got no talent for this life, having a bunch of chakra doesn't change that." he finished as he let Shibuki fall to the ground, the shroud of visible chakra disapating.
Naruto decided he didn't like those words at all. Naruto already really didn't like Suien, in fact he hated the man for stabbing Haku at this point.
Suien ignored the glare from the genin and checked Shibuki's pockets, "How convenient, he brought the water with him!" the man declared before ripping the cork out with his teeth and starting to drink.
Haku frowned as the situation went from bad to worse, he looked at Naruto and saw the anger and hate the younger boy directed at the enemy. The hyoton wielder didn't want to over pressure the boy, but he might be their only shot here unless Kakashi decided to show up.
"Naruto-kun," Haku began, getting the attention of the blonde instantly, his hate giving way to worry seemlessly, "this man will probably kill us if you can't stop him." he said honestly.
Naruto frowned and nodded, determination and resolve obvious on his face. Haku smiled as Naruto stood between the man and Haku. With a handsign there were twenty of Naruto. Suien took notice and stopped laughing, his body glowing with visible chakra.
"Oh what? You think you have a chance?" Suien asked, "Shibuki drank the Eiyu no Mizu and even he couldn't beat me, and now I've drank it!" the man said ecstatically.
"So what? Doesn't matter how much you multiply nothing." Naruto mocked coldly, levelling the nin's own sentiment against him. Suien didn't take kindly to that.
Suien dashed in and slashed, catching the closest clone as the rest jumped and threw kunai at him. The number of projectiles gave him pause but instead of dodging or deflecting he raised his free hand and the chakra around him flared, blocking the kunai. He smirked and looked at Haku, dashing to finish the boy off.
All of Naruto was there, hands in tiger seal from shunshin they all moved to strike with different unarmed attacks. Suien swung his blade and dispelled the kage bunshin, catching the real Naruto with the attack and leaving a gash in the blonde's left arm, on the forearm under the elbow.
Naruto didn't retreat and pulled out a kunai to move against the man, thrusting at Suien's rib cage under the guard. Water met steel as Suien blocked and Naruto pulled back to avoid losing fingers as he ducked under the counter swing only to get kicked in the face and launched over Haku.
Shibuki, injured as he was, used the fight as cover to get near Sasuke and free the Uchiha from the razor wires keeping him captive.
Suien was forced to use his blade to delfect the hail of shuriken as Sasuke dashed to meet him, and Suien went to kick Haku again, only to be blocked by the blonde genin again. What surprised Suien this time, was the boy withstood the bone jarring kick, he hadn't deflected the power, he'd absorbed the kick against his right forearm and hadn't caved under the weight of it.
Suien frowned as he jumped back to avoid the kunai Sasuke and Naruto were now wielding as they stabbed at him from different angles before standing next to each other.
"How the hell are you even alive?" Suien asked Naruto, "The power boost must be running out, well whatever." he said and started chugging more of the magic water. The aura of chakra around the man flared.
Sasuke adjusted his grip on his kunai to hold the blade away from himself in a reverse grip and flew through hand seals before releasing a flurry of small fire balls at the enemy, "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu" he called the attack.
Suien jumped back and flared his chakra to make a water wall when he landed on the surface. The man frowned when he noticed shuriken coming through the water, hidden by the flames until they were extinguished. Suien rased his free hand and flared his chakra, blocking the shuriken with raw chakra.
Sasuke ran through more hand seals, "Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu!" he called as a thin blast of flame shot towards Suien, looking like a dragon as it moved.
Suien tossed his water blade and dashed to the side to dodge before rushing towards the two genin. The water evaporated but the kunai within flew at Sasuke, who shifted and deflected the projectile weapon off the edge of his own.
Naruto rushed Suien, tossing his kunai ahead of him as he did. Suien dodged the weapon and met Naruto in taijutsu. Naruto attempted to open with a right straight but was countered by a left snap kick to the face. Suien followed up with an right knee into the solar plexus and sent Naruto flying into a brittle rock with a right hook.
Sasuke attempted to meet the man with his own taijutsu, his Sharingan allowing him to duck the opening back hand and he moved to punch under his guard only to be forced to twist to dodge a sudden knee and he barely managed to block the roundhouse kick that came after. The force of the kick knocked Sasuke back.
"Just give it up, brat, I'm unstoppable now." Suien declared, breathing hard.
"No, this power is clearly draining you." Sasuke noticed, "So we just have to outlast you, which means you're out of luck." he declared as the rubble of the rock that had fallen on Naruto stirred.
The orange clad genin growled as he stood up, the red chakra was finally starting to be visible, "You're pissing me off!" he yelled at the enemy. Haku was relieved, it wasn't as overbearing as that fateful day on the bridge, but it might be enough.
Suien looked startled and angered, jumping away from them towards the water, "Then I'll just drink more!" he declared defiantly, but his declared plan was ruined by a senbon that shattered the jug. Suien turned his glare on Haku at that, who smiled at him from his position behind Sasuke.
Naruto wasted no time and gave chase, leaping at Suien with his enhanced strength and speed, "Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" the boy yelled, a sudden mass of orange flew towards Suien, all of them encased in red chakra auras.
Suien scowled, "I already told you, it doesn't matter how many of you there are, you're nothing!" he roared, trying to hide the fact that the red chakra had shaken his resolve as he rushed Naruto.
The mass of red glowing boys met the blue glowing man and threw wild punches at each other, but the logistics were heavily against Suien. While the man was strong and fast enough to pop the bunshin, Naruto was enhanced by the kyubi chakra, and so were his bunshin. Suien was struck by many punches, each one surprising the man with the weight of them before he was finally knocked back from his attempt to counter-charge the genin of Konoha.
Suien flew back and slammed his head against an exposed tree root, dazing him, and Naruto fell into the water.
"That kid actually did it!" Shibuki sounded surprised, much to the offense of Naruto who was swimming to shore.
"I did tell you we were showing your village trust by this team coming here." Sasuke reminded.
"Of course I did it! I never back down!" Naruto shouted as he pulled himself out of the water.
"Do you have any iryo ninja?" Haku asked, worried about his injury.
Shibuki winced at the reminder and nodded with a smile, moving to untie his villagers, starting with a pair of medics who swiftly checked over Shibuki and Haku. After ensuring that their injuries hadn't damaged any internal organs, the moved to check on Naruto and Sasuke.
Sasuke accepted it without much fussing but Naruto, "Oi! I'm fine, my body is healing itself, heal Haku-chan!" the blonde was more worried about someone else.
Haku and Naruto were bandaged up in the end, and so was Shibuki. The leader of Takigakure lead the Konoha ninja team to the entrance to meet with Kakashi and explain the situation.
"I hadn't thought of it, but technically that was Haku's first C rank with the village." Kakashi said after everything had been explained.
Shibuki sighed, "Damn it, I knew that felt like a 'first C rank' curse." he said. Sakura was pretty sure that was a myth, Sasuke was starting to believe, Haku had no idea what they were talking about, and Naruto just nodded as if he did know exactly what was being discussed when he didn't.
"So what rank?" Kakashi asked Shibuki.
"Easily A rank." Shibuki answered, "I'll send the pay by messenger within a week." he added quickly.
Kakashi shrugged, "Well, sounds like you kids had quite the adventure. Now it's time to go home." he said, ruffling Naruto's hair. Naruto accepted the sign of affection with minimal grumbling.
With Takigakure no Sato safe, the ninja began their journey home.