Alright, finally onto the fighting. Just gonna come out and say this - I won't be writing out the Kakashi vs Zabuza fight. It'll basically be the same as canon, so I'm gonna focus on the fight with Haku. This chapter should be the finale of the Wave arc, so soon I can move onto the Chunin Exams, which I'm pretty excited to do.

Oh, and a note I forgot to put on the last chapter - Naruto and Sasuke learned their affinity, but they aren't learning actual nature transformation. It's just to let them get more use out of the copying ability of their Sharingan. I'm pretty sure nature transformation is generally a chunin level skill, so I felt it'd be a bit rushed to try and teach them it before they even tried to become chunin

Also, Happy New Years.

I'll be off break in a few days, so I'll probably slow down a bit. It's also the end of the semester so I have a paper and a bunch of essays due that I've been putting off for a while. Though, I am chronically irresponsible so I might end up procrastinating that in favor of writing this.

Almost didn't do the Haku conversation, but it's important so eh. I just hope the changes I made make it interesting to read

Got some writers block while writing the fight for this chapter. I know how I want Naruto and Sasuke's fighting styles to be, but I haven't reached a point in the story where it's viable and writing them against Haku is weird. Sorry for not getting this out as quickly as I originally planned to.

Had a really hard time writing the fight, for some reason.

Battle for the Land of Waves

Training Clearing

On the third day of their training, Naruto and Sasuke had gone back to the forest so they could try sparring in a different environment. They chose to go back to the clearing they were using before because of the trees, they could adapt their tree climbing abilities to be used in a fight.

They had been sparring for a few hours now, and it was really late. By this point, they were too tired to keep their Sharingan active, and punched each other one more time before passing out in the clearing.

After a couple hours, a girl entered the clearing and noticed the two boys passed out on the ground. She walked up to them and paused for a moment before waking the pair up.

"Wuh-" Naruto started, and rubbed his eyes to clear up his vision. He looked over at Sasuke first, who was also rubbing his eyes, and then up at the girl who woke them up. "Oh, hey miss!"

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes at the girl.

The girl turned to look at Sasuke, and gave him a smile. "My name is Haku. What are you two doing sleeping out here?" She asked them.

Naruto grinned at the girl. "My name's Naruto, and he's Sasuke! We were out here training!" He told her, and Sasuke's eye twitched.

"Idiot! Don't just go around telling random people who we are!" Sasuke told him, gritting his teeth.

Naruto looked at Sasuke, confused. "Why not? She asked and told us her name." Naruto asked him, and Sasuke just facepalmed.

"Never mind." Sasuke grumbled. "No matter how much stronger you get, you're still you."

Naruto just shrugged, and turned back to Haku. "So, what're you doing out here?" He asked, and Haku pointed to a basket of herbs.

"My friend is injured. I'm collecting herbs that will help him get better." She told him, then looked at their forehead protectors "Are you two shinobi?" She asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah! We're here to-" Naruto started, but Sasuke cut him off by covering his mouth.

"Idiot! You can't go around telling people about shinobi business!" Sasuke berated him, and uncovered his mouth.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He said, and turned back to Haku. "Sorry, Sasuke's right. I'm not supposed to say anything."

Haku gave him another smile. "It's alright." She told him. "So, do you have anyone precious to you?" She asked.

Naruto just stared at her, confused. "Huh?"

"Do you have anyone precious to you?" She asked him again. "I believe that a person can only become truly strong if their goal is to protect someone."

Naruto looked at her for a few seconds, and then looked over at Sasuke, and smiled. Not his usual grin, but a normal, genuine, smile, and then turned back to Haku. "Yeah. There's the old man, Kaka-sensei, Iruka, Sakura-" he turned took look at Sasuke again. "-and Sasuke. He's like a brother to me, you know?" Naruto finished, and turned back to Haku.

Sasuke stared at Naruto, eyes wide. They'd been getting closer since he found out Naruto was an Uchiha.. but he'd never considered having a brother again, not after what Itachi did.

Haku turned to look at Sasuke. "So? How about you?" She asked, snapping Sasuke out of his thoughts.

Sasuke stayed silent for a few more seconds, and then smiled, an actual smile, at Naruto. "Yeah. I see him as a brother, too. And I'd do anything to protect my family." Sasuke told Haku, before turning to Naruto with a smirk. "Even if he is an idiot."

Haku laughed at that, and Naruto glared at him. "EVERY TIME!" Naruto shouted, and Sasuke laughed.

Haku got up and grabbed her basket. "Well, I've got to get going. It seems you two will be truly strong." She told them, and began walking away.

Naruto waved at her. "Bye, Haku!"

Haku, right before leaving the clearing, turned around and looked at them with a smile. "By the way, I'm actually a boy." He told them, and left the clearing.

Naruto and Sasuke just stared at each other, eyes wide.

"HUH?" They shouted together

Tazuna's House

It had been a week since Kakashi had started to train the three genin, and all of them had made good progress. Kakashi taught Naruto the few wind jutsu he knew, and he taught both Naruto and Sasuke a few lightning jutsu. Sasuke took to the lightning jutsu faster than Naruto, as it's his main affinity, but Naruto started to learn how to intentionally cast genjutsu with his eyes. He hadn't started learning very advanced techniques yet, but he could now put people under subtle genjutsu mid-battle. Kakashi showed the pair a lot of the jutsu he'd learned over the years, but they were only able to master a few of them to a point where they could be used in battle. Sasuke also helped Naruto master the fireball jutsu because, even if it wasn't their natural affinity, it was still a signature of the Uchiha clan. Sakura had moved on from tree walking to water walking, as Kakashi decided that her chakra reserves were finally at a level where she could effectively walk on water.

Currently, Naruto and Sasuke were working on combining Sasuke's fireball with one of Naruto's wind style jutsu, Great Breakthrough. Sakura was running across the water to increase her stamina and chakra reserves. She still wasn't anywhere near the level of her teammates, and she'll most likely never catch up to their chakra reserves, but she was finally at a level where she wouldn't be absolutely helpless in a fight.

Kakashi, who was finally back at full health, walked up to where the three genin were training. They were just outside of Tazuna's house, with Naruto and Sasuke on the dock, aiming their combo attack out over the water. Sakura was running around the dock, but avoiding where the boys were attacking. Over the course of the week they had taken turns guarding Tazuna, but now they were expecting Zabuza to attack again soon.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura!" Kakashi called out, catching their attention. Naruto and Sasuke, who were in the middle of another combo attack, lost their focus and the attack backfired on them, throwing them back. Sakura just ran up to where Kakashi was, used to their occasional backfires.

"Kaka-sensei!" Naruto cried out, while he and Sasuke got up and dusted off their clothes. "You made us mess up!"

"Maa, maa, Naruto. Don't be so loud. You're both fine, and I came here to tell you three that, since Zabuza should be recovered soon, all three of us will be guarding Tazuna from now on." Kakashi told them. Sakura tensed up at that, but Naruto and Sasuke had an air of anticipation around them.

Naruto grinned at Kakashi. "We'll definitely stop Zabuza, believe it!"

Sasuke smirked with Naruto. "What the idiot said."

Sakura looked around at Tazuna's house. "What if Gato sends someone here? Shouldn't one of us stay to protect Inari and Ms. Tsunami?" She asked Kakashi.

Kakashi looked at her thoughtfully, then looked at Naruto. "Sakura makes a good point. You should leave a few shadow clones here." Kakashi told Naruto, who held up a sign.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He exclaimed, and a dozen Naruto clones popped up around them, some on the water. "This should be good, right?" Naruto asked, and Kakashi nodded.

Sasuke looked at the clones, and then looked at Kakashi. "What if Gato sends ninja here? Would shadow clones be enough to deal with them?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi shook his head. "Zabuza knows that we're the bigger threat. I doubt Gato would send anything more than some thugs to deal with Inari and Tsunami. Plus, Naruto can just tell us if any of the clones get dispelled." Kakashi explained.

Naruto looked at him, confused. "How would I be able to know if they're dispelled?" Naruto asked Kakashi, who sweat dropped.

"You uh.. really haven't noticed?" Kakashi asked, and Naruto just continued looking at him with confusion. "You get the memories of your shadow clones." Kakashi told him, and Naruto's eyes widened.

Sasuke just stared at Naruto. "You've been spamming shadow clones for weeks.. and you never noticed." Sasuke deadpanned.

All of the Narutos chuckled and scratched the back of their head. "Well, I mainly just spam them for a fight and then they get dispelled so they don't have many memories to give." The real Naruto explained. "I totally would have noticed.. eventually."

Sasuke sighed. "Uh huh, sure you would."

Kakashi coughed. "Anyways, we should get going. Naruto clones, hide around the house." He told them

The Naruto clones all stood at attention and gave a mock salute. "Aye, aye!" The clones shouted in unison, and disappeared.

"Alright, well, let's go get Tazuna and head to the bridge." Kakashi told his team, and they headed off to find Tazuna.

Later, the bridge

Tazuna, Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all walked up to the bridge, and were greeted by the sight of all the workers groaning on the ground

"He's here. Sakura, protect Tazuna. Naruto, Sasuke, get ready." Kakashi told his team, and uncovered his three tomoe Sharingan.

As Naruto and Sasuke activated their two tomoe Sharingan, a chakra filled mist came over the area.

"What was that you said about my final battle, Kakashi?" A voice asked from the mist, and walked forward, revealing himself to be Zabuza. He was unleashing killing intent, causing Sakura to shake, but Naruto and Sasuke were able to resist it this time. The fake hunter ninja was beside Zabuza, still wearing his mask. "Go deal with the Uchiha brats." Zabuza instructed the masked ninja, Haku.

"Yes, Lord Zabuza." Haku replied, and approached the two Uchiha. Naruto and Sasuke shared a look, and ran away from the others, making Haku follow behind them.

Kakashi engaged Zabuza, and took him away from Tazuna, leaving Sakura to protect Tazuna from any stray attacks. With that, the battles began.

Naruto and Sasuke came to a stop once they were far enough away, and Haku stopped in front of them. "I am sorry for this." Haku told them, and prepared to fight.

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look, and they both began to form signs.

"FIRE STYLE: FIREBALL JUTSU!" Sasuke shouted.

"WIND STYLE: GREAT BREAKTHROUGH." Naruto shouted, and the two jutsu combined, sending a massive fireball at Haku. Thanks to their Sharingan, Naruto and Sasuke were able to perfectly judge how much chakra to infuse into their attacks so they combined perfectly.

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "Think that got 'em?" He asked.

"Of course not, you idiot!" Sasuke shouted back.

When the smoke disappeared, they saw a wall of ice in front of Haku. "Aw, man." Naruto groaned, and Sasuke fought the urge to punch him.

The ice melted away, and Haku ran up to them and they engaged in a taijutsu battle. He attacked Sasuke first, who dodged and gave Naruto and opening to attack. When Naruto punched Haku, his fist was frozen before it could make contact, and Haku kicked him, sending him flying back. Sasuke, who knew Naruto would be fine from experience, engaged Haku in a one-on-one. Haku was faster naturally than Sasuke, but Sasuke's Sharingan allowed him to keep up. After about a minute of them fighting one-on-one, Naruto managed to shatter the ice covering his hand and return to the fight.

"SASUKE!" Naruto shouted, and Sasuke fell back, letting Naruto step into the fight. Naruto engaged Haku in a one-on-one, but he stayed on the defensive, closely watching the eye slits of Haku's mask until they made eye contact.

On Haku's end, he watched Naruto take on fox like features. The pupil of his Sharingan became a slit, his whisker marks thickened, and he grew claws. Suddenly, Naruto was much faster than he was, and he was on the losing end now.

"What the-" Haku started, before realization dawned on him. He put his hands into a sign and shouted "RELEASE!" He broke through the genjutsu Naruto placed him under, just in time to dodge another combination attack from Naruto and Sasuke.

"DAMN IT!" Naruto shouted when he noticed that Haku broke out of his genjutsu.

"I see now. It was foolish for me to try and engage two Sharingan users in hand-to-hand. I will have to do something else." Haku said, and raced through signs before Naruto or Sasuke had the chance to stop him. "DEMONIC MIRRORING ICE CRYSTALS!" Haku shouted, and mirrors of ice began to appear around Naruto and Sasuke.

Before Naruto and Sasuke could react, Haku disappeared into the mirrors. "The hell?" Naruto asked, and then senbon of ice rained down on the two Uchiha.

"Naruto! Attack the-" Sasuke started, but was interrupted when he had to dodge a kunai strike from Haku.

"It's useless to resist. Not even Zabuza can escape this technique." Haku told them, and attacked Naruto, who could barely get out of the way in time and ended up with a wound across his side.

Naruto and Sasuke ran through hand signs as quickly as they could, and they unleashed another combination attack, this time aimed at the mirrors surrounding them. They prepared to escape the mirrors, and were shocked to see all they left was a few cracks, and the cracks were quickly fading.

Haku took the chance to launch even more senbon at the duo. Sasuke was hit in the back of his leg and Naruto was hit in his arm, but they both dodged enough to avoid the senbon hitting anything major.

Naruto and Sasuke ran through hand seals again, but this time they were forming the same ones.

"LIGHTNING RELEASE: LIGHTNING BALLS" They shouted together. Naruto unleashed more lightning balls because of his massive reserves, but Sasuke's were stronger thanks to lightning being his affinity. The balls all targeted one mirror, but the result was the same as before.

"What can we do?" Naruto asked Sasuke, as the two of them dodged another rain of senbon.

"Try making some clones to shield us from some of these senbon." Sasuke told him, and Naruto formed a seal and made 6 shadow clones, which covered them from all sides.

"Okay, now-" Sasuke started, but he was cut off when the senbon started to rain down from directly above them. One of the Naruto clones jumped over them, shielding them from the senbon before dispelling. This left one of the sides open, which Haku quickly took advantage of. "DAMNIT!" Sasuke shouted, and watched as another clone was dispelled by the senbon.

"Give up." Haku told them, his voice echoing around them. "I don't want to have to kill you. Give up the bridge builder and you and your comrades will be spared."

"LIKE HELL!" Naruto yelled, and Sasuke watched the mirrors closely. "Tazuna did nothing wrong! How could you work for a man like Gato?!"

"I do as Zabuza commands." Haku told Naruto, and flew out of the mirror for another attack. This time, however, Sasuke saw him and rushed to intercept. Naruto, noticing this, followed Sasuke's example. They weren't able to land a defining blow, but they were both able to draw some blood from either side of Haku.

'He only travels in straight lines' Sasuke thought, and glanced at Naruto. "Naruto, did you notice?" Sasuke asked him, and Naruto nodded.

Haku watched the two Uchiha from his mirror. 'This isn't good. They can see my movements because of their Sharingan. I need to finish this quickly.' Haku thought, and launched more senbon at them.

Naruto and Sasuke dodged the senbon, and they began running through hand signs again. Sasuke finished first, and unleashed a massive fireball at the direction the senbon came from. Haku quickly left for another mirror, but Naruto was expecting this and unleashed a blade of wind. The blade of wind hit Haku's mask, which was cut in half and fell off, before he disappeared back into the mirrors.

"I GOT-" Naruto started, and then noticed Haku's face surrounding them. "Haku?" He asked, and Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"You were gathering herbs to heal Zabuza." Sasuke noted.

Haku's reflection in all of the mirrors nodded. "Yes. Zabuza is my precious person." Haku told them, giving them a momentary break from the attacks. "I would do anything for him. I am his weapon-"

Naruto cut Haku off. "Why would you work with someone like him?!" Naruto asked. "Does he even care about you?!"

"Whether or not he cares about me is irrelevant. He saved me and gave me purpose. Without him, I am nothing." Haku told him, and resumed attacking. Naruto, caught off guard, couldn't move fast enough to completely dodge the rain of senbon, and they hit his left leg.

"AGH!" Naruto shouted, and quickly removed most of the senbon. Sasuke, seeing this, ran over to protect Naruto while he healed.

"Naruto, how long do you think it'll be before your leg is fine again?" Sasuke asked, deflecting more senbon aimed at Naruto.

Naruto looked down at his leg, and could tell that it was already mostly healed. "I can move now." He told Sasuke, and glared at Haku's reflection in the mirrors. "HAKU! You're avoiding kill shots!" Naruto shouted, surprising Sasuke.

"What?!" Sasuke asked. "What makes you think that?!"

"Just now. I didn't have the chance to dodge, yet the senbon only hit my leg." Naruto told Sasuke, his gaze not leaving Haku's reflection in the mirror. "You don't want to kill us, do you?" Naruto asked.

"No. I don't want to kill you." Haku admitted. "However, if you threaten to get in Zabuza's way, I will."

"ZABUZA IS JUST USING YOU!" Naruto shouted. "He's a monster! If you don't stop us, we'll kill that monst-" Naruto was cut off by an enormous amount of killing intent coming off of Haku.

"DON'T INSULT ZABUZA!" Haku shouted, and sent more senbon at the duo than ever before.

Naruto and Sasuke could only stand there as the hundreds of senbon flew at them, seeing no way out of the attack that flew at them from all sides. Then, as if magic, the world slowed down even further and they could see where the senbon would land. They could see the path that the senbon would travel, and both moved out of the way, dodging between the senbon.

Once the rain of senbon stopped, they looked at each other and their eyes went wide. Both of their Sharingan now had a third tomoe, and the world was clearer than ever before. However, before they could say anything, Haku lunged at Naruto from the mirror.

Thanks to his newly evolved Sharingan, Naruto was able to see the attack before it could reach them and easily jumped over it. Sasuke, taking advantage of the opening, charged at Haku before he could make it to another mirror and tackled him to the ground. Sasuke punched Haku in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and causing his hold on the mirrors to fail, making them melt.

"Nice job, Sasuke!" Naruto told him, and ran over to where Sasuke was holding Haku. "How should we tie-" Naruto started, but was cut off by an icy aura emanating from Haku. Naruto and Sasuke quickly jumped back, barely avoiding ice spikes that grew from Haku's body.

"Naruto. We have to kill him." Sasuke told Naruto. "His ice is too dangerous, and we don't have any way to incapacitate him. He seems to be fanatically obsessed with Zabuza, leaving him alive will only create new problems." Sasuke explained, and Naruto frowned.

"I know, but.." Naruto trailed off. Neither of them had killed before, but they both knew it was something they'd have to face eventually. Naruto just never expected it to be so soon, and never expected to have to kill a person like Haku. "I know. If we don't kill him, he'll kill us and he'll kill Sakura." Naruto finished, and stared at Haku.

Sasuke looked at Naruto for a moment, and quickly looked back to Haku. "Alright. Let's go." Sasuke told Naruto, and the boys charged. Haku shot spikes of ice at them, but they were able to dodge, thanks to their Sharingan. Once they were closer, Naruto jumped towards Sasuke, who boosted him up above Haku.

Naruto raced through hand signs before shouting "FIRE STYLE: FIREBALL JUTSU." Fire wasn't his affinity, and he hadn't practiced fire as much as Sasuke, but he was able to offset the difference by overloading it with his massive reserves. The fireball flew down at Haku, who barely had enough time to put up a shield of ice that was melted by the fireball, cancelling each other out.

As Haku blocked the fireball aimed at him from above, Sasuke took the chance to charge at him with a kunai. Haku was barely able to dodge, and ended up with a deep cut across his side. Naruto, still in the air above Haku, flew at him and punched him in the head, sending Haku straight to the ground. Naruto and Sasuke quickly jumped back, expecting more ice spikes to fly at them, and were surprised when the spikes didn't come.

Naruto and Sasuke both steadily approached Haku, prepared for another wave of ice spikes, when they heard a sound coming from the direction of Kakashi's fight with Zabuza. It sounded like a thousand birds chirping, and they looked over to see lightning emanating from Kakashi's hand. Zabuza was being restrained by Kakashi's dogs, and Kakashi was charging at him with the hand covered by lightning.

Haku, seeing this, attempted to get away from Naruto and Sasuke to use himself as a human shield for Zabuza. Naruto and Sasuke, thanks to their Sharingan, saw Haku's attempt to move and quickly threw two kunai at Haku's chest, stopping and killing him. The pair thought Haku was moving to kill Kakashi, and didn't realize he was attempting to save Zabuza.

Over at Kakashi's battle with Zabuza, Kakashi shoved his lightning covered hand into Zabuza's chest. The last thing Zabuza saw before his death was the two kunai piercing Haku's chest,

Once Zabuza died, the mist over the bridge began to clear. Sakura and Tazuna could only listen to the sound of fighting, sometimes they could see a jutsu that broke through the mist, but they weren't prepared for what they saw when the mist cleared. Kakashi was pulling his hand out of Zabuza's chest, and it was covered in blood. Naruto and Sasuke were both standing over Haku's body, who had two kunai stabbed into his chest. Tazuna was a little shaken by the sight, but relieved that the battle was over. Sakura, however, hadn't considered the possibility of her teammates and sensei having to kill their opponents. She just stared at them, eyes wide, and didn't notice the mob approaching the bridge.

Naruto and Sasuke stared down at Haku's body, the sight burned into their memory due to their Sharingan. Sasuke looked at Naruto, who had tears welling up by his eyes. 'I was always prepared to kill someone eventually.. but Naruto..' Sasuke thought, and put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto wiped his eyes before the tears could fall, and looked at Sasuke.

He opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted. "Well, well, well. It appears the Demon of the Hidden Mist wasn't all he was talked up to be." A voice came from where the bridge started, and everyone turned around to see a short man surrounded by gangsters with weapons.

"Gato." Kakashi stated, and Naruto glared at the new arrivals.

"You were the one who hired Zabuza and Haku?" Naruto asked, 3 tomoe Sharingan spinning, rage dripping from his voice.

Gato just laughed at them. "Of course I am! And I came here to kill them to save money, but it looks like you all did my job for me. Guess I'll have to kill you all instead!" Gato told them.

Naruto began to walk towards Gato, and Sasuke followed close behind. "You.. were going to KILL THEM? THEY DIED FOR YOU." He yelled, and stopped when he was close enough to look into Gato's eyes, Sharingan still spinning.

"What's with these brats? Their eyes-" One of the thugs started, but he was interrupted by a scream coming from Gato.

"AHHHH! A MONSTER! HE'S A DEMON!" Gato screamed before passing out on the floor. The thugs all looked at Naruto with a mix of confusion and fear, until an arrow from behind landed in front of them. The thugs turned around to see a mass of villagers, all with various makeshift weapons, led by Inari with a crossbow. The thugs looked back and forth, between Naruto and the villagers, and then down at their unconscious leader. Some of them decided to just give up, while others tried to make a run for it. This left Naruto and Sasuke standing in front of Gato's unconscious form, Kakashi, Tazuna, and Sakura all walking up to the duo.

Sakura stayed back a bit, unsure of what to say to them. 'I was.. completely useless here. They had to kill someone, and all I did was 'guard' Tazuna. If I was better, maybe I could have helped them..' She thought, and watched them with uncertainty.

Kakashi approached them, his Sharingan already recovered by his forehead protector. 'They had to kill someone on their first time out of the village.. Minato-sensei would hate that they had to do this.' Kakashi thought, and put a hand on both of their shoulders. "Naruto, Sasuke, I'm sorry you had to-" Kakashi started to tell them, but Naruto cut him off.

"Kaka-sensei, it's alright. If we didn't kill him, he would've killed you." Naruto said, and brought out another kunai. Naruto kneeled beside Gato, kunai in hand, and looked up at Kakashi. "Gato is just unconscious, he isn't dead. Should we kill him?" Naruto asked. His voice was emotionless and his Sharingan were still active, but Kakashi could see that he didn't really want to do it.

Kakashi shook his head. "No, I'll send a messenger to the Hokage and ask for him to send someone to take Gato back to the village for interrogation. We can interrogate him and use him to disable his businesses and help the Land of Waves." Kakashi told him, and Naruto put his kunai up.

"Alright, Kaka-sensei." Naruto got up and deactivated his Sharingan, before walking back over to Haku's body. Sasuke followed him to Haku's body, and deactivated his Sharingan. Naruto stayed silent for a few seconds, then looked at Sasuke. "I feel bad for him."

Sasuke nodded his head and looked at Naruto. "Yeah. I think I can understand why he was so attached to Zabuza. After Itachi killed everyone, I latched onto the idea of avenging the clan and killing him. Without that goal, I think I might've felt pathless like Haku."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. The old man, Iruka-sensei, old man Teuchi, and Ayame were the first people who acknowledged me when I was alone. If someone like Zabuza had acknowledged me before any of them.." He looked back to Haku. "I probably would have been just like him."

Sasuke put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Well, you aren't alone anymore. You have all of them, Sakura, Kakashi, and you have me." He told Naruto with an uncharacteristic smile.

Naruto gave a small smile. "Yeah, I know." He said, then looked over at Kakashi, who was talking with Tazuna. "KAKA-SENSEI!" He shouted, getting Kakashi's attention and causing him to walk over to the two boys. Naruto pointed at Haku, and then over to Zabuza. "We should give them good burials. They were trying to kill us, but Gato was the one paying them. They were both shinobi." Naruto told Kakashi.

'He really is just like you, sensei. Even if he has Kushina's personality more than he has yours.' Kakashi thought with an eye smile. "Yeah, I was going to suggest the same thing." Kakashi told him.

The three of them stood there for a bit, until a voice called out "NARUTO!" They looked over and saw Inari standing next to his grandfather. Naruto ran over to them, with Sasuke following behind. Kakashi walked over to Zabuza's body and picked up the Executioner's Blade, before going back to join the others.

When Naruto reached Inari, Inari hugged him. "Thank you!" Inari told Naruto, who just smiled. "Grandpa told me you were the one who took Gato out! You're so cool! How did you do it?" Inari asked.

"Oh, uh. I put him in a genjutsu. Made him think he saw me turn into a demon." Naruto told Inari.

Inari stared up at Naruto, obviously confused. "What's a genjutsu?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Uhh, how do I explain this? I basically put him in a forced dream, I guess? I dunno. Someone else could probably explain it better than me, I can only do them because of my eyes." Naruto told Inari, and activated his Sharingan to show Inari.

Inari stared at him, wide eyed. "Woah! Those are cool! I saw yours eyes turn red when you yelled at me, but I didn't realize they had powers!" Inari exclaimed

"Oh, yeah. Heh, sorry about that." Naruto laughed. "I sometimes activate them unintentionally when I'm upset, you know?" Naruto told Inari. "Oh, Sasuke has them too." Naruto said, and turned to Sasuke. "Show him!"

Sasuke sighed and reactivated his Sharingan to show Inari.

"Woah!" Inari turned to Sakura. "Do you have them too?" He asked.

Sakura sighed and shook her head. "No, but Kakashi-sensei has one."

Inari looked up at Kakashi. "You do? Can you show me?"

Kakashi lifted his headband up so Inari could see his Sharingan. "Mine isn't as good as theirs, though. I can't deactivate it, so I keep it covered." Kakashi explained, and recovered his eye. Naruto and Sasuke followed his example and deactivated their own.

"Woah! Why can't you deactivate it? And why do you only have one?" Inari asked Kakashi.

"It's an Uchiha thing." Sasuke told Inari, who turned to him with a questioning look. "The Sharingan, that's what our eyes are called, is a power my clan has. Me and Naruto are Uchiha and awakened our Sharingan naturally, so we can activate and deactivate them, but Kakashi was given his, so his doesn't deactivate." Sasuke explained to Inari.

"Ohhhh. That's really cool! Does everyone in your clan-" Inari started to ask, but Tazuna covered his grandson's mouth and Inari just made muffled noises.

Tazuna bent down to his grandson's ear. "They're the last of their clan, everyone else was killed." He whispered to Inari, who's eyes widened. "Sorry about that. He's a kid and didn't know." Tazuna apologized for his grandson.

Naruto just waved it off. "Don't worry about it. I wouldn't expect a kid to know." Naruto told him, and Sasuke nodded in agreement.

Kakashi looked at the two young Uchiha. "While we're on the topic of Sharingan, did I notice another tomoe in both of yours?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto and Sasuke both activated their Sharingan and looked at each other. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot! It's really cool, I could see the attacks before they actually happened!" Naruto said, and Sasuke nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I've heard about the predictive abilities of the Sharingan, but that was even more amazing than I thought it'd be." Sasuke agreed.

Kakashi gave both of his students an eye smile. "Right? And your Sharingan take way less chakra than mine. Honestly? I'm a bit jealous." Kakashi told them, and Naruto laughed.

"Yeah, that probably sucks. But you still have more experience using it than me or Sasuke!" Naruto told his sensei.

"Yeah, but I doubt it'll take you two long to catch up and surpass me." Kakashi admitted with an eye smile. "And if you don't, I would have failed as a sensei. Your father would never forgive me if I didn't pass all my skills onto you."

Sakura, who'd been just listening to the conversation, gave Kakashi a confused look at the last part. "You knew Naruto's father, Kakashi-sensei? I thought he didn't know who his parents were?" Sakura asked.

"Oh yeah, I still haven't told you! It's a secret, so I'll tell you later!" Naruto told Sakura, who still looked confused but shrugged.

By now, most of the civilians had gone back to their homes, and most of the unconscious workers woke up. Gato was still unconscious, and Kakashi tied him up and wrote a letter for the Hokage, which he gave to one of his dogs and sent to Konoha. The bridge workers were all thanking the ninja, until Tazuna ordered them to get back to work. Kakashi was low on chakra after his fight with Zabuza, but Naruto and Sasuke were mostly fine, except for a few senbon injuries on one of Sasuke's legs. Sakura was perfectly fine, as she was just protecting Tazuna the whole time.

After a few hours, a few ANBU showed up and took Gato back to the leaf, along with Zabuza's sword. Gato woke up once, but Naruto knocked him out with another genjutsu. Tazuna and the workers finished for the day a little after that, and everyone headed home to get some rest. There wasn't much more work to be done on the bridge, so Team 7 would be able to head back to Konoha soon. Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Sakura gave Zabuza and Haku a proper burial before heading back to Tazuna's house.

The next day

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi were all standing on the newly finished bridge, and they were all saying their goodbyes to Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari.

"So, what're you gonna name the bridge?" Naruto asked Tazuna, who gave him a smile.

"I was thinking about calling it the 'Great Naruto Bridge.' After all, you are the one who took down Gato." Tazuna told him.

Naruto grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I couldn't have done it without Sasuke helping me against Haku. What about the 'Great Uchiha Bridge,' so that it includes both of us?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke elbowed him.

"Don't listen to the idiot, he's just being humble. I think that the 'Great Naruto Bridge' is a great name." Sasuke told Tazuna, who gave a Naruto-like grin.

"Then it's settled! This is the official opening of the Great Naruto Bridge!" Tazuna declared, and Sasuke smirked while Naruto grinned.

"Ah, well we should get going." Kakashi told them with an eye smile. "Who better than Naruto himself to be the first one to cross the Great Naruto Bridge?"

Naruto looked over at Inari, who was obviously fighting back tears. "Hey, Inari, it's okay to cry when you're happy, you know!" Naruto told him, and Inari stopped fighting back the tears. "You should all visit the village at some point! It'd be great to see all of you again!" He told them, and Tazuna and Tsunami smiled at him.

"I'll be sure to remind them to visit." Tsunami told him, and ruffled Inari's hair.

"Make sure you do!" Naruto told her. "Alright, well, bye!" Naruto said, and waved at them.

"Bye!" Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari all told the ninja. Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke all returned the goodbye and began walking down the bridge.

After a few minutes of walking down the bridge in silence, Sakura spoke up. "So, uh, what did you mean about your father being a secret?" Sakura asked Naruto.

Naruto gave Kakashi a questioning glance, and Kakashi nodded an okay. "Well, my father is Minato Namikaze, you know!" Naruto told Sakura.

"Minato Namikaze?" Sakura echoed, and then it clicked. "YOUR DAD WAS-" She started, but Sasuke covered her mouth.

"Not too loud, it's a pretty big secret. Iwagakure would be pissed if they heard the Yellow Flash had a son." Sasuke told her, and removed his hand.

Sakura blinked a few times. 'Sasuke's hand was over my mouth!' She thought. 'CHA! TAKE THAT INO-PIG!' Inner Sakura screamed in her head. Then, she remembered the conversation they were having. "Your father was the Yondaime Hokage?" Sakura asked, shocked.

Naruto nodded his head. "Yeah! And my mom was Kushina Uzumaki!" He told her.

Sakura looked at him, confused. "Wait. If your father is Minato Namikaze, and your mother is an Uzumaki, then how are you an Uchiha?" She asked.

"Apparently Minato-sensei was an Uchiha." Kakashi told her.

Sakura blinked a few more times. "The Yondaime was an Uchiha? Wait, and Kakashi's teacher was the Yondaime. Naruto's father taught Kakashi?"

"Yep! And you can't tell anyone about any of this!" Naruto said. "At least, you can't say anything until the old man decides I'm strong enough to protect myself!"

Sakura looked at him in a whole new light. "Huh. Now that I think about it, you do look a lot like the photos I've seen of the Yondaime. How did I never notice? Why doesn't everyone notice?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke grunted. "There's a lot of things people don't notice when you ignore someone's existence." Sasuke mumbled, once again confusing Sakura.

"Ignore someone's existence?" she echoed, and looked at Naruto

"Ah, don't worry about it Sakura." Naruto told her, and silence fell over the group.

Kakashi was just listening to most of the conversation. 'It seems like Sasuke really cares for Naruto.. and it seems like Sakura is beginning to realize there's more to him than meets the eye.' Kakashi thought.

Author's Note

Alright, so that's the end of the wave arc. I'll be the first to admit, I did not know how to write that battle. This is still my first story, after all. It doesn't help that it was a 2v1 with conflicting fighting styles. Naruto and Sasuke are mainly taijutsu fighters, at least at this point, while Haku is more of a distance fighter. Also made Haku a little quick to anger when it comes to Zabuza because I needed to give him incentive to try and kill them.

Sorry for anyone who wanted them to survive, but Naruto and Sasuke needed to get their first kill. I don't want to have to deal with that in the middle of an arc with a lot more fighting. Gato won't be making another appearance, T is just gonna interrogate him and dismantle his organization before either killing or permanently incarcerating him.

I know that Kakashi didn't take the sword in canon, but I really don't see why he wouldn't. Like, it's one of 7 legendary weapons. Wouldn't it be good to have in the village? Or even just to use in peace talks with Kirigakure? Like "Hey, if you ally with us we'll return the Executioner's Blade to you." Seems kinda dumb to just leave it there for anyone to find and take it.

Also, Naruto saved Inari and Tsunami like in canon, it was just clones instead of the real thing. I thought about making him get their memories in the middle of everything, but I didn't want to do a flashback scene in the middle.

I made a discord so I can respond to things more directly. And, with a discord, I could get more direct opinions on any Mangekyo designs and just general ideas: e6 7Ub Sn Xr7

I'll still respond to things on here, but a discord just makes it easier for me to respond and let's me send images. I've also been messing around with one Mangekyo design specifically, and I've even edited it onto a few different photos of both kid and teen Naruto. I'll be able to send it on discord and get opinions.

Now, onto review responses

Review Responses

KongFooMaster46 - heh, yeah. Giving Naruto and Sasuke the three tomoe during this fight was always my plan since Sasuke originally reawakened his Sharingan during this, so I thought it'd be a good time for their Sharingan to mature. And yeah, I'm keeping Haku as a male because I don't really see a reason to change it.

MoonKnight030 - Oh lol, my mistake.

Yeah, I'll have to just keep on writing and see how the pairings work out. I don't really want to start doing relationships too soon, though, because most of the characters are around like 12 during part 1. By the time I do any pairings, I'll be able to see how I make characters interact and make a decision off of that. Temari x Naruto is just the one I've got in my head right now, because I can see how it'd impact the overall story pretty clearly.

ML3 - Yeah, I thought it'd make sense. Both Madara and Hashirama were monsters in terms of chakra, so I don't see why Sasuke wouldn't be. Even as children, iirc both of them were killing adults. On top of that, even canon Sasuke was said to be able to do 2 chidori while Kakashi could do 4, so it's not too much of a change to Sasuke's chakra capacity. And, like you said, Obito's Sharingan was a huge and constant drain on Kakashi's reserves so he was never really "fully charged."

I mean, it's technically long distance, but Naruto basically just says "fuck distance." I want his Kamui's teleportation ability to also help his friendship with Gaara. I've always been kinda upset that we didn't get more Naruto and Gaara in the main arcs of the show. I kinda want Naruto and Sasuke to basically be "brothers" in this, while Naruto and Gaara are more typical best friends, if that makes sense. Though, I'm gonna have to find out when exactly Gaara became Kazekage since I want Gaara to have more presence in the story. From what I know, the only real pointers we're given about when it happens is between the chunin exams and shippuden. I imagine it'd be sooner, rather than later? Based on how quickly Konoha got a new Hokage after Hiruzen died. But I find it weird that Naruto didn't hear about it during his time training with Jiraiya

crazy-bout-mione - thank you :)

for the mangekyo, do you have a specific way you searched that up? i honestly don't have very much artistic ability, so to come up with a mangekyo i've been cutting out pngs and using editing apps. if you have a good straight-on photo of the black hole, i could cut it out and edit it to see how it'd look as a mangekyo

Racan - Thank you, I'm glad to see so many people like my writing. i might have some issues coming up with their interactions at first, but once i get started with it i'll most likely be able to run with it pretty easily.

for mangekyo, someone recommended i give it 9 of the swirl patterns that Rai's has. i've also thought about giving his mangekyo the kyuubi slit eye to signify his connection, and added that to one of the designs i've come up with. i'm not entirely sure about whether or not to make it a permanent slit eye, though, because i still want his sharingan and mangekyo to morph a bit more when he's under kurama's influence. i just made a possible design (like while writing this review) but i'm not really sure how to show it on this app.

Vonta01 - ah, well i gave an explanation for why his reserves are higher in this. Sasuke should always have a good amount of chakra as an Uchiha and as Indra's reincarnate. Along with training to keep his Sharingan on for longer periods of time.

Guest - Yeah, Tenten could be good too but I think I may put her with Neji. Though, I think she would probably be one of the ones most interested in Naruto's Kamui because it's pretty much a perfect weapon storage system. "Woah, you can shoot shuriken out of your eye?" It'll be fun to write her interactions with Naruto once he gets Kamui. Pretty sure Obito used his Kamui to shoot shuriken out, and Tenten would love that.

For Sasuke's pairing, I didn't want to change Haku's gender. I want to make the overall universe as close to canon as possible, with just one change (Minato, and by extension Naruto, being Uchiha). Kind of like a "what if?" story where there's just one change in events that leads to a whole new branch. Sasuke x Sakura is what I'm leaning towards right now, maybe Kurotsuchi. Kind of like Naruto x Temari, Sasuke being paired with Kurotsuchi would help with village things, Naruto could be "Kamui uber," and I think they'd get along. Both are really loyal to their homes (Sasuke's very loyal to his clan, which by extension means the village because of Naruto in this), and it'd be interesting to see an Iwa ninja in a relationship with the best friend of the yellow flash's kid. Still open to other things, though. Kurotsuchi is just the only kunoichi I can think of that's around their age, from another village, and I think would get along with Sasuke.

As far as Mangekyo, I'm having Naruto's connection to Asura spare his eyes. Obito never went blind because he had Hashirama cells implanted with him (or, I assume that's why) so Naruto, as Asura's reincarnation, is spared the strain. I don't want to give Naruto the Uzumaki chains because I feel like having one powerful bloodline that can suppress/control a tailed beast is enough. I don't really want to give him much more than Sharingan and Kamui outside of what he has in canon, except for the things granted by having a Sharingan and Kamui.

I think Naruto would need to have an infusion of Sasuke's chakra specifically to awaken the Rinnegan, and vice versa. Obito was full of Hashirama cells, but he never awakened the Rinnegan. My guess is that it's because he didn't have chakra from Indra. He had the Sharingan, but it's been a thousand years since Indra's time so the Sharingan is just a bloodline: it's not inherently infused with Indra's chakra. Madara was able to awaken the Sharingan with Hashirama's cells because he had Indra's chakra due to being a reincarnate of Indra. If it was just Uzumaki/Senju Uchiha, Obito would've awakened the Rinnegan without taking Madara's eye. So I may or may not give Naruto the Rinnegan eventually, but it'd have to be from either the Sage or Sasuke, not naturally. Sasuke definitely will get the Rinnegan eventually, partly because I just absolutely love his tomoe Rinnegan. Like it's my absolute favorite eye in the series

Sorry about not doing the Sasuke x Haku, I just didn't want to make more changes to canon, and I think they needed to get their first kill. Also, I already had some of this written by the time I saw your review and didn't want to go back and make this take even longer than it already did. SasuSaku is definitely at the top of my pairings for him, and Kurotsuchi is a maybe, but I'll have to see what people think about that first.