Ryuzaki Uchida: Thanks and you'll see in the next chapter so stay tuned.

Chapter 3 Reaper's Legacy

Our heroes made their way to the coast where they set up camp for the night. Soon all of them were by a campfire, getting ready for the night. "Tomorrow morning my friend should meet us at the coast with his boat, he'll be able to get us into the land of waves." Said Tazuna a little nervous for the journey ahead.

Naomi saw this and held out a cup. "Tea?"

"Oh thank you." as he happily took the cup and drank it. "Oh wow this is some good tea."

"Thank you," as she began to pour everyone else a cup. "This should calm everyone's nerves. We should also eat while we can. That goes for you two as well." As she looked over to Naruto who was checking something a bit away from the fire and Shinta who was walking back.

"Yeah, just checking the perimeter, hey Sai," said Shinta, getting Sai's attention. "Those swallows you painted don't come this close to the ocean, next time use a seagull."

Sai smiled,"Thank you for the information, I will use it the next time I'm near the ocean."

Shinta nodded. "Hey Naruto, are you going to come eat?"

"One second annnnnd done." said Naruto before throwing something at Shinta. "Catch."

Shinta quickly caught the object, it was a staff with metal wrapped around the ends, similar to the one he had. "Whao, this is incredible," as he admired the staff. He noticed that it was lined with seals and channels for chakra. He then began to spin it around testing it. "This is incredible Naruto, this is exactly what I was looking for."

"Yeah I figured, if you were going to fight Zabuza you would need the best."

"So I got the go ahead to fight Zabuza then?"

"Yep, don't die an-"

"Are you serious?" Both of them turned to Sasuke. "Do you morons really think you can beat Zabuza with a stick?"

"Hey don't underestimate the power of a stick." said Shinta pointing the staff at Sasuke. "If you want to come a little closer I can show you."

"Sasuke, stop." said Kakashi in a tone that didn't leave room for argument. "Eat up, we're going to need our strength."

"He's right, we shouldn't spoil this fantastic meal." said Sai as he ate his food.

It was hard to tell but his teammates could see that Sai was actually eating the food more ethusatically than usual, or with as much as someone who has little to no emotions.

Sakura then looked at the meal in front of her. 'It's just some stew and rice, it can't be that good.' Sakura took a bite of food, as it filled her mouth with a color of flavors sinking into every part of her body. "Oh wow this is amazing, I've never had stew like this before, you could open a restaurant with Naomi, you are an incredible cook."

Naomi blinked. "I didn't make this," Everyone was shocked. "I only made tea."

"Wait if you didn't cook, then who did?"

Naruto scratched his head. "Uh I did?"

"No you didn't, you idiot. I saw you sitting over there playing with that stick this whole time, and this stew is a masterpiece, no way a Ramen addict like you cooked this meal." ranted Sakura annoying everyone.

Even Kurama was getting annoyed. "Can I please eat her?"

Naruto inwardly paused for a moment, '...No.'

"Sakura," as Kakashi pointed.

She turned to see a second fire with two Narutos cooking. "WHAT, THERE'S THREE NARUTOS!" HOW!"
"How are you just now noticing?" Shinta asked, bewildered.

"It's the shadow clone jutsu," said Naomi. "He made them when we got this fire going."

Sakura looked as if the world was turning upside down. "But...but...sense when can you cook, all you ate was ramen back at school."

"Just one bite, Naruto, just one and this little rat will be gone forever," said Kurama.

"Tempting." as Naruto sat down and accepted a bowl from his clone. "I taught myself to cook, I had to be creative since all I could get my hands on was rotten or nearly expired food, I pretty much needed to learn how to forage, farm and cook my own meals. It was either that or starve."

"Starve?" said Tazuna. "Didn't you have family or someone to look out for yeah? Cause it sounds like you had to do a lot on your own."

"I had some people who could help me but they couldn't help me all the time, so I had to do a lot on my own." said Naruto as he ate. "Don't worry though, all the ingredients came from my home garden so it's safe to eat."

Tazuna looked down at his food before raising the bowl. "These bowls are hand made as well, did you make them as well."

Naruto swallowed the food. "Yep, the only ones that anyone would sell to me were all cracked and broken so I got fed up with it and decided to make my own."

"How do you store all the food?" asked Sai. "You couldn't have stored all of this inside your backpack, how did you do it?"

Naruto smiled before he walked over to the left overs, packed them and then sealed them into a scroll. "Homemade sealing scroll." as he tossed the scroll to Sai, "I designed them myself, specifically to keep food. It stores more and it can keep food up to two weeks fresh. After that you just need to remember which scroll I put them in."

This stunned the other shinobi, Sasuke was looking at Naruto as if this was the first time they ever met and Sakura looked like she was having a meltdown trying to comprehend everything. Sai just looked at the scroll. 'This scroll is clearly the work of a master, even if its function is simple, I don't think anyone in the anbu could have made something like this. I wonder what else he is capable of?' As he gave back the scroll and finished his meal along with his teammates.

As Sakura finished her meal she calmed down for a moment coming to terms with the fact that her mental image of Naruto was vastly different then the Naruto in front of her. As the memories of the day played before her, she remembered a question she had. She looked at Naomi who was tending to the fire. "Hey Naomi," she called to the girl in a calm tone.

"Hm Yes Sakura." replied Naomi which got the attention of the others

"Before when you...did what you did to that rogue nin, have you done that before?"

"Yes, several times." said Naomi with a flat tone. This surprised the others besides those on her team. "Though I'm guessing you're more curious about the 'why'?"

Sakura was nervous, she had no idea how to talk to the girl, she wasn't like anyone else she had met. "Umm yes. Were you taught by someone or…"

Naomi giggled a little. "Sorry, I must seem a little odd compared to the other girls around the village." Naomi stared into the fire as she remembered her past. "I have no problem talking about my past, though it wasn't pleasant but I've come to terms with it, but I've learned that other people are uncomfortable with my past, so before I tell you anything about me, I must ask," She then looked straight at Sakura with a gaze that pierced her soul. "Are you sure you want to know?"

Sakura was silent for a moment as she opened her mouth to say some words but nothing came out. Kakashi looked around and could tell that Sasuke and Sai were also curious but neither of them spoke up. "Alright gang, I think it's time for bed."

~o~

The next day they met up with Tazuna's friend but there was a slight problem. "I don't think I can take all of you, I wasn't expecting this big of a group."

"Don't worry me and my team can walk." said Naruto as he, Naomi and Shinta walked to the water.

"Hey, what are you kids doing?" asked the boatman but to his and the others surprise all three of them were standing on the water.

Tazuna's eyes looked like they were going to fall out. "How are you doing that?"

"It's just standard water walking," said Sai plainly. "All you do is focus chakra to your feet and you're able to walk on many different surfaces. Everyone in Anbu can do it. It's quite basic."

"No it isn't," said Sakura. "How is that basic?"

"Well I guess it is an advanced version of the tree walk, you guys learned at the academy." said Kakashi before he became confused by the looks he received from two of his genin. "You guys did learn the tree walk in the academy right?"

Naruto sighed. "The tree walk isn't taught at the academy. Jiriaya had to teach me."

"They didn't teach you the tree walk at the academy!" Kakashi's voice went up an octave as he was genuinely surprised by the information. "It's one of the most basic techniques that you use almost all the time." Both Sasuke and Sakura looked surprised. "Okay I'm going to need to talk to the Hokage about that."

"Psst, Naruto. I thought you knew this technique for years." whispered Shinta.

"I never said 'when' Jiriaya taught me." This caused Shinta to grin and Naomi to giggle.

Soon team seven was on the boat with the other three flanking the boat as it rowed across the sea. Soon the fog thickened as they closed in on the land of waves where they saw the construction of the great bridge.

"Now that's one hell of a bridge," said Shinta as they walked past it.

"I don't think I've ever seen a bridge like that before." as Naomi too marveled at the structure.

"Can't say I have either." as Naruto went inward to ask the fox if he had.

Kurama had to think for a moment. "I think so, yes. I remember crashing into a bridge roughly my size once when I was battling a giant lizard."

"Lizard!? You haven't told me that one."

"Another time," as the fox prepares himself for a nap.

Naruto stayed there for a moment. "You lost didn't you?"

"Shut up." Naruto had to stop himself from bursting out laughing as they made it to shore.

~o~

They soon found themselves walking down the path to Tazuna's town, as they walked some of them started to relax as it seemed nothing was going to happen. Team Sanin stopped as Shinta took out his new staff and Naomi rushed to Tazuna's side.

"Get down!" Yelled Kakashi as a massive blade of death flew towards them, causing everyone to dive away other than Naruto. "Naruto!"

Everyone watched as Naruto turned to the blade and sent a small wave of his chakra at the blade and as if the blade had a mind of its own redirected at the last second above Naruto. The blade then embedded itself into a tree with a man landing on the handle, eyeing the group. 'What an interesting group we have here.'

"Zabuza Momochi," called Naruto as he stepped towards the man. "You hav-"

"HEY" shouted Shinta as he walked forward. "I called dibs, remember."

Naruto gave Shinta an irritated look. "Yeah I know, but…"

"But nothing." said Shinta as he eyed Zabuza. "Zabs is mine."

'Zabs?' Thought Zabuza as he eyed the two boys in front of him. 'The blonde one did something earlier to throw off my attack and this ponytail brat is giving off some weird vibes, do I know him?' He then looked at the others in the group. 'Aside from these two the rest look like normal genin, except for that one girl.' as he saw the way Naomi was looking at him. 'No she's like these two. This is different from what I expected. I thought I would just need to deal with one Jonin, but these kids here look like they can put up some sort of a fight. This will make killing the old man a bit more difficult.'

Shinta saw as his gaze was now on the bridge builder. "You have to go through me!" As he slammed his staff down on the ground, as he did the tree Zabuza's sword was in. suddenly embloweded.

"What?" as Zabuza jumped away from the tree. 'How did he do that?'

"Pay attention and you might figure it out." said Shinta as he jumped at Zabuza swinging his staff.

Zabuza raised his sword to block the hit, knocking the two away from one another. 'That was a heavy hit.' Shinta was going to give Zabuza any room as he rushed him. "Don't underestimate me kid." as Zaubza quickly swung his blade at Shinta who raised his staff to block. "Say goodbye kid." To his surprise Shinta's staff held strong. "What? How, how can that staff hold against my legendary blade?"

"What can I say, I have a legendary friend." as he pushed Zabuza swinging his staff, slicing part of his arm.

'What a slicing wound?' thought Zabuza as he tried to put some distance between them.

As this was happening the others watched in aw. "Uh shouldn't you guys do something." asked Tazuna.

"We are," said one Naruto as several other Naruto's worked around them. "I'm putting up a barrier. Don't worry Zabuza or his friend won't be able to get in here unless I say so."

Everyone watched as they worked before they heard the clanking of cups and looked to see Naomi setting up a picnic. "Don't worry, let's just relax and watch the show. If Shinta is on the ropes, we'll jump in but until then let's have some tea."

"Okay," said Tazuna, now totally calm sitting down drinking some tea.

Naruto gave Naomi a look while they had a silent conversation. 'You shouldn't use jutsu on the client.'

'He needed to relax, don't worry I got him.' as she went to serve him some tea.

Kakashi eyed Shinta and the way he was fighting, 'That fighting style, I know it, but from where.'

'This kid is able to keep up with me? What is with that fucking staff of his?' Thought Zabuza, getting more and more frustrated. Zabuza jumped back into the trees, slicing a few branches to obscure Shinta's vision.

Shinta grinned, "Wrong choice." as he grabbed a branch, when he did it wiggled before stretching out like a whip swinging it at a stunned Zabuza.

"MOKUTON!" Shouted Sakura. "That's the wood release."

"Impossible, only the members of the senju clan can use the wood release." said Sai who was also surprised.

Kakashi eyed the impromptu wood whip. "No, this is…."

The whip hit Zabuza causing him to turn into water, 'A fake.' Shinta quickly turned around as Zabuza appeared ready to slice him. Shinta then threw the branch at Zabuza as it burst into several wooden needles hitting the ninja as it disappeared. "Another fake," Shinta then turned to see Zabuza in a tree. "There you are, Zabs"

"You, I know you." said Zabuza as he remembered. "You...you're the reaper's son. The child of the man named Death itself. A man known for being able to kill anyone with anything."

"So that explains that one," said Kakashi as he eyed Shinta. "No wonder his fighting style was familiar, he was the shimigami's son."

"Who?" asked Sakura, not understanding anything that was going on. "Reaper, Death, Shimigami?"

"The greatest assassin in the world," said Sai as he remembered the stories. "He was given many names as no one knew his real name. He killed hundreds of high value people, merchants, samurai, ninjas, it's even rumored that he killed a few kage."

"Are you serious?" As Sasuke eyed Shinta.

Sakura began to put it together. "Wait, so he's an assassin and a Senju!"

"It would make sense with how powerful the Reaper was rumored to be."

"He's not a Senju," said Kakashi plainly.

Shinta laughed "Ah you do remember, Zabs. It's been a long time."

"The only job I ever did with the Reaper, I never thought I would see you again. What the hell is the son of an assassin doing here?"

"I ain't an assassin no more," Shinta raised his arm showing his headband wrapped around his arm. "I'm a leaf ninja now."

"You're kidding me," said Zabuza as he eyed the boy. "I'm guessing that means your dad is finally dead, huh. No way he would allow you to do something like this."

"Yeah, he died a few years ago, but I ain't complaining. Now I get to fight people like you." Shinta rushed forward kicking the tree causing several spikes to appear from the tree. Shinta grabbed a handful of dirt, tossing it at an incredible speed at the airborne Zabuza who disappeared, leaving the dirt to blow holes in the trees.

Zabuza then came in close as they exchanged blows, sword to staff. In the middle of the exchange Shinta reached an open hand and quickly grabbed a part of Zabuza's right shoulder ripping his skin. "SHIT!" As Zabuza jumped back throwing several shuriken at Shinta,

Shinta jumped back and put his staff on top of his arm. Without even touching the staff it began to move around his arm dancing and spinning as if it was alive, deflecting each and every projectile.

"How the hell?" Sasuke and his team couldn't make sense of what they were seeing.

"Is it alive," asked Sakura

"No, it has to be some sort of jutsu."

"No," said Kakashi as he finally understood. "It's all just chakra control."

"Yep," said Naruto as he watched Shinta keep deflecting Zabuza's attack with his staff. "All he's doing is controlling his chakra."

"That's impossible," said Sai who couldn't believe it. "You can't do that with simple chakra control."

"Naruto I think they might need a demonstration." suggested Naomi as she refilled Tasuna's tea cup.

He nodded and found a small stick. "Chakra control to most is simply applying the right amount of chakra to stick to an object like the tree climbing," Naruto showed this by holding the stick with just the tip of his finger by using his chakra. "but Shinta is doing it in reverse. He's applying chakra so that his staff is moving around him, kind of like this." Naruto held up his first and last finger and focused his chakra to slowly rotate the stick to connect to his last finger then rotate it around his pinkie. "It's quite difficult without practice but this is how he's moving his staff, for everything else it's more or less this." As Naruto poured his chakra into the stick causing it to break. "He does it a lot better but I think you get the picture."

They all let the information sink in. "How did he manipulate the branch or rip Zabuza with his hand?"

"For what he did to Zabuza, I'm guessing he focused his chakra to his grip and into Zabuza's flesh ripping it as if his fingers were blades." said Kakashi now picking up on Shinta's abilities. "As for the branch, in theory if he can control his chakra in an object with such precision, he could warp and bend the object, like how some people can make ninja scrolls open or move with their chakra."

"That's right," said Naruto. "He's undergone insane chakra control training to the point he can turn any object into a weapon, dirt, trees, water, even everyday household items, all weapons to him."

Kakashi nodded now, finally understanding. "So that's why I couldn't copy the Reaper's abilities, such control is insane and impossible to copy without the training."

"So you did fight the Reaper," said Naruto. "Now that's a story I would like to hear."

"Naruto," Naomi got his attention. "The fight."

"Don't worry, I'm way ahead of you."

BOOOOOM

Everyone looked to see the field covered in a haze of smoke with Shinta jumping out with a massive slash across his chest, the cut was bleeding quite a bit. "Well shit," As Shinta slammed his foot down on the ground causing a rock to shoot up. He focused his chakra, Fire release: Fire cloak. As his staff was coated in fire he swung his staff hitting the rock turning it into a fiery fastball.

Shooting through the smoke, destroying all the trees in its path. Shinta then quickly jumped back as Zabuza came slamming his sword down where Shinta once stood. "I got to admit kid, you're good, better than most, that fighting style you got is a real pain in the ass, but now that I got it figured out, I have the upperhand."

Shinta gave a forced smile. "Yeah, the fighting style I use is mainly for assassination to going up against someone of equal skill is a real hassle." Shinta then grabbed a scroll from his pocket and tossed it in the air, summoning over a dozen shrunken above him. Shinta began to spin his staff above him kicking up sand around him and catching the shuriken connecting them together with static. Soon Shinta's staff turned into a massive scythe made of shuriken. "Looks like I need to kick it up a notch."

"Are you fucking kidding me." Zabuza recognized this. "The Reaper's scythe," Zabuza could have sworn that a clock figure was behind the boy mimicking his movement with a similar scythe. 'He really is the Reaper's son. I underestimated him way too much. I'm exhausted fighting this kid, chances are though I could take him, but I don't like my odds of fighting Kakashi right after.' As he looked over to the group. 'The job comes first.' Zabuza flew through several hand signs. "Water Dragon Blast No Jutsu"

The water swirled around Zabuza as it morphed into a massive dragon that charged at Shinta. "Crescent Shuriken Scythe" As the shuriken began to spin on his scythe he swung his staff sending them out cutting the dragon in two. Shinta grinned for a moment, "Huh where did he go?" Shinta looked all over but couldn't find Zabuza. "Guys he's coming towards you!"

They all turned to see Zabuza coming from the rear rushing towards the bridge builder. Naomi readed her wire as Kakashi stepped in front of the two pushing up his head band showing his Sharigan eye.

"Out of my way," as Zabuza was ready to cut away he felt something odd about the air and jumped back throwing some kunai that bounced off of Naruto's barrier. "Fuck, this is really starting to be a pain in the ass."

"Tell me about it," said Naruto, who was right behind Zabuza. Zabuza turned and swung his massive blade but stopped when his sword began to shake, he stopped and stared as his sword started to ripple as if it was made of liquid. "Yeah that's not gonna work on me."

No one moved as they were all shocked by this strange turn of events. For the first time since he could remember Zabuza felt fear, and for some reason sadness and relief. These emotions just confused the man even more. "What the….what the hell did you do to my sword? Who are you?" asked Zabuza.

"Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki."

"What?"

Tazuna spit out his tea. "WHAT!? You're...You're an Uzumaki."

"Impossible, you're suppos-" Zabuza never finished as two senbon pierced his neck.

"Don't worry he's dead." They all turned to see a Hunter-nin from the hidden mist village, standing on a tree before jumping down to Zabuza. "I've been trying to track down Zabuza for quite some time now."

"HOLD IT" yelled Shinta. "We ain't done yet."

"I'm afraid your fight won't continue as I've already killed him." said the Hunter nin.

Naomi stepped forward. "Yeah none of us are buying that. You're with Zabuza aren't you?"

"Damnit, you're good." said Naruto as he looked down at the ground, noticing an extra senbon in front of Zabuza where a small puddle was. "You already swapped the bodies, didn't you. In the split second you got all of our attention you activated the puddle under Zabuza transporting him elsewhere." The hunter nin didn't respond. "And you've already severed your connection with this clone." as he punched a whole through the hunter nin revealing it to be made of ice.

Shinta jumped and slammed his staff into Zabuza, shattering him revealing that he too was made of ice. "GOD DAMMIT." before falling on his but. He took a few heavy breaths before speaking. "I was so close to winning too."

"Don't worry there's always next time." said Naruto comforting his friend.

"Sorry Naruto, I couldn't get the sword."

"It's all good, Naomi."

"Yeah, Yeah. I'll patch him up." said the girl as she began to perform medical nin-jutsu. "Hey Naruto, why'd you let them get away?"

Naruto shrugged for a moment. "A gamble."

"Oh, leave a scar if you can." asked Shinta with a smile. "Dad never let me have a scar before." Which earned looks from his teammates. Shinta deepened his voice. "Scars are marks, marks are identifiable, no proper assassin should be identifiable on the job."

"Okay, WHAT THE FUCK!" Everyone turned to Sasuke, it was clear that his frustration had reached its peak. "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU? WHAT THE FUCK WAS WITH HIS SWORD? AND WHY THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE A SHARIGAN?" The last one pointing to his sensei. Before turning to Naomi. "And I don't want to hear a word from that weird voice of yours." Naomi stayed silent but a small tick mark appeared on her head.

Kakashi sighed as he brought his headband down over his sharingan eye. "Sasuke's outburst aside he's right, we all have questions, but I don't believe this is the best spot for them. Tazuna, how far is your house from here?"

"It's just up the road. A few minutes walk."

"Let's move then." as he helped Shinta to his feet and walked toward Tazuna's house for answers.

Next Time: Haunting Past |You want to read this now just head over to my page. ~P-A-T-R-E-O-N~ Lorenzo the story teller. There you can read all chapters a head of time and my exclusive stories.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the fight, also what do you think of the power I gave Shinta, I thought it was unique and plausible in Naruto. In the next chapter you'll get a bit more history of our team so look forward to that.

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