Thank you everyone that's been keeping with this story so far. I appreciate everyone of you. I do not own Naruto or anything that comes from it.
Land of Fire
Naruto was bored. Once the client, a man named Tazuna, and team 8 arrived to start the mission, the set pace was far too pedestrian for Naruto's taste. Even Kakashi found little enjoyment in the walk towards Wave, even with his little orange book. Naruto signed to his sensei, "Is it always like this with escort missions?" Kakashi nodded while adding, "At least with civilians." Naruto sighed as the group moved towards the Land of Waves at a languid pace. After a few hours, Naruto sensed two chakra signatures ahead. He signaled his sensei. Kakashi told his young charge not to move in unless necessary. Naruto reluctantly agreed and continued to provide over watch to the team, unaware of the duo.
The pair watched as team 8 took down a couple of ex-Kiri chunin with textbook efficiency. 'Huh, impressive,' thought the blonde. Naruto could see how well a team was supposed to work. He then wondered how the team would have turned out if they had all passed. Banishing that thought, Naruto listened in on the interrogation of the Kiri-nin and then subsequent questioning of Tazuna.
After setting up camp for the night and waiting for Kurenai's role in the night watch rotation to start, she, Kakashi, and Naruto could discuss the best course of action.
"Kakashi, you heard everything from the Demon Brothers and Tazuna. What do you think? You have the most experience out of us," Kurenai asked the silver-haired cyclops.
Kakashi thought for a moment and stated, " Hmm, I think we should go back to Konoha. One, this is higher than a standard C-rank escort mission. Two, we don't know who else will be waiting for us once we get to Wave. I feel whoever it is, they will be a jonin rank, probably from Kiri based on the Demon Brothers." Kakashi paused to let what he said to sink into his two compatriots. Seeing the other two acknowledge what he said, Kakashi continued, "However, if we don't continue, we would knowingly turn our backs on people who need our help." After a few minutes of silence, Kakashi sighed and said, "I refuse to do that. So we'll carry on with the mission, but we will be making some changes. First, Naruto and I will go ahead on the original route into Wave. Kurenai, you and your team, will escort Tazuna to the border, and then you'll take a different way inland. We don't need you and the client to be caught in the crossfire if you somehow catch up."
"I understand. We'll continue on a few hours after you two leave. That should give you time to scout ahead, plus I'm not sure Tazuna will be ready until mid-morning anyway," Kurenai said to the silver-haired jonin. "Here, you'll need this once you get into Wave. It's a map of the village there. Tazuna's house is marked on it as well." She handed the small scroll to Kakashi, who placed it into a pocket on his vest.
"Thanks," Kakashi stated. Turning to his ward, he said, "Naruto, be ready to move in an hour. We will pick up this pace and hopefully head off any opposition that may be lying in wait. Understood?" Naruto nodded. "Good. Go get ready," Kakashi instructed the young boy.
"Kakashi," the raven-haired beauty spoke, "Are you sure about this? It's not that I don't trust your judgment, but..."
Kakashi looked at the woman and said, "No, I'm not, but we can't sit back and watch from the sidelines on this one. Plus, I'm sure your team would agree."
"True, but my team isn't the only genin here," Kurenai responded, leaving the unspoken question hanging in the air.
"I know, but Naruto can handle himself. I'm sure of it," Kakashi turned to walk back to where he and Naruto had set up camp for the night. Before leaving, Kakashi turned to look at the fresh jonin and said, "Besides, he is his parent's kid after all." Kakashi left, leaving a confused Kurenai pondering what the cyclops could know about the boy's family.
Land of Wave
The duo made into Wave and are currently scouting out the surrounding area. "Alright, Naruto, we don't know what or who we could be up against, but we can expect Gato to hire a relatively skilled missing-nin with the kind of money that he has at his disposal. Be on guard, got it?" Kakashi said.
"Got it," Naruto said, but before he could continue, "Kakashi-sensei, I can sense a large chakra signatures 2 miles southwest of us. It feels as large as yours does."
"Good, let's go," Kakashi said with Naruto following behind.
Land of Fire
(Team 8)
After packing up their camp, Team 8 and Tazuna huddle together to discuss the next course of events. "Alright, Tazuna," Kurenai said while turning towards the bridge builder, "we will continue with the mission. However, the mission is upgraded to a B-rank because of the missing-nin. I have already sent a scroll back to the Hokage in Konoha. At some point, you will have to pay the difference between the missions. Also, he has sent back up to aid us."
"Kurenai-sensei, are you sure about this? This mission seems to be a little more than what a rookie genin team can handle," stated Hinata, a timid girl that wears a cream-colored jacket that sports fur around the cuffs and hem. She also wears navy blue pants and keeps her hitai-ate loosely around her neck.
"I would have to agree with Hinata, sensei. This seems to be reaching a point that may be out of our depth," said Shino, a stoic young man that wears an oversized jacket with a high, upturned collar. He also sports a pair of dark round sunglasses. He wears a pair of dark brown pants with blue sandals. His hitai-ate is worn around his forehead.
"Aww, come on, guys, we got this. Plus, she said we'll have back up, not that we need it," Kiba said with an abundance of confidence in his voice. He wears dark grayish pants and a grey, hooded fur-lined coat, with the hood usually placed on his head, over an apparent plate of armor and a fishnet undershirt with his hitai-ate covering his forehead and blue sandals.
"That's enough. Hinata, Shino, I appreciate the concern, but there will be times that your missions may not be what's entailed in the mission details. Plus, I know the backup team, the strongest jonin in the leaf, and his apprentice is a part of it. We'll have nothing to worry about," the raven-haired beauty said, trying to ease the tension in two of her genins. The third was starting to become even brasher since the start of the mission. "Kiba, while confidence is necessary, it can quickly become arrogance, which could result in the death of you and your team. Try to keep your ego in check."
"Hai, Kurenai-sensei," the three genin responded to the older woman. She motioned everyone to resume the trek towards Wave and the potentially life-threatening situation there. Little did they know that the Battle for Wave had already begun.
Land of Wave
(Team Kakashi)
'Why does it feel like this will happen on every mission I take out of the village?' thought Naruto as he limped towards the bridge builder's house while two of his clones carried Kakashi. 'If so, my life will be one hell of a shitshow.'
"Well, it seems like your life will be quite the adventure, don't you think?" mused Kakashi as he was carried.
"I feel like that's going to be a notable understatement. Although I guess my life will never be boring," Naruto answered his sensei while the pair made their way to Tazuna's house.
Not long after the duo made it into the Land of Wave, they found the missing-nin on Gato's payroll. The pair decided to face the rogue shinobi and found that their opponent was Zabuza Momochi. As the two sides did battle, Naruto found that Zabuza lived up to his moniker of 'Demon of the Hidden Mist' and deserved to belong to the Seven Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist. The battle raged as Kakashi and Zabuza confronted each other, with Naruto supporting his sensei. Zabuza was a mighty enemy and nearly had the duo dead to rights. Still, Naruto, using shadow clones and a fuma shuriken, was able to give Kakashi an opening to incapacitate the rogue Mist shinobi. However, before Kakashi could administer the killing blow, a pair of senbon appeared and planted themselves into Zabuza's neck. A masked ninja showed up beside the now downed Demon. The two could only speculate on the identity of the shinobi but knew that they belonged to the hunter-nin of the Mist. Before either Kakashi or Naruto could check for a pulse, the hunter-nin thanked the two and disappeared with Zabuza. These events lead to where the heroic duo now find themselves, navigating towards the self-proclaimed super bridge builder's house.
Following the map that Kurenai had handed them before departing from the Land of Fire, the tandem stood on the client's front porch. Just before Naruto could knock to announce their presence, the door slammed open with Kiba and his partner Akamaru poised to attack. "Dog breath, wait. We're the backup team," Naruto said before the boy, and his dog could cause more harm to the dynamic duo.
"Naruto?" Kiba asked quizzically. Giving a signal to his dog to stand down, Kiba couldn't even recognize his former classmate. "Sorry about that. We didn't recognize the scent when you first showed up. We didn't want to take any chances. Get in here; you both look like shit."
"Really? You don't say?" Naruto responded with a sarcastic edge to his voice. Carrying his sensei into the house, he met the remaining members of Team 8. Nodding to the others, he asked if there was a place to rest.
"There's another room upstairs. You can use it while you stay," a young woman with long blue hair. She was wearing a short-sleeved pink shirt and a long blue skirt. "I'm sorry, but I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Tsunami. I'm Tazuna's daughter."
"Thank you, Tsunami. If you'll excuse us, we desperately need some rest. Kurenai-sensei, we can talk in a little while, right?" Naruto asked, although if one was listening closely to what was said, as Kurenai was, it was not so much a question as it was a statement.
Kurenai nodded as she and the others watched Naruto and his sensei retreat upstairs to rest. Unknown to the others, a certain pale-eyed girl could barely hold herself together once she saw the young blonde in his new attire. 'Naruto-Kun, I can't believe he's here,' Hinata thought with significant blush while she poked her two index fingers together.
(Several hours later
After the pair rested for a few hours, Naruto was good as new, thanks to the fuzzy little fox in his stomach. Kakashi still had a ways to go considering he had used his implanted Sharingan too much during the encounter with Zabuza. However, he was awake and able to sit up and speak to others.
"Kakashi-sensei, something isn't sitting right with me," Naruto stated bluntly.
"What's that, Naruto?" responded Kakashi.
"Something about that hunter-nin. I thought that the hunter-nin from Kiri was supposed to cut off the head and destroy the body on the spot," Naruto spoke as the issue was gnawing at him.
"Oh, that's just great. That's just fantastic. What's next? I'll have to fight the Sannin," quipped Naruto to no one in particular. Unknown to the pair, a blonde woman in a casino let out a sneeze that cost her quite a bit of money, a pale man sneezed while experimenting on a young boy, and a white-haired man let out a sneeze while peeking at a women's hot spring, alerting all the women to the pervert. The Sannin had simultaneous thoughts of beating the person talking about them.
Naruto received a shiver down his spine and thought, 'Well, that's not foreboding.' "Anyway, what's the plan, sensei?" asked the boy.
As Kakashi was about to answer his cute little gennin, Kurenai walked in. "Perfect, now we can discuss everything without having to repeat. Firstly, Naruto and I need to recover. We'll have around two weeks before running to Zabuza or his accomplice again. Kurenai, I suggest you start training your team in some elemental jutsu. I can assist you in that endeavor. Naruto, once you feel up to it, I want you to create some clones to scout out the area to look for Gato's base of operations." The trio continued to discuss the course of events for the next two weeks. The following two weeks were going to be trying times for the group of Konoha shinobi, especially for one young blonde.
Two days had passed before Kakashi could move around with the help of crutches. He and Kurenai were standing out in a clearing near the house with the gennin of Team 8. "Alright, you three, today we're going to focus on some elemental jutsu. Hopefully, it won't come down to that, but it would be better to have something other than clan techniques. Now, Kakashi here will assist me since he knows various jutsus for each element. Now, each of you take a piece of paper and channel your chakra into it. We'll let you know what your element is accordingly. Ok?" Kurenai instructed.
The three genin did as instructed and poured chakra into their individual pieces of paper. The various slips had different reactions. Kiba's paper crumbled into dust, Shino's paper burst into flames, and Hinata's paper crinkled into a ball. "Well, that's interesting but not entirely unexpected. I can help Shino with a few fire jutsus, while Kakashi can help with Kiba and Hinata since he is well-versed in earth and lightning jutsu. Now, are there any questions?" Kurenai asked.
"Yeah, sensei. Where's Naruto at? Shouldn't he be here too?" asked Kiba, with Akamaru barking in agreeance.
Kakashi spoke up for the first time. "Well, Naruto knows his affinities already, plus he is being tasked with another assignment. You can ask him later. Let's get started, shall we?"
Tazuna's Bridge
While the others were busy with training, Naruto watched over Tazuna and the other bridge builders at work. "I have to say I thought you were just some old drunkard. Now, I think you're pretty cool for an old drunkard," stated the young shinobi with a straight face, not that the old man noticed.
"Kid, you can be a bit of an ass, you know that?" Tazuna said.
Naruto simply shrugged. "At least I'm honest about it. By the way, how long until you're done with the bridge?"
Tazuna thought and said, "About a month or so if no one else quits on us. Why do you ask?"
"How would you like some help?" the boy asked cryptically.
Tazuna scoffed, "What are you going to do, kid? Pull some workers out of your ass or something."
"Or something," Naruto said with a slight grin while making his signature hand sign.
"I know, right. Plus, they can walk on vertical surfaces so they can inspect the underside of the bridge if you want."
"Kid, you might have just single-handily saved this country," Tazuna said with awe and respect.
Naruto gave the man a slight but genuine smile. After Naruto's clones were sent off, the original decided to focus on upping his proficiency with jutsu for his primary affinity.
Zabuza's Hideout
Zabuza was lying down on his bed, recuperating from the fight he was engaged in with the infamous Copy Nin. His charge was looking after his wounds when both heard the voice of a rat. "My, my. It seems that a bunch of tree huggers nearly took out the great Demon of the Mist. Maybe I should have hired someone else for this," Gato said with a sneer. He was a short man with shaggy brown hair and sported a pair of small, circular black glasses. He wears a black suit with a purple tie, a yellow shirt underneath, and closed-toed shoes. He was flanked by his two bodyguards, Zori and Waraji.
"Gato. I'd be more careful if I were you. Those tree huggers can be pretty ruthless. Plus, do you really want to insult someone that can kill you with the flick of their wrist?" Zabuza stated.
Gato laughed, "I seriously doubt that you are in any position to threaten me."
Zabuza smirked underneath the bandages, "Who said anything about me?" As Zabuza said this, four senbon flew from the fake hunter-nin's hands with great speed and accuracy. Three senbon grazed against the intruders' cheeks while the fourth embedded into Gato's median nerve, rendering his arm virtually useless.
"You bastard," Gato screamed in pain as he clutched his arm.
The two bodyguards were readying themselves to attack when the young shinobi spoke, "I would walk away; otherwise, I'll aim for something that will leave permanent damage."
Gato raised his undamaged hand to signal his guards to stop. "Fine, but I'm bringing in someone else to assist, which is not up for debate. I want every one of them dead."
"Fine, just make sure that we get paid for this," Zabuza stated.
Once Gato and his guards left, the younger of the two spoke, "Zabuza-sama, are you sure it's wise to trust the little gremlin?"
Zabuza responded, "Yes, I'm sure, Haku, and take off that mask. You know I can't stand looking at it."
The now-named Haku removed their mask to reveal a young woman with dark brown eyes. She has long black hair and pale skin. "If you say so, what's the plan?"
"First, I recover, then we'll connect with however Gato brings in to help. Once the Leaf shinobi and the bridge builder are dead, we'll take out Gato and anyone else that stands in our way. Remember Haku; we are only doing this to aid in the rebellion of the Mizukage." Zabuza said as he laid his head down to rest.
Haku nodded as she went to her room to change into her civilian clothing. She made preparations to go out to retrieve herbs to aid her master's recovery.
Tazuna's house
(That night)
Tazuna and Naruto walked into the house while discussing what needed to be done for the bridge to be completed. They found Tsunami and Hinata preparing dinner, Kakashi reading his book, while Shino and Kiba were arguing, although one could not tell if they watched Shino and his stoic demeanor.
"Perfect timing, you two. Dinner is ready," Tsunami said as she placed the last dish down.
"Great, thanks, Tsunami-san," Naruto said as he sat down. The others following not long after.
As the dinner carried on, the table occupants ate in relative silence. That was when Tsunami's son, Inari, spoke up for the first time since the Leaf shinobi arrived. "Why? Why do you try so much? Gato is going to kill all of you."
Tsunami scolded her child, "Inari, that's enough."
"No. Let him talk. I want to know why he thinks Gato is going to kill us," Naruto asked with an even tone.
"You all sit there with smiles and act like nothing is wrong. Don't you know the strong will kill the weak? Especially you blondie, you act like you don't have a care in the world. I'd hate to be like you, not knowing how hard life can be," Inari berated the shinobi present.
Kurenai and Tsunami were about to speak when Kakashi held up his hand to silence them. Naruto contemplated for a moment, then said, "Well, thank Kami that we're not alike because I'd hate to be a whiny little bitch like you." Everyone sat there wide-eyed, mouths agape, except for Kakashi, at the blonde's response to the young boy. Naruto continued, "You sit here in a lovely house with people that love you, and you cry about how tragic your life is. Well, boo-fucking-hoo for you. You say that you would hate to be like me. You don't realize how right you are. You wouldn't have lasted a day in my life. In fact, here, take this," Naruto pulled out a kunai and placed it on the table, "if your life is so miserable, take this and slice open your wrists. I guarantee you that two of the people at this table would be devastated. That's two more people than I had when I tried." Naruto finished his rant at the boy, who was left with tears streaming down his face. The blonde thanked the mother for the meal while he left, stating he would train.
The people gathered around the table could only stare at their plates in disbelief. Kakashi sighed, "Tsunami, Tazuna, I'm sorry for my student's outburst. To put it simply, he hasn't had the best life. While that's not an excuse, I hope that you can understand. I'll talk with Inari once he's calmed down."
Kurenai reached over to pick up the kunai when she noticed that it was a training one. "Kurenai-sensei, his life couldn't have been that bad?" asked her brash student in a far too subdued tone for anyone's liking.
Kakashi answered, "Naruto has lived a life that would have broken anyone else. We can't give you anything specific, but know that he is far stronger than people realize."
As they sat around finishing their meals, a myriad of emotions filled them. They could feel the pain and sorrow in his voice. For some, it was sympathy; for others, despair that one so young could have gone through so much. However, all of them held respect for the blonde to continue to move forward after everything.
Inari was sitting on the dock, looking out over the water. He was thinking about what Naruto had said to him when he heard someone ask if they could sit down. The boy said nothing as the man with the mask sat beside him.
"You need to understand that Naruto grew up without a father like you. Until about a month ago, he didn't even know who his parents were. The truth is he's had a rougher past than you, but I have never seen him cry or complain. In fact, I didn't realize he had ever had those kinds of thoughts with the way he acts. At some point in his life, he probably got sick and tired of crying," Kakashi said to the boy so that the young one could understand the blonde hero.
Kakashi soon left the young child to contemplate what he had learned over the past few minutes.
"That fucking brat," Naruto mumbled as he punched a tree, "Thinks he's the only one with problems." Naruto took a deep breath and proceeded to look for a clearing where he could cut loose. After about ten minutes, Naruto found a good spot. "Oh yeah, this will work," he said lowly. He proceeded to create a hundred clones. The original raised his hands and signaled his clones to bring it on. As he finished off the first round, he made another hundred clones. The process continued well into the following morning. Throughout the night, the bridge builder's house residents could hear cursing and explosions.
The sun was peeking over the trees as our blonde hero slept off the previous night's events. Haku saw the blonde Konoha shinobi sleeping and decided on the best course of action. She had a stray thought of killing the boy in his sleep but chose to wake him and feign concern over his well-being. Haku walked over to the boy, that was just two years younger than her, and started to wake him gently. Shaking his shoulder, Haku announced her presence by saying, "Wake up; you'll catch a cold if you stay out here."
Naruto was stirred from his sleep when he felt himself being roused. He began to blink to drive the rest from his eyes. As his vision became clear, he saw a beautiful young woman no more than a few years older than himself being framed by the rising sun. "Angel," the boy said in a low voice.
Haku, barely hearing the word, blushed at the boy's declaration. Fighting down the blush, she said, "Why are you out here sleeping in the forest?"
Naruto, now thoroughly awakened, noticed the light dusting of pink on the woman's face, "Sorry about that. It's just I'm not used to being woken up like that." While saying this, he was fighting his blush from forming. "To answer your question, I was out here training last night, and I kind of got carried away. Why are you at here so early? "
Haku looked around the clearing for the first time, and she noticed that it looked more like a scene from a battle instead of a training session. "Right," she said as she thought that if this were the result of training, she would hate to see how he would be in a tough fight. Holding up the basket in her hands, she continued, "I was out trying to find herbs to help heal someone close to me when I saw you."
Realizing that the teen in front of him bared no ill will, he offered his assistance. 'Although, something about her seems familiar,' Naruto mused to himself.
"I don't want to impose," she answered honestly.
Naruto waved it off, "It's no trouble at all. What kind of person would I be if I didn't offer to help a beautiful woman?"
Haku looked at him as if he grew a second head as if he didn't understand the blunt manner in which he spoke. "That would be helpful; hmm, I'm sorry. I missed your name. I'm Haku."
"Naruto," he said as he pulled down his hood, allowing Haku to get a good look at his face.
The young teen took in the blonde's features. She noticed his hair was blonde and spiky and the three whisker marks adorning each cheek. However, what really captured her attention was the deep cerulean blue of his eyes. She felt as if she was staring into an ocean that was calm on the surface, but if one looked deep enough, one could see the undercurrents of power; not only that, she could also sense pain, a kind of pain that she was all too accustomed too. She was so lost in his eyes that she failed to hear him. Finally hearing the blonde, she responded, "My name is Haku."
"Well, should we get started?" Naruto asked. "Although, you may have to point out the right herbs. I'm not familiar with the ones in Wave."
"Of course," she responded. The pair set off to collect the necessary herbs. While collecting the plants, the two discussed topics from favorite foods to dreams of the future. "So you want to be Hokage? Why is that?"
Naruto thought and said, "Well, at first, it was so that the people in my village could acknowledge me, but lately, I don't know if I want that anymore. At least, being Hokage for that reason alone."
"Do you have people you care about?" the young brunette asked.
Naruto smiled slightly, "I do. There may not be many, but I would do anything for them."
"That's good. I've always believed that a person truly becomes strong when they have someone to fight for," the ice user said.
The blonde looked at the girl and smiled brightly, "Haku-chan, has anyone ever told you how great you are?" For what it's worth, the girl could only shake her head while hiding the redness on her face. "Anyway, it looks like you have enough herbs."
Haku looked down at her basket, saying, "It seems I do. Thank you for the assistance Naruto-Kun." She hid her disappointment at the thought of not seeing the blonde again.
After a pregnant pause, Naruto asked, "Haku-chan, would you like to meet up tomorrow maybe?" The boy noticed the confusion on her face and continued, "Well, I had so much fun talking with you and stuff that I thought maybe you'd like to do it tomorrow."
"I would like that very much, Naruto-kun. I'll see you tomorrow," she said. Then turning away, she walked out of the clearing leaving the blonde alone and unaware of the uncertain feelings growing inside her.
For his part, Naruto could only watch as the girl he grew so close to in just a few hours agreed to an impromptu date. However, despite the feelings of uncertainty concerning her familiar presence, he could tell that, in a way, she was like him. He could see the pain in her eyes when certain subjects were brought up. He left the clearing to find the others to discuss the following week's plans, unaware that what he was feeling in his chest was the budding seeds of love.
After returning to the house and calming everyone's worries, the shinobi discussed what would happen the following week. The group would split up into different groups; one group would train while the other would watch over the bridge and its builders.
Throughout the following week, each genin made decent progress concerning the elemental jutsu. Kiba was able to form a proper earth-style wall and was working on using the earth fist to help supplement his taijutsu style. Shino was able to progress with flame bullet jutsu and wall of flames jutsu, similar to Kiba's earth wall. Hinata was able to use the lightning ball jutsu and, because of her chakra control, was able to channel lightning chakra to her hands to supplement her Gentle Fist. However, she could only use this for at most a minute before the lightning nature started to mess with the nerves in her hands.
Naruto made the most significant leap, mainly due to his usage of shadow clones. Not only was he able to make progress with his nature chakra exercise, but he was able to learn one or two jutsu from each element. Despite the time spent training, he spent even more of it with Haku. The two had discovered that they had similar pasts. Both hated for something that was outside of their control. Not only had the duo grown closer emotionally but also physically. It started when the two sat beside each other underneath a tree. They had fallen asleep from being so relaxed in each other's presence. When the couple awoke, it took several minutes to settle down their blushes and look at each other again. Afterward, Haku decided to sit between Naruto's legs and lay her back against his chest. They would spend whatever time they could with each other. Both are unaware that they knew who the other was. Haku had known since the first day. Naruto realized a few days after that Haku was the fake hunter-nin. They both knew they should say something, but they couldn't bring themselves to say anything for fear of what might happen.
It was the day before the supposed meeting between the groups of shinobi. The two young lovers were in their usual meeting spot in their predetermined seating arrangement. Naruto played with Haku's hair with one hand while holding her hand with his other. Both were working up the courage to say what needed to be said but were afraid of the repercussions that would surely follow.
"Haku-chan," Naruto said with as much bravery as possible, "something will happen tomorrow. I'm almost positive, but I'm sure you knew that, Hunter-san."
Not responding to the intentional use of the disguise she used when they first met, she simply asked, "When did you know?"
"I put it together a few days ago. I'm more upset that I didn't figure it out sooner," the blonde answered truthfully.
Haku chuckled humorlessly, "Of course, you would be upset about that." The two sat in silence for a few more minutes before she continued, "So, what happens now?"
Naruto sighed, "We both know that someone is not making it out tomorrow. I've done all I can to find Gato and his hideout but no such luck. However, what happens tomorrow is a problem for our future selves." The boy stopped playing with her hair to reach under her chin to turn her so that she could look into his eyes. He continued, "As much as I don't want tomorrow to happen and you being caught in the crossfire, we chose our sides. Now, we have to live with the fallout."
Haku looked deeper into his deep blue orbs, "You're right. But as you said, that's a problem for our tomorrow's selves." She kissed his cheek and laid back against his chest, content that they still had a few more hours before they would be on opposite sides of a battle that would leave most with wounds that wouldn't be quickly healed.
Gato's hideout
"It took you long enough to show up. Now, I want you to take out whoever is left after Zabuza and those Konoha shinobi fight tomorrow. Understand?" Gato said with an edge to his voice that gave no room for hesitation.
The man that stood in front of the gremlin's desk nodded, adding, "Don't worry. I can take care of anyone leftover, especially since I have this." He lifted what looked like a sword handle and, within a moment, a blade of pure electrical energy. The man smirked as the sword lit up his face. Gato simply returned the smirk with one of his own as the two settled the details for the next day.
If you made it to this point, I want to say that I'm not a fan of some of the parts in this chapter. I'm still trying to figure my identity as a writer and trying to be as consistent as I can. I'm very thankful that y'all are reading this and I hope that I can do the characters justice. I know I hate it when someone takes a character I love and essentially shits on them. Wave will end next chapter. I wanted to get through as much as I could because Wave has been done so much it's not even funny. I do at least half of next chapter either written or outlined. Which means a sooner update. I hope all y'all stay safe in this crazy world of ours. See you soon.
