Chapter Two - The Walk of Reality

Team Seven had been walking for a few hours since leaving Konoha and it was dawning on the three of them that they were truly outside the walls of their village. Each of them had different reactions, and it couldn't have shown how far apart they truly were as individuals. Sakura was trying not to let her nerves get to her and took to watching Sasuke and swooning over every small action he made. The last loyal Uchiha, however, was on paranoid alert for their surroundings but that has sadly made him fully aware of the girl's stares.

Naruto, however, couldn't have been more relaxed to be out of the confines that his village gave him - but if any were to be inside his head they would see that he was celebrating like a maniac as he read his book on seals. He was practically dancing with Kurama over their newfound freedom.

Kakashi, much like his blonde student, was reading his book but to the trained eye, they could notice that he was glancing at his three students ever so occasionally as to keep an eye on them. He was silently taking notes and gauging their emotions, even the hidden ones that they did not want to be shown, and he was most pleased with Sasuke's awareness and disappointed in Sakura's choice of a task to pass the time. His most surprising student was the blonde, who, like with his arrival earlier that morning, was reading a book like the Jonin - even though it was not as magnificent as the Icha Icha series.

"Tazuna-san," Sakura got the bridge builder's attention and jogged up to catch up to him, "what's Nami like? Is it like Konoha?"

"No," Tazuna stated as he took a swig of his canteen. "It's very small compared to Konoha. There are only a hundred of us in the village and we have made our living as fishermen and carpenters. We have usually relied on the protection of Hi no Kuni ever since the end of the Third Shinobi World War and Uzu no Kuni was destroyed."

Everyone perked up at this, but no one was more interested than Naruto when he heard the name of his ancestral home. "You mean you were allied with the Uzumaki clan?"

"Oh, yes," Tazuna chuckled, the looks of his escorts going over his head. "We supplied them with raw materials and even helped maintain their village and in turn, they protected us from external nations like Kaze no Kuni and Mizu no Kuni. But when the village was destroyed and its people killed, we had to ally with someone new and we decided to trust the closest nation to our north."

"But, Tazuna-san," Sakura pointed at Naruto as she told him, "Naruto is from the Uzumaki clan. Not everyone in the village was killed."

That got the man surprised and he looked at the blonde in surprise. "Is that right? You look a little young to have been there during the attack."

"My mother was in the village visiting my great-grandmother when Uzushiogakure was attacked," Naruto explained to the man, getting a nod in understanding. "Did you know any Uzumaki personally?"

"Aye, one was a very close friend of mine. He was a Chunin during the Third War, I believe." The old man looked down the road wistfully, a small smile on his face. "He died a few weeks prior to the attack on his village, however. I like to think it was for the best, I don't like to think about what had happened to those that were attacked in the village. Only the vilest of people can decide and go through will killing an entire people."

"Agreed," Naruto nodded with a grimace, only faintly seeing Sasuke nod his head as well but without saying anything.

"Are you skilled with fuinjutsu, as well?"

"Very," Naruto chuckled as he briefly showed the cover of the book he was reading. "As you can see, I am well within advanced fuinjutsu methods as well as theory and application. It was hard at first trying to understand what most books are trying to explain, reason I realized is fragmented or completely false, and have only had luck by using complete working seals. It's like an innate nature to see the intricacies of seals and their capabilities. I am still far from being a master, but I guess you can say I'm like a skilled Jonin with them."

Tazuna grinned and moved past Sakura to get close to the blonde, his hand grasping his shoulder opposite of the old man, and gave a hearty laugh. "I believe you and I can get a mutual benefit of equal satisfaction. My bridge, while as perfect as any other I have seen, is built in a very temperate area and as such is very likely to have heavy wear and tear. I want to avoid that, so what I want to ask of you is that you are to put some of those seals to protect the stone and in return, I will give you a few things from your clan that I'm sure you would want back."

Naruto raised his eyes in surprise. "You have Uzumaki clan possessions?"

"I told you I had an Uzumaki friend, didn't I?" Tazuna crossed his arms and sighed. "Of course, I would give them to you anyway as it rightfully belongs in the hands of an Uzumaki rather than gathering dust from an attic. I just request some help, that's all."

"Of course," Naruto jumped at the opportunity to gain something of his clan's. It is hard to find anything of the such, even when he has a team scouring and repairing his ancestral home, and his desire for anything from his clan has only been growing as the fruitless endeavors carried on.

The man grinned in turn. "Great! I really appreciate it!"

Naruto was going to answer when he felt his sixth sense going off and looked down the road. It was empty, save for two puddles of...water. That's weird, Naruto slowed down, raising his hand to stop Tazuna as well. "Call me crazy, but it hasn't rained in this area for a few weeks."

"Yeah, so?" Sakura gave the blonde an annoyed look as she planted her hands on her hips.

"Then why are there two puddles in the middle of the road?"

Everyone turned to stare at the said puddles.

"Travelers," Sasuke guessed, but he was reaching for his kunai pouch as he spoke.

"Kakashi-sensei I think-"

As Naruto was trying to talk to his uncaring sensei, he was stopped when a barbed chain shot out from the puddles and latched around the Jonin. The four others could only watch in horror as the body of their sensei was torn to shreds, leaving them alone and to face the two individuals forming from the water.

"Kirigakure missing-nin," Naruto said as he noticed the scratched-off headbands that showed their previous village allegiance.

"One down," one of them said.

"Three to go," the other finished.

Immediately, Naruto brought his hands into a sign and shouted, "Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Fourteen more Naruto's sprung to life around them, surprising both Sakura and Sasuke. "Group A, handle the bozo on the left, Group B, protect Tazuna!"

"Yes, boss!"

"Sasuke, we're going to the ugly bastard on the right," Naruto looked at the Uchiha and saw a reluctant nod to his orders. "Good, let's go!"

Naruto slid on his knees to avoid the chain that nearly latched on to him, and went to stab him but was blocked with the gauntlet before Sasuke joined in as well and kicked the man in the chest. Naruto ducked under the chain again, sending a kick to the man's leg before backing off to avoid the gauntlet once more. However, he could not avoid the chain again as it was deflected by Sasuke and he was sliced along the forearm.

"Oi, careful," Naruto hissed as he jumped back to glance over his injury, noticing a purple marking along the cut, before jumping back into the fight.

"We need to handle that chain!"

Naruto nodded in agreement, both of them jumping back to give themselves room, and looked at the two brother's once more. Naruto saw that his clones were barely faring against the other missing-nin and they only had a few moments before he was free to help his partner. Once that happened, they were done for.

"I need skin contact," Naruto told the Uchiha. "I have a technique that can end this but I need contact with their skin."

Sasuke gave a confused and annoyed look. "Sure, let me just ask him to take off his cloak. I'm sure he won't mind!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Be sarcastic all you want, I'm just telling you what I need."

Sasuke grumbled to himself before huffing, "fine!"

Ass.

Naruto chuckled at Kurama's insult of the Uchiha as he created a few more clones and ordered them to reinforce Group A before he jumped in to help his teammate. He observed as Sasuke skillfully utilized a moderate distance between him and the enemy to avoid their attacks while also being able to land his own. What he realized from the attack pattern was that Sasuke was trying to tear away at the cloak and the clothing.

Well then, I guess he's not entirely useless or prideful. He heard a derisive snort from Kurama but decided to ignore it and instead just lunged forward, channeling chakra through his finger as it made contact with the older man before diving to the side to avoid getting hit by the gauntlet. Gotcha!

"What the hell was that!"

Naruto nary gave Sasuke a glance as he looked into the amused eyes of his enemy. "Uzumaki Fuinjutsu: Mark. Complete" Holding up the hand sign for tiger, he gave an even bigger grin than before. "Uzumaki Marked Fuinjutsu: Incinerate."

Instantaneously, and just in time for the other hostile missing-nin to kill the last clone, everyone could only gawk and watch as the man screamed and ripped away at the clothing he wore. What everyone saw was a set of glowing red-orange seal markings crawling over the man's skin and setting him gradually more and more on fire. Soon enough, within seconds, he was completely on fire, and parts of his body - his fingers and his left leg - had begun to turn to ash and his screams now came out as hoarse and dry air.

Naruto was pridefully watching his clan technique finish the man off, leaving only the metal that he had on him; his gauntlet lay with ash blowing out as well as a few metal chains that he wore under his cloak and over his clothes. Perfect.

"You bastard!"

Naruto watched as the other ninja made a mad dash for him and he watched in satisfaction as his sensei appeared behind the man and threw him to the ground. Before the man could move anymore, he found himself on his stomach, and in moments his arms were being pulled painfully behind his back. It wasn't until everyone heard two loud cracks that Kakashi had let go and stepped back to watch the man whimper and try to crawl away without the use of his arms.

"Tazuna-san," the white-haired man said before looking up at their client. "You have some explaining to do, hm?"

The man backed away slowly, fidgeting and stammering as the Jonin calmly walked up to him. "I-I don- what do yo- you misunderstand!"

"What is there to misunderstand? My fresh Genin team was finally ready for their first C-rank mission, to kill a bandit or two so as to ease them into their profession, but instead, we faced off against a B-rank duo of missing-nin from Kirigakure." Kakashi stopped in front of the man when he fell to the ground. "Tell me, Tazuna-san, what is there that I missed?"

Tazuna could only look up at the towering man in abject horror before he gave a dejected sigh, covering his face with his hands. "I had to. I wanted to pay for a higher rank, I really did, but my village couldn't scrape together enough money to pay for it. We're desperate. That man is draining the life from my people and more than enough people have died to his stranglehold."

"What man, Tazuna-san," Naruto asked as he walked up and stood beside his sensei, holding his injured arm. "Please, you need to tell us so that we may better gauge our situation."

"Gato," Tazuna spat the name like it was the vilest, horrid thing he would ever have to tell them. "Gato is the owner of Gato Corporations, a conglomerate of various businesses and investors. He came to Nami five years ago and had bought up nearly every business within a single year. After he practically controlled our industries, he began firing people. Then he blockaded our island so that we could not leave, and ever since then we had to live under his tyrannical rule."

Sitting up, the man looked at Kakashi. "He's only just started paying for ninjas to kill me. I thought that after I left then maybe the ninja would have left but I was wrong."

Poor mortal.

Seriously, it's like a whole village of me.

We should help him. We didn't exactly struggle against those two and we were even able to use Uzumaki techniques. I say that with enemy ninja that this trip got even more value than before.

Naruto looked up to see what his sensei was thinking and was shocked to see the man contemplating abandoning the mission. "Kakashi-sensei, I think that we should continue on. Sasuke and I were about to handle ourselves pretty well, so I think that we can handle this. I mean," Naruto grinned at the man, "we are led by such a fearsome and experienced shinobi, I'm sure nothing will get past you so there should be nothing to worry about."

Kakashi gave his blonde student a very skeptical look, but Naruto could see the hint of amusement that seemed to sway the Jonin into caving into his persuasion. "Alright, I will have faith in my students and agree to continue." Only Sakura seemed horrified by the news, as Tazuna was relieved and gave his profound gratitude, and Sasuke smirked and stuck his chest out with pride. "Let us continue."

"What about the survivor, sensei," Naruto pointed to the crawling Chunin. "You said they are missing-nin, that means that they have a bounty on their head, right?"

Kakashi rubbed his masked chin in thought, nodding his head to his student. "They are the Demon Brothers. While one of them alone is only a Chunin in experience and abilities, their strength is really from their ability to work so well together that they have been noted to be defeating Jonins in two-versus-one matches. I believe their bounty together, dead or alive, is seventy thousand ryo."

"Well, if we cash them in - cold, as I don't want to worry about keeping the last one alive throughout our mission - that's a four-way split of seventeen thousand and a half." Naruto just waved to the man, giving a feigned look of sympathy. "And look at him, he's suffering ever since we killed his brother and broke his arms. We should give him the mercy of ending the pain."

"I second that," Sasuke nodded his head, turning to look at his sensei. "It would be better this way, and it would give us and Konoha a bit of infamy. Bounty hunting isn't exactly against shinobi principles, however little we have."

"B-but that would m-mean we have to kill him in cold blood!" Everyone turned to the only girl in the group, her eyes widened in horror at what her ears were hearing. She would have never in a hundred years thought that she would become an accessory to the murder of a defenseless and beaten enemy. "I didn't sign up for this!"

"Actually, you did," Naruto chuckled, turning to his teammate with a calm and serious stare. "You are a kunoichi; you kill when you are paid for it, and the only inconvenience is the price that we negotiate. Otherwise, you are a cold-blooded killer who will do this throughout your life until you quit or retire. Do not assume that if our roles were reversed, an enemy - him or any other for that matter - would take mercy on you and keep you alive. Unless there is something earned from keeping them alive or there is a mutual agreement to be made, there is no reason for us to let them live just to hunt us for revenge or because they were paid to."

"This is the reality of things, Sakura," Kakashi picked up from his student, giving a consoling look but not doing anything else. She needed to understand this or she would die. "I do not say this lightly, but only because I do not want you to die for some false or convoluted romanticized dream of our profession. We are ninjas, this is what we do. It is decided."

Sakura could only watch as her sensei walked up to the man, who began crying and pleading for his life to be spared, and her eyes caught the glint of the kunai before it was plunged into the heart of the beaten missing-nin. Her mind captured the red blade as it was pulled out, and the man's dying breaths stained the memory in vivid emotion, and she was so lost that she did not realize that Naruto had come up to stand next to her.

"It was going to happen sooner or later, Sakura," was his quiet remark.

It seemed to be all that was needed for her to finally break and she fell to her knees before her face smacked against the floor as her mind shut off.

Naruto watched the girl passively, disappointment filling him at the weak will of his teammate. And she was the best kunoichi our year had to offer.

I would say that the shy Hyuuga is better than her. Even has the backbone to prove it.

So long as I'm not near her, Naruto chuckled to himself before crouching down and pulling the girl to a position he could more easily grapple.

Pulling her over his shoulder, he maneuvered the best he could to make it comfortable for her and himself before turning to his sensei. He noticed that the bodies were finally sealed away and he nodded to the man for them to continue. "I'll carry her until she gets a hold of herself."

Anko Mitarashi, Hinata Hyuuga, Yugao Uzuki if she's still single, Hana Inuzuka, try to get a few foreign girls to spice it up. Hopefully that Karin Uzumaki girl from Kusa isn't too closely related, gotta have a line that's somewhat not filled with a bloodline.

Why am I talking to you about this again?

Because I wanted to remind you what was ahead of you when you finally got those ruins completely fixed.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the perverted chuckle of the Biju. Who knew a being made of pure chakra could be perverted?

Hey! Just because I don't have an anthropomorphic body doesn't mean my sentience isn't as flawed as you mortals! I blame it on being sealed into you Uzumaki. You guys have some weird kinks and stamina that lasts just as long off the battlefield.

I do not need to know about the love lives of my mother and great-great-aunt! Naruto shuddered at the mere thought of whatever way or however long they did it for. It was too much!

The laughter of the Biju grew louder and Naruto annoyedly cut their mental connection. Sighing, he glanced at his female teammate walking next to him, her eyes dull and staring ahead without a care for her surroundings or those around her. It has only been about half an hour since she began walking and since then she has not spoken or looked anywhere but straight ahead; he also saw that her eyes were drifting away and not fully taking in her surroundings.

Sighing he only had a moment to realize that the area was much quieter than it was a few moments ago. Looking around, he felt a shift in the atmosphere so subtle and brief that he most surely would have missed it if he was not paying extra attention.

"Get down!"

Naruto heeded his sensei's shout and grabbed Sakura and pulled her back and to the ground with him, Kakashi doing the same with Tazuna, just in time to avoid a large butcher blade as tall as Naruto flying through the clearing. Looking up over Sakura, he could see the sword embedded inside a tree nearly cleaving it all the way through and just as he got to his hands and feet a new figure appeared near the handle.

"Zabuza Momochi," Kakashi drawled as he got to his feet, pulling out a kunai from his pouch in confrontation with the new enemy.

"Copycat Kakashi Hatake," the man chuckled as he pulled the blade out of the tree and hefted it on his shoulder with the blade edge facing away from him. "I wondered why the Demon Brothers failed in killing the bridge builder and I can see why."

"Actually, that's me and my teammate's doing," Naruto spoke up as he too got to his feet and was getting in position to protect his client. Sasuke had joined him and Sakura was slower to do so, shaking in fear of their enemy. "I have to say though, isn't hiring one of the Seven Swordsmen, not including the Demon Brothers, a little bit of overkill or does your employer just have a lot of money to spend?"

The tall man chuckled in amusement, scaring Sakura even further as she felt the lick of a gathering mist encroaching around them. "You're right kid, and I can only assume that with Kakashi Hatake as your sensei you are nothing to scoff at."

"I would be inclined to agree with you," Naruto gave a grin and brought his hands into a hand sign, and brought up a dozen clones to blend into. "I have to say, this fight would be better since you have less clothing than the other two."

"Naruto," Kakashi interrupted, pulling up his headband and revealing a Sharingan that briefly spun wildly. "You, Sasuke, and Sakura will protect the bridge builder. If it looks like I may die you all will run away as fast as you can and hide to make your way back to Konoha. Am I understood?"

Not at all.

Naruto shook his head and he and his clones ran around wildly while creating more clones, all shouting, "No can do, Kakashi-sensei!"

Before everyone knew it, there were nearly a hundred clones up and down the road, jumping into the trees overhead, and running into the bushes and foliage; it all confused even Kakashi who had tried to keep up with where the blonde was. He is cunning, I'll give him that.

Zabuza looked around to see that he was surrounded by a lot of clones, and by even the briefest glance he can tell they were more than just a simple illusion clone; "Shadow Clones, very impressive from a Genin. Sadly, that will not be enough for you to survive."

He swung his arm in a wide arc, tearing through a few clones as he cut the one that was approaching him from behind, and gave a bloodthirsty grin that caused the mist to thicken and obscure everyone's vision even further. "Here is a little lesson for you Genin."

Everyone except Naruto looked around trying to find the man through the chakra-laced mist, but Naruto was paying attention to the man's attacks as his clones were killed one after the other. His clones were all trying to fight whenever they briefly saw the man but his speed was incredible and he blended in the fog as soon as he killed a clone or two that none were able to get skin contact so he can Mark the man.

"Every Kirigakure shinobi is trained to use this technique," he began speaking again through the fog. "The Silent Killing Technique developed to imitate the island of Kiri where the mist is the thickest and we train our assassination skills. The Seven Swordsmen use this to even greater effect."

Naruto Substituted with a clone just in time to avoid the massive blade that would have surely taken him out.

"Aha, almost got you."

"Almost isn't good enough," various Narutos called out to the man as they all substituted with each other to confuse the man a little more. "I thought a trained shinobi such as you would know that?"

Laughter chilled everyone's spines as they felt it was demonic, but Kakashi and the Narutos were able to suppress it to a better extent. "I like you more than others, how about coming and being my apprentice? I can always use another."

Naruto hummed as he counted more of his clones dying to the man. "I would accept such an offer, but I cannot leave my team or my village. And I'm paid to do a mission, what little honor I have dictates I must see it through. I am sorry."

Silence greeted everyone, but they heard the deaths of more clones dying in the fog which set them on edge even further. "Then I will get rid of the obstacle and ask you again."

Naruto's eyes widened when he felt the deaths of the clones that surrounded the bridge builder. He's going straight for them!

He quickly substituted himself with a clone and what he saw made him accept that it was the worst moment to do so.

"There you are," Zabuza chuckled sinisterly as he was face to face with the blonde.

"No, there you are!"

Zabuza whipped around as he felt numerous clones jump on him with a brief moment that he was stopped and it took him a few more seconds to realize that foreign chakra was invading his skin. He yanked a few off and killed the others, looking at his body to see a few swirls grafted onto his skin with chakra ink. "What is this?"

"Uzumaki Fuinjutsu: Mark," Naruto told the man with a grin. "Complete."

Zabuza watched as the boy held the ram sign and before he could do anything, his body immediately felt like it was on fire and he was forced to his knees and dropped his sword. Black-purple chains of pure chakra wrapped around him from the seals and held him to the ground tightly so that he was unable to move. Unlike other techniques, it was restricting his use of movement and chakra so he was unable to break out of the confinement and as such the mist was dissipating without his chakra to feed it.

"Uzumaki Marked Fuinjutsu: Chains of the Void," Naruto clarified as he grabbed the sword and stabbed it into the ground next to the man. "That was close, you almost had me."

Zabuza looked around, the clones unsummoning themselves, and saw that he was defeated and if he was honest he wasn't even upset about it. The blonde had a smart plan, no matter how improvised it was, and he had used a unique fuinjutsu to defeat him. "Congrats, kid, you win."

"I know," Naruto chuckled in response, turning to his sensei. "What should we do, sensei? My fuinjutsu works until I decide it doesn't. If it were to be removed without my permission, Momochi-san would die. I think that we can bring him with us and when we finish our mission and kill Gato we can let him go and he will have no obligation to kill us."

"Keep me like this that whole time and I will want to kill you just for that," Zabuza growled out to the blonde.

"I think it would be a good bargaining chip in case there are other missing-nin," Sasuke spoke up, crossing his arms at his sensei. "I also think that Zabuza can give us valuable information."

Kakashi hummed to himself as he contemplated his student's desires, no matter how much he wanted to tell them no, but before he could answer he felt a new presence appear near them and he turned to see a Kirigakure Hunter-nin. They were short and because of the warm, baggy clothing, the only thing he could tell was that they were female.

"Thank you for capturing the missing-nin known as Zabuza Momochi," they said as they approached the group, pulling out a few senbon - which was met with Sasuke and Naruto pulling out their kunai. "Do not worry, I am just here to kill and return him to the village."

Naruto narrowed his eyes and walked around the Demon of the Mist, noting how the man did not struggle but just watched the interaction, and he stopped in front of the Hunter-nin. He grabbed her hand suddenly, noting how she only tensed and sharply inhaled through her nose.

"Naruto," Sakura growled from behind him. "Don't be acting like a pervert or I swear to Kami."

Naruto just ignored her and rolled his thumb over the Hunter-nin's knuckles and fingers, noting the very few calluses that were there as opposed to his or even Kakashi's. "I would assume that your lack of marks and calluses on your hands is because you handle senbon instead of kunai."

"It is indeed, Konoha-san," she nodded her head. "Why would my hands matter?"

"Because a ninja such as yourself would have marks to show your experience and your battles, as the cleaner a hand is the less refined they are and the more likely such a person is a fraud or conspirator," Naruto left the suggestion in the air and traced his fingers lightly over the palm of the girl - smirking when she shivered at his touch. "But I guess I am satisfied and am happy to let you take him from our hands."

After getting her hand back, she bowed before him and gave her thanks before approaching the captured man and stabbing her two senbon into specific places of the man's neck. She paused when she saw that the fuinjutsu was still in effect and turned to look at Naruto. "I would appreciate it if you deactivate your seals, please. And I need to prepare for the ritual beheading so I would also like for you all to leave."

Naruto waved his hand, stopping his technique from working, and gave a small smirk before turning to his sensei. "I guess we should continue on."

Kakashi nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, let's."

UzumakiRamen: Sasuke won't be bashed but I'm not giving him a big role in this story. Also, no sibling incest. The Harem list will be at the bottom.

Guest: You raise a good idea, and I'll put a poll up for a week or two before I post the next chapter if that would be okay with others. But it won't be entirely like what you suggested as I already have the Uzumaki clan thought out, as well as the "Ancients" they can summon.

Harem so far (not in order): Anko, Hinata, Kurotsuchi, FemHaku, Ajisai, Ameyuri, Tayuya, Ryuzetsu

Harem possible additions: Ayame (very likely), FemItachi (very likely), Konan, Samui, Karui, Karin, Fu, Hana, Honoka, Koyuki

AS STATED I will be setting up a blind poll on my profile for you to see if characters from different anime can be added to the story without actually doing a crossover. It will last a week or two until I post the next chapter. I posted this chapter early because I write the chapters in advance but I won't continue if a decision such as this will change how I narrate some things.