Trickshot
Chapter 16
-Tenten-
Feeling drained and frustrated, Tenten did her best not to show it as she stood before the Hokage. She and her team were back from yet another weeklong mission. The first had been a mess from start to finish, with Gai doubling down on the situation with Lee, putting the Taijutsu focused Genin in charge of the mission.
Lee had been enthusiastic but never bothered to try and think about what he was doing, even when it was actively going wrong. She and Neji both kept getting placed in the worst spots for their skillsets and to make matters worse Gai never stepped in to try and correct Lee or take away Lee's temporary leadership position.
Then, on their way back, it was clear that at least some lessons had been imparted to Lee by Gai while they waited for their second group. It didn't do too much to help though, and she was rather displeased that Gai had only bothered to offer Lee any training while in the town.
This mission had gone smoother, thankfully, but Neji's constant subtle and not so subtle barbs toward Lee's leadership on the prior one hadn't helped anyone.
"And that's what happened sir." Gai finished reporting to the Hokage, Neji nodding along as they finished the report. It had been a simple job of taking supplies to one of Konoha's border outposts and bringing back their reports. Honestly it was simple enough that Lee would have had a harder time messing this up than a proper escort mission.
"Thank you, Gai." The Hokage sighed, seeming exceptionally tired "You, Neji, and Lee are dismissed. Tenten, I would like you to stay behind for a bit." Confused, Tenten nodded even as her team left, all of them shooting baffled glances back over their shoulder as the door closed.
"You wished to speak to me sir?" Tenten frowned, not sure why he'd do so.
"Yes, this will only take a moment." The Hokage had always seemed a powerful and indomitable figure to her as she grew up but right now, he just seemed a very tired old man. "Naruto came back from his mission yesterday. I know the two of you tend to train together and right now…right now he could use as many supportive friends with him as he can get."
"Where is he?" Tenten felt a pit form in her stomach at the worrisome implications.
"The Cemetery." The Hokage's words made that pit become a lump of ice, "He…made a friend on his mission. They died in his arms. There are…other factors but those might be best to get from Naruto himself. I just felt it would be best to inform you so you could head to him now if you choose."
"I choose to." Tenten was already moving, knowing her friend needed her there right now. The Konoha cemetery was thankfully easy enough to find, even if Tenten herself thankfully had little reason to ever visit before. Naruto was easy to spot. His bright blond hair was always eye catching, something that only made his extreme level of skill at stealth all the more confusing.
As she got closer, she noted that Naruto was standing around a fresh grave alongside his teacher, another Jonin she didn't know, a genin she recognized as Sasuke Uchiha, and one last person who she had never seen before. Affixed to the grave by a seal she could see the massive blade of a sword, albeit one without a handle.
"Naruto?" Tenten called out to her sparring buddy as the blond turned toward her, his eyes hollow and bloodshot.
"Tenten." He rasped, thankfully not asking her to leave. It would have been awkward when she ignored such a request.
"I'll leave you to talk." Tsume nodded, "I needed to go talk to the Hokage about something. Asuma, can you escort Haku to their tests?"
"Sure." The Jonin she hadn't recognized nodded, leading the other person Tenten didn't know away. The now named Haku sent a sad mourning look at the gravestone they were surrounding before doing so.
-Naruto-
"I'll talk to you later Naruto." Sasuke clapped a hand to his shoulder. The sole remaining Uchiha of the village having not acted any differently around him since the bridge, the other genin on Sasuke's team having not been as calm when they woke up and saw the carnage. Naruto shifted from foot to foot once it was just him and Tenten left, his training buddy glancing at the gravestone, clearly recognizing Zabuza's name scrawled in as well as the blade attached to the rock.
"What happened?" Tenten's voice was soft as her hand rested on his shoulder, her presence more comforting than he had ever expected it to be.
"I…Tsume and I got called in as backup for the mission Sasuke's team went on." Naruto ran a hand through his hair, tearing his eyes from the stone. "The job was supposed to just be escorting a bridge builder back home. They shouldn't have had to deal with anything more threatening than a couple bandits or some wolves."
"But something went wrong?" Tenten frowned even as she gently guided him over to a nearby bench.
"The client lied." Naruto scowled, "His village was poor and couldn't afford a higher ranked mission. So, he lied, claimed a C rank job, and apparently still expected to have a full team of Jonin." Tenten winced at that, "Sasuke and his team found that out after they were attacked by the Demon Brothers on their way to Wave."
"Why not just leave the client then and there?" Tenten frowned in confusion, "I mean…if he lied about the mission and endangered everyone?"
"According to Tsume-Sensei as well as Asuma, there were a couple reasons." Naruto admitted "For one the Demon Brothers weren't that big of a threat and Asuma figured most of the missing nin they'd encounter, if anymore, would be at that level. Secondly, Wave is close enough to Konoha to be an effective staging ground for any foreign village wanting to move against us. Letting a mass murdering drug tycoon take over wouldn't have been safe."
"Especially with the Chuunin exams coming up soon." Tenten winced, likely imaging what having a fresh drug empire in what was essentially the village's back yard would do for such an event.
"By the time we caught up to their team, they were fighting Zabuza." Naruto nodded to the gravestone as he continued his story. From the state Wave had been in, to the family they'd been protecting, to meeting and befriending the man he hadn't realized was his enemy.
He spoke of the day of the battle. Of seeing the bloody harvest his traps wrought. Of the arrows he rained down. Of the fightin the mirror. Of Zabuza's sacrifice, the man's final words.
And of Naruto's own butchery. How he slaughtered hundreds with the Kubikirihocho and mutilated Gato.
"Mo-…Tsume was the one who snapped me out of it." Naruto's hands shook as he finished his story, having not wanted to reveal so much to Tenten but once he started, he couldn't stop. Throughout it all, she'd kept a comforting grip on his hand, never once recoiling or letting go.
"What happened after that?" Tenten's voice was soft and gentle as she continued to hold his hand, the act helping to steady him more than he'd admit.
"We tried clearing out the bodies before the villagers could see what we…what I did." Naruto grimaced, "But a few saw it anyway. Thankfully it was none of the children of Wave, and those who did see the pile of corpses were all those who'd been tortured by Gato's regime, so they weren't upset once they got over their shock and revulsion at the sight. Didn't stop them from calling the place 'Butcher's Bridge' afterward."
"They actually named it that?!" Tenten gaped.
"No, the official name is 'The Hero's bridge'." Naruto shook his head, "The Bridge builder said there were too many people who deserved to be honored and they were all heroes. So, he had a plaque added on with the names of our group as well as all those who'd died or been injured resisting Gato. The Heroes of Wave."
"What happened to Gato?" Tenten asked, her thumb rubbing the back of his hand.
"He was alive, just missing his limbs. So, we gave him over to the people of wave to put on trial." Naruto shrugged easily, "The trial…well safe to say it didn't last long. Gato's holdings were put in control of the people of Wave and they're selecting a new leader now." Tenten nodded as he finished the story, glancing over at the blade of the Kubikirihocho attached to Zabuza's headstone.
"That was the last blade that was made from Zabuza's own blood." Naruto rubbed the seal on his glove where the real Kubikirihocho was sealed away, "Haku and I agreed it should stay with him."
"And your new teammate, this 'Haku' guy. He didn't want Zabuza's sword?" Tenten looked confused at that.
"Haku told me that Zabuza tried training them in how to use it but that he never got the hang of it." Naruto shook his head, "That Zabuza planned to give him the Nuibari if they ever managed to take out its wielder. So…so now I am the master of the Kubikirihocho."
"You'll make Zabuza proud Naruto, I know you will." Tenten's earnest expression lifted some of the weight from his shoulders.
"Thank you Tenten." He squeezed her hand back, feeling a warmth on his neck even as her own ears turned pink. But their hands stayed connected.
-Tsume-
"You wished to see me sir?" Tsume remained professional as she stood before the Hokage. Even if things had been…awkward since he revealed the truth to Naruto, he was still her village leader.
"Yes, it's about Naruto." The old man ran a tired hand down his face as he tossed her the latest bingo book, "It would seem that there were spies from other villages in Wave. Watching and likely hoping your group would fail so they could swoop in and endear themselves to a location that's so close to our walls. He's been declared a C ranked threat in the Bingo book and even earned monikers from Stone, Cloud, and Mist."
"You're kidding." Tsume paled. Getting attention as a Shinobi was a double-edged sword. Notoriety meant better jobs, but it also meant people after your head. And her blond boy was still a rookie. "The observation teams from the other villages didn't feel confident enough to attack with all six, or perhaps seven, of you there thankfully. But they did report back to their various Kages. To Mist he is 'The Demon of the Burning Leaves'. To Stone, 'The Bloody Maelstrom'. And to Cloud 'The Whistling Death'. They're aware that he's still just a genin and these were just bandits, for the most part, but him taking out one of Iwa's nuke nin in a single attack as well as the sheer brutality and power he showed on that bridge has them on edge. Has them watching to see what he'll become."
"I'll accelerate his training." Tsume nodded, already determined to make sure her boy survived long enough to give her a gaggle of honorary blond grandkids to spoil.
"The Daimyo has heard of this too." The Hokage continued with a sigh, "He's quite smug about a Genin from his village already having 'such notoriety' and has insisted that Naruto take part in the upcoming Chuunin exams, despite how little time he's been a Genin."
"…Fuck."
AN: Alright, of Naruto's three Bingo Book titles, two were suggestions from the reviews. Shoutout to 'Super Squashman' for the name 'The Bloody Maelstrom' and to 'Soundwave1248' for the name 'The Whistling Death'.
