Strength of Fist and Heart
by Darklion74

A/N:

I thought that a few people would be missing the point at the end there, which was in a sense, intentional. Remember one thing, neither Naruto nor you, my faithful readers, ever heard the entire discussion. The fox will address your questions at the end... neh?

Kyuubi is seen behind the desk holding up a sign - "Fox on Strike, he's not addressing each review personally... TOO MANY TO ADDRESS"

Alas, the fox is being difficult yet again. Price of success, over thirty reviews in only two chapters, this must have caught some people's interest I guess. :D This story is moving along nicely, but my other one is a tad stalled. Hopefully once I get up to chapter four or five, I can get the energy to complete the chapter in my other crossover story. In the meantime, on with the show!

Chapter Three
Foxbite Curse within the Wave

Hyuuga Hinata, only six years of age, was trying to fight hard against her father in a training session, trying to prove that she had sufficient strength, to herself and to her father. In all of the years of her life, she heard kindness from her mother and from a few in the branch family, but never a word of praise or compassion from the one she sought it from most.

She had some of the talent of the Hyuuga, and was actually rather decent in Taijutsu, but she was talked down to all of the time. She needed to be better, she needed to please her father. She needed to prove she was worthy of being head of the household one day. Yet something distracted her that day.

Flashes from when she was young, what she saw outside of her window when she was only two... she couldn't see it, per se, but she felt as though she was in the middle of it... angry villagers, rounding a boy, but in doing so, they were attacking her too. Yet she was never even there. Then the wolf; she had seen a wolf of pure shadow come out and strike...

That night, she was found on the Hyuuga Manor, bleeding very badly from a mysterious bite, as well as being very badly bruised, as if attacked by an invisible monster.

"Hinata! Snap out of it!"

Hinata blinked then looked at her combat uniform near her thigh. Surely enough, it had begun to bleed again, and it was never even struck. This seemed to happen once every year, but it didn't merely affect Hinata. The entire village was effected by it, though nothing more than a nightmare in most. It affected others too. It was said to be a curse, a curse from the fox for forcing him out. The Shinobi refused to believe in a curse that affected an entire village, but the villagers were not so certain.

Hyuuga Hiashi, head of the clan noticed the reopened wound yet again. He knew this was no coincidence but had no good explanation for her. He knew Hinata was an innocent brought down by what they as Shinobi failed to do, protecting Naruto from the anger of the villagers. He remembered, for he was the Jounin who forced away the crowds that day, only for him to make a mistake in trusting Mitarashi Anko.

He had failed, along with all other Shinobi, and aside from a select few and the Hokage, he knew that Konohagakure had it's very own curse. It was fortunate, that it only affected the village one day per year, for reasons unknown, for it seemed it should have had worse ramifications. He learned of the curse from the Hokage, and that it was indeed related to Kyuubi, and the curse was also known by his traitorous student, Orochimaru.

"G-gomen, father, I was dis..."

Hiashi kept a firm voice as he interrupted, unlike the harsh voice he used during other times of the year. "A warrior must never be distracted, even by the unexpected. You saw it again, didn't you? You saw him again?"

Hinata merely nodded as she tended to her reopened wound. A wound of which she never understood the origin, only that it nearly killed her that day four years ago. Father always acted strange on this day, and she never understood that either. He knew something, but wasn't ready to say anything about it.

"You have to forget about him, Hinata. For the sake of yourself, the clan, and the village, you must forget about him. It does no good to dwell on that part of the past."

As he walked away, like he always did, there was a current of fear running through him, that Hinata, just like the other children near her age, were affected nearly as badly, if not as badly as she was. For some reason she had a very powerful connection to the fox-child which she never even suspected herself. Nobody did. Could it have been karma? Fate?

As much as he showed indifference, he cared about his daughter more than she was ever allowed to know. He wanted her to be the leader he was, and as such could not show such emotions of weakness around her. He nearly broke his cold shell today, and could never allow to be so weak ever again.

He prayed that it wasn't karma, for everyone's sake.

"M-must k-keep control..."

Mitarashi Anko, now a Jounin of the village was always given this day off, as well as her genin team of students. Now in her rather disheveled apartment, with bottles of sake on the floor turning into a pile, the sole genin student of Orochimaru was writhing as one curse, compounded with the foxbite, threatened to overtake her.

The combination was first seen one year after she had taken Naruto into the woods, as she made a late night report to the Sandaime Hokage. When midnight had struck, both her leg started to bleed badly, and her curse seal began to grow, leaving her effectively out of commission. She barely survived it that year, and barely kept control.

This was why, ten minutes before midnight for the past four years, she manacled herself to the wall of her apartment, in the hopes that it would restrain her somewhat if she ever lost control fully, keeping casualties at a minimum. Sandaime noted she was far stronger than she thought she was.

As midnight came again, the curse receded back into her body and the bleeding stopped, leaving only the open wound, which was really a light bite from a large wolf, but in truth was a curse from the fox. His mortal shell was nearly killed and he had suffered as the boy had suffered. He wanted everyone to remember.

Mitarashi Anko could never forget, for she held yet a third curse, the guilt from taking such an innocent boy into the woods in the first place. And as she survived yet another year with this, she did the same thing once again...

...unlocked herself, crept in her bed, and started to weep.

Naruto sighed, as he looked at the place they were going to stay in. It was a rustic seaport with only one real attraction, the largest casino in the Country of the Wave. Shizune also seemed to sigh at the same time, having the same thoughts as her adopted nephew. Tsunade on the other hand was ready to blow even more money in the casino.

Tsunade walked giddily as they approached the casino. "Ah, Naruto-chan, this is going to be a day off from training while mommy Tsunade works on building some wealth. HAHAHAHA!"

Both Naruto and Shizune sighed and shook their heads. Even at the tender age of six, Naruto knew enough that his mother's biggest weakness was gambling. He didn't find anything too wrong about it, just that his mother was the worst gambler in ages, and not to leave ANY money in her sight, otherwise it would be gone.

'Building wealth, okaasan? I guess if you mean you're building the wealth of the casinos. We don't seem to get any wealthier, though.'

In their path however was a bit of an altercation. There were a number of bandits accosting two people in the street. One seemed to be rather lithe, only a little older than Naruto himself, and the other, was unconscious and bleeding on the ground. The bandits were however all covered in masks and had hitai-ate that had a cloud symbol on them.

Tsunade cursed. "Cloud ANBU? Here in the Wave Country? What is going on?"

Before the trio could get away, the ANBU threw a lightning fast shuriken that struck Shizune in the chest, knocking her to the ground. She seemed to be convulsing as well as... burning.

Naruto, noticing that Shizune was being electrocuted by the shuriken, kicked the shuriken out of her chest with his wooden shoe, which repulsed the current away from him. Tsunade rushed the ANBU as blow after blow sent the surprised shinobi flying hundreds of meters, if not a bit more than a kilometer away, and each to an equally fatal collision or landing.

Tsunade turned, as she was worried one may have gotten behind her to Naruto. However, the young boy was merely doing a healing jutsu on Shizune, and doing it rather well, too. The sannin was startled at the surprising amount of chakra the boy possessed on his own, much less the turbulent chakra of the Kyuubi within him. That training must have really paid off, for the boy stood up after barely breaking a sweat with the medic jutsu.

Shizune stood wearily, still disoriented from the electricity, as was helped to a seated position. Tsunade then tended to the unconscious man, a very large man with a gigantic blade on the ground next to him. He then noticed that he too, had an hitai-ate. This one was of the mist village, but it was crossed out. After the healing was complete, an almost instinctive notion by the sannin, Tsunade backed away, the blood on the man a bit much for her to take.

The large man and the dark haired youngster were missing nin. The youngster seemed to have a feminine grace and cunning, albeit weary from the experience. The larger man was recognized immediately by Tsunade, as she remembered tales of his ruthless exploits as part of the mist village.

"Momichi Zabuza, I presume."

The large man looked up and merely nodded. "You have dangerous knowledge, lady, but you also have my thanks. To have taken out as many ANBU as you have, you have some skills... it can't be... Tsunade!"

The dark-haired youngster turned around in alarm at the mention of the Legendary Sannin. This woman was Tsunade, the monstrously powerful medic-nin of the leaf, and former student of the Sandaime Hokage? He then looked at the blonde-haired boy who was wiping his head after performing a high-class medic-nin jutsu. 'He can do such a powerful jutsu, and he's even younger than me!'

The youngster smiled genuinely at Naruto, "Ano, that was pretty impressive healing. Did she teach you that?"

Naruto looked up at the missing-nin and smiled cautiously. "Hai, okaasan taught me that."

Momichi Zabuza blinked a bit at that revelation. 'Okaasan? Tsunade is his mother? I admit there is some resemblance, more than a bit, but... it doesn't seem right, he's somewhat too young to be her son. Perhaps he's traveled with her so long that he thinks of her as a mother.'

"Haku, let's get going. We don't know what that bloody magnate Sakuraba Shion is going to pull next. If she has funds to hire ANBU, who knows what they are going to pull next."

A couple of blurs sped by and more hitai-ate of mist missing-nin appeared, clad in black, and their faces hidden, both wielding long chains that looked like each link possessed a sharp knife. They appeared to be Chuunin. "Sensei, are you alright? We were delayed by some... cunning traps."

Zabuza merely waved away their concern. "I'm fine, though I admit, if it wasn't for some timely intervention, we'd have been killed." He then looked Tsunade dead in the eye. "I don't like owing people favors, but I do. And I intend to pay back for what you did for Haku and myself."

Zabuza then became somewhat thoughtful, as he glanced at Haku.

"I know this is an imposition, but I have one more favor to ask, Tsunade-hime, and perhaps in this favor, pay back for what you have done for me. While the life you lead is dangerous, mine is imperiled daily. The boy here was intended to be my tool, but it would seem to be more useful to you as both an instructor for your young kid over there. He's the equivalent of a Chuunin of the Mist and can further help his medic-nin skills."

Haku looked back, his eyes fearful. "No! Please, sensei, let me stay with you!"

Zabuza growled back. "Be quiet, Haku! I know you want me to fulfill my dreams, yet you have your own life to live, and now that I realize it, I want you to live as good a life as possible. You cannot do so as a missing-nin under me. But perhaps you can do so under the wing of Tsunade-hime, if she will have you."

Tsunade tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Well, it seems Naruto-chan does need a bit of a role-model for a brother. And it seems that Haku-chan needs family too." Naruto grumbled a bit at the "needing a role-model" part but was silenced by a glare from the Sannin.

Zabuza grinned under the bandages that made up his face mask. "Very well, I wish you all luck. And know you have made a friend with the Demon of the Mist." With those words, the mist missing-nin all blurred out of sight, over the water, running over it as if it were a solid road. Haku sighed, trying to hold back the tears of the sudden separation.

Naruto went up and looked at his new 'brother'. "Haku-san, it'll be alright, Tsunade-kaasan will take good care of us."

Tsunade then welcomed her new charge to the group, with a kiss to his forehead, then quick as a blink, dashed off into the casino, leaving all three outside with a huge sweat-drop.

"Correction, it'll be alright, once we get okaasan out of the casino."

A/N: Well, that was somewhat unexpected, but next chapter... umm... no I won't say anything yet, just that it will be yet another reunion and the fists are going to fly. Oh, and Sakuraba Shion will be making somewhat of an impact in later chapter. What type of impact is not yet determined. For now, let's go to Kyuubi with a bit of an explanation of the jutsu of last chapter, then the reviews! Take it away, furball.

"I feel so happy... yeah, now that I have that out of my system... the sole jutsu introduced from Chapter Two, the name of the possession jutsu used on Anko, Katsueki Batafurai no Jutsu, or literally translated Blood Butterfly Technique. As mentioned it can be made as an enhancement to a sealing jutsu, and like the Heaven Seal, it too is a kinjutsu, a forbidden technique."

Now that the explanation is finished, let me thank everyone who reviewed again this chapter, as I never expected to see so many reviews in so little time. Even the ones who accidentally reviewed twice :).

"Blah, blah, whatever. Kudos given to the two who did not identify themselves so I am now unable to hunt them down and eat them. Raph Michael, Esanime, Bardot, Kori Nibiki, GhostDragon, Jinnai, Mariel4000, silverblueenchantress, thanks again, etc etc. KingKyuubiFan has a point, though, Dark, why DON'T you let me out and slaughter a couple hundred people, maybe a score or two, a dozen? Please??"

Keep... reading... furball.

"GULP! Ummm... moving along (he's always testy in the morning)."

Move it!!

"Okay! Peter Kim's note was all but explained in the beginning notes. Yes, we know that Naruto thinks Jiraya did it, yes it is a mistake, he didn't hear the whole conversation or even ONE mention of Orochimaru! He was five years old when he made that reasoning, and as smart a five-year-old as he was, it's likely his reasoning is going to be rash, mistaken, or more than likely, both. I however can't WAIT for the toad-sannin to come in and be beaten to a pulp like the filthy toad-summoner that he is so richly deserving..."

Ahem!

"Gee, way to spoil a good rant! The last review of note is from Lita of Jupiter, do I smell a Sailor Senshi fan? SNIFF! SNIFF! No matter. Kakashi, though facing a stronger person in Tsunade, is very skilled himself, very perverted, and is in fact a genius ninja. Out of all of the Jounin in the leaf during the manga series, he is by far one of the most skilled and powerful. Ummm, can I 'borrow' his book, Dark?"

If you can get it from him, by all means, after you finish.

"Right, right, kudos to gopu, angelmidori, Night-Owl123, Wormkaizer for sticking with him, done and done! Now I'm hunting down that book!"

And as the fox leaves the studio to harass Kakashi about his book, this ends another chapter. See everyone later! Please leave reviews! They make me happy and drive him batty!