To make up for that, I'm doing a longer chapter this time. So there.
---------------------------
The old man, Tezuna, walked cautiously through the morning mist. The whole village knew that the monster Zabuza had been slain, and Gatou fled the country later that day. Still, there was the matter of that black-haired boy. If Zabuza was truly dead, who could have struck so swiftly? That was only one of the many things that bothered the old man as he proceeded on his way to the bridge.
Another was that he only had two ninja as escorts: That pink-haired girl, Sakura, and that loudmouth blonde, Naruto. Two little girls. Yeah, he felt real safe. Sheesh.
The two genins, however, had their minds on Sasuke. They were all so sure that the boy was dead, yet he 'woke up' later on in the house. Apparently, the senbon struck pressure points that put the victim into a death-like state, but not actual death. He could talk, but he was mostly paralyzed. Kakashi had decided that he should stay with Sasuke until he could at least move around. Naruto and Sakura had been sent with the old man for the same reason Tezuna was concerned: someone had nearly killed Sasuke, and would likely try again.
Sakura was just noticing that she had not thought about Naruto all morning when the fog rolled in, thick and heavy. Immedietly, the three lost each other. No one could see a thing. It was several minutes of yelling and groping by the time they found each other again. (Sakura took note of the fact that she got in a free ass-grab on Naruto, due to an 'accident')
"I guess I'm not working on the bridge, today." Tezuna commented.
/No shit/ Naruto thought snidely.
"Where is he?"
Everyone jumped. The voice was not one they recognized. It sounded young, yet brimming with anger. "Where is the silver-haired one? The copy-ninja? HE'S THE ONE I WANT!!" The sheer rage that exploded from that shout almost knocked them all on their collective asses. The two ninja had come prepared to fight off a few stray assassins, but not someone this pissed off. Tezuna decided that a bridge was not worth being mercilessly slaughtered over, and ran for the hills, not caring if he accedentally ran off the side of the bridge. Now it was just the two female ninja against an unseen, very angry foe.
They came from every direction. Glistening black needles flew from everywhere and struck the two in several different places, bringing both to their knees. This was a new pain to Naruto, who had thought she had become accustomed to all kinds of pain. Stinging, everywhere. Her left leg was growing numb. She looked over at Sakura and found the young genin barely conscious, still trying to locate their mysterious attacker. Black needles poked out of her like a cactus.
Black needles.
Black...needles...
"Hey! Are you the bastard that almost killed Sasuke?! Huh?!" Naruto was now quite mad, because these were the same types of needle that hit the black-haired ninja the other day.
Slowly, a figure began to emerge from the fog. "You all killed him. Zabuza-sama. All of you... will now die." It was the young boy from earlier. The one with the hunter-nin mask. There was something else, though... he seemed worn, torn-up, as if slowly going mad since his first appearance to them. He raised a fistfull of senbon and added, "You two will die quickly, and the boy soon after, but the copy-ninja..." He laughed lightly, behind the emotionless mask. "He will die slowly, painfully..."
Naruto had heard enough. This kid was crazy, and he also attacked them. He was trying to kill the only ones the blonde ever cared about. The rage built inside Naruto's body, and her vision was starting to blurr...
A red aura suddenly burst around the young girl, roaring to life and taking the shape of an animals head at the top of the formation. A grinning, evil head. A demon fox. Then, Naruto's body itself began glowing red. Brighter and brighter. What happened then was something that Sakura would never have believed if she hadn't seen it herself. (Later, she would come to doubt it due to her prickly condition).
As the aura faded, Naruto emerged, dressed in his normal orange outfit and looking very pissed. And, most shocking of all, he was male again! He had broken the Juutsu that had trapped him for more than a week! The changes didn't stop there: The mop of blonde hair became longer and more ragged, his ears stretched to a point, his nails grew to become wicked claws, his teeth extended into fangs, and his eyes, once blue as the midday sky, became like spilt blood. During it all, the red aura only got stronger. Sakura was at a loss to explain what was happening. Her last thought as she fell into the inky pit of unconsciousness was /Bring the other Naruto back...she was better-looking.../
The hunter-nin was just as fast now as he was when he was fully focused, but the speed that this ...monster showed, ...it was unreal. Nothing should be able to move that fast. A hundred blows landed almost at once, and the boy could only stand there, unable to even block before the combo was finished. "I thought... you were... a girl..." he wheezed. The blonde didn't answer, however, with words. Just a savage punch to the gut that knocked the young boy into the air, into the fog, where he vanished. A splash was heard seconds later.
With the focus of his hatred gone, Naruto calmed down and the animalistic changes faded. However, he had used up so much chakra, even though he wasn't himself, that he, too, passed out.
---------
Later that day, some villagers were seen carrying two girls in stretchers --one with pink hair, one with blonde-- down the main road to old man Tezuna's house. In the commotion, no one noticed a stranger to the village also watching them pass. A stranger with a broad, black collar, spiked, black hair, and two burning red eyes. Obviously, no one was close enough to notice the 3 black swirls rotating around each pupil.
----------------------------
There you go!! Got the Haku fight out of the way! HAHA! And what part could the 'mysterious stanger' play in all of this? (No, really, I wanna know).
R&R!