Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I wish I did, because if I had Naruto would have grabbed Zabuza's sword like he did in this story!

Momochi… Naruto!

Chapter 2

I also planned out my new 'ninja pentagon', since there was no way I'd use Naruto's original one. I ended up choosing 5 points for taijutsu and weapons, and four points for ninjutsu. Although I didn't plan on using too many ninjutsu regularly, there was going to be two or three that would be integral parts of my fighting style, namely the Kirigakure and Kage Bushin. Perhaps I could figure out the Kage Bushin tai Bakuretsu no jutsu… but that was wishful thinking. I would add that in if I could learn it, but I would not bank my entire plan on it.

Another good technique was the Kage Shuriken no jutsu, which I could, most likely, use on my sword. I reasoned this because when I created Kage Bushins, they had swords if I was wearing mine.

Naruto had been a good brawler, but I intended a different use for my body. I would have to face Orochimaru, after all, and the Sound nins too. I could not replicate the circumstances that allowed Naruto to live through those encounters well enough to survive them, so I had to have something I could use.

As for the other points on the pentagon, I had to put question marks for bloodlines and genjutsu because a) I didn't know whether Naruto had a bloodline, and b) I didn't know whether I would need genjutsu or not with the Kirigakure. Also, I was meant to be at the van of battle, not at the flank, where genjutsu masters would be. Of that I was certain.

The second day, I went out to the training grounds. Deciding to train in private, at least for the moment, I found a sheltered clearing deep in the forest, near the river. I began to do simple exercises with the Kubikiri Houcho: horizontal swings. I decided that I wasn't strong enough to do vertical swings yet, as the sword weighed about eighty pounds or so. This, though was merely strength training. I had to channel some chakra in order to handle the weight, but I purposefully used just enough to lift it.

1000 swings later

Panting, I stopped. I could barely lift my arms.

Refusing to be beaten, instead of dropping my blade I reharnessed it. Now, my arms didn't hurt so much. I still had plenty of chakra left, and I didn't think I had to worry about chakra exhaustion (especially with the Kyuubi around), so I performed the Kirigakure no jutsu, using water from the river.

I blanketed the whole area in the densest fog I could make, which was actually quite thick and wide. Just to add to the difficulty, I began doing squats. 600 reps later, I was ready to collapse. Doing this with an eighty-pound sword on your back isn't easy.

However, Naruto had had incredible stamina. So, I was till at more than 2/3 of full chakra. I intended to take down another full 1/3 for now, to see what the effect would be, and to see just how much chakra exhaustion I would suffer.

This time, with the mist still going, I performed the Kage Bushin no jutsu, making 30 clones. 'Damn. I'm still at a little over half power.' I had the clones attack, taijutsu only. With my sword weighing me down, the mist obscuring even my own feet from view, and my "numbing" of the link (so I couldn't sense them through the link), I began practicing the 'silent killing' style of Zabuza. This style was necessary if I was going to use the mist technique, as the vapor limited my attack options greatly if I couldn't find my opponent.

For two hours I dodged blow after blow, my eyes closed to shunt the extra chemical energy to my ears. Each time I detected the attack a little sooner, and I was able to feel the presence of my opponents physical forms a little better, rather than simply sensing their chakra.

Finally, nearing he self-imposed chakra limit, I drew my sword and cut them down. In the span of a heartbeat, thirty pops were heard.

I looked down. My arms didn't ache as they had. Interesting. It seems my healing factor had been going while I was doing other training.

I still had chakra left over the 1/3 mark, so I created the clone with the entire extra. I had gotten an idea while training, so I spent the next few minutes examining the clone's Inner Coil system. With some careful manipulation, I was able to create a feedback loop that would activate when the clone was damaged.

I backed off some distance away and threw a rock, as I didn't want to sacrifice a kunai if this worked as planned. It hit the clone in the forehead, and a bruise formed. A few moments passed, and the clone exploded in a rather large fireball, knocking me off my feet. I checked the ground near the blast, to find that the rock I threw had been powdered. I grinned. Kage Bushin tai Bakuretsu. Excellent.

Later

Later that evening, I ran into Iruka. "Iruka-sensei!" I did something very Naruto and bear-hugged him while yelling that.

"Oi, Naruto, I heard you had a difficult mission!"

"Yeah, I'll tell you all about it over ramen!"

"Okay, okay, I'll treat you to ramen."

Break

"You had to fight a jounin and his apprentice of ten years! I thought it was a C-rank mission!"

"It was, but that was because the old man could never had afforded a B-rank mission fee."

"I hate dishonest people like that. By the way, Naruto, where did you get that sword? And how did you beat that Haku guy?"

"This sword belonged to Momochi Zabuza." He nodded. "As for Haku, well, furball helped a lot."

I heard that, brat!

'You were meant to. Anyway, I can't say Kyuubi here in Ichiraku.'

Iruka looked confused for a moment, and then realization dawned. He grabbed me. "The seal!" His whisper was strained.

"Solid. My anger just let a little of his chakra out, that's all. The seal wasn't affected."

He relaxed. "Neh, Iruka-sensei, when's the Chuunin Selection Exam? And do you know a good kenjutsu master, or at least a blacksmith? This sword needs a little repair."

"Will you slow down, Naruto? One question at a time! Umm… let me see, four months from now, yes, and yes. The blacksmith's shop is just up the street from here, and a friend of mine is a myrmidon. I would say a kenjutsu master, but that's not katana-style. A sword, regardless of size, needs to be curved and sheathable in order to use kenjutsu."

"Yeah, this sword is way too big to use with regular kenjutsu. So, he can help me, you think?"

"Well, the myrmidon were some legendary fighters from way back during the Old Age, before the cities fell. They used straight swords, but they could use them as well as our sword masters."

"But, don't straight swords dent and dull easier than a curved sword?"

"As far as I know, yes. That's why they spent so much time learning proper cutting methods for a straight sword, so it wouldn't dull so fast."

Blacksmith's Shop

"It's broken? Doesn't look like it."

I sighed. "Look real close, near the hilt."

He looked. "Oh, yeah, a slight crack. Looks like a fault line."

"Can you fix it?"

"Yeah, and it won't take too long neither."

The way he said that, I got a sinking feeling. "How much?"

He looked at me, and I think that was the first time he realized who I was: the Kyuubi vessel. He paled slightly, and then he looked at my hitae-ate. His face softened. "Say…400 ryo."

Because Naruto was living alone, and not by choice, he was on the Konoha equivalent of welfare. One could only receive this with the Hokage's approval. Because the Hokage liked me, I received more than some might have, totaling about 6000 ryo per month (about $600 US). 400 ryo wasn't much ($40), and by the look on his face, I think the guy was giving me a discount. "Okay." I counted out the bills from Gama-chan (Naruto's frog wallet.)

Two hours later, the sword was finished. I noticed that he had done a little extra. "How much do I owe you for the sharpening?"

"Nothin'. Just make sure you kill a few bad guys for me, okay?"

I grinned. "No problem."

Suddenly, a voice came from the back of the shop. "Grandpa, do you need help out there?"

"Yeah, I was just about to get started on that order from the ANBU."

A girl, about my age, came up to the counter, with a pink Chinese sleeveless shirt on and her hair in rather round buns. Tenten. She looked at me questioningly for a moment, and then it clicked. "Uzumaki Naruto, right? You were the Academy troublemaker in my year, right?"

"Yes, well, I eventually passed the Genin exam. Right now I'm paired with Haruno Sakura, and that Uchiha guy."

I saw a dreamy look on her face. "Sasuke-kun?"

"Look, I get that he's handsome and all, but his looks do not match his personality and his maturity at all. He has a superiority complex through the roof, a lot worse than any I've ever seen, and he's basically as spoiled as an orphan can be."

She grimaced. "I figured that, seeing the way he looked at people and all, but I'd hoped it was an act or something… Anyway, do you need something else?"

I thought a moment and an idea occurred to me. "Actually yes. I'm told that your family is very good with storage scrolls, yes?" Her grandfather nodded. "Well, is there any way I can get one for this sword? As much as I love carrying it, sometimes I can't afford to be carrying something this size and yet I can't afford to be unarmed either."

"Sure thing." He picked up a scroll from under the counter, and unrolled it. It was a summoning scroll, but the summon mark was blank. He handed me a knife. "Cut your thumb, and write the sword's name in blood in the circle." I did as instructed. "Now, mimic these seals as I do." Horse, bird, tiger, horse, ox, snake, ram. "And touch both hands to the sword without touching anything else first."

The Kubikiri Houcho was sucked into the scroll in a matter of moments. "Now, for you to remove this sword from here is a little different than for us. See this mark on top of the scroll? Just press your thumb to it and make a half-ram with the other hand." Following these instructions, the sword's hilt appeared out of the top of the scroll. I gripped it and drew it as normal.

"To replace it, just do the seals in reverse order and push the blade into the top of the scroll."

"Thank you so much, this was very helpful."

As I was leaving, I heard Tenten quietly ask her grandfather, "Why did you do that for him? You normally wouldn't do that for anyone, let alone a genin."

He merely answered with, "I have my reasons."

Iruka's friend's home

The older man stared at me. "So you are the blond brat Iruka talks about so much."

"Yep. I was told you were something of a swordsman. Any truth to that?"

He glared for a moment. "Yes, gaki, I am a myrmidon. That's quite a sword you got there. Looks like one of them "Seven Mist Swordsman" blades."

"Actually, it is one. This is the Kubikiri Houcho, used by Momochi Zabuza until his death four days ago."

"Hmm. Do you need to use chakra to lift it?"

"Unfortunately yes. I realize that it's a liability to need to use chakra, but then again… I've got quite a large chakra capacity. Lager than the average chuunin, or so I'm told."

"Not bad. As you said, however, it's a liability. So, in order for me to properly teach you how to use that monster, that weakness must be removed."

'Damn.' "I was afraid of that."

"Well, let's begin."

Author's Notes: Well, I'm feeling better about my writing, thanks to you reviewers. I haven't written anything in a good long while, so I wasn't feeling so confident with Chapter 1.

I also fixed the spelling of Kage Bushin tai Bakuretsu from Bakuhatsu. I realized my mistake while reading another story.

Anyway, as you can see, I liked Zabuza, and especially his sword. I thought it was a complete waste to leave the sword there, especially since there was nothing stopping anyone who randomly walks by from grabbing it other than the weight.

One thing I'm going to avoid with this story is mindlessly following the canon storyline despite my character changes. The new Naruto will certainly not be fighting Kiba in the preliminary exams, for example.

Last thing. I'm debating whether to pair Naruto with Temari or Tenten. Truthfully I'm leaning towards Temari, because she's just a lot more interesting of a character to me than Tenten. Ino is also a possibility. I do like Hinata, but that pairing is unfortunately overused, and what good ones there are I can't improve on. So I'm not going to have NaruHina.

Also, I'm going to go into other people's perception of Naruto's sudden change in the next chapter.

Fixed "yen" to "ryo" after watching episode 85. Apparently that is their main currency.

Ryo actually was a currency in Japan, predating the yen. Anyone who has ever seen or read Blade of the Immortal will recognize the small gold bars with the stamp in the center. Also, back in the day (read pre-1800) yen were worth far more than they are now. Kind of the way one used to be able to get a loaf of bread for less than ten cents in some places during the US Great Depression. Right now the exchange rate fluctuates between 100 and 120 yen to $1 USD (U.S. dollar). The exchange rate between ryo and yen, according to Kishimoto's view, is about 10 yen to the ryo.