Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Naruto or the contents of Naruto, I only own my own original ideas
Chapter 6
The sun had not been set long before dinner was underway at Tazuna's house. The Leaf ninja sat around a well-worn table in his dining room. The bridge builder himself was nowhere to be seen. His escorts chalked it up to fatigue from the trip though it was more likely he wanted to hide in some pocket of normalcy.
"How long ya figure be fore no brows comes back?" Anko asked her fellow jonin.
"Hmmmm, I'd wager a week or two before he's fit enough to fight again" Kakashi reasoned
"What are guys talking about?" The pink haired genin question in confusion "Didn't Naruto…..Dono finish him off?"
A scatting look for Sasuke and she quickly added the honorific.
"Nah, Jashi-chan says the hunter-nin was a fake" Naruto answered as he finished his food "Its why I let her take him after I fight"
Sakura for her part start to panic slightly at the new that the fearsome ninja was not in fact dead.
"What do we do while we wait for him to come back?" Sasuke inquired, getting the conversation back on track.
"Well, that's simple my Sas-chan" The grey haired jonin eye smiled "I'm go to train my two adorable little genin while Anko's team guards the bridge builder.
Anko for her part just scoffed but conceded that it was probably the best course of action, plus it meant she got to hang out with Naruto while not really having to do anything.
With dinner concluded the sleeping arrangements were quickly hashed out. Naruto naturally got a room to himself while the jonin shared the other available one. Since both senior ninja knew Anko was going to 'sneak' into the young avatars room Kakashi let Sasuke bunk with him. Sakura had to make do with the couch in the living room and wisely thought better than to complain. Her sensei was abnormally cruel when it came to situation involving the youngest Jashinist.
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In the morning it was decided that Team Anko would accompany Tsunami on her shopping trip to get a lay of the land and for some light reconnaissance. They departed shortly after sunrise and made a quick journey to the village proper. The sorry state of Wave was on clear display. Practically every building was in a state of disrepair and a general air of depression hung overhead. The ninja split for the bridge builder's daughter with the intent to meet up when her business was concluded
"Wow this place is a shit hole" Anko shook her head before looking at Naruto "Hey, you okay Naru-chan?"
A strange look had passed over the avatar's face as a slight glow illuminated is visible eye.
"Its hard to explain" He answered wistfully "I feel, I feel so strong here but there is that….feeling that I can't quiet express in words"
The jonin was a little offput by the strange behavior and felt worry creep into her chest. She briefly wondered if it had something to do with his connection to their goddess. Before she could dwell to much on the issue, a ghostly apparition of Jashin waved her off from over Naruto's shoulders. Not having to be told twice she quickly made herself scarce as the genin sat cross legged in the middle of the road, deep in thought.
He was given a wide berth as the citizens of Wave continued on with their day. A strange feeling permeated the air around him and if one looked closely, they could see the shadows close to him undulates as black wisps traveled from them into his. It made for a strange and otherworldly sight but more concerning was the feminine voice that whispered on the wind.
Anko in the meantime busied herself by ambushing lone thugs in alleyways to acquire information on the situation and to make small offerings to Jashin.
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Having returned with Tsunami later in the day, Anko had much to fill Kakashi in on. The news that Gato was cause of the nations trouble came with a certain clarity for the jonin. Though Naruto had much to add on the nation's affairs. The younger of the grey-haired ninja still seemed to be distracted and the strange occurrences for the village seemed to have followed him back to Tazuna's house.
Anko had pulled Kakashi aside to voice her concerns in a side room.
"Haven't you felt how…I don't off the air has been ever since he came back from 'playing' with Jashin-sama" Anko air quoted.
"It has been rather strange around him lately but I'm sure its fine Ko-chan" Kakashi tried to assuage her worry.
"Look Kakashi, I'm not one to doubt Jashin-sama's will but I don't know if that is what this is" She couldn't help but be concerned with the strange happenings that surrounded her favorite genin lately.
"I don't think you should be speaking about Jashin-sama like that…" The other jonin spoke out, uncomfortable with what she was saying.
Before more could be said a ruckus broke out from the other room. Quickly rushing back to the other members of their team they came into the sight of Sasuke pinning Tsunami's son to the far wall. None of the ninja had really seen much of the boy and he had kept mostly to himself.
"Sas-chan what are you doing?" Kakashi question calmly.
"This trash disrespected Naru-sama" The scion of the Uchiha spat out with venom.
"I'm sure this is all just one big misunderstanding" The jonin sensei tried to deescalate the situation.
Tsunami and Tazuna looked on for the other side of the table in concern but held their tongue.
"Its okay Sasuke, he has a lot of pain in his heart" Naruto spoke for his spot at the table, seeming to stair at some far of place beyond the walls of the house.
Sasuke scowled at the frightened boy a moment longer be for releasing him from his grasp and retaking his spot at the table. Inari's mother let out a relieved breath, her father had taken her aside and explain the frightening power these ninja held. She desperately wanted to protect her son but she feared put her family on the wrong side of their protectors.
Inari stood frozen for a moment before quickly rushing to his room.
"I apologize for my grandson's behavior" Tazuna made to mend the tension but was waved off by Naruto himself.
The meal was quickly finished and the gathering dispersed to their various rooms for the night.
It was shortly after everyone had turned in for the night that Anko was awoken from her sleep. She blinked in confusion for her place cuddled up to Naruto. She quickly noticed the figure looming over them at the side of the bed. Looking up in quickly she meet the glowing eyes of Jashin as she smiled down on her.
"Jashin-sama" She let out as she quickly made to bow on the floor.
Jashin brought a finger up to her lips.
"Not so loud Ko-chan, we wouldn't want to disturb Naru-chan's sleep" The goddess spoke around her finger.
"Ye-Yes" Anko stutter out as she looked up from the floor in slight fear and panic.
None of the others had this close of an encounter with their deity and it wreaked havoc on her heartrate.
"No need to be troubled" Jashin soothed "I've simply come to put to rest you concerns about Naru-chan"
A breath caught in the jonin's throat. Jashin knew, Jashin knew that she had been having thoughts of doubt about Naruto's recent behavior and shift in his presence.
"Now, now no need to fear little one" A sincere smile on her face, the goddess took a seat at the edge of the bed "I understand your concerns"
"I didn't mean to question you my goddess" The interrogator rasped out with shaky breaths.
"None of that" Jashin waved off then patted her lap "Come have a seat"
With trepidation the purple haired jonin slowly made her way to the goddess and sat in her lap. She felt so small, so insignificant from her tense position. Her hands balled in tight fists to keep from shaking in shadow of the titanic presence the goddess had.
"Relax Ko-chan" Jashin whispered in her ear as she began to massage her shoulders "I'm not here to punish you"
Anko could feel herself begin to ease up as the tension left her. The idle thought that Jashin was ensuring Naruto didn't wake for his slumber briefly crossed her mind.
"You need not worry about the recent changes to Naru-chan" The lady of suffering began "He is growing into his role as my avatar as my hold on this world grows"
She had had a feeling that the recent events where because her patron god was gaining more and more power in the Elemental Nations but it did much for her worries to hear it.
"I am actually quite happy with your devotion to my avatar" Jashin whispered silkily into her ear.
Anko felt a pleasant chill run up her spine as the goddess ran a hand over her expose stomach.
"Continue to please me and you can look forward to a reward" Anko couldn't help the heat building in her chest as Jashin ran a hand through her hair.
They sat there for a few more moments, Anko practically purring under Jashin's gentle administrations.
"My time here grows short" The jonin felt disappointment well in her "Don't fret Ko-chan, I'm never truly fair from my followers"
With a soft whisper of wind Anko found herself back to cuddling Naruto. With a wistful sigh sleep overtook her once more.
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As the days passed Anko kept her close encounter with the goddess to herself, though from the teasing she got from Naruto when they were alone, he had to have known. The avatar's mood had slow returned to normal but the tension between Sasuke and Inari never really settled. The genin of Team 7 had flourished under the rigorous training that Kakashi had put them through, though they were still fledgling ninja. As the sun rose Naruto had told the jonin that today would be the day Zabuza made his return. They did not question how he knew, Jashin obviously told him, and so they prepared to face the missing-nin.
As they left to face their adversary the jonin each left a clone to guard the house should Gato try anything underhanded and dastardly.
A thick mist shrouded the unfinished bridge, a clear sign that Zabuza was waiting for them. They left Sakura and Anko back with Tazuna at the start of the structure and quickly made it with in visual range of the two missing-nin. Surprisingly the workers were all knocked unconscious and moved safely to the side instead of being slaughtered.
"There you are, you little shit" The sword wielding ninja pointed his weapon at Naruto "I wont fall for you tricks this time"
"Tricks? I though Jashi-chan explained it to you in your dreams" The young genin tilted his head to the side.
"I wont fall prey to illusions in a fever dream" Zabuza spat "If its all true, prove it to me"
Like a rocket the tall ninja shot towards and unprepared Naruto. Faster than he could react the sword buried itself in his abdomen and he was carried off, away from his team, further into the mist.
"I assume you're here to distract us while your master talks with Naru-chan?" Kakashi asked unimpressed.
"Yes but I would very much like to avoid killing you if possible" The mask teen bowed politely.
"Ma ma, no need to be so serious" The copy-nin waved of with an eye smile "You couldn't take me even if you wanted to, besides I'm sure Naru-chan won't need the help"
Haku was a little off put by his casual dismissal of the whole situation but she would take any win she could get.
Deeper in the mist Naruto's flight finally came to an end when he was pinned to the concrete of the bridge by the sword impaling his stomach. Zabuza appeared a short distance away, already complete with the hand-signs for a jutsu.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu" A roaring titan of a beast made of water came crushing down on the genin.
"That all you got ya bastard?" Naruto laughed with a mouth full of blood "Ya gotta do better than that"
The missing-nin was more than happy to oblige his request. Flashing threw a more complicated set of hand-signs he unleashed a more devastation deluge of water.
"Water Style-Great Whirlpool Jutsu" The Execution's Blade failed to keep the genin pinned and so he was swept in to the railing on the side of the bridge.
As the water rushed over the railing a bloody, but most unharmed, Naruto came into view. Standing up and dusting himself of he smiled a triumphant smile at his assailant. Before he could mock the man however, he was already upon him. A swift kick to the ribs sent the boy flying of the blade and into a massive puddle.
"Lets see how you like my own original jutsu ya little punk" A much longer chain of Hand-signs was preformed at a much slower rate but still much faster than any genin could track "Water Style Combo: Lances of the Water Dragon"
With his move aptly named large spears of water skewed Naruto from the puddle underneath him. With his target suitably immobilized, massive dragons made of water rose from the depths of the sea below. They spiraled in on one another before slamming down upon Naruto before swirling back in on itself and creating a deadly whirlpool where the leaf-nin used to be.
The former mist ninja held the last hand-sign and looked on with baited breath. After several moments and as the water shredding into his target became bloody, he released a sigh of relief. Surely this would end the boy and prove the frighting visions he had seen in his dreams were just that, dreams. He feed chakra to the jutsu a few moments longer before letting his hold of the water go. As the polluted liquid made its way off the sides of the bridge, he felt himself a fool for even considering the outlandish illusions to be true.
His reprieve was short lived as the ruined form of Jashin's avatar came into view from under the absurd volume of water used in his attack. More aptly to be called a corpse than a genin that hardly stopped his heart from racing. His shirt had been torn from his mangled torso. His shorts tread bare and barely clinging to his waist. More skin was missing than still cover his body, entire sections of his skeletal structure visible in a vast majority of his wounds. Even the chest cavity was mostly absent of its life-giving organs.
The only section of his person that had been spared devastation was those covered in the strange bandages. The cloth of bandages looked pristine themselves, like the had just been fresh applied to Naruto.
A truly gruesome sight but despite all this the genin was still standing where he had been at the start of the onslaught, a gleeful smile pulling at the vestiges of his lips.
"Oh, Buza-chan" The cadaver took a step forward "I wanna ride again"
The older ninja let his blade slip from his grasp as he fell to his knees in disbelief. It was all true, all the ghastly things that had terrorized his sleeping mind. All the arcane horrors that had visited him in the wake of the goddess that whisper in his slumbering ears. He could deny it no longer and as he watched Naruto's body stitch itself back together, he could see the damning gaze of Jashin from beyond the thin veil of his world.
"Come on Buza-chan lets get back to the others" Naruto spoke flippantly as he passed the broken man.
Resigned to his fate, Zabuza slung his sword over his back and followed after the creature that looked so much like a human child.
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Haku was being to let her worry overcome her after the sounds of battle had stopped shaking the bridge and her master had yet to ambush the remaining leaf ninja. He fears were quickly replaced with confusion as he reappeared following the strange genin. Though Zabuza looked unharmed a look of resignation creased his brow. Surely, he had been victories and extracted the answers to the questions that had plagued him the weeks prior.
Before she could question what had happened to trouble him so his gaze met hers and she was quieted by the sadness his gaze held. The next moment the bottom his foot met her masked face with enough force to send her off her feet and shatter her disguise.
"Za-Zabuza-sama, what are you doing?" she asked from her stunned position on the ground.
"A life for a life Haku" he sighed cryptically before repeating in a whisper "A life for a life"
She barely had time to react to the words before his blade buried itself where she had just been. Seeing her hesitation to defend herself filled the taller missing-nin with rage.
"Fight me Haku!" He roared "Fight me or die!"
Again, she was denied to chanced to question his words as the Executioner's Blade spilt the air on its way to her neck. Dropping into a crouch her attacker used the momentum for the missed swing to power a roundhouse to her shoulder. The short flight of her body was ended by an elbow striking her down. As Zabuza stood over his apprentice and stared down on her with dead eyes he raised his sword above himself. She saw her own life flash before her eyes and in that moment, that moment where death loomed above her, her kekkei genkai responded to her panic and manifested spears of ice that pierced her master's chest.
A short breath pasted before despair swelled with in her and her control of the ice shatter. As the dying man fell to the bloodied concrete, he let out a laugh. His view of the sky was quickly obstructed by Haku's grief-stricken face.
"So you have surpassed me" Zabuza choaked out around a mouth full of blood "Good then you have the strength to go on"
"Bu-But why Zabuza-sama" She cried out, overcome with guilt.
She looked up as a pair of legs entered the upper edge of her vision. Naruto loomed over the missing-nin, his glowing gaze seemed to cut into her soul.
"This is all your fault isn't it!?" She demanded.
Zabuza placed a hand weakly to her cheek to regain her attention.
"This was my choice Haku" He wheezed out, his strength quickly leaving him "You serve a new master now, one far greater that I"
He turned his dulling eyes to the leaf genin.
"Ta-Take care of her" Zabuza plead with his last breath as he slipped into death's cold grasp.
Haku looked up to Naruto with tears in her eyes as predatory grin spread across his face.
"Buza-chan really loves you Haku-chan" his joyful voice was at odds with the grim sight.
Grief rendered her mute as Jashin's chosen dipped his hand into the bloody gash on the dead mans torse and drew the symbol of his faith on her head.
"Don't be sad Haku-chan" he whispered softly "Death is only the beginning for both of you, you'll see him again"
As he began to chant unearthly words, her mind struggled to comprehend the events that were unfolding before here. The only thing clear in her mind as the fires of the ritual consumed her was that Zabuza's last wish was that she serve this boy.
Kakashi and Sasuke had turn their eyes from the sight from the pain it caused them to look upon it. The very words Naruto uttered causing their ears to bleed. As the flames fades Zabuza's corpse has disappeared. Haku no having snow white hair and the symbol of Jashin in pale blue permanently upon her forehead. Her eyes the same icy color as her mark looked up at her new master in wonder and awe.
"Welcome to the warm embrace of our merciful goddess" Naruto greeted warmly as Tazuna and his guards arrived on the scene.
The moment was ruined by the bridge builders frightened gasp.
"Gato" His words drew everyone's attention to the far end of the bridge.
Clearly visible now that the mist obscuring their vision had faded was the shipping tycoon with at least a hundred men in his wake.
"Well, what have we here?" the goblin asked in a sickening tone "That worthless Zabuza is dead?"
A small breezed passed between the two parties before the whole bridge shuddered under and unseen force.
"The hell was that?" The slimy business man demanded as he fixed his canted glasses.
As he looked across to the gather ninja his eyes were drawn to the baleful blue flame raging from Naruto's lone visible eye.
"You?!" He questioned rage "You foul creature are responsible for the torment here?"
Before Gato could make his outrage known a fierce roar slammed into him with suck force it took the breath form his lungs.
"No!" Naruto declared, voice full of venom "I will not stand for this mockery of the tender aguish our goddess bestows on her children!"
Confusion and slight fear crossed the short mans face before another tremor rocked the ground beneath his feet. The wrathful avatar's body writhed unnaturally before he shot of with enough force to crater where he once stood.
He careened right into the center of Gato and his thugs before another roar erupted from his throat followed by his body exploding into a raging inferno of sapphire fire. Out of the wall of flames monstrous ebony arms reached out to drag the bandits into waiting maws full of glistening white fangs. Purple slitted eyes stared out from the carnage gleefully as Naruto slammed his prey into the ground. His angry fists repeatedly pounded the helpless man's head into a bloody pulp.
The sight burned a scar into the minds of all who bore witness, helpless to look away as their minds almost buckled under the weight of the abomination. Only Haku was unaffected by the impossible scenery, a serine smile on her lips.
With a final double fisted strike to the puddle that had once been Gato, Naruto's rage subsided and the torrent of flames receded back into him with a bright flash of the seals on his arm. He stood on shaky legs as a wave of exhaustion overtook him. Looking up at the terror-stricken audience he let out a huff.
"Well now that trash has been dealt with, lets finish the stupid bridge"
AN:
Please review and comment as all CONSTRUCTIVE criticism will be taken under advice.
Hoi Hoi I'm a psycho and these are my ravings!
Yo! Sorry this has taken so long, work has been really time consuming lately. For those of you who have been around awhile, don't worry I'm not abandoning anything its just that the nature of my job sometimes makes in hard to update in a timely matter. I hope to have another update out soon but we'll see.
Shout out to: Silence42, TigrezzTail, Hardpointz, Beastyd22, GunBlade2021.
Appreciate the positivity and love helps me write. I appreciate that you guys like the story and I hope it continues to be a good read. Stay cool, Stay Crazy!