It's been a while I know but I'll answer questions at the bottom but something I should say, I've updated old chapters so they are nice and cleaner but nothing major has changed so go have a look if you want but you won't miss much, (More at the bottom).

Funnily enough today is Haku's birthday (Jan 9th) so there's that.

"Speaking"

"Thoughts"

"Jutsu"

0000000000000

"Neo-Sharingan!" Kalis exclaimed as his bandages which a moment ago covered his eyes fell to the floor into a heap by his feet.

No one around said a word, Shikamaru and Choji maintained a shocked expression focused solely on Kalis eyes, Sasuke had wide eyes with his mouth parted slightly not sure what to say while Haku narrowed her eyes glaring straight into Kalis, through his eyes now.

A cold wind blew through all of them as not one person even twitched, Kalis focused upon Haku taking in all her features this being the first person he'd seen "Sasuke…" he muttered getting the Uchiha's full attention, "You need to make sure everyone stays out of this, this is between me and Haku" he added in a tone of voice none had heard before, a darker one, a quietly angry one.

Sasuke looked shocked for a second before becoming angry, "What do you mean? What makes you think you can even handle her one you own now!" he snapped clenching his fists.

"Sasuke…" he spoke again, "When the time comes, I'll pay you back, I'll make sure no one interferes when you find Itachi…" Kalis whispered so quietly the only Sasuke could hear.

His eyes shot open in shock as Kalis mentioned his older brother's name, the one who he'd sworn to take his vengeance on, "H-how…" he muttered but didn't get even a twitch from Kalis signifying he wasn't going to give him a response, "Fine…" Sasuke finally said, "You two, back off and leave this to Kalis!".

"What are you talking ab-" Choji tried to retort but was shut of my Sasuke pulling both his and Shikamaru's arms yanking them away, but to a point where they were still able to see what was going on, they also noticed how the mist was getting much thinner.

"So, you're choosing to fight me on your own" Haku hissed readying her needles, "Doesn't seem very Kochi of you".

"Your problem is with me, if they're involved, you'll go after them, so I'm fighting you on my own" Kalis answered keeping his quietly angry tone, "And you should know, I've stopped holding back!" Kalis snapped charging straight for Haku.

She reacted swiftly, launching a hail of Senbon in his direction targeted all over his body, Kalis saw them, his blue eyes snapped between each of them individually picking them out, he saw exactly where each of them would impact his body, seeing a few seconds ahead in time, "W-What is this…" he muttered in his head, time feeling as if it slowed around him.

"This feeling, fighting like this…" he thought slightly tilting his head to the side as one barely scraped past his ear, "I'm EXCITED!" he exclaimed in his mind a toothy grin earning its way to his face; his body kept moving in fluid motions not breaking his charge forward while still dodging each Senbon, while not all were perfect dodges getting a few scratched on his skin, none could directly impact him.

Haku's eyes widened as she saw this, "Those eyes are helping him see each of my attacks before they hit, but he's still new to it all" she glanced at the scratches left by her needles, "He hasn't come close to understanding how to use his eyes properly yet, that's my opening" she thought unleashing another hail of needles at Kalis.

He dodged these too and got close enough to attempt a low kick to take her legs out but Haku swiftly dodged with a jump, but Kalis stayed on her bringing a back palm towards her which she responded too by colliding her forearm with his, he reflected off this and spun round with a fist now which she blocked.

Kalis kept going after her with a mix of palm strikes, fists, and kicks but Haku skilfully dodged them all and attempted her own retort of those moves but not being faster than Kalis's Neo-Sharingan which allowed him to stop her attacks before they reached him getting grunts of annoyance from Haku who didn't let up.

Their Taijutsu battle continued for a while with the three other boys watching on, struggling to keep track of what was happening with Sasuke being the only one who could follow it to some degree thanks to his own Sharingan and he was stunned by what he was watching, "Kalis has never fought like this before, what's changed in him, surely it can just be because of his eyes?" as he continued to watch he noticed Kalis's toothy grin on his face, "What's with him…".

Their fists impacted each other knocking them back slightly but gave enough of an opening for Haku to weave signs together "Water Style: Water Bomb Jutsu" she fired out a stream of water from her mouth aimed directly at Kalis, but he already had formed a counter.

"Water Style: Water Bomb Jutsu" he fired his out stream of water that impacted Haku's resulting into a mass of water between them that flooded the area, but this allowed Haku to charge at Kalis needles between the knuckles, but Kalis was ready jumping back with a flip and landing in a handstand on the barricade.

Haku lunged again but Kalis pushed back falling off the ledge but extended his legs out to land his feet on the side of the bridge looking up to the sky, Haku followed suit jumping on to the side using her chakra in her feet to stay on the wall sideways just like Kalis had done, they glared at each other before starting again.

But hardly anything changed, when Kalis went for a strike, Haku countered it and vice versa however they were now in a more perilous position, if one attack got through, they would likely drop to the water below.

Haku began to throw caution to the wind, the only way she could beat his eyes was to not give him any time to react to her strikes or make her strikes impossible to dodge, since he was still getting used to them, she could exploit this weakness but only for a short while, she sped up her attacks not worrying if she left her own body open to strikes under the guise that if she could keep him on the defence he wouldn't be able to take a shot.

Kalis could feel her change in offence, taking up a quicker attack fashion, he was having a hard time following her strikes as he had to process which attacks were being seen ahead of time and which were the present and he was sure Haku was aware of this and was trying to capitalise on it; he saw her throwing a strike with needles to his head but was able to bring his arm up to stop it just in time, feeling the sharp tips grazing against his skin.

But in the same strike she had brought around three needles in the other hand which he was unable to block intime, she embedded them skilfully into his left shoulder, each one hitting a vital nerve and Kalis immediately felt the effects, his left arm became numb and limp, no matter how hard he tried he couldn't move it and Haku acted on it.

She immediately slammed a palm into his chest knocking him back then immediately charged launching several needles at him with the little momentum she still had, but he could only dodge a few in time, five landed into his chest catching him off guard and making him lose focus, his footing was lost, and he fell from the side down into the water below and with a splash he vanished under the waves.

Haku jumped down and landed delicacy onto the water, using her chakra to now keep herself from dropping in, she scanned the water looking for any sign of him, she knew he was still alive but just had to work out where he was hiding.

Kalis watched her from under the water, he used his still working hand to first pull the needles from his chest out, luckily most of them had been stopped by his jacket while the two that didn't had pierced the jacket had only lightly pierced his skin, he quickly yanked them out then went to the three in his arm.

They were all embedded deeply in his arm, he wrapped his fingers around one and lightly tugged it and was barely was able contain the yelp he wanted to let out in pain; he knew that he had to get them out right now and there was only one quick way to do that, he gritted his teeth and yanked as hard as he could pulling the first one free; he grunted in pain doing his best to keep his mouth closed as he moved to the second one.

Haku was still watching the water line looking for any sign of the boy when something caught her eyes, a red blotch in the sea of blue, she walked over to it and instantly recognised it as blood, "Found you…" she muttered placing her hands together.

Kalis pulled out the final needle with most of the feeling finally coming back to his arm, "Finally…" he thought as he let the needles drift in the water, his blood being lapped up in the water, but he noticed the needles get swept away in a current that wasn't there before, he looked up to see Haku now above him, a heavy current was forming "A Whirlpool!" he through as his kicking legs were taken out from under him as he was swept into it.

Haku watched from above as the water swirled around her, she knew he would appear soon it was just a matter of when; his head popped above the water and Haku immediately pounced hauling him out of the pool and onto the calmer waters releasing the Jutsu, and he tried to stand Haku attacked relentlessly with her Senbon cutting him all over and embedding the needles in his body.

She stopped as he was covered in them being unable to move, with one swift move she embedded a needle into his chest through his heart, she held onto the weapon as she felt his weight drop onto her, "Is it over…" she thought, feeling as if it was unreal, that she had finally killed a Kochi.

Suddenly, his head snapped up and a smirk was across his face "Got you!" he exclaimed his body exploding into water and splashing over her getting in her eyes and blinding her for a second, she sensed a figure from behind and quickly spun out the way to avoid the attack feeling a kunai skim past her cheek, blinking the water from her eyes, she saw Kalis standing atop the water across from her looking perfectly fine aside from the needle marks in his arm from her Senbon.

As her needles that were just in the clone sunk into the water she glared at Kalis, "You switched before you emerged didn't you, letting your clone go up first so I'd break the Jutsu and free you right?" she hissed not breaking eye contact, she wasn't worried about any Genjutsu from him, she knew that he certainly wouldn't be skilled enough to use it yet.

Kalis simply nodded in response twirling his Kunai in his hand, already thinking of the next attack he could do but Haku decided for him.

She placed her hands into the Ox hand sign, "I've watched you for a long time, I've studied you and learned your strengths and weaknesses, while true I didn't plan for you to use you Neo-Sharingan you've still yet to land a strike on me" a smirk went across her lips, "And I know that no matter what, you simply cannot match me in skill".

"Ushi, Saru, Ju, Ne, I, Tori, Ushi…" Haku began weaving her hands in different signs, Kalis knew it all too well, she knew he couldn't perform the Water Dragon, he couldn't outplay her, his mind raced as he tired to think of a way to get out of this, he couldn't run as it would catch him and he if he attacked, he wouldn't make it in time and would have nowhere to dodge.

"You'll stop thinking about your actions, and just act" Soruki's words echoed in his head.

"Stop thinking…" Kalis closed his eyes and took a calming breath before steadily putting his hands in to the Ox sign, "Ushi, Saru, Ju, Ne, I, Tori, Ushi, Uma, Tori, Ne, Tora, Inu, Tora…" he began his own chant, not opening his eyes and keeping his breath steady, and he weaved the relevant signs however he was much further behind Haku.

"…Ne, Ushi, Saru, Tori, Jin, Ne, I tori; Water style, Water dragon Jutsu" Haku exclaimed ending in the Bird sign, the water around her erupted up and formed into the mentioned dragon, which immediately took off towards Kalis, but he didn't react just keeping his eyes closed and weaving signs.

"…Ne, Jin, Saru, Tori, Tatsu, Tori, Ushi, Uma, Hitsuji…" he continued the water creature drawing ever near, "…Tora, Mi, Ne, Saru, Ju, I, Tatsu, Hitsuji, Ne, Ushi, Saru, Tori…" he kept chanting not once breaking his focus.

"…Jin Ne, I tori!" he finished snapping his eyes open as the dragon opened its mouth above him, "WATER STYLE, WATER DRAGON JUTSU!" He exclaimed with water erupting around him covering him and Haku's dragon.

Her eyes went wide as water wrapped around Kalis and stretched up forming his own Water Dragon which deflected her Dragon before it took off towards Haku, she hastily weaved signs together, "Water Style: Water Wall" she spat out water in front of her forming a barrier which Kalis's dragon impacted creating an enormous explosion of water making Haku stumble back.

Water was still in the air when she found her footing, looking ahead she couldn't see thanks to the water in the way but an eruption for water beside her took her off guard, Kalis was beside her giving her no time to react, he brought his foot round and smashed it with all his remaining strength into her jaw sending her back with the surprising force.

Kalis hastily jumped back up to the bridge where he stumbled down falling onto his rear panting hard as he looked at the bridge edge his eyes half open, he couldn't believe he was able to pull it off, but he could feel his body becoming weak, the amount of Chakra it had taken from him to do it had brought him to the minimum he needed to just stay alive.

As his heavy, laboured breathing continued, a figure jumped up from below the bridge, Haku landed away from Kalis clutching the left side of her face with drops of blood falling to the floor, Kalis couldn't lie that he was impressed with that one kick he was able to make her bleed, but he knew that she obviously still had some fight in her while he was barely hanging onto consciousness.

"You bastard…" she muttered spitting out blood as she removed her hand away already preparing more needles, "But I know how unrefined you are with that technique, so you've not mastered conserving your chakra with it, you're at empty now aren't you" she muttered glaring at Kalis knowing she was right.

Kalis didn't know why but his toothy grin returned along with a chuckle, it just felt like the right thing to do, it just came as a natural reaction to him, "I can't lie, but this has been pretty exciting hasn't it…" he didn't know what he was saying, he just assumed he was delirious from Chakra exhaustion.

Haku growled as she watched him grin and chuckle to himself, him finding this as exciting was a big a insult as you could get for her, she wanted to take her vengeance on him and his clan but he was currently chuckling to himself finding this fun.

Before she could do anything though, three figures got between them, "Alright, looks like you've hit you limit" Sasuke said clutching his Kunai glancing to Kalis but quickly back to Haku before she could make a move.

"Guys…" Kalis muttered is his delirious state his vision darkening slightly as he stumbled to his feet walking towards them, "No, this isn't your fight…" he muttered; however, his body gave out before he could stop them.

He was caught by Choji who gentle put him down, "Don't worry, we're your friends…" he glanced over to Sasuke "For the most part" he added.

"Choji's right" Shikamaru added, "As much as it's a drag, we'll tag in and take over, you rest up before you kill yourself" he said in an unusual attitude which was one of willing to step up and do something; "I get you want to fight for us, but we're all Shinobi too, so go thinking we can't do anything" he smirked.

Kalis let out a breath, "Aright then…" he muttered before he passed out on the ground from his chakra exhaustion.

"If you get in my way, I'll kill you all" Haku hissed the tone of voice she had before, one of warning them just to leave Kalis to her was all gone it was now pure hatred they were keeping her from her quarry.

"You're welcome to try" Sasuke hissed as his eyes changed colour to red.

"Sasuke… we need to work as a team here… No need to be careless" Shikamaru said, "She's already exhausted, we can finish this if we play it smart".

Sasuke grumbled at this statement, he hated that Kalis was able to take Haku on his own and wanted to prove that he could too, but Kalis had the advantage in fighting her, he knew her fighting style since they were the same that included the Jutsu's, and she was angry in their fight making her slip up and not fight to her best; he also nearly killed himself in trying to beat her.

But now, they didn't know her style and she was more then determined to get through them, so he'd have to swallow his pride and work together, "You're right, we don't have the same advantages he had, what plan did you have in mind" he muttered reluctantly.

"You and Choji, fight her head on while I'll go into the mist, lure here towards me and I catch her with my Shadow, it's pretty simple but should still be pretty effective here" he said getting a nod from both the boys who stepped in front of Shikamaru who stepped into the mist disappearing with Sasuke being able to keep track of him.

Haku narrowed her eyes at this, "He's the boy with the shadows, I should keep my wits about me" she thought as she placed needles in the usual position between her fingers as she took notice of Sasuke and Choji quietly whispering to each other.

Sasuke suddenly took off towards Haku, hastily weaving signs then firing a large fireball towards Haku who quickly jumped back only for a large fist to be smashed into the ground next to her forcing her to the right instead, as soon as she landed, she spotted a shadow from the corner of her eye too fast for her to dodge.

She quickly weaved a sign and popped out of an ice shell which got caught by the shadow instead, as she landed, she launched a hail of needles towards Sasuke which he easily deflected as he moved towards her.

Her eyes went wide in realisation, she hadn't realised how exhausted she'd become with all her movements, the fact he was able to simply deflect her needles meant she was throwing them with less strength, "I've got no choice but to go to my fallback plan".

As Sasuke got close she released a jet of water forcing him back then immediately went around him charging straight past Choji going right for the unconscious Kalis cutting though the mist briefly hiding her, this forced Shikamaru to jump out of hiding ahead of her over Kalis sending a shadow straight for her catching her stopping her dead in her tracks.

"Got you" he smirked as the other two ran up behind Haku.

"Let's end this!" Sasuke said going right for her and cutting his Kunai right through her but all she did was splash into a water puddle making all their eyes go wide, they got closer together to keep an eye on their surroundings but all they did was fall into her trap.

Suddenly, needles shot at them from all directions which they managed to deflect a few on but with so many some managed to impact or skim past them cutting their skin, "What's going on!" Choji exclaimed looking around for any sign of her but all he could see was his reflection, in fact he saw his reflection all around.

All their eyes widened as they realised, they were surrounded by mirrors, "Ice Style: Crystal Ice Mirrors" Haku's voice echoed around them reverbing from all the mirrors, thinking quickly Sasuke kicked Kalis's body out of the dome of mirrors not wanting to have to protect him at the same time again.

The other boys nodded to him understanding what he was doing as they refocused on their situation as another hail came in this time needles made of ice, coming in even faster towards them, Sasuke was able to fire a fireball to melt some of them in one direction but he got hit all over the back which he couldn't cover while the other two boys got hit all over.

Naruto and Ino had just reached the start of the bridge to see all the workers come out panting and being met by loved ones who'd come to find them, "Hey, are the other Ninja still in there?" Naruto shouted out to me of the builders.

"Yeah, Tazuna is there as well, he didn't want to leave them behind" one responded.

The two Ninja nodded before running into the Mist over the bridge, they kept moving forwards listening to the sounds of combat in the distance, as they drew closer, they would occasionally see a bit of fire going off in the distance.

They headed for that knowing it was likely Sasuke making that fire but what they arrive to see was nothing they could have anticipated.

Sasuke, Choji and Shikamaru were inside a dome of ice mirrors but not one of them looked to be in good condition, they were all peppered with little ice needles all over and each of them had laboured breathing with small blood dropped painting the ground around them.

"CHOJI!" Ino screamed, "SHIKAMARU!" she looked between her two friends and comrades who were in near death states.

Naruto looked over to the side of the dome where a facedown body was laying, "Kalis…" he muttered looking at the white jacket he always wore, he ran over to him followed closely by Ino, they rolled him over to see he wore no bandages currently to their shock.

Ino checked his pulse to feel a rapid heartbeat but a heartbeat nonetheless, "He's alive" she quickly reassured Naruto.

Naruto was glad to see his friend was okay, but he looked round to the Ice Mirror Dome where the three boys were on their last legs, "Ino, take care of Kalis, I'm going to help the others!" he hastily said charging towards the dome before Ino could protest, she watched him move off before turning her eyes down to Kalis looking over him at all the needle marks over his body wondering just what happened while they weren't here.

The boys inside could barely hold themselves up, much less deflect any more incoming attacks so when the next one came Shikamaru took his full force as his Kunai cluttered to the ground, "Why did I have to become a Genin… I could've been at home asleep right now… damn, what a drag…" he whispered almost delirious before his body gave out as all the needles had impacted pressure points and the pain of each was too much for his body.

"Shikamaru!" Choji weakly exclaimed as he had his own share of ice needles within his body but as he saw Haku move from one mirror to the next he tried throwing his Kunai only for it to miss, not even being close to hitting her.

She entered her new mirror and readied some more needles, "You've fought bravely too the end, I'll end your lives quickly with this next hail" she released another wave of ice needles Choji was quick enough to roll out of the way of the ones headed for him but Shikamaru was defenceless so as quick as he could he threw his body over his to protect him from the next wave.

But it never came, instead there was a strong kick in his side sending him and Shikamaru who'd he'd been clutching onto outside the dome before Haku could stop them, Choji looked over to see single figure in black and orange standing where they just were before he too passed out.

"Naruto!" Sasuke and Haku said at the same time, the blond grinned to Sasuke not even noticing Haku saying his name too, "Sorry I'm late Sasuke, some thugs went after Tsunami" he said before looking properly over Sasuke.

Of the original three in there he was probably in the best condition with only a few needles here and there mostly thanks to his fire style and Sharingan but looking at his open mouth and fast rising chest he could work out his Chakra was almost depleted, even his red eyes had gone back to normal now with not enough chakra to spare.

"Sasuke, you best get out of here too" Naruto said looking around for the next attack.

"You think I want to be in here!" he exclaimed back; "We've been trying to get out but it's almost impossible, you got those two out through sheer luck but with only two of us she has less targets to focus on so the chance of either of us escaping are practically nil now!" he snapped annoyed Naruto hadn't grasped the full situation before charging in.

"If you stayed out there, we might have been able to form a plan to break this but with us in here and the only ones outside being passed out, we're both screwed now!" he continued incredibly frustrated.

"Well, I'm sorry for trying to help you and getting Choji and Shikamaru out of trouble before they were hit again!" he fired back before they both stopped and looked around realising, they'd let their guard down but hadn't been attacked yet.

"Naruto…" Haku's voice echoed again from the mirrors, "I thought you'd still be unconscious now, I guess you must have a high tolerance level for the poison I put in you" she whispered her figure appearing from one of the mirrors.

"Hey! Who are you, how do you know my name!" the blond snapped looking towards the figure.

"You don't recognise my voice…" was the response.

When she mentioned it, he did realise that her voice was extremely familiar, but he just couldn't place who it belonged too, "I said who are you!" he shouted again towards the figure in the mist.

Haku looked up to Naruto making him reel back in shock, "H-Haku…" he whispered unable to believe it was her that had done all this, "No this doesn't make sense, this must be some kind of Genjutsu right, it couldn't be you who's done all this, right?!" he questioned hoping some sense of this would be made.

"I'm sorry Naruto, when we met in the forest I saw you only as my enemy but over time, I came to realise you and me share a similar path, and no matter what I just couldn't find it in myself to one day kill you" she whispered hating the situation she was now in, "So last night when we talked, I lightly poisoned you with one I made from the local plants, it was only a light one, designed to knock you out and make you sluggish so even if you got up you wouldn't get here, but it seems I underestimated your willpower".

Naruto felt like a dagger had pierced his back at this revelation, Haku a girl he thought he'd become friends with was really one of their enemies "B-but why…" was all the blond could muster to say, as he looked into her eyes.

"Because of the Kochi" she muttered back, "His clan took so much from me, I vowed to kill all of them, and you and your friends just so happened to be in the way" she whispered, Haku truly didn't want to hurt Naruto, she saw him as a friend, but he was now it the way of her goal, so she now had no choice.

"Forgive me Naruto, I promise I'll make it quick for you" was all she said merging back into the mirror before firing more ice needles towards the boys who recovered enough to dodge out of the way just in time.

All the confidence Naruto just had was now gone, learning that this enemy that was picking apart his friends as Haku of all people had broken his heart, "What do you mean because of Kalis!" he yelled to the mirrors, "What's he ever done to you?!".

There was silence until more needles cut through the mist from behind Naruto, he moved just too late getting a few impacted into his shoulder blade while Sasuke caught a few in the side, "Him and his clan are scum!" she hissed to him from almost all directions, "How don't you know this Naruto, you work with him!".

More needles peppered the ground around them forcing the boys into the centre further from the gaps between the mirrors, she wasn't allowing anyone else to escape, "The others lied to me Naruto, but I know you won't. Kochi are pure evil, they are a clan of snakes willing to betray those who trust them at any moment, they don't care about anyone but themselves" she continued moving from mirror to mirror.

"Tell the truth Naruto, Kalis is pure evil just like all Kochi are he's all I want, just give him to me and no one needs to get hurt" Haku said with almost a pleading tone, she didn't want to harm Naruto as she'd become very fond of the boy but if he didn't get out of the way she had no choice, she promised she'd wipe out the Kochi and nothing could get in the way of that.

Naruto looked out to see Kalis's body, his chest lightly rising and falling but he was completely defenceless, "Haku, I don't know what you're talking about, Kalis isn't evil! I know he's not because he's my friend, my best friend!" he exclaimed taking Haku aback for a moment.

"You lie too me-too Naruto…" she began.

"I'm not lying!" he snapped cutting her off, "He's the guy I was telling you about, the only person who was willing to be my friend, the only person who truly understood me and never treated me any different!" he exclaimed not allowing Haku to get a word it, "He is my best friend, and you know I'm not lying because I told you all about him, isn't that right Haku!".

Haku was speechless, all the stories Naruto told her couldn't be lies because he had no reason to lie to her then, "I…" no words would form, her mind was racing, all the stories where from that of a kind caring person, the exact opposite of a Kochi she knew, nothing was right anymore to her, was her whole purpose wrong.

Kalis slowly peaked his eyes open; he'd heard parts of what Naruto had said defending him, he tried his best to get up but his body wouldn't listen but he didn't stop trying, slowly getting some feeling into his limbs but moving was still incredibly difficult.

"NO!" Haku snapped shaking her head, she simply couldn't believe it no matter what, she knew her experiences thanks to the Kochi and from the stories of her mother who would never have lied, "You're wrong, you're lying too Naruto!" she snapped feeling rage brew inside of her hearing Naruto lie too.

Her next actions were no longer under her control, she just snapped launching needles wave after needle wave towards the boys as they tried to desperately dodge out of the way too little avail, with no room to manoeuvre the were covered in ice needles which wouldn't let up.

Kalis watched in pain as Naruto and Sasuke were peppered, he reached an arm out to begin dragging himself along the ground to try and get closer while getting his feet under him, he had to go help them or die trying.

Sasuke reeled back as more needles impacted him, with so many he was unable to dodge in any direction; two more flew in impacting just above his kneecaps sending him immediately to the ground unable to move his legs, "She must've used those to cut off movement in my legs…. Dammit" Sasuke hissed in his head unable to remove them thanks to the rest of the needles sticking out of him.

A few needles landed in Naruto's side making him keel over onto the floor with an exclamation of pain; Haku had lost all control, she'd seemingly snapped into a rage unable to bear the truth or more simply refusing it by lashing out at those who told her, Naruto grimaced looking into the mist as the needles died out as Haku calmed herself.

Sasuke could barely see Naruto in the mist by which he could only make out his silhouette but what he could see was one final wave of needles heading straight for him, with his body completely immobile he could do nothing but watch as one final attack came towards him, he closed his eyes and hoped they'd either miss or not do serious damage, but he knew neither would happen.

But what did happen he didn't expect, the needles never impacted but made a sound of if they did, he felt no new pains on is body so what did they hit, he peaked his eyes open to see a figure side on standing in front of him.

Blood dripped to the floor and Kalis winced in pain, his entire left arm was covered top to bottom in ice needles making him unable to move it as he fell to a knee clutching his left arm carefully, "Kalis… What are you…" Sasuke whispered out unable to believe he just took a hit for him of all people.

"Confused huh?" he asked not looking around, "Well you may not like me, but you're still my Comrade Sasuke so I will not let you die or weren't you listening earlier" he answered in a pained voice his body clearly still not fully recovered.

For once Sasuke was at a loss for words, a Kochi just risked his own life for his, threw his body in the way of an attack to protect an Uchiha; such a thing was never heard of, but Kalis seemed to of done it without hesitation because he was willing to put any clan problems aside for his Comrade Sasuke.

Haku looked to Kalis noticing he was now in the dome but didn't see the needles in his arm, "Let me prove this to you now Naruto, I'll attack you with a killing blow leaving myself open for attack and you watch as he favours the attack of his supposed 'best friends' life" she hissed throwing herself out of her mirror straight at Naruto.

Kalis saw this and could see exactly where the attack would land, without thinking he got to his feet and ran straight for them without a care for the pain he was in, "I have to make it in time!" he thought as Haku neared.

Haku saw him and smirked to herself, "Just as I expected, Kochi could never resist the urge to kill, they would step over any number of innocent bodies to complete their missions and never cared about who they hurt" her eyes looked back to Naruto wincing in pain but being unable to move, "I'm sorry this is how you learn the truth Naruto, but this is the only way".

Haku prepared to use her ice shell to not be killed by the boy's attack as they got nearer, "But I will never understand why you kept the lie up all this time Kochi, why you continuously made them believe you cared about them, were you that invested in your lie that you believed it yourself, or did you have an ulterior motive…".

"Definitely, especially my best friend because he was my first friend and stayed that no matter what, normally people are told to avoid me but not him, he stuck by me no matter what other people said even when they treated him terribly…".

Naruto's words echoed in her head, the things he told her when they first met and he was clueless as to who she was, "Best friend…" she remembered how they talked about people who are precious to them, "He didn't hesitate to say it was his best friend, but he never said a name…" she didn't know why she was thinking this now of all times.

She cast a look back over to Kalis but could only see him as a Kochi "No, this is my mission, my life goal to kill the Kochi and I must see it though; I must also make people understand that they are not to be trusted!" she exclaimed in her mind thrusting her needles forward, "THEY COULD NEVER CARE ABOUT ANYONE ELSE!" she swung both arms around.

They impacted, "What!?" Haku gasped.

Naruto looked up seeing not Haku in front of him but instead a white jacket, "C-Kalis…" he trailed.

Kalis stood between the two of them, his right arm outstretched, Haku's needles were embedded into his body, two went straight through the side of his neck while the rest were stuck into his chest above his heart.

Haku slowly let go of her needles, his blood on her hands as she stepped back her eyes fixated on him till she stumbled and fell back a look of shock remaining.

Kalis's body gave out as he fell back being caught by Naruto, "N-No… Kalis you'll be okay right" he pleaded holding onto his best friend, it was the second time he saved Naruto from a death blow, only this time he was in a much more serious condition.

"N-Naruto…" he coughed some blood dripping from his mouth, "Are you okay…?" he wheezed.

Naruto looked into Kalis's blue eyes, the first time he'd ever seen them and saw only concern, even in this condition, he was more worried for his friends' condition than his own, "Y… yeah, you stopped all of them" he whispered back trying to fight the tears in his eyes.

Kalis's breath was laboured as he tried to get some more words out, "Good…" he muttered his lips parting it to his smile, the one that told Naruto everything would be alright, but he just couldn't believe him this time.

"Why…" Naruto asked now.

"It's as I said… friends stand by each other… no matter what…" he answered slowly before some more blood leaked out, "And besides, it's my Nindo… to defend… those I care about… even if it kills me…" he chuckled quietly.

Sasuke watched the scene fold out and couldn't believe his own eyes, no words would come he could only watch, and Naruto cradled his closest friend's body.

"I lost so much… when I was… a b-baby…" he continued, "My clan…. My brother… My mother… what I could've loved… was just gone…" Naruto spoke no words and just listened to him, "So when… you willingly become my friend… I was so happy… and I'm really glad… we stayed friends all this… time…".

Ino and the others looked into the mist and watched unable to form any words or actions, fixated on their dying friend.

"I could never… hate you Naruto… because you could always… understand me… just like… I could you…" he was getting quieter, "We shared a bond… no one else had… one that only we knew…" Kalis looked right into his eyes, "You are truly… my best friend… so promise me… you'll fulfil… your… dreams… and… become the… Hokage…".

As his eyes closed, his body became limp, he was gone.

Naruto held on to his limp body, tears leaking down his face onto him, "No…" he whimpered unable to believe this has happened.

0000000000

In the Leaf Village, Soruki was jumping through the trees backwards with her hands in her pockets while two figures jumped after her, she landed one leg on a branch and immediately bounced off it as a swarm of insects came up behind her, she dodged and landed on the side of a tree using Chakra to hold her up, "Nice attempt to flank me Shino" she smirked as team 8 landed looking up at her.

Shino didn't respond but just looked at her, "W-Wow Soruki Sensei, y-your really fast" Hinata slowly said putting her hands on her chest to get her breath back.

Soruki smiled, she'd given up correcting them to just call her Soruki, it was a force of habit for them, and it was more annoying to just keep correcting them, "Well thank you Hinata, this is the result of years of hard work" she bragged just a little.

"How are you standing on the side of that tree like that?" Kiba asked pointing at her.

Soruki sighed, "Basic chakra control" she answered, "By focusing chakra into my feet I cling to the tree, I can also walk on water using this method; you'll learn this in due time, it's the first step in mastering the use of your chakra" she answered before jumping off and landing behind them not once removing her hands from her pockets.

"One day you guys might be able to catch me, maybe" she chuckled teasing them, "Come on Kurenai is returning" she added walking off with them following.

They made it to a clearing to find Team 8's Sensei sitting by a log with several cups on a stump next to her, "Sorry about the wait everyone, I had to finish up some reports" she smiled "I've brought you all some refreshments to make up for it" she indicated to the cups.

They all took a cup each, "I hope you weren't waiting long for us Kurenai Sensei?" Hinata quietly asked taking a sip of the drink.

"I've actually just arrived, since Soruki was training with you I knew she'd know the second I turned up" she answered indicating towards her.

Soruki pointed to herself and clicked her tongue, "I know, I'm pretty cool" she smirked before going to take a drink, when she did suddenly the cup cracked making her gasp in shock and pull the cup back.

While the others talked amongst themselves, she put a hand over her heart feeling a strange pain there "I've felt this before…" she turned and faced up to the sky.

Kurenai noticed her motions and stood to stand beside her, "Soruki, is everything okay?" she asked getting the attention of the others, "You look disturbed by something?" she continued unable to tell exactly what was wrong.

"It's Kalis…" she muttered making them all confused, "Somethings happened to him…"

Meanwhile at the Hokage mansion, Hyorei was sitting amongst other senior members of the Leaf village discussing upcoming events for the village, "Now, moving on to the topic of the Chunin exams I would like to continue our discussion on an alternate idea for where its being hosted this year" Shikaku said flipping over a piece of paper.

Hyorei picked up the cup of tea in front of him the leader of the Nara clan talked about alternate ideas for the exams to attract more villages; it was a good idea, many are usually put off by the idea of sending their Genin to the heart of a village they may not be on great terms with, the only problem was finding a neutral ground to host it.

As Hyorei brought the cup to his lips gently holding it, he began feeling a pain in his chest, one he'd felt before, he reached his other hand up and placed it over his heart, "This feel…" but before he could finish his quiet musing the cup shattered splashing hot tea all over his lap.

The others all turned and looked at what happened, "Hyorei Sensei, are you okay?" Inoichi asked turning to face the man, but he didn't even react to the hot substance not acknowledge that the others were looking to him.

The man stood and walked over to the window concerning the others who looked between each other in confusion; Hyorei stopped by the window and faced out of it with a concerned expression across his face, "Something has happened to my son…".

0000000000

Haku watched in shock, "He didn't hesitate, he was never coming for me… he was going to protect Naruto" she looked to the boys left arm seeing it covered in needles, "Just like how he protected the Uchiha…".

She couldn't believe her eyes; she wasn't sure what she had just done, was it really all true what they said, it couldn't be a trick this time, it made no sense for it to be for if it was, why did he just let himself be killed, "It doesn't make any sense…".

Haku slowly stood looking at Naruto cradling his friend seeing such care he had for the departed, she looked down at the blood on her hands, "I did this… I killed a Kochi… by why do I only feel… guilt…" she whispered.

Haku couldn't bare this and turned to move away, "Is this the first comrade you've seen die…" she muttered to Naruto, "This is the life of a Shinobi, this is your life now…" she was trying to get Naruto to understand but really, she knew she was trying to reason with herself.

"Naruto…."

"Shut up!" he hissed.

Haku's eyes went wide as she looked over her shoulder to the boy, "Stop trying to reason with me…" his fingers clenched on Kalis's blood-soaked jacket, Naruto couldn't hear his own thoughts anymore all he could see was Kalis's limp body in front of him.

"Hey it's Naruto, right?" Naruto looked up from his swing where he watched the others play to see a young boy with bandages around his face smiling down at him, "I'm Kalis" he said offering out a hand, "I saw you sitting here alone, so I was wondering if you wanted to come play with me instead?".

Naruto looked at him up and down, that smile with his left hand outstretched towards him as the sun shone behind him, such a show of kindness.

Naruto looked at him now, lifeless "You hate it don't you, she stole who was precious to you" he didn't know who was putting words into his head, but he didn't care, they were right, "Go on, give in to that hate, use it and make her suffer"

Naruto set Kalis's body down and set his own hands on the ground feeling something stirring inside of him, he'd never felt such a strong emotion before, such a strong essence but right now, he didn't care to stop it, he was furious.

"For what you've done…" he hissed feeling his fingers clench on the ground dragging his nails across the concrete, "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" he exclaimed looking up to Haku with bright red predator like eyes.

(Music: Heavy Violence)

Haku watched as Naruto's entire personality shifted in front of her, his teeth became sharper and his whisker marks more prominent, his hair seemed to stand up straight and a bright orange/red chakra began to overtake him, the pure power of it burned her skin making her bring her arms up to protect her face.

"W-What is this?!" She exclaimed and Naruto took a stance over Kalis's body almost protecting him, "Is this chakra, how is that possible, it can't be seen and at this strength there's only one thing that can have this much?!" her face turned to a look of horror as realisation struck.

As the needles launched themselves out of his body and all is wounds began to heal it only confirmed things for her, "He's… Naruto's a Jinchuriki!?" she realised what she just unleashed.

0000000000

A small distance away, Kakashi and Asuma looked in the direction their students were, "This Chakra…" Kakashi said aloud, "I've felt it before, 12 years ago…" it dawned on him.

"The seal!?" Asuma said looking into the fog barely making out the orange glow in the distance "Has it broken, now of all times?! What's happening over there?" he said aloud.

Zabuza felt the Chakra too and looked over, "Are they creating this?" he looked out into the mist, "No, that can't be, this is way to powerful… what's happening over there Haku…".

0000000000

Sasuke watched in horror as Naruto transformed, the pure power was burning the skin on his face, "Naruto… what are you…" he grimaced closing his eyes and trying to turn his head away as best he could.

Ino watched in horror probably being the only one there to know exactly what was going on, "The Nine Tails… it's coming out…" she thought as Naruto gained a cloak of red chakra over him and a tail made of the chakra formed making him look just like a fox.

"I've got to restrain him" Haku muttered weaving her hands but Naruto charged, she dodged just in time as he flew past smashing into one of the mirrors shattering it, she rolled over only for him to go straight after her again, he was extremely fast and just looking at him, she could see there was no trace of Naruto there, he had become completely animalistic with only one purpose, to kill her.

She weaved signs forming hundreds of needles in the air and firing them all at Naruto, all impacted but it didn't do much, he screamed throwing his body out launching all the needles back into the air shattering the remaining mirrors.

Sakura ran up to Ino hearing the commotion, "Ino? What's happening?" she hastily asked kneeling next to her friend, but she was completely stunned to answer, all she was doing was looking into the distance where Haku was doing he best to avoid the beast that used to be Naruto.

Sakura looked around and saw Sasuke and Kalis on the ground, she ran over to Sasuke and pulled him over to the others with the help of Tazuna, "Sasuke, what's going on?".

He was a bit more with it to answer her, "It's Naruto, Haku killed Kalis and he just snapped, I… I don't know what happened to him but, he's become some sort of…" he didn't know how to describe it, so he decided it was best to just trail off.

Sakura looked out and saw the red shape fighting Haku when some of Sasuke's words hit her, "Wait Sasuke… did you say… she killed Kalis?".

This shook Ino from her daze, she hastily looked over to the body of Kalis before darting over and searching for a pulse but found none, Sakura joined her and looked at her for confirmation, Ino shook her head looking downcast.

Ino looked at Kalis's face and briefly considered pulling all the needles out but she couldn't do it as she was worried, she'd damage his body, but looking at him a feeling come over her, she looked out to Naruto and saw him losing control, she knew Kalis would be running over to help him, to help his friend out of this problem.

"Sakura, look after everyone, don't remove the needles no matter what okay!" she hastily said but before Sakura could answer the blond ran into the mist towards the battle.

00000000000

Kakashi and Asuma were back-to-back still feeling the chakra coming from the distance, "I don't think the seal has broken yet" Kakashi said to his friend, "It's just loosened a little, there's still a chance to keep Naruto under control".

Kakashi flipped open one of his jacket pockets and swiped some blood from his chest wound, "We've got more important matters now Zabuza, so it's time to end this charade" he twirled the scroll around his swiping his blood along it before slamming it to the ground, "Summoning Jutsu".

Zabuza watched them from the mist wondering what he was doing, when suddenly multiple hounds punced from the ground grabbing a hold of him and separating his blade from him, "Wha-", the mist cleared between them and the two Jonin turned to face him.

"Your hounds? Not seen them in a while" Asuma commented before glancing to Kakashi, "Think you can finish things up here then?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll deal with him, you go help Naruto" Kakashi responded glaring at Zabuza as Asuma took off, twitching his fingers sparks of electricity began to form between the fingers of his right hand.

0000000000

Haku jumped back as Naruto swung for her again, she glanced into his eyes seeing a pure rage which frightened her, "I-I can't stop him…" she muttered doing her best to dodge his attacks, she set down and he was already bounding towards her.

She tried to spring back but her exhaustion caught up to her, his claws cut across her making her cry out in pain as she crashed to the ground, the force making her roll across it for a bit before stopping in a bloody heap, she sat up clutching at her chest as the boy within the cloak slowly stalked towards her, Naruto had become the predator and she was his prey.

"Naruto!" a female voice screamed.

The boy snapped his head towards the voice a saw Ino standing there, but he didn't see that, Ino looked horrified as it dawned on her, she'd just become the new prey, her plan was to try and calm his down but he'd already started bounding towards her she tried to back up and run but he pounced putting her on the ground with him over her.

She looked up into his eyes, she knew Naruto was there, she reached up but one of his claws came down pinning her arm to the ground making her let out her own cry of pain, "N-Naruto… please stop…" she cried hoping something would get through to him.

But words seemed to be just noise to him as he brought up his other claw ready to swipe at her but thinking quickly, she did the only thing she could, she reached her other hand out and put it on to his linking their hands, "Naruto stop, it's me, Ino your friend" the old saying actions speak lounder than words seemed to have worked, Naruto stopped and looked at her.

Slowly he released is grip on her other arm, she quickly brought it up ignoring the pain and wrapped it around his neck brining him into a hug entering the cloak of chakra, the chakra burned her skin, but she had to fight through the pain, "I know it hurts Naruto, Kalis was your best friend" she whispered into his ear, "But he wouldn't want this, he cared about you so much I know because I watched, every day I saw him stand with you no matter what anyone else said and he liked you for being you".

"Just as I do, you are my friend Naruto, you don't have to bear this pain alone, I'll be here with you so please, come back to me" Haku watched in shock as the cloak began to fade around him, the young girl was calming down the power of a Tailed Beast with words.

"You're not a monster, you're Naruto Uzumaki, my friend" Ino said as the last of the chakra dissipated and Naruto fell on top of her completely exhausted, but she didn't let go of him, instead she held him tighter against her.

Asuma watched this with a small smile on his face, "Looks like that problem sorted itself" he then looked over to Haku who was leaning against the wall of the bridge, "This one however…" he walked over to Haku and stood over her.

She was wrapping her wound and he could see the faint green glow coming from her hands, "I'd surrender if I were you" he said calmly gripping his two kunai, she looked up at him then over to Naruto then into the mist where it was dissipating and could see the small ground gathered around Kalis's body.

She nodded standing up and resting against the wall before reaching behind her to take her needle pouch off and hand it to Asuma, "I surrender…" she muttered.

000000000

Kakashi drove a charge of lightning through Zabuza making him exclaim out in pain, "Finally got me Kakashi" he commented with a chuckle.

Behind him another Zabuza emerged from a puddle with a kunai drawn but before he could do anything a shot of electricity cut though his shoulder from behind making his spit out blood, "Yeah, I did" Kakashi said coolly from behind the real Zabuza as the two fakes disappeared as did the hounds.

Kakashi pulled his Lightning Blade out and Zabuza fell to his knees clutching at the hole through his chest, it wasn't through his heart, but it was fatal, he knew he'd die shortly from it, he fell back to the floor as Kakashi stepped to the side, he chuckled "That was one hell of a fight Kakashi Hatake".

Kakashi just looked at him as he pulled his headband back down to cover his Sharingan not needing it anymore, "Why do all this, why work for Gato?" he asked eventually.

Zabuza just laughed, "Why does anyone, I needed money and he offered a shit load" his laughing subsided, "No that's not the reason, I know I don't have the time to waste explaining it all to just you" he sighed "Can I make one request of you?"

Kakashi motioned for him to speak, "If she's still alive, can I speak to Haku" he asked for the first time, it was sincere.

The Jonin looked over, the mist had mostly faded now, and he could see Asuma looking at him with Haku standing next to him, he beckoned the over, the smoker nodded and indicated for Haku to move.

They walked over with Asuma occasionally helping her when she stumbled, eventually she knelt by the side of Zabuza, "Master Zabuza…".

"Stop Haku, I don't have much time right now, so I need to make this quick" he groaned looking into her eyes, "Tell me, did you get your revenge of the Kochi boy?".

Haku hesitated before answering, "Yes" she said quietly.

Zabuza sighed, "How do you feel now then?"

Haku opened her mouth to answer but realised she couldn't find the words, her mind raced searching for the words to describe how she felt, "Unfulfilled…" Zabuza said for her, she nodded in response, "Now tell me, would killing the other Kochi make you feel any better?"

"I don't know…" was he immediate answer, looking over her shoulder at the group around the boy that feeling she didn't know came back.

"Haku…" she snapped back to her master, "Let it go!" he ordered.

She went wide eyed and looked at him, "I can't, after what they've done…"

"Haku!" he snapped, "Look at yourself, I can tell you're guilty" that one words stung, because he was right, it was the feeling she couldn't place, "Look at him…" she looked around.

"The things you told me about the Kochi would mean they have no one caring for them, but look at that…" around him the Genin had all gathered while Ino looked on in the distance with the still unconscious Naruto laying on her lap, "You've been blinded by what you were told so long ago you can't see what's right in front of you, you already won Haku, the Kochi that hurt your clan long ago are dead, he is evidence of that".

Haku felt tears welling in her eyes, "But…"

"Let me tell you something, you've heard the stories haven't you Haku, about the blood Mist village…" he coughed up blood colouring his wrappings, "Well they're all true it was how I grew up, the Fourth Mizukage was insane, making children compete in fights to the death just to be useful in his eyes, murdering those who opposed him or just commented against him".

"I was so driven to kill that man for everything he'd done to not only me but to my village but I couldn't do it on my own so I became a mercenary to fund a coup to defeat him" he leaned his head back and looking to the sky above, "But someone beat me to it, the new Mizukage staged her own Coup, killing the Fourth Mizukage herself before taking over".

"But I'd become so full of hatred and a desire for revenge that I didn't know what to do anymore, I tried to stop but I was addicted to it, the work and the killing it gave me life, it was my only life" he looked back into her eyes, he reached up with his working arm and pulled his bandages away revealing his serrated teeth and scarred up lower face "This is what revenge does to you, you don't know what right and wrong anymore, you can't do anything else it controls everything you do, it burns your soul and corrupts your life"

"When I first met you, I saw myself in you a child you thirsted for revenge and deep down I felt sorry because I knew what would happen if I left you to it, you'd just become like me so I took you with me to try and stop you falling down his path" he coughed must more forcefully this time, "But as I watched you, I knew I couldn't just talk you out of it, you were already so lost in your own head that you couldn't see the truth, so you had to experience it for yourself, you had to learn you're not a killer"

"I couldn't see you become like me Haku, everyone I ever cared for is gone, my life was ruined but you have a chance, you can still change your path, but you need to do it today" Zabuza said "You may be too late to help that boy, but you can still make amends".

He reached up and cupped her face, "Haku… promise me, you'll let it go…" he trailed off but before she could answer his hand went limp and slid away from her face, Haku caught his hand before it landed and gently rested it on his chest.

She reached over and closed his eyes, "I will try, Master Zabuza… You rest now, you've earned it…" she muttered.

She looked over to the group around Kalis again, "Can you please help me over to him, I should remove those needles…" she said to the Jonin, Kakashi looked down at her then over at Kalis before extending a hand to help her up.

None of the Genin knew what to say, even Sasuke was lost as he looked at Kalis's body while Sakura held him up, most of the others were crying or on the verge of crying, "This isn't real right…" Choji muttered but got no answer, no one could find the words to answer him.

Tazuna placed a hand on the plump boy's shoulder, "I'm sorry kiddo…" was all he could say.

As they mourned, Kakashi approached with Haku, he took a moment to look around before looking down at the group, "Come on, we shouldn't stay out here, we'll return to Tsunami's house for the time being" he ordered before kneeling to gently pick Kalis up, as he held the boy in his arms, he looked down at his face the feeling of guilt racking over him.

"Help those who are injured get back, we'll treat the wounded when we are safe" he continued walking off followed closely by Haku then the others.

0000000000

Once they made it back, they found the two mercenaries still tied up and unconscious, they made sure they were secure before entering, Tazuna immediately ran to Tsunami's side, she was conscious now and was able to greet him with a smile along with Inari, but all that faded when Kakashi walked through the door.

"Kakashi" Tazuna said looking at him from Tsunami's room, "Use the back room for him, there's blankets in there as well to cover him" he watched the man look at him and nod hearing a faint 'thank you' before he walked away.

"W-What happened?" Inari asked worried about what on earth went on without their knowledge, but he didn't receive and answer, instead Tazuna crouched and gave him a tight hug.

Everyone who was able to move got to fixing up the house which mainly consisted of turning furniture back over and moving it back into place but eventually they were able to get everyone sat down so Haku could begin working.

She started with Sasuke carefully pulling the needles from his knees out him immediately getting feeling back into them, she put her hand over the wound with a green glow over her hand, when she removed her hand the wound was gone.

Sakura and Ino watched his with amazement, they were the only two not injured and in fact had done practically nothing, Ino had done a bit more but in terms of combat they just stood there, and both were currently feeling down about it.

"H-hey Haku…" Sakura said getting her attention, she looked round at the two girls that had been watching her for a while, she noticed them watching immediately but didn't say anything as she mostly assumed they wanted to make sure she wouldn't hurt anyone but even then, Asuma was watching her from the corner in case she tried anything.

"What's that technique you're using?" she asked taking Haku aback, they wanted to understand what she was doing? Looking closer at them she noticed the sheepish looks they had with a blush, it then clicked with her as she inspected them, they were completely uninjured, they must feel bad that everyone else in their teams needed medical attention while they were relatively fine aside from a few marks on Ino.

She took her hands away and showed them to the girls, "It's called medical ninjutsu" she answered her hands glowing with a green hue, "Basically it's an incredibly advance form of chakra control that allows me to heal injuries, my level of skill I can handle minor injuries pretty easily like these needle injuries, but for stuff more major that will take time" Haku looked back to Sasuke who was unconscious.

"Could you show us how to do it?" Ino asked hesitantly bowing her head slightly along with Sakura.

Haku looked back to them as she removed some more needles from Sasuke, "It's not something you just pick up, it took me years to reach this level of skill…" she answered looking to her palms before back to the girls who looked downcast, she could understand that they just wanted to help and hated just watching, "Come sit the other side of him".

They looked at her then nodded doing what she asked, they knelt the other side of Sasuke who was facedown with his bare back in the air covered in needles marks, "Give me one of you hands" each put one of their hands out and Haku put her hands over theirs and brought them over some of Sasuke's wounds channelling her medical ninjutsu through their hands healing the wounds to their amazement, "This is what it feels like, if you wish to learn medical ninjutsu it'll help for you to know the feeling of channelling the chakra" Haku said looking at the girls.

Once the healing had finished, she let go of their hands and slid a blanket over Sasuke before turning her attention to the other boys, "I'll be tending to the others, you're welcome to watch while I do it" she said and both nodded with a smile, Haku felt her own lips tugging into one but remembered that she caused all this so let it go.

After working on both Shikamaru and Choji she briefly visited Tsunami to inspect her nose, then checked over the unconscious Naruto, "He looks okay, just exhausted but that's not surprising…" she muttered feeling his forehead.

Once she was done, she turned to face the back room, she walked over and placed a hand on the door, "I'll be cleaning him up now, is that okay?" Haku asked without looking at Asuma.

"That's fine, Kakashi is in there so he'll be keeping an eye on you" he responded from his spot next to The Executioners blade, he'd brought Zabuza's body with them and had covered it outside they had no space inside, but he wanted to keep the sword close by just in case.

Haku nodded and entered the room on her own, Sakura and Ino decided to step back from this one, all the excitement from learning a few basics of medical ninjutsu had made them forget about what was in the room; in there was a body, the body of their friend and comrade.

The room was dark and in the centre was a body covered with a blanket, Kakashi was knelt beside it watching over him, "Am I okay to begin removing the needles?" Haku quietly said.

He didn't look at her unable to tear his eyes away from his student, "Yeah, you can begin now…" he muttered, she could hear the pain in his voice, the guilt too.

Haku knew about Kakashi, he was a well-known ninja so it was strange if you didn't know about him; she knew he'd been a shinobi for many years and must have experienced may battles and by assumption, seen many comrades die; Haku could understand why the Genin were greatly affected by the loss but she wasn't sure on Kakashi's reasons, he must have seen this a hundred times over but this loss he seemed to take terribly.

As Haku knelt, she slowly removed the blanket covering him a looked at Kalis, he was still motionless with the needles poking out of him, she decided to begin with the ones in his left arm first, "This isn't the first time you've lost a comrade is it?" Haku asked not looking away from her work.

He was slow to answer leaving a dead silence between them, "No, it's not" he eventually responded.

"If you don't mind me asking…" she stopped and looked up at him for confirmation, he didn't give any inclination she couldn't ask so she went ahead, "Why does this death effect you so much, I've never seen someone of your stature…".

"It's because I was entrusted to protect him" he cut her off, "His Sister trusted that I would keep him safe, I promised her I would always bring him home to her, and I've not only let her down, I've let myself down, I promised to never let my comrades die but now…" he didn't want to continue.

"I see…" she muttered returning to her task, the silence returned as she worked on cleaning him up, half the needles in his arm were now removed, "What was he like?" she suddenly asked, Haku wasn't even thinking of the words before they came out, so it shocked her at the sudden question, but she didn't want him to not answer so she didn't hastily scramble to recover.

Kakashi was slightly taken aback by the question but he didn't show it, "What was Kalis like?" he repeated mostly to himself, "Well he was the whole reason we where here in the first place" he started taking Haku by shock but she didn't look up at him, focusing on her work, "In terms of current Kochi, he's the weakest, nothing like his sister or his father or even the rest of his family when they were his age".

Haku removed the final needles from his arm looking up to Kakashi, now confused that he seemed to be almost mocking the boy, "But I don't think he cared…" he looked up to the ceiling, "Because he made up for a lack of strength with kindness, in fact I don't think he's ever hated someone" he continued.

Outside the door, the Genin who were able were resting against it listening on the conversation, "He never cursed, never hurt, never shamed or put down; no matter who the person was he would always be kind to them unless they hurt someone he cared about" he paused for a moment a smile taking over his hidden lips, "The village despised Naruto but he didn't, he was the only one who no matter what anyone said would stand by the boy because he didn't care what others thought, he believed everyone deserved a chance no matter who they were or where they came from".

Haku looked down at his peaceful face, a tear in her eye, "Even though the village despised him for something he didn't do, a mistake his clan made years ago, he never turned against them, never took his anger out on them for the words they said, he was truly determined to prove himself to them".

Ino brought he knees up to her chest and held them close, she remembered the first time she met Kalis, he was being made to help in their flower shop for a while, "I thought he was just some idiot…" she muttered making the others look at her, "I remember my father telling me he'd be helping out our shop for a while and I kept mocking the fact he couldn't see, I was so terrible to him but he never got angry at me, he had every right to take me down but he didn't, he'd just smile and walk away to tend to the flowers".

"What he must of wanted to say back to me but never did, I didn't understand what he would go through every day, the ridicule and hate that the villagers threw on him for just being born into clan that messed up once" she couldn't stop the tears, "But even after all I did and said to him, he was still kind, I came home broken-hearted from something stupid I did and he was the first one to come to my room to talk to me, he sat with me and let me vent about my problems to him even though he had his own".

"And then… he hugged me… and just made me feel better somehow…" some arms wrapped around her, she looked up shocked for a moment with a small hope in her heart only to see pink hair, but she remained shock, she leant herself into Sakura's hug finding it somewhat soothing.

Kakashi looked at the door knowing they were out there, "You know your fight today was the first time he's looked at the world, the first time he's seem more than just shapes from his chakra" he continued, "He'd never taken his bandages off before, I never knew why but today he did; because his comrades were in trouble, he wasn't aiming to kill you Haku, I know that for a fact as it's just not who he is but he above all else, just wanted to protect his friends" he noticed tears dripping down Haku's face.

Naruto had awoken and was leaning against the wall looking at his hands, "He asked me if I was okay…" he whispered.

"What was that Naruto?" Choji asked only hearing a brief mumble from him.

"When he took the hit for me, when he saved my life again… I held him in my arms and the first thing he asked was if I was okay…" he said clenching his fists together before burying his face into them, he didn't want to cry and was trying his best not to let it happen, "He was the only one who understood me, who could relate to me in some way…"

Choji saw this and walked over to sit next to him, along with Shikamaru, the sat either side and bumped his shoulders letting him know they were there for him.

Haku took a breath and began to remove the needles from his chest, "W-What have I done…" she muttered to herself, hearing all this about the boy she killed broke her heart, she hadn't killed a monster Kochi, she'd killed a kind and caring boy called Kalis.

"Even his funny name he didn't care about" Kakashi said with a chuckle, "I remember hearing all the times someone asked him what was up with his name and even when he was being mocked about it he never let it get to him, he knew his mother gave him that name and he was so happy to wear it for her".

Kakashi looked right at Haku seeing her teary eyes trying to remove the needles, "Haku…" he said getting her attention, "He's the reason you're getting this chance you know, he was never one for revenge so he's the one giving you a second chance not me, so don't waste it" he finished.

Haku nodded wiping her eyes, she knew she had to make things right by him; she looked over his chest and saw one needle remained, she reached over to take it out but stopped as something looked wrong.

Upon looking closer she saw the needle was not fully embedded into his chest, in fact it was a few centimetres out, "What is it?" Kakashi asked seeing her expression change.

"This needle…" she indicated to it, "It's not in… this one should have pierced his heart but…" looking over to his face she eyed the two in his neck, "Could it be…" she was muttering to herself now.

She reached over and put chakra into her right hands grasping the two needles firmly, "Please to whatever god there is… please let his work just this once please let me have a miracle…" she gave a brief prayer much to Kakashi's confusion thought she didn't notice instead she pulled the two needles out at the same time.

She threw them to the side and leaned over him looking right into the eyelids hoping for something, any kind of movement.

But nothing.

Kakashi reached over and grabbed her shoulder, "He's gone Haku…" he muttered, it stung his own heart to say those words, but he could understand what guilt she must be going through that she was hoping for some miracle to happen.

Haku leaned back against the wall, "No… I thought there was a chance…" she muttered putting her head into her hands before she stood, "I just need a moment…" she made for the door, she didn't want to take the last needle out as it just gave her false hope, so she wanted to take a moment before she broke down again.

She placed a hand on the door ready to open it.

"Ugh…"

Her eyes shot open, she looked around at Kakashi who's own eye was wide open, they both looked down at the supposed body to see.

"KALIS!"

A voice from behind the door which shocked all the Genin, making them sit up however Asuma immediately sprung up for the door throwing it open and they all followed him.

What they saw was something unexpected, Haku's arms were wrapped firmly around the body that was in there except it wasn't a body anymore, it was an alive and breathing boy who might soon be dead again if Haku's grip didn't let up.

"I can't breathe…" he cried out tyring to get out of the iron grip she had upon him. Haku let him go but held his shoulders with her hands keeping him up right, he looked around at everyone in attendance and saw all their eyes upon him, "What is it?" he asked as if it was the most casual thing in the world.

"C-Kalis… are you really… alive…?" Ino whispered out taking slow steps towards him.

He looked at her with an eyebrow cocked "Yeah? Why wouldn't I be…" he trailed off having no idea of the situation.

Before he knew it he was talking to the ground in a large hug involving at least four people, he thought but he could tell who one of them was, "Naruto? What's going on?" he asked really wanting answers as to why they thought he was dead.

He ginned his foxy grin, "Well kind of a lot really…" he chuckled out.

The people got off him, "What's the last thing you remember?" Kakashi asked.

He scratched the back of his head, "We were on the bridge, me and Sasuke were fighting Haku..." he stopped suddenly snapping his head to her but Kakashi but a reassuring hand on his shoulder giving him a non-verbal confirmation everything was okay, "I think Choji turned up to help us with Shikamaru later then I…".

He stopped and looked up at everyone, only now clocking that he could see them, actually see them not just their individual Chakra's, their actual faces, "I…" he trailed off, he couldn't form any words, all he could manage was looking at their faces.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked leaning into him trying to see if anything was wrong.

"It… Just…" He didn't know where to start, he was simply amazing at just looking at them.

"I get it" Asuma chuckled at the back, "This is the first time you've seen what any of us look like isn't it?" Kalis nodded in response, "Yeah this makes sense, after all how would any of you feel being blind your whole life to finally see".

They all looked round at Kalis with an amazed look, they hadn't even realised this was the first time he'd seen what any of them looked like, none of them could even relate to the feeling, "Say Kalis, do we all look like you thought we did?" Shikamaru asked from his spot next to Asuma, after realising Kalis was okay, he'd gone back to his used lazy attitude but he was a bit curious.

"Kinda…" Kalis muttered, "Except you Naruto… really thought you'd have red hair… don't know why?" Naruto looked at him before thinking about it, putting the image of him but with red hair in his mind.

"Hey that actually sounds like a really cool look" he laughed out while rubbing the back of his head.

"Getting back on topic" Kakashi cut in, "You sustained some major injuries during your fight, and to us, you died" he faced Haku, "How has this happened?".

"Well it's the same trick I used on Master Zabuza back in your first fight, where the two needles pierce your neck are two nerves that set you into a catatonic state and slows you're heart rate down to unreadable levels, in essence you appear to be dead" she answered, "But my needles also struck around you're heart which made me think you were dead, but when I was removing the ones from your chest I spotted this one".

She pointed to the one needle still in his chest, "This one is fatal, the others went around hitting nerve point to help stop your heart but this one would hit the final nerve stopping it but it looks like something got in the way…" everyone looked at Kalis's chest where the needle was embedded between a gap in his jacket.

"Wait a sec…" Kalis said undoing his jacket down to the needle, reaching down his hands found what he was looking for, he pulled his hand out holding on to something.

"The necklace from that girl?" Naruto said remembering when Kalis found it.

The necklace Kalis was holding was indeed that very one, but now a needle was jabbed deeply into the shuriken, "Yeah, I was wearing it around the village so whoever owned it would see it, I guess I forgot to take it off before the battle" he muttered cusping it in his hands.

"Whoever she is, I think she just saved your life" Ino said looking amazed.

Kalis looked at her and smiled before turning back down to the neckless, "Yeah, she did…".

0000000000

After Haku checked him over, she encouraged Kalis to take a walk around and to get outside for a bit which he happily obliged mainly because he had his own reasons to do so.

"So, this is what I look like" he muttered looking over into the water to see himself staring back at him then smiling, "It's funny, 12 years and I've never even seen my own face, it's such a normal thing for others but me".

As he smiled at himself again, he made a promise to himself to enjoy every moment of his sight he'll have until he had to put his bandages back on.

Meanwhile inside, Kakashi with a freshly bandaged chest had sat the others down around him, "I think it's time for a talk" he said looking to all the Genin except Naruto and Ino, "You're wondering what happened on the bridge to Naruto".

All were fixated on what he would say, "I'll not beat around the bush, you'd find out sooner or later anyway, inside Naruto is the Nine-Tailed Fox that attacked the Leaf Village 12 years ago, it was sealed inside of him by the Fourth Hokage to save the village from destruction, any questions?".

No one could make sense of what he just said that fact he just out and said it had taken everyone off guard this included Asuma who stood beside him with a shocked expression "Wait What; Can you run through that again Kakashi Sensei" a fully alert Shikamaru asked slowly not sure if he heard the Jonin right.

"The Nine Tails that attacked the village 12 years ago is contained inside Naruto, why do you think all the adults avoid him and tell their children to stay away from him, they fear him" he replied coolly leaning back.

Everyone just blinked at him, they didn't expect Kakashi to be so casual with it, "Now before we say anything else, this stays between us" he warned "This is a secret that is not meant to be revealed to the generations after the attack at least for a few more years, I'm only telling you because of what you all witnessed today, so when we get back home none of you know about it, okay?".

They all nodded in understanding then looking between themselves wondering who would ask the first question, "So what happened today, when Naruto saw Kalis supposedly die, he just flipped out and attacked everything like he'd gone savage?" Sasuke asked from his spot against the wall.

"I don't quite know" Naruto spoke up, "Seeing him die just made me so angry, I can't really remember anything that happened, I just lost it…" he muttered looking to his hands.

"The Nine tails feeds off negative energy, so hate, anger, sadness and so on can activate it's power luckily today the seal was simply loosened instead of broken, but it will always be a continuous threat" Kakashi said looking down to Naruto.

Seeing his downcast look, he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, "But that's the Nine tails not Naruto, he is still himself, so I'd be greatly disappointed if this changed any of your opinions on him" he said with a scolding tone.

Shikamaru leaned back with his hands behind his head, "Doesn't bother me, still the same knucklehead from class" he said with a yawn and Choji nodded in approval.

But Kakashi wasn't really worried about what they thought, he looked over to Sasuke and Sakura, "What do you two say?" he asked.

Sasuke just shrugged, "Still an idiot" he muttered but looked down at him, "But he's now an idiot worth watching" he smirked realising that with the Nine tails, Naruto could be more impressive than he lets on.

Sakura shuffled uncomfortably, she was unsure; sure, she had bonded a bit with Naruto during this mission but at the same time she'd learned he has a dangerous, village destroying demon inside of him, she looked around until her eyes settled on Ino, "What do you think Ino?" she asked wanting another's opinion on this.

Ino looked at her from her spot on the ground against the wall, "Well… I…" she wasn't sure what she could say, could she just out and say she'd known for a while now or keep it a secret; Looking at Asuma and Kakashi they nodded to her telling her she can do what she wanted, "Well, I kinda knew about this for a while…"

This got all their attention, "You know when we had that graduation party where me and Kalis just kinda disappeared, well we basically went chasing after Naruto and I overheard Mizuki saying that Naruto had the Nine tails so I kinda had to learn the truth" she revealed wringing her hands together, "That's also why Mizuki wasn't at the academy anymore, he was kinda a bad guy".

Naruto was smiling to himself, none of them were turning against him or looking at him with any sort of malice, they were just confused and wanted some questions answered, he couldn't help but feel happy they hadn't outcasted him.

They all looked dumbfounded at what Ino had said, "How much do we not know?" Choji asked looking around before realisation struck him, "Wait, does Kalis know?" he asked.

"What do I know?" he asked walked back from the outside getting the attention of all present, "If we're talking about the Nine Tails, yeah, I've known about it for a long while now" he said reading the room, "And if you're wondering why I know, I can't really say…" he trailed off looking around seemingly getting distracted.

This shifted the focus of their questions now, "So Kalis, what's with the eyes?" Choji asked pointing to him, "You called them Neo something right?" he added trying to remember back to the fight.

"Neo-Sharingan" he answered casually looking over to Choji, the Tomoe in his eyes rotating around briefly before stopping in their original positions.

They all noted Sasuke react to this, "You should probably explain more about it you know" he muttered but in a non-antagonistic way for once, this got Kalis's attention who cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah…" he cleared his throat, "Well to put it simple it's how Haku explained it…" he began reciting what Haku had told them about the Kochi clan past, even the darker bits that had been explained mostly so those who weren't there could catch up and this kept their attention throughout.

"It's just a Kekkei Genkai only usable by some Kochi, usually it only appears when parents are two pure blooded Kochi, in fact I'm lucky I have it in both eyes as my mother was from outside the clan, in fact I'm told my older brother in fact only had one eye with the ability, the other was normal" he finished his explanation.

"When you say Sharingan, isn't that the same as what Sasuke has?" Ino piped up.

Kalis looked to Sasuke who nodded telling him to go on, "Well in a sense, this is kind of the whole reason why the Kochi and Uchiha never got along, they believe we stole it from them while we only know to have always possessed it" he answered, "While they share the same names there are quite a few differences here and there".

Sasuke activated his Sharingan for an example, "The obvious one is that mines red and his is blue" he remarked casually.

Kalis nodded, "Another detail is in my eyes there are two Tomoe around the pupil, this is the first stage of it while Sasuke's only had one Tomoe for his first stage as we get older and more experienced gradually the number increases like Kakashi Sensei's for example who has three" he indicated to the Jonin.

"Why do you keep them covered up all the time?" Shikamaru asked the main question a lot of them wanted to know but weren't sure how to ask.

Kalis took pause for a moment letting out a nervous breath, "That's another difference, while Sasuke can turn his off, I can't nor any Kochi we're simply always stuck with it on, so we need to cover them at all times" he answered shifting uncomfortably, "I'll need to re-cover mine soon or else…" he trailed.

Everyone noticed his discomfort and decided to shift topics, "Why Neo then?" Sakura asked.

Kalis chuckled awkwardly at this and rubbed the back of his head while Sasuke rolled his regular eyes, "Well that's kind of a funny story" he said scratching his cheek, "You see originally it was just called the Sharingan back in the Mist but when the Kochi left and we had to share the leaf with the Uchiha there was confusions when referring to the special eyes we had, like their abilities and such".

"Just tell them…" Sasuke muttered rubbing his forehead.

"Well, the Kochi took this as an opportunity to mock the Uchiha and started calling ours the Neo-Sharingan as in new and improved Sharingan which people started calling it all the time, so basically the whole name is just a long-standing insult from the Kochi to the Uchiha" he awkwardly chuckled out knowing Sasuke was stood beside him.

Everyone looked deadpanned, well save for two people, Naruto burst out laughing at this along with Choji making everyone face palm.

Haku was sitting in the corner watching this all unfold, "So this is Kalis…" she thought as she watched him interact with the others a smile on his face and on theirs, "A Kochi so different from the stories I've been told" a smile played on her lips.

As the Shinobi talked amongst themselves Haku's eyes drifted to the room a bit away from them where Tazuna was sat on Tsunami's bed talking with her and Inari, this kept her smile, "So much has happened to them here, and we were hired to make it worse but not allowing them to make the bridge…".

She looked down at her bound hands then up to Kakashi, "A second chance right" she muttered towards him getting his attention, he looked at her with a curious expression. Haku stood and walked up to the Jonin, "You said I could have a second chance right?" she asked making sure she wasn't coming off as aggressive.

Kakashi sighed, "I did, but that depends" he said leaning back and crossing his arms.

"On what?" she asked the others now had their attention on the two of them.

He pulled out a kunai and held it over her bindings to cut them but he didn't, she got the message, he'd cut the bindings if her answer was good enough but if it wasn't he'd leave them there.

"What I want to know, is what will you use your chance for?".

0000000000

Gato paced in his office rubbing his hands together, "Damnit all!" he shouted to his dark empty room, "Zori and Waraji have both vanished, Zabuza is dead, his fucking girl has been captured and the rest of my mercenaries are gone, all I've got are those stupid fucking thugs!".

He looked at his desk and shoved all his items off it in frustration before collapsing in his chair putting his head into his hands, he breathed heavily as he leaned back in his chair switching to rubbing his temple, "Okay, the bridge still isn't finished, all I've got to do is put the rest of my guys on the bridge 24/7, those ninja can't win if they're outnumbered".

He sighed putting his forehead to the table, he felt his control slipping, his business crumbling around him but there was so little he could do, "If I move all my men to the bridge there will be no one to keep the village submissive".

Grunting in annoyance he slammed his fist into the table, "Those fucking Ninja had no business being here but if they want to interfere fine, I'll show them what happens when people fuck with me and my business, I'll have them kill half the village, slaughter them like animals".

He stood up his palms on the table before storming for the door, "Yeah, that'll prove my point, no one fucks with Ga-" there was a sharp pain in his legs and back and he dropped to the floor unable to move, completely paralyzed.

"Wha-" he tried to cry out but a foot on the back of his head shut him up.

"You won't hurt anyone else Gato" a familiar female voice coldly said to him.

His eyes shot open in shock recognising the voice, "Zabuza's brat…" he whispered into the ground.

The boot was removed allowing him to look into the red wavy mask of the Hunter who worked with Zabuza, she knelt down getting closer to his level, "Indeed…" she muttered cocking her head to the side in a creep fashion disturbing Gato who didn't dare look away from her.

"W-Why are you…" he whispered out, his throat had become dry.

"A few days ago, I was only here for revenge, earlier today I got it but it didn't fulfil me" she muttered keeping her head cocked, "The cost of that revenge almost broke me, everything I did to achieve it suddenly made no sense and my life crumbled".

Gato didn't dare speak, he was too scared too, "That someone I care about deeply told me to let my revenge go because it was only making things worse, and by letting it go, I've gained a second chance at life, a chance to make amends for all the pain I've done in my reckless pursuit" she glared at Gato, "And it starts with you".

"Now hold on, you just said you don't chase after revenge anymore, you can't kill me" he pleaded trying to get out of this situation.

"This isn't revenge, it's justice for all the pain you've caused these people" she reached back and grabbed a fistful of his hair to pull his head back as far as it would go without breaking, she leaned in close, he mask inches from his face, "I also never said 'I' would kill you".

A smirk played on Haku's lips seeing Gato's fear before she delivered a swift punch knocking him out.

0000000000

"LET ME DOWN YOU BITCH!" Gato exclaimed from his spot on a cross, Haku had used her needles to pin him up onto the cross, all of them were in his clothes keeping his there but not torturing him while using some rope to keep him from breaking free.

Haku had set up a wooden cross in the centre of town in front of everyone, a mirror of what Gato had once done to the hero of the village so long ago, she knew none of his thugs would come and cut him down, seeing this would scare them off, they would see he had no power left and would disperse.

The villages had all come out of there homes as the sun came up all looking at the sight of Gato with Haku standing in front of him just watching, she turned to look at all the villagers as they approached, "Who you see here, is the man responsible for all your pain and suffering, this is Gato" she pointed to him, "Do what you will with him" she said before walking off through the gathered crowd who began to surround Gato much to his terror.

Down a hidden alley by the centre, Kakashi was watching as Haku approached him, he'd been watching her the entire time to make sure she'd do good on her promise, "It's done" she said stepping into the alley with her glancing back towards the crowd around Gato seemingly deciding what to do with him now he was defenceless.

"I thought you would have killed him yourself?" Kakashi asked raising an eyebrow at her actions.

Haku sighed taking her mask off, "I wanted too but…" she paused looking back to Kakashi, "I was thinking about what Master Zabuza said, and he was right, revenge would just make me fall deeper" she looked back "But I had to stop Gato for everything he's done so I just took his power from him, I'll leave is fate up to those he hurt".

Kakashi smiled before tapping her shoulder, "Come on, the others are waiting" he walked off closely followed by Haku leaving Gato to his fate.

On a hill overlooking the bridge there was a dirt mound covered in stones, all the Shinobi had gathered around as Kakashi approached with Haku, "I don't get it, why are we burying him and showing respect too?" Naruto questioned aloud.

"It's because it's the right thing to do" Asuma answered for everyone, "Zabuza had suffered so much and what he became wasn't his fault, he died like a true Shinobi so should be treated with the respect owed to that" he looked over to the approaching Haku, "And it's a chance to fully put things right".

As Haku approached she noticed the group paying there respects, she nodded her head to them before walking up to the mound and bowing her head, Asuma stepped up to gently place the executioners blade at the top of the grave, embedding it into the ground above the grave as a symbol of who was buried there.

Kakashi nudged Kalis's shoulder subtlety telling him to go to Haku; he nodded and walked up to stand beside her imitating her actions of paying respect, they stood beside each other in silence for a while, neither knew what to say.

"I can't change the past as much as I want to" Kalis muttered to her, Haku didn't respond, she was content to just listen, "But I can do something about the present, Haku I don't want our clans to be enemies anymore, I want to move on from what happened in the past because if we can't…"

"I know…" she whispered turning to look at him, "I've spent my entire life hating your clan and despising it's existence that I didn't stop to think you could change, I could only see you as monsters" Kalis faced her looking into her eyes, "Meeting you Kalis changed my perception, though I was slow to accept it, when your friends told me that you weren't a bad person I could only think they were lying, but seeing your actions makes me truly believe them now".

"I hurt you all so much just to realise that" she glanced to all the others but lingered on Naruto longer than the others, she placed her hands to her side and bowed to them, "I am so sorry for what I did to you all" she looked up and saw them all smiling at her but she still looked downcast as she turned back to Kalis.

"However, sorry wont be enough, there are simply no words I could say to just magically make it better but maybe there are actions" Haku said to Kalis extending her hand.

"I too no longer wish our clans to be enemies" he looked at him with a tiny smile on her lips, "In fact, Kalis I hope that I can actually get to know you properly and not just hear these stories but witness them myself so that one day, maybe we could become friends instead and truly leave this hate behind us" she said to him, her genuine smile present.

Kalis looked down at her hand for a moment before back to her his own smile breaking out, slowly he took her hand in his, "I'd love that Haku, I would really, really love that" he smiled shaking her hand over Zabuza's grave.

Haku smiled casting a glance down to her fallen masters grave, it was the reason she'd asked them to talk here, she wanted Zabuza to witness this, the end to her chase of revenge, the sun came out from the clouds and shined over both their hands making Haku keep her smile.

00000000000

It wasn't long until the bridge was built after that, with there being no distractions Tazuna and his work force could work in peace and when it was finished the time to say goodbye had finally come.

The leaf ninja stood on the bridge facing the people of the village, "You have to leave already?" Inari wined looking up to Naruto.

He chuckled, "Yeah we do, but we'll come to visit some time promise" the blond responded rubbing the boys hair making him smile.

"Kakashi, thank you all so much for your help, I don't know where we'd be without you all" Tazuna said shaking hands with the Jonin who eye smiled at him.

"We were happy to be of help Tazuna, maybe next time you'll think twice before judging the skill of my Genin" he joked in response making the bridgebuilder let out a laugh of his own, "But seriously, I'm glad we were able to save your village".

"We need to get back to our own, we're long overdue for check in" Asuma said stepping up and shaking hands with Tazuna as well.

"Yes I understand, but know that you are always welcome here" Tazuna said letting their hands go with a smile.

While everyone was saying their goodbyes, Kalis was stood facing Haku away from them, "Are you sure you want to stay here, you're welcome to come back with us, my father could look at removing that mark for you?" he asked her.

"I will for now at least, I owe it to them to make sure they get back on their feet, they've even asked if I can teach the a few fighting styles to help them stay out of trouble" she replied with a smile.

"What will you do after?"

"I'm not sure yet, I'll see where the wind takes me I guess" she answered briefly looking to the sky but soon back down to Kalis, "But one day I'll come to the Leaf Village to see you all again, and maybe then you can introduce me to this sister I've been hearing so much about" she smiled.

"Sure, I'd love to do that Haku, I think we all would" he smiled.

Haku opened her back pouch and pulled out some new bandages before stepping towards Kalis, "May I?" She asked hesitantly wanting his approval before she did anything.

"Sure" Kalis smiled looking at her one last time before closing his eyes, he felt the bindings cover his eye lids before wrapping around the back of his head where Haku tied the bandages off.

What he didn't expect though was Haku cupping his chin with her hand and brought his protector up slightly to kiss his forehead before stepping back again and fixing his protector back in place "I believe that's how you do it right" she giggled covering her mouth with a hand.

Kalis smiled and laughed his own, "Yeah".

"Hey Kalis are you ready?" Naruto called out to his friend, Kalis faced Haku one more time and gave her a smile and a nod before going to the others, "Oh and Haku, you better come visit the Hidden Leaf, I'll get to show you that ramen place I was telling you about!" Naruto called out to he making her smile and nod to him.

As they walked along the bridge, realisation struck one of them, "How long do we have to walk for?" Shikamaru groaned in annoyance already knowing the answer would be a long time making the two either side of him Ino and Choji start to laugh.

"There's the Shikamaru we know" Ino laughed.

"He'll never change" Choji added as the lazy boy groaned in annoyance.

"I can't wait to finally get home, didn't think I'd miss it this much" Sakura said to her teammates who were walking alongside her, "What about you guys?".

"It'll be great to see the village again, I cold go for some food other than fish" Naruto chuckled rubbing the back of his head an to his surprise Sakura had a little chuckle of her own.

"I'm going straight for the baths, I could definitely use a hot spring right now" Kalis said stretching his arms out above his head.

"That does sounds like a good idea" Sasuke agreed taking Kalis and the other back for a moment getting his attention, "What? I'm just agreeing with him" he defended not hearing himself.

"So Sasuke of the Uchiha agrees with Kalis of the Kochi, huh?" Kalis teased making a tic mark form on Sasuke's head.

"I'm just saying it's a good idea is all" he grumbled but instead of him storming off ahead of them he just crossed his arms and kept pace, making the others chuckle slightly.

"Looks like even Sasuke is opening up" Kakashi mused from behind them.

"Yep, so it seems this mission was worth it in the end, Team 7 seemed to actually be working together now, or at least able to talk together" Asuma chuckled lighting a cigarette for the long walk back.

"Indeed it has, all of them have changed in their own way on this mission, they've all opened up to each other" Kakashi mused pulling out his book to read, "And hopefully they'll keep this momentum going into the Chunin exams".

Asuma nodded, "Now there is a question, who would win, Team 7 or Team 10" he muttered leaving the open question between them knowing they might find out the answer in a month or two's time.

As Haku watched their figures retreat off into the distance, she couldn't help but glance at the sign on the bridge that held it's name, "Tazuna, are you sure you want to name the bridge after him?" she asked.

"Of course" he said standing next to her looking at the sign himself, "It'll remind us of our darkest days and motivate us to fight to not let it happen again, whenever we look at this bridge it will remind us to fight for our home" he let out a chuckle, "It's also a thank you, to you for doing what was right in the end and to him for guiding you to that choice".

"And besides, doesn't 'The Great Zabuza Bridge' just roll of the tongue".

0000000000

I finally finished the land of waves, these four chapter are some of the longest in the story.

Now the important bits.

So onto the main question, the reason this took a while was because I was actually doing some rewriting of the older chapters, fixing them up and stuff so go back and have a look if you want there aren't any major changes with the exception of chapter 5 which is completely new but it is a standalone piece so go back and read it if you want but you wont be missing much if you don't, just some bits with Soruki, it's short so if you're interested have a look.

Now after this is the Chunin exams (Spoilers or whatever) and I'm having a bit of trouble here, I'm currently planning to have each test be relatively different, I wont say how to avoid actual spoilers but I'm having difficulty thinking of a different approach for the written exam (1st part) so if anyone has any idea just fire them at me.

And, if you notice any weird bits about chapters just send me a PM, everything should be straightened out now but there might be one or two odd bits here so just let me know.

Happy Birthday Haku, you get to live!

Next time will be interesting, as two female characters are finally appearing.