Akihiro had made it to the young Uchiha quickly and told him that they needed to talk. He pulled him aside from his team of Sakura and Kiba. He crouched down to Sasuke's height and looked him in the eye. "What comes first, the village or your family?"
Sasuke scoffed at him. "The village of course."
"Good then you will have no problem having a couple of houses in the Uchiha district being rented out to a ninja that will be joining us. Good talk kiddo." Akihiro disappeared before Sasuke could respond. The young boy looked around for the older ninja then shrugged. Truly he didn't really care if they were going to have him rent out a couple of houses, but what ticked him off is they didn't ask him whatsoever. What he was curious about has why they need a couple houses for a single ninja.
The team, still working towards their mission of protection till completion of the bridge, was making their way through the forest when Haku stopped the group. "We are being followed. Quite closely. I believe it is a summon and a small one at that."
"I'm not small! Damn you leaf ninja are rude. I don't know why Boss signed a contract with that old leaf geezer!" A monkey carrying a scroll on his back and a staff in his tail swung down from a branch, holding that with his feet.
Haku drew her senbon needles when Kurenai stopped her. "This is one of the Hokage summons. Is that message for us?" She pointed to the scroll on the monkey's back.
"Yep, you take it!" The monkey threw the scroll at the group and swung off deeper into the forest. Kurenai caught the scroll and unrolled it, making sure to keep it out of Haku's vision. She read it and her jaw dropped. She never expected the Hokage to go along with it at all. Once she reread it she understood. Akihiro had a hand in writing it. He must have to give the condition that Naruto would be trained by him. Hell he wouldn't be surprised if this ends up a large mess.
"Bring back Naruto and Zabuza. The Hokage has agreed to your request, but with a few conditions. They should be acceptable." Kurenai handed the scroll off the Haku who read it over. If his face wasn't covered by the mask you would have seen his eyes go wide. He dashed off into the woods towards the base that they had established.
"So you know nothing about your family? That kinda sucks kid. I think they're more of you scattered about." Zabuza was now just laying down on the ground with naruto laying on the other side of the shack. Naruto knew that running would make him lose a limb and Zabuza knew that Naruto knew that. So they had just laid down and talked. There was no harm. Either the Leaf sees his value and Zabuza comes out with a place to live, or he kills the brat. There was no in between and no escape for Naruto. Or that's what Zabuza thought. He was talking to a clone, while the real one had burrowed using jutsu to escape. Zabuza had let down his guard thinking that a kid can't be that hard to keep in one spot. Well that kid was on his way out already about a hundred feet away from the shack, unburrowed and walking away with a smirk on his face. At that point there was a senbon needle in between each of his toes. There was also a Zabuza running out of the shack with a needle in his hand. "YOU BRAT! You swapped yourself with a clone!" Zabuza moved up and grabbed onto his handle, as if he was going to cut the young ninja in half. This was the point the Haku put up his hand to stop his master.
"They accepted with a few conditions." Haku held out the scroll for Zabuza to read, then grabbed Naruto by the collar.
"Hey you escaped from me. Good job student. I'll remember that during training." Naruto looked at him confusedly and raised an eyebrow. Zabuza took the scroll from Haku and showed it to Naruto. He just groaned and yelled.
"UNCLE AKIHIRO!" This took both Haku and Zabuza by surprise, then Naruto brushed himself off and sighed. "Let's go. We may as well go back to the leaf."
"Nope brat. We got to finish the mission you were assigned first. Look at this you get to do an A rank right away! All because I was involved." He started to Carry Naruto along with him and Haku as they caught up with Team Eight.
Zabuza threw Naruto to the ground as they made it to the rest of them. Old man Tazuna finally spoke up, unsure how to say anything up till this point. "Well the more to keep my men and me safe, the better."
"You got that wrong old man. My presence will just make Gato hire more missing nin. A lot more. So I'll be heading back with Haku before Gato can figure out what is going on." Zabuza turned and looked at Naruto. "Brat the day after you get back we start training. Good Luck." At this point Naruto was more comfortable with the older killer. He had no clue why though. So Naruto stuck his tongue out at him. "Careful or you might just lose it." The swordsman laughed as he and Haku left.
The group quietly walked along for a bit till Tazuna spoke up again, "So what was that all about? I mean isn't he really dangerous?" The rest of the group kept moving in silence. Which was eerie to begin with, but Naruto being quiet freaked everyone out moreso. The group got to an area nearby the dock, and snuck aboard a boat, taking Tanuza with them. They did everything in quiet. Hinata, not sure whether to talk to Naruto at all. She wasn't sure how Naruto truly felt about her and the clans in general. Not after that outburst. Shino did not want anything to do with Naruto after his bugs got a taste of the threatenly unnatural chakra. Kurenai just wanted the mission to be done already. She had no clue she was going to be given that beast on top of a Hyuga and Shino in general was just weird. At least nothing else should go wrong.
Once they made it to the land of waves, they snuck their way off the boat and onto shore. Getting off was much easier, due to nightfall hitting while they were moving off. The group had moved out to Tanuza's house and were greeted with a young lady holding open the door for them. She had long blue-ish hair and wore matching pants. She also wore a very basic pick shirt, almost akin to a worker's style. She smiled as she saw the older man and yelled out, "Dad! You made it back. We've been so worried! Inari is already asleep so we need to be quiet." There was a young boy on the stairs , who was obviously not asleep, who greeted the group that followed Tazuna in with a frown and furrowed brows. He ran up stairs quickly, wiping something out of his eyes. Naruto looked up and saw the boy. He just saw a kid run off crying and couldn't help but see himself. Mainly because he had just done that not even a full two days ago. He felt like he needed to talk to the boy, so he did what ninjas do and snuck away from his team. Well everyone except Kurenai, who saw him but let him go anyway. As long as that thing doesn't break out she doesn't care at the moment.
Naruto made his way up the stairs, at which point he could hear the kid crying from their room. He knocked on the door and spoke up, "You're Inari right? What's up with you brat?" The door swung open and hit Naruto in the head. The was followed up with a loud sniffle, then a first landed right on Naruto's crotch.
"SCREW OFF! You're going to get us all killed!" The door was then slammed shut yet again. Naruto was on the floor, tears in his eyes. Even sparring with his Uncle didn't prepare him for that. Granted his Uncle wasn't that good at fighting in practice, just theory. That hurt Naruto almost on the same level as gaining his scars. The rest heard him hit the floor and Tanuza ran up to check on him. Mainly because he had figured what happened with the yelling and floor. The old man helped Naruto up.
"Sorry about him. He really doesn't like the idea that we're standing up for ourselves. Tomorrow I won't be working yet, so you should rest. I'll lead your group over to an area to train while you do so. I know you are all fresh off your mom's teat." Naruto glared at the man and stood up. He dusted himself off and looked at Tanuza.
"I'm fine, show me where that spot is now." Tazuna nodded then spoke up.
"I'll tell you where it is, but don't expect much. It's a clearing in the woods northeast of the beginning of the bridge. Take your time kiddo." Tazuna waved off the boy as he left through the widow. Naruto made a dash for the clearing. The old man smiled at the boy, thinking that he was just running off to goof off. He was wrong, as soon as Naruto got there he started with grabbing a leaf. He tried as hard as he could the channel chakra into it and split it but couldn't figure it out. He ended up ripping it in half quite quickly. He grabbed another. This time he tried channeling it in one spot, which caused the leaf to explode outward in shreds. He kept at it till the sun rose. Not because he thought it was time to turn in for his job, or because he thought it was time to sleep but because he did it. He sliced the leaf clean in half, right down the vein in the middle. He was so happy, he screamed out once he did it and he also grabbed a ton of leaves and kept cutting them. All he did was picture that huge blade that Zabuza wielded chopping right through them. He did it, it was that easy. Kurenai just watched him from the treeline, laughing lightly as she saw him surrounded in leaves split in half, holloring and jumping around like he had won the lottery.
"Come on kid, We got a job to do, and you will make it so much easier with your clone jutsu." She waved him down, and he perked up similarly to a dog. He ran over holding a leaf waving it at Kurenai.
"I did it sensei! I did it!" As he was waving the leaf in half, it split. He looked at it and then back at her. "Whoops."
She chuckled and nodded, "Yes and now don't use it till you get the next part of your training. Wind chakra is one of the more dangerous being able to slice through nearly anything. Except maybe things made with strong enough earth chakra, other wind chakra, and fire chakra. Fire and wind always mix, making something extremely dangerous. Anyway, till you learn how to use it properly, don't use it at all. Got it?" She used her height over the younger boy to look down on him, giving him a mother's glare.
"Yes Ma'am." He said as he followed her back. He walked for a bit till they heard a scream. It was coming from the area the bridge was in. Naruto made two clones and sent them ahead, before Kurenai could even react. He wasn't going to let anyone be hurt. Once they got there they saw Tsunami in the hands of two thugs. One had a blade to her throat and the other licking his lips. The two ninja watched for a moment.
"Lord Gato said we could bring in quite a bit of money for anyone in that old bastard's family. Who knew his daughter was such a looker?" The man while the blade had one of his hands moving up her side. The one looking her up and down responded to the first's comment.
"Yeah before we turn her in, we could always have some fun with her!" He licked his lips yet again, as if he were a hungry dog looking at a well cooked steak. At this point, Naruto snapped. He couldn't watch someone else's family be taken from them. Even he knew that this would be hard, if they had brains and didn't think with their dicks. Two pairs of hands appeared around the ankles of the thugs,dragging them deep into the ground. All that could be heard is their screams. Naruto was exhibiting the same traits as his uncle when he was angry, only instead of just fire, it was as if boiling hot chakra spikes were rupturing from all over his body. Kurenai snapped her fingers in front of him, at which point she noticed his eyes were slightly red. She risked it and slapped him, snapping him out of the anger fueled trance. Luckily she didn't hurt herself doing so.
"Thanks, I needed that. I just couldn't stand it at all." Kurenai nodded and put her hand on Naruto's back.
"I understand. Go make sure she is okay." Naruto nodded and jumped off to meet her. He landed in front of Tsunami and smiled, putting his hand behind his head. The tree branch he was on, burnt black with a few small holes in the bottom.
"Wow good things those thugs disappeared out of nowhere huh? I wonder what's at the bottom of those holes? Guess we'll never know." She reached out and hugged him, crying. He just sat there silently and patted her back. He had no clue what to say, he was still a kid. In reality that was it. He and his team were kids, with no experience. Not in life, or being ninja. The rest of the trip went rather smoothly. "Naruto" guarded the bridge, Tanuza thanked Naruto over and over for saving his "precious little girl," a few thugs came now and then, but a small army of Naruto's beat them up and tied them to a post for villagers to do with as they please.
The real excitement was Kurenai teaching the other two kids the wall walking technique. Along with the real Naruto watching. He was enjoying his teammates falling flat on their asses every few minutes.
The first one to get the technique down was Shino, which made sense because he was mostly made of bugs that absorb chakra. Hinata wasn't far behind him, with her clans fighting style being about channeling chakra into their fingers, she figured out tree walking pretty quickly. Which made Kurenai pretty proud to teach such quick learners, but disappointed that Naruto already knew waterwalking, on top of tree walking. Really, it wasn't disappointment that he already knew, but that she couldn't teach him.
On the way back Naruto had dread returning the whole time. The thought of having to train with the man who threatened to slice him to pieces made him worry about what kind of classes such a man would run.
Meanwhile in the village, Zabuza arrived about a day before Team 8 had left from their position guarding the bridge. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T LET ME IN? I have a letter with the Hokage's seal right here! Screw it I'll just fuck you up and let myself in!" Zabuza grabbed on the handle of his sword, slightly unsheathing it. Haku put his hand up in front of Zabuza. The guards were put on alert. One being a man with spikey, let down black hair and a small chin strap of a beard and the other wearing a cap with his headband attached, his hair poking out the side.
"We would like to speak to a Jonnin about being let in, one by the name Akihiro." The two guards looked at each other then laughed.
"You want to talk to him? The man of a million unuseable jutsu?" Footsteps were heard behind them.
"Do you mean the man with a higher rank than you, invaluable to the village, and one of our largest assets and devilishly handsome?" Akihiro spoke from behind them. At which point the two Jonnin stood at attention and shook their heads. "Relax, I don't give a fuck what you think about me. Just because I can't use the techniques I come up with, or share them does not make them useless. Right Zabuza? I'm sure you saw some of Naruto's techniques."
"No actually, the brat passed out on his own, near a lake that I was waiting for some of my team by." The two guards worked to contain their laughter, failing.
Akihiro glared back at them. "I said I don't care what you think about me. Reconsider who you are laughing at." Both the guards shut it, Best case scenario they get put on a worse job, worse case scenario they get their shit kicked in by an Uzumaki in an enraged state. Everyone knows what happened to those kids that scarred Naruto, and no one wanted to see what it was like from the kids eyes. Of course nothing bad happened for Akihiro because he was the Hokage's top and only chakra researcher. He took over a lot of that monster's work and lab. Although he was under strict Anbu watch when he was doing research, to make sure that was never repeated.
Akihiro waved at his new guests. "Welcome, come on in! I thought you would be coming in soon so I made my way over to welcome you!" Akihiro put his hands behind the backs of the two rogue ninja joining the village. It was almost as if he was putting some of his weight on them. He led them in, smiling and started speaking. "You two will be living in the Uchiha district. I have sectioned off a few houses that you and whatever troops you gain can use. The leader of the clan will be living across from you. Make yourselves at home!" He walked them all the way in answering whatever questions he could, then pushed them inside the gates to the wing of the village they would be living in. He quickly left them alone. The houses were clearly marked with a sign in front. Zabuza and Haku took one house, and made themselves at home. They were to rest till at least team 8 got back. That was their own decree.
Three Days Later
Naruto was lagging behind the rest of the group and "watching their backs" ,according to him. Kurenai was the first to speak to him in a more casual manner, "Hey there, are you keeping a Sharp lookout for any rogue ninja?" Naruto flitched at hearing the words, "rogue ninja" and the rest of the group noticed. Shino smirking lightly, and Hinata looking worried.
"Naruto-Kun, you aren't worried about getting trained by that man right? I'm sure you're strong enough to overcome any of it!" Once again the speaking up of Hinata surprising the party, and leaving Kurenai impressed that Hinata was able to say that, which she was going to tell Naruto in a much less gentle manner. The group moved in silence no longer.
"Of course I'm not worried about him. It's gonna be easy, I mean he looks like a slightly muscular twig!" Naruto laughed lightly, sweat dripping from the back of his neck. Shino just continued to observe quietly, smirking.
The group walked into the village, after getting their headbands checked and identities confirmed. They went straight to the Hokage's office to report the happenings of their mission. As soon as they walked in he put his hand up. The group was stopped and the Hokage pointed at Naruto and waved him to walk up to the desk. He immediately got hit on the head. "Child what gave you the right to get captured? As the last Uzumaki other than your uncle you need to be more careful. You're going to give me a heart attack! Now go to the hospital. There has been an incident. Come back after. The rest of you, report this instant. From the beginning to now!" Naruto heard the word incident and ran out of the room right away. He didn't even wait for the Hokage to finish.
