Chapter Two: Meetings
Author's Note: Just want to thank all the people who have left a like, follow or review.
To answer a common question; who's in the harem? The only sure person in the harem is Haku. Any other girls mentioned might be in the harem or might not be. I am open to suggestions, though I don't want to make the harem too big.
Also, if you guys have any suggestions on how I can better denote when a flashback or a scene break occurs that would be greatly appreciated.
Otherwise, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Italics: Thoughts
Bold: Technique names (English Translation)
Horizontal Line: Signals a flashback
When Naruto had fallen asleep in the forest the things he had expected to be awoken by included the sun, an animal, his sensei, one of his teammates or, heaven forbid, some enemy; he never expected to be woken up by an angel.
"You'll catch a cold if you sleep out here," a voice as soft as silk said, as Naruto felt a hand gently shake his shoulder.
Groaning, Naruto opened his bleary eyes only to be met with warm chocolate-brown eyes, residing in a soft face with a button nose and pouty pink lips all framed by a curtain of black tresses; "Beautiful," Naruto murmured.
The angel blushed, as her hand left his shoulder and demurely covered her mouth. "Ara," she giggled, "Thank you for the compliment, Shinobi-san." She moved her hand and gave Naruto a bright smile.
Naruto, realizing that he blurted out his thoughts, scratched the back of his head as he gave her a sheepish grin, "Sorry." Naruto then tilted his head, as his mind caught up with her last comment, "Say, how did you know I was a Shinobi?" Naruto asked with the slightest amount of suspicion.
The angel slowly reached her hand forward and flicked his hiate, producing a tiny ding as her nail struck the metal. "Is this not your headband, Shinobi-san?" She asked, teasingly.
Naruto grumbled as he quickly turned his head to the side to hide his embarrassment. "Baka Naruto," he silently admonished himself. He then turned towards the woman and stated, "And my name's not 'Shinobi-san,' it's Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konohagakure!" He finished his statement with a bright grin.
"Ah, my apologies, I did not know I was in the presence of someone so great," she said with faux-surprise coloring her tone. She bowed her head slightly, "My name is Yuki Haku, aspiring doctor."
"Doctor?" Naruto tilted his head, then shivered. "I'm not a fan of doctors, too many needles."
Haku held up her basket as she suppressed a laugh. "Then I hope you like me; I prefer to use herbs in my treatments."
"Herbs…" Naruto trailed off, reminded of something. "Ah," his blue eyes widened in realization. "I didn't hurt the herbs, did I?" He asked, hoping he didn't damage the herbs during his training last night. The last time he had done so, Ino had found out and made her displeasure known.
On a dirt road somewhere in the countryside of Hi no Kuni, a kunoichi with platinum blonde hair in pupil-less teal eyes, sneezed. It wouldn't have been so bad, if she wasn't eating at an onigiri at the moment, and subsequently sprayed bits of half-chewed rice and snot over her new top.
Her scream of rage could be heard for miles around.
Haku shook her head. "No, Uzumaki-san, you didn't hurt the herbs. In fact," Haku made a show of looking around, "They appear to be the only undamaged things in this clearing."
Naruto let out a nervous chuckle as he scratched his cheek. "Sorry, I guess I might have gone a little overboard with training."
Haku made a "hmm" sound in agreement. She then looked into Naruto's eyes-"He has beautiful blue eyes," she thought absently-and asked; "Why are you out here training, Uzumaki-san?"
"You can just call me 'Naruto,' Haku-san," Naruto waved his hand as if brushing away the formalities, "As for why I'm training, I want to get stronger."
"Stronger? But you look so strong and manly already!" Haku gushed.
"Nope! I need to be stronger, a lot stronger than I am!" Naruto exclaimed, excitedly.
Haku's tone softened as she asked; "But why? Why do you seek strength, Naruto-san?"
Naruto paused, thinking of his answer. If you had asked him a week ago his answer would have been, "So I can be the Hokage!" But after their team meeting two days ago, his answer has changed.
Kakashi's team was currently resting from their confrontation with Zabuza in a room that Tazuna had provided for them at his house.
Kakashi was resting on the sole futon in the room, having collapsed from chakra exhaustion shortly after the Oinin had left with Zabuza's body, while each of his Genin was doing something to relax; Sakura was brushing her hair, Sasuke was checking his equipment and Naruto was leaning on the window sill and staring out to sea. It was his final Genin, Naruto, who occupied Kakashi's thoughts as he stared up at the ceiling.
"Naruto surprised me. I did not expect him to Henge into a shuriken and have Sasuke throw him at Zabuza. It was wonderful teamwork. Although…Naruto, come here for a second." Kakashi ordered as he continued to stare up at the ceiling.
"Hmm," Naruto broke out of his daydreaming and knelt down by Kakashi's bedside, "What is it Kakashi-sensei?"
Kakashi gave Naruto his eye smile to put him at ease. "Naruto, I want to thank you-and Sasuke as well-for saving me. Your plan to force Zabuza to release me was ingenious."
Naruto bashfully rubbed the back of his head. "Gee, thanks, Kakashi-sensei. I just knew I had to do something to save you, dattebayo. It's like you said, 'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."
"Thank you, Naruto. However," Kakashi narrowed his eyes at his student, "Why didn't you have a shadow clone transform into a shuriken and have that thrown instead? You realize by having the real you thrown you placed yourself in immediate danger?"
Naruto started to sweat. "Err, yeah. I guess I didn't really think that far ahead."
"No," Kakashi sighed, "You didn't think that far ahead, but that's a reflection on me, your teacher, rather than on you. The Oinin made it clear when he mentioned 'water-walking' that I have been neglectful as your Sensei. To all of you."
Sakura perked up. "Water-walking?" She asked, as she placed her brush in her bag and walked over to kneel on the other side of Kakashi's bed. "What did the Oinin mean by 'water-walking?' And what is an Oinin anyway?"
"To answer your first question; water-walking is a chakra control exercise that teaches a shinobi how to channel chakra through their feet to stand on water. It's how Zabuza and I were fighting on the lake." Kakashi explained.
"And why haven't you taught us that yet?" Sasuke interjected, as he plopped himself down next to Sakura, sitting cross-legged.
Kakashi mentally sighed, as he prepared himself for the eventual explosion from his students; "Because I've yet to teach you tree-walking."
"Tree-walking," Sakura's eyes narrowed in thought. "Is this something that the other Genin squads have already been taught?" She asked with an accusing tone.
Kakashi winced. "Damn, sometimes I forget how smart Sakura is…Maybe?" He squeaked out.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura erupted. "Just what are we supposed to know by now?!"
"A lot more than you currently do," Kakashi told her as he tried to burrow himself into his pillow to escape his female student's wrath. "And that blame lies solely with me," Kakashi admitted as he looked towards his students, "And for that I apologize. I was hoping that you three would approach me with questions on how to improve, but I've realized as I've been laying here that you three probably didn't even know what you had to improve on."
"And what do we have to improve on?" Sasuke asked with his chin resting on his threaded fingers.
"A lot, though the most pressing thing is chakra control. It'll help improve Sakura's reserves, as well as ensuring that you and Naruto don't waste nearly as much chakra on your jutsus." Kakashi explained. "So, we'll start with tree-climbing tomorrow. We need to do this because you never know when we'll run into another Shinobi like Zabuza. Hell, I wouldn't put it past Gatō to hire another nin."
"Would he really do that, Kakashi-sensei? I mean Zabuza had to have cost him a pretty penny to hire; wouldn't that have set him back?" Sakura asked, sounding a bit fearful of potentially facing someone like Zabuza again.
Kakashi didn't want to worry his Genin, but as they say 'Forewarned is forearmed,' so he soldiered on. "The fact that he hired someone like Zabuza means that his operations here in Nami no Kuni are lucrative. Very lucrative. Meaning, he's very likely to hire another shinobi of Zabuza's calibur to protect those operations."
Sakura paled, Naruto gulped and Sasuke clenched his fists so hard his knuckles popped.
"We were lucky," Kakashi continued, "If Zabuza had had an accomplice who knows what would have happened." The irony of this statement would not be lost on Kakashi in the near future.
"Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke," Kakashi addressed them, making sure to look each Genin in the eye as he said their names. "I promised you that I would never let my comrades die, and I meant it then and I mean it now. However, I can't guarantee that I'll always be there to protect you or," Kakashi gave a self-deprecating chuckle, "That you might not have to save me. That's why we need to get stronger. All of us. So that we can protect each other."
"You bet, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto grinned.
"Let's get stronger together!" Sakura cheered, while internally she was thinking, "Cha, I'll be stronger than you yet, Ino-buta. Then Sasuke-kun will be all mine!"
"Hnn," Sasuke smirked.
"Alright," Kakashi said, "We'll start tree-walking tomorrow. Any questions?"
"Wait, you never answered my question about what an Oinin was?" Sakura pointed out.
"Ah," Kakashi sweat dropped, "Sorry, I forgot about that." He turned to his orange garbed student-"Really need to get him some darker clothes. How he outran and hid from Anbu in that monstrosity is beyond me…Would you care to field this one, Naruto?"
"Sure," Naruto chirped. It was rare that he actually got to show off his knowledge. Naruto turned towards Sakura. "An Oinin is a ninja who's responsible for hunting down their village's missing-nin and disposing of their bodies. They do it so that enemy villages can't learn secrets from their bodies or take anything from them. Konoha has some Oinin as well. They serve as part of Anbu."
"Wow," Sakura gasped, "I didn't know that happened. And I didn't know you were so knowledgeable, Naruto," she said, sounding impressed.
"Hehe, when you hang around Hokage-Jiji as much as I do you learn some things." Naruto said as he placed his hands behind his head.
Sakura shook her head, as if to ward off an impending headache. "Naruto, stop referring to Hokage-sama so disrespectfully."
"But Sakura-chan," Naruto moaned weakly, having had this conversation before and knowing where it's gonna go, "Hokage-Jiji likes it when I call him that."
"I don't care! It's disrespectful so you shouldn't do it." Sakura huffed, as she crossed her arms.
"Sakura-chan.." Naruto hung his head.
"Although," another question popped into her head as she mentally ran through Kakashi and Naruto's conversation with the Oinin, "I recall you saying that it was a rule for Oinin to dispose of bodies where they dropped, why didn't he?"
"Ah," Kakashi let out a nervous chuckle, "I may have implied that I wanted to take Zabuza's blade for Konoha."
Sasuke scoffed. "That hunk of metal?"
"Don't laugh, Sasuke. That hunk of metal is worth enough to buy you a small town." Kakashi laughed as he saw Sakura and Naruto bolt upright.
"Really/really?!" They yelled simultaneously.
Kakashi nodded. "Yes, really. Zabuza's blade, the Kubikiribōchō, is one of seven special blades that is passed down to the best seven sword wielders of Kirigakure no Sato. Each blade has a special ability associated with it, and when all seven swordsmen are on the battlefield with their blades, they are said to be capable of bringing down an entire nation."
"Wow/wow." Naruto and Sakura were amazed. Even Sasuke was impressed, going by the slight widening of his eyes.
"Ne, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura began wringing her hands, "We don't have to worry about another swordsman showing up, do we?"
Kakashi allayed her fears. "It's highly unlikely, Sakura. From our intel six of the seven are either dead or missing-nin. There is one who remains loyal to the Mizukage, but with Kiri's civil war I doubt he would be leaving his Kage's side anytime soon."
Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good." Naruto nodded his head in agreement and Sasuke slightly relaxed.
"That's enough talk. We've got an early morning tomorrow, so let's get some rest." Kakashi dismissed them.
A snap of fingers broke Naruto out of his thoughts. "Are you ok, Naruto-san?" Haku asked him as she withdrew her hand.
"Ah, sorry," Naruto gave her an apologetic grin, "I guess I was just lost in thought. To answer your question; I want to get stronger to protect my Sensei and teammates; they're…" Naruto paused as he searched for the right words, "Precious to me."
Haku's eyes shone brightly at his answer, and for some unknown reason, Naruto felt like he had just passed some sort of test.
"That's a good reason to get stronger. In fact, I think that the only way for a person to be truly strong is when they are protecting someone precious to them." Haku explained as she gave Naruto a smile that made his heart do backflips.
"I agree, Haku-chan!" Naruto exclaimed.
Haku blushed at the affectionate suffix. Then she threw Naruto a sly grin, "Haku-chan?' My, my Naruto-kun," Haku teased as she drew out the 'kun' suffix, "How forward of you."
Naruto yelped, his face turning cherry red, as he frantically waved his arms up and down, "No! I mean you are pretty-beautiful! But I didn't mean…but I wouldn't mind getting close to you-I mean getting to know you! I mean, I'll…err, I'll shut up now." Naruto trailed off as he stared at the dirt, wondering if the earth would be kind enough to swallow him at that moment.
Haku giggled. "Poor boy," she thought, "He blushes any harder and he might faint."
Somewhere in Konohagakure no Sato, a blue haired kunoichi with pale lavender eyes, sneezed, during a meeting between her father and sister.
"Are you ok, Nee-chan?" A girl with long brown hair and similar eyes asked.
"I'm ok, Imouto," the blue haired kunoichi assured her with a smile.
Their father, who had long brown hair and pale eyes as well, let out a small cough to get their attention. "Hinata, Hanabi, let us continue."
"Yes, Tou-sama," they both replied.
"It's alright, Naruto-kun," Haku assured him, placing emphasis on the suffix. "I was just surprised." Haku stood up and offered the boy a hand, "Now would this kind gentleman assist this humble doctor with her tasks?"
Naruto took her hand and stood up. "You bet, dattebayo."
"Dattebayo?" Haku asked as she covered her mouth to suppress her giggles.
Naruto just groaned as he facepalmed.
Unknown to either of them, a raven haired Genin was leaning against a tree and listening to the conversation. "The Dobe has got himself a girlfriend?" Sasuke smirked as he put his hands in his pockets and left to report to Kakashi. "Wonder what the Scarecrow will think of this?"
(Scene Change)
Elsewhere on the island, Gatō was sitting in his office smoking a cigar with his left hand. "That bitch," he glared down at his broken right-wrist that was in a sling. "She dares to harm me?! Gatō?! I am the biggest businessman this side of the elemental nations!"
Gatō was broken out of his fumings when his assistant entered his office. "Gatō-sama, we've got a message from our contact in Kirigakure no Sato."
"And?" Gatō growled, as he glared at his assistant over his shades. The message in his eyes was clear; If I don't like this, I'll be needing a new assistant.
Gatō's assistant gulped. "Our contact has informed us that the Mizukage is interested in our offer, and he will be sending his agent in the next ten days."
"Wonderful," Gatō took a long drag of his cigar, held the smoke in his mouth for a second, and slowly exhaled, "That's the best news I've gotten all day." Gatō tapped his cigar into his crystal ashtray, "You're dismissed."
Gatō's assistant scurried out of the room.
Gatō swiveled in his chair and looked out his window and towards the warehouse floor. He watched for a while as his men were busy packaging his product, the sight never failing to bring a grin to his face. "Soon, I'll be expanding into Mizu no Kuni." Gatō looked at his broken wrist and chuckled, "And the bitch will get what's coming to her. Who says you can't mix business with pleasure?"
(Scene Change)
Haku was humming a pleasant tune, as she entered their hideout, lightly swinging her basket full of herbs that Naruto had helped her pick. The basket was filled to bursting.
Haku let out a chuckle, remembering Naruto's eagerness to help her with her task. So eager was he that she had to stop him from picking the clearing clean. He apologized and gave her his signature grin that stretched out his whisker marks and narrowed his eyes into slits, making him look like a smiling fox.
"Someone sounds happy, did something good happen?" Zabuza asked, breaking Haku out of her thoughts.
"Oh, I was just thinking about my time spent with Naruto-kun," Haku responded, not noticing her slipup as she placed her basket on the kitchen counter and grabbed her apron. "I might as well get lunch started before I start grinding herbs," she thought.
"Naruto-kun?" Zabuza parroted, confused. "The blonde gaki? When did you meet the Gaki? Wait, why are you calling him 'kun?!' If the brat touched you, I'll kill him!" Zabuza roared, a surge of overprotectiveness overcoming him.
"Zabuza-sama!" Haku gasped, her hand going to her chest to calm her racing heart. She had not expected that outburst. Then Zabuza's words registered in her mind, and her eye twitched; "If the brat touched you, I'll kill him."
"Oh Zabuza-sama," Haku said in a sweet tone of voice as she approached his bedside, unconsciously charging Hyōton chakra to her right hand.
Zabuza gulped as phantom pains ran through his cheek; "I know that tone of voice," Zabuza thought frantically, "It's the same tone she used when…" Zabuza's thoughts were cut short by a familiar pain.
"It's your plan, Zabuza no baka!" Haku yelled.
For the second time in three days, a resounding slap echoed throughout the forest and sent birds fleeing from their nests and to the skies.
"So, you met the Gaki?" Zabuza asked after he had regained consciousness and Haku had given him his first dose of medicine. He repressed a shudder at the bitter taste as he reached for a glass of water to wash the taste down.
"Yes," she said as she sat in a chair by his bedside. "I happened to meet him in the forest near the herbs I needed to get. He had exhausted himself training."
"Oh?" Zabuza raised his glass to his lips, "And what was the Gaki training in?"
Haku slyly smiled as she watched Zabuza take a drink. "Nothing much, just tree-walking."
A spray of water escaped Zabuza's lips as he sputtered, "What?! I was outsmarted by a Genin who couldn't even tree-walk?!"
"Yes," Haku nodded as she tried, and failed, to keep the laughter out of her voice. "Quite an accomplishment for my Naruto-kun."
Zabuza slumped in his bed, a dark miasma surrounding him as he repeatedly muttered, "He couldn't even tree-walk. He couldn't even tree-walk." He did this for a few seconds until Haku's comment registered. "Wait?" Zabuza sat up and looked towards Haku with hope shining in his eyes, "My Naruto-kun?' Does this mean that you'll carry out the plan?"
Haku blushed and looked away. "Well it's too soon to tell. But when we parted ways we agreed to meet up again tomorrow."
"That's great!" Zabuza cheered. "Soon we'll be Konoha shinobi and won't have to look over our shoulders anymore!"
"Zabuza-sama!" Haku whined as she waved her arms. "I never said that I agreed! Plus, we don't even know if Naruto-kun will agree!"
Zabuza brushed off her comment with a wave of his hand. "Meh, I've got a feeling that it will all work out. It's like it's destined, or something."
Haku's eyes widened. "Zabuza-sama, are you clairvoyant?"
"…What?" Zabuza asked, confused.
(Scene Change)
"I'm back," Naruto announced as he entered Tazuna's house with a bounce in his step. He saw that his team was eating breakfast at the dining table with the client's family.
Kakashi, sitting at the head of the table with a good view of the front door, threw Naruto a lazy wave, his face buried in his precious Icha-Icha. "Yo, Naruto, get some training done this morning?" Kakashi asked, a hint of mirth in his voice.
"Yes, Sensei, I did. I took your advice and used my Kage Bunshin (Shadow clones) to help speed up my training," Naruto replied as he pulled out a chair and sat down next to Tsunami.
Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, was a woman with long blue hair wearing a short-sleeved pink shirt and a long blue skirt. She stood up, "Let me get you breakfast, Naruto-kun." Tsunami gave Naruto a motherly smile before she went to the kitchen to get him a plate.
Sakura giggled. "Yeah, Naruto, how was training this morning?" She asked, putting stress on the word "training."
Sasuke raised his bowl of rice to his face to hide his smirk.
"It went fine," Naruto stated slowly. For some reason his prankster senses were tingling, and not in a good way. The last time he felt like this was when Anko-chan had gotten him back for messing with her dango. Naruto shivered at the memory.
Deep in the bowels of Konohagakure's Torture and Interogation building, a kunoichi with light purple hair and pupiless brown eyes, sneezed, right into a prisoner's face.
"Aww, is the big, mean torturer coming down with a cold?" The prisoner mocked.
The kunoichi narrowed her eyes, then she gave the prisoner a devilish grin as she went to her instrument table and grabbed a bottle of chili powder, and a funnel.
Sneezing and screams were heard soon after.
Naruto continued. "I made good progress. I'll probably be at the top of the tree in a few days."
"That's great! Maybe you and Sasuke will catch up to me soon." Sakura teased as she held up her arm and flexed her bicep.
Sasuke and Naruto rolled their eyes good naturedly.
Tsunami returned and placed a bowl of rice and a plate of grilled fish in front of Naruto. "Here you go, enjoy."
"Thanks, Tsunami-san," Naruto said as he picked up his chopsticks. "Itadakimasu." Naruto took his first bite of rice and moaned in delight. "This is as good as Ayame-chan's cooking."
In a small ramen stand, a young woman with long brown hair and black eyes, sneezed.
"Are you ok, Ayame?" An older man with graying black hair and small black eyes, asked as he was wiping down the counter.
"I'm fine, Tou-san," she assured him as she tied on her bandana. "Maybe someone is thinking about me?"
"Our number one customer, perhaps?" the Old man teased.
Ayame's face flushed red. "Tou-san!"
Naruto took a bite of his fish and was savoring it when Kakashi let out a perverted giggle; "Oh Haruto, you naughty boy, seducing a doctor in a forest."
"Wha-what?" Naruto coughed out, pounding his chest as he tried to dislodge the fish caught in his throat. Tsunami smacked him on the back, helping him clear his airway and sending a glob of half-chewed fish flying from Naruto's mouth and onto the table with a wet splat.
"Eww," Sakura and Inari let out at the same time.
Naruto's head whipped towards Kakashi. "What did you say?"
"Oh, nothing. I'm just enjoying this story about a ninja and a doctor meeting in a forest," Kakashi said with feigned casualness. Kakashi peered over the edge of his book and locked eyes with his blonde Genin, enjoying how he began to squirm in his seat. "Have you heard it before?" Kakashi asked, innocently.
Naruto gulped.
(Scene Change)
In a darkened office, a man stood in front of his windows and watched a mass of dark clouds creep their way over the mountains. When he was younger, the beast inside of him would stir when a storm approached. But for the last few years, ever since the Purges had started, the beast had been…silent. Chillingly, silent.
If someone were to take a close look at the man's pink eyes at that moment, they would see his eyes flash red with tri-bladed shuriken for pupils overtaking his usual eye color.
"Mizukage-sama," a shinobi, entered the office, knelt down in front of a desk and addressed the man.
"Yes?" The Mizukage asked, as he continued to watch the coming storm, his eyes returning to their pupiless pink.
"We've made contact with the businessman. He agrees to your terms." The shinobi reported.
A slight smile crept its way onto the Mizukage's face as thunder rumbled in the distance. "Excellent, you are dismissed."
"Yes, sir." The shinobi left the office in the swirl of a Shushin (Body flicker).
"Ten days." The Mizukage stated to the darkened room. "You have ten days to recover Kubikiribōchō. Do not disappoint me."
There was no response. In fact, the only sound in the room was the spattering of rain hitting the windows, then lightning cracked like a whip and in a flash of blue the room was illuminated, revealing a tall man with shaggy blonde hair wearing a white Anbu mask with green triangle painted on its lower half, slits for eye holes and Kirigakure's symbol etched onto the forehead.
When the light faded, the sound of spattering rain was drowned out by laughter tinged with madness.