Chapter 2 enjoy
also as a result of a poll chapter 2 start before waves
The next day
Mikoto and her two boys are in the house dining room having a much-needed conversation.
The topic is the secret Mizuki spilled about Naruto.
The room's atmosphere was thick with unease, so much so that you could cut it with a kunai.
Naruto has a downed look in his eyes as his hand rests on his stomach.
The ordinarily rambunctious boy filled with energy is burdened with a weight too heavy to carry for an average person.
"I don't know what to say," Sasuke struggles to say, learning the massive secret.
A secret so big his brother in all but blood didn't know he was carrying.
As for Mikoto, she shares their expressions, trying to figure out how to move forward.
"At Least I know why nearly everyone despised me," Naruto said with a grin, getting a chuckle from his brother and a giggle from his caretaker.
"Why did you take me in Mikoto even though I have the nine tails sealed within me?"
"When I graduated from the academy, your mother, kushina Uzumaki, was a squadmate of mine. So we quickly became good friends."
"Why didn't you tell me sooner!"
"I wanted to, but there was no way of saying it without revealing your burden." This gets a nod from the boys. Especially if you add the decree lord Hokage did 12 years ago.
"I would appreciate any stories about my mom Mikoto!" Naruto said with a sheepish grin.
Mikoto giggles at this "on, alright."
"Yes!"
Mikoto recounted many missions they went on and the crazy situations they found themselves in thanks to Kushina.
That led the boy to learn more about the Uzumaki clan's inherited traits.
Such as stronger life force, fast healing, massive stamina, and chakra reserves.
"Dang, everything mom said plus the nine tails, wouldn't want to bet against you when it comes to endurance!" Sasuke added. Naruto chuckles before he adopts a more serious look in his eyes.
"What's on your mind, Naruto?" She asked.
"Still a little annoyed, the villagers think I'll use the fox's power for evil purposes. They might be right."
"What do you mean, Naruto!" Sasuke asked
"The seal, who's to say it won't last forever after all the fox was strong enough to force the fourth Hokage to seal it inside me!"
"Hmm, if you're that worried about it," he pulls out a kunai. "We'll train hard enough to fight off its power over you!" This gets a chuckle from Naruto, pulling out a kunai of his own.
Mikoto lets out a sigh as the boy quickly runs to the backyard.
When she comes back to check on them just after sundown, she sees the two exhausted to the point they barely stand up before collapsing to the ground and laying flat on their backs.
"I know you two want to get strong, but I think this is a little much!" She says, standing over the two.
"We're ninjas. We have to train if we want to get stronger!" Naruto shouts
"Agreed!" Sasuke backs up.
"Fine, but don't come crying to me when you seriously hurt yourselves."
"Can you help us up?" Naruto asked.
"No, if you're going to train to the point you need my help getting you inside, you can sleep under the stars tonight. You two are full-fledged ninjas. You'll have to sleep outside like this sooner or later," she said, walking inside, leaving two to their thoughts.
an hour later Mikoto was just getting into bed when she heard the unmistakable sound of a door opening.
Peeking through the door crack, she sees the two slowly walk into their rooms.
The two continued this training for weeks, getting stronger bit by bit.
Eventually, this got the attention of their other squadmate and sensei.
Sakura and Kakashi stand in the backyard of the two squadmates.
The two in question once again lay on the ground, exhausted from sparing again.
"What lit a fire under your buts to train this hard?" Sakura asked.
It was then the tension filled the air with those words. It took a few moments for Sakura to notice.
As for Kakashi, he knew only one thing could push Naruto and Sasuke to train this hard.
A glance toward Mikoto confirms his suspicions. Next, he looks at Sakura to see the concern in her eyes.
"Sakura," Kakashi said, getting the girl's attention.
"What is Kakashi sensei?" He could hear the nervousness in her tone.
Kakashi told her about the day the nine tails attacked the village and the burden Naruto had carried since that day.
To say she was shocked was an understatement as she gazed at her two teammates.
Both shared a nervous look in their eyes. Silently hoping Sakura wasn't turned away from learning Naruto's burden.
She walks over to the two holding out her hands. With what little strength they have, they grab hold.
They reluctantly lean onto her respective shoulder, not wanting to cause her harm, holding them up.
She walks them over to the exact seat before punching them square in the head.
"Idiots! Are you trying to kill yourselves!" She ranted on about how they shouldn't overdo it.
One eye of Kakashi widened at the display while Mikoto was struggling to hold back a giggle as memories of Kushina returned to her.
Eventually, Sakura cooled off enough, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Training to get stronger is all well and good, but it won't do you any good to die or seriously injure yourself doing it!" The two boys winced from her bossy tone, as some would say.
"What about my…burden?" Naruto asked
"Why judge you for something you had no control over!" She said with a smirk getting smirks from her squadmates.
She continued to watch them spar, getting stronger bit by bit.
This got her thinking about her strength after the survival exercise when they officially became a team.
She has her smarts, but in the ninja world, that doesn't get you far without the strength to back it up.
With newfound conviction, she calls out to them, "Naruto, Sasuke!" Hearing their names, they look to their teammate.
"What is it, Sakura?" Naruto asked, seeing a nervous look in her eyes.
Taking a deep inhale, then exhale, "I want to train with you!" The two boy trades look before facing her.
"Done, shadow clone jutsu!" Four Naruto appeared standing before here.
Two weeks later
Clang! is heard through a training field as a pink hair ninja hits the ground hard.
Her two teammates rush to her side, wanting to make sure she is alright.
"You ok, Sakura? We can Dial the sparring back a bit," Naruto said, seeing Sakura get back to her feet.
"I'm fine, naruto," she said, getting her kunai in hand ready."
"If you say so, Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Four Naruto's appear beside him, all getting into a fighting stance.
The main one and Sasuke continued sparring as Sakura fought off the clones.
Both Kakashi and Mikoto stand by, watching the three do a team sparring session.
"Sakura is coming along well, getting some combat experience," Kakashi said
"She's a smart girl. It doesn't surprise me. She wants to catch up to them after learning my boys spar regularly!"
"True, unlike some of the other kunoichi of her class!" He added. He looks to see Mikoto not in an apron but in ninja gear with her vest.
She suddenly pulls a kunai from its hoister "now that my boys are officially genin, I can get back into shape after so long!" He pulls out his own.
"I won't go easy on you!"
"I'd expected nothing less!" Then, the two do a spar of their own.
Two hours later
Sakura lays on the ground with scratches and a few bruises on her skin, breathing heavily before feeling two shadows overhead.
She opened her eyes to see her squadmates giving her supportive smiles.
"You're stronger now than when we started this two weeks ago!" Sasuke added.
Sakura grinned, giving them the peace sign with her right hand.
Naruto offered his hand, and she accepted, getting back on her feet.
Looking to the west, they see the sun barely touching the horizon.
The three look to their sensei to see him sitting on a wooden post, with Mikoto seated on the ground, a little worse for wear.
"How was your training, mom?" Sasuke asked.
"Been too long since being in the field,'' she said, getting back to her feet.
"We might be stronger than her '' Naruto lightly elbows his brother, getting a chuckle from him.
"Come on, boys, time to head home! Sakura, do we need to walk you home?"
"No, I'm good," she said with a smile as she headed off.
As Kakashi watches his student leave, his mind returns to a week ago when Mikoto told him the truth about the Uchiha massacre.
Flashback start
One week earlier
It's the early morning hours, the sun hasn't even risen yet, and lone jonin wielding the Sharingan eye stands at a memorial stone.
He's soon joined by the mother of two of his students.
"What brings you here, Mikoto?"
"Same as you, I'm honoring my friend kushina" she lays down a bouquet of flowers on the stone, followed by prayer.
"I know Kushina would be proud of you looking after her son."
"I wish I did sooner. Maybe it could have made the others realize we were all fools!" she said
"What do you mean by that, Mikoto?"
"I have to tell someone sooner or later." She told him everything about the clan leading up to the massacre and possible coup. The order Itachi was given and why she is spared.
Saying Kakashi is shocked would be an understatement; he's rendered speechless learning the truth.
After who knows how long, he finally finds the words "who else knows?"
"Not including the Hokage and the village elders, only one person knows besides you, and he's outside the village, who knows where. The Hokage has permitted me to tell others at my own discretion."
Remembering what she said before spilling a village secret, he realized she was no longer a threat to the village.
"Why tell me?"
"Because I trust you with this knowledge since you're my boy's jonin sensei," gets a light chuckle from Kakashi.
"We'll thank you for telling me, and I won't tell anyone. You have my word!"
"You're welcome, and thank you, have any questions?"
"Nothing at the moment, just wondering how things would be different if Minato and Kushina were still with us."
"After knowing Kushina for so long, I imagine she and minato would have found a way to stop it without bloodshed!"
Flashback end
He heads home, wanting much-needed rest after a long day's hard work.
The three genin did a sparring Session every couple of weeks, slowly growing in strength as a squad.
When they weren't sparring, they did the dreaded D-rank missions. Those got old quickly when Naruto, the brave one, wanted a harder mission.
The third Hokage Hiruzen ultimately gave them a C-rank escort mission guarding a master bridge builder.
When they first meet the man, he walks in with a stumble holding a bottle of sake.
He said a derogatory comment about Naruto setting him off.
Sasuke didn't hesitate to hold his brother back, only for the client to comment about Sasuke.
This time it was Kakashi who held both of them back from demolishing the clients.
Before they knew it, they were on the road to the land of waves.
Not long after, they were suddenly jumped by two enemy ninjas.
Three genin sprung into action with Sakura shielding Tazuna.
Naruto hit one with a killer punch. This gave Sasuke an opening to lock the chain and connect them to a tree.
Sasuke lands in their arms, kicking them back and forcing them to detach the chain.
The two boys each took one on telling Sakura and Tazuna to run.
They comply by taking off, leaving Naruto and Sasuke to deal with the attackers.
Unfortunately, the skill level gap showed its way as the two effortlessly slipped past the brothers heading towards Sakura.
But before they could strike, they were both stopped dead in their tracks by Kakashi.
"Nice job, you three!" This got a grin from his students.
It's then revealed the enemy ninja is the demon brothers from Kiri.
Kakashi gave a short speech about how he noticed a puddle when it hadn't rained in months, setting his line eye on the bridge builder.
The three genin silently made a mental note of the puddle comment for future reference.
"What should do with them now, Kakashi sensei?" Naruto asked, deciding to be the brave one to ask the stupid question seeing the look in his squadmate's eyes.
The demon brothers are tied to a full-grown tree with no means of breaking free.
"Leave them. It won't take long for a patrol squad to find them." This gets nods from the genin making another mental note.
"How often do Konoha ninjas patrol the land?" Naruto asked.
"All the time really, conveniently for us, the demon brother attacked us on the patrol routes.
They continued, picking their sensei's brain about ninja conduct if this happens again.
They couldn't see it because of his mask, but Kakashi is delighted that his genin wants to know the broader world of ninjas.
In this case, knowing patrol routes through the land of fire.
Within a few hours, the group made it to the shores of the land of waves. But unfortunately, that is when Kakashi needed to know the full extent of the Tazuna's reason for hiring them.
He ultimately won over his hired protectors with his sob story.
So they found their path blocked by Zabuza, the hidden mist demon. This resulted in a fight, forcing Kakashi to reveal his shared eye.
Unfortunately, in the heat of the moment, Kakashi fell for Zabuza's trap, getting locked in the water prison jutsu.
The two brothers freed their sensei with flawless teamwork and allowed Kakashi to get the upper hand.
With a water jutsu of his own, he slammed Zabuza against a tree only to get taken out by a tracker ninja from Kiri.
Kakashi collapsed to the ground shortly after. With the help of Naruto and Sasuke, they made it to the bridge builder's house.
That's when Kakashi realized Zabuza was still alive. Looking at the three students. Naruto was vibrating with Anticipation, Sasuke had a smirk, and Sakura was a little unnerved.
Later that day, he taught them chakra control by climbing a tree.
Sasuke went up a fair way before leaving a massive dent, as some would call in the tree.
Naruto wasn't far behind him, only to slip off, nearly hitting his head.
Sakura made it up the highest, sticking her tongue out.
Naruto and Sasuke had slightly peeved expressions before praising her for better chakra control.
They continued till evening with the brother's neck and neck, trying to catch up to Sakura.
Eventually, Naruto worked up the courage to ask her for advice, only for his brother to sit beside wanting help.
Sakura sported a proud smile before telling them her secret of staying calm.
They took it to heart, going far above their previous marks.
Sakura still had the lead by a long shot but was happy to see her advice bear fruit with their increased progress.
Kakashi had a smile of his own, seeing the progress these three made working together.
Both are from group sparring sessions and are not too prideful about their individual abilities.
Within three days, all three finished the training and stood guard for Tazuna while Kakashi was forced to rest and recover.
When they got home for the day, Naruto and Sasuke did their usual sparing, making sure not to get too out of hand since they had a mission.
Then Tazuna's grandson made a scene about how they were stupid and had no chance again Gato and his goons.
This sparked Naruto to go and do some more training.
"You aren't going with his Sasuke?" Sakura asked to see Naruto storm out of the house.
"If Naruto wants to prove the kid wrong, he won't need my help."
"You were still exhausted from your spar yesterday, weren't you!" Sakura quipped, causing Sasuke to look away
"I hate his Uzumaki blood sometimes," he mumbled, getting a chuckle from Sakura and Kakashi.
Tazuna and his daughter are drawing blanks at this comment before Kakashi gives them a crash course of Kekkei Genkai, getting nods of understanding from them.
"I'm going to bed," Sasuke said as he headed upstairs.
The following morning, Sasuke heads out and drags his brother back with him, only for him to collapse onto the floor, falling fast asleep.
His sensei and squad mates headed off, letting Naruto rest after using up all his chakra last night.
When he finally woke up, he headed off not before spotting a dead pig, only to head back to see two of Gato's thugs going after Tsunami and Inari.
He used his ninja skill on them, putting them down for the count before catching up with the others.
Using the mist, he knocked the fake tracker out of an ice mirror.
All Zabuza and the faker can hear light movement thanks to the thick mist enveloping the area.
They manage to dodge incoming attacks, narrowly missing them.
Zabuza is starting to regret making the mist so thick.
Kakashi has a slight smirk knowing that Naruto is making the most of the fog.
Kakashi wasn't too worried about Zabuza getting Naruto knowing his skills at staying out of sight rival most chunin in the village.
Now Zabuza has to deal with two ninjas out of sight. If it was Kakashi, he wouldn't have a problem.
But that brat forced him to dispel his water prison jutsu and left a bad taste in his mouth. So he has wanted a little payback since then.
Taking out genin usually wouldn't be a problem with Kakashi in the mist. However, he needs to be careful.
A quickly uses his sword to deflect a kunai and shuriken. Only to quickly jump back as kunai narrowly misses his foot.
Naruto kneels beside Kakashi with a kunai in hand.
"Nice job making the most of the mist Naruto" he practically whispered.
"It's too easy to stay out of sight of him. how are the others?" He whispered back, paying close attention to any noise.
"Sasuke is dealing with Haku, the fake tracker in the ice mirrors, and Sakura is with tazuna."
"I hope Sasuke can handle him," he said, ready to hear footsteps again.
"Keep your distance and keep your aim true, Naruto!"
"Got it, sensei," he said before disappearing in the mist.
Paying close attention to the sound of footsteps, Naruto threw his kunai Hopi g to hit Zabuza.
Kakashi threw him as well, doing their best to corner his movement.
Naruto grabbed one of the thrown kunai, and Kakashi did the same.
The two effectively traded kunai as narrowed Zabuza movements.
Naruto inched his way to the mist to see Zabuza before throwing a kunai.
Zabuza is forced to shift his focus on another kunai sent his way.
Kakashi went in for the kill, only for Zabuza to dodge on deflect his attack before being grazed by Naruto's kunai.
Naruto didn't hesitate to use his clones to surround Zabuza on all sides before throwing more kunai.
He blocked or deflected them with his superior skill, only to dodge Kakashi's attack.
He backed away, only for Naruto to follow up with more kunai.
Kakashi smirked, seeing Zabuza starting to tire out.
Naruto lands beside him, ready for another phase of their attack.
"Naruto, I can handle it from here, go and help Sasuke" Naruto gave him a skeptical look before complying.
While Naruto and Kakashi are dealing with Zabuza, Sasuke is fighting against Haku in Zabuza's words.
Sasuke silently thanked all those spars with his brother.
He blocked or avoided the needles from hitting any vital areas or blood vessels.
He glares at the named Haku with his incomplete Sharingan, each eye only having two tomes.
Unfortunately, he has no idea how much more he can take.
"Sasuke!" He looks to see Naruto on the outside of the mirror with a kunai at the ready.
Naruto started using his brain. Mikoto has worked so far to improve watching Haku.
Unfortunately, his speed is too great for him to track, adding to the painful expression he has watching his brother getting pelted by senbon.
Then his heart sank, seeing his brother collapse to the ground.
"Sasuke!" Without thinking, he runs in to see if Sasuke is still alive. But unfortunately, he gets no response from him.
Mind going to the worst, an old emotion he hadn't felt in a long time came bubbling to the surface, RAGE!
Suddenly a red chakra Bust from Naruto's body, changing it before Naruto locked eyes with Haku showing red irises with skits.
The battle that ensued wasn't a battle at all. It was a beatdown.
Naruto shatters one of the ice mirrors effortlessly before punching Haku with enough force to smash a second mirror.
All that rage fueling Naruto evaporated away to see the unmasked face of Haku.
Naruto begrudgingly agreed with his request intending to end his life.
Before the final blow could be struck, he stopped before leaving him in the dust.
As the mist slowly cleared, Naruto saw Haku in front of Zabuza with Kakashi's hand embedded in his chest.
Then Sakura and tazuna showed up, reminding him of Sasuke.
Naruto carefully placed him against the railing just as he regained Consciousness. Then, with the help of Sakura, he slowly pulled out the senbon.
"Naruto, go help Kakashi sensei. I'll look after Sasuke."
"You sure, Sakura?"
"Just do it, dope!" This causes a nerve to pop on Naruto's head before returning to Kakashi.
Just as I met up with Kakashi Gato, an army of thugs showed up.
Didn't take long for Zabuza to take out Gato before going to the great beyond to meet Haku.
With the help of his teammates, Sasuke was carried back to the Tazuna's house to relax and heal up after his fight.
Two days after their fight, tazuna and his people are close to finishing the bridge.
Kakashi is with his squad, with Naruto's burden no longer a secret to his teammates.
The three sat there in silence, and tension filled the air between them.
Kakashi just told them about the fox's seal loosened after Sasuke's supposed death.
"I thought that feeling I felt was Zabuza," Sakura added as the memory of strange energy filled her on the bridge.
"I briefly felt it while I was out. But, I haven't been that scared since Itachi," he added.
His teammate's word weighed heavy on Naruto's heart as tears started streaming down his cheek.
No word is needed since this meant he failed his promise not to rely on its power.
that's it for this chapter hope you enjoyed
I did my best to condense the arc while adding a few changes in when I could
as always make sure to fav follow and leave a chapter review