"Holy shit this guy's fast as hell!" Naruto muttered nervously from his hiding spot in a tree. Just beneath him, the Ink Clone that wore his image collapsed, headless. Naruto had no doubt that if that had been him, he would have lost his head without even the chance to react. Sai quietly dropped down from a branch above him, slinking up to his side.
"Do you have a plan, Naruto-san?" Even Sai's unflappable demeanor was ruffled, sweat dripping down his pale neck. Naruto hunched over, thinking furiously. The fog obscured everything, only the sounds of metal clashing with metal resonating through the woods. Hinata joined in the impromptu team huddle, hanging perpendicular to the tree by the soles of her feet, chakra keeping her adhered to the wood.
"Naruto-kun, Kaka-sensei has been engaged by the enemy. He seems to be leading him away." She whispered, keeping her breathing even.
"How far can you track them?" Naruto asked. The Hyūga heiress squinted, veins around her eyes bulging out as her dōjutsu strained to pierce the chakra-fog that had settled over everything.
"Far enough. They had an exchange, killing each other's clones before Kaka-sensei drove him out of the mist. They're getting close to a lake."
"Damn. We gotta do something to help." Naruto was wracking his brain for any ideas.
"Naruto-san, didn't your father issue you a standing order to leave the AO while he delayed the enemy?" Sai interrupted Naruto's train of thought.
"If you think I'm leaving my dad behind, you have another thing coming Sai." Naruto's eyes narrowed.
"Sai-kun has a point, Naruto-kun! You saw how fast he was, he's as fast as Kaka-sensei, and just as deadly! I don't see how we can help..." Hinata's voice trailed off, anxiety creeping in.
"Stuff it, both of you. If tou-san goes down, we aren't getting out of here anyway. That bastard would run us down and pick us off one by one. Now, we definitely don't stand a chance against him, but we can make a difference and give dad a chance to put this asshole in the ground." Naruto's conviction bled through his voice, lending him a gravitas that was rare for the carefree Hatake.
"So you do have a plan, I take it?" Sai asked again.
"Eh... Nothing conventional will work. We just aren't fast enough and we don't have the firepower. We gotta try something insane, something unexpected." Naruto mused.
"Kakashi-sensei's been trapped in some sort of water Jutsu!" Hinata's worried report galvanized Naruto.
"We gotta act fast. Can you tell anything from your Byakūgan?"
"There's an active chakra connection between the Jutsu and the enemy nin. If you can break it, I think you can free Kaka-sensei!" Hinata's voice had grown urgent.
"Screw it. Sai, how fast can you draw a bird?"
"A bird?"
"A bird. Big enough to carry me."
"A bird... big enough to carry you?" Sai stared at him, uncomprehending.
"Just do it. Hinata-chan, can you henge into me?"
"Yes."
"Okay, here's the plan."
Naruto never realized that this high up, it was harder to breathe. The wind was rushing all around him, becoming a dull roar that sucked the air out of his lungs and threatened to fling him off his improvised ride. Chakra pulsed through his hands and feet, keeping him astride the circling ink bird. It had taken him a few moments to tune his chakra to the right level and frequency to stick to the odd chakra-ink, but those nightmarish chakra control excersizes were finally paying off.
He felt a tug, and knew Sai had spotted the target. The bird flapped it's wings twice, warning Naruto to prepare himself, before spiraling to its right in a helix dive, angling itself earthwards. It tucked in its wings, optimizing its profile for maximum aerodynamism, velocity increasing exponentially. It was all Naruto could do to remain adhered to the bird, and hope for the best. The bird quickly achieved terminal velocity, streaking from the heavens like a bolt of avenging fury descending to destroy its foes. That there was a blonde twelve year old onboard screaming incoherently did not detract from the awe-inspiring spectacle one bit.
"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuckkkkkkkkkk" Naruto yelled, as he exploded through the clouds, hurtling towards the two small dots on the surface of the lake at two thirds the speed of sound. As the distance closed it became obvious which one was his target, one small figure standing beside a orb of water with another trapped inside. The bird began to lose its structural integrity, ink trailing behind as the chakra that bound the thing together to Sai's will fizzled out. The strain of high altitude reentry was too much for even this overloaded chakra construct to take. Naruto shook his head, refocusing. His vision tunneled, adrenaline forcing his reaction time into overdrive. He would only get one shot at this, and he would probably regret doing such an insanely suicidal thing, but if one thing was for sure, nobody in their right mind would expect this.
Zabuza had no time to react as a guided missile taking the form of a screaming blonde twelve year old riding a rapidly dissolving ink bird fell from the heavens like a comet of blonde hair and black ink.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKKK" Naruto screamed as the bird finally dissolved fully, leaving him alone, less than a hundred meters from the surface of the lake, plummeting directly towards Zabuza.
The impact was incredible, Kakashi absently noted, in too much shock from seeing his son literally dive bomb an A-ranked Jōnin nuke-nin. A geyser of water that reached more than fifty meters into the air erupted around the impact zone, a visceral, violent display of kinetic energy and fluid mechanics. The sphere of water imprisoning him didn't so much dissolve as it did literally vaporize, blown away by the sheer force of his son crashing into the lake from near orbit.
Zabuza bounced across the surface of the lake, flung like a rag doll from the celestial airstrike that the literally insane Gēnin had delivered, momentarily disoriented and utterly confused. The boy was fucking crazy!
As he righted himself, using Kubikiribōchō to slow his momentum, he looked up. The other Naruto on the lake shore had already crossed nearly the entire intervening distance between them, rushing him at incredible speed. He snarled viciously, readying himself to behead the Gēnin. He finally arrested his skid across the surface of the lake, ripping his brutal blade from the surface of the water straight into a ferocious swing that threatened to take the head of the idiot that was stupid enough to run in a straight line at him, a Jōnin.
At least, it should have taken the head of the blonde-haired, mask wearing mini Hatake, had a puff of smoke not obscured his vision momentarily. His blade whistled through thin air, missing his target, and a lavender blur burst through the smokescreen, leading with a lightning fast palm strike.
'Henge?! Impossible!' Zabuza screamed internally. The girl was almost a full head shorter than her taller, blonde teammate, and Zabuza's stroke, meant for decapitation, had gone clean through the most basic genjutsu that a ninja knew. The first palm landed, and Zabuza grunted. It was deceptively gentle, almost a caress for a human tank like the Kirigakure no Kijin, but Zabuza instantly felt its effects far more than any haymaker. It sealed off one of his body's primary tenketsu located under his sternum. Zabuza would have shrugged it off, were it not for the five clean strikes that followed as the girl flowed, dancing more than striking, following the intricate, elegant steps that were the First Movement of Jyūken. The loss of feeling that followed alerted Zabuza to the danger he was in, and he reacted with the instinctive, feral aggression of a cornered, rabid animal.
Kakashi broke through the surface of the lake, gasping for breath. He had been wildly disoriented by the massive current of water that had carried him under the surface as the water rushed back into the enormous hole that Naruto had created in the lake through his rather dramatic intervention in the fight. He looked about, gathering his bearings. He could feel his chakra reserves running low, such a prolonged usage of Obito's eye combined with the exhausting battle had resulted in him running dangrously close to empty. He had to finish the fight now.
A roar of rage grabbed his attention, and he snapped his head around to witness a sight that stopped his heart.
Hyūga Hinata's limp body fell bonelessly, blood erupting forth from the terrible wound that ran across her torso from her left hip to her right shoulder. She crashed into the surface of the lake, sinking into the yet-agitated waves, beneath the surface.
Zabuza flicked the blood off the edge of his monstrous sword, breathing heavily. He had sunk up to his ankles in the water, struggling to maintain the fine control over his chakra necessary to remain buoyant. He didn't know what the girl had done, but he couldn't feel a large part of his chakra circuits throughout his body. She had paid dearly for those few blows she landed, however. It wasn't a clean decapitation that he was so feared and famed for, but it had done the job. She would bleed out within the hour, if she didn't drown first.
Zabuza's ragged breathing was interrupted by a lightning-chakra coated kunai that sliced right through his shoulder.
"Die." Kakashi muttered, following his kunai with a ferocious uppercut even as he burst out of the water from beneath the missing nin. His rising punch caught the former Kiri ANBU square on the chin, lifting him clean off his feet, and Kakashi followed it with a turning roundhouse kick that sent him streaking through the air towards the shore.
Zabuza's body crashed into a tree by the lake side with a sickening crunch, sliding down into a sitting position. Kakashi crossed the distance, readying his tantō for the killing blow.
A pair of senbon flew, embedding themselves in the dying nin's neck, before a masked Kiri Hunter-nin dropped from the tree.
"I'll take this from here, Konoha nin." Her voice was calm, measured.
Sai dropped down from behind her, startling her. The boy was really getting very good at sneaking about.
"You were waiting until the fight was over. You could have intervened earlier, Hunter-san." Sai's monotonous voice carried a hint of warning.
Kakashi gathered himself.
"Kiri Hunter-nin don't operate outside of Mizu no Kuni, not since the Mizukage was assasinated. Don't make this harder than it has to be, whoever you are."
The fake-hunter paused, evaluating the situation, before grabbing Zabuza and fleeing. Sai tensed, readying himself to give chase before Kakashi stood him down with a wave of his hand.
"Let them go. We aren't in any state to give chase, let alone fight another unknown Shinobi." Kakashi grunted, covering up his Sharingan.
"Hai, Sensei. You may need to attend to Naruto-san and Hinata-san." Sai intoned, pointing behind Kakashi. The Copy-nin spun to take in the sight of his son dragging Hinata onto shore. Her blood still flowed freely, staining everything crimson, and Naruto's eyes were wild.
"I think she's hurt, dad." Naruto managed to get out, before his cerulean eyes rolled up and went dark, and the boy crumpled to the ground beside his childhood friend, totally unconscious.
He was in the sewer again, water gently lapping against his thighs.
Naruto opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings slowly, carefully. There were cracks along the walls now, cracks that glowed ominously with a faint reddish hue.
He got to his feet, determined to find answers this time. He picked a direction, and began walking. To his surprise, the darkness seemed to recede before him, revealing more and more of the sewage tunnel. The water sloshed about his knees, former stillness disrupted by his movements.
"Hello? Anybody there? Where am I?" He raised his voice, projecting it down the tunnel. It echoed endlessly, ricocheting of the walls and carrying on for seemingly forever. The echoes diminished, till once more there was silence, only the gentle sound of water lapping at the sewer walls to accompany him. He shrugged, continuing to walk.
The tunnel seemed to go on forever, shadows ever peeling away before him to reveal only more of the same. Naruto had begun to grow frustrated when the walls suddenly tapered away as if emptying into a larger chamber.
'This is new...' Naruto mused, stepping into the massive cavern. It was huge, judging from how the light from the torches on the walls revealed no ceiling, only more shadow above.
"Anybody there?" Naruto called.
"Do not ask questions that you would not like answered, ningen."
There it was, once more, that subsonic rumble of a voice that shook the walls and set Naruto's heart to racing. Fear began rising up within his psyche, threatening to overwhelm him once more at the mere sound of the ancient, unfathomable power held within that cruel voice, but Naruto steeled himself. He would find out what this was today, terror be damned.
"Who are you? Where am I?" Naruto managed to get out, resisting the primal urge to flee.
"So you can speak! How amusing." The voice spoke once more, mockery filling its cruel cadence. Naruto's temper rose in response to the condescension, pushing down the terror.
"So are you going to answer me or what?" Naruto asked again, eyes narrowing.
A pair of enormous, primordial, slitted eyes opened in the dark, fixing Naruto with a stare that burned his newfound courage away with contemptuous ease.
"You are brave, child. Perhaps you will make for a more entertaining host than your mother."
Naruto stiffened, eyes going wide open.
"My mother? You knew her? Who are you!" Naruto all but screamed. Any trace of fear was banished at the mere mention of the parent that he had never met.
Kakashi had never spoken to Naruto about his mother, and Naruto had never pressed. Of course the blonde had realized one day that all the other kids had nice smelling mothers that brought them to school and picked them up and showed them so much care and affection. He had asked, only once, a long time ago, and the look of pain that crossed his father's face ensured that he had never asked again. His father would tell him when he was old enough, he had reasoned.
"You are healed. Run along now, you have disturbed my slumber for long enough."
The eyes closed, and the presence receded. Naruto ran forward, crashing into a metal bar that sprouted from the water and reached impossibly high into the darkness. A cage, for a prisoner.
"Wait! Answer me, damn you!" Naruto shouted into the darkness, but silence was his only reply. In his anger, he had not noticed the water rising all around him, the distant roar of water gathering speed that grew in volume and intensity.
"You can't just leave like that! I need to know! Answer me!" Naruto screamed, grabbing at the bars of the titanic jail cell. The swelling crescendo reached it climax, and a rushing wave of water crashed all around Naruto, submerging him. He lost his hold on the bars, carried away by the surging tide before the world went black.
Naruto came to with a massive inhalation, catching a lungful of sweet, sweet air. He attempted to sit up, but a sharp pain in his side prevented him from doing so.
"You're awake! I'll get Kakashi-san, and some water." A kind sounding female voice sounded from somewhere to his right. Naruto craned his neck, catching a glimpse of the middle aged lady that had stood up. He tried to speak, but his throat did not allow him. The woman left, closing the door behind her. The room wasn't that big, Naruto judged.
Only two minutes had passed before the door open and his father stepped through.
"Morning, sleepyhead. How're you feeling?" He asked, passing his son a glass of water. Naruto reached for it and drank greedily, ignoring the lance of pain that shot up through his ribs as he drained the glass. He coughed, passing the glass back to his father who quickly refilled it.
"Like shit. How long was I out for?" He croaked.
"Two days. You dragged Hinata out of the lake and passed out. We're in the bridge builder's house, I carried you here to recuperate." Kakashi passed him the refilled glass.
"That long? Kami-sama I must've been hurt bad. I don't remember anything after the..."
"After you performed an insanely dangerous maneuver to intervene in a battle that I had given you direct orders to leave." Kakashi interrupted him, hands still in his pockets.
"That stunt you pulled was incredibly stupid, and risky, Naruto."
"I saved your life!" Naruto protested, indignant.
"And what if you lost yours? Hinata almost died, you know? Her condition just stabilized last night, and she was this close to dying just because because you three kids had the bright idea to try and fight a Jōnin!" Kakashi lost his temper, taking a knee to be level with his son.
"... i tried my best, dad." Naruto's voice fell, dejected. Kakashi stared at him for a time, too many conflicting thoughts rushing through his head to formulate a coherent reply.
"I can't fault you for that, I suppose." Kakashi finally sighed, sitting cross legged by his son's futon. He laid a hand on Naruto's forehead, tension melting away from his body. He gathered himself, visibly weighing up whether or not to share his thoughts with his son.
"I screwed up, Naruto-kun. I should have called the mission off before we left Fire Country. I got complacent. Momochi Zabuza would have been easy enough to handle on my own, but with you three to worry about? I got distracted, and I paid for it." Kakashi was shaken. His defeat at the hands of the Demon of the Mist had been a brutal reminder that all ninja were dangerous, and all it took was a single defeat for even the most illustrious of careers to come to an ignoble ending. Naruto was quiet, what words were there to say? He had never seen his unflappable father so rattled.
Kakashi snapped out of his funk.
"We have to give Hinata-chan time to recover from her injury, to regain enough strength to make the journey back to Konoha. I'd say another week or two, she's still incredibly weak. It's a miracle she's even alive, you saved her life, Naruto." Kakashi's voice was back to normal, back to mission mode.
"Take your own time to recuperate. Sai's been doing surveillance on the surrounding area and the town not far from here. We're more or less secure for now, but Zabuza isn't dead, and he has backup. I need you up and ready to fight in case things go south."
"Hai, Kaka-sensei." Naruto nodded. Kakashi smiled briefly, before standing up and taking his leave from the room.
Tazuna was waiting fearfully outside the room, face noticeably pale.
"H-how is your son, Hatake-san?" He enquired, voice unsteady.
"He'll be fine." Kakashi was curt, stepping past him. The bridge builder flinched as Kakashi's shadow passed over him, like a hunted animal.
"It seems we must impose on your hospitality a little while longer, Tazuna-san. My other injured student will take awhile longer to recover her strength." Kakashi sounded almost apologetic.
"Oh! T-that won't be a problem, Hatake-san! Please, feel free to take as l-long as you need!" Tazuna stammered.
"Good. My promise still stands, Tazuna-san." Kakashi nodded. Tazuna's face blanched, and he fell to his knees in supplication.
"Please, Hatake-san! My family..."
"Are only alive because my kids survived. If either of them hadn't, there'd be nothing left of you, or your lovely daughter and grandson." Kakashi was harder than steel and colder than ice, his rage at the builder tempered only by the hospitality he had been shown. It was bad faith to murder a man after you had broken bread under his roof, Kakashi supposed. He strode away, leaving a sobbing old man behind him.
Naruto panted, sweat dripping down his neck as he completed the fifth kilometer of his conditioning run. He paused, catching his breath and checking his watch. Fifteen minutes for five clicks weren't all that bad for an endurance run pace, and without chakra enhancement. He was getting back into shape, had been working on regaining his strength the past few days since leaving the futon. Kakashi had finally told him the full extent of the injuries he had suffered, six fractured ribs, a hernia in his abdominal cavity, blunt trauma impact injuries, a concussion, blown out ear drums, it was pretty incredible. Naruto concluded that hitting water at terminal velocity without any protective gear was terribly unhealthy.
An ink sparrow tweeted as it flew about him, coming to a rest on his shoulder. Sai dropped down from a tree not far from him, scrapbook and brush in hand.
"What is it with you and trees nowadays? You keep dropping from them so dramatically." Naruto asked.
"They provide an excellent vantage point, and are good places to remain hidden. Did you know that almost nobody ever looks up when they are going about their day to day activities?" Sai replied him, summoning the ink construct back to himself.
"Nobody expects a pale weirdo to be peeping on them, yeah." Naruto smirked, stretching out his aching limbs.
"No, I suppose not." Sai agreed, nodding. Naruto sweatdropped.
"How is Hinata-san?" Sai asked, as his ink sparrow dissolved, returning to the small special ink storage seal that Sai carried around.
"Much better. She's up and about the house now, just tires out easily. She lost a crazy amount of blood, but with the blood pills and whatever dad did, she's recovering ahead of schedule." Naruto noted, finishing his stretching routine.
Kakashi appeared via shunshin, startling both the Gēnin.
"Sai, Naruto. We have new orders." Kakashi cut to the chase.
"Sensei?" Naruto's curiosity got the better of him.
"Hokage-sama's put a hit on Gatō, wants him gone. Apparently he's been supplying enemies of Konoha with materials and money, and has been smuggling ilicit drugs and enabling human trafficking in Fire Country. Fire Daimyo wants him dead."
"Are we supposed to get him?" Naruto's enthusiasm seemed to have been curtailed since his near death experience.
"No. There's a squad of ANBU already on the way from Konoha, they'll be here in two or so days, they're moving quiet. We're just going to hunker down here and provide some recon for when the squad arrives." Kakashi's tone was serious, deadly serious.
"Man, we're over our heads aren't we..." Naruto muttered.
"Quite. I'll be infiltrating the town to get some intel for the squad. I want you two to remain here, and to keep your heads down. Got it?"
"Understood, Sensei." Sai answered for the both of them.
Kakashi nodded, satisfied.
"Keep Hinata safe. Tazuna isn't a mission priority anymore, so if anything happens, I want the three of you to get out."
"That's... alright then, dad." Naruto looked at his father weirdly. Leaving the innocent man to die was cold.
"By the way, mission's been bumped up to an A-rank, considering the nature of the enemy we ran into. You three can look forward to a pretty big pay day once we're home." Kakashi threw them a thumbs up, before disappearing with another rapid shunshin.
"Going back to the house, Naruto-san?" Sai asked, stashing away his scrapbook and his brushes.
"Not yet. I've gotta work on some chakra control exercises. Been out of practice." Naruto began to jog lightly away, towards the lightly forested area west of the dainty house.
"Very well. Do not delay your return, I believe Hinata-san will be worried should you be late." Sai turned and walked in the opposite direction.
"Yep! Don't wait up!"
Wave really was a pretty country, Naruto thought to himself. The forest was markedly different from Konoha's own deep woods. The trees here were sparse, shorter, allowing the gentle sun to pierce through, smaller and thinner foliage casting a mesmerizing shadowed pattern across the forest floor. The flowers were very pretty as well, Konoha's dark and shaded woods were far less beautiful, and lacked the colorful blooms that made the light forest in Wave so peaceful.
Naruto sat in the midst of a clearing, feeling the caressing breeze. It carried the scent of the ocean, and spring flowers, an odd mixture that was strangely relaxing. He closed his eyes, thinking back on everything that had happened. The memories came back to him, a torrent that suddenly burst forth the moment he allowed it to.
Falling, plummeting, the roar of the rushing wind in his ears and whipping at his eyes.
The bone crushing impact and explosive compression of being pancaked against an unyielding surface.
Water, water was everywhere, in the air, all around him, in his clothes, in his lungs.
Hinata! Blood, blood and tears and that awful fear that gripped his chest. Swimming, desperately diving after that curiously beautiful lavender halo that her hair had formed around her pale face and neck even as she sank through an expanding cloud of crimson.
Dragging the weight, ignoring the burning agony that screamed at him to close his eyes and let the cool water take him away.
"You knew my mother?"
"Answer me!"
"Ano, Shinobi-san, are you alright?" A gentle voice, and a hand on his shoulder. Naruto reacted instinctively, violently, tucking his shoulder into his chest and rolling, kunai coming into his right hand as he swept the legs out from under the intruder. He struck, pinning the intruders legs under his own and pressing his left forearm against his target's chest while his kunai point nestled against the carotid artery in the neck.
"P-please d-don't hurt me!" An obviously girlish voice cried out, fearful.
Naruto flushed. His forearm was pressed up against something soft, and very female. He quickly got out of the compromising position, sheathing his kunai.
"My apologies, but it isn't a particularly good idea to sneak up on a Shinobi, you know?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head abashedly.
"S-Sorry. I just saw you out here and wanted to see if you were okay." The girl quickly got to her feet, smoothing down her kimono and bowing deeply in apology.
"Ah, don't worry about it. I've been pretty tense too." Naruto eye smiled back at the girl, waving away her apology. She was very pretty, he noted, with raven dark hair that framed a classical heart shaped face.
"So what's a girl like you doing out in the woods? It isn't safe you know. Bandits and the like." Naruto asked. The girl blushed prettily, pointing at the basket she had left behind her on the ground.
"I... I was collecting medicinal herbs for a loved one who is very sick. I know it isn't safe, but he's very ill... and I had to do something. I'd do anything for my precious person." She spoke.
"You know, that's a really admirable attitude to have. I would risk anything for my father too. Let me help you!" Naruto offered.
"Oh, oh no I wouldn't want to impose on your time! You must be very busy." She tried to decline the offer.
"Nah, I always have time for a pretty girl like you." Naruto shot her a grin, not that she could see it under his mask. Score! She didn't look much older than himself, maybe fourteen or fifteen.
"Thank you so much, ninja-san." She smiled.
"Call me Naruto. Hatake Naruto."
"My father calls me Haku."
"That's a pretty name, Haku-chan! What kinda herbs you looking for?"
"That should be all I need, Naruto-kun." The girl weighed the basket.
"Great! That took a little longer than I expected." Naruto dusted his hands off. The sun was near setting, judging by the long shadows that it was casting across the forest.
"You've been very helpful, Naruto-kun. Thank you so much!" She turned to him, basket in her hands, bowing deeply once more.
"Oh no, it was my pleasure. Do you live far?" He asked.
"Close enough to walk home, Naruto-kun."
"I'll walk you back. It's getting dark, and my dad would kill me if I let a pretty girl like yourself walk home alone at night." Naruto offered.
"That won't be necessary, Naruto-kun! I'm sure you need to be somewhere!" She shook her head.
"Aw, come off it, Haku-chan! It isn't that far, and I can make it back within an hour if I have to." Naruto stepped forward, taking the basket from her and linking his arm with hers. She blushed crimson. The masked Hatake gestured forward, and the girl nodded, beginning to walk.
She wasn't wrong, they hadnt walked that far before they arrived at a clearing, revealing a small cottage that had smoke coming out of the chimney. A dim light was visible through one of the windows.
"Your home?" Naruto asked.
"Hai. Please, I can go myself now." She gently prised her arm from Naruto's grip, only to flinch when his grip became steel around her wrist.
"So, you're his backup huh." Naruto whispered.
"I-I don't know what..."
"You were collecting herbs for a poultice to treat chakra burns, you were good enough to sneak up on me without me noticing, and those slash marks on that post over there can only be the work of that monster of a sword that your friend carries. I'm not stupid, Haku-chan."
"Release me, Naruto-san." Her voice became ice cold, danger screaming.
"And let you use some Jutsu on me?" Naruto smirked.
"Hyoton: Thousand Needles." Her free hand flipped through a series of one-handed seals, much to Naruto's shock.
"That's cheating!" Naruto cried, aghast. The water in a bucket by the door of the house burst forward, streaking towards Naruto. As it flew the water condensed into a barrage of needles that froze mid flight, morphing into a deadly hail of ice that transformed Naruto into a pincushion. A burst of smoke, and his Kage Bunshin died a rather painful looking death.
"It's a shame, you know. The prettiest girl I've met in a while and it turns out you're nothing more than missing nin scum." Naruto's voice rang out, hidden.
"You don't know a thing about Zabuza-sama's goals, or his life! Don't speak as if you understand." She spat, readying herself for another assault.
"You'd kill an innocent bridge builder just because he wants to save his country from a narcissistic egomaniac who cares nothing for the lives he's destroyed and would willingly sacrifice the both of you for a little more profit? Yeah real noble, Haku-chan."
"Y-you!"
"Nothing to say?" Naruto appeared, only a meter away from Haku. She spun, flinging a pair of senbon that stuck him straight in the throat, only for another puff of smoke to obscure her vision.
"I serve Zabuza-sama, because he's my precious person! He saved me, and I owe him my life! I don't care if what he does is questionable! I don't have to explain myself to a pampered village dweller like you!"
"That's actually pretty sad." Naruto's voice again drifted through her ears. He was sneaky, abusing the rapidly setting sun to remain hidden amongst the trees and the shadows, spooking her with those solid clones of his.
"You sound like a good person, and someone I would really get along with. What a waste." Naruto sighed.
"I have orders to keep my head down, so I'm not going to fight you any more, Haku-chan. But I'm taking the herbs with me, I'm not going to help you heal your murderer of a master."
"Bastard!" She spat.
"You know, I never met my mom. That makes me sort of a bastard... right?" His parting taunt left Haku bewildered.
She sank to her knees. Zabuza needed that poultice, or he wouldn't be back to full strength the next time he inevitably had to fight Hatake Kakashi. She had failed her precious person, her reason for living. The shame brought tears to her eyes. But still, the words of that blonde rouge rang around her mind.
Zabuza-sama was a good person, right?
A/N
Another chapter down! Next chapter should wrap up the wave arc, and we'll get to see quite the climactic ending.
Yes, Haku's a girl in this story. I can't stand the idea of her being a dude, she's just too pretty for that. Hahaha.
First time Naruto's confronted one of the many, many secrets Kakashi has kept from him. The question of who his mom is will be one thing that will be fun to explore in its effect of the relationship between the father and son. Plus, he's talking to Kyūbi! Naruto's been a little too rattled throughout this mission to process that what he experienced was kinda weird and to seek out answers, but trust me it's going to blow up.
Till the next chapter,
Read and review!