AN: Apologies for the delay everyone, there were some complications. I loved all of the reviews about team selection ideas etc, hopefully this chapter will shed some light as to where I wanted the story the go.


(A Small Distance Away From Konoha)

"Pleeeeaaasssseee! I do it for you all the time, why can't you do it for me? You're being selfish, you're literally on my head now!" Naruto groaned out with a pout.

"I am not carrying you on my back!" Ameya said and hit Naruto with a slightly chakra enforced tail swipe from atop his head, causing him to fall face first next to the puddle that him, Ameya and Kakashi had already been keeping an eye on. Getting up again, the group continued on walking with Sasuke mocking Naruto for not being able to even walk properly and Sakura agreeing and joining in.

After a few minutes, two figures, belonging to the Demon Brothers of the Hidden Mist, rose from the small puddle and faced the direction the group kept on walking in. "They didn't see us! Told you this would work Gozu!" one of the gruff voices said out loud through his rebreather.

"Hmm I guess but something doesn't seem right Meizu. This seems almost too easy, the Genin didn't even notice us even though the blonde one fell and touched the puddle with his hand. However I was expecting more from the Jonin sensei, Sharingan no Kakashi. I guess we got lucky, anyways let's start following them if we are to take out that bridge builder" the now identified Gozu said to his brother Meizu.

(Few Minutes Later)

"Zabuza is really gonna kill him after we get paid?! If we survive this, we will end up rich!" Meizu exclaimed loudly with stars in his eyes.

"Yeah but you might not want to scream this is case the Konoha team hear us you idiot!" Gozu reprimanded his brother, "speaking of them, we should have definitely caught up by now! They can't have moved any faster cos of the civilian" Gozu explained to his brother.

His suspicions were proven correct when their own puddle, they used to hide in, was seen again in a distance. Before either of them could react or prepare themselves, the image in front of them disappeared and was replaced by the image od the Konoha team standing over them with the blonde Genin breathing a bit harder than usual.

"Sorry Kakashi-sensei, I completely forgot about such a small detail" Naruto said in an apologetic manner as he straightened himself out a little and his breathing returned to normal. "That being said, this took a lot more out of me than I realised, you got any advice?".

Kakashi, who had just finished knocking out the two ex-Mizu Chunin, turned to Naruto with a large eye smile, "first of, don't apologise. You did incredibly well. You caught both Chunin level ninjas in a genjutsu just by touching the puddle you then managed to alter their perception and reality for long enough for us to gain vital and necessary information. In terms of advice, I'm not the best at genjutsu but I'll make sure to contact Kurenai, she is currently our best genjutsu user in Konoha, so hopefully she can help. That being said, if you struggled to cast the technique, I'd say that's your chakra control, but if you struggled to hold it for longer, that's probably to do with your chakra capacity to cast such a complex technique, that was probably an A ranked technique, so don't beat yourself up" Kakashi finished off before turning to Tazuna who hasn't stopped sweating since the capture of the Demon Brothers . "Now why don't you three just relax whilst I have a quick word with Tazuna" he added before disappearing into the woods in a shunshin with Tazuna.

(A Few Minutes Later)

Kakashi had just come back from the woods to find Sasuke tied to a tree with an explosive tag attached to his forehead and Naruto holding a kunai to his eyes whilst Ameya had her paw at Sasuke's genitals. Neither of the two were moving though, Sasuke knew though if he as much as sneezed, it would be the end of him.

"Naruto! What's going on?" Kakashi asked but was hesitant to take a step in case it would set Naruto off.

"Meh, not much, same old same old. Little emo boy demanded for the genjutsu technique and when I told him to do one, he grabbed me by the collar and tried to intimidate me with his pathetic sharingan, so here we are" Naruto said casually.

"I see, could you please let him go, we need to head back to the village, this mission got too dangerous" Kakashi urged Naruto but still not taking a step or making any moves himself.

"Hmmm, how about this. We continue the mission, and in return I let Sasuke go. You know as well as I do that attacked a fellow Konoha shinobi is treason, I am well within my rights to execute him. Now I know the mission got a bit harder but I honestly think we will be fine. After all, we have Sharingan no Kakashi with us" Naruto said with a small smirk as Sasuke's eyes widened at the title of their sensei, not paying attention earlier when the Demon Brothers revealed this earlier.

"Fine Naruto, but at any point this gets too dangerous, we're heading back. No questions asked. Am I understood?" Kakashi said in a serious manner leaving no room for argument.

Nodding his head in agreement, Naruto removed the kunai and rope tying Sasuke before pulling the explosive tag off his head too, Sasuke was glaring daggers at Kakashi waiting for an explanation and Naruto was just glad Sasuke's attention was going to be elsewhere for a while.

"By the way, that was a dud. I wasn't actually going to blow his head off" Naruto rolled his eyes before shouting for Tazuna to join him ahead of the group as they began waking.

(Few Hours Later)

The Konoha team had just gotten off the title fisherman's boat and were in the final stretch before reaching the village, this was before Kakashi screamed for everyone to get down to avoid a giant sword from cleaving them all in half.

Whilst everyone was still ducking, a thick mist began surrounding the area they stood in before a low growling voice was heard from seemingly everywhere.

"Sharingan no Kakashi and his three little wannabee ninjas, how cute. How about this, you give up the bridge builder and I won't make their deaths too painful?"

"How kind of you, Zabuza. But no" Kakashi countered firmly and began lifting his headband, just in time too as the figure of Zabuza suddenly appeared between them all!

"Even better, more gruesome killing" he chuckled whilst swinging his Kubikiribocho trying to cleave all of their heads off once again. However he was stopped this time by Kakashi intercepting the blade before kicking Zabuza away from the group, which was followed by both ninjas trying to overpower each other.

Whilst the two Jonin level ninjas were engaging each other, Naruto had to tackle Sasuke to stop him from trying to take his own life with a kunai, due to the level of KI being thrown about from Kakashi and Zabuza.

"OI! What the fuck do you think you're doing?! Focus! If what you said is true, you should have experienced worse from Itachi, for now we need to protect the bridge builder whilst Kakashi is dealing with – ah shit" Naruto began before noticing Kakashi being trapped by Zabuza's water prison jutsu, as he got distracted by Naruto reprimanding Sasuke.

"Run! Take the bridge builder and run! He can't follow you and keep me trapped at the same time. Save yourselves!" Kakashi screamed from his water prison.

"That would be correct, however, its not" Zabuza said before creating three water clones from the pond they were standing in, "they might not be full strength or can travel too far, but more than enough for these kids" Zabuza said with an evil grin before the three mizu bunshins turned their attention towards the Konoha team.

"This just turned from bad to worse. Listen up, whether you hate my guts or not, we need to work together to survive this. We can't defeat him, we just need to make him remove his arm from the water prison to free Kakashi-sensei. Listen up, here's the plan" Naruto proceeded to whisper the plan to his teammate.

(A Few Minutes Later)

"You two finally ready?" Zabuza said mockingly, whether it was curiosity or arrogance or just plain boredom, Zabuza chose to give the Genin time to come up with a plan instead of attacking them straight away. Receiving a grateful nod from Naruto, the three mizu-bunshin rushed towards the Konoha team.

What none of the water clones were expecting though was for Naruto, who chose to release his gravity seals, to suddenly appear in front of the first one, before slapping a custom explosive seal on his chest. What followed was an explosion larger than any of the ninja had seen from any explosive seal. The remaining two clones had jumped away and separated in order not to get caught in the explosion, however the one closest to the Konoha team was met with the combined efforts of Sasuke and Naruto, already forming hand seals.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu"

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough"

Jumping high into the air to avoid the initial fireball, the clone was not ready for the combination with the wind jutsu which increased the speed, the size of the fireball and the intensity of the flames, which caused for its right leg to be completely charred by the jutsus and dispel.

However, whilst being preoccupied with one clone, the last remaining one had rushed towards the forms of Tazuna and Sakura, who was standing defensively in front of him but visibly shaking.

"Its over!" The clone said with a maniacal grin underneath his bandages before swinging the giant executioner's blade, trying to cleave both in half. However he was left shocked as the sword simply fazed through the two humans. "A bunshin?!" was the last thing the water clone was able to say as Naruto had appeared underneath the shadow of the blade, which was lodged against a tree, and stabbed his kunai through the lungs of the water clone.

The panting form of Naruto was re-joined by Sasuke, although physically fine, a lot of stress was placed on Naruto's body. He wasn't used to moving and fighting without the seals so he experienced a lot of whiplash and strain on his joints, whilst the explosion from the tag had caught his hand a little as well, leaving it a bit singed.

'The kid is a genius. He not just came up with a quick plan on the spot, he also managed to execute it perfectly. Well semi-perfectly, based on his current state. But to be able to separate my clones, come up with a combination attack and hide the actual target, very impressive and that's not including his interesting techniques. Either way, I can't let him stay alive, he's way too dangerous" Zabuza thought before casting a series of one-handed hand signs.

"Water Style: Water Bullet Jutsu" Zabuza said before firing off multiple fast paced water bullets from his mouth.

"Okay Sasuke, you ready? We need to do it now, before he can send more bunshins at us. We won't be able to surprise him again" Naruto said to Sasuke whilst both were dodging the fast-paced bullets. This continued for several seconds before both Genin landed next to each other with Naruto holding the fire sign and casting a medium sized fireball at Zabuza's legs forcing him to jump up to avoid it, but still connected to the water prison. Whilst mid-air, Sasuke launched a giant Fuma shuriken, which Naruto had unsealed, at Zabuza who displayed impressive flexibility to dodge the giant shuriken.

However, from the corner of his eyes he saw a figure rise from the water prison's shadow and was ready to attack it before he felt a kunai stab into the armpit of Zabuza's arm that was holding the water prison. Before he could fully understand what happened, Kakashi pounced on him whilst Naruto retreated with Sasuke. With only one arm actually useable, Kakashi quickly overwhelmed Zabuza and pinned him against the tree using Zabuza's own water technique but before he was able to finish him off, three senbon lodged themselves in Zabuza's neck making him go limp.

"Thank you very much for weakening him. I have been chasing him for days and was waiting for the perfect moment to strike" a voice called out from the trees before the form of a Kiri hunter nin dropped down and grabbed Zabuza's body, however before the hunter could leave, Naruto landed next to Kakashi.

"Aren't you meant to be disposing of the body right away? You know to prevent secretes being exposed?" seeing the form of the hunter nin tense up, Naruto chose to continue, "but then again, you wouldn't want to kill your master, isn't that right Haku?" and he was proven right as without saying a word, Haku quickly disappeared with Zabuza's body.

Wanting to pursue but being stopped by a hand on his shoulder from Kakashi, Naruto looked at him, clearly confused.

"Let them go. We need to rest as well, plus we have no idea how strong this Haku person is. We just got lucky that the demon brothers knew about him, otherwise we'd have been blindsided" he explained carefully before the two were joined by Sasuke as well as Sakura and Tazuna, who had left their hiding spot behind the bushes. "I just wanted to add, I am extremely proud of you all. Usually the mission comes first, at least that's what you're taught. However, you all demonstrated a lesson even more important today. Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash" Kakashi said with a proud of eye smile before collapsing from exhaustion.

(A Few Hours Later)

"So approximately a week?" Sakura asked clearly worried about the indications. The group had arrived a couple of hours ago and after meeting the family and letting Kakashi rest for a bit, the Konoha team were currently sat around the dinner table discussing the next steps.

"Yeah roughly, from what I saw, Naruto lodged the kunai pretty deep and might have nicked something too, but either way I'll be back to full strength around that time so it works out" Kakashi said, before adding "everyone get some good rest today, we'll start some training tomorrow" and got up to leave before being joined by Naruto in his room.

"Kakashi-sensei, I have a favour to ask. I would like to train separately from the team, I still do not trust Sasuke and I'm worried if we train together again, he will just lose his shit again. Instead I would rather watch the house and family and train in the evenings when you guys are back. Is that okay?" Naruto asked in a serious manner.

"Hmmm, what you are saying makes sense. I guess it would be fine, what would you want to work on?" Kakashi asked after some thought.

"Well I only have a week so I can't do too much, the main thing would be working on my agility and body conditioning without the resistance seals. I was also wondering if you could teach me that mizu bunshin technique if you know it? Right now I only know how to make the regular bunshins but with mine and Sasuke's strained relationship, I would prefer having different sort of allies in fights when needed" Naruto explained.

"Hmm, how about this. I will teach you it and if you can master it quick enough, I will teach you one more thing" Kakashi said cryptically with an eye smile.

(3 Days Later)

"Mizu Bunshin" Naruto called out as a few water clones appeared from the small river in the clearing. Over the last few days Naruto had been working on recreating Zabuza's jutsu and has finally been able to create the clones almost instantly from the water. He had figured out that the more chakra he pumped into the clones, the closer they were to the original's strengths and were able to move further from the water source.

"Very impressive Naruto-kun, now as for the promise I made. This jutsu is an A-ranked kinjutsu due to the heavy drawbacks that people can experience. It is the Kage Bunshin and it's the reason why I am able to be with you right now but also with the others at the house" Kakashi explained and handed Naruto a small scroll with the details.

"Speaking of the others, what have you guys been up to?" Naruto asked, only to be polite as he continued reading through the scroll.

"Meh, not too much. I've furthered Sakura's process with her Earth Wall technique since you and Sasuke are the heavy hitters so she can be more support and protect. Speaking of Sasuke, I also furthered his process with the fireball jutsu and his lightening dispersion technique. For the next few days it will just be a bit more conditioning and preparation" Kakashi explained and pulled out his little orange book as Naruto began working on the technique.

(A Few Days Later)

Naruto had just woken up in the middle of the clearing he usually trained in. Around him a bunch of trees were destroyed, charred and uprooted, as if there was a huge battle going on.

"Euugghh, my head. Stupid shadow clones, stupid memory retention and stupid spoiled brat" Naruto said as he got up and headed towards the bridge. Usually the Kyuubi would help and heal with the headaches before they could come about, but he must have overdone it last night. Since learning the shadow clone technique, Naruto had been tasked with helping at the bridge every morning when waking up and in the evening his teammates would train instead. However last night, Inari, Tazuna's grandchild, had managed to piss Naruto off with his comments about giving up and being useless against the power of Gato. So after telling him off, Naruto went into the woods to go train and release some pent up tension.

(At The Bridge)

Arriving at the bridge, Naruto created a dozen shadow clones before ordering them to help the bridge builders who were already there. This continued for a few hours before a thick mist engulfed the whole bridge and Naruto felt his clones being dispersed one by one, sorting through the memories quickly, all Naruto could 'see' were flashes of the executioner blade and senbon hitting his clones when they would dive in front of the bridge builders.

The mist continued to spread until it engulfed Naruto, all the bridge builders having ran past Naruto already.

"Just you? I was hoping Kakashi would be here at least, this won't be fun. Haku you take this one" the voice of Zabuza rang out from the mist before Naruto suddenly felt two senbon being imbedded into his shoulder. He quickly submerged himself into his shadow before reappearing a few metres away from his initial position before calling out

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough"

Causing for the mist around the area to be dispersed, revealing the forms of Zabuza and Haku, still dressed in his hunter nin attire. Not giving them any further time to react, Naruto quickly summoned Ameya and told her to go find Kakashi and quickly, before summoning a few shadow clones and multiple water clones from the sea below the bridge. Sending all of his clones, except for two, towards Haku, Naruto chose to engage with Zabuza. Although having said Haku could fight Naruto, Naruto chose not to trust the words of a ninja, especially a missing-nin.

"Huh, didn't think you were so keen on dying this young. But sure, show me what you got" Zabuza said before he planted his sword and chose to engage Naruto in taijutsu first to test him.

The two Naruto clones and the original chose to surround Zabuza and engaged him in the Kage Giman, trying to catch him off-guard with the feints. By the end of the taijutsu battle, Naruto had managed to hit Zabuza a total of three times however it had cost him his two clones as well as a kick to his jaw which sent him flying away. Haku meanwhile had also managed to dispose of Naruto's clone but he was worse for wear, his clothes a bit tattered and his mask broken.

"Not bad at all, gaki. Could be better but could also be a lot worse. Luckily for you, your entourage has arrived" Zabuza said as he watched Naruto get up and was joined by the forms of Kakashi and Sasuke whilst Sakura stayed behind with the bridge builders and Tazuna.

"Sorry we were late, some of Gato's thugs tried to kidnap Tsunami and Inari, so we had to dispose of them first. We'll take it from here whilst you rest" Kakashi said and ruffled Naruto's hair before him and Sasuke split of to fight Zabuza and Haku, respectively.

Whilst the fights were going on, Naruto was regaining his breath and going through the memories of his clones in regards to Haku's abilities and her fighting style. "An ice user, really? Sasuke has no chance" Naruto said out loud to himself as he readied himself to re-join the fight as a massive dome of ice was beginning to form around Sasuke.

(Inside The Ice Dome)

Appearing from Sasuke's shadow, Naruto had a quick look around the dome and noticed it was made up of ice mirrors with a figure speeding in between the mirrors, which he guessed was Haku. However, Sasuke already looked a little worse for wear judging by his panting form and the multiple senbon impaled in his body, Naruto did notice the extra tomoe in each eye.

"Nice upgrade emo. Doesn't look like its enough to deal with Haku though. We will need to work together again to deal with this, especially whilst he is in those mirrors. This is his domain and we will only have a chan-" Naruto said as he eyed the moving form of Haku but he was interrupted by a kunai landing at his feet from Sasuke.

"Listen here dobe. You might have had a lucky hunch last time but this time you will listen to me. Since my eyes evolved, I have been able to keep track of him. If you don't like it, take this kunai and end your miserable existence now" Sasuke said with venom dripping from his lips as he pulled out the senbon from his body before glaring at Naruto dangerously.

"Fine, whatever. What do you have in mind?" Naruto asked cautiously, not wanting to get into it now with an enemy facing them.

"Use your explosive seals to destroy some of these mirrors. He will expend charka trying to fix them and then be forced to deal with us face to face without hiding in them" Sasuke said and stood up straight again.

(With Kakashi & Zabuza)

"Give up, with Naruto joining Sasuke, Haku has no chance against them both. I will either stall you long enough for them two to join us or I will kill you before that can happen. You know I am right" Kakashi said as he blocked one of Zabuza's kicks before quickly dodging as Zabuza swung his sword with one arm, in an impressive display of strength.

"We'll see about that copycat! For all you know, your little Genin could be turned into pincushions very soon, judging by the screams from the little Uchiha earlier" Zabuza said as he continued to press the attack. However both had to stop as loud explosions were heard across the whole bridge. Turning their attention to the ice dome, both were shocked at what they were seeing.

(With Naruto & co)

Naruto had just finished destroying the third ice mirror. Initially Haku had used his chakra to fix the mirrors instantly, but the more Naruto was destroying them with his explosive tags, the quicker he was running out of chakra. Naruto had to give credit to Sasuke, after obliterating the third mirror, Haku stopped trying to fix the mirror and instead left the mirror dome to attack Naruto directly, figuring he was the bigger threat. What Naruto was not ready for, was for Sasuke scream out, as Haku engaged Naruto.

"Lightening Style: Lightening Dispersion!"

What followed was lightening being dispersed from Sasuke's body and travelled along the floor and air targeting Haku, but by proximity Naruto too, causing both to be electrocuted.

"AGGGHHH! Sasuke, what the fuck?! My body can't move properly" Naruto struggled to say as both him and Haku were covered in lightening chakra.

"Sorry dobe, sacrifices have to be made!" Sasuke said with an evil grin as he made a couple more quick hand signs before inhaling deeply and screaming out.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu"

As a medium sized fireball engulfed both Naruto and Haku, which was the scene both Zabuza and Kakashi bore witness to and quickly rushed to the group of Genin. They were stopped for a brief moment as a wave of malicious chakra spread across the bridge before a red blur raced out of the smoke from the fireball and grabbed Sasuke by his throat and pinned him down.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?! For attacking another hidden leaf ninja, I charge you with treason and sentence you to death!" the demonic voice of Naruto bellowed out as his eyes were blood red with black slits and his whisker marks were thicker and more pronounced, before he raised his clawed hand ready to rip out Sasuke's throat, however a hand grabbed onto his wrist and stopped him from doing so. Looking up, he saw Kakashi looking at him with a grave expression on his face.

"Naruto, please don't do this. Not right now anyways, we are in the middle of a mission and if there are any other unexpected turns, we'll need all hands on deck. I promise we'll sort this when we get back. But for now, please remove the Kyuubi's power and let me deal with this" Kakashi pleaded, already knowing about the Kyuubi's power from the Hokage.

Seeing Naruto release a long sigh before cutting off the power, Kakashi let go of Naruto's arm and created a Kage Bunshin to carry the unconscious form of Sasuke back, who had passed out after Naruto directed his killing intent directly at him. Turning towards where he saw Zabuza rushing, he saw Zabuza holding an unconscious, but surprisingly burn-free, Haku in his arms.

"Oi blondie, did you save him?" Zabuza called out to him and softly laid Haku on the floor before approaching the duo in a slow manner to indicate he wasn't trying to fight.

"Yeah. I heard his vow to protect you when he was fighting Sasuke, he didn't deserve to die because of some extremist way of thinking, so I figured he deserved another chance but you are really gonna have to fix how you treat him" Naruto said with a sheepish smile whilst rubbing the back of his head.

'This kid. You know what, he might just be right. Maybe Haku deserves better and maybe I know exactly how to give him that life' Zabuza thought as he eyed the form of the smiling Naruto.

They were all stopped from their musings by the sound of clapping heard from the edge of the bridge.

"What a cute little ending to this musical! Too bad none of this matters! Kill them all, anyone who brings me their heads, keeps their bounties as well as earns a promotion!" the voice of the tyrant Gato was heard as he sent his small army of thugs at the three remaining standing ninjas.

"Copycat, we never got to finish our fight. How about this, most kills wins and gets bragging rights?" Zabuza called out but before receiving an answer had already rushed towards the army of thugs with his Kubikiribocho. Kakashi simply shrugged before joining in.

(A Few Days Later)

Following the, for a lack of a better word, massacre at the bridge, there were no more unexpected surprises. Turns out Zabuza and Kakashi had been perfectly tied with 49 kills each and Gato would have been the deciding kill but Naruto ended up claiming that kill himself when Gato promised his thugs they could ransack the village and do as they please to the kids and women. After the death of the tyrant, the village rejoiced and celebrated for a full day and continued to do so when Naruto returned with Haku and Zabuza after having cleared out Gato's compound and given the citizen of Wave all of Gato's wealth and inheritance.

In terms of Team 7, it has never been more tense. Kakashi had applied a chakra suppression seal on Sasuke after the incident on the bridge and kept him away from Naruto where he could. Sakura was her usual self but even she knew not to approach Sasuke when he was in his current mood, for her own safety. Naruto meanwhile had spent every day relaxing and hanging out with Haku and Zabuza, occasionally sparring but mainly just relaxing and telling each other stories of their respective villages. This continued until today, the day they were leaving.

"Mannnn, I can't wait to get back. I miss my bed and I miss my friends" Naruto said as he folded his hands behind his head with the Kiri duo by his side and the remaining Konoha trio ahead of him, "although, I'm not looking forward to training and dealing with the Uchiha again. I'm really curious to see what Jiji and Kakashi have in mind for his punishment"

"You know what, I think you'll be quite surprised with what's awaiting you" Zabuza said with a mischievous glint in his eyes and Haku hiding a small smirk of his own.

(A Few Days Later – At The Hokage Office)

"WAIT WHAT?!" Naruto exclaimed loudly with his mouth hanging wide open.

He was currently in the Hokage office with Kakashi, Zabuza and Haku. The team had just given their mission report before the two remaining Genin being dismissed. Sasuke was sentenced to house arrest for now with no training or missions for the next two weeks. However the most shocking news was what the Hokage had just told him.

"You heard me Naruto-kun. As of right now, you are no longer a member of Team 7, instead you are going to be in a team with Zabuza-san and Haku-kun. Kakashi has been keeping me updated with the growing situation of between you and Sasuke. Turns out, after your successful wave mission, Zabuza seemed to be interested in joining the Leaf Village, something to do with your description of it and giving Haku a better life" the aged Hokage began as Zabuza huffed and looked away, not willing to show his softer side whilst Haku was wide eyed staring at his mentor and master figure. "Now of course they will be on probation so that means mainly D-ranked missions within the village or small non-important C-ranked missions just outside the village. I hope you are okay with everything? I know we kind of sprung these news on you, but it is something we decided after Kakashi's updates and an agreement reached between the two of them" the Sandaime finished off and gauged Naruto's reaction.

Naruto meanwhile was stunned. He hadn't expected this at all, he thought he would still be stuck with Sasuke the whole time or end up on his own until a different team needed the extra Genin but this turned out better than he could have hoped. He shocked the three other occupants in the room by bowing deeply before simply adding,

"Thank you all so much. I really appreciate all of it. Kakashi-sensei, thank you for looking after me and recommending the change. Zabuza-sensei, thank you for accepting me and agreeing to teach me. Haku, thank you for choosing to be my teammate and finally Jiji thank you for making this all possible!"

He was forced to stand upright again by a fist bonking him on his head, a fist belonging to Zabuza.

"Okay enough of all this emotional crap. You're part of Team Wave now. I wanted Team Zabuza but Haku suggested this would be more appropriate since that's where we met" Haku gave a small grin towards Naruto at this comment, "Anyways, we are meeting tomorrow at 6am in the Hokage's training grounds, since I'm still on probation, he figured it would make more sense for us to maintain a low profile and not attract too much attention to us and slowly begin to integrate ourselves into the village" Zabuza finished off and once the Hokage indicated he could leave, the two ex-Kiri shinobi disappeared.

"Naruto-kun, you're dismissed too. Go rest up, I have a feeling tomorrow will be a tough day for you" the Sandaime said with a small smile. After Naruto left, he turned to Kakashi and added "now as for your remaining Genin, what you thinking?"


AN: Again, similar to Kakashi, Naruto was only able to overcome Zabuza initially due to being underestimated.

What do you all think of this development? I've always liked Zabuza – his character, fighting style, backstory etc just quite sick.

The next chapter should include a time skip or two and hopefully the beginning of the Chunin Exams.

Anyways, the next chapter should be posted this weekend – I lost my glasses on holiday so I'm struggling to be sat in front of a laptop for too long, should be getting some new ones in the next few days though!