3. Silent Killing's Match

Sakura and Sasuke had absolutely no clue whatsoever what just happened. One moment Kakashi's begging them to take their client and get as far away as possible, the next instant Zabuza lets the technique he trapped Kakashi in drop for some unknown reason and then is sent flying by a familiar blond who just appeared out of absolutely no where. Sai was the only one who had any idea at the moment where Naruto came from and how he had come to be there. After all, he had been informed by Danzo about the blond.

Meanwhile, Kakashi was getting to his feet as Naruto looked over to the side at him and said "You all right there Uncle Kakashi?"

Kakashi nodded but before he could say anything, a water dragon formed over where Zabuza had sunk and rushed toward the two. Naruto disappeared and then reappeared on the shore with Kakashi right behind him as the dragon slammed down right where they had been a second before throwing up waves.

As they settled, they showed Zabuza standing where they had been. He looked at Naruto with contempt and said "I'll have to admit that was a pretty good shot kid. And whatever you did to my arm hurts, but there is no way a runt like you has any chance against me. Still, I'm curious. What's your name boy?"

Naruto smirked and said "My name is unimportant brow-less. I will tell you that my code name is Kitsune. Although others have began calling me the Flash Fire."

Zabuza frowned but before he could do or say anything, Naruto disappeared again. As Zabuza began looking around for the brat, he began sensing a ton of chakra permeating the air. It was like when he used the Hidden Mist jutsu only it was five times more potent.

Back on the shore, the three Gennin felt it as well. Sakura looked around with wide eyes and thought 'Is all this Naruto? How could he have this much chakra?"

Sasuke clenched his fist and thought 'Is this how much the dead last was hiding? I should have that power, not him."

Sai was merely observing to the best of his abilities. Danzo had always told him and the rest of the Root Anbu that Naruto had the potential to be even better than the fourth and to consider themselves lucky if they ever witnessed him in action.

Tazuna meanwhile was just trying to figure out how a boy no older than his escorts could just disappear like that. Kakashi was most likely the calmest out of everyone as he simply waited for Naruto to make his move. He was ready to be the back up for his sensei's son if he needed it, but he highly doubted he would.

Then Naruto's voice sounded from all around at once reminding the three Gennin and bridge builder what Zabuza had done just earlier.

"There are four types of burns. First Degree, Second Degree, Third Degree, and Fourth Degree. Which burn should I use today?"

Everyone except for Kakashi was looking around trying to find the blond while wondering at the same time what the hell he was talking about. That all changed when they heard "Why don't we start with second?"

Right after he said that, Zabuza screamed in pain as a second degree burn suddenly appeared going across his chest from right hip to left shoulder. Right after, his left arm became completely covered in burns just like his left one only these were much more painful. Even from the distance the Gennin were at they could see the big blisters that were already beginning to form.

Zabuza then yelled again and turned around trying to hit something behind him showing everyone the five x shaped burns on his back that were placed with one right in the middle with the other four connected with one on each of the four lines of the center one.

Zabuza roared in pain again as his pant legs burned near the back of his knees showing even more burns there. He then shouted out "Where the hell are you?"

Everyone then heard chuckling before Naruto said "What's the matter Zabuza? I thought you were a master of silent killing. Surely you can find one little kid without too much problems, right?"

Before Zabuza could say anything though, he flew to the side before abruptly switching directions constantly like he was a pinball stuck in the bouncer section of an invisible pinball machine. Finally, after a minute of this, he was suddenly sent flying into a tree trunk.

Zabuza screamed out in pain as the burns on his back hit the tree trunk causing the blisters to pop. Naruto reappeared on a tree branch to his right.

Zabuza looked up at him and said "What are you?"

Naruto looked down at him and said "Your worst nightmare."

All of a sudden, three senbon needles imbedded themselves in the side of Zabuza's neck causing him to slump over dead startling everyone else.

Naruto hopped down and said "You sure took your sweet time hunter nin."

Everyone looked up to where Naruto was looking and saw a hunter nin of the Mist who looked to be no older than Naruto and the Gennin.

'He can only be about as old as Naruto, but he's a hunter nin already. Naruto I can understand since he uses his bloodline. But for a Mist shinobi to be a hunter nin at such a young age, how strong is this guy?" Kakashi thought as he studied the kid.

Sasuke was fuming. 'Damn it. First the dead last, and now this new guy. How many people my age are there that are stronger than me? I need more power. It's the only way I can kill HIM!'

Sakura was still shocked at how sudden Zabuza had been defeated and then killed while Tazuna was just glad that it was all over.

The hunter nin dropped down to the ground near Zabuza's body and said "My apologies, but it was apparent that you had everything under control. Besides, I'm not sure I would have been able to handle Zabuza if you hadn't worn him down like you did. Now if you will excuse me, I must dispose of the body."

The hunter nin made a hand sign and then disappeared with the body in a whirlwind of leaves.

Kakashi lowered his headband covering his Sharingan eye and slumped a little before saying "I'm glad that's over."

Naruto looked over and noticed his "uncle's" slumped over form and said "Does that thing still drain you as bad as before Uncle Kakashi?"

Kakashi nodded and said "Yeah, but it's not as bad as if I had actually used it for more than keeping up with Zabuza. It would have been worse if I had actually had to use it to copy any of his jutsu."

Naruto hmmed and said "Still, we better find you a place to lie down soon." Turning to Tazuna he said "How close are we to your house old man?"

"About five more miles." Tazuna said. Naruto nodded and went over to Kakashi before slinging one of his arms over his shoulders and made a lead the way motion with his free hand. As the Gennin fell in around them, Sakura decided to ask about the things on her mind.

"Hey Naruto?" Getting a "Hm?" in response, she continued "What exactly did you do back there? You just disappeared for a while and then these burns appeared and after that Zabuza just started flying through the air."

Naruto thought about whether or not he should tell her anything considering how she had treated him in the past but decided that he might as well otherwise she and the Uchiha would never leave him alone.

"It's actually pretty simple Haruno. I merely moved faster than the eye could see. Those burns that appeared on Zabuza's body resulted from the friction of pressing my fingers against his skin while I moved so fast around him. As for the flying around bit, I was simply hitting him with my fists."

Sakura frowned and said "Wait, if those burns resulted from friction, why aren't your fingers burned, and for that matter, how did just your fingers burn Zabuza's whole arm?"

Naruto shook his head and said "You know Haruno, for the smartest girl in your class, you sure don't think. What is the most important thing that a shinobi uses that separates us from civilians?"

Sakura's eyes lit up in understanding before she scowled at the tone of voice Naruto used. She refrained from hitting him though since he was carrying her sensei. (Like she could without Naruto allowing it.) She then frowned and said "You still didn't answer the other question."

Naruto shrugged and said "Because it's obvious Haruno. Instead of just my fingers those two times, I simply placed both hands around the arm around the shoulder and rubbed against the entire arm on the way down."

Sakura looked down obviously thinking that she should have realized that. Sasuke meanwhile was trying to glare a hole right through Naruto's back.

"Dobe, how did you get so much power?"

Naruto glanced back and said "Watch your tone rookie. I've been an actual shinobi far longer than you have. That's why the Hokage chose me to go undercover and not you."

Sasuke grinded his teeth and said "Answer me!"

"Sasuke! That's enough!" Kakashi said finally entering the conversation. He looked over his shoulder at the Gennin and continued with a glare "I will not have you disrespect a Jounin of our village! Am I clear?"

Sasuke glared at his teacher but finally ground out a "Yes sensei." The rest of the way to Tazuna's house was pretty much quiet after that. Once at the house, Tazuna knocked on the door. It opened to reveal a woman who was definitely pretty

Smiling she hugged Tazuna and said "Dad, you made it back all right." Looking at the shinobi she said "Are these?"

Tazuna nodded and said "Yes. These are the shinobi that I hired. The blond was sent as reinforcements and I must say I'm glad he was."

Sasuke scowled at that but wisely stayed silent while Tazuna's daughter smiled at them and said "Thanks for keeping dad safe. I know he can be a handful sometimes." She ignored the "hey" from her father and continued "My name's Tsunami by the way."

Naruto rose his hand and Tsunami shook it as he said "Naruto Uzumaki, Jounin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The man currently on my shoulder is Kakashi Hatake, the same. Behind me are Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Sai. Gennin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves and Uncle Kakashi's team."

Tsunami rose an eyebrow at the word uncle and she wasn't the only one. Sakura had been wondering why Naruto had called her sensei uncle when he first arrived but had forgotten to ask him about it since she was more interested in finding out how Naruto had did what he did during the fight.

"Uncle? You two don't look related." Tsunami said.

Naruto chuckled and said "Oh we're not. Not by blood anyway. I guess you could say he's a family friend of mine. Now I don't mean to be rude, but if it wouldn't be too much, could we lie him down somewhere? He drained himself pretty badly during the last fight."

Tsunami shook her head and moved to the side and said "Of course. Sorry about that. Just put him upstairs in the guest bedroom."

Naruto nodded and entered the house followed by the others. The Gennin sat themselves around the living room once they entered leaving Naruto by himself as he helped his mentor up the stairs to the guest room. Once there, Naruto gently laid Kakashi down on the bed before going to the door and making sure that they were alone. Finding no one coming up the stairs, Naruto closed the door and placed a privacy seal on it before turning back to Kakashi who had been watching him.

"So you figured it out as well." Kakashi said in a serious voice.

Naruto nodded and said "Yeah. That hunter went right for the neck with those needles of his. Less muscle there to get in the way of a pressure point shot. How long do you think we have?"

Kakashi thought and then said "At least a week. That's how long it will take him to recover from the fake-death state. Maybe a little more if they try to fully heal the burns you gave him."

Naruto frowned and said "I shouldn't have played around with him. I should have just stabbed him in the heart when I first got here."

Kakashi shook his head and said "We both know that you hate taking a life so carelessly. And there's nothing we can do about it now but prepare for them. We're going to have to get the Gennin up to speed. We should probably teach them tree climbing."

Naruto's eyes widened and he said "You haven't taught them that yet? What have you been doing for the past month?"

Kakashi frowned and said "Trying to get them to work as a team. What's the point in teaching them high class moves and jutsu if they wind up not caring if they hit their teammates or not? You've never had problems working with others but with them, they can't even agree on who cleans up what part of a park."

Naruto sighed and said "I see. Well in that case, I don't really blame you. I guess while your teaching them I'll guard Tazuna. Get some rest Uncle. We can tell the rooks tomorrow."

Kakashi nodded and Naruto turned around and took down the privacy seal before stepping out the door. Closing it softly, he walked down the stairs and entered the living room.

Sakura looked up as he came in and said "Naruto. How is sensei?"

Naruto shrugged and said "He's fine Haruno. A little tired but nothing that a good night's rest shouldn't cure. Make sure you guys get a good night's rest tonight as well. I know for a fact that Kakashi is going to give you guys some hard training tomorrow. If any of you guys need me, I'll be outside setting up some patrols with my shadow clones. And then I'll be on the roof."

Naruto turned and left the living room again and left the house itself. Crossing his hands, A platoon of clones appeared. Looking at them he said "I want half of you to set up a perimeter around this house. The other half head to the bridge and make sure no one tries anything funny with it."

The clones all saluted before taking off to complete their task. Naruto then turned towards the house and jumped up onto the roof and settled down.

'And now we wait.'