A Week Later, The Wind of Freedom Bridge
"It's too damn quiet," Tayuya remarked as she absentmindedly tapping her flute on her hand. The flute was given to her by Naruto to protect herself after he had evaluated her style of combat. Her friends were also looking at Wave Country from the bridge of the ship.
"It also reeks of fear."
The Wind of Freedom had finally reached the Wave Country's coast. Hinata, Honoka and Asuka, who were all standing next to the helmswoman nodded in agreement. All four girls turned to look back at Naruto. He was standing against the wall, had his eyes closed and was in deep thought.
'Could this be a trap?' The ex-Kumo jonin had an uneasy feeling about reaching the Fire Country's southern border, he knew that damn Raikage would not give up pursuing him and Hinata, despite Cloud being unable to come this far south without alarming Konoha. Moreover, he and Hinata had escaped with so many people with bloodline limits, the Raikage had to be up to something.
The ship's fuel had almost reached its end, however, and they had to land in Wave Country to refuel and resupply. It didn't take long for the Namikaze to make a decision, he immediately brought out a scroll containing radio communicators.
"Here, take one," the blond distributed radio communicators to his friends. Then he created a high-level shadow clone code named Red. "Asuka-chan, Honoka-neechan and Tayuya-neechan, you girls please stay on the ship and help the civilians. Please make sure that those strong enough to fight are armed just in case."
Naruto smiled as he noticed that even Honoka had two daggers in sheathes behind her waist. "Hinata-chan and I will go to the shore, get some fuel and a better grasp of the town's situation."
He put a hand on his shadow clone's shoulder. "Red will stay and assist you. Stay frosty."
Everyone nodded while Naruto and Hinata pulled up their masks. Out of the ship, the couple was water-walking toward the nearest house on the coast.
"Hinata-chan, please," Naruto pointed towards the coast. She nodded and activated her bloodline limit.
"Byakugan!" She began to scan around the region, and a moment later she gasped.
"What happened?" The Namikaze asked alarmed.
"I see two men with swords heading toward that house," the Hyuuga said worriedly while pointing to a house. "There are a young woman and a boy inside!"
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Tazuna's House
"STAY AWAY FROM US!" Tsunami shouted as she failed to close the door to prevent Gato's two thugs from coming in. "INARI! HIDE!" But her son was unable to move. Two seconds later the door was broken, and the mother was knocked aside.
"Hehe…" Waraji chuckled as he looked at the boy and couldn't help his urge. "I feel the need to cut something with my sword."
"Fine, but make it quick." Zori impatiently said as he grabbed a resisting Tsunami, who was still screaming for her son. "We need this woman as a hostage to stop the bridge builder and that Konoha team."
"Hehehe…" Waraji slowly took his sword from its sheath and walked menacingly toward Inari. The thug's urge to kill becoming stronger with every step toward the frightened boy. "Those Konoha ninja will be next. Hehehe…"
The boy's feet were glued to the floor and he could only helplessly stare and tremble in fear as the man in front of him slowly raised his sword above his head.
"STOP! PLEASE!" Tsunami cried desperately as Gato's goon moved to take her son from her.
Four senbons flew through the doorway. Zori and Waraji screamed in pain as the metal needles were deeply embedded in their hands.
"How dare you, wanting to harm a child!"
Tsunami turned to the source of the soft female voice and found a masked couple in samurai armours standing in the door. The taller one made a hand sign and an identical figure appeared.
"White, interrogate them and take care of them afterwards." The shadow clone nodded and took away the two intruders.
Tsunami ran towards her son and hugged him tightly. "INARI! Thank you very much! Samurai-san!"
"Lady, we are not samurai, we are ninjas," Naruto corrected Tsunami.
"Thank you very much! Ninja-san!"
Naruto and Hinata saw the mother and the son hugging each other in joy at finding themselves saved. The bluenette hand tightened around her love's hand as they smiled at each other.
'I know you want to go home to be with your parents, Hinata-chan. You want to hug them and feel their warmth...' Naruto thought. 'I will bring you and our friends home safe. That's a promise!'
'I can tell it painfully reminds you that your parents are gone, and you never have a chance to hug them…' Hinata thought. 'But my parents can be your new parents.'
"Don't fight Gato. You are all going to die like those Konoha ninjas." Inari muttered at low voice. "No one can win against Gato..."
The boy's words made the Namikaze's eyes widened. 'There's a Konoha team here? And Gato!? The shipping magnate who was responsible for smuggling Asuka-chan and the Water people to Kumo? What is he doing here?'
"Inari!" Tsunami reprimanded her son. "These ninjas just saved our lives!"
The masked couple came closer to meet Tsunami's eyes. The mother saw the blond-haired ninja's sincere eyes.
"That's all right, mother of Inari, we can help. Please tell us everything."
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Twenty Minutes Later, On the Bridge
The members of Team 7 led by Kakashi Hatake were fighting a losing battle against the partner of the Demon of the Mist.
"Shit! Our plan failed!" Kiba cursed angrily. "You have Plan B, Sasuke?"
'I can't believe those ice mirrors can withstand our clans' signature techniques!' The Uchiha was in disbelief as he looked at the slightly damaged ice mirror they attempted to destroy.
Sasuke Uchiha, Kiba Inuzuka with his ninken Akamaru were trapped and were facing the Hyoton user's Ice Release: Demonic Mirror Ice Crystals. They had used Fire Release: Grand Fireball followed by the Inuzuka Fang Passing Fang to bring them down. Much to their disappointment, this had only produced minimal result.
They were literally pinned down as multiple senbons pierced through them and had forced Akamaru to return to his original form. The last member of Team 7 Sakura Haruno was staying close to protect their client Tazuna with a kunai at the ready. Despite Sasuke having finally awakened his Sharingan with one tomoe in his left and two in his right. He could only just see countless senbons were coming towards him, Kiba and Akamaru.
"Oh no…" Kiba muttered but quickly moved to shield his precious ninken from Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death.
Sasuke's pasts flashed in his mind. That terrible night his brother massacred the Uchiha clan which claimed the life of his father and of many of the clansmen, and his mother's crippled mobility. He worked hard so one day he could avenge his clan despite his mother always discouraged him from doing so. Then, the team formation day came into his mind. That humiliating taijutsu lesson he and Kiba learnt from Kakashi- Konoha secret ultimate taijutsu Sennen Goroshi, which was actually a damn kancho in disguise! He had a sore butt and a bruise to his pride as an Uchiha, he never told his mother about that humiliating lesson.
This mission was supposed to be C-rank to protect Tazuna the bridge builder from bandits. It, however, was bumped up to A-rank when Team 7 realized whom they were fighting against: The Demon of the Mist. The Uchiha was excited that this mission could be used as combat experience and a measuring stick to test his capabilities against a ninja of higher calibre.
It was more than Sasuke bargained for when Team Kakashi learned the Demon's academic background: a single student slaughtered the entire graduating class single-handedly. As the senbons came closer, Sasuke Uchiha believed his end was coming. He wished his younger clansmen would one day inherit his will and kill his damn brother.
Team 7, their client Tazuna, and the rogue Kiri hit team heard a roar and everyone froze. Then there was a powerful shockwave that blew off the Hyoton user's senbons and destroyed her ice mirrors.
Tailed Beast Shockwave!
The jinchuuriki to Kyuubi no Kitsune had raised the angle of the shockwave much higher than usual hoping to minimize damage to the bridge. Multiple cracks appeared on the bridge though, and the shockwave knocked everyone off their feet.
The Hyoton user who had been leaping between the mirrors in mid-air was caught off guard, the powerful shockwave blew her off course. She could hear her master's concerned cry and saw a senbon dipped in sleeping liquid embedded in her arm. She flew past the male genins of Team 7.
The fake Kiri hunter's mask broken in half as she crashed face first into the ground and was unconscious. Sasuke and Kiba got back to their feet and they held each other's arm over their shoulders. They carefully walked towards to see the fake Mist hunter-nin with kunai on their hands. Sasuke and Kiba recognized the hunter as the same person they had met during their tree climbing training.
"Haku? She's the fake hunter-nin?" Sasuke and Kiba looked at her in disbelief. The Inuzuka and his ninken had said Haku was a "she" with their noses checking her scent, despite her claim that she was a boy.
Fuck, Haku messed with them.
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Five Minutes Ago
'Another water clone,' Copycat Kakashi Hatake thought after his kunai plunged into his enemy's head.
"So tell me, Kakashi," Zabuza Momochi asked with a smile from behind his mask and he was behind the Konoha jonin. "How does it feel to know I figured out your little trick?"
The Konoha jonin immediately turned around and used his kunai to block the strike from the Executioner Blade wielded by the Mist missing-nin. He could hear the worried shouts from Sakura for her teammates and he knew his students were fighting a losing battle against the Hyoton user. He had to finish the battle with the Kiri ninja as quickly as possible, otherwise his students and the client would end up in body scrolls, and this country would be destroyed.
'I have to end this now,' the Leaf elite jonin quickly took a scroll from his flak jacket pocket. The Hatake smeared some of his blood from a wound inflicted by the Momochi across the scroll and made a few hand signs before he slammed the scroll to the ground.
"Summoning Technique: Earth Release: Tracking Fang Technique!"
"What the?" Zabuza was trying to sense what was happening when the ground under him exploded. He was shocked to see several dogs erupted from the ground and latched onto him and he couldn't move.
"If sight and hearing don't work, then use smell. I bled on purpose when I blocked your attacks. I left the smell of my blood on your weapons. From what I see, you are the one to fall into a trap." Kakashi Hatake said and he made a few hand signs. Lightning chakra began to concentrate on his right hand as Lightning Cutter. "Zabuza Momochi, you are ambitious. Konoha knows that you left Kirigakure no Sato and became a missing-nin. You tried to assassinate the Mizukage and to take over the Mist village, but you failed and escaped with your men. You work for scum like Gato to gather fund and to escape from the hunter-nins. The man you are trying to kill, Tazuna-san, is the courage of this country, and the bridge he wants to build is the hope of this country."
"I don't care about them as long as I accomplish my goal!" Zabuza yelled in defiance. 'But Kakashi is right- Wave Country is at stake, but so is my village!'
"You'll die here," Sharingan no Kakashi said coldly and rushed toward the Kiri-nin with his trademark assassination technique. The killing blow failed to land on copycat ninja's opponent when both combatants heard a roar and paused.
"What the hell…?" They were both shocked when a shockwave knocked them and the dogs around like ragdolls, pushing them a few meters. The mist created by Zabuza was blown away.
"HAKU!" Zabuza shouted out when he saw her being blew away in mid-air before he blacked out.
"I hate to use the Tailed Beast Shockwave that could damage the bridge," Naruto said to Hinata. "But that Hyoton user's ice mirrors are very tough."
The Hyuuga nodded in agreement.
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Kakashi and his eight ninkens were attempting to get back to their feet despite the pain. They saw two pairs of feet standing in front of them, a couple wearing the old Uzumaki style of armours.
"Hello, Kakashi-niisan," Naruto greeted the copycat ninja and held out his hand to him, while he and Hinata removed their masks. "Long time no see. It's a pleasant surprise meeting you here."
"Minato-sensei, Lady Hitomi?" Kakashi's eyes widened, the person in front of him looked like the Yondaime Hokage and the Hyuuga matriarch, before realizing they didn't have whiskered cheeks and the hime-cut hairstyle respectively. The Uzumaki armours they wore, and the male had called him 'niisan' and there was only one person who had ever called him niisan…
'Impossible.'
"No," Naruto shook his head and corrected Kakashi, "I'm his son, Naruto. And this is Hinata, daughter of Hiashi and Hitomi Hyuuga. I'll explain to you later for why we look like teenagers instead of preteenagers."
Kakashi's eye widened again and he couldn't believe it despite their growth their features matched the two Konoha children who had disappeared nearly ten years ago. There was only one way to confirm it, the Leaf jonin moved his head to his eight ninkens with a request.
"Can you guys authenticate them?"
The eight ninkens still remembered the scents they had used to track them during the Namikaze-Hyuuga Incident, and they began sniffing the couple.
"They are Naruto Namikaze and Hinata Hyuuga," the leader of the ninkens confirmed, and his seven dog friends all barked in agreement.
"I can't believe it's you!" Kakashi smiled and wanted to jump up in joy and hug them but he found he still couldn't get up. He was too exhausted after his battle with the Demon of the Mist. Thinking about his opponent, the Leaf jonin turned around and saw a Naruto's shadow clone, codenamed Yellow, was guarding and trying to wake Zabuza up.
"Sasuke-kun!" Everyone heard a worried cry and turned around to see the Team 7 pink-haired kunoichi rushed towards her teammates sitting on the ground exhausted. One of her teammates had a fan symbol on his back, obviously an Uchiha. Another male genin had red triangles on his cheeks, an Inuzuka.
Naruto was disappointed to see the pinkette was sobbing and helping the Uchiha only while ignoring her Inuzuka teammate and his ninken, who were both just two meters away from the Uchiha. The pinkette couldn't control her emotion properly, the ex-Kumo ninja shook his head and turned to his lover.
"Hinata-chan, please treat all the wounded, including the Mist ninja. Tayuya-neechan will heal Zabuza's arms when-"
"Hey wait a sec!" Tazuna interrupted and protested. "You want to heal my would-be assassins?"
Naruto raised a hand in an assuring gesture. "Don't worry, Tazuna-san. Your daughter Tsunami already told us everything. We saved her and your grandson when Gato's thugs attacked them. The Mist ninjas are no threat anymore after we deal with his employ… What the?" He stiffened slightly and turned around. Everyone including Zabuza, who now awoke, followed suit and found a group of more than 200 people. They were not friendly, and they were all armed, except the midget leader in a business suit.
"Hey Zabuza, I see you fucked up again. Huh?" Gato sneered at the assassin, and his soldiers laughed. They were all radiating malicious intent and Naruto could easily sense them.
The blond immediately recognized the leader Gato, the shipping and transport magnate. The young ninja had seen his ugly face on magazines before, and now he wanted to ask the midget leader some questions.
"What are you doing here, Gato? What is the meaning of this?" The Kiri ninja asked as he looked at Gato and his army.
The paymaster smirked. "Well, hiring ninja from villages is rather expensive, not only do I have to pay them, but it would also be troublesome if they betray me, so I hire missing-nins like you. It's very easy to dispose of you when you are exhausted after fighting enemy ninjas, and I can use superior number to get rid of you all. I don't need to pay you afterwards, and wouldn't you say it's smart? And after getting rid of you, I am going to put this country in its place."
Zabuza bitterly glared at Gato who had a smug smile on his face. 'This backstabbing son of the bitch never intends to pay me in the first place.' He turned to the Konoha jonin. "Hey Kakashi, our fight ends here. It's obvious that I ain't going to get paid for this, and I don't have any reason to kill Tazuna or to fight you anymore."
Tazuna let out a sign of relief that the dangerous Mist assassin no longer wanted to take his life, yet he failed to realize his life was still in danger as Gato and his army stood two few hundred meters from him.
The Mist ninja slowly stood up grabbing his Executioner Blade despite his heavily wounded arms. "But NO ONE fucks with me, and I'm going to teach that midget why I'm called The Demon of the Mist."
Before he moved a step forward, Naruto stood in front of him facing Gato. The blond unsheathed his katana from his back and extended his left arm to signal the Kiri assassin to stand aside.
"Zabuza, you can't fight them in your condition. Gato is mine, I have some questions for him, so leave him to me, and I will give you something that you will love. Beside I have a deal I want to make with you, a deal that you won't refuse."
The Kiri swordsman wanted to protest, but the blond was right that he was in no shape to fight. He and even Kakashi were curious about the offer and deal the blond had mentioned. He sighed and sat back. "Fine, those two better be good, brat."
"Hey boy! Who do you think you are? A samurai-wannabe? You can't fight all of us alone. RUN BACK HOME AND SUCK YOUR MOMMMMY!" Gato insulted Naruto, and his thugs bent over and laughed hysterically.
The jinchuuriki's eyes narrowed and his rage spiked. Hinata and Kakashi stepped forwards but the blond held up a hand to assure them that he was all right.
"All right. GET THEM!" The magnate ordered his soldiers, and they raised their weapons high and cheered before they charged.
"Number means nothing if your soldiers are a bunch of ragtag thugs," Naruto said coldly. He held the sword in both hands and began charging it with his and Kurama's chakra for a few seconds. With a large grunt and aiming high so as not to hit the shipping tycoon.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Broadsword Destroyer!" The blond swung his sword in a broad horizontal thin line, but deadly wind blade was released towards the army of thugs. The technique was a far more powerful variant of the Vacuum Sword. It cost more time and chakra to unleash the technique, but the range and width of the attack was greatly increased, that and the user had to be careful lest it created too much collateral damage.
Gato was confused when his goons seemed to freeze as they stopped abruptly. "Hey! What are you imbeciles stopping for? GET THEM!"
The shipping magnate kept shouting at his men, but they still didn't move. Half a second later, his men's upper bodies, or heads if shorter, slowly slid apart and dropped to the ground. Their blood pumped a meter high.
It's a blood bath, and the bridge was painted red. Gato screamed in high pitch sound as he was showered by his goons' blood. He and almost everyone else was horrified by this butchery, even hardened ninjas Kakashi and Zabuza were shocked and awed to see a technique that instantly slaughtered over 200 men.
Sasuke, Kiba and Sakura were all horrified at this level of killing, the body parts and blood of 200 men were everywhere.
"Oh Kami…" The smell of the massacre reached them, and Kiba and Akamaru were affected the worst. The genins of Team 7, their client Tazuna, and Hinata could not stand it anymore. They all fell to their knees, leaned forward and puked up their breakfast.
"Monster…" Sakura muttered while she wiped her mouth clean and she looked at the blond responsible for this. Sasuke, Kiba and Akamaru also looked at the blond in disbelief.
'He is worse than Itachi…' Sasuke compared this with his brother's massacre, despite the fact he was awed by the technique this mysterious blond had displayed.
Hinata was also having trouble accepting the scene, but her love was enraged by Gato's insult. She understood it was the only technique he could use to capture the magnate while wiping out his army. It would be less bloody if Naruto took out all of them, and based on what Tsunami said, this scum and his men deserved this.
The midget was still stunned by the showered bloods, and he failed to notice a shadow clone code named Black snuck up to him and grabbed his collar.
"Hyaa!" Gato yelped.
"I have some questions to ask you," Black said. "Regarding the deal you had with Kumogakure and what you have done to this country."
"Mercy!" Gato cried out and Black noticed the tycoon wet his pants. "I'll give you whatever you want! Money! Power! Women! I'll give you anything. Just spare me! Mercy!"
The shadow clone ignored Gato's begging and body flickered away with him to somewhere else for questions. Naruto was preparing to wash the gore away with his Suiton techniques, but he stopped when he heard a clapping.
Everyone turned around and saw two figures in black cloaks with red clouds.
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The taller of the duo with a large bandaged item on his back continued clapping for another five seconds.
"Impressive," he said. "The brat had made another highest body count rate in a few seconds. He even already had the highest body count rate in a night in Kumo according to the intelligence. I don't think you and I can break these records. Too bad the Raikage sent us to arrest him and his people, otherwise we could recruit him to be Sasori's partner…"
'The Raikage!?' Naruto, Hinata and Yellow were alarmed. Naruto placed his right hand on the hilt of the Arashi on his back, Hinata quickly took out her bow, and Yellow activated his Wind Claws. The tall mysterious person took off his straw hat and it revealed a grinning Kisame Hoshigaki- The Monster of the Mist, whom Zabuza, Kakashi and Naruto immediately recognized. The man was on the Kumo's hunting list for his sword- Samehada.
However, he must be taken with extreme caution. He was, after all, the Tailed Beast without a Tail.
To Kakashi and Naruto, it was a rarity to bump into two members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist on the same day.
"Anyway Itachi, should we take off their legs?" Kisame asked eagerly while taking the bandaged item from his back. "You can see the brat and his chick are going to resist arrest."
The other man held up a hand while Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata were alarmed at the mention of 'Itachi' and stared at the shorter one who also took off his veiled straw hat. The person in question was one of the most recognizable from the Bingo Books- The Uchiha Butcher who single-handedly wiped out the entire Konoha Military Police Force and killed his own father.
Itachi Uchiha.
"Naruto Arashi, surrender, come back to Kumo with us and return Kumo's 'properties.'" The Uchiha said in a monotone voice.
"ITACHI!" An enraged Sasuke charged towards his brother with a kunai, despite the wounds and the exhaustion from the battle with Haku. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU! DIE!"
Itachi effortlessly caught his brother's wrist before the kunai came in contact with his body.
"Still not strong enough, you don't have enough hate, foolish little brother..." The Uchiha Butcher commented in a cold voice.
"He's your brother?" Kisame asked amusedly. "Hmm… He sure does look like you. Happy reunion, huh?"
Itachi ignored Kisame's sarcastic comment and pulled his brother closer to his face. "Let me remind you again why you are unworthy to kill…"
'The gap between Itachi and me doesn't change… Not Tsukuyomi again!' Sasuke became very fearful as he watched his brother's Mangekyo Sharingan active.
"Huh?" Itachi and Kisame blinked and were surprised that Sasuke was replaced by Yellow. The shadow clone performed the substitution technique to switch place with the Uchiha genin.
"Kiss your asses goodbye," Yellow was grinning. Itachi and Kisame saw a seal on the kage bunshin placed by Naruto, and they did one thing before being consumed by the black flame of a Hellfire seal: jump.
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Naruto quickly grabbed Sasuke before he collapsed to the floor exhausted. "What the hell are you thinking, Uchiha? You should have known you are not in any shape to fight him!"
"Hey! Don't say that to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted but she froze when the blond shot her a cold glare. The memory of what the blond did to Gato's army several minutes ago was still fresh.
The Namikaze immediately created a high-level shadow clone. "Grey! You help Hinata-chan to fight the Uchiha and I take care of that Sashimi!"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SASHIMI BITCH?!"
Holding the Arashi, Naruto immediately jumped to fight Kisame. "Hinata-chan! Call Honoka-neechan!"
Grey turned to look at Sakura. "Pinky, you help 'your' Sasuke-kun, Tazuna-san and Inuzuka teammates. Don't argue with me, this isn't up for discussion!"
Hinata took out something from her pockets. "Kakashi-san, here some soldier pills!" She tossed a container to the Konoha jonin, but it was intercepted and destroyed by Itachi's shuriken.
The Uchiha landed in front of Grey. "Like we will let you recover your strength. It seems you are not willingly to come back with us."
"Oh fuck," the shadow clone muttered.
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"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SASHIMI BITCH?!" An enraged Kisame rose his sword above his head to bring down in an axe-like strike to crush Naruto and his people below. The blond jumped up to intercept Kisame's sword with the Arashi.
CLANG! They landed on the bridge. The Namikaze never took off his eyes on the Kiri missing-nin, he had to be careful with that Samehada- the most dangerous sword from the Mist.
"Hey, what are you so angry about? Oh I get it, You don't like being called sashimi. I am deeply sorry." Naruto apologized insincerely. "Would you like me to call you blue shark-ass face instead?"
Kisame's reaction proved that it touched his sensitive spot. "You little prick! I'm gonna dismember you slowly and painfully!"
The Mist swordsman dashed towards the blond and engaged in a pure but fierce kenjutsu battle between Arashi and Samehada which lasted for one minute. The Monster of the Mist had stronger strength to dominate the fight however Naruto's reflexes nullified his opponent's advantage and the fight entered into a stalemate.
Becoming frustrated at the absence of outcome as the blond ninja kept dodging or blocking his attacks, Kisame decided to use one of his most powerful and signature techniques by clapping his hands.
"Suiton: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!" The Kiri ninja released a giant stream of water from his mouth, which erupted into a large tidal wave. The ex-Kumo ninja's eyes widened when he saw Kisame rising with his water. That technique was much more powerful than his Suiton Great Torrent.
"Here I come!" The Hoshigaki was riding down the wave, grinning and showing his shark pointed teeth.
Jump was the only thing the Namikaze could do, and much to his surprise the waves followed the Mist ninja, who used the jinchuuriki's distraction to slash his chest. Fortunately, the Uzumaki armour absorbed the damage.
"Hmm, well… He is not the only one proficient in marine warfare here." Naruto activated his Wind Release Armour before he landed on the water. "Wind Armour Cruise Mode!"
Wind charka was generated under the Namikaze's feet to propel himself in the water, he was surfing on the waves with huge foams trailing behind him and coming towards Kisame amazingly fast.
"How did you do that!?" Kisame asked shocked.
"SASHIMI DOESN'T NEED TO KNOW IT!" The blond flipped back and let the trailing spray splashed the Mist ninja.
"STOP CALLING ME THAT YOU LITTLE PRICK!" The Kiri missing-nin yelled angrily and his couldn't see his opponent due to the waves. When his vision cleared, he saw the blond coming towards him ready to strike him down with the Arashi, and he didn't have time to raise Samehada to block the blond's attack. He could only jump backward to avoid the strike. The slash destroyed his Akatsuki cloak and top and revealed his topless body.
Several arrows were shot at Kisame and he managed to dodge the first three arrows. The arrows were shot from that Byakugan girl. The Mist missing-nin used Samehada to swat the other arrows away.
"Stop aiming at my balls! You bit-"
BOOM! Hinata's arrows were tagged with Havoc or Hellfire seals, and they were rigged to blow at contact. Samehada shrieked in pain. Naruto threw several kunai tagged with Havoc seals towards Kisame, but the latter dodged them.
BOOM! Naruto remotely detonated his Havoc seals remotely when they missed the Kiri swordsman. The blasts were powerful and Kisame's left arm was broken. The last thing the Mist ninja saw before he dropped into the sea was that his partner had destroyed the prick's shadow clone and was now dealing with that Hyuuga girl.
Grey's destruction alerted Naruto who immediately created two new shadow clones to continue fighting Kisame before he went to support Hinata.
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Three Minutes Ago
Itachi noticed the Hyuuga girl was giving Kisame troubles and he cringed and mentally cupped his family jewels in fear when he saw what part she was aiming at with her arrows.
'The explosive seals are at least three times as powerful as the one we use…' Itachi then threw a volley of shurikens towards Hinata, all at her vital points.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" Grey shouted and a strong gust of wind blew off the Uchiha's shurikens before they reached Hinata. The shadow clone didn't realize it was a distraction as the Uchiha used this opportunity to launch a Great Fireball that obliterated him.
Seeing the Uchiha Butcher charging towards her with a ninjato in hand and his Sharingan activated, Hinata quickly put away her bow and took out her two daggers, the right one held in reverse grip and activated a jutsu that had lightning surrounding her.
Itachi stopped his charge. 'The Raikage's signature Lightning Armour! She can use it too!'
Hinata's two blades were coated in lightning chakra and they were vibrating dangerously. Once in range, she and Itachi exchanged attacks, and both had a light cut on their left cheek. Then they proceeded to engage in a fierce battle of bukijutsu and taijutsu. Cuts gradually appeared on their faces and limbs.
The Hyuuga princess remembered her taijutsu and bukijutsu training and spars in Lightning Armour with Naruto in Wind Armour. Her lover had the advantages of strength, reflex and speed while she had flexibility only, but she managed to win a few rounds with her Raiton Armour.
Hinata recalled Naruto's combat philosophy: "Everyone has one or more advantages no matter how strong your opponents are and use them to fight your opponent."
Itachi, as she noted, was only superior in strength and they were almost equal in speed. But the Uchiha had a far more battle experience and wasn't hailed a prodigy for nothing. He struck his ninjato down to the Hyuuga's left shoulder. The wound wasn't too extensive because the Uzumaki armour took the blunt of the attack and Hinata only suffered minor muscle and tissue damage.
The Uchiha moved to his next step of attack: casting a powerful genjutsu on the Hyuuga hoping to incapacitate her.
'What?' Itachi was surprised again when his genjutsu failed on Hinata.
The Hyuuga reactivated her Raiton Armour and the lightning chakra on her daggers to break Itachi's sword and forced the latter to jump backward to avoid the next attack. The Uchiha was wondering why his genjutsu failed. It took him a few seconds to find the answer on the girl's armour which was covered with glowing red inscriptions.
Anti-ninjutsu and anti-genjutsu seals: Shield. This type of fuinjutsu was the reason why the Uzumaki clan was so feared that led to its destruction.
"Lion's Twin Fangs!" Hinata jumped towards Itachi to deliver a powerful cross slash with her daggers, a buki-taijutsu variant of Yugito's nin-taijutsu Flying Claw. Itachi dodged the strike, but his Akatsuki cloak and ninja clothes were torn and there was a X-shape wound on his chest. Blood was coming out of the wound. Naruto finally arrived and took Hinata's stead to fight the Uchiha Butcher, he made a few hand signs.
"Futon: Wind Strike!" He activated his S-rank assassination and combat technique. His right sleeve and fingerless glove were torn to shreds, and a meter-long blade of light green wind chakra appeared on his tattooed right forearm and hand. The tattoos were insulation seals that prevented damage to his arm by the most powerful Futon technique. A very low screeching sound could be heard within the range of one meter.
Kakashi's eyes widened. "It looks like my Lightning Cutter!"
The former Kumo ANBU operative was now engaging the former Konoha ANBU captain, they had so many similarities: came from powerful clans, prodigies, had bright future waiting for them, yet they "betrayed" their villages which raised and trained them, went "rogue," killed lots of their comrades, and they were both very dangerous.
Naruto's Wind Strike thrusted towards Itachi's heart, but the latter sidestepped and caught his right arm. Itachi's genjutsu failed to work again due to the Uzumaki Shield seals, then he thrusted a kunai to the blond's carotid arteries, only to be intercepted by the latter's left hand.
Both were deadlocked and were struggling to get out of it as they traded kicks and blocks. Naruto even attempted to kick Itachi's family jewels, but the latter blocked his kick and cringed mentally.
Son Goku had informed that Kurotsuchi, Sayuri and the other Earth Country girls had arrived Iwa yesterday. Naruto was glad that they were home safe and it's now his group to reach a safe asylum, and they were so close to it.
'Failure is not an option. I won't give up and I will bring Hinata-chan back home safe!'
With this determination, Naruto head-butted Itachi to break the deadlock, much to his surprise the latter did the same too. There was blood on their foreheads as they stumbled backward shaking.
"Fuck!" The Namikaze put his hand on his injured forehead and was surprised that the Uchiha did the same thing towards him. His opponent looked surprised too.
'Why are his eyes bleeding?' Naruto was puzzled for nine seconds before a black flame was shot towards him. 'Is it the fabled Amaterasu!?'
It was shot at almost point-blank range, but the Amaterasu black flame was absorbed into a Shield seal on Naruto's armour. The ex-Kumo ninja was shocked again to see a giant ribcage in chakra had been materialized around the Uchiha Butcher.
"I have to give you credits for pushing me this far… But it ends here." Itachi said pantingly and his chakra started to materialize a fist. Observing the seal effects from Naruto's and Hinata's armours, the Uchiha genius analysed and discovered the Shield's weakness.
'The Hyuuga's lightning chakra on her daggers and Naruto's Wind Strike disappeared when their seals activated. This means both sides can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu when the seal activates.'
"Shit!" Naruto cursed when he saw the incomplete avatar delivered a fist towards him. A chakra arm sprung out from him to intercept and grab the fist. The punch was so powerful that the blond was pushed a meter backward. Hinata's explosive arrows were keeping the Uchiha Butcher at bay, and they did some damage on the red gigantic skeletal humanoid avatar which was slowly regenerated.
Three figures landed next to Kakashi; the reinforcement had finally arrived. Honoka immediately shot her Adamantine Sealing Chains towards Itachi's Susanoo and bound it. Her chakra chain was more powerful thanks to the Uzumaki ruby which brought out her potential.
"Boil Release: Skilled Mist Technique!" A cloud of corrosive mist was shot towards Itachi's Susanoo. Asuka Terumi didn't have two bloodline limits like her elder cousin, but the former's Boil Release was more powerful than the latter's and the avatar began to dissolve.
Big violent waves kept crashing the bridge and Gato's soldiers' remains were devoured by them. Looking at the wounded bridge workers Tayuya quickly used her flute to order her Doki to protect them from the waves. Everyone was shocked to see a gigantic wall of water rose and quickly approaching towards them, with incalculable number of hungry sharks on it. They couldn't help but wondered: were the sharks lured by the blood of those slaughtered thugs?
Only the Uchiha Butcher knew that it was Water Release: A Thousand Feeding Sharks.
XXXXXXXXX
"Unbelievable." The last Susanoo Kurama saw was from that blasted Madara. "Kid, get up! You have to take that down before it's complete! BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!"
"Oh great," Naruto said. There's only one way to stop this and to protect his friends, he quickly created a shadow clone. "Blue, deal with that tsunami and those incoming sharks!"
The shadow clone activated Futon Armour Cruise mode after diving into the sea. Several Kisame's sharks turned around and began chasing after the kage bunshin.
Blue clapped his hands for five seconds as he dived deeper into the sea in Cruise mode. A growing twister came out of his hands and he sent it to the bottom of the sea before the sharks got him.
Thirty seconds later the twister became gigantic and made the sea a maelstrom. The weather began to change, sky began to drop heavy rain and thunder bolts. The Leaf team and the Wave people watched it in awe, but they failed to notice the Monster of the Mist and his sharks were sucked into the violent vortex, spinning before he was hurled out.
XXXXXXXXX
Kiba had been awestruck by the whole battle until Akamaru bit him and barked at him, and he realized something.
"Sensei!" The dog-ninja called out for Kakashi and he threw a container to the jonin. "Here are the soldier pills!" The copy-nin quickly swallowed one and his strength was replenished before he activated the Lightning Cutter again.
"Zabuza, bite my arm!" Tayuya's words confused the Kiri ninja and it confused him further when she offered her left arm to him. "Just do as I said for fuck's sake!" She gritted her teeth and tried not to scream when the Executioner Blade wielder's jagged teeth deeply nailed into her delicate skin.
"What the hell?" Zabuza felt rejuvenated and his arms were both healed. What was this freaking technique, biting to heal? He would think about it later. The Demon of the Mist had no obligation to support the blond and the Konoha ninjas despite the kunoichi healing him, but his guts told him otherwise. He quickly grabbed his Executioner Blade and joined the battle.
Now Itachi's Susanoo was bound by Honoka's chakra chains, Naruto entered Kyuubi mode and his hands formed three Micro-Tailed Beast Balls.
"Tailed Beast Ball: Burst Shot!" He shot Itachi's avatar with the three spheres in burst fire mode.
BOOM! Itachi became worried when the first round cracked his Susanoo.
BOOM! The Uchiha's eyes widened when the second round blasted a big hole on Susanoo. The third round passed the hole and went straight to the Uchiha Butcher. He narrowly dodged the deadly orb, that cracked the Susanoo behind his back.
"The battle is lost," Itachi Uchiha said when he saw Kakashi Hatake and Zabuza Momochi were coming to join the fight against him, and he was exhausted from using Susanoo. A figure crashed into the bridge, leaving a man-size crater. Tazuna groaned and complained at the damage to his bridge.
"You injured too, Kisame?" Itachi asked his partner.
"My left arm and right leg were broken…" Kisame was lying on his back frustrated and there were fishes in his mouth before he spat them out. "One day I'm gonna kill that little prick!"
"We can't fight anymore…" Itachi picked up his injured partner. "It seems we will return to Kumo empty-handed."
The Uchiha Butcher looked at his brother one more time. "Your hate must be stronger to defeat me, foolish little brother…"
The Akatsuki capture team left in shushin and the Uchiha Butcher didn't bother to hear his brother's furious shout at his name.
Being the main fighter against two S-rank ninjas, Naruto was exhausted too, and he dropped his left knee panting. It was the most dangerous fight he ever had in his entire ninja career.
"Not bad, kid, not bad, you and your mate managed to drive two S-rank ninjas away albeit with some helps and some of my chakra." Kurama complimented with a thumb up. "You still need to get stronger before you face Madara."
XXXXXXXXX
Two Hours Later, Gato's Hideout
Naruto's enemy was the Cloud Village, particularly the Raikage, and the Kiri rebel side would definitely share the same sentiment when they learned what Kumo had been doing to their people. The enemy of my enemy should be considered a friend, and that's why Naruto did not want to kill the Demon of the Mist in the first place.
Now Naruto Namikaze, Kakashi Hatake and Zabuza Momochi were having a meeting in one of the rooms with privacy seals set. Three hundred Naruto's shadow clones were assisting Tazuna on his bridge building efforts, to speed up the construction. Since the run in with two S-rank missing-nins- Itachi and Kisame, hired by the Raikage, the ex-Kumo ninja didn't want to stay in the open and who knew what he would send next.
All other people including Hinata and the Team 7 genins were busy processing Gato's assets or helping the Wave people. Hinata and Haku were treating the injured bridge workers, while Team 7 and the Mist hit team would take their due payments from the tycoon's treasury, and the rest would be distributed to the local people.
Speaking about Gato, Kisame Hoshigaki's shark technique gave Naruto an idea how to take care the tycoon for his heinous crimes- shark food. Black incised his nerve clusters and sent electrical shocks directly into his nerves as to torture to punish him. The tyrant shared the same fate with the Kumo doctors as there was a kunai up in his ass. No punishment was too great for a scum like Gato who was responsible for so much misery and death. The midget screamed like a swine and wished he was never born, before he was thrown to sharks.
"You are lucky you and your companion travelled south, Zabuza," Naruto finished telling the two jonins his and Hinata's tales in Kumo. "But your friend Raiga wasn't that so lucky."
The Kiri assassin raised his eyebrows. "Huh? What do you mean? What happened to Raiga?"
"Because you all are on the Kumo's hunting list, including Kisame. My former employer would love to get his filthy hands on your Executioner Blade, and your faithful Hyoton friend will be considered a bonus. The hidden Cloud village has been breeding people with bloodlines and is preparing for wars, even against Kirigakure. The civil war is a damn opportunity to invade. And regarding Raiga… Let's say your friend is now with his ancestors. Oh, and on a personal note, Raiga had a sick tendency of burying people alive and in the end he ranted and raved how much he still hated you and wanted to kill you."
"Sounds like him, asshole to the end. Hahaha..." Zabuza laughed and Kakashi chuckled despite the fact they had a hard time believing the blond in front of them personally slayed a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.
The Executioner Blade wielder recalled the story of a mere Konoha genin who fought with taijutsu only, but bold enough to face the whole Seven Mist Swordsmen in the last war. That guy died at the swords of the swordsmen of the Mist, but he took out four of them, and the other three were heavily wounded.
Minato Namikaze's offspring took out a member of the Mist elite group and he drove off the most powerful one, not to mention Kakashi nearly killed him before they were both knocked out by the boy.
'Hell, Konoha people always do crazy stunts.' Zabuza thought.
"Enough of our tale. Now to the deal we wanna talk about, Zabuza," Naruto brought up the main discussion topic which got the Kiri ninja's full attention. "If I'm right, the reason why you took this hit job, despite you know Gato was a scum, is that you want to fund your rebellion against the Yondaime Mizukage, right?"
"Uh-huh," Zabuza solemnly nodded.
"That asshole Yagura has been ordering the genocide of families with bloodlines, and many of your people escaped that hellhole called Water Country and only to end up in another one called Kumo thanks to another asshole, the Yondaime Raikage. I've saved as many as I could from that place, but there are still many trapped and suffering there. Anyway, you gave me Gato and now it's my turn to reach my end of the bargain: I'll return you the Kiba swords to help your efforts against Yagura. Also, I am going to give you some golds from the Uzumaki clan- three hundred large bullions."
Zabuza's and Kakashi's eyes widened at the amount of wealth the blond possessed. To the Kiri swordsman, this large amount of gold would certainly raise an army and increase the chance to win the war.
The blond held up a finger. "This is not an international interference from Konoha, because I am not a Leaf ninja, so consider it a help from the Uzumaki clan. My condition is that you will convince your village to be an ally with the Uzumaki clan, in military and trade, and will join the war against Kumo in case there is one. The hidden Cloud village is still the strongest despite the damage I inflicted to them, and I doubt even Leaf or Rock can face it alone. This is why the alliance is critically important if we want to preserve everything we hold dear. Surely you and your fellow Mist people will want to get even with Kumo for what they have done to your people."
"How did you get the gold bars? Also the armours… you visited Uzushiogakure, right?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes, I visited mum's home village and took the treasures," Naruto turned to look at Executioner Blade's wielder. "I don't care if you become the next Mizukage, but you need to convince the new Kiri leadership to form an alliance with the Uzumaki clan, then the gold bars are yours, deal?"
Just as Zabuza was going to agree the deal, Asuka stormed in the room with a scroll without knocking the door. "Sorry to disrupt your meeting, Naruto-kun, but you have to see this!" She said urgently before giving him a scroll.
Confused at why Asuka Terumi would interrupt the meeting and she was so excited; the Namikaze began to read the scroll she liberated from the shipping tycoon.
His eyes widened. "My Kami, I can't believe it…. I can't believe it." Kakashi and Zabuza curiously leaned closer to him to read the scroll as well. "Your cousin Mei just made a big strategic victory two days ago and she is making a big push!"
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Next Morning
The Wind of Freedom had been refuelled, all thanks to Gato's "donation," and was ready to embark for another voyage. The next destination was Water Country. All Water citizens including Asuka were going to go back to their country. A prominent Mist swordsman would be a good protector that they could reach home safe without Naruto, who entrusted Freedom to him.
The blond even gave the Executioner Blade wielder more than a thousand Uzumaki Shield seals which would definitely make the war in the rebel side's favour, and the Demon of the hidden Mist had been taught how to properly use them.
The meeting had resumed and Zabuza agreed the deal and he would try to convince Kiri to form an alliance with the Uzumaki clan once the civil war was over. Mist would join the potential war against Cloud. A copy of Kumo's crimes had been given to Zabuza and Asuka, the leader of the Water refugees. Naruto promised to use the Whirlpool resources to help the rebels with funds and weapons once he got home, and he even offered to fight Yagura, a fellow jinchuuriki, if the rebels needed him.
"Thank you very much for saving some of my clan people. I thought I was the last of my clan." Haku bowed ninety degree to the blond. "And thank you for helping my master to come closer to reaching his dream."
"Ah, don't mention it, Haku. We all want to end that senseless genocide." Naruto smiled. "We are all glad to help anyway."
"I have never seen Zabuza-sama being that happy ever since I became his tool."
Naruto quirked his eyebrow and inwardly shook his head in sadness. "Don't think like that, Haku, please. You are a human being, not a tool."
"But that's my purpose to live… What else am I supposed to live for?" The Ice Maiden asked sadly and she was confused. "My mother was murdered by my father before I killed him. I was left for dead and unwanted until Zabuza-sama saved me and he gave me a purpose by being his tool. What other purpose do I have to live for?"
Naruto sighed. "You don't know how similar we are, Haku… my former employers viewed me and my tailed beast friend Kurama as tools for war, and I'm pretty sure there are some people in Konoha view us in that way, and we both hate that idea very much. Had I not wanted to bring Hinata-chan to her parents and save those trapped in Kumo, I would not bother to return to Konoha. I want to forge my own destiny, probably rebuild Whirlpool Country with my Uzumaki clanswomen Honoka and Tayuya."
He put his hands on her shoulders and looked at her eyes. "I don't like to talk about other people's privacy, but Zabuza really cares for you in case you don't know, he showed concern for you when I told him what Kumo was up to and what they would do to you when they capture you. You can find a better purpose in life as you become his and Asuka-chan's friend and help the people of the Mist. I am sure they will definitely need your helps when the civil war is over, and the country is rebuilt. But please, never consider yourself as a tool. I can tell that he acts tough and hard just to hide his true emotion and soft side. I know, because we two are very similar. This is just too embarrassing to admit it. Ha!" He finished his conversation with a laugh and grinned at the Ice Maiden who was giggling.
"I understand, and I will never consider myself as a tool. Thank you again for everything you have done for us." Haku said before she shook hand with Naruto. She then walked to Hinata to exchange medical knowledge.
Asuka walked towards Naruto after bidding goodbye to Hinata. Every Water citizen couldn't wait to go back to their country when they learned the news that the rebel side was on the offensive, and peace for Water Country would arrive, faster if they helped.
Yet there was one person not too happy about this.
"Are you sure you and your people want to go back and join the war, Asuka-chan? I can use my royal status to offer you and your people a safe asylum in Fire Country. Isn't it your cousin's wish that you can have a safe place to live? I trained you so you can protect yourself, not wars... Please reconsider this." Naruto asked, but Asuka was still determined.
"We really appreciate your offer, Naruto-kun," the auburn-haired girl understood why the blond was very reluctant about this, for their well-being. "I know why you want us safe from wars, but we are not going to fight, we want to help our people! Everyone here wants to end the war as soon as possible. I'll use my medical skills learnt from you to save as many as possible in the war!"
Naruto closed his eyes and sighed. "Fair enough… But promise me you will stay safe and happy."
"I will, and you too. We are very, very grateful of your helps and we will never forget what you have done for us. You gave us hope, Naruto-kun. You are a hero to us and we really wish we could find a way to repay the debts."
They were going to separate in a few minutes and would probably never see each other again. She gave Naruto a quick kiss on his whiskered cheek. Surprised, Naruto gently hugged her in return. The Boil Release girl could still remember the jinchuuriki often came home covered in blood, his, the enemy's, or both. She too knew that he shielded her and the other girls from harm while he took the burden and the stress against suspicion, all for their sake.
To her surprise, despite being one of the most privileged men in Kumo he never touched her and the other girls but respected them. She doubted other people could stay as sane as he after what he had experienced. Her cousin Mei had mentioned several times Minato Namikaze was a fine man during the last war and a worthy ninja, and always entertained the idea meeting and marrying him. Naruto was now even better than his father and he was the noblest man she ever knew. Who wouldn't fall for a guy like Naruto?
Asuka and Sayuri knew that he was taken by Hinata, but they wished them happiness. "Please send me the invitation when you and Hinata-chan are going to marry."
Naruto nodded and smiled back. He watched Mei Terumi's cousin boarded The Wind of Freedom and joined Zabuza on the bridge. Fifteen minutes later the ship departed, and everyone on the ship waved him goodbye and shouting "Thank you!" to him. He turned to his group and the Konoha team.
Looking at Hinata, Honoka, and Tayuya, he smiled. "Well, only four of us go back to Konoha."
XXXXXXXXX
Next Morning
The Uzumaki group and Team 7 and most of the Wave people were on the now completed bridge, courtesy of Naruto's help. The villagers were curious and wanted to see the one who single-handedly took out Gato and his army of scums.
"Father, we still need to name the bridge," Tsunami said smiling to her father who was smiling too. Peace and prosperity had finally arrived for Wave Country.
"Yep, you are right. I think I have the perfect name for the bridge," Tazuna looked at Naruto, who got rid of Gato, helped build his bridge, and returned the stolen wealth back to the people, despite the brutal way he took out the tyrant.
"How about the Great Naruto Bridge?" His fellow townsfolks mumbled in approval.
"No, thank you," Naruto interjected and everyone looked at him. "That will be awesome, and I really appreciate it, but I don't deserve to have a great bridge named after me. But may I recommend to someone who is better than me? You guys should dedicate this bridge to the true hero of your country- Kaiza."
Hearing his father's name, Inari raised his head up and looked at Naruto, who looked at him in return.
"Inari," Naruto dropped his knees and kindly put his hands on the young boy's shoulders and looked into his eyes. "Your father was the TRUE hero. He stood against armed thugs and the overwhelming odds; he was even more courageous than me. And you know what? Gato pissed and crapped his pants when he faced a kid like me." Everyone included Inari let out a small laugh.
"Can you now see the difference between a courageous hero and a coward scum? It's now all over and don't be sad anymore, and live happily and to the fullest to honour Kaiza's memory. I lost my parents when I was born, but I honour their memory by living well."
Everyone was silent and was listening intently, even Sasuke. The blond's words echoed what mum told him. The Uchiha began to wonder if his father and his slain clansmen wanted him to live happily instead of avenging them.
"Don't cry…Inari." Kaiza's final words echoed in Inari's head.
"Dad…" Inari trembled and sobbed as he recalled the traumatized memory that his father died smiling, despite horribly beaten and was missing two arms, he still wished him the best at his very last moment. Tears started to fall from the young boy's eyes. "Dad… I-I will live to the fullest and I will honour your memory. I will… I promise…"
Naruto gently hugged him without a word and was glad that Inari finally understood Kaiza's ultimate sacrifice and Tazuna's efforts to bring back the hope to this country.
It took Inari a minute to release his pain and let out his emotion. "Will you come back to visit us, Naruto-niisan?" He asked.
"I will," Naruto was glad to see the boy's true smile and he ruffled his hair. "I'd like to see you when your country prospers again."
'Thank you for giving us hope again, Naruto-san.' Tazuna and Tsunami thought.
'Minato-sensei and Kushina-san, you must be proud of your son.' Kakashi thought as he looked at the sky.
After bidding goodbye to the people of Wave, the Uzumaki team and Team 7 left The Great Kaiza Bridge for Konoha.
XXXXXXXXX
Two Days Later
Sasuke Uchiha was replaying the battle in his mind as Team 7 and that blond's group were jumping from branch to branch back to Konoha. The group would arrive in Konoha in an hour.
The Team 7 genins had questioned their leader who these foreigners were and why they were going to Konoha with them. Their jonin leader told them would know why later. The battle the mysterious blond and his Hyuuga girlfriend fought against his brother and his shark-face partner had left a deep impression to the Uchiha genin.
Itachi's partner was strong too but the couple managed to drive them off with some assistance. Perhaps he could learn something from the blond.
"Naruto, may I ask you a question before we reach the village?" Kakashi asked.
"Sure," Naruto nodded.
"Why did you ask Zabuza to form an alliance with the Uzumaki clan instead of Konoha?"
"Well, the gold and the fuinjutsu belong to the Uzumaki clan, not Konoha. I know what exactly you are asking about, Kakashi-niisan." Naruto answered frankly. "I read the Konoha academy textbooks bought from the black market when we were in Kumo, and you know what? There is no mention of the Uzumaki clan! Leaf wouldn't have won the three world wars without the seal arts from the Uzumaki clan, and not to mention Mito-sama and mum being the jinchuuriki to Kurama. Is this how Konoha honours and repays the Uzumaki clan and their sacrifice?"
'What!?' The Hatake was shocked at this information, how could the Uzumaki history be removed from the academy curriculum? The Konoha jonin didn't say anything as they continued their trip until Naruto broke the silence.
"Kakashi-niisan, you know a boy named Ranmaru?"
"So it's you who sent Ranmaru to Konoha. He told us that he was with Raiga and a masked man brought him to be picked up by a Konoha patrol with a scroll to Lady Tsunade. It was really you, and you gave Lady Tsunade those one hundred gold bars, you should have seen her confused and joyed face when she saw them!"
Naruto laughed. "I sent Ranmaru to Konoha for treatment and protection, and I need someone I can trust in Konoha, and Tsunade is the best person to do this. I hoped the gold could convince the Slug Sannin to look after Ranmaru and settle her debts. He is kind and nice, and I hoped he could heal Tsunade's sorrows."
"Indeed, Ranmaru and Shizune helped Lady Tsunade finally overcome her hemophobia. Then why did you hide your identity when you sent Ranmaru to Konoha? You could have told us that you and Hinata were in Kumo when you were in the border, why didn't you ask for help?"
"I know many people are searching for us, but there are also many people involved in our abduction and they don't want us to come back. Intelligence leakage would happen, and I have no doubt Kumo would hide its crimes and deny everything. There are so many lives at stake, and I couldn't afford to take any big risk. There was no room for a single mistake. Kurama and I know there is a jinchuuriki as my replacement in Leaf, but we decided not to inform Konoha and even asked that biju not to talk about it."
"OK I understand. But you will have to explain this to the Third Hokage and Lady Tsunade too. About Ranmaru, he graduated with my genins' class and became a shinobi, and he was sent to replace a WIA member in Team Shizune, which was formed last year."
"I see," Naruto was in deep thought. 'Interesting, it seems Ranmaru wants to become strong, and I'd like to see how strong he has become.'
"By the way, I hate to break it to you, but there was an electrical fire accident in your parents' house five years ago…"
"SAY WHAT!?" The shout made everyone stop and turn around to look at Naruto.
"I know you will be very upset about this, but the fire destroyed everything in the house…" The copy-ninja still remembered that the fire was so great that even water jutsu couldn't quickly extinguish it. By the time the fire died down everything Minato and Kushina had there were gone.
"Oh fuck! Fuck!" Naruto took the news very bad. He held his head in his hands in distress and walked aimlessly in the forest and failed to notice a worried Hinata approaching him. "How the fuck there was an electrical fire in a place that no one lived there for so long?"
The blond furiously started to smash trees, that went down one by one. The genins of Team 7 were shocked to see his rampage and the damage to these humongous trees. Honoka and Tayuya were looking at him sadly.
"That fucking Raikage estimated I'd learn Hiraishin from scratch in A YEAR! But there are less than ninety days left before B-sensei and Yugito-sensei come back. WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! Hiraishin is probably LOST FOREVER! If Kumo refuses to surrender to the alliance of Konoha, Suna and Iwa, then Hiraishin is the best shot at pressuring Cloud into surrendering without a war! FUCK!" The whiskered blond punched another tree and it fell down.
"Naruto-kun, CALM DOWN! I know you are very angry, but your parents were seal masters, their scrolls could be protected by barrier seals or hidden somewhere else. Kurama probably knows where they are. Even if Hiraishin is lost, you can still find an alternative way, can't you? The Flying Thunder God Technique isn't the only option, right?" Hinata's words always had magic effects whenever his emotions got the better of him.
"Sorry, Hinata-chan," Naruto took a deep breath and took her hands that had the mysterious effect of calming him down. "But I'm so upset my parents' mementos were all lost…"
"You are your parents' legacy, Naruto-kun," she gently stroked his face with her hands as she comforted her lover. "You are their most important memento."
"Thank you, Hinata-chan," the blond sighed in frustration and rubbed his temples before taking a deep breath. "Kakashi-niisan, sorry I am not in the mood to talk anymore now until we reach Konoha."
Resuming the journey back to the Leaf village Naruto was in deep thought. 'Now I'm so glad I had asked Zabuza to ally with the Uzumaki clan in foresight. In case Konoha fails to honour the Uzumaki clan, I'm going to use the alliance with Iwa and Kiri to rebuild Uzushio. Heck, I might even offer Hiashi the position of co-founding clan for the Hyuuga in the Neo-Uzushiogakure.'
XXXXXXXXX
Thirty minutes later the gates Konoha were coming into their views and they could see the Hokage Monument. It's been nearly ten years since they were abducted. The Uzumaki group stopped to don their masks to avoid unwanted attention, not caring for Team 7 genins' confusion.
Naruto and Hinata held hands tightly as they passed through the gate. They were finally back to their birth village and they felt a little nostalgic. The bust of the Yondaime Hokage on the monument seemed to smile and welcome his son and future daughter-in-law home.
As they were walking towards the Hokage Tower, Naruto felt hot on his chest. He stopped to take the Uzumaki ruby from his shirt, and it was just like when he found Honoka and Tayuya. The Reclaimer was again radiating brightly when they were getting closer to the tower.
"It's radiating again?" Tayuya asked, as Kakashi knocked the office door and there was a feminine response telling them to come in. "There's an Uzumaki here?"
"Yes," Naruto nodded and smiled. The ruby radiated the brightest as they walked into the office.
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Author Notes:
*Beta: AnarionRising27 and Lord Farsight
*The Cruise mode is one of the two Futon Armour modes that specialized in marine warfare. The close range one that fought the Raikage in the last chapter, the Duel mode, isn't suitable to fight in this chapter.
*The Wind Strike shape is similar to the Zeratul's Warped Blade in StarCraft; beside Zeratul is an assassin too.
*About the Shield seal, nothing is invincible. Every person or technique has weaknesses, even the Uzumaki Shield seal. One Shield seal could only seal several ninjutsu or genjutsu, so an armour could only seal a limited number of ninjutsu or genjutsu so the user must use the seals wisely, i.e. don't seal D-rank or C-rank techniques. Also Shield seal could not seal Susanoo. But Naruto might develop an advanced Shield seal technique later.
*Yes, Tayuya had the Heal Bite ability. The Uzumaki Reclaimer ruby also helps the remaining Uzumakis by awaking their recessive genetic traits or enhancing their abilities, to let them have a better chance to survive the fields. Hence Honoka and Tayuya have their potential abilities awakened. Naruto won't get the chakra chains or heal bite ability, but he might have something else.
*There is a wide mass confusion on Haku's gender. I discussed with AnarionRising27, Lord Farsight and Leaf Ranger, and we all believe Haku was a she.
*I don't bash on any character, no matter how dickhead they are. I just write based on their personalities and what I believe they would respond to situations, and I want to be fair. In canon, Sasuke was still a decent person during the Wave mission, and he even shielded Naruto from Haku's attacks.
*The main villains in this story are the Raikage, a certain snake and a certain warhawk.