Shinobi of the Force
The World Will Know
Traveling to Wave: Two Days Later
In a clearing overlooking the expanse of water leading off the mainland of the Elemental continent, two people were sleeping soundly. They were secreted at the edges of the small field, within a camouflaged sleeping bag. One of them was a young woman on the verge of adulthood, she was a deadly, dark rose, who had blossomed into a bastion of strength in her nineteen years of life.
She had long, dark-violette hair, reaching to her lower back, her scarlet-red hitai-ate, acting as a hairband for the fork-like bangs, spilling over her brow and delectable lips that any man, and a few women have fantasized about kissing. Her body, even when lying in repose, against the other person in the clearing would be described as voluptuous. She had a body that many women would kill to possess, and men would kill to touch. Another word which could be used to describe her is fit. In addition to her generous bust, and a supple, robust frame, she had a washboard stomach, with legs that could kick down trees.
Her hands were folded over her stomach, over a decorative, scarlet-red hour-glass, descending from just below her breasts to the hem of her blouse. Covering her hands were another set of hands, which led to her sleeping companion, upon which she reclined.
If the woman was a representative of the dark of night, then he represented the light of day. He was thirteen with blonde, spiky hair, slightly pointed ears, and three-whisker-like birthmarks on both cheeks. He wore a navy-blue jumpsuit, over steel-mesh under-armor, gray knee and elbow pads, with fingerless gloves on his hands. They added warmth to him and his fiancée's hands while they slept.
They were both without any foot covering but their socks, and had packed away their main weapons. Only their ninja tools were evident as a means of self-preservation in a surprise attack.
Naruto opened his eyes as the sun rose over the horizon. Beams of sunlight streamed through the gaps in the trees and illuminated their faces, but also seemed to bore a hole into his eyelids. Naruto cringed and flinched away from the oppressive light, which caused him to remove his gloved hands from Izumi's hands, causing her to awaken as well.
The Uchiha sat up from her position on Naruto, and stretched to get blood flowing through her properly. It was this image that Naruto finally, completely awoke to, as well as the loss of Izumi's warmth and weight. He found her arms outstretched, her back arched, and her chest sticking out. He scanned her body, taking in all of her, even if his eyes were drawn to certain features of her physique.
ANBU are trained to know when someone was watching them, even if they could not always be certain where an enemy was, they always knew when the weight of a gaze was placed upon them. Today was no exception, in the midst of her stretch, she felt a hungry gaze on her, and discreetly looked around the clearing. As far as she could tell, they were alone in the clearing, but she continued to look over their surroundings, panning her eyes and craning her neck until she turned her gaze upon her fiancé.
Izumi smirked as she sat up straight, but kept her bosom pushed out. She did not mind him looking at her that way, she was used to it from others. Naruto is my betrothed, he has a right to look at me. At least I know he's attracted to me, before we get married. Doesn't mean I won't tease him about it though, she thought, before saying, "see something you like, Naruto-kun?"
Even if he blushed at her quip, he recognized her tone and knew she was joking with him. "No," he answered with a shake of his head, which caught her by surprise before he quickly added, "I see someone I love."
When he answered her question with a negative response, Izumi immediately began to feel hurt, but as soon as he said he loved her, a feeling of warmth surged through her heart, overshadowing her disappointment by a mile. She swiftly turned and scooted into his lap, she met his eyes as she cupped his jaw, "I love you, Naruto," she whispered huskily. She surged forward, taking his lips with passion.
Naruto leaned into her kiss, his eyes closed as he felt her love wash over him through the Force. He felt his own emotions surging through him and allowed them to be carried up by the Force and met her feelings for him with his own. Her tongue came out and licked at his mouth for entrance, which he eagerly opened, and she swept her own appendage through the gap; licking his teeth.
Izumi's tongue swirled inside Naruto's mouth for a few heartbeats before she felt his own tongue licking at her own. Gradually she retracted her invasion, but he never lost contact with her flesh. He followed her out and into her mouth, stopping only long enough for them to take a breath, before he plundered her mouth. There was no domination or submission, neither wanted dominion over the other, what they sought, was a partnership. They were dancing with each other's tongue, whether in his mouth or hers, all they wanted was harmony.
They finally end their dance, after a full minute, as they relinquished their hold on each other's lips. They kept their eyes glued to each other, and their smiles held nothing but the warmth of happiness and contentment. They snuggled close, holding each other tightly. She held him in around the neck, he held her waist, which she began to grind against him unconsciously, because a certain part of his anatomy had definitely awakened.
They suddenly became aware of their actions, "Naruto-kun," Izumi voiced with a shaky tone?
"Yes, Izumi-chan," he answered in a breathless voice.
"I think we should go get ready for the day," she asserted with a pant, "and dunk ourselves in some very cold water. As much as I really want to keep going and progress to a point of mutual satisfaction, we have to stop," she told him in a tone that conveyed her disappointment in their situation, "we have to adhere to the law. If for no other reason than out of loyalty to the village."
Naruto listened to her voice and felt her emotions through the Force and the scent of her body. The only reason she wants to stop is because of the law forbidding sexual activity for Genin, which only applies to me. As clan heads of our own clans, the clan heir prohibition against dating doesn't apply to us. She is not bound by any rule prohibiting her sexual activities, not even the marriage contract. Which won't be valid until I become a Chunin, Naruto remembered, and it could be years before Kurenai-sensei deems us ready for the Chunin Exams. I would still be bound by the Genin Restriction, set forth by the Third while he was an active Hokage. Izumi, if she wanted to, could get a boyfriend, Naruto surmised, and lose her virginity to him. She could become the whore of the Leaf, as long as it was before the Marriage Contract became active, but she's willing to wait for me to catch up to her.
"I totally agree, Izumi-chan," Naruto nodded, "I may not love all the villagers because of how they've treated me, but I will at least be loyal to the Village itself."
"Loyalty isn't just about not betraying the village, Naruto-kun," Izumi explained, "it's about following its rules and laws, even when there is little chance of them learning that we broke them."
"Integrity and Trust," Naruto named the concepts, while nodding his agreement with them.
"Exactly," Izumi exclaimed, "I mean, I really want to have you right now, Naruto-kun. You have no idea how turned on I am at this moment," she declared, then added, "the only reason I want to stop is because I refuse to be disloyal to the Leaf, even this much!"
"So if that stupid law didn't exist…" Naruto asked, just to clarify?
Izumi grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him until their brows were connected, "I would no longer be a virgin, I would have given myself to you as soon as I was ready. Which was ninety-minutes into the striptease I gave you for passing your graduation exam," she declared, while giving him some grinding action, "the night you saved Mizuki's fiancée."
"I totally agree with you, Izumi-chan," Naruto proclaimed.
"Good, Naruto," she retorted, "now, please remove your hand from my ass, before you make me lose my resolve to remain loyal to my village."
Naruto looked past her to see that his hand had indeed landed on her butt, and was even squeezing her backside a little. "Oops, sorry, Izumi-chan," Naruto apologized with a sheepish grin on his face, as he slowly released her hindquarters from his grasp. "I guess my hand has a mind of its own."
"I liked your hand on my ass, Naruto-kun," Izumi reassured him by taking his chin to make him look at her. "I like it too much, which is why I wanted you to let go, before I let my hormones get the better of me. Understand," she asked to his quiet nod? "Good," she replied, before pecking him on the lips.
They stood up from their sleeping area, dusting themselves of dirt, grass, and other debris. Naruto took a moment to do his own stretching, which Izumi resolutely ignored, lest her convictions of loyalty be tested. Naruto looked around the area, using all of his senses, and his ally, he detected nothing except the local wildlife. He did that as he opened the pocket on his thigh, and took out some deer-jerky, and dried apple-slices. He offered some to his fiancée, who had some of her own rations, oatmeal-raisin granola bars, out and was offering him the same. They shared a loving smile of gratitude, accepting each other's bounty, but without taking it for granted.
They washed their quick meal down, with water from their canteens, before dumping out the rest, and refilling them with fresh. They did not have to worry about purification of water, all ninja are taught a basic jutsu which accomplishes that task, and any fuinjutsu practitioner worth the name, can craft water-purification seals. They were in the field, and Konoha standard security protocol dictated that only one of them shall conduct morning ablutions at a time, while the other remained watchful. Since she was his superior in the field, she took her turn first, then him.
"You ready Naruto," she asked?
"How far are we from Wave," he asked while nodding yes?"
"Only about two-hours at the current pace we've been traveling," she answered, as they began stretching and doing warm up exercises, to get their bodies and minds ready for travel. "We may have to water-walk across the channel, I doubt there are any boats going or coming from the islands," she informed him, "from what I learned, the waterfront and all shipping and fishing companies were recently bought out by Gato Trading."
As she said, 'Gato', the Force was sending an image, of a small portly fellow, with silvery-hair and a perpetual sneer on his face, to Naruto's Mind's Eye. Naruto studied the image, and hummed to himself, "The Force is telling me, we may encounter Gato on this trip."
"Really," the Uchiha asked in wonder, "do you know why?"
"No," Naruto answered, "and the future is always in motion, Izumi-chan. Something could change that would make the image I just received meaningless," he reminded her.
"I know what you've told me, Naruto-kun," Izumi replied, "but I know the Force doesn't show you anything unless it's important. Even if all it was trying to do was show you what Gato looks like," she concluded. Naruto nodded as he conceded her point.
They completed their warm-ups and stretches, and got ready to resume their travel. "Battle-Pursuit Tree-hopping Formation," they said together, as they bounded into the trees! This was an even faster method of travel than merely racing along the ground. They come from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and nothing moves faster in a forested area than a Konoha ninja. They bounded through the canopy at breakneck speeds, this time they left no wake. They were ninja, and were not in as big of a hurry this time, as when Team Seven were heading to Katabami, thus they took extra precautions to conceal their passage.
Cresting Wave
The loving couple left the trees about an hour before they reached the edge of the mainland. They shifted, without hesitation into normal Battle-Pursuit Formation, running abreast of each other, with Naruto just a step behind his fiancée. They did not even hesitate to run across the narrow channel separating the continent from the islands of Nami no kuni, it was eight kims (1) across the water.
They began to slow down as they approached the island, returning to a more normal traveling pace, and were awed into silence when they caught sight of a looming structure, appearing silently out of the fog. The parts of it that were above the water, appeared to be a good seventeen-meters tall, by eighteen-meters wide, with X-shaped support beams connecting each leg of the structure. The size of the construct was almost enough to make them drop their ninja bearing.
They moved around to the side of the edifice until they came ashore. Before long they came to a clearing which had been the sight of a climactic battle. There were signs of destruction everywhere, none more prevalent than on the banks of a small river. They saw tracks and paw-prints all over the place, in one spot in particular, they saw the remains of a swarm of kikaichu beetles floating in a puddle of water. Izumi pointed to the top of a tree where she spotted a large slice cut in the trunk, and Naruto spotted a set of caltrops peeking out of the mud near the riverbank. Then without warning, he turned and sent a shuriken into the underbrush, "screech," thunk, Naruto hurried over to find a snow-white rabbit, bleeding out from a wound in its neck.
He picked it up to show his fiancée, while also retrieving his star, and shared a look with her before asking, "substitution?" Naruto already knew the answer, he'd cooked enough rabbits to know how they adapted to their environment at different times of the year. This one had been raised indoors and away from sunlight, this time of year all rabbits would still have their brown, summer coats, or at least be in transition, with patches of white here and there.
"Substitution," Izumi affirmed.
Naruto shifted the animal over a place on his travel garment, there was a seal sewn into it, and with a touch of chakra, the rabbit was gone, inside to await processing later. He was not hungry yet, but when he was a kid, he learned to always make the most out of any opportunity.
"This is high-level ninjutsu, Naruto-koi," Izumi determined in a rush, "from more than one source. Kakashi-senpai and whomever they were fighting. The sword slice in the tree looks like a zanbato-strike, but from so high up, whoever it was, is quite strong."
"Is or was, Izumi-koibito," Naruto wondered aloud as he moved around the clearing?
"Is," she confirmed intensely, as if to make reality conform to her words, "there's not enough blood on the ground for there to be a death, so the battle most likely ended in a stalemate. Even if they drowned him and took the body, my instincts tell me there were no deaths here today."
"From the dead bugs on the ground, I'll bet my mom's blade that they pulled a switch with the client," Naruto concluded while ranging all over, using the Force to guide him, and sniffing out the strongest scents. "I only see six sets of tracks here, and smell five people and one dog," Naruto added, "Sasuke and the client were not here for the battle." He understood the emotions behind her words, after losing so many people from her clan, Izumi's heart could not bear to lose anymore, her baby brother least of all. "I have the scent of the people that were here, Izumi-chan," Naruto explained, "two of them go East, the rest head North, which one should we follow?"
"I want to touch base with Kakashi-senpai," Izumi ordered, "we'll follow the one going North."
"As you wish," Naruto replied in earnest.
Sometime later, the two-ninja knocked on a door, which opened to reveal Sasuke, holding a kunai at the ready. He looked at Izumi, "what did Itachi do to me whenever I annoyed him over training?"
Izumi was already smiling when she saw her brother at the door, which got even bigger when she began to remember the happier moments of her family history, "he'd place a finger on your forehead and push you away from him. It was the closest he ever came to being mad at you," she added.
"Hrn," Sasuke huffed and made an ugly face, "all he had to do was tell me not now, or just make a date to train me," he groused. He stood aside and let them enter, before closing the door and taking up a position next to it, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. They spotted Shino standing by the staircase leading upstairs, with Kiba and Akamaru, standing next to a pretty woman. The only member of Team Eight not present was Kakashi.
Izumi began introductions from herself and her fiancé, to the two unknown people in the room. "My name is Jonin, Uchiha Izumi no Konoha, and this is Genin, Uzumaki Naruto, we've come at the request of the Hokage to assist Team Eight in completing this mission."
"AACHOO," came a sneeze from an elderly man with a gray beard and mustache framing his lips, as he got a good look at the new arrivals! "I'm Tazuna and that's my daughter Tsunami, and you're the extra team Konoha sent to help," he began roughly, "what can a little girl and another pipsqueak brat do against the likes of the enemies we face?"
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the old man's temerity, he would have spoken up, if his bride had not decided to take the lead. "If you had told the truth in your mission request from the start, we would have been better prepared to deal with any threats that may have arisen," Izumi admonished the old man, "as it stands, assuming from his absence in this room, I have to conclude that one of our best shinobi has been injured. I have been given authority by the Hokage himself, to terminate this mission, is that what you wish to happen, Tazuna no Nami?"
The old man could not remember being chewed out more thoroughly, since his own mother did it when he was a boy. Tazuna turned away from Izumi in guilt, so the Uchiha turned to the Genin of Team Kakashi.
"Give me a full report of the mission up to now," she ordered!
Kiba began speaking, "It was on the way here from home that we were ambushed by the Demon Brothers of Kiri. We all spotted them through their amateurish genjutsu, using our individual methods. Me and Akamaru with our heightened senses…
"…my kikaichu noticed the foreign chakra in my system," Shino added.
"It was such a bad illusion, I didn't even need to use my Sharingan," Sasuke informed his sister and clan head, "and Kakashi-sensei through his experience."
"We decided to wait to see whom their target was," the Aburame continued the report, "reason dictated that none of us are high profile enough to warrant being targeted. Except perhaps Sasuke for the Uchiha kekkei genkai, or Kakashi-sensei for some slight in the past. Except now that we can look at it from the future, it shouldn't have been likely, unless someone in Konoha was a traitor and tipped our enemies off, a statistically unlikely occurrence…"
"Anyway," Kiba interrupted his teammate, "they waited for us to all walk by, before they sprung their ambush. They 'took out' Kakashi-sensei first, which makes strategic sense to all of us. He is the only one with a rep. Then they made a feint for me, which I won't lie, made me freeze for a moment, until Akamaru bit me on the ear to shock me out of my fugue. I was getting ready to defend myself when they made straight for the Old man over here," Kiba explained while pointing at Tazuna.
"They used a set of gauntlets attached to a chain to make synchronized attacks," said Sasuke, taking up the report. "I jumped in front of them with a pair of kunai and managed to break the chain…"
"… while I took up a defensive position in front of the bridge-builder," Shino added…
"… and me and Akamaru used Getsuga on one to knock one of them out," Kiba put in…
"… then I utilized the shuriken-bolo tactic and pinned the other one to a tree," Sasuke finished. "This was when Kakashi decided to show himself, alive and well, sitting in a tree just watching the festivities. He told us he wanted to see how we handle ourselves in a real life or death situation, as well as wanting to see who they were targeting."
"We learned from Tazuna, that the shipping magnate Gato of Gato Shipping had moved into Wave and bought up all of the waterfront real estate, as well as all ships that called Nami home," Kiba explained. "He's been using his control to strangle Wave's economy, in a country like Wave, its waterfront is its lifeblood. So Tazuna here," he said, thumb-pointing at the man in question, "began to build the bridge, this would break Gato's monopoly."
"It seems Gato likes to use force to protect his business interests," Sasuke informed them, "employing mercenaries and missing-nins."
"We all decided as a team that we would continue the mission," Shino supplied, "mainly to help the people of Wave, but also because it would cause us to lose prestige as a team, if we returned to the village after only encountering the first obstacle of our first mission outside of it."
"Kakashi still sent a message to the Hokage, through Pakkun, telling them of the change to mission parameters," Sasuke added, "to have them collect Mezu and Gozu, and to request help."
"We camped out overnight and devised a strategy to protect Tazuna," Shino explained.
"We had Sasuke split off from us and take Tazuna on a long route to reach Nami," Kiba told them, "we were all well-versed in water walking at this point."
"I walked with Tazuna to a white cliff overlooking Nami no suiro," Sasuke continued, "we were actually in line of sight of the old man's home. So, I picked him up and under the cover of night, I ran him across the channel, and other than a minor mishap halfway across, we made it here within an hour."
"Hmph, 'minor mishap' my eye," Tazuna grumbled, "how is dropping me in the ocean, and getting me soaking wet, considered minor?"
"I could've dropped you off a cliff, you old fart," Sasuke grumbled under his breath, then louder, "if I wasn't carrying in excess of 110 kegs I wouldn't have had any issues. Would it kill you to go on a diet, Tazuna-san?"
"Thank you," the bridge-builder's daughter exclaimed with a sigh of exasperation, the subject of her father's weight obviously an ongoing argument between the two. Everyone in the room smiled at her for putting her father in his place.
"That's working man's muscle, boy," Tazuna grumbled stubbornly!
Before things could deteriorate into a fight, Izumi gestured to Team Eight to keep going with their report, so Kiba and Shino took up the story. "On the assumption that our adversary was aware of our group composition," Shino continued, "when the sun arose the next morning, Kiba and I deployed our own clones and we henged into facsimiles of our client and compatriot. Me into Sasuke-san, and Kiba, into Tazuna-san…"
"… Akamaru can easily pass for me, so we used our Man-Beast Clone technique. Tazuna's personality is close enough to mine that it wasn't too far of a stretch to mimic him…"
"… and Sasuke's more stoic nature fell perfectly into alignment with my own nature, therefore I created a Kikaichu clone of myself, before transforming into your brother."
"We got to the island via ferryman, in the fog of the morning," Kiba began, "our strategy worked, the man we met was known as Zabuza Momochi. He carried a big honking sword that was taller than even him, and he was a big guy, even compared to Kakashi-sensei."
"He attempted to waylay us at first by throwing his sword at us," Shino continued, "though I am wondering if his initial attack was meant to be his true attack or if he was attempting to disconcert us?"
"We'd discovered his substitution animal when Akamaru threw his kunai and scared it half-to-death," Kiba added, "then he threw his sword at us, which landed in a tree. He then jumped from where he was hiding and landed on the sword. He demanded the old man, which of course we denied him - making no allusion to the fact he wasn't with us. He conjured up an obscuring mist of his own, and tried to hide from Kakashi, who had revealed his Sharingan."
"He did not count on Kiba and Akamaru, who use senses other than sight to detect him," Shino concluded.
"Akamaru-as-me, Shino-as-Sasuke, and the Shino-bunshin got into the daimonji formation, to protect me," Kiba explained, "because not only would it help our ruse, it would protect me, since we figured Momochi-san would come right for me."
"Zabuza-san seemed to be releasing a large amount of killing intent, so much so, it disconcerted even me," Shino admitted, and his voice was even more deadpan than usual, showing his negative emotions at the situation. "I very nearly took my own life with the kunai in my hand, until Kakashi-sensei risked his own life to call out to me. He reassured me that he would give his own life to protect his comrades, that and my allies buzzing in my ear, helped me return to an emotional equilibrium."
Anybody could hear the shame of his distress in Shino's normally monotonous voice, Naruto did not even need the Force to tell him of Shino's distress at his temperament during the initial stages of their fight with Zabuza Momochi.
"Do not give yourself any recriminations over your behavior against a ninja of Zabuza Momochi's caliber, Shino-san. All larvae must breach the cocoon in their own way," Naruto's fiancée reassured the Aburame, with a folktale his clan told all of their younglings, "for that is how true strength arrives. He is known as the Demon of Mist for a reason, please keep going, I can only assume since Kakashi is not here to give me the report himself, he was injured in your fight."
She did not need their confirming nod to know their answer, "in that case, after we finish here, I will go and tend to him, to assess Kakashi-senpai's condition. So please be concise in your report," she requested.
"Hai, Jonin-san," they acknowledged together!
"Zabuza used Mizu-bunshin in the fight, which must be a normal tactic because sensei did the same thing," Kiba continued, "he also flared his chakra to clear out enough of the mist to give himself some visibility. One thing led to another and Kakashi found himself trapped in a Water Prison technique, which was when we got involved."
"When he was trapped in the jutsu, Kakashi began haranguing us to abandon him and run away," Shino added, "such a loathsome tactic would never be an acceptable option. For those who abandon their comrades…"
"… are worse than scum," all the Genin in the room chorused!
"I'm really glad, Kakashi-sensei trained us all in teamwork," Kiba announced, "he used many different team scenarios, including Akamaru and the other two, if I was incapacitated somehow. That way if I became separated from the team, they would know how to work with him."
"Zabuza started haranguing us about our naïveté in regards to being a ninja," Shino expressed, "he made more Water-clones, that he said were at 10% of his true power. So we decided to accept his challenge of our right to be shinobi. We made a concerted effort to overcome his clone, by throwing a fuma-shuriken directly at his clone. It was all a feint you see, because we knew that a ninja of Zabuza Momochi's experience would be able to dodge such an attack, and it just so happened that when the clone went to dodge, the shuriken was flying directly at the original."
"The clone went to attack what he thought was Sasuke, but as it got closer the Kikaichu clone launched itself at the clone," Kiba added, "it was an attack of mutual destruction, because no sooner had the beetles consumed the chakra holding the clone together, they drowned in the water it was made from."
"As a number of my allies died, the shuriken raced toward Zabuza, and being as experienced as he was, he reached out and caught the weapon in mid-air. What he failed to notice," Shino said, "was another fuma, flying in the shadow of the first."
"This was where he did surprise us," Kiba mentioned, "as the second shuriken approached him, he neatly leapt over it, but we weren't out of tricks of our own. As the second one passed by him, the first shuriken morphed into Akamaru, who bit down on Zabuza's wrist, at which time I canceled my transformation, as the second shuriken, and threw a kunai directly at the wrist holding the Water prison. He had a choice, let himself get skewered or release the jutsu. He chose the latter," Kiba exulted.
"As soon as Zabuza attacked with his sword, Kiba, who had been practicing genjutsu sense team formation co-opted the genjutsu Kakashi had implanted in Zabuza when they had their measuring contest. He layered a small C-rank genjutsu into Kakashi's, which projected Tazuna beside us, while he transformed into the shuriken. When Zabuza saw our client fade away like a heat distortion on a hot summer day, he was nonplussed to say the least."
"Very sneaky, Kiba," Naruto complimented with an evil grin of approval, "just the way a ninja should be." The two boys shared looks of respect with each other, while Izumi also smirked and nodded at the tactic, it was a switch even she did not see coming.
"After Sensei was freed, he and the missing Kiri-nin had their fight, which we largely watched from the sidelines," Shino continued, "Kakashi used several jutsu, culminating in Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu from both of them, but Kakashi had used his Sharingan to cast of genjutsu over the swordsman, which allowed him to defeat Zabuza. He was about to kill him when the Kiri hunter-nin did it for him."
"Yeah, it was the weirdest thing I've ever seen," Kiba commented, "he didn't use shuriken or kunai, he used senbon, thrown directly through the neck. I didn't even know it was possible to kill with a senbon," he exclaimed and looked at Naruto, "I think we might've found someone who can throw better than you, Naruto."
"It's possible, but then I've never practiced with senbon," the blonde emphasized, "I doubt they'd be very useful with hunting."
"The Hunter-nin said he had been after Zabuza for sometime, and was waiting until he was weakened before completing his hunt," Shino explained to Izumi, "he took Zabuza's body and the Kubikiribōchō, to dispose of in private. As soon as the adrenaline of the fight ran its course in Kakashi-sensei, he collapsed. That was yesterday, and Kakashi still hasn't awoken, we've checked his body and found no visible wounds, thus we are left to wonder about his health."
Izumi was holding an elbow and pinching her chin, as the remnants of Team Seven finished their report. "Well you all did good in your first true battle with an enemy," she complimented them, before informing them of the truth, "but I am afraid the Kiri-nin you fought is still alive."
"How's that even possible," Kiba asked, "we saw him go down, and Kakashi checked his vitals?"
"First, it's next to impossible for someone to kill with senbon," she informed them, "what is possible is to put them into a death-like state. Where even checking for vitals doesn't tell you their true state, you need medical instruments or a skilled medical ninja using medical chakra to tell if they were alive. Secondly, hunter-nin are supposed to dispose of the body as soon as their prey is dead, to do otherwise is considered treason. They decapitate the corpse, then incinerate the body until nothing is left but ash. The body of a ninja, holds secrets that a hidden village doesn't want getting out, hence the disposal of the body."
The Genin mused over that bit of information, before Sasuke spoke up, "so what now, Nee-chan?"
"I am going to examine Kakashi-senpai, and try to see what's wrong with him, either way, I am taking over this mission and we will see to its conclusion." She said that last part while looking at Tazuna and his daughter, who both bowed to her in thanks. "I would like to keep our arrival here a secret as much as possible," she requested, "when Naruto and I are out in public, we'll be henged into one of your own, or our client's likenesses. We'll take turns escorting Tazuna to and from the job site everyday, keeping in touch via short-wave radios. Those of us not on escort duty will take turns guarding his family and the house, while the rest of us train to be able to take on Zabuza and his accomplice. Understood?"
"Hai," they chorused!
"Good," she ended it with a nod, before turning to the lady of the house with a smile. "Tsunami-san, will you please show me to my fellow Leaf ninja so that I may examine him?"
"Of course," Tsunami retorted with a return smile, as she began making her way to the staircase, Izumi, in her wake.
As soon as they were out of sight a little boy of about eight, came sauntering down the stairs. He was dressed in a yellow, short-sleeved shirt and green overalls, with a fisherman's hat on his head that looked too big for him.
"Who's this," Naruto wondered out loud?
"This is my grandson, Inari," Tazuna explained, then spoke to his grandson, "Inari, this is Naruto, he and the young lady walking upstairs have come to help us while I finish the bridge."
The kid's eyes narrowed on hearing that as he regarded the newcomer with barely concealed contempt. "If you don't want to die, you'll give up on the bridge and go home," he challenged intently.
Naruto just smiled as he shook his head, "giving up without a fight, is dying, kid. It kills your soul," Naruto explained, "it's better to die while standing on your feet, than to die on your knees. That way, you'll at least give your life up for something, rather than die for nothing."
"All your pretty words mean nothing," Inari spat, "they won't help you stand up against the likes of Gato. He's got an entire army, a hundred men, what do you think you're gonna do against them?"
"I'm gonna fight them, brat," Naruto snapped, "I'll fight them until my last breath if need be, whether it's a hundred, five-hundred, or a thousand! It doesn't matter, and if I do go down, they will know who I am and they will remember me until their dying breath."
Angry tears were beginning to leak out of the little boy's eyes, "what do you know about it, what do you know about what we've been through? You come from a fancy village, what do you know about suffering, and being treated like dirt," Inari demanded while pointing an accusatory finger at the blonde, "you've probably never suffered a day in your life?"
"Shut up, brat," Naruto was staring at him with a lethal look in his eyes, "shut your damn mouth!" Everybody turned to look at him, and even Inari, who did not know Naruto from Hagoromo, knew he went too far, but courageously stood his ground for whatever recriminations came his way.
"I am sick of listening to you whine and complain, like some sorry little victim," Naruto snapped, "crying about your life, won't change anything, you've got to learn to stand up for yourself, and the people you care about!"
"Do you really think you've seen suffering Inari," Naruto asked him with a dangerous growl, "do you really? You have a loving mother and a grandfather to feed and clothe you, and tuck you in at night, and tell you they love you. I never had those growing up," he turned his head to look at Sasuke, "I don't know which is worse, never having parents in the first place, or losing both of them and a brother in one night. I am content with not knowing," he stated with a sympathetic smile to the Uchiha, who returned it with a nod of acceptance, before Naruto turned back to the younger boy.
"You have a roof over your head and three square meals a day, and that's probably been the case since you were born. Try living on your own from the age of three, in the middle of nowhere, where the only food you have to eat is what you can scrounge from roots and berries, and the only thing you have to sleep on is a slab of granite, with a bed of leaves on top of it, to find some semblance of softness so you can rest. The only shelter you have is a cave at the top of a hollowed out mountain, and the only lullaby you get is the chirping of crickets."
Naruto turned his eyes away from the boy, he took a calm and cleansing breath, before turning for the door. He opened it but paused and turned his head to look at the boy. "Inari-chan, the only certainty in life is that death awaits us all, we cannot choose when we go meet Kami, but we can choose how we meet Shinigami. You can give up, like a coward, and die a meaningless death, or you can stand on your own two feet, with honor, and have it mean something, the choice is also yours."
Naruto turned to meet Sasuke's eyes and henged into him, "tell Izumi-koi that I'm going to go meditate, I'll be back in a while." At Sasuke's acknowledgement Naruto turned around, and walked out of the house.
Sasuke Meeting Hali
A few days later
Sasuke was practicing his kata on the side of a large tree. He was determined to become as strong as Naruto and surpass him, he would become equal to his brother and sister. In his mind he kept repeating, "I have to become strong," he said as he moved from one sequence of movement, to another, and out loud, repeated the word, "Strong… Strong… Strong… Strong…,"
The past week or so have gone by fast, and many things have changed. Izumi was able to bring Kakashi out of his coma, it seemed he had overused his chakra during their fight with Zabuza Momochi, and he had slowly been regaining it. Izumi was able to replenish him in small increments until he woke up two days after their arrival, and after about three days after that, Kakashi was back to full strength.
He and Izumi debated the issue, and both came to the conclusion that, except for Sasuke, all of Team Eight would depart and report back to the village. Sasuke's inclusion was mostly because, like Naruto and Izumi, he was largely an unknown factor to Zabuza, since while his likeness was there at the battle, he did not actually participate. Therefore, Zabuza would have no idea of Sasuke's capabilities.
Kakashi formally placed Sasuke under Izumi's command, and as soon as they could be sure the house was not being monitored, they left early in the morning, while it was still dark. As soon as Team Eight left, Izumi had a conversation with her little brother, "I love you, Sasuke-ototo, you're my precious baby-brother," she began, "but from now on, until we return to the village, I am your superior officer. You will follow my orders to the letter, better than you would for Kakashi-senpai. Don't forget I am also your superior within the clan, and you will also represent the Uchiha with honor and integrity," she reminded him, "I have had a similar discussion like this with Naruto, and he knows his place when we're in the field. Do you understand what I am saying, Genin Uchiha," Izumi demanded?
"Hai, Jonin Uchiha-san," her brother replied formally!
All three of them have taken turns watching Tazuna during his workday, as well as Tsunami and Inari at the house, always changing into a member of Team Kakashi. Sasuke, of course kept his own form, while Izumi became Kakashi, while Naruto has made efficient use of his Wind-God Clones to henge into Shino and Akamaru, while he took the form of Kiba.
At night, when they could be sure there were no spies hanging around the house, they would spar, whether using taijutsu, kunai taijutsu, or Sasuke using one of Izumi's spare tonfa and Naruto using Akai Shi. Naruto, as he put it, had the Force as his ally, while Sasuke's Sharingan had fully matured, and Naruto outclassed him. Sasuke, as his sister told him later, had begun to feel arrogant at how his eyes gave him an edge in most confrontations with the Genin in his class, but when he faced Naruto, his fully matured Sharingan counted for nothing. Sasuke saw the difference in skill with Naruto, when he watched the blond and his sister spar, and Naruto was able to match her blow for blow. He had not seen anybody do that since Itachi and Izumi would train together, before that night.
Even now, Sasuke remembered how his brother showed him what he had done, while under the influence of Shisui, the Tsukuyomi was an abominable technique. He remembered the look of acceptance on his parents' faces, as they allowed their eldest son to slay them. He remembered the hatred that was born in him that night, the burning need for revenge that grew in the place of his heart, and how easily that desire banked, when he saw the video his parents made for them, before they were killed. Sasuke never wanted to feel that much hatred again, even now, he feels how tainted his soul had become, just from that fleeting brush with darkness.
"How can he be so strong, nee-san," Sasuke demanded to his sister, "he's the same age as me, but he's so much stronger than me?"
"That's the world we live in, otōto-chan," Izumi answered her brother in sympathy, "there are people in the world that are younger than you, but as strong as me. Naruto's strength comes from two places, the first one is necessity. Naruto lived alone on that mountain for months before he met me, and the girls, he had to get tough or die."
"...and the second reason," Sasuke wondered?
At this, his sister gave him an enigmatic grin, "that's what you'll have to figure out, Sasuke-otōto, no two reasons for getting stronger are the same for anybody. You have to find your own reason to get strong," she subtly charged him, "it should be a reason that makes sense to you, if nobody else. Understand," she asked?
Sasuke finished his last sequence and leapt to the ground from his horizontal position, and as soon as he could he fell to the forest floor. He was laying fully in the prone position, then he rolled over on his back staring up at the sky. The fatigue finally overcame him, causing his eyes to droop closed, he was thinking about what Izumi said to him, and what she meant by her words. He did not allow himself to fall asleep, he was keeping himself awake by going over his sister's cryptic words. Sasuke was not ignorant, he understood what Izumi had been trying to tell him. One person's reasons for getting stronger were different from the next person's. They were also extremely personal, and not fodder for anybody else to consume. Which means, I need to find my own motivation to get stronger, and for me, wanting to surpass Naruto and my siblings, while a good start, would ultimately ring hollow. What if somebody is able to overcome those three, that would mean there is already somebody stronger than them. Yami-damn it, the Hokage, the Third, and the Legendary Three, are likely already stronger than the three of them!
As Sasuke was laying on the ground, he began to hear grass-muffled footsteps coming from a distance. This caused him to begin paying attention to his surroundings, using his ears to deduce much about the one coming near him. The steps were light, meaning whomever was approaching him was smaller than average, and while the person coming close to him was not rushing up to him, their footfalls were quick and efficient, meaning they were coming from someone trained to move gracefully. Whomever it was, was either a ninja or a dancer.
The junior Uchiha sat up and moved his back until it rested against a tree, he kept one leg extended, he put his right-hand near his tool pouch, and his left-hand on his upturned knee. When the most beautiful person Sasuke had ever seen walked into the clearing, he was mesmerized. She had long flowing dark-hair, her slim figure was covered by a sakura blossom-colored, sleeveless jinbei, with rose-colored lapels. It was secured by an ivory-white obi around the waist.
Naruto's Training Ground…
In a small field, not far from the bridge-builder's home, Naruto sat deep in meditation. Naruto has only practiced with the weapons he was most familiar with, he would wait until he had more time on his hands like when he is back in the village, before practicing with Inazuma-Kiba. Only foolish ninja go into battle with an untested weapon, foolish ninja are usually dead ninja, and Naruto wishes to be neither. Right now, Naruto is in deep meditation, deeper than he has ever been, even deeper than when he is communicating with the Force. His goal today is to study the subtle energy known as nature energy, which he has brushed against a few times since he began his training in the Force. He also used it to save Kenpachi's life in Katabami. Naruto decided it was high time he learned more about it, and see if he could learn to harness it.
His mother, along with Mara, using Minato's memories, had explained to him the tenets of senjutsu, and the means by which one could become a sage - once he finds a summoning contract that's right for him. Which was Naruto's ultimate goal, but in the interim, since he cannot use his own chakra for healing, he is wondering if he could learn to use nature chakra to heal others.
Naruto's awareness shifted, until he could sense everything that was happening around him. He felt the Force be with him, and a different more subtle power flowing through him. It was like water flowing through a river. Naruto seemed to understand that the nature energy was always there, it was his natural life force given to him at the time of his birth. It was also noticeably different from the natural energy that surrounded him, it seemed to have a disharmony that kept it separated from the rest of the world.
Naruto began synchronizing his breathing to the ebb and flow of the natural chakra, which seemed to harmonize with the chakra in his system. When it did, Naruto's awareness began to expand, and propagate out into his environment. It was similar to how he was able to stretch out with his feelings when he communed with The Living Force, in fact it was practically the same exercise.
Naruto's consciousness flowed out and into the surrounding area, it connected him to everything. All of his senses were still active, even if his awareness was not within his body. He could sense through the Force and this new Nature Sense as he dubbed it, a significant event happening, not too far from where his body sat…
Sasuke and Hali…
Sasuke watched the girl as she went about her business, she was obviously picking herbs for something. He was watching as a bird flew in, and alighted on her shoulder, looking at her in curiosity.
As the bird flew away over the Uchiha's head, he caught the woman's attention. She looked at him in surprise, Sasuke assumed from unexpectedly finding someone else in such a remote place. She stood and approached him in apprehension, all the while he remained quiet and still, they shared a look, almost of recognition.
Sasuke never felt any KI coming from her, but he felt like she was only a few seconds from attacking him. He saw her eyes move to the hitai-ate on his brow, but she was not surprised by its presence. I may not have Naruto's Force sensory technique, but I know when someone recognizes me, and she does. I don't remember her though…
Sasuke was brought out of his thoughts when she knelt in front of him, "excuse me, sir," she asked politely?
"Yes ma'am," he asked, even as he fought off a blush?
"Could you, please move," she requested?
"Hrn, what did you say," Sasuke asked as he came out of his stupor?
"I'm collecting herbs," she explained, at his bewildered expression she elaborated, "for treatment of the sick and wounded, and you're sitting on some of the ones I need."
Sasuke obligingly stood and moved to the side, so she could get access to where he was sitting. They seemed to want to keep each other in sight, thus he moved back a couple of steps and squatted next to her. He did not offer to help with her task and she seemed content to do it herself.
"I'm surprised to find anybody all the way out here," she observed.
"I was doing some training on my own, and didn't want to be disturbed," Sasuke answered.
"I noticed your headband," she observed again, "are you a ninja?"
"Yes, I am," Sasuke replied, then added with some pride, "I am Sasuke Uchiha of the Hidden Leaf, in Hi no Kuni, may I have yours Miss?"
"Hali from Water country," she answered politely, "and you already seem pretty strong, isn't that enough?"
"No," Sasuke retorted in finality, "I need to get even stronger, there's a person in my village who's the same age as me, and he's way stronger. He can go head to head against my brother and sister, and match them. They're the strongest ninja in their generation, geniuses in ninpo, and he could surpass them any day now. I have to become at least as strong as him, so I can protect my sister from him."
"So are you doing it for the person you were speaking about, for your sister," Hali wondered, "or are you doing all this training for yourself?"
"What," Sasuke asked in a wide-eyed expression, this caused Hali to begin chuckling? "What's so funny," Sasuke demanded, even though he was pouting, which only made her laugh harder?
"Is there… someone who's precious to you," she asked, as soon as her laughter got under control?
"What do you mean by 'precious,'" Sasuke wondered? Hali became serious as she thought about how to answer him, Sasuke could tell she was deadly serious about what she was about to say.
"Sasuke-san, when a person has something precious that they want to protect, that's when they truly become strong," Hali instructed.
Sasuke was taken aback by the conviction of Hali's words, and he thought back to a couple days ago, when Tazuna told them all about Inari's father Kaiza. He had been a hero that saved their lands from a storm, then executed by Gato and his cutthroats through crucifixion; he was a normal man, not a ninja, who was willing to die for his village and family. Then he thought about his mother and father, they allowed their son to murder them, and several members of their own clan, simply because they refused to harm their child.
Would I be able to do that sort of thing, to stand by idly and watch as my child, my precious child, committed wholesale slaughter, even if I knew he was being controlled by someone else?
No, I would not, better for my child to die by my hand, than for innocent blood to be spilt, Sasuke answered his own rhetorical question. That means no single person is my precious person, I will find love, and father children, love them and raise them to the best of my ability. But they will not be my precious people, that'll be my clan and my village, he solidified his conviction by saying out loud, "thank you, Hali-san. You have helped me find my reason to get stronger, I am going to dedicate myself to my village and my clan, I will get strong enough to protect everyone, and then I will become Hokage!"
Hali picked up her basket and walked away a few steps, before turning around and bowing, it was almost like an opponent bowing in respect to an enemy, "I believe you will get strong, very strong. Goodbye, we'll meet again sometime," she returned to her original course, but stopped, one last time. Her back to Sasuke, she said forcefully, "and for your information, I am a boy!"
Sasuke was flummoxed, no way, he's more beautiful than most women I've met. He's as beautiful as Izumi-née, he shouted in his head!
At the Home of the Bridge-builder…
Later that night, they were all sitting around the table for dinner. Naruto's words had left Inari in a quiet mood for the last few days, it was not just what he said, but what Izumi told him later that same night.
That night, like tonight, had been quiet and clear, Naruto had not returned from his meditation, and Inari was brooding out on the dock attached to the house. Izumi was not trying to sneak up on the boy, so she did not try to silence her steps as she approached him.
"Mind if I join you," she asked at the boy's back, she took his silence as an assent. They sat in silence for a few minutes, then she began to speak. "Naruto can be a little… harsh sometimes, but he doesn't hate you," she told him, then smirked, "I don't know if Naruto is even capable of hating someone. Your grandfather told us what happened to your father," she explained, "I do understand what you're going through, Inari. My father and mother were murdered by a conniving bastard like Gato. I wasn't there, I was on a mission and I felt helpless when I learned about it, and I have often asked myself, if I had been there could I have stopped it, or would I have joined them in the Pure Lands?"
"Naruto, however, never knew his parents, the people in my village used to play a game where they would ignore him," she explained, "treating him like he didn't exist, and before I met him, he'd never had a single friend in our village."
This brought Inari out of his silence, when he stared up at her in shock. Izumi went on with a nostalgic smile, and explained, "still, in all the time I have known him, he never let down his guard, or let his dark emotions get the better of him. Until tonight," she told him with a side-eyed glare, "I have never seen him cry or sulk or give-up on anything, he wants love and to be loved by a family, his family, and he'll put his life on the line for that dream, in a heartbeat."
"My guess is, he just got tired of crying, and decided to make his dream come true," she told the little boy, which caused him to take on a thoughtful expression. "He may be young, and as strong as he already is, he's still learning, he knows where his strength comes from," Izumi taught him, "and as cruel as it sounded, everything Naruto said to you before, he's probably said to himself a thousand times."
Another part of the island
Zabuza was on the phone with his current employer, "you're still wasting time licking your wounds, I hired you to do a job! Are you listening to me," came the voice over the phone, as Zabuza dropped it to the ground, and raised his foot to crush the communication device, even as Gato bellowed, "Zabuza!"
He addressed his Hunter-nin partner, "Hali, are you ready?"
"Yes," was her only reply, as they looked up at the bridge, awaiting the morrow!
Notes:
(1) kims and kegs is their in world, military jargon for kilometer and kilogram, they use the metric system.