Chapter 4: Wave Mission And Proposals
It took about six hours for team 8 and Naruto to reach Wave while running, with few breaks between the travel. They now stood in front of a small house, which Kakashi told them about in his letter. Kurenai went upto the house and knocked on the door, after a few moments the door open and a very attractive female in her late twenties greeted them.
"How may I help you?" she asked.
"We are back-up team from Konoha," Kurenai informed her ina professional tone.
"We were expecting you guys but not this early, by the way my name is Tsunami," Tsunami said
"May we come in," Kurenai asked.
"Ah, where are my manners! Yes please come in," Tsunami said.
When they went inside, they saw that team and Kakashi were seating around a table, doing there own things.
"So Kakashi, what is the situation?" Kurenai asked making her presence known to team 7 and Kakashi, causing Kakashi to look up from his book and gave them eyesmile.
"So you guys are the back-up team," Kakashi said before he went on to explain what exactly happened up until now, he explained how his team took care of the demon brothers, how they were attacked by Zabuza, he then explained his fight with Zabuza.
"So let me get this straight, you let a bunch of wet behind the ear genin, take on a potential A-rank mission," Kurenai said, her voice was dangerously low, to which Kakashi stiffly nodded since he knew what was going to happen now, "You are very reckless Kakashi," she said with a sigh which in turn caused Kakashi to sigh in relief since he was expecting a huge tongue lashing.
"Well Hokage-sama told me that I will be the co-leader of this mission along with you," she informed Kakashi while handing him a scroll from the Hokage.
"Alright Kakashi in order force us to work tell me what have you taught your team!" Kurenai asked causing Kakashi to chuckle nervously.
"W-Well I have taught them teamwork," Kakashi said.
"And," Kurenai asked.
"And nothing," Kakashi said bluntly at which Naruto just shook his head at his surrogate brother's laziness while Kurenai looked like she would explode any moment, which was in a way correct.
"WHAT! You mean to tell me that in over one month you haven't taught them anything beside teamwork and yet you let them continue mission just so that you don't have to hear the Uchiha moaning," Kurenai yelled before she rubbed her forehead and sighed while the emo scowled, "Well it can't be help, looks like we are going to train them in chakra control and other basics before we move on to next step," she said.
"You will not talk about me like that woman, I'm an Uchiha, an elite, you should be begging me for giving me some training," Sasuke said arrogantly while Kakashi and Naruto shook their head and silently prayed to God to let this poor fool's soul have some mercy.
"You'd do well to remember that I'm not one those idiots from civilian council who do nothing but feed your ego, if you ever talk to me like that again I will put you under a Genjutsu so strong that you will regret even being a male, understood," Kurenai growled while leaking a small amount of KI that was enough to make the Uchiha gulp and stiffly nod.
"Alright everyone, it's getting late so let's have some rest before we start training tomorrow," Kakashi said, trying to save his idiotic student from Kurenai's wrath, before he turned toward Naruto, "I want you to go with Tazuna-san and protect him while others train," to which Naruto nodded and all of them went to rest.
It was like this for them next two days with Kakashi and Kurenai training their teams while Naruto went to protect the bridge builder, Naruto even helped him by lending a couple of hundred clones for the building the bridge. Currently it was night-time and Naruto and the Konoha's teams were eating dinner while discussing their strategy among themselves, that was when Inari, a ten year old boy came, he was Tsunami's son and was kind of a brooder, not on Sasuke's level but close, everyone knew boy's story, that the guy he considered as his father was killed by Gatō infront of everyone in the country for just trying to stand against Gatō, and felt sorry for him.
"Why do you guys even try, Gatō will kill all of you just like everyone else before you," he said with a scowl on his face.
"Well whatever I'm not so weak that I would be killed by a pathetic piece of garbage, who hides behind others, and besides I'm not like you," Naruto said casually.
"Well I'm glad that I'm not like as well. What do you know of suffering, you are always smiling, laughing, I bet you are treated like somekind of celebrity in your village," Inari yelled causing Kakashi and Kurenai to get worried over what he just said since they both knew about Naruto's treatment before the announcement of his heritage to the village.
After hearing Naruto stood up from his place and went over where Inari was and knelt down to Inari's eye-level so that he could look into Inari's eyes, "You know kid, you should not think that just because you have suffered doesn't mean that haven't, there are people out there who have it even worse than you but they are still living, you are very lucky that you have your mother and grandfather with you. As for not suffering, well you have no idea just how much I have actually suffered, and besides we are ninja, we live everyday of our life knowing that it might be our last day. And let me give you the example that there are others that have suffered much worse than you," Naruto said before he pointed toward Kakashi, "Kakashi nii-san lost his father at a young age and both of his teammates during the last shinobi war, the emo over there," Naruto said while pointing over the brooding Sasuke, "He is the last of his clan, his whole clan was killed by a single person, his own older brother before he put Sasuke into a very strong genjutsu and made him watch how he killed his parents for over seventy two hours,"
"And as for me, well I think that I have suffered the most among all of us, I lost both of my parents on the day I was born, I had the most assanisation attempts on my life than most Kage had during their lifetime as ninja, I was hated by my own village, I was sometimes even beaten down to near death, well that was until I was six years old and after that the villagers hated me but stopped with beatings. I was hated until my heritage was announced to the village, so always remember to never let suffering bring you down and use that suffering to get stronger so that you can protect those who are close to you while also to prevent people from suffering the same kind of pain you felt," Naruto finished before he stood up ruffled Inari's hair, who now had tears in his eyes, Naruto then turned to walk outside of the house to get some fresh air.
He was about to reach for the door when Inari called, "I'm sorry... Naruto nii-san," he said causing Naruto to smile, before he waved the apology saying it was alright and went outside.
Naruto sat on the roof of the house while gazing at the stars, about twenty minutes later he felt presence behind him, he turned around only see that both Kakashi and Kurenai were looking at him worriedly.
"Naru-kun are you alright!" Kurenai asked.
"Yeah I'm alright, besides he is just ten years old so he didn't know what he was talking about," Naruto said with a small smile causing both Kakashi and Kurenai to smile as well.
"You are too forgiving for your own good," Kakashi said.
"If we don't know how to forgive other people then how can we expect to create peace, and a better world," Naruto said while looking at the stars. The three of them set in complete silence.
"So what were you thinking about Naru-kun!" Kurenai asked after sometime.
"I was thinking about Zabuza and that fake hunter nin," Naruto replied.
"What about them?" Kakashi asked.
"Well I was thinking of a way to make them join us and maybe Konoha as well," Naruto said getting surprised look from the two Jounin.
"Why do you want to do that?" Kakashi asked, he was genuinely confused now as was Kurenai.
"Well I have read the bingo book multiple times and I have read about Zabuza, it said that he is wanted in Kiri because of his assassination attempt on the Fourth Mizukage's life when the Mizukage started killing the people with any kind bloodline. So that means that Zabuza is a good man but he do this kind of work because he don't have much of a choice in the matter since no one other than man like Gatō hire him for jobs. I've a few ideas on how I can convince him to join us but I have to find him first before he attacks at the bridge," Naruto said.
"I think you are correct and besides he is too strong to have him as an enemy, it will be rather safe to have him our ally than as enemy," Kakashi agreed.
"Yes I agree with you both but how are you going to find him Naru-kun!" Kurenai asked.
"Oh don't worry about that Kure-chan," Naruto said.
"Huh, what do you mean by that!" she asked to which Naruto grinned at her.
"Before you both came, I sent some of my shadow clones to search for anyone with high amount of chakra and since I have perfect control over my chakra, I can easily conceal my presence from anyone and same applies for my clones and I'm confident that my clones will find Zabuza by tomorrow morning," Naruto said.
"Well you did great, now let's get some sleep it's getting rather late," Kakashi said.
"Oh yeah, before you go nii-san and Kure-chan, I wanted to ask if you'd both want to go with me to meet Zabuza tomorrow," Natuto asked to which Kakashi nodded and went, while both Naruto and Kurenai stayed for a while talking to each other before they both went to sleep as well.
Next day Naruto woke up before anyone else in the house and went deeper into the woods inorder to get some training done. After two hours Naruto came back from his training to saw that everyone was up and were currently having breakfast. It was Kurenai who noticed him first.
"Where were you Naru-kun?" Kurenai said before she clapped her hand over her mouth hoping that no one heard her but sadly that was not the case as everyone raised their eyebrow that didn't knew about them but shrugged their shoulders.
"I was training in the woods," Naruto replied before he went to get change and then have some breakfast. After eating breakfast, Naruto called Kurenai and Kakashi over outside and away from the house.
"So what did you wanted to talk about that you took us here!" Kakashi asked.
"Well I or rather my clones found where Zabuza currently is," Naruto said
"Where is he?" Kurenai asked.
"About three miles from here to south, he is in a small hut and there are two bandits posted there to watch over him while he heals," Naruto said.
"So what are we waiting for let's get going," Kakashi said, he was uncharacteristically enthusiastic.
"Sure let's go," Naruto said before he lead them toward the place where Zabuza was currently staying at. It took them about twenty minutes of constant running, when they reached Zabuza's small cottage, Naruto spoke, "I sense one high Chunin to low Jounin chakra level and one high Jounin chakra level in there."
Both Kakashi and Kurenai nodded before they noticed that there were indeed two bandits posted as guards, both of them quickly took care of those two bandits before they went inside.
Once they were inside they noticed that Zabuza was lying on a makeshift bed while there was boy with feminine facial features tending to Zabuza, the three of guessed that he might be the fake hunter nin. Zabuza and the boy also noticed Naruto and the other two and tensed, Zabuza was cursing his luck, he barely survived his encounter with Kakashi of the Sharingan but there was no way he could survive against both Kakashi and Kurenai the Genjutsu Mistress .
"Well, well what do we have here, Kakashi of the Sharingan, come to finish what we started and he even called the Genjutsu Mistress," Zabuza said while the boy beside him took defensive stance.
"No he is not here for that but we are here to make an offer with you," Naruto said.
"And who are you brat!" Zabuza asked.
"That I will tell you later on but first tell me do you want to hear what we have to offer to you!" Naruto asked.
"Alright let's hear it," Zabuza said, he was annoyed that he can't even fight at his full power if the other party chose to attack so he had no choice but to listen to Naruto.
"How would you feel if we give you a place to live, income to feed yourself and your friend here and also get some decent job rather than doing these," Naruto said.
"What do you mean!" Zabuza asked since this offer was too tempting to be ignored.
"What I mean is that we can get you to be a part of Konoha's shinobi, and you will not have to be on the run anymore and will get proper pay for the jobs you will take and that same offer goes to your friend as well, and beside do you really think that a guy like Gatō will pay to you and that is if you somehow survive against us," Naruto said.
"Your offer is too tempting to be ignored but do you think that your Hokage will agree to this," Zabuza asked.
"Don't worry he will agree, he knows that you are not a bad guy but it is circumstances that made you do this kind work," Naruto said while this was happening the boy with Zabuza was completely silent.
Zabuza thought about the offer for few minutes before hs looked toward the boy beside him, contrary to popular belief Zabuza was indeed a good man, he always thought of the boy as his brother but he never admitted it to anyone else. If he took this then he could give the boy a good life, some friends and a chance to be happy and not the life of rogue ninja who is always on the run.
"Fine I will take you on your offer, but I'm only doing this because of Haku here," Zabuza said while the boy, now named Haku, looked at Zabuza in surprise.
"Tell me how long will it take you to be fully healed!" Naruto asked.
"He will be healed in two days," Haku said , when everyone looked at him in confusion, he added, "I'm a healer too, so I would know since I'm the one who is healing Zabuza-sama," he added.
"Good then in three days, I want you to bring Gatō at the bridge along with his army of bandits, together we will take him down," Naruto said while looking at Zabuza.
"Fine I will do that," Zabuza said.
"And Zabuza, if you even think of betraying us then I will personally destroy you and everything you hold dear," Naruto growled and released huge amount of KI and chakra which caused Haku to fell on his knees while Zabuza sweated a lot, hell even Kakashi and Kurenai were sweating a little and it wasn't even released on them, Zabuza had never felt this much amount of KI and chakra since his confrontation with the Yellow Flash and Red Death of Konoha. Naruto was about to leave when Zabuza called him.
"Wait kid, atleast tell me your name," Zabuza said.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze," Naruto said shocking Zabuza since he hadn't heard the Uzumaki and Namikaze in a long time, not since both the Fourth Hokage and the Red Death died.
"Are you by any chance related to the Red Death, Kushina Uzumaki and the Yellow Flash, Minato Namikaze!" Zabuza asked.
"Yes they both were my parents," Naruto said and left while Zabuza had only one thought running through his mind, he will never betray the son of those two monsters.
"So what do you think Zabuza-sama, will he keep his end of bargain!" Haku asked
"He will, just by talking with him you can tell that he is the type of guy who never go back on his words, and besides we didn't have much of a choice. I am not foolish enough to think that I would survive a confrontation against Kakashi of the Sharingan and Kurenai the Genjutsu Mistress, and that boy is not your normal genin, I can tell you he is strong, very strong," Zabuza said.
"And about Gatō, do you think that he will betray us like that boy told us!" Haku asked.
"I don't know for certain but I think yeah he will, so it would be in our best interset to take the boy's offer and it will make our much easier than this and you won't have to be on the run with me," Zabuza replied.
With Naruto
Naruto and the two Jounin came back and were talking among themselves, while team 8 minus Kurenai were gaurding the bridge builder while team 7 minus Kakashi were training outside the house.
"So do you think, was he honest with his words or will he betray us!" Kakashi said.
"He will keep his side of bargain and work with us," Naruto said with no amount of doubt in his voice.
"How can you be so certain?" Kurenai said.
"From what I can tell Zabuza may be a missing nin but he is the kind of a man who always keep his words and besides he is not stupid, he knows that he can't survive his confrontation against both of you and I am kind of a wild card to him so he don't have much of a choice in the matter and I even made certain that he don't even get the idea of betraying us, so we don't have worry about it," Naruto said while Kakashi and Kurenai looked at Naruto blinking, Naruto had planned all of this from the start, they thought, astonished by Naruto's strategic mind.
"I see you have planned this all along but the question is since how long were you planning this," Kakashi asked.
"I have been planning about letting him join Konoha since I first read his instruction in the bingo book but this mission just gave me a perfect opportunity, I planned all this after you told us what happened at the start of the mission," Naruto said, this again surprised both Jounin.
"So in three days it will be all over, I think we will be ready for it by then," Kakshi said with eyesmile.
"Yes we will be ready but the real question will the other genin be ready by then!" Naruto exclaimed seriously.
"Huh! What do mean Naru-kun?" Kurenai asked while looking at him confusedly and same expresion was on Kakashi face but you can't tell with his mask covering his face.
"What I mean is that will they be ready for their first kill, in academy they don't really teach us how to deal with our first kill and I don't want them to froze in the middle of the battlefield just because of their first kill otherwise they will be killed especially Hinata and Sakura because one is gentle and while the other have no skills, and besides not all of them were trained like me," Naruto said.
"Hmm I think you are right that will lead to some problems," Kakashi said while scratching his chin.
"Me, you nii-san, you Kure-chan, Zabuza and his apprentice will be able to deal with them while we let the other genin protect the client but I don't think that Sasuke will follow the order, he will try to jump in between the chaos because his pride to prove himself the best will not settle down with it," Naruto said since he knew just how Sasuke was and knew that this was a serious problem.
"Hmm, I will try to get him follow the order and if he don't follow it then I can simply knock him out," Kakashi said getting sweatdrop from both Kurenai and Naruto, they couldn't believe his method of dealing with his genin.
"Also I want you both to train your genin hard in these next two days while I will go with Tazuna-san to the bridge and act as his protection guard," Naruto getting nods from both Kakashi and Kurenai. And just like Naruto's planning two days went with Kakashi and Kurenai training their teams harder than normal while Naruto went with Tazuna to the bridge.
It was finally the day for confrontation at the bridge, everyone was getting ready for the confrontation, Kakashi, Naruto and Kurenai had all agreed that it would be for the best if the other genin were kept in the dark as it could cause some problems just in case someone was spying on them.
After everyone was ready, they all went to the bridge but not before Naruto made some clones for the protection of Tsunami and Inari and it turned out that he was correct in assuming that there might be some of Gatō's men who will try to take someone hostage as when they left, two of Gatō's men came and tried to take Tsunami as a hostage but were quickly disposed off by Naruto's clones. When they reached the bridge every single one of them immediately went onto their respective duties. It wasn't long before mist covered the whole bridge and everyone tensed.
Naruto quickly cleared the mist with a wind jutsu only to see that Zabuza and Haku had arrived along with Gatō and about two hundered bandits.
"So where are those all other ninja that you told me about Zabuza since I only see one man, a woman and a bunch of brats," Gatō asked. Zabuza said nothing instead he and Haku started walking toward Naruto's group, seeing this all the Konoha ninja tensed except for Kakashi Kurenai and Naruto, "Hey I asked you a question Zabuza," Gatō said but Zabuza again ignored him.
"I brought him and his bandits just like you asked, now what!" Zabuza told Naruto.
"Thank you Zabuza, as for now well it is simple, we take out every single one of them," Naruto informed causing Zabuza to smirk under his mask and all the genin to grow confused.
"Now you are talking, I like you already," Zabuza said with mirth in his tone.
"Kakashi-sensei what is going on, what are both Naruto and Zabuza talking about?" Sakura asked and she was not the only one who was wondering about this, everyone even Tazuna and Gatō were confused about just what the hell was going on.
"Oh it's simple Sakura, three days ago me, Naruto and Kurenai went to Zabuza, Naruto offered him to be a ninja of Konoha once this was over but the only condition is that he have to bring Gatō and his bandits with him so that we can take care of him once and for all," Kakashi replied while cracking his neck and knuckels, Naruto doing the same before both of them applied a small amount of chakra to the storage seal on their hands and took out their swords.
"So you chose to betray me, eh Zabuza. Well no matter I was planning on killing you anyway so it doesn't matter anymore," Gatō said, before he turned toward his men, "Everyone kill all of them, except for those girls, you guys can have fun with them but leave that red eyed one for me, she look like she will be really good," he said while eyeing Kurenai, getting cheers from the men behind him while Kurenai and Kakashi shook their heads since Gatō just did the most dumbest thing in front of Naruto and that was looking at Kurenai and other girls the wrong way.
As soon as those words left Gatō's mouth the temperature on the bridge suddenly dropped significantly, everyone turned to look at Naruto and saw that his eyes were shadowed by his hair while he was releasing a tremendous amount of KI and chakra and his gripped his sword tightly, "Everyone, leave these guys to me, I will fight them alone and do not get in my way right now," Naruto growled, Sasuke was about to protest but a look from Kakashi stopped him.
Naruto then disappeared in a burst of speed from the bandits sight before they all heard a scream, they all looked toward their left and saw that Naruto had just killed one of their member before he disappeared in a burst of speed again and this time another scream followed, this went on for several minutes, some lost their head, some lost their hands, some lost their legs, while some were stabbed in the heart, the last thing everyone of them saw were icy cold eyes looking at them before they left the world of the living.
Gatō was horrified, in less than twenty minutes his army of two hundred was reduced to nothing but a bloody mess by one kid, no one monster, before Naruto appeared right in front of him with his sword raised over his head, "Wait don't kill me please, I will give you anything, just tell me, what do you want money, power, women just name it," he said in a terrified voice.
"I want your life for suffering you have caused in Wave, for raping several women, for murdering innocent people and for robbing from hard-working people, now DIE," Naruto yelled before he beheaded Gatō and turned toward where Konoha group was and walked upto them. Everyone single person on the bridge watched in awe as Naruto slaughtered an army of two hundred men and everyone was disturbed by the sight in front of them as it was not often you see a thirteen years old boy kill an army so mercilessly, hell even Zabuza was disturbed and he had killed way more people then Naruto had but this was completely different, this was all done by a thirteen year old, while the Konoha genin, Haku and Tazuna emptied their stomach seeing the horrifying sight right before them.
Kakashi and Kurenai both quickly went upto Naruto while looking at him with concern in their eyes, "Naru-kun are you okay!" it was Kurenai who first spoke.
"Yeah I'm alright, don't worry," Naruto said emotionlessly while he walked past them, causing them to grow even more worried since he never talked without emotions ever before.
Naruto reached where other genin and Tazuna were and stood there for a few moments before he turned around inorder to leave.
"How can you kill so many people and walk away like that, don't you feel any remorse for killing them, they were all human for god's sake," Sakura yelled causing Naruto to turn around and look at her with icy cold blue eyes making her flinch.
"If I had not killed them then they would have hurt more people than they already did, would have raped more women, orphaned more child and knowing this you still ask me how can I kill them, and as for remorse, I don't feel any since they deserved it but it does not mean that I liked it no far from it, I have never liked killing, I saw every single one of their faces before I ended their lives and their face will always haunt me but I take solace in thinking that I saved so many lives just by killing these scumbags," Naruto said coldly before he walked past them.
"That was uncalled for Sakura, you were the smartest Kunoichi of your class so use brain for once and see what I'm seeing in Naruto right now," Kakashi said, seeing her confused face he sighed, "look Sakura, he hurting right now and your words didn't help the matter either. He is the most kind hearted person you will ever meet and he do not like killing but he understand that it comes with our job, we were already planning on killing them but after what Gatō said he got angry, there are not many things he hate but those that he hate are rapist, traitor, people who like ending others life and judgemental people, and with those people cheering didn't help either," he said and walked away from them.
All of them processed what was told to them, and understood that it was part of their job and if Naruto hadn't done what he did would have caused problems for other innocent people.
It took one whole day for Naruto to cope with all the killing he did the day before and after that he went back to his old self again, and one more week before the bridge was completed, during that time team 7 and team 8 protected the bridge builder with Naruto landing some clones to help him build the bridge, while Naruto, Kakashi and Kurenai went to Gatō's base with Zabuza and raided it, they took all the money, company documents, documents for all the buildings and lands he owned weapons and some rare metals from the base before they destroyed it and went back.
Currently we find all Konoha ninja along with Zabuza and Haku standing at edge of the Wave Country and whole village had came to see them off. Tazuna walked upto the group of ninja, "Thank you for what you did for our country, we will always be grateful to you guys," he said.
"It was nothing we did it to help you guys," Naruto said with a smile before he took out two scrolls, "One of these two scrolls contains some money that we took from Gatō's base and the other one contains papers for some of the buildings and lands he owned, I want you guys to have them and rebuild Wave and I also want you to open an educational facility around here inorder to teach children properly, and once you guys are done with the rebuilding, I'm sure it will become a great tourist spot once again," he said before he handed the scrolls to the old bridge builder.
"Thank you again, you don't know just how much it mean to us," Tazuna said again thanking them.
Naruto merely smiled at him before he went upto Inari, who looked like he was about to cry but was controlling his tears back, "It's okay to cry Inari," Naruto said with a smile as tears began falling down Inari's face while Naruto ruffled his hair, before he took out a scroll, "This scroll contains the notes on how to unlock your chakra, some chakra control excercises, some small jutsu and a guide on how to throw kunai and shuriken, I made it personally for you, grow stronger, protect everyone close to you and help all the people you can in wave, okay," Naruto said to which Inari happily nodded. While this was happening everyone was watching the seen with small smile on their faces seeing how good Naruto was with kids, this thought caused Kurenai to blush as she thought of her and Naruto's children, which went unnoticed by everyone, well everyone except for Kakashi who grinned under his mask, oh the blackmail material he now had, he laughed evilly inside his head causing Kurenai to feel shivers run down her spine for some reason, he was going to have so much fun teasing Kurenai, finally it was time for payback for burning his precious Icha Icha books.
"Well we must be on our way now," Kakashi said while his face was still burried in his book much every single female's ire.
"Alright let's go," Naruto said
"Come back and visit us again Naruto nii-san," Inari said before Naruto's group left.
"What should we name the bridge!" asked one the villager.
"Well obviously The Great Tazuna Bidge," Tazuna yelled while thrusting his fist in the air causing everyone present to groan in irritation.
"How about The Great Naruto bridge," Inari said, everyone looked at him, "What! He was the main reason that our country is safe now, so it will be a way of showing our appreciation to him for saving everyone," he said.
"I think it is a great name," one of the villagers said.
"Then, The Great Naruto bridge it is," Tazuna said getting a loud cheers from everyone.
With Naruto
Naruto, the other Konoha nin, Zabuza and Haku were currently pacing toward Konoha from Wave, with Naruto at the front, while others were behind him. Kurenai and Kakashi caught up with Naruto and started talking to each other.
"That was a nice thing you did by giving them that money Naru-kun," Kurenai said with a smile on her beautiful face.
"Well it was the right thing to do at the moment Kure-chan, they were in need of money, you saw the condition wave was in, I would've felt bad if I hadn't help them and besides seeing the happiness on their faces was worth it," Naruto said.
"Couldn't have said it better myself little brother," Kakashi said while ruffling Naruto's hair.
"Yes and I agree with that Naru-kun and I'm proud you for what you did for Inari as well," Kurenai said.
"I wanted him to get stronger so that he can protect his precious people just like I will protect you," Naruto said while Kurenai had a small blush on her face as well as a small smile.
After some hours they all reached Konoha with Sakura, Hinata and Shino weasing, Sasuke, Kiba and Sai to breath heavily while others were breathing normally. When they reached the village gates they checked-in while the Chunin gaurds were terrified at the presence of Zabuza Momochi, after some assurances that Zabuza was not going to hurt them, they left for the Hokage tower.
Hokage Tower
The old Hokage was reading his smut while giggling perversely and wiping the small amount of blood from his nose, while his clones were working on the paperwork all the while mumbling something about being lazy ass, when he heard the knock, he quickly went to hide his book, straightened his robes and said, "Come in".
After the door open he saw that Naruto, Kakashi, team 7, Kurenai team 8 and much to his shock Zabuza Momochi, the same man he sent a back-up team to deal with but a look from Naruto told him that all will be explained and an unknown shinobi entered his office.
"Mission accomplished Jiji," Naruto said cheerfully while Zabuza and Haku were surprised the way Naruto greeted their Hokage.
"I can see that Naruto-kun, but what I want to know is why are Zabuza and an unknown shinobi in my office," the old man asked in a tone that left no room for an argument at the moment.
"Jiji there is a reason behind that," Naruto said before he proceeded to explain what had transpired in the wave before the old man looked at Zabuza and Haku.
"Zabuza you will be taken to the TI department for questioning and you will be on probation for one month before you join our shinobi forces after that you will given the rank of a Jounin and will take on regular missions," the old man said before he turned toward Haku, who was shifting nervously before the old man's piercing gaze and since he had heard about the famous Professor, he was quite scared as well, the old man noticed Haku's nervousness and smiled at him inorder to ease him, "Haku, Naruto-kun informed me that you are from Yuki clan and you have the Ice Release, am I correct!" the old man asked to which Haku nodded.
"Well Haku you will be able to join our shinobi rank and since you weren't a ninja from any other village, you will not have to go to the TI department but you will be on probation as well and you will be given the rank of a Chunin after you pass a small test ofcourse," the old man said.
"Alright everyone is dismissed," he said. Everyone left to their homes, while the old man organised a place for Haku and Zabuza.
Namikaze Compound
Naruro and Kurenai reached their home and went to their room, as soon as they reached their room, Kurenai pulled Naruto in a wet and passionate kiss which lasted for few minutes with them invading each other's mouth by their tongue. When they separated, Kurenai hugged Naruto for all he was worth causing Naruto to get worried because ever since the massacre that Naruto caused on the bridge during the mission, Kurenai had been strangely, when he asked Kurenai about it, she said she would tell him when they reach home, and when he asked Kakashi about this, he just shrugged his shoulders indicating that he don't know and went back to reading his book.
"Kure-chan, what's wrong you have been behaving strangely ever since the mission!" Naruto asked worriedly.
"I was worried Naru-kun when took on every one of those men on the bridge all by yourself," Kurenai said softly.
Naruto just smiled softly at her and moved her face so that she could look at him, "I'm fine Kure-chan, you know the full extent of my strength and they weren't even able to lay a finger on me and besides with what Gatō talked about you and those men looking at you like that made me angry and I couldn't have let them get away with it," he said.
"I know Naru-kun, but if something were to happen to you I don't what I would have do, I love you too much and I don't think that I can live without you," she said with tears in her eyes.
"Well I'll be careful from now okay," Naruto said, "Kure-chan, will you go on a date with me!" he asked to which she nodded, "Great then meet me at 7 downstairs alright," he said.
"Okay Naru-kun," she said and with that Naruto left the room for his training.
At 7 In The Evening
It was time for Naruto's date with Kurenai, he was downstairs in the living room waiting for Kurenai to come down from their room. He was wearing a black button-up shirt, white pants, a pair of boots and finally his coat that Kurenai gave him as his gift for graduating from the academy, his hair were still spiky, for his date.
Few minutes later Kurenai came down and what Naruto saw made his jaw drop and a blush crept on his cheeks, he saw his angel wearing a red strapless dress that reached all the down to her ankles that complemented her beautiful red eyes, a pair of red heals, her hair was done in an elegant bun and she had a small amount of make-up done, when she saw him staring at her she developed a small blush as she too looked at him and once again blushed at how handsome he was looking.
"Wow! You look so beautiful Kure-chan not that you don't look beautiful everyday but right now you look just like an angel," Naruto said.
"Thank you Naru-kun and you look quite handsome yourself," Krenai said.
"Thanks Kure-chan, shall we go then," Naruto said as held his hand out for her, when she took his hand, he shunshin'd both of them over the Fourth Hokage's head on the Hokage monument, where there was a blanket on the floor, a picnic basket on it and some candels.
They sat down and ate their food while having a small conversation, after the food was finished and they were resting Naruto pointed toward the village's direction showing Kurenai an amazing view, "Look Kure-chan," he said.
Kurenai looked where Naruto pointed and gasped, she had never seen something so amazing in her life, the whole village had lights on and looked very beautiful, "It looks amazing," she said before both of them stood up and walked over to the edge to get a better view.
After a few minutes of silence Naruto spoke, "Kure-chan you know that I love you more than anything right!" he said
"Yes Naru-kun and I love you more than anything as well," she said with a loving smile on her face.
"You know that I'd do anything for you right!" he asked.
"Ofcourse Naru-kun and I'd do anything for you as well," she said while wondering where this was coming from.
"Then I've to ask you something," Naruto said before he took out a small box from his pants and got on one knee before he opened a box to show a beautiful ring and asked, "Kurenai Yūhi will do me the honor of becoming my wife!"
At the proposal Kurenai just stood there while looking at the ring and then at Naruto, she had a hand on her mouth while tears of joy were streaming down her face, before she noticed that he was still waiting for her answer while a nervous smile appeared on his face, "Yes yes and yes Naru-kun! Ofcourse I will marry you and become your wife," she said with a big smile on her face which Naruto returned and slipped the ring on her finger. The ring was made of platinum while it had a small and very rare stone on it, she also noticed that the stone contained a small amount of Naruto's chakra and has small engraving of a sealing array on it.
Suddenly Naruto hugged her to him tightly, "You just made me the happiest man in the whole world Kure-chan," Naruto whispered in her ear before he kissed her passionately before he pulled away.
"This is a very special ring Kure-chan, it can only be taken off by you and no one else, I'm sure you have noticed that it has some of my chakra along with small engravings," he said to which she nodded, "Well the engraving is the sealing array of my Hiraishin jutsu, whenever you are in trouble just channel a small amount of chakra in the ring and my chakra in the stone will act as a tracker and which will tell me where you are and I'll be there in a flash," he explained to which he got a loving kiss from his new fiancè. After she ended the kiss they both smiled at each other before they went home.
To be continued...