Chapter 23 – Friends & Enemies
Kakashi stepped into the house after talking with Inari. He had to talk to him after Naruto exploded on the boy. Granted, Inari started it and said the wrong thing to Naruto. Despite finding people who cared for him, Naruto still kept his past close to the vest. However, he couldn't help but be glad at the opportunity that the situation presented him. With Naruto out of the house, he could finally confront his other two students.
He looked to see Sasuke and Sakura seated on the couch. Sakura was now sporting a long sleeve top to hide the burns she got from her attempt at Naruto's scroll. Lucky for him, Naruto was not really curious about it. He knew that someone attempted to grab his scroll from the smirk that he gave his two teammates. He even made a mocking comment to Sasuke about a 'shocking experience'. He did ask about Sakura's new clothes but she just angrily told him to mind his business.
Kakashi looked at the two with a serious eye, which made Sakura flinch and Sasuke indifferent.
"What were you two thinking?" Kakashi asked seriously.
"Sensei," Sakura began but was stopped by Kakashi raising his hand to stop her.
"Let me tell you what you were thinking." Kakashi turned to Sasuke. "You were thinking that you didn't want anyone to stop you from getting stronger." He then turned to Sakura. "You thought that you would impress Sasuke if you gave him Naruto's scroll. Am I right so far?" he demanded.
"So what? This is our mission. We could have handled it." Sasuke argued.
"You are not a commander Sasuke. You are a genin and you are to respect your commander's authority. I don't care if you were the top of you class, your actions of destroying the scroll shows that you are not a top ninja." Kakashi stated harshly. Sakura was surprised at this.
"You destroyed the scroll Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked with surprise. Sasuke just growled and turned his head away. Kakashi then faced Sakura.
"You aren't any better. Just because your crush is jealous of his teammates' skill does not give you the right to take his abilities. Naruto worked hard for that and you are being disrespectful by trying to take it." Kakashi said. Sakura looked at her feet in shame. The man sighed at them. "Do you realize that we are considered the worst team among the graduates? I took this mission so that I could show that we are a well-oiled team. Now I see that was a mistake. After completing this mission, do not expect another until this team starts to act like a team." With that Kakashi walked away to do something. Sasuke quickly stood and made his way out side to do something to quell his frustrations. Sakura was just left alone.
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Naruto was getting annoyed as he felt someone shake him. He slapped the hand away and turned back to his sleep but the hand was persistent. He opened his eyes and saw a beautiful face looking down at him. He blinked a few times before shooting up. The person who was looking at him moved just in time as he rolled away from them. They watched as he got into a defensive stance. Naruto looked around for anyone else.
"Who are you?" Naruto demanded. The person just smiled at him.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. My name is Haku and I was just out here to gather herbs. I was just concerned because this not a place for you to be asleep. With Gato's men and wild animals, you could have been hurt." Haku said. Naruto looked at her and did notice the basket with herbs in it. Naruto relaxed a little but did not really drop his guard.
"Sorry about that. I'm just a little on edge." Naruto said.
"It's alright. You are a ninja after all." Haku said. Naruto looked at her with suspicion until she pointed to her forehead. Naruto realized what she was pointing at and blushed. This made Haku giggle at that. That's when Haku looked around and saw the damage. "Were you training?"
"Yeah, secret training. Can't really tell you civilians. Did the person that you're gathering the herb for suffer some kind of burns?" Haku looked surprised at that. "I have a comrade back in my village who is pretty good at health. She makes these creams that works wonders. I kind of brought some from her in bulk due to some jutsu." Naruto said with a laugh.
"Your friend sounds skilled in the arts. Perhaps after my friend is healed, I may go to your village and compare notes." Haku said. "I was wondering something. By the look of the area, you are very strong. Why do you keep training if you are already so strong?"
"Well, I want to be Hokage one day so I have to get stronger. I also have friends who I want to protect and keep safe." Naruto said. This made Haku smile.
"That's a very good reason. I believe that when some has something that they want to protect, they can become stronger than ever." Haku said.
"You think so?" he asked.
"I do believe that. I think that you will be very strong Naruto." Haku said with a smile. Naruto couldn't help blush at the smile.
"Thanks for that Haku-chan." Naruto said. Haku just smiled before turning to leave. Before Haku left, 'she' turned around to face Naruto.
"By the way, I'm a boy, not a girl." With that he walked away. He had a smirk on his face and wondered what the expression on Naruto's face was. It was probably funny. Naruto just had a dead look in his eyes at that revelation.
'That just isn't possible! No guy is that pretty!' his mind shouted. He would remain like this until Sasuke came for him.
XXX
Kakashi was starting to get his strength back. It would not be long until he was at full strength. That would also mean that Zabuza would be at full strength as well. He would be prepared this time. He just wondered if his team would be ready. With Sasuke now mastering the Tree Climbing exercise, he pushed him a little to be ready. He did the same with Sakura but it was on a smaller scale. He really didn't have too much interaction with Naruto but that was not his fault. The blond decided that his time would be better spent training alone.
Kakashi sighed at that. It seem that the gap between Naruto and the team was just growing wider. He only hoped that he could come to a solution before things got worse. That's when his attention was taken away by the falling of a tree. He told Sasuke to watch the family while he observed. He arrived to see Naruto with a green disc in his hand. He watched as he tossed the thing and it still kept its shape. It cut through another tree and it quickly fell. That's when he heard Naruto curse a little.
"Man, Iruka-sensei was right. It is inaccurate." Naruto said.
"It doesn't look inaccurate to me." Kakashi said, startling Naruto. "That's an impressive jutsu Naruto."
"Yeah but it's far from battle ready. Why are you here? Shouldn't you be training Sasuke or something?" Naruto asked with a little tone.
"Seeing how you told me that you wished to train alone, you can't really blame me." Kakashi said.
"Well, I can't trust my teammate and I don't respect my sensei. See it from my view." Naruto argued.
"Naruto, I know that you have had some issues with us and I have done nothing about it. I am trying to change that. At least give me a chance to prove it." Kakashi said. Naruto give him a look and folded his arms. He would stare at Kakashi for a time before scoffing.
"Alright, I'll give you a chance but it will be small one. As for the others, you can forget it." Naruto said and walked off to the house. While it was not what he expected but it was a start. Kakashi followed the blond back.
XXX
Naruto woke up very tired. He had really pushed himself yesterday training. He was also burning the midnight only getting his new ideas for his new jutsu in his scroll. He gave a yawn before looking around the room. He wondered where Kakashi and Sasuke was. He got up and found out that Sakura was also gone. It took him a while before he realized that they must have went to the bridge without him.
Naruto quickly got dressed and was about to go when he heard an inhumane scream. He came downstairs to see Tsunami and Inari in the living room. He told the two to stay here before he went to check out the source of that scream. He secured the door and left two Shadow Clones. He made his way to the sound carefully. When he got there, he felt a little sick. There were two men on the ground and bloody.
The one wearing the skull cap was littered with kunai. Lucky for him, he would survive as they did not hit any vital areas. The tattooed man however, Naruto knew that he would not survive. His leg was completely blown off and was bleeding out. The two men saw Naruto standing there. While the skull cap man was disabled, the tattoo man was making a move for his katana. Naruto snapped out of his funk and quickly stopped him. He took both katana and sealed them. He then decided to take the skull capped man away and secure him. The man with the tattoos screamed out to him but Naruto ignored him. It was cruel but Naruto could do nothing for him.
XXX
After securing the swordsman and getting the two to safety, Naruto made his way to the bridge. He arrived just to see what was going on, which was nothing. The mist was thick and he could see no one. He could hear the sounds of battle but he could not pin point where everyone was. He needed to take care of that mist. Lucky for him, he had a jutsu for that. He summoned a bunch of Shadow Clones and had them move into several positions. He gave out some orders before he made his way to the end of the mist. He did some hand seals.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Naruto shouted and left out a gust of wind. It was not a strong wind as he only wanted to get rid of the mist. The mist was blown away and now he could see everything. Kakashi was battling Zabuza and Sasuke was getting his ass handed to him by the fake hunter-nin. Naruto was quick to act. He gave a signal and his clones jumped out, each with a green disc. They launched the disc at the dome of mirrors. The disc easily destroyed the mirrors, cutting them in two. The hunter-nin escaped before being killed.
Two clones grabbed Sasuke and took him away while the others attacked the hunter ninja. The teenager was have some time fighting the clones as they were coordinating well with each other. Still, the hunter ninja was able to dispel them with senbon. Naruto tried to rush up on him but he was caught and slammed to the ground. The hunter ninja stabbed a senbon in his neck only to have Naruto burst in the flames. The hunter ninja got burned in the arms and screamed in pain. So focused on the pain, he did not see Naruto come from behind to knock him out.
The mask fell off and the person hit the ground hard. Naruto pulled out some wire to tie him up when he got a look at the face.
"Haku?"
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The battle on the bridge was over. With Haku out cold and secured, Kakashi ended the life of Zabuza Momochi with his signature jutsu. The problems did not end when Gato arrived with his army of thugs. He laughed at Zabuza and was about to send his men after Tazuna. Naruto acted and summoned over a hundred Shadow Clones. They were each armed and ready to fight. That's when the villagers came. Rallied by Inari, they were ready to fight for their villager. Gato was enraged and wanted everyone to suffer. That was went Raido and Genma arrived with the Wave's forces.
Gato was surprised by this and realized that he was out-numbered. He quickly tried to escape but he was stopped by the three forces. He and any bandit that didn't escape was quickly captured at restrained. Gato was dragged away, kicking and screaming, getting punched in the face by the villagers. Everyone went back to Tazuna's house where Raido and Genma dealt with the two bodies, one which was dead. Naruto was feeling real bad about that but Kakashi was surprisingly there for him as this was his first kill.
However, it was time to deal with the issue in front of them. That issue was Haku.
"Why don't we just kill him?" Sasuke said with a tone.
"We aren't killing him just because you feel slighted." Raido said. Sasuke glared at him and then at Haku. Naruto also looked at Haku. He could see that his eyes was dead. Naruto knew the reason why as he knows about Zabuza's death.
"I think we should take him back with us." Naruto said.
"Why should we? He and his master just tried to kill us and Tazuna's family." Sakura said.
"He's not a killer. That's just not in him. I just have a gut feeling that we should take him with us." Naruto said.
"We're not taking him just because of your gut." Sakura argued.
"Why are you even talking Sakura? What did you do for this whole mission? Just shut up and sit back down and let those with real skill talk." Naruto spat. Sakura was red in the face. Before she could do anything, Kakashi spoke.
"Very well, we will take him back to Konoha." Kakashi said. Sakura and Sasuke looked at him in surprise. "However, he is your responsibility Naruto. You seem to have some type of connection."
"Thanks sensei." With that, all talks were done.
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Authors' Notes
This is Dragon sending out a special Happy Birthday to SlytherinQueen020. I wish you many more birthdays. Anyway, this is the only story I'm updating because it got real busy. Some of you might see Naruto and Kakashi coming to terms but that is not the case. Naruto will not respect Kakashi and that will be the main reason that they do not get along. Also, Kakashi will do something that will destroy Naruto's respect to him but it will happen later in the story. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter.
