AN: This is coming a few days late because I reread the land of waves arc and holy shit is it sad? Like, what? I know it's been like 20 years or whatever but it's still really good too so yeah.

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"Oh man it's so crazy how literally nothing happened and we got here just fine" Naruto loudly said this as they approached Tazuna's house.

"Yeah it was just such a wild shame that Kakashi somehow fell and um, got a cold" Sakura looked at the unconscious Kakashi. "And is asleep."

"Huge shame."

"Well let's get him inside so he can recover from this very normal ailment" Tazuna headed into the house with Team Seven in tow.

"And then on the way back we met these two and everything was great, the end" Naruto wrapped up his abridged telling of the story.

"Ok so two things" Rōzu held up a hand to stop him from saying anything else. "One: I am so disappointed you would try and lie to me, and two: I am even more disappointed that you would use such a shit lie to try and trick me, your mother. I raised you to be better at lying."

"That's what has you upset" Iruka had expected it, but was still disappointed.

"Yes, now the real story please."

"Fine" Naruto frowned and began the real story. "After we got jumped by Zabuza we got to that guy's house so Kakashi could rest up."

"He's still out?" Sakura didn't like being there without Kakashi in fighting shape.

"Yeah it's been a whole day" Naruto was being held back by Sasuke to prevent him from going into Kakashi' room. "He's faking it!"

"We should still let him rest" Sasuke had learned this chokehold from Rōzu specifically for detaining Naruto. "If we try and get him up early he won't be in any shape to help out."

"Ugh fine, he can sleep like an injured loser."

"I heard that" Kakashi popped open the door and looked over them all. "I go through all the effort to get out of bed and open the door, and you call me a loser."

"I specifically said you're an injured loser."

"That makes it worse, no training for you."

"I call bullshit, you weren't gonna train us before I insulted you."

"To prove a point, I'm now going to train the other two and not you" Kakashi, with the help of a crutch, limped out of the room. "Come on you other two, it's time to learn a thing. Naruto make sure no one kills our client while I'm teaching them this super cool move."

"You did this to yourself" Sasuke released him and headed out after Kakashi.

"This is kinda all your fault" Sakura gave him a shrug and headed out as well.

"Bullshit."

Naruto was left alone for all of an hour. He'd made shadow clones to actually patrol the place while he moped inside. He also made a few more to keep the small child that hated him away.

"Good job no one died while I was out" Kakashi returned alone. "You may now go train with the others, they can explain it to you."

"This changes nothing, you're still an injured loser, also no backsies!"

Naruto ran off before Kakashi could take back letting him go. Sure he might be a well respected and powerful ninja of Konoha, but Naruto best knew him as the weird man who hung out with his mom. Going at full speed he met up with others in no time.

"What's this secret move!"

"This!" Sakura called down at him from the side of a tree she was standing on.

"How!"

"Focus your chakra to your feet and walk up the tree."

"Easy!"

Without waiting for further instruction or warning Naruto attempted to do as she said. He put one foot on the tree and was thrown back.

"You can't put too much or else that happens!"

"Now that I have fallen over" he realized there might be some merit to hearing out the how to part of this. "Is there any other things I should know?"

"You just gotta find the right amount to use, too little and" she pointed over to Sasuke as he fell off the tree. "Kakashi said it's to practice chakra control."

"That's easy I'm a master of chakra" Naruto ran at the tree again, and was once again blown away from it.

"You gotta use less than that dude" Sasuke helped him up this time.

"I did!"

"Ok well, use less than that?"

"Got it."

Another attempt and another launch. Naruto compared the sizes of holes he'd made so far. It was hard to tell, but he was pretty sure this third hole was smaller than the first two. Left with the most scientific of methods to get this down, he just kept at it going for a smaller amount each time.

"I'm gonna head back, I guess keep at it?" Sakura had watched the two of them keep at it for two hours.

"This sucks!" Naruto had lost count of his attempts after they broke the hundreds.

"No" Sasuke was making his way up the tree slowly. "This sucks for you!"

"Fuck!" not wanting to be left behind Naruto kept at it.

By the end of their first day of training the two had made solid progress up the trees. They'd also worn themselves out and crawled back to the house.

"Oh look who it is" Kakashi was sitting at the table reading. "An injured loser and Sasuke."

"I'm gonna skip around for the next part" Naruto broke the flow of his story. "Since I think it's kind of rude to share someone else's tragic backstory. Also I kinda just did the same training for like six days in a row so I feel like that'd be really boring to hear."

"You spent six days on chakra control" Iruka was going to have words with Kakashi about being more hands on with teaching his students.

"Yep, with a few breaks for eating and passing out in the forest."

"Mhm" Rōzu had started a list.

"So anyways the morning after one of those training sessions, I met Haku in the woods!"

"If you sleep on the ground like this you'll catch a cold" Haku shook him awake.

"Huh wha" Naruto, very gracefully, came to. "Who are you?"

After a few moments of this stranger making sure Naruto hadn't got sick in some way he decided to help gather herbs. The herb gathering was greatly sped up thanks to his clones.

"Who would've thought these weeds could be good for you" Naruto tossed his last handful of them into the basket. "Or that someone would make you come out here to get them this early."

"But it's fine to be out here this early if you slept here?" Haku took another chance to scold him about that. "Besides, no one made me come out for these. Did someone make you sleep outside?"

"Well, no not technically, I just got a little too into training and I'm pretty used to having someone drag me home after I pass out. Guess I did form a bad habit."

"So if you're training that much I guess you're one of those big city ninjas?"

"Sorry to interrupt the story" Zabuza cut him off this time and turned to Haku. "Big city ninjas?"

"I was trying to be undercover!" Haku had hoped this part of the story would have been skipped over as well.

"Sure, hey Naruto what did he say next?"

Naruto paused, torn between a truthful rendition of the events and not making Haku embarrassed from his acting.

"Uh nothing, we just chatted about things."

"Like?"

"Um."

"I might" Haku decided to just come clean. "Have said something about him looking very strong and manly."

There was all of one moment of silence before everyone but Naruto broke out into laughter. Haku held his face in his hands and tried to tune them all out.

"Just, keep telling the story."

"Yeah um, Haku said that."

Naruto did enjoy being called strong and manly by a pretty stranger, but he also was still learning something Sakura got on her first try.

"Nah I'm not really that strong, especially on my own. So I just gotta keep training till I can break that boulder."

"Boulder?"

"It's a ninja thing" he had no idea how to explain Might Gai. "But it's kinda how I visualize my goal. Once I'm that strong I'll be able to pay someone back."

"So you're doing all this training to pay someone back? That's a strange goal."

"Well maybe, but it's my goal" Naruto attitude while saying that got a laugh out of Haku. "What do you have some cool goal?"

"Well, I guess not, I just want to protect someone who's very precious to me. So I guess our goals might be pretty similar."

"Well if you ever need help protecting them, come to Konoha and ask for Naruto! That's me, in case that wasn't clear."

"Well Naruto" Haku gave him a smile. "I'll make sure to remember that offer, but I should get going now. I don't want to keep you from training for too long."

"Alright, but um, what's your name?" he'd hoped Haku would've just said it then as a natural reply to him saying his name.

"Hm, I'll tell you next time we meet alright?"

"Alright if you're so sure we'll meet again that works for me!"

"Thanks, and since we will, I'll let you know I'm a boy."

"Ok? Uh so am I."

"I mean, well, yeah I kinda thought as much" Haku had never met someone who wasn't shocked by that. "Did you know I was a boy?"

"Oh no way, but my mom told me to never assume."

"Well um, cool."

Haku shuffled out, feeling a little embarrassed after getting that clarification. Naruto met back up with Sasuke as he came into the clearing. When Kakashi and Sakura came back out to check on them he'd made it to the top of the tree.

"Like I said, I'm a master of chakra" he was quick to boast seeing what he was pretty sure were looks of awe from them.

"Can you get down though?"

"Ok that wasn't part of the training so I still am the best, I'm just also stuck in this tree."

"And you Sasuke?"

"I'm a little stuck too."

"Of course" Kakashi sighed and started approaching one of the trees. Before he started up it Naruto leapt over to Sasuke.

"Oh my god he's lost it" Sakura watched what she was pretty sure would be his death.

As he swung out one hand Kakashi stopped his own internal panic. With a quick clap of their hands the two dropped onto the ground beside him.

"You know I forgot you two can do that."

"And we were banking on that" Naruto stood up from the ground and flashed him a grin.

"Yeah did you really think we'd get stuck up a tree?" Sasuke gave him a cheeky smirk. Unfortunately, they both were unaware of what was storming closer to them.

"Well, we all get what's coming to us" Kakashi just watched as Sakura knocked them both to the ground and began scolding them.

Now that they all had completed the training they went back to the house. Naruto was so tired he was ready to just sleep on the table while the others ate. Most of the conversation went over his head. The only thing he noticed was Inari's sudden tears.

"What's up kid?"

"SHUT UP!" Inari snapped back at him, ending the rest of the talking. "You're doing all this stupid training and wearing yourself out and it's pointless! All you're trying to do is act cool but strong guys like Gato's thugs are too strong for you! They're gonna destroy you!"

"Pfft yeah right, I'm not a loser so I'll beat them."

"Oh shut up! You're just running your mouth and you don't know anything about this place! You're just some clown who's having fun! You don't get how we've all suffered!"

"I didn't know you had soap operas here gramps" Naruto got up from the table. "But we're not all here for your pity party kid. So you can be a baby and cry, but the rest of us have stuff to do."

He headed off to bed, ignoring the shouts after him. He'd wanted to say more, but knew that was just his anger talking. He might have gotten Inari's tragic backstory from Tazuna, but that kid didn't know all of theirs. He'd been a lot more exhausted than he let on and slept in pretty late.

"They all headed to the bridge already" Tsunami passed this info onto him as Naruto crashed out of his room.

"Ah crap they ditched me!" Naruto finished throwing his clothes on and bolted. It didn't take long for him to stop in his tracks. "What the…"

Something had cut a boar and left it's carcass in the middle of the woods. He hopped down to check it out. The cuts were too clean to be another animal. Looking it over he saw more cuts in the trees heading towards the house. Not needing any more evidence Naruto headed back.

"Inari!" Tsunami watched as the two samurai rushed at him drawing their swords. In the blink of an eye he was gone and a log was cut instead.

"The hell?" the one samurai turned back towards her.

"Sorry I was late" Naruto let Inari down and cracked his neck. "You gotta get the timing just right for the hero stuff though."

"Naruto?" Inari was shocked to see him again.

"That's right, and nice job" he ruffled the younger boy's hair before facing down the samurai. "Thanks to you I could save your mom. Now leave these guys to me."

"What really?"

"Yeah" Naruto chucked some shuriken at them.

"As if" the two deflected the attack, only to be beat down by some of his shadow clones.

After tying them up and having some more heartfelt words with Inari, Naruto took off again. If those two had gone there then the bridge was definitely under attack as well. This was confirmed when he saw the mist covering it. He could see a strange ice thing in the middle of the bridge with Sasuke inside of it. Seeing a chance when the other attacker moved to stop a kunai, Naruto flung a shuriken.

"Don't worry guys" he made sure to loudly announce his heroic entrance. "Naruto Uzumaki is on the scene!"

"Great" Zabuza tossed a handful of shuriken right at him.

"Ah shit" Naruto forgot other people could do that. Luckily for him someone else shot them down.

"Haku" Zabuza looked over to him.

"Let me handle this, I want to fight him."

"Fine" Zabuza turned back to Kakashi.

With that taken care of Naruto dashed over to Sasuke. He was fairly cut up but not out of the fight yet.

"Why the hell did you run into the middle of the ice zone?" he had enough strength to bonk Naruto on the head.

"To rescue you duh!" he rubbed the sore spot on his head, he held out his free hand.

"Yeah alright" Sasuke tried to grab it but was thrown back by Haku's attack.

"Oh shit he's fast" Naruto did not expect that as his body was cut up.

"Yup, kind of why I didn't want you in here" Sasuke looked at the gap between them. "Make a distraction so we can get out."

"On it" Naruto made a group of clones to try and attack the mirrors.

The moment they leapt from the ground towards the mirrors Sasuke dove towards him, Naruto tried to throw his own arm out as well to reach him. Before he could understand what happened all of his clones popped and he was thrown back away from Sasuke.

"I am aware of your technique" Haku looked down at Naruto from the mirrors. "So long as I keep the two of you apart you can't use it."

"Shit, do we have another secret move to use Sasuke?"

"Well, just one" Sasuke blasted some of the mirrors with a fireball, doing nothing to them. "And it just failed."

"I hope you two understand, I'm not doing this for personal feelings. It is my duty as a shinobi to take you both down here, just as it's yours to kill me as well."

"Well I'm sorry, but I've got stuff to do so I'm not dying here!" Naruto got back on his feet.

"No" Sasuke readied himself as well. "We've got stuff to do. It's time to fight for real Naruto."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Interesting, for real now?"

"Yeah, so don't blame me if we kill you" Sasuke turned on his sharingan.

Naruto made another group of clones. He wouldn't be able to see the attacks but he was betting Sasuke could now. As the Narutos leapt up again Haku made his move just like he'd expected. Sasuke moved in as well, landing a hit on Haku as he popped one of the clones. Recovering fast Haku moved back into the mirrors.

"So with those eyes you've got my movements figured out."

"Maybe next time" the real Naruto had also been hit. "You hit him before he hits me."

"I can't exactly tell you apart from the clones, now get back up."

"Yeah yeah" he stood back up and called out more clones.

"I see" Haku had figured out their strategy as well. As the clones leapt up once more he began his own attack. Before moving against one of the clones he tossed needles at Sasuke.

Seeing the attack Sasuke dodged it and moved to shield the clone assuming it was the real one. Seeing him take the bait, Haku adjusted his aim and leapt off a mirror towards the real Naruto.

"I'm sorry Naruto" as the clones popped and Haku entered the mirrors Naruto fell to the ground.

"Naruto!" Sasuke moved to his side, distracted by the condition he was in.

Before he could reach Naruto another attack began. If he hadn't lost focus Sasuke would have had more options. Instead all he could do was protect Naruto.

"Sasuke" he watched him fall to the floor as well.

"It's hard to see an ally die, I'm sorry" Haku readied another set of needles hoping to take Naruto down quickly.

"He won't die here" it was hard and it hurt, but Naruto moved. "We still have something to do. So shut the hell up."

As he kept moving the pain began to fade. Naruto could feel his body revitalizing as a surge of energy hit him. As strange as it was, as the chakra filled his body it felt familiar. That sense of familiarity helped him keep his head on as he looked at Haku.

"What is that" Haku was pointing at him now.

Naruto didn't reply, instead he moved forward and attacked while Haku was still stunned by his aura. Before Naruto smashed it to pieces Haku managed to move into another mirror. Forced back he tried to attack and regain the advantage, but his attack was destroyed by the chakra shroud.

"Shit" Naruto had managed to catch him before he could get into the mirror.

With a quick punch Naruto sent him flying out of the ice zone. As he moved in to attack again he saw the mask break apart. His fist connected with Haku's forehead, without any of the power from before it was just a tap.

"It's you."

"In a battle like this you can't stop, I've already killed your friend."

"I told you before" Naruto pulled his hand back. "He won't die here, all you've done is rough Sasuke up. I already got even with you for that."

"You know it's not that simple. People die even with unfulfilled or failed dreams."

"Just like when you knew we'd see each other again, I know Sasuke won't die here."

"I knew that because we were going to attack you guys!"

"Or because of destiny!"

This managed to earn a reaction from Haku. It made him start laughing.

"Hey I'm serious here!" Naruto was not a fan of being laughed at during a moment like this.

"It's a little funny."

Before he could think of something else that was dramatic to say, the mist around them began to fade. As it did a strange sound filled the air.

"Well if there is a destiny, I already know mine" Haku took off towards the other two figures in the mist.

"Shit" Naruto tried to move after him but without that energy from before he wasn't fast enough. Even before it happened he could see it in his head. Kakashi was going to kill him.

That image was enough, he could feel that power again. It was going to be close, but he knew what to do. Launching himself forward he really hoped he wasn't too far to the right.

With the sharingan on, Kakashi saw it all happen. Moments before his hand would reach Zabuza a mirror of ice formed and Haku moved to take the blow.

"KAKASHI!" he could now just barely see Naruto as he flew headfirst towards him.

For anyone else watching it all happened in a single instant. One moment Kakashi was about to finish off Zabuza, and the next he and Naruto were in a heap twenty feet away. The only indicator they'd moved there being the scar his chidori left on the bridge.

"Naruto."

"Yes?"

"Is there something wrong with you?" Kakashi was, understandably, very angry.

"Well yeah, but I don't see how that applies right now."

"Now normally I would be upset that you didn't kill your opponent" Zabuza looked over at the two of them. "But for once it worked out for us."

Haku was still reeling from seeing his own life flash before his eyes in the face of certain death.

"For the record I think you're an asshole!" Naruto called this out to Zabuza. "But I can't exactly go back on my word."

"So help me Naruto" Kakashi got back to his feet. "If Zabuza kills us all now I'm going to kick your ass in hell."

"Naruto if you're here?" Sakura and Tazuna came over to them. "What happened to Sasuke?"

"He's um, ok I know it looks bad" Naruto could see the state Sasuke was in. "But I'm certain he's alive."

"Haku."

"Ok so I didn't kill either of them I'm sorry!"

"Oh thank god he's actually alive" Naruto let out a huge sigh.

"Naruto."

"Kakashi."

"Did you risk your life to save someone who, as far as you knew, killed Sasuke?"

"No cause I knew Sasuke was fine."

"Sakura bring Tazuna over there and check on him please, we'll cover you if they make a move."

"Got it" she took him around the fighting to reach Sasuke.

"Well this is just great" another voice from behind Naruto and Kakashi called out. "Your bill is gigantic and you didn't even kill any of these kids?"

"Gato" Zabuza glared over at the man. "I told you I'd get it done, so get that trash out of here."

"Oh no, big changes of plans" Gato pointed over at them. "You guys are fired, and my crew here are gonna be taking out anyone on this bridge."

"Well, that settles our fight Kakashi" Zabuza looked over the small army Gato brought.

"Yeah I suppose so" Kakashi covered up his sharingan and looked over the group as well.

"So Naruto is not in trouble?"

"Oh you're in big trouble, but for now we have a bigger issue."

"Let's see here" Zabuza used his free hand to draw a line in the group. "You want the left or right half."

"What" Gato took a step back hearing that.

"Hm, I kinda like the look of the right side" Kakashi stretched his shoulders.

"Perfect."

"Stop standing around" Gato turned to the group on the bridge. "Kill them!"

As he turned around to point back at them all Zabuza's sword cleaved into him. It got a handful of the closest men as well from the power behind the toss.

"Hey those were on my side."

"I figured you could use a handicap."

"You're all talking pretty big!" one of the larger men came forward. "But you're down this sword and you all look like shit! So until we get our money we'll be having a nice rampage in this place."

This got a bunch of cheers from the men behind him. Naruto didn't like their odds going against a whole army. Luckily for him someone else had brought an army too.

"HEY FUCKOS!" Inari shot an arrow into the crowd.

"Language!" Tsunami quickly scolded him.

"Man that's convenient" Naruto really liked it when things worked out like this.

"You guys come any closer and you're dead!"

"Hell yeah Inari!"

"DON'T TEACH HIM MORE SWEARS!"

"Sorry!"

"Well shit, now I have to split them into thirds" Zabuza used both of his hands to try and partition the now cowering army.

"No way fourths!" Naruto summoned up a handful of clones. "I want my own part too."

Given the new odds, the army of thugs turned and ran back for their boat. With them sorted out the gathered villagers cheered.

"And then I said they should come back with us and they did!" Naruto wrapped his story up there.

"Naruto."

"Yes mom."

"Did you, no offense to you two, almost throw your life away to save people who tried to kill you?"

"See that makes it sound like my life was in danger, but like I said in my report Haku didn't so much attack us as he did shower friendship upon us."

"In the form of a deadly attack."

"We all express our feelings in different ways, you taught me that!"