A/N: Quarantine Day 14, I finally have enough time to write again.
Chapter 6
Inside the Hyuuga compound, a twelve-year-old girl with a purple bowl hair cut in a tan sweatshirt was training. She had been enamored with a certain blonde boy with whiskers in her village, but recently another platinum blonde was getting in her way. 'I can't lose to her' Hinata thought motioning her clan's Gentle Fist style taijutsu against a training post.
She wiped the sweat from her brow and looked behind her to see her cousin Neji. She asked in her usually timid way if he would like to join her. He then swiftly ignored her with a snarl "weak", knowing that he couldn't inflict his frustrations with the Main Branch inside of the compound. The younger Hyuuga couldn't completely understand why Neji was so resentful. She believed that it was because as a side branch member, seals are placed on their heads at an early age to protect the secrets of the Byakugan, but no one has shown her so much animosity as Neji.
She walked near the river reflecting on anything that she might have done to deserve his hatred. She had found a remote area to sit at and pulled her knees close to her. 'Am I just too weak?' She thought self-consciously. Pondering that maybe virtue should be more like a meritocracy, but even still she wouldn't have much to her name to earn her respect from him.
Jogging down the same bend along the river was the young Yamanaka ending her day with a bit of Naruto's training regimen: several laps around Konoha.
She then noticed the Hyuuga heir curled up near the river. "Hey, Ms. Princess..." she started, shocking Hinata who jumped out of her seating position. Observing her counterpart's reaction, she placed a hand on her hip. "What's wrong?" Hinata was at a loss it seemed, and self-pity wasn't going to do anything. She wants to be stronger, but from a young age she was sheltered and lacking in social skills. What's worst is that, unlike Naruto, she can't be her own best friend. She can't be confident in her abilities when, at every turn as the Hyuuga heiress, she was prevented from getting her hands too dirty. She needs to break that mentality, and she knows it. Still visibly trembling from her confusion, she looked at Ino "Fight me!" She demanded.
Ino had just warmed up, so she was welcoming to the idea, however, anyone who understands emotions and logic can see that something was bothering the Hyuuga. "Fine, I'm game" she said taking a fighting stance. 'Hyuuga's excel in Taijutsu, it's obvious I would want to stay far from a hand-to-hand battle...' she strategized. '...but something is definitely bothering Hinata, and if her self-confidence is down maybe exposing her to the area she exceeds in will make her feel more secure'.
Hinata got into her gentle fist stance and activated her Byakugan. Ino threw a few shuriken which Hinata gracefully dodged before Ino attempted to get in close. Aiming for a right-hook to the stomach, all the Hyuuga has to do was lift her left arm through the hook to block it while stepping forward with her own snap of the wrist to Ino's cheek. 'It's soft in comparison to all the times I had fallen when tree climbing, but her technique is spot on'. Ino knew too many of those can be bad for her endurance.
She desperately backed away when the purple-haired princess followed suit with a combination of strikes that would have left the Yamanaka hurting. 'Perhaps getting in close was a bad idea' she thought forming a few seals before saying Suiton: Water Bullet, in which she spit out several condensed water bursts at high speed. Hinata managed to dodge two, but the third one hit her shoulder resulting in a sharp pain that brought her down to the ground.
Ino got immediate guilt after that "oh no, Hinata are you alright?" She worried that the pressure may have been too high and punctured the skin. After closer inspection, Hinata was left with only a bruise. She looked at the platinum blonde and how she had dirt on her cheek from the strike that landed before beginning to laugh. "Thank you, Ino-san" she said feeling a bit relieved. Ino rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish grin "I expected the Hyuuga Taijutsu would have something to help with Ninjutsu attacks". At that moment, something clicked in the purple-haired princesses head 'I'll have to ask father about that'. She then bid the Yamanaka farewell before heading back home.
Ino waved goodbye and continued her run. She doubts that she would've been able to evade Hinata's attacks without Naruto's training. Unfortunately, she can't train with the him anymore since their team assignment. 'I should probably learn how to control elemental jutsu better' she thought. 'I just need to find someone with Suiton Jutsu in their repertoire. I'll ask Asuma-Sensei if he knows anybody..'
The next morning, Team 10 gathered around the Hokage to accept the next D-Rank mission. "What a drag..." Shikamaru thought out loud "Glorified chores if I ever saw them." "These are necessary first steps Shika" Ino told the pineapple head. We have to prove our team is compatible""That's right..." Asuma said "It's not like you'll ever see a Genin start with an A-Rank mission"
"Achoo!" You could hear Naruto sneeze when he came in with Team 7 covered in scratches and fur everywhere. The feudal lord's wife took Tora the cat into her arms and squeezed as Tora let out a meow of help, to Naruto flipping the cat the bird as they left. "Jiji! Give us something worth our time!" Sasuke nodded in agreement "Yeah, what the dweeb said." Sakura agreed with the boys but didn't say anything.
Ino folded her arms "you can't just demand it and it be given to you, Naruto..." she said while walking up to him. "Mhmm..." The Hokage concurred and Asuma smiled as his protégée lectured the other team. "You have to plead with them as if you're life depended on it" she finished while the two Sarutobis face faulted. "Please give my team something better too! This sooo Boring! I'm losing my sanity!" She pleaded to The Professor.
Sakura side eyed Ino 'so melodramatic..' "that 'woe is me' attitude isn't going to work on the battlefield Ino". Ignoring Sakura, Naruto just followed Ino's advice and pleaded with tears running down his face and snot through his nose to the Esteemed Hokage. "*sniff* oji-San..." "Knock it off!" Sakura yelled hitting Naruto with a paper fan.
Sakura doesn't hit Naruto as much as she did in the previous life, although she can be assertive when need be. Naruto pondered on the differences before, juxtaposing their reactions. What he doesn't know though is Inner Sakura from the previous timeline, and how she was created to balance her insecurities when Ino was her rival. Luckily, that's not the case now, and Naruto just chalks it up as him not being a complete dobe like last time.
"Ma... Hokage-sama, I apologize for my students" Kakashi said stoically. "Same here" Asuma agreed patting Ino's shoulder. The Hokage accepted the apologies with a puff of his tobacco. "Team 10, the local park needs to be cleaned and it's grass cut..." the Hokage started and everyone groaned. "Get it done quickly and I'll consider giving you a higher-ranking mission." The group still left unenthusiastically and shut the doors behind them. "Team 7..." he began to the Genin gulping in anticipation "... you'll be doing a C-Rank mission." The team was excited to get started, but took the briefing seriously, being introduced to a drunken bridge builder by the name of Tazuna who needs to be escorted to the land of the waves.
After the briefing the team dispersed, but Naruto stuck around with Kakashi. "Sensei, something seems a bit off to me" The blonde told the white-haired Jounin. "Mm, how so, Naruto?" He replied. 'So I'm not the only one with suspicions it seems'. "If I recall what I read about the Land of the Waves, the island we're taking him to doesn't have a bridge..." the Genin tried his hardest to explain this away without hinting at his foresight. "Uh... yeah, that's why we're taking him there" Kakashi dead-panned at the obvious statement.
Naruto let out a nervously sheepish laugh "Well, there are already villages on the island, so I was just thinking how they have survived until now and who they traded with" he fumbled. Kakashi managed to complete his thought though "the current merchants might not be too happy that a bridge is being built, adding more competition. You suspect that they'll hire someone to get in our way?" Naruto nodded "Exactly, I don't think they're going to just twiddle their thumbs as we make their lives harder."
This perspective gave Kakashi pause as the kid could be right, but we can't add onto the price of the escort from just suspicion. "Ma, that's pretty astute of you Naruto, I'll keep it in mind" he gestured as he made his leave. 'As laid back as always' Naruto thought unhopefully.
At dawn, everyone met at the eastern gate. Tazuna was now sober, which would make this trip more bearable. Sasuke was a mixture of annoyed for having to wake up so early and excited for the mission. Sakura was determined to improve her worth in the first C mission. For Team 7, it seemed like a race to the top. Naruto was taken aback from the mood, it wasn't this collaborative before, particularly with Sakura. Getting off the Uchiha Bandwagon really helped her focus. Naruto pondered on whether leaving a shadow clone here would be beneficial to call for back up but decided to trust Kakashi's leadership once more.
Halfway towards the Mizu no Kuni, the group came across puddle off the side of the road. Prior to passing it, Naruto made hand sign and channeled his chakra to the tree branches where two shadow clones appeared. Kakashi noticed while the rest of the group unwittingly continued. 'It seems Naruto is aware of the situation; I wonder what he's going to do...'
As they passed the unusual puddle, it transformed into two Chuunin Rank shinobi, the demon brothers. Before they could attack, a Naruto clone kicked one in the back throwing off their coordination. "Sasuke!" The blonde yelled. The Raven haired Genin was happy to oblige as a few shuriken was enough to throw the other brother off from correcting their mishap.
Even though Sakura guarded Tazuna, she managed to throw several chakra-laced kunai. It was weak, but still enough to penetrate the skin, sending a shock into the able Demon Brothers' legs. The real Naruto threw himself with his clone incorporating the Naruto Uzumaki Barrage on the wounded brother, looking back to see Kakashi had already subdued the other he had kicked earlier. 'Not bad teamwork' the one-eyed Jounin thought.
After the scuffle, Kakashi sent word via messenger bird to come and pick up the Demon-Brothers. It now became apparent that Tazuna was hiding something. "Those were full-fledged ninja, not your run of the mill bandit that we were tasked with protecting you from..." Kakashi interrogated. The bridge builder buckled under the pressure and told Team 7 about the situation with Gato being the sole supplier for Their island. 'Naruto was right... but what's even more suspicious was how the kid was so on the nose with this.'
A few ANBU came to pick up the captives and left shortly thereafter, before heading to the land of the waves. They docked the boat after a long row through the mist to avoid detection of the men hired by the Gato Company. While continuing their escort to the village through the forest, Sasuke threw a kunai into some bushes after feeling the presence of someone watching them. "It's just a rabbit" Sakura laughed.
Naruto knew this is the part where he must approach with caution. Kakashi was subtle about his wariness, which was validated when Naruto spoke to him "Kakashi..." "mmm" the copy-nin mumbled in agreement keeping his eye peeled. "Everyone get down!" Kakashi yelled as the Executioner's Blade came hurling through the air before lodging itself in a tree, in which a shinobi from the mist with a face mask stood atop its handle.
"Oh, look what we have here. A rogue ninja from the village hidden in the mist..." Sakura and Sasuke were covered surprise, but Naruto was hoping he could get Zabuza and Haku out alive this time. "Rogue ninja... ah, Kakashi-sensei!" 'What do you want Naruto, this is serious shit' the white-haired Jounin thought. With a sigh, he responded" what Naruto?" "... would a ninja still be considered rogue if the Kage changed? Because I'm pretty sure there's a new Mizukage..."
Zabuza was going to toy with them a bit, but that blonde kid struck a nerve "you, the brat with the stupid face..." Naruto made an offended look "It's Naruto! N- A-R" "...yeah, whatever, Burrito. what did you just say?" 'Even though I've been just faking it, this bastard is straight up mocking me!' Naruto thought, crossing his arms in retaliation "There's a new Mizukage, her name is Mei."
The mist-nin has to rethink his plan. The only reason he's working as a mercenary is to make money to overthrow that tyrannical bastard, but he wasn't sure if what this kid was saying is true. "I guess after I kill you, I'll have to see for myself." Naruto face-palmed.
From the forest, what looked like a hunter-nin threw themselves from tree to the ground in the center between Tazuna and the rest of Team 7, but they looked more focused on running away from something. 'The mark's right here, I could...' the hunter thought as the vision parried slightly towards the bridge-builder. "Rasengan!" A clone Naruto yelled as a flew over them, slamming it into the ground in a way that made it look like the Hunter dodged just at the skin of their teeth, while the earth around them shattered into pieces.
'This kid doesn't look like much, but a shadow clone having Haku on defense means that he couldn't hit this brat once.' The moment Kakashi looked away to analyze the situation, a water cloned Zabuza trapped Naruto into a Water Prison "wrong move Kakashi of the Sharingan". Sasuke paused for a moment, wondering if he heard that correctly when his senses pulled up his headband exposing his crimson red eye with three tomoe. 'Why does he have it? My whole clan should be dead.' The boy wondered.
Kakashi yelled out to the blonde but noticed Naruto then smirked. Naruto got a sudden surge of chakra the burst between red and blue, making the water prison explode, and the Zabuza's clone along with it. "Now Zabuza..." the blonde said as his Body was coated with the red chakra that had three tails "There's no reason we can't be civil." Everyone was petrified at what they were seeing. Zabuza had a shocked look, with a hint of terror that brought flashbacks of Yagura. 'He's just like that bastard!'
The Leaf Jounin was in shock, worried that the seal completely deactivated. "Kakashi, that hunter-nin has a Kekkei Genkai that creates ice mirrors to surround you, be vigilant" Naruto mentioned. Before vanishing and reappearing on the hilt of the Executioner's Blade near Zabuza. The swordsman reacted as fast as Jounin could, be he knew that that 0.25 seconds was a sizable gap compared to Jinchurikki. 'That kids toying with me' he thought putting up his guard as he landed on the floor.
Naruto's chakra cloak disappeared. He didn't want to fight, but he looked over to Team 7 fighting Haku with Kakashi preventing the hunter from using any large attacks. Still Kakashi would end it soon, that's just the flow of battle. Naruto kicked the blade out of the tree trunk toward Zabuza and back flipped to the floor. "You're either overly confident or just stupid" the demon of the mist grunted. Naruto was saddened from his past and disappointed that the situation can't be controlled by cooperation. "It's a shame that a shinobi with your potential will have to die here. If only you would have left." Zabuza's eyes sharpened at this war-torn statement.
Naruto knew he had to finish this as quick as possible, but his height keeps him at a disadvantage with his fighting style. Making a hand sign, the blonde boy henged into his sixteen-year-old self. His eyelids grew orange, his eyes yellow, and his iris square. 'He looks kind of like the Yellow-Flash!' Zabuza noticed. A high paced Taijutsu/ kenjutsu battle ensued, but it was as if the orange sage knew every move before the mist demon made it; Simply by feeling the chakra flow of nature.
Typically, every combo attempted by the rogue was met with a swift counter at the end. Kick to the stomach, punch to the face, kick to the body that made two of his ribs crack. Before he could buckle, Naruto pushed his palm onto Zabuza's abdomen and released a sharp gale palm ninjitsu sending the mist-nin into a cliff edge. Those ribs were definitely broken, making movement extremely limited. Even breathing was difficult without feeling an abundance of pain.
Naruto knew Zabuza had no plan to get up and made his way to the team. "Kit, you should've let me play a little longer" the Kyuubi said. "Kurama, just don't kill him okay, limit one" The fox sighed "fine... you and your fragile humans.." Without a moment's notice, while Haku was focused on Kakashi and backing away, he turned to see Naruto's right hand proceeding to smash into his mask and sending him flying. "You see that kit?! Just like old times, just like old times!" Kurama said with all his tails wagging. It wasn't enough to incapacitate him, but he was dazed enough that Kakashi was able to detain him.
Naruto's eyes faded back to the usual blue, as his team stood gawking at him. Sakura being the most surprised at how he looks handsome in comparison to his childish self. His lack of self-awareness, he realized he was still in a henge. Poofing back to normal, he looked at Sasuke and see that he took a few Needles to his legs and back. Kakashi was glad it ended, one-eye smiling to Naruto "he got those from protecting Sakura". Sasuke turned a bit red "I was protecting Tazuna, it's my job!" "But Sakura was already defending Tazuna, if anything you made your job redundant." "W-whatever." Sakura was flattered but felt that being protected from real world dangers would end up crippling her in the future.
Kakashi sent a messenger bird to the Konoha, asking for assistance on the prisoner escort. It took a few days for ANBU to arrive, not to mention it was a pretty unusual request to take a live captive in a foreign land, even if they were in the Bingo book. Kakashi felt that Naruto wanted them alive for some reason. 'That kid is going to have to get used to killing eventually.' He thought, even after seeing him fight.
After they were picked up, Kakashi approached Naruto who was on the roof top of Tsunami's house in the village. The Jounin could tell that the look in the kid's eyes as he gazed at the moon was not one of a hopeless idealist, but a saddened leader. 'Strange, considering that he's just a Genin.' "Naruto..." Kakashi finally said. The blonde already had his attention on him, so he just continued looking forward.
"... there will be times as a Shinobi when you feel like you can control everything, or wish that you could... just don't be disappointed when it fails to go your way. It's not solely your responsibility. There will be times when you must go with the flow. Let the current lead you there and your time to shine will come. You need to put more faith in your team, Naruto."
Naruto's eyes opened subtly. He remembered how Sasuke was in his previous life as someone with a chip on his shoulder. Constantly burdened, believing the only person capable of succeeding is himself. Kami, he hated the cool smugness. Although, Naruto still believed in the good in all people, he now understood his comrade a little more. 'Just go with the flow, huh' he thought as slightly reassured smile plastered on his moonlit face. "Mm" he hummed in agreement.