Chizuru made her way to the clearing her team trained at and got to her daily exercises. She was just about to start the more intensive ones, when Kakashi and the rest of her team showed up. She nodded in greeting before getting back to exercising, and was quickly joined by the rest of them. When it came to training that day, she showed off what she could do with the jutsu Kakashi gave her to learn, to which Kakashi eye-smiled at her.
"Good work Chizuru. I believe with that level of proficiency you're ready for the next exercise." He offered.
"Really? What is it?" Chizuru chirped happily.
"Well, think of it like this. What's one weakness that shinobi have when it comes to using jutsu? More specifically, what's a weakness I've shown to exploit?" Kakashi asked.
"Uh..." Chizuru drawled then scrunched her face up, seemingly deep in thought, before it seemed to click. She couldn't find the right words to fit what she wanted to describe yet, so she opted to making a few hand seals and looking at Kakashi to see if she was right.
"Exactly. The biggest weakness a shinobi can have is showing all of their cards, and using too many, or even just one hand seal, is enough to tip off your opponent to what is coming up." Kakashi explained. "Today, i will be helping you through the process of shortening the required hand seals it takes to use your daitoppa."
"Like how I did it for the academy three?" Chizuru asked.
"Yes, but it's a lot harder to do it with elemental jutsu. In fact, that's why people have created something called 'one-handed hand seals' which, well, explains itself, but it's really useful. I've known a few people who can use one-handed hand seals, but the most noteworthy would have to be the Yondaime." Kakashi explained.
"Whoa! When do we get started?" Chizuru exclaimed.
"Well, how about now?" Kakashi suggested.
Kakashi ran her through the hand signs for the jutsu again, but when he got to the last one, he didn't do it, however he still released a daitoppa at a nearby tree.
"The concept is simple." He began, "Remove a hand seal, and manipulate your chakra the way the seal would normally." He explained.
"What?" Chizuru asked dumbly. "Wait... So like how with the academy three, I just preformed the jutsu by feeling like I was preforming them?"
"You shortened the academy three without knowing how you were doing it?" Kakashi asked, to which Chizuru scratched the back of her head in embarrassment, causing Kakashi to sigh, "Okay, when you use a hand seal, what it does is shape your chakra for you, it manipulates your chakra in a way that you need it to, without you needing to do it." Kakashi furthered.
"So if I was to learn how to control my chakra in the way that I have accidentally been doing it with hand seals, without the hand seals, I can potentially not use hand seals in general?" Chizuru asked.
"Well, yes and no." Kakashi said simply. "There's a lot more to it, but the beginning concept lines up with that. You see, hand seals in tandem, shape chakra into something completely different, and just knowing how to shape your chakra that way isn't enough. You must know how to shape it one way, and then shape it another way while maintaining that earlier shape, and again, and again, until you have the final product. For this very reason, there aren't many people who can do fully sealless jutsu, but instead they opt into doing one-hand seals, which allows them to only have to do half the work required when shaping chakra." Kakashi finished.
"Huh. I never thought of it that way..." Chizuru muttered.
"No one really does, but when they do, it opens so many doors that were once hidden to them." Kakashi assured.
"Yeah!" Chizuru exclaimed, visibly brightening up. "I'll be the first master of sealless jutsu, you'd better believe it!"
"I won't hold you to that, but I will help you all that I can." Kakashi began, "Now, the first step to removing a hand seal is always attempting a one-hand hand seal, it makes the transition to no hand seal infinitely faster."
"Right!" Chizuru called out, before looking over at Sakura and Hinata, who were just finishing their exercises. "Ne, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Don't worry about them, they'll learn this too, once they finish becoming proficient in their own jutsu, I wont pick favorites, or leave anyone out." Kakashi explained, having guessed what Chizuru was going to ask. "But let's get back on track, preform the last hand seal for the daitoppa." He instructed.
Chizuru formed the seal, and Kakashi grabbed both of her hands, before separating one of them from the other, and correcting the finger positioning to fit into a proper one-hand version of it.
"This is the first step, summon as many bunshin as you want, and practice this sign with both hands, try to increase the speed in which you can form that sign correctly, then we will move onto shaping chakra after you get that one down." Kakashi ordered.
Chizuru got to summoning her bunshin, while her team began to settle again into their jutsu training. Kakashi went off to help all of them when he could, and noticed that Hinata seemed to be the closest of the other two to getting her jutsu down. Sakura was lagging behind, but Kakashi made sure to encourage her to try her best whenever he could. The day progressed, and their training started to wrap up. Chizuru was about to begin chakra molding when Kakashi called an end of training for the day. The girl began dispelling her bunshin, and the team headed for Tazuna's. They enjoyed a nice dinner, and settled in for bed.
Earlier that Day, Somewhere in Nami no Kuni
Haku made her way toward the compound her and Zabuza were staying at, but stopped a little way away from the building Zabuza's staying in. She noticed the door was open, and Gato and two thugs were talking with Zabuza, suddenly, one of the thugs swung at Zabuza, but before Haku could react the Kiri-nin easily deflected the blade with a kunai. The thugs and Gato made a hasty escape after that, while Haku watched their movements. She snuck closer to the three men to get a better idea of what they were saying, and ended up hiding around a corner in the compound listening in on their conversation.
"That bastard, I should chop him up for even trying to fight back while on his death bed!" The swordsman who swung at Zabuza spat.
"I'll slice him up too, just for messing with you, don't you worry!" The other goon growled out.
"We can't go slicing him 'til the job's done you morons!" Gato reprimanded.
"Sorry boss..." The two goons drawled in unison.
"Good. The bastard's lucky we're not going to kill him 'til he battles those Konoha-nin on the bridge." Gato spat out in a low voice.
They're planning something stupid. Haku silently deadpanned at the idiocy of the three men she was spying on. Too bad they can't keep their mouths shut for long enough to get it done...
Haku slid her mask on, leapt out from her hiding place, and charged down the three. She launched a volley of senbon at the two swordsmen, which staggered them long enough for her to get in close. When she got in range of their blades, they tried to lash out at her, but met thin air instead. They couldn't even react when they were knocked out from behind. Haku turned to Gato, flashed behind him, and knocked him out too, before she gathered the three up, and brought them to Zabuza.
"Haku, what is this?" Zabuza asked.
"Zabuza-sama." Haku began curtly, "I believe I recently overheard something that would interest you."
"Go on." Zabuza allowed.
"I noticed these three hastily escape from this building, so I decided to shadow them for a little. It didn't take long for them to idiotically proclaim that you were to be killed on the bridge, after you finished off the Konoha-nin of course." Haku reported.
"Did they now?" Zabuza asked, a new venom finding it's way into his voice.
"N-No! We would never do such a thing!" Gato called out, having woke up in the middle of the conversation.
"Don't worry Gato, I believe you." Zabuza began.
"Y-You do?" Gato asked hopefully.
"No." Zabuza said simply, releasing a violent wave of killing intent.
"Please don't hurt me! I can give you anything you want! Please!" Gato shouted.
"You violated the contract Gato, it is now within my rights to take your head." Zabuza threatened, while lowering the amount of killing intent he was pushing. "But if you come up with a good enough reason, I may spare your pathetic life."
"Oh thank you! Thank you!" Gato shouted.
"Zabuza-sama, a word?" Haku interrupted.
"My acquaintance and I will return in a minute, if you so much as move a hair, I will know, and you don't want to know what will happen after that, do you?" Zabuza threatened, a terrifying smile creeping its way onto his face.
The two left the building, shut the door, and Zabuza proceeded to lean against the door. He didn't try to show it, but a pained look flashed across his face as he leaned. Haku sighed, glanced around, then cleared her throat.
"Zabuza-sama." She began, "I believe we should cut our losses with Gato, collect our money from him ourselves, and leave this awful place."
"This is unlike you Haku, you aren't normally this concise." Zabuza remarked.
"I apologize Zabuza-sama, but I cannot allow you to be harmed in the battle that is surely to come if we stay here... I do not know if can distract the three genin like we originally believed..." Haku continued.
"What intel did you gather?" Zabuza probed.
"The three genin seem to be learning jutsu, well, at least one of them is learning a jutsu, but I doubt their sensei would stunt the training of the two others by focusing on one." Haku reasoned, "The jutsu the genin I observed was a futon jutsu of sorts, probably C-rank in nature, but she has the ability to turn it into a near A-rank jutsu just based off of performance alone. I know not of the other two, but if they have similar ability, or have varied jutsu, I don't know how well I could hold them off." Haku finished.
"A lot of 'what ifs'... Too many for my liking..." Zabuza reasoned, a frown showed on his face briefly, only noticeable in the slight twitch of his eyes, and the morphing of his mask. "The midget has already shown himself to be careless, and has made our stay here no longer necessary, so an evacuation seems reasonable." Zabuza said.
"I will collect our reward from Gato's-" Haku began, then Zabuza lifted his finger to silence her.
"We will wait until I am recovered, then we will take our leave." Zabuza began, "Reward in hand of course."
"What will happen to him." Haku asked.
"Simple, we'll let the town get their justice. For now we will just keep him monitored. As for his goons, well, we can let the Konoha-nin sort that out." Zabuza finished.
"Of course." Haku said.
"Now, inject the little shit with some non-lethal poison, while I take care of his minions." Zabuza instructed.
The next Day, Chizuru's Training Area
Chizuru was in the middle of a light morning exercise when Haku walked out into the clearing, today she was wearing a, suspiciously familiar to Chizuru, green haori. Chizuru pushed down her suspicions and smiled brightly at Haku, before running over and enveloping the girl a massive hug.
"Haku! How are you today?" Chizuru chirped happily.
"I'm good." Haku answered, then took on a more serious expression, "But I have to apologize to you..."
"What for?" Chizuru asked, while understanding it had something to do with the haori Haku was wearing.
"I haven't told you the whole truth." Haku began.
"We only just met, I can wait for the whole truth! That's what friends do!" Chizuru put in.
"Thanks Chizuru." Haku said, "But, well, this truth needs to be revealed..." Haku muttered.
"Alright," Chizuru began, then sat down and motioned for Haku to do the same, "I'm all ears."
"So..." Haku began, then took a deep breath, and let it go in a sigh. "I was the hunter nin that took Zabuza-sama away... And I... Well, he... Is kinda the friend I told you about..." She struggled to admit.
"Then I guess we're supposed to enemies..." Chizuru said, which caused Haku's breath to hitch, "But I don't feel like we're enemies... Or... I don't feel like your enemy."
Haku looked hopefully at Chizuru and smiled. She took another deep breath and continued what she was saying.
"We aren't enemies, at least, not anymore... Zabuza-sama and I are leaving Nami, and aren't going to fight with your team." Haku announced.
"Y-You're leaving?" Chizuru asked tearfully.
"I-" Haku began, overwhelmed by Chizuru's reaction. "We have to, Gato was going to try to kill us, so we decided to cut our losses, steal our pay, and give the man to the town to get their revenge on him."
"But... That means we won't see eachother..." Chizuru mumbled. "How can we talk to eachother then?"
"I... Didn't think about that..." Haku began, "But... Well I guess we could always write to one another... But... I'm going to be traveling with Zabuza-sama, and you won't really be able to write me back, even if I get your address..." Haku ran through more scenarios in her head, before she too started to tear up.
"I don't want to lose the only friend I've made..." Haku said tearfully.
"I don't want to lose you either!" Chizuru exclaimed.
They sat in silence for a while before Chizuru finally started thinking about solutions herself. Suddenly Chizuru got to her feet a smile plastered on her face.
"I know exactly what we can do!" Chizuru shouted.
"What?" Haku asked, her hope returning.
"You and Zabuza should join Konoha! That way the two of you can stop running around, get paid for being awesome shinobi, I can introduce you to all of my friends, and we all can be friends together!" Chizuru ranted, before pulling Haku to her feet. "Tzunade-baachan can help you the same way she did me, oh she's a medic-nin by the way, and you can even get to know Shizune-nee! We can eat ramen together at Ichiraku, or eat with Shika and Choji at Yakiniku! Doesn't that sound fun?"
"It does... But..." Haku started sadly, "It can't be that easy..."
"Of course it can! It may be harder than I'm putting it, but I know Jiji would let you in in a heartbeat! It may take some convincing, or even a contract of some kind to get Zabuza in, but I know it can be done!" Chizuru exclaimed, "But, even if I'm wrong, and this is the hardest thing in the world to get done, I'll be there with you, fighting with you, to get you what you deserve! I won't let any of my friends live unhappy lives!" Chizuru finished.
"I-I don't know what to say..." Haku offered embarrassedly.
"Well," Chizuru said before smiling brightly, "You can start by saying 'yes'."
"Alright." Haku said, smiling as well.
"I gotta go train with my team, so uh..." Chizuru said awkwardly.
"Don't worry about me, I'll convince Zabuza-sama to take us to Konoha." Haku began, "Go train with your team."
"Bye Haku-chan!" Chizuru called while running toward the clearing team seven usually occupied.
"Bye Chizuru-chan!" Haku called as well.
Tazuna's House, The Next Day
A knock on the door attracted everyone's attention, they had just settled down for breakfast, and were getting ready to eat, when it happened. Kakashi stood first, something felt off about the door, but he knew whoever was behind the door didn't have any ill intention for those inside, but they did have their guard up. Zabuza motioned for his students to form up around their hosts and stepped toward the door. He cursed the lack of a peephole, every shinobi knew a peephole could be what saves you from a kunai to the face, but civilians didn't really think that way. Troublesome. Kakashi silently parroted. He cracked open the door to peak out, making certain to keep his distance in case an attack happened. What he saw was a teenage girl, wearing the same haori the hunter-nin wore he noted, and Zabuza. Wait... Zabuza! Kakashi jerked away from the door, pulled some kunai out of his pouch, and waited for the Kiri-nin to break down the door. After three tense minutes, the door remained on its hinges, and after another three Kakashi began to question the Kiri-nin's motives, by the tenth minute of waiting, Zabuza called out to Kakashi.
"I take it your student has both failed to mention the current situation beforehand, and continues to fail at doing so." Zabuza remarks.
"What student? And what situation?" Kakashi calls back.
"That would be Chizuru-chan, Hatake-san." Haku responds.
"What about her, and you still haven't clarified the situation." Kakashi asked, while glancing back at his student, who seemed to have a guilty look in her eyes.
"Sorry Kakashi-sensei, I kinda, sorta..." She began, before lowering her voice into a whisper, "Told Haku that she would definitely, totally, be able to become a shinobi in our village..." When she finished, Kakashi looked dumbfoundedly at the door, and then back at Chizuru.
"What?" He asked plainly.
"Its okay though, they're no longer our enemies! Gato tried to betray them, and then they turned on Gato! They were just going to leave Nami, but Haku and I had become friends and we didn't want to leave eachother, and well, I remembered how nice Jiji was and told Haku all about how I will convince him to bring her in, and..." Chizuru trailed off as she noticed Kakashi seemingly grow more and more weary as she went on.
"If you don't mind, Hatake, we could come in and clear this up." Zabuza offered diplomatically.
"Fine." Kakashi relented, knowing full well Zabuza placed the initiative straight into his hands if this was a real attack.
The two Kiri-nin walked into the home, causing Tazuna to stiffen at the back of the group. Zabuza walked right behind Haku, and seemed to radiate a protective aura while around her. Kakashi took notice of his defensiveness, and lowered his kunai. The two were seemingly mentally conversing as the tension began to ebb while minute movements were made. Kakashi eventually pocketed his kunai, and Zabuza's stature slackened in such a way only Kakashi could notice.
"It seems as though we have a lot to talk about, we were just about to eat too, so please, join us." Kakashi offered with an eye-smile, although it wasn't his place to offer, nobody could argue with two fully trained shinobi.
"Of course." Zabuza replied curtly.
Everyone slowly returned to their seats to eat, but didn't grab any food until the conversation picked up again.
"So, Chizuru your training is being upped for not reporting this sooner, also, you will not get a vote on where we will be eating for three months." Kakashi reprimanded.
"Noooo!" Chizuru exclaimed.
"Now, I take it you and Haku are seeking to join Konoha?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes, although I know it will not be an easy process for me, I believe it would be in our best interests." Zabuza confirmed.
"Explain." Kakashi pushed, causing Zabuza to sigh.
"Haku has never had any friends of her own, and when she made a friend, one who just so happened to be our temporary enemy, I didn't want to see her lose that." Zabuza began, "When Gato betrayed us, making it so you were no longer our enemies, and Haku came to me to explain what all your student promised, I knew it was better for her to live in a village over living on the road with me. I already messed up a while ago, what with running every which way with her until we ended here, but I believe it's time for us to settle down." Zabuza furthered.
Everyone was eating now, while Kakashi mulled over what Zabuza had said, and it wasn't until breakfast was finishing up when Kakashi gave his reply.
"You will have to explain everything in detail to the Hokage when we get to Konoha, but I believe your heart is in the right place." Kakashi said.
"I understand." Zabuza replied.
"Now, what happened to Gato?" Kakashi questioned.
"Little bastard tried betraying us, so, we got him first, put him under for a while, then gave him to the town so they could get vengeance. We took his wealth, gave what was not owed to us back to the town, which was Haku's idea, and came here." Zabuza explained.
"And the army of goons?" Kakashi asked.
"The town will have to pay you for a B-ranked bandit camp clearing." Zabuza said.
"Perfect... I didn't want them to get their hands bloody this early, but... It has to be done I guess." Kakashi though aloud, then cleared his throat. "Your first mission as honorary Konoha-nin, which I can only grant temporarily, will be to assist in a B-rank bandit camp clearing."
"We accept this mission." Zabuza affirmed.
The Jonin got to their feet, followed close after by the other shinobi, and left, leaving a stunned family in their wake.
"The reason a bandit amp clearing mission is important, my cute little genin, is because it allows you all to be ready to take a human life if necessary." Kakashi explained to his genin as they walked through town, following the Kiri-nin. "Although genin as young as you hardly ever have to kill, in this case I think things have escalated to a point in which this is necessary. We have had two C-ranks, mind you our only two C-ranks, that have spiraled into a more dangerous situation." Kakashi furthered.
"But no one's been hurt!" Sakura protested.
"No one's been hurt, yet." Kakashi put in, "We have now had a B-rank, and a A-rank mission. This next B-rank will also be in your files, and if you haven't gained the attention of the other nations before, you will now. Three high ranking missions under your belt, and not a scratch to show for it? Insane to think of. You will become targets in the future, and I just want you all to be prepared. Do you get it?" Kakashi finished.
"Yes sensei." His three genin chirped in unison.
"Good. Now, cheer up, we will make sure to allow those who want to run to drop their weapons and leave the country, we won't kill anyone not willingly fighting back." Kakashi said seriously.
"That's good..." Hinata muttered.
The group fell into a contemplative silence as they continued to follow Zabuza, their attention was drawn to the center of town briefly, where they saw a crowd huddled around a broken body that was lifted on a pole. They quickly averted their gaze, and soon the group was out of the town. Hinata was tense with fear of failing the mission, and her sensei, while Sakura seemed to be reconsidering her whole career. Chizuru seemed to be trying to accept this new reality, while Haku seemed reluctant, but willing, to preform the necessary task. Zabuza and Kakashi exchanged quick glances every now and then when they could, but they didn't try to ease the young shinobi's worries, knowing that this could very well be the mission that makes one of them quit.
They arrived at the camp within the hour, and were quick to mask their presences while the jonin went over the plan, and Zabuza toured them around the compound. When they were all seemingly ready, the group made their way to the center of the camp. They traveled in the shadows, and made certain to dodge any group of goons while they made their way in. It didn't take long for them to reach the camp's center, and when they arrived, they slunk out of the shadows and made their presence known. Kakashi cast a 'megaphone' jutsu, and spoke to the camp.
"Attention, soldiers of Gato's militia! Your boss is dead! Put down your arms and surrender, or face the might of trained Konoha-nin!" Kakashi called out.
A crowd had already been forming before he spoke, but when he finished, the crowd had doubled fifteen times over, and it seemed the entirety of Gato's forces were surrounding them. Zabuza and Kakashi were releasing waves of killer intent toward the army, and it seemed to be working, that was until one of them spoke up.
"You killed the boss? Yeah right! A bluff like that wont work! You're the ones who need to surrender! You're outnumbered a million to one!" An arrogant man shouted, who seemed to be lacking in ability to think by the way he was unphased by the waves of killer intent.
His cries got the other less affected to join in, and soon, like dominoes falling, the entire crowd was chanting for their blood, or making crude remarks about the girls in the group. The air became tenser and tenser, while the will to fight within the group mounted, suddenly, the first goon to speak up charged at the group, and all hell broke loose.
"They had their chance." Was all Kakashi said, before he threw himself at the man, kunai in hand.
Zabuza charged off in his own direction, while the girls felt a wave of fear wash over them at their superiors leaving them, but soon it turned into resolve as a goon neared their position. The battle was on.
Haku launched herself into the fray while forming an ice blade, and the three genin of team seven spread out, and stood their ground. They were charged by a lone swordsman, who seemingly broke from the three more advanced shinobi's grasps, and they launched themselves at him. Hinata leapt in for a frontal attack, to which he responded by slashing at her, she dodged backwards, revealing her move to be a feint. Chizuru charged in from one side, shuriken drawn, and leapt into the air above the man. She launched her shuriken at his back, while Sakura came in from the other side and chucked her own kunai at the man's legs. All of the attacks struck, and a desperate glean shone in the man's eyes as he swung wildly. Hinata stepped in at this, ducked under a horizontal strike from his blade, and jabbed her balm into his chest, in a fatal strike. The man quickly keeled over, and seemed to go under cardiac arrest. Chizuru noticed Hinata freeze, and saw another man break from the larger group, he was charging at the Hyuga heiress with a mace. Chizuru charged the man and formed the hand seals required for the daitoppa, before releasing a powerful one at him. He was immediately launched backwards, his body folding like a lawn chair, while a sickening crunch sounded his demise. Another man broke from the fray and just like Hinata, Chizuru froze up after her kill, Sakura was forced to act, tears stung her eyes while she formed her own hand seals, before she slammed her hands onto the ground and summoned a wall of earth to slam into the man's chin, snapping his head up violently, as he fell backwards from the hit, Sakura charged, leapt over the wall, and threw a handful of shuriken at his falling form. Chizuru and Hinata were now slipping out of their stupors and they once more formed up on Sakura, the goons were starting to lessen significantly, and it seemed the three wouldn't need to face any more, as the others had the situation handled. When the three team seven genin came together, Sakura started to cry harder, she wasn't making a noise, none of them were, but soon, they all broke down, and huddled together on the other side of the earth wall from the enemy Sakura felled.
As the last of the goons were cleared up Kakashi broke away from the fighting first, he made his way to his team to check up on them, and was heartbroken by the sight he saw. He knew they were taught over and over again what it should feel like to make their first kill in the academy, but he knew it was never that simple, he took note of the clearing and saw three bodies, he knew what it meant, and sighed in a mixture of grief and relief. He slowly walked up to his genin, and watched as they looked up at him teary eyed. He frowned, and knelt down next to them. He held out his arms as if asking if he could join them in their embrace, and, luckily, he was allowed in. Or more precisely, he was tackled by three sobbing genin.
"I know..." He muttered soothingly, "I know how hard this can be... The first kill never feels good... You will wish to never do it again... I know I did..." Kakashi explained, then he sighed deeply.
"I-" He began, his breath hitching in his throat, "I'll understand fully if you want to leave this team after this... Just... Please... Think about it before you make up your mind..." He pleaded.
The team embraced in silence as the camp fell fully into silence itself, Zabuza and Haku knowing to stay away while the team comforted eachother.
A Week Later, Konoha, Hokage's Office
"We went on to assist Tazuna in building the bridge in a series of D-ranks, who, might I add, has been tasked in governing the recovering Nami no Kuni, and is the interim leader of the country." Kakashi finished his report, "You will get more details while reading the completed written reports, which I had us all finish for the four D-ranks, one B-rank, and one A-rank before leaving Nami." Kakashi reported.
Hiruzen sat there, a stare leveled at the six shinobi currently in his office. He mentally sighed, before he finally replied.
"Zabuza-san, I have signaled for t&i to guide you through customs and processing for citizenship, Haku-chan, as you have not been a shinobi for any village, your integration will be done through our top therapist, Yamanaka-san will be up shortly to get you processed. Chizuru-chan, you and Kakashi-san will stay behind, while young Hinata and Sakura here can step outside and wait for us to finish speaking." Hiruzen instructed.
Soon after Hinata and Sakura stepped out, Mitarashi Anko, Morino Ibiki, and Yamanaka Inoichi stepped in to collect their respective shinobi. When all that remained in the hokage's office were Kakashi, Chizuru, and Hiruzen. The Hokage released a long sigh.
"Chizuru-chan... It's time I told you something important..." Hiruzen began.