Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did, I wouldn't have to go through college. Every character belongs to Kishimoto unless they are my own OCs.
"Talk"
"Thoughts"
"Bijuu, summons"
Jutsu
AN: Hey, it's me once again. I know my ff is not the most original of them all. I don't trust myself enough to make a whole new story for Naruto with my skills yet. That's why I mostly follow canon and add my own flair to it.
"Thank you everyone, now please come in, come in!" she rushed them inside.
"Miss?" asked Asuma
"Tsunami" she answered cheerfully
"Tsunami-san where can we put those two? And why were you holding a knife when we came here?"
"You can put them upstairs there are beds there." Naruto went to set Kakashi there and Sasuke didn't have enough patience, so he just dropped unceremoniously his baggage on the floor. "As for the knife, you see since Gato occupied the land he would send his thugs to extort us and kidnap the women and children. It was for protection just in case."
"I see" Asuma said trying to light a cigarette. Before he knew, it was already cut and on the floor. "If you want to smoke please go outside." Tsunami said.
Meanwhile Naruto has just put Kakashi in bed. "Kakashi, Zabuza will come back, I couldn't react with everyone watching but that was the hunter-nin you saw before."
"Tough luck, call Asuma we have to talk about it." Naruto did as told and brought Asuma to the room.
"Asuma you know who we are. Before this mission we were sent here to get some intel on Gato. Zabuza isn't dead, the hunter-nin was his accomplice."
"We need to find a way to prepare for his comeback. We should train the teams before he comes back."
"I will stop you here Asuma. We may have a way to evade all of the fighting against him. We have the recording of Gato saying that he won't pay Zabuza. We may talk him out of it. Train the genins though, he plans on sending his army against us. If it was only us it would be easy with Naruto but since the others are here, he can at most use 10% of his abilities before it would raise suspicion." Said Kakashi and Naruto nodded true to it.
"Naruto are you going to talk to Zabuza since you had your clone follow them?" asked Asuma. So, he has seen that in all this chaos? He wasn't a jonin and one of the Fire Guardians for nothing.
"Yes, I will leave right now, just let me change into my ANBU gear." Naruto did a clone and started changing. When he was ready, he Shunshinned away.
"It always amazes me how this kid can go from the cheerful genin to ANBU in seconds." Commented Kakashi.
Naruto has just entered the cave where Zabuza and the hunter-nin lived. Gato just left with a broken arm. He dropped to the ground and pushed the door. The hunter-nin wanted to attack him but Naruto blocked the fist.
"Calm down please I'm here to talk to you master." Naruto turned to see Zabuza "But I think you should see that first." Naruto showed him the recording from the room with Gato wanting to double cross him.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Simple, go back to Kiri since they finally ended the rebellion and a new Mizukage was appointed."
"I can't I'm still a missing-nin they will kill me on sight!" Zabuza screamed
"I don't think they will, for a price I can cash in a favor with the Mizukage to let you come back safely."
"And what such an ANBU brat would have done with the Mizukage to earn a favor?"
"I don't know, you tell me." Naruto said igniting Yang in his body making golden flames appear here and there. Zabuza's couldn't believe who was before him. He knew that he has seen this mask somewhere but now he knew where.
"You are the Golden Demon! The juvenile ANBU who destroyed holds as if it was nothing with almost no help thus making the rebels win. What this favor would cost me now?"
"Simple don't attack us and help us repel Gato's army." Naruto said taking off his mask. Zabuza was shocked, he knew the kid before was holding back but this was some outer space shit.
"You are that brat from before! What? How? Why?" the Demon of the Mist almost stuttered seeing the whiskered face
"Kakashi and I have to pose as normal shinobi to babysit the Uchiha on our team because he's mentally unstable. That's why."
"Then you don't need me to repel that army, you could destroy it in seconds."
"Because there are kids here, I am a genin now, I can use at most 10% of my skills without causing suspicion and the Uchiha to go insane seeing how far away he is from his goal. Me fighting you before was already pushing it but in the chaos nobody checked. As to your question of how many I have killed, let's just say that what I will kill in the fight will be only a drop in the ocean."
"You got yourself a deal Gaki. You will pardon me of not being able to shake your hand. Haku do it for me please." The now named Haku came to Naruto and shook his hand.
"Now that you don't feel cheated, I will send the message to the Mizukage from here." Naruto has written something on a scroll and gave it to his clone who used Yang to shoot off in the distance. "I will come back when the reply comes back. See ya." Naruto ran out as well.
He entered through the window of Kakashi's room and exchanged with his clone.
"How has it gone Naruto?" asked the downed jonin
"Great, we have an ally for the battle, I traded my favor with the Mizukage for it"
"Good job, now go back to the others they should be eating right now."
Naruto came down and true to Kakashi's words everybody was talking and eating barred Sakura and Sasuke. Well Sakura did try to talk only for Sasuke to huff and growl. Ino didn't know how she could have a crush on this guy.
"Naruto-san does Kakashi-sensei like the food? We can't afford much."
"He said that it was lovely Tsunami-san, now can I have my part please" Naruto dug in his meal and it really was good. He couldn't fathom how she transformed simple cabbage and potatoes into these delights. He gave a signal to Asuma to go see Kakashi upstairs. When Asuma did, Kakashi gave him all the information about the near future. They decided to train the newer generation for the fight and give them half a lie.
"We have bad news everybody so listen closely" Asuma said carrying Kakashi on his back to put him on the couch. "The Hokage decided to send some ANBU operators to scout out the mission for the future. But first, Zabuza is alive, Naruto gave us this idea when he told us about the senbon the hunter-nin used. He was probably an accomplice. Second the ANBU found out that when Zabuza would attack once again Gato would double cross him sending his over 300 men army. The good news is that the operators struck a deal with Zabuza to not fight us and help us during the raid. We don't expect you to rush into the battle, but we will train you hard for the next two weeks in case some thugs slip through us."
He couldn't tell them that the two operators were in the room with them.
The genins were scared, it would be their first battle and it would happen at such a size. Ino was shivering a bit so Naruto took her hand and offered her a reassuring smile. Sasuke was looking at it as a chance to prove himself, it wouldn't be as great as killing an A-rank nukenin, but he would settle for it.
Asuma seeing the youth compose themselves continued "Shikamaru it will be your first time working a plan. Every day you will go to the place where the battle will happen and work every possible way to give us an advantage. That's all, eat well because we will begin the training in a few hours"
"Troublesome" said Shikamaru but his brain was already going at 200kmh taking into account all of his comrades known skills and gear.
"I don't understand why you are going to do it; you are just going to die" said a young boy who ran upstairs. Tsunami shook her head at the sight.
"I'm sorry about it. It's my son, Inari. He's going through a tough phase right now. Please forgive him" she said with an apologetic look. Nobody cared about what the brat said, they had a country to save.
A few hours later the genins were brought to different locations. Ino, Shikamaru, Choji and Naruto went to the beach to practice water walking with Asuma while Sasuke and Sakura went tree walking. Sasuke didn't want to learn it earlier only wanting jutsus to get stronger. Sakura on the other side didn't have enough chakra to stay on water so she had to build up her reserves.
Ino looked at the three boys near the body of water. She didn't know why Naruto was here since she has seen him already walk on water during the fight. Shikamaru and Choji were sharing the thoughts until Shikamaru asked.
"Naruto why are you with us? We have seen you already walking on water?"
"I'm here for Asuma-sensei. He's the only jonin that I know of to have the wind chakra like myself. He's going to help me begin a project of mine. I will give you a hint guys, take off your shirts. Second don't think of it as tree walking it's totally different. Instead of thinking about sticking to the surface you have to imagine walking on stilts."
"Troublesome" Shikamaru said while taking off his top and Choji doing the same. Ino wasn't going to do it with only guys around. She was disappointed that Naruto didn't do the same. She wanted to check what he looked like under his shirt and judging by his arms he already had growing muscles.
Meanwhile Naruto was talking with Asuma "You see I'm asking myself if by adding more chakra to the Hien no Jutsu I would be able to shoot it out of the blade."
"I don't think it can be done by adding more chakra… You would have to force it to stay together until the point of hitting the target. I would try in your case to make a thin hole in the water and hold it as long as you can. Maybe you can find something from it. Now off you go."
Naruto calmly strolled on the water until it was deep enough for him to start trying what Asuma told him. He knew it was going to be difficult, so he started slow by making the hole large and blunt at the end. Not really usable in fighting but it was a starting point. From now on he wanted to keep it open for at least ten seconds.
Three hours later he was at the ninth second when two hands caught his ankles from under the water and made him sink in. It was Ino who was fuming for not being able to stay on the water for more than ten seconds without losing balance. She was unnerved by the sight of Naruto calmly slav squatting on it mocking them in the process.
Naruto had a begrudging look on his face as if he was scolding a child without being angry. "Seriously Ino? I was so close to succeeding." He took of his hairband off letting his wet locks flow. Ino was looking at him a bit too closely.
"You look good that way Naruto. Why don't you let your hair be free?" He was really good looking with his hair loose, the water only accentuating the shine of it in the setting sunlight
"I always keep them that way at home. They just get in the way while fighting that's why I always tie them in the ponytail." He gained a naughty smirk. He took off Ino's hairband as well making her hair go loose.
"You are the one to talk Ino, you look good yourself without the ponytail. Well you look good with both." He said making the girl get a healthy pink color on her cheeks.
Asuma smirked looking at the scene, he was so winning the bets right now. It wasn't the time for that though "Okay you love-birds go back to training" he said making Ino even redder and Naruto have the same color she had before.
At the end Ino was looking at Naruto who had fallen a few times into the water by making the gap too wide and sinking in. The clothes were hugging him tightly proving her theory about his developing frame. Little did she know that Naruto was looking at her as well since she was drenched. It was one of the perks of having ANBU background that he was stealthy about it.
"Naruto-kun aren't you a shy one. Shika and Choji have already lost their t-shirts long ago. You are the only guy with his clothes still wet and on him." Ino said poking him in the ribs.
"Yeah you could say that." He replied being conscious about the scar on his torso. How many years it would take for it to disappear at least physically? He wasn't going to lose though so he poked her back. This game of poking went until the end of dinner when Tsunami announced the rooms.
"I'm sorry we don't have enough rooms for all of you since Kakashi-san is resting in his own."
"Don't worry about it, Tsunami-san. I will set a tent in the garden. That way I will set the watch." said Naruto. He was already used to sleeping outside from his younger days and his ANBU career. "I will take the shower first then, be polite to each other." He said in a mocking manner imitating the adults.
The night has fallen, and Naruto couldn't sleep remembering the night when he was four. It was so long ago yet he still had nightmares about it. He mocked himself, what kind of S-rank demolition ANBU would have nightmares.
Ino couldn't sleep remembering the face Naruto made when she teased him earlier. He was alone now; it was her chance to at least begin the conversation. She quit the room hearing Sakura talking about her "Sasuke-kun" in her sleep. How far has her friend fallen? Walking to the front she saw Naruto sitting on the roof. She climbed up and sat next to him.
"Want to talk about it?" she asked after a few minutes of silence
"No" he whispered. Where was gone the cheerful blonde she knew?
"You know Naruto-kun you are a huge enigma to me. We never talked in the academy, yet you helped me from the start. Thank you" she said closing the space between them.
"You don't have to thank me." He said letting her continue
"You see when we were on the mission and we found the lab I began asking questions. I went around asking what the people thought about you and I guess you know the answers already. Then Zabuza asked how many people you have killed. Who are you Naruto-kun?"
"I don't want to talk about it. I'm not ready yet."
"Don't worry, I won't pry, just know that I'm here for you whenever you feel ready" she got so close to him that they were delicately touching.
"Thank you. Ino-chan can I ask you a favor?" he finally added chan to her name, it was a big progress in her eyes.
"Of course, Naruto-kun."
"Can you stay like that with me for a bit?" He didn't get a verbal answer, she only laid her head on his shoulder.
"Thank you, Ino-chan" he whispered
"Dummy you don't have to thank me" she whispered back.
Next morning, they woke up in the same place, in the same position. The only difference was that now they had an audience looking at them with a camera. It was Asuma holding back his giggles. He could already feel the smell of ryo when he came back with this photo as proof.
The duo groaned knowing it was already too late to negotiate. They got up preparing themselves for the day. Inside Kakashi, Asuma, Tsunami and Tazuna showed them the knowing smiles. Tazuna couldn't keep it and fired.
"How was your night everyone?" to everybody else it was the normal process of the host greeting his guests, to the knowing party it was a huge joke. The adults burst out laughing leaving the kids question their sanity.
The genins were once again sent to the field. No one could escape the training even Kakashi who's regeneration was sped up by Naruto only enough to let him walk without crutches. Gradually it would let him fight at least two days earlier than normally.
Shikamaru and Choji went with the bridge builder as his protection detail. Shikamaru began his tour of the bridge, checking the plans and asking Tazuna about his stocks. He looked everywhere, every nook and cranny could make their chances of survival go up.
He went back to his post next to Choji and started scribbling over one of the plans they've given to him. That was the first time something was and wasn't troublesome at the same time for him. Fighting wasn't his specialty, he wanted to evade it at all cost. His ability to forge a plan for the battle would give him this possibility. It was always better to find with the brain than with the brawns in his family.
Choji was calmly eating chips, getting bored because of the calm. He didn't know yet how much he would miss this calm in a few days. Seeing his partner finish scribbling he found finally a way to get his boredom gone.
"Good job Shikamaru. You must be having fun you didn't say troublesome for at least an hour now."
"Fun? No. This kind of work pleases me. I just have to find a way to make sure that we survive even if we fail to defend on the bridge. This suits me, I just have to use my brain, it's tiring but still better than fighting. Hey what do you think of Naruto?"
"Naruto? He seems like an okay guy to me. I still remember him setting ways for us to escape from class. I still don't know how he did it though."
"That's not what I meant. Two days ago, while fighting, didn't you feel like he was suddenly too good?"
"He was in an apprenticeship, wasn't he? When we were in academy Kurenai-sensei was already training him in the real stuff."
"Maybe" Shikamaru said not believing it one moment. Now though he would set himself on one of the posts to cloud watch. He needed the rest for the training this afternoon
Meanwhile Naruto was assuming again his slav squatting position and tried to make the hole stable and at least pointy in the water. Ino was walking next to him as if she was a newborn horse with water going up to her ankles. She was asking herself what Naruto was hiding under his shirt because she was sure it wasn't his chest.
"Wait for a second Ino-chan, you can throw me in the water in a moment, I just think I made a breakthrough" he couldn't keep the hole stable in size. He could keep it open, but it would be blunt and fluctuate. His idea was different though to the normal one though.
Normally when using wind chakra, you would imagine two strands of wind rubbing against each other always perpendicular to the blade you wanted to coat. This way it gave you an edge that didn't dissipate, it was the definition of the first stage of Hien no Jutsu.
This time making the wind go perpendicular to the water made the turbulent chakra at the end of the edge make the hole round and fluctuating. If he tried to send Hien that way, the blade would catch the vortices and it would disintegrate.
He thought over it for a long time asking himself how to eliminate the vortex created but he came to a simple answer, he couldn't. This meant only one thing, he would have to take the turbulences out of the water. Thus, he started experimenting in different ways for the wind chakra to go. His new experiment was to make two streams in a rounded shape go parallel to the water. This way the edge wouldn't be made by rubbing but by the angle and distance between the streams.
He concentrated and began his experiment. Slowly but surely, he pumped more and more chakra until the water was spread apart. It finally made an edge. An edge that resembled that of a fifty-year-old axe, jagged and worn but it was still an edge. He completely forgot about Ino behind and stopped the chakra.
It was the moment to attack, Ino pushed him only a little since he was already crouched. It didn't have to be much to tilt him and fall into the water. Ino began laughing at him until he decided to take revenge by pulling her in with him. They started laughing together. On the shore Asuma was laughing as well because the others would have to pay up.
Time skip 2 days
Naruto was talking with Asuma and Kakashi when his clone came back with an answer from Mizukage. They read it together and had to become pokerfaced if they didn't want to start rolling on the floor. Zabuza had quite an ordeal out of it.
"Kakashi I will go inform Zabuza and heal him. We are going to need all the help we can get." He made once again his clone to not arise any more suspicion since he already was talking with Asuma and Kakashi a bit too often for some of the other genin tastes. Namely Ino and Shikamaru.
He sprinted to the cave and knocked on the door. This time he wasn't going to enter as if he owned the place. There were ninja inside.
"Yo, Zabuza, Haku. I have some good news for you. Here take the letter."
He started reading "Your status as nukenin is revoked as of now, you are to return after completing you first mission as a jonin of Kiri, bla bla bla, PS. I'm waiting for you Zabu-kun. Signed Fifth Mizukage Mei Terumi!?" on the bottom there was an imprint of her lips with a heavy amount of pink lipstick.
"Mei-chan has become the fifth?!"
"Mei-chan?" asked a puzzled Haku
"Long story short we dated before the coup; I didn't know she led the rebellion. I still remember when we were kids, she was strong, but this is new. She's going to chew my ass so hard for not coming to see her." Zabuza started shivering. This was new as well, a hardened assassin was shivering.
"You have your news and since she accepted let's get you out of bed to get the rust out of your joints." Naruto ignited the Yang in is hand. Zabuza was scared of what he would do but the warm feeling of the flame healing him made him comfortable.
Zabuza jumped out of the bed making all kind of moves he wasn't able in the bed. "Hahahah who would've thought that my ex-enemy would heal me now. Come on let's go kill Gato!"
"Sorry Zabuza, we can't for now. We need him alive to get all of his bank accounts and his slave trading routes. That's the second ANBU mission I have. Now go training I will contact you next Friday to explain the plans, a Nara is making them. See you later." He walked away waving to the duo.
Naruto went back to Kakashi and Asuma giving a short report and prepared for training. He was so much closer to developing the new technique that he was too giddy to not continue. He missed this rush since he started training with the clones that sped up the training.
Later that evening Naruto was close to making the edge finer still that of an axe but a sharpened one at least. That was a huge progress. Ino came to him finally standing normally on water.
"How's it going?"
"Surprisingly good. You are finally walking on water good job." He told her but she shook her head
"It's not the time to self-congratulate, I have still a long way. I did it before the others because my chakra reserves are smaller. I need to train more." The drive this girl had was astounding, she took what Naruto said during his introduction to heart and became better two steps at the time. "We are going home now, the dinner should be ready in about 20 minutes"
"I will stay longer, I want to perfect this step, it shouldn't take long now" she nodded and skipped on the water to Tazuna's house. Sensing no one nearby Naruto could finally do what he wanted, go full out. He pumped a great amount of chakra making the hole at least 25 meters long. This has let him see the shortcomings in the edge much easier since it gave him a zoom like option.
After the sixth try he fell into water. He took of his hair band off slicking his hair to the back of his head with a hand. "That should be enough for today." He got out and made his way to the house. Outside there was already a towel waiting for him.
Drying himself he entered inside. Everybody even Sakura and Sasuke were around the table. Shikamaru seeing the blonde arrive took out the drafts for the bridge with his notes over it.
"Naruto come here, I found something that may let us live if something happens. Tazuna said he has enough materials to build at least fifty more meters of the bridge. Now look here, the bridge is sturdy" this put a proud smile over Tazuna's face then he lost it when Shikamaru continued "Too sturdy for my likings. The pillars don't have any weak points, they would take a considerable amount of damage before collapsing. Tazuna I will need to ask you to weaken the last two pillars for me. That way if anything happens, we can destroy the last twenty meters of the bridge cutting the goons off." Everybody was nodding, this would give them an escape plan to regroup if needed and attack once again.
"Count it done son, we can rebuild the bridge, but we won't be able to do it if you guys get yourself killed" Tazuna said counting in his head the best place to weaken the columns without it falling on itself.
Soon Inari opened his big mouth to give another rant "Why are you trying so hard? Why are you trying to be heroes? You are just going to die!"
Naruto directed his eyes at him and calmly said "We aren't heroes brat. We are shinobi, we kill, we steal, we deceive for a living. The only difference between us and Gato is that we do it for a good cause."
"Shut up, you don't know Gato, what pain has he caused to everyone. You don't know pain, you live inside safe walls sheltered from every bad thing in your life." Soon the room became cold and heavy.
"Hey kid I'm gonna show you something. Asuma-sensei give me your lighter please." Inari wanted to run but the cheerful, yet cold voice of Naruto made him stay. Naruto lit the lighter and put it against his skin for a good thirty seconds. His hand was charred and he didn't even flinch. Thirty seconds later there was nothing no scar, no red skin.
"What do you see?" he commanded him to answer still having this cold voice and the deranging smile on his face
"Nothing" he gulped fearing for his life now. The guy before him was insane. Everyone else was looking at Naruto. Kakashi, Shikamaru and Asuma were already preparing jutsus to stop Naruto just in case. Naruto took the borders of his shirt and started lifting it up. Ino would be happy seeing that but the situation wasn't letting her.
Soon the ugly scar on his torso has showed, still as jagged as all those years ago. Ino looked at it, this was what he was hiding all this time "I got this scar when I was younger than you as birthday gift. What do you think would need to happen to give me this thing if the burn you have seen before healed leaving nothing?"
"I don't know."
"I'm a monster to my village so on my fourth birthday some sicko decided to see if I was human inside, he opened me up with a broken bottle and looked inside for so long that I was losing my humanity out there. And this isn't the only thing, I was living on the streets and every day I was asking myself if today would be the last to the point where I was contemplating suicide at six." The people inside were shocked learning his life story. Ino was getting some of the answers she wanted for so long, she would've preferred if she never asked those questions.
"And you know what? I'm not the only one with fucked up past in here. Sasuke had his own clan killed in one night by his own brother. Can you imagine that? Seeing your grandfather kill your mother. Then there is Kakashi-sensei who was enrolled into the shinobi program at six to fight in the war. When you were playing with toys he was killing for his country. So, tell me if we don't know pain." He was left without an answer.
Kakashi was thankful that he didn't mention his dad suicide. Sasuke was feeling a bit for the blonde. Ino was on the verge of crying and Tazuna stopped drinking.
"Kakashi-sensei, I'm going out before you have to use those jutsus you prepared under the table. Bye." He left slamming the door.
"Kakashi-san, why would someone say that Naruto was a monster? Was what he told true?"
"Naruto is a special case, a fate was put onto him at birth that made all the village despise him, if you ask anyone for him, they will only call him things like monster or ask why he wasn't killed yet. I'm sorry but I can't tell you more."
Ino left the table in the direction of the door Asuma tried to stop her going after him to no avail.
"He needs someone, he may be showing a brave face but he's hurting inside. I'm going to see him."
Ino followed his trail that he didn't even try to mask as if wanted to be caught. She went after him to one part of the woods where she has seen him with his sword in hand.
He opened his eyes and cried "Sixth stance: Grass cutter" it was like an instantaneous Hien that was so long that it was going out in only a few seconds. Soon he did a Horizontal slash cutting the trees around him. He continued the slash until he has seen Ino in the way stopping the attack.
"Ino-chan what are you doing here?"
"You didn't tell us not to follow you, and you didn't cover your tracks making it seem like you wanted to be found." Did he really do that? Maybe his subconscious was giving him a hint. He sat down in the clearing he made and Ino sat down next to him.
"Want to talk about it?"
"Yes"
"Go on, I will listen." They were so calm it was almost as if nothing happened before.
"You remember the other night you told me about what the villagers thought about me. Want to know why?" she nodded her head
"When I was born, it was the day of the Kyuubi attack. They tell us in the academy how the Yondaime killed the beast. He didn't, he sealed it in a newborn infant. It was my lucky day because I was a perfect choice." He chuckled trying to make a bad joke out of it.
"I have the Kyuubi inside of me, that's why I'm a monster to the villagers, a bad omen and memory for them. You must be feeling the same right?" he was already used to people making a 180 turn when they learned about it. Instead she put her arms around him making him know she didn't. Finally, someone his age accepted him.
"Thank you Ino-chan"
"Dummy I already told you not to thank me. You aren't a monster in my eyes, you are this big goofy teddy bear of a teammate and friend of mine."
"Ino-chan, I think you have the right to know more about me and yourself now." About herself?
"You see because of another incident, someone bomb trapped my flat, I gained the powers of my tenant. I was too strong, and it was true that I had an apprenticeship but only for six months, then the Hokage and my teachers decided to put me into ANBU. At nine I was already in the demolition department." He showed her his tattoo. If she didn't see what he did earlier, she wouldn't believe him.
"Then why are you on this team as a genin?"
"I was coming to this, Ji-chan wanted me and Kakashi to babysit Sasuke because he is too unstable to be a ninja. This entire team was made to contain him if he went to the dark side. You as a Yamanka were a perfect candidate to judge his mental status."
"Then why did you start helping me? I wasn't your friend or anything."
"At first it was a favor your father asked me. He was my psychiatrist in the ANBU. After all it wasn't a good idea to let a nine-year-old kill so many and not give him mental support. But then you showed that you wanted to prove yourself then I just kept doing it of my own will. Anko-nee isn't calling you a brat anymore you know?" He laughed at it.
"Thank you for telling it to me"
"Now you are the dummy, I told you the same before. Now go back to the house I will cool down here."
"No, I will stay with you."
"Thank you"
"Dummy teddy bear" she said, and Naruto reciprocated the light hug she was giving him.
Next morning, they woke up lying on the floor hugging each other with Ino being particularly strong with her hold.
"You really are a teddy bear, you know Naruto-kun. Your body is so hot all the time it was like a warm blanket."
"Good morning to you too Ino-chan."
Their waking ups were stopped by a cough just beside them. Haku was staring at them with a smirk.
"Aren't you a ladies man Naruto, already taking them to the forest to sleep together." She said making the duet blush like tomatoes.
"Not funny Haku. What are you doing here?"
"Oh, just picking some herbs to make poison for the battle."
"Naruto-kun who is she?" asked Ino not exactly knowing what was going on.
"You remember the hunter-nin that took Zabuza? It's her. You remember when Kakashi and Asuma told us about operators who have struck a deal. Well that was me." He explained her "We should go now. I can already feel the smirks of the adults on my back. Bye Haku, till Friday." He waved to her as she continued picking up herbs.
Coming back, it wasn't only the adults but Shikamaru and Choji as well who had trouble holding their laughs in. What was so funny at trying to have a male-female relationship? Whatever since he told Ino the truth about her mission in Team 7 he needed to inform Kakashi.
He took his plate and started eating feeling the stares from everyone. Only Sasuke and Sakura were doing something else. Namely Sasuke was imagining his brother missing a limb begging Sasuke for mercy while Sakura was pestering Sasuke.
"Come on guys let it out, the longer you stare the longer we're going to be in here." Naruto lamented. Asuma was the first one to ask.
"So, what happened between you guys yesterday? You haven't come back this night." This had two goals. The first one was to embarrass the teens. The second one was to know how much money he would get because there were secondary bets on this couple. Like when they would kiss or start dating.
"Nothing, well nothing serious. Ino helped me calm down yesterday and we hugged till we fell asleep. Happy now?" Ino was blushing at the declaration of what happened yesterday. They only shared a hug. Yes, just a friendly hug.
Naruto meanwhile was tapping his fingers in irritation. The truth was far from it, he used the ANBU/Jonin Morse code which said "Ino. Knows. Told. Her. Kyuubi. ANBU. Team. 7. Talk. 10. Minutes.". Asuma and Kakashi understood and finished eating fast. Asuma asked if anyone wanted to smoke with him making a diversion. Kakashi and Naruto went with him.
Shikamaru was the only one to not cast this event aside as a simple way of relaxing after yesterday's ordeal. It only assured him that Naruto and the jonins were hiding something. Ino was probably involved somehow. He hated this head of his for thinking about it against his will. Now that he was closer to the answers, he wouldn't stop midway.
Outside Asuma, Kakashi and Naruto were talking quietly while smoking. It appeared that Kakashi had a small hole in his mask just large enough to put the cigarette in his mouth. He would need to clean it though or else it would stink too hard for his tastes.
"We understood that you told Ino about your identity and her role in the team. Care to tell us why?" Kakashi said while coughing on the smoke.
"Simple, she saw me using the Sixth Stance as well as my eyes. She has gotten strong enough to handle the truth about her role, the truth about 13 years ago was just a bonus." He answered exhaling the smoke. He didn't know how people liked doing it, it tasted like ash.
"If you trust her enough that won't be a problem, but since she knows, we need to train her harder, not like a normal genin but as someone who can be useful in the least to seasoned ANBU." Said Kakashi.
"There is another problem. I think Shikamaru is getting a gist of what is truly happening. What should we do about him" said Asuma tasting his premium smokes, ah the perks of being a high ranked shinobi. Civilians and lower ranks would have to pay a fortune to get their hands on this stuff.
"He's smart, too smart for his own good I would say. Let him sniff around for the moment, if he comes close to the answer, we will have to include him to make sure that he knows not to talk. Just in case up his training as well." Naruto said putting out his cigarette.
They went back inside with Naruto getting chewed out by Ino for stinking and made him go wash his teeth at least five times as well as change his clothes. She knew that in the future her boyfriend would be banned from doing it if she got one. While thinking of a future boyfriend a certain blonde popped into her head. She shook it off, it wasn't the time for that.
"Okay everyone get your asses into gear let's go and train, today Kakashi and I are going to protect Tazuna. You are free to train however you want and come to us if you need some guidance." This was made to let Naruto train Ino.
"Come on Ino-chan, let's go together." Said Naruto grabbing her hand and running off to the woods
"Are we to expect some babies on the mission?" said Tsunami seeing the developing relationship between the two youngsters.
"Let's hope not or her father will kill Naruto in a very painful way." Said Kakashi with a serious voice. Inoichi was capable of doing it, he cared too much for his princess.
In the woods Naruto finally stopped making Ino stumble a bit. She would've fallen if not for Naruto catching her into something of a hug. He let her go and stood before her.
"I would've said thank you if I haven't fallen because of you. Now can you explain to me why you had run with me so far. Are you trying to confess to me Naruto-kun?" she teased him
"I might some time if we continue like that." He teased back "Now to the serious matters, when we went to smoke with Asuma we actually talked about you knowing the real purpose of our team and myself. We decided to up your training to make sure that Sasuke won't be a problem for you if anything happens. He may be a dickhead but he's strong for a genin."
Ino nodded and prepared herself, she didn't know what kind of training she would get from her ANBU teammate.
Time skip 1 week and half
The Friday has come at last. Shikamaru developed a good plan for the battle and Naruto would give it to Zabuza as well as make the fine details with him.
The genin were trained into the ground for the battle that would ensue in less than 24 hours. Ino and Shikamaru were trained even harder until they were trained even under the ground.
Naruto continued on trying to use the Hien as a mid-range attack and somewhat succeeded. The problem was that he would have to make the speed of the streams perfect or it would turn and wobble in midair. He fought it by making one of the streams much faster. This way the blade of chakra turned in a predictable curved manner. He named it Tsubame.
Ino was trained by Naruto with the help of his clones. She was fighting against them to get a feel for a fight while outnumbered. He gave her some scrolls for Iryo jutsus. She wouldn't be with him all the time when she climbed in ranks. Her smaller reserves let her learn it quite fast and the training with them has helped her grow her chakra resources.
Speaking of their relationship it has moved to a new level. Ino couldn't stand Sakura talking in her sleep so every night she sneaked into Naruto's tent and slept hugging what she called her "living teddy bear". Naruto woke up every time with her in his sleeping bag. Who would've thought that her grip would be so strong? Maybe he would have to lessen her strength training if he didn't want to finish like a tooth paste one morning.
The real problem was that she was feeling a bit too comfortable with him and kept taking her onesie pajamas to sleep with him. Hopefully nobody would talk about it to Inoichi or Naruto wouldn't end well.
Naruto right now was running once again to the cave of the Kiri shinobis. He needed to talk to them before the battle. He knocked on the entrance to make sure they wouldn't attack them. Entering there Zabuza was polishing his sword, a long tradition and ritual for him.
"Naruto, at last you've come. I guess you have the plans for us." Naruto greeted them and took out the plans of the bridge.
"The Nara in our team studied the structure of the bridge thoroughly and came up with some ways to let us fight and live in case something happens without me reveling myself. Now look the battle will take place around here, 50 meters away from land. These pillars 25 meters away from land were weekend to make the bridge collapse with some simple tags if we are overrun. We could've put a few exploding tags here, here and here but any more and we could make the bridge lose the integrity where it was weakened." Naruto explained
"Why don't we back 25 additional meters and put more tags where the columns are?" Zabuza asked showing the place
"We thought about it but there is the possibility that we are overrun and our plan to collapse the bridge would only close us with the thugs."
"Maybe we could use my ice to make a course to slow them down to make them come one by one." Haku added
"That would help us greatly Haku. How many could you make there?"
"Depends on the amount of water on the bridge. The ocean is too far down, and it would take too much time to block them out."
"Can you do it with blood?" Naruto asked
"Yes, I could. How much could you produce?"
"Hmm let's check the math. They are supposed to be untrained and chaotic, so I guess they won't be further than one meter apart from each other. I have a technique that's around 3 meters wide. That should give us around sixty dead people. We can round it up to 300 liters."
"With the moisture in the atmosphere and the amount of blood I should be able to make 10 columns, if Zabuza-sama would use Kirigakure no Jutsu and make a thick mist maybe around 30."
"Great, I will ask Kakashi to make some earth walls with that. It should slow them down and turn the 10 vs 300 fight into a 10 vs 10 times 30 fight. We will count on you Haku. Zabuza I want you to go to Gato and precise the time of when you will attack, Asuma and Kakashi want to do it tomorrow at noon so everybody sleeps well and gets ready."
"See you tomorrow Naruto, I hope you will show me at least 15% tomorrow. In the chaos it shouldn't make a difference."
"Oh, trust me we have a way to turn it into much more. Just don't blink tomorrow. See ya."
Naruto quit the cave thinking about the fight, how long it was since he was able to use some of his skills without the fear of being discovered. Outside someone was waiting for him. It was a boy with pineapple shaped hair and earrings, also known as Shikamaru.
"Naruto what are you doing here?"
"Nothing"
"Nothing my ass, I know you, Kakashi-sensei and Asuma-sensei are hiding something big. I have a few pieces, but I can't connect them into something sturdy." Naruto changed his demeanor into a serious one.
"What makes you think that?"
"At the beginning, your placement into the teams was fishy. You were in an apprenticeship and people aren't called back from it unless a big reason was made. Normally they would've just taken the people that failed the tests last year. Second your team in itself. Ino was supposed to be with Choji and I to remake the InoShikaCho team our ancestors made. Third during our fight with Zabuza you became stronger for a fraction of a second, too strong. Last, you are too friendly with the senseis, you would disappear with them from time to time. I don't know what exactly you are hiding but I know that Ino's involved and knows as well. If it wasn't serious, she would talk about it from the start."
"You really are Shikaku's son. That brain of yours is just too good."
"How do you know my father?"
"We worked once or twice together, or more like he would give me missions."
"Wait he only gives missions to jonin and ANBU. Don't tell me you are some ANBU on a secret mission." Naruto only chuckled and revealed his tattoo.
"Yes, I am, Kakashi-sensei is as well. We figured you would've figured it out sooner or later and made sure that if you know too much, we would tell you, so you know how to close your mouth."
"I'm listening then."
"You see, Sasuke wasn't supposed to be a ninja. Since the Uchiha massacre he has become too unstable to become something else than a genin. Add to that the council who pampered him making his ego bigger than the Hokage monument, and you've got a huge risk. The sandaime had to let him through under the pressure from the civilians who would've stopped their businesses with the shinobi, so he made team 7. Two ANBUs under cover and a Yamanka with a huge potential to make sure to stop Sasuke before it was too late."
"Troublesome, is that why sensei trained me harder than the others and you trained with Ino or should I say you trained Ino? In this case how strong you really are?"
"Exactly, we knew you two could become great assets before everyone else that's why we needed you to become stronger. To answer this question the simple answer is I could fight on my own Kakashi or Asuma but I'm not strong enough to beat them, the puberty hasn't finished for me and until then I won't be in my prime. On the other side I was on the demolition team in ANBU so if anything bad happens I will abandon my mission and clear the thugs in less than a few seconds. Now come we shouldn't leave the others for too long. Oh and take it, I added a few things with Zabuza and his trainee to the plan."
They both ran to their base of operations with Shikamaru checking the best way to slow down the attackers. With that they probably won't have to blast the bridge into pieces.
The night has fallen, nobody trained today to make sure that they were ready for tomorrow. When everybody was asleep Naruto, Asuma, Ino and Shikamaru gathered in Kakashi's room.
"It's tomorrow then." Said Ino feeling nervous, Naruto took her hand to reassure her.
"Don't worry Ino-chan, I will protect you no matter what. Even better Kakashi found a way to make our odds at winning without me dropping the cover higher." Everybody in the room was looking at them waiting for the moment they would get together finally.
"What is he talking about Kakashi-sensei?" asked Shikamaru
"I will use a genjutsu that will make the others see Asuma, Zabuza and I killing the thugs. Meanwhile Naruto will let loose for a few seconds to make the fight more even."
"Shikamaru, Ino we don't expect you to rush in, you aren't exactly front liners, but your abilities will let you protect the client when some of them bypass us. Ino you learned a few medical jutsus, we will fall onto you if any of us get hurt. Shikamaru I believe you are good enough to coordinate the other genins, I know that Choji believes in you as well." Asuma said.
The atmosphere was getting lighter and lighter. Who would've thought that jonins were so fun to be around? After the meeting everybody went back to beds. Ino went to the toilet since everybody knew she would sleep with Naruto. Shikamaru took Naruto aside.
"Promise me, you are going to protect her. Our families are close to the point where Choji, Ino and I are like siblings."
"Don't worry about it, I won't let anyone harm her." Shikamaru smiled and went back to his room. Naruto waited for Ino and they went to bed together. For the first time he hugged her first.
"Don't worry about tomorrow, if anything happens, I will save you and everyone else even if that means showing my true identity. It would probably destroy the team and make me go back to normal roster as a jonin. If that happens how about an apprenticeship?" he asked jokingly
"I would love to Naruto-sensei" she answered teasing him. She hugged him back and both drifted away.
Next morning Naruto woke up with Ino laying on him. How did it happen? He had to admit though that she looked cute with her hair loose and her penguin onesie. He decided to let her sleep at least fifteen more minutes until he woke her up by petting her head. He was asking himself if he was developing stronger feelings for her than simple friendship.
She opened her eyes, fluttering her eyelids adding to her cute appeal, he was sure that in the future she would be a real beauty. Naruto blushed at the thought but controlled himself.
"Good morning sleepy head. We should get up and prepare for what will happen." She nodded and steeled her nerves; Naruto was with her and she was sure nothing would happen to her.
They entered their house with everyone getting their gear on. Shikamaru was counting the tags he had, Sasuke, Asuma and Kakashi were sharpening their weapons, Choji was making sure that his belts with kunais on top were properly attached and Sakura was… why the fuck she was putting make-up on? Naruto and Ino soon joined the group and did their own preparations with Naruto polishing his sword and Ino making sure her med-kit was full.
They looked menacing to the point where Tsunami didn't dare to enter and say hello, with Inari hiding behind her skirt.
"You don't need to worry Tsunami-san, we are just making sure that our gear is ready. We won't bite." Said Kakashi with an eye smile. Everybody did the same offering her a smile soon to enter their battle mode once again.
"Everyone ready? Then move out. Naruto let some clones behind in case Gato wants to take hostages." Kakashi said. Soon they entered the bridge seeing that Zabuza and Haku were already here. Sasuke wanted to attack them nonetheless but he was caught by his oversized collar thanks to Asuma.
They neared each other until Zabuza said "Hmmm, the kids from the last time have a better aura around them."
"We prepared them for that physically and mentally as much as we could" Kakashi then took him aside to mention how they were going to let Naruto go full power. Zabuza turned his head and mouthed to Naruto "I will be watching" to which Naruto smirked.
Speaking of him he was tightly holding Ino's hand to keep her nerves levels down. "Just remember what we talked about yesterday."
Fifty minutes later Gato came with his goons planning on finishing whoever was still alive. To his shock nobody was fighting, and they were watching him.
"Zabuza what is the meaning of this, why aren't you killing the bridge builder?"
"I should be the one asking that, you fat midget. You are the one bringing this army of yours to double cross me" Zabuza took off his headband and replaced with a new one delivered in the scroll with Mei's orders showing he wasn't a mercenary anymore.
"Doesn't matter, you aren't strong enough to fight them all, men kill them." The army went onto the bridge. They were sneering but so chaotic and disorganized that it hurt the shinobi's eyes. Kakashi started casting a jutsu in a way that everyone thought it would be a huge technique. In reality it was the genjutsu they talked about before.
Naruto ran at the thugs grabbing Zabuza's sword by pumping Yang into his arms and core. He charged the Hien into the huge chunk of metal and shot the Tsubame to the side. He tossed the sword back to Zabuza and began running into range for his next technique with his Wakizashi drawn.
The thugs laughed at him "Look the kid tied to show off but he shot it to the side!". Naruto didn't care and stopped 10 meters away from them. At this exact moment Tsubame turned around and cut at least sixty men in half. He didn't stop there, he crossed his arms making his sword go behind the back horizontally. Soon a 20 meter long Hien like blade was made from the Wakizashi. "Sixth stance: Grass cutter!"1he slashed vertically. The numbers were downed from 300 to 100. He jumped back to his peers.
Kakashi, Asuma and Zabuza had to wake from their shock and take the same positions they had in the genjutsu. Getting there Kakashi stopped the genjutsu. They could've let Naruto clear everything but the genin had to earn this experience.
Ino and Shikamaru were astounded. "Is it really my teddy bear?" "So, this was the power he was hiding? And I've got a feeling he didn't go all out or we would have to build a new bridge.". They didn't puke and positioned themselves. Haku created the ice pillars and the jonin inside backed away with Kakashi closing the sides with Doton: Doryuheki.
Naruto and Sasuke joined the fray getting up close and personal. Slashing, bashing and using jutsus to kill their opponents. Shikamaru instructed Choji to join Haku at the middle ground where he would catch those that passed through and both of them would finish them off. Ino had her hands full as well, whenever someone passed the second defense line, she would be the last one, as well as healing anybody who jumped to her. Sakura was talking with Tazuna.
Meanwhile Inari decided to stop crying and do what he could to help the shinobi. After that night Naruto spoke with him a couple other times to make sure the boy comprehend what he should do. When ready he asked one of the clones to come with him. It didn't think that staying was a good idea anyway since Gato would know where to look for hostages.
The clone took Inari and Tsunami, leaving a few others behind to protect the house. They knocked on every door explaining the situation. Soon everyone was doing something to help. Men, women and children were making barricades out of anything, blocking the possible escape for the thugs from the hands of the shinobi, and positioned themselves with makeshift spears to stab anyone who ran back.
Sasuke was getting too giddy. He thought that killing them one by one was too easy, so he pushed them back further into the labyrinth. He was feeling the rush of the fight not seeing that he was encircled and outnumbered. He looked at any possible escape, his vision was in slow motion and he found out an escape.
Naruto used his Negative Emotion Sensing in case something happened, and he was right to do it. That shit stain wanted to switch with Ino. He couldn't stop it so he did the best thing he could. He timed his Kawarimi perfectly when Sasuke used his he would switch with Ino letting her fight on an even ground.
Ino didn't know what happened first she was teleported to where Sasuke was before and a millisecond before a sword pierced her, she was in the place of Naruto. The she saw him get impaled. He turned with a smile to her taking the sword out and sealing it with Yang.
He was furious now, his opponents didn't know who they were fighting against. He sheathed his sword and made claws with Yin around his hands. Twenty seconds later nobody was alive where he was, only dead bodies littering the ground and melting away. He would have a serious talk with Sasuke after this ended.
Thirty minutes later the fight ended. Ino was healing a gash on Zabuza. Gato was bound in ninja wire, hanging upside down. They didn't let the villagers come yet. Seeing Naruto, Ino wanted to run at him to thank him for saving her but she restrained herself seeing his eyes. Eyes of a predator locked on Sasuke.
"Sasuke what have you done before with Ino?"
"She should be thanking me to be useful to me!" "Yeah that's right!" said Sasuke and his lapdog.
Naruto didn't care what happened afterwards. He took him by his collar lifting him up and started bitch slapping him at every word he spoke "How. You. Dare. Say. Something. Like. That? Didn't. You. Listen. What. Kakashi. Sensei. Said. When. We. Formed. This. Team? If. Anything. Your. Life. Is. The. Useless. One. In. Here. DO? YOU? UNDERSTAND?"
Sasuke's face was bleeding and resembled a large pumpkin more than a face. Kakashi was furious as well, he would report the Uchiha when they would go back. Zabuza was laughing at the Uchiha, even he wouldn't have done something like that, and he was called the Demon of the Mist.
Naruto dropped him to the ground and said "That was the second education lesson. I ask myself if you will live through the third." He went away as if nothing happened and Ino came rushing to him.
"Naruto-kun are you okay?" he only showed his stomach. "I should've been stronger-" he stopped her there.
"This wasn't your fault Ino, you are strong, stronger than Sasuke probably right now who fights for wrong ideals. This situation should never have happened." He reassured her.
"Aren't you scared that he will go to the council?"
"Nope, I have three jonin's, three genin's and the client's testimonies as well as backing from the Hokage and a few clan heads. Should be a breeze." He laughed
Time skip 1 week
The bridge was finally finished. Tazuna was happy that it wasn't collapsed. Gato was tortured into telling all of his information and the money was returned to Nami as well as Gato for execution. Sasuke was locked in one room as well as Sakura who tried to let him out. Ino slept with Naruto everyday checking on him if his wound was truly healed. If you asked Naruto it was more likely to touch his abs.
It was time to part. Everybody said goodbyes with Zabuza and Haku leaving earlier this week for Kiri. Team 7 and 10 were now heading out when Inari came to Naruto.
"You've proved me wrong Inari. There are heroes in this world and you are one of them. If not for you the battle would have been longer and tougher. Become strong, no stronger since you are already strong."
They turned on their heel and finished finally their first C turned A rank.
"What should we call this bridge?" asked Tazuna
"The Bridge of Hope" answered Inari
"I was thinking about the Great Naruto Bridge" answered Tsunami
They would settle it later at home, they had a lot to do today.
End chapter 4
AN: It was a longer one, I wanted to finish the Wave Arc in here. The updates will be slower now since break has come to an end. Thanks for reading.
1 If anyone read Gamaran when I was thinking about this technique, I was imagining the Gurensen from this manga.