The violent river crashed into wood and concrete of the unfinished bridge, but he didn't hear it. Gato's goons cheered like a psychopathic bloodthirsty crowd, but he didn't hear it. His sensei yanked him back forcefully and told him to use his head. But he didn't hear it. Gato gloated but he didn't hear it.
All he could hear was the sounding of the blood rushing in his ears, the furious beating of his heart. Gato was standing a few feet away with his disgusting foot on Haku's face, with nearly fifty goons behind him. Yet he saw nothing. All he could see was red. All he could see was the demon standing in front of him.
His fingers lengthened into claws. He clenched his fists so hard that his claws dug into his palm and drew hot blood. Yet he didn't feel the pain or the trickle of the precious life water. All he felt was the unwavering hate.
Hate, not directed at the man who tried to kill his client, that ugly son of a bitch who stomped on Haku's dead body like he was a rat. No, his hate was made more potent because it was directed at the man standing before him, who called himself a shinobi.
'You don't understand the way of the shinobi. I merely used him, just as Gato used me. Now it's over. His usefulness is at an end. The loss of his strength and skill, yes that means something to me. But the boy, nothing,' said Zabuza's gruff voice.
Naruto's rage increased as he growled at the demon of the mist. His chakra riled up in response, almost eager, begging to be let out. Like a beast, caged and enraged, howling to be let loose. 'If you really think that, then you're an even bigger rat than I thought!'
Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder, yet he didn't feel it. All he wanted to feel at the moment was the blood of Zabuza on his hands instead of his own.
'Okay calm down. He's not the enemy,' said Kakashi, trying to hold him back from doing something stupid.
Angrily, he shrugged the sensei's hand off. 'Aah, shut up! A far as I'm concerned, he's enemy number one!' Naruto pointed his finger at Zabuza. 'How could you! You ungrateful…!' another growl. 'After everything he did for you! Haku lived for you!'
Haku's young innocent like face swam in front of his eyes.
'You were the most important person to him! Did he mean nothing to you!'
'The way of shinobi is very difficult for me,' Haku smiled in his memory.
'While he was sacrificing everything for you! You never felt anything for him?!' Naruto waved his hand furiously, his eyes filling up with tears.
'But I will do anything to see his dream fulfilled. Even become a shinobi!' Haku's voice took on a determined, hardened tone, so very different from the soft-spoken boy he had met.
'And If I become stronger,' his voice quivered for but a moment, 'Does that mean I will become as cold hearted as you are! An emotionless killer?!'
Lightning had flashed. Naruto had scream for him to stop. But neither Haku nor Kakashi had listened. Lightning pierced the boy's chest and Haku's life faded from his eyes.
'He threw his life away! And for what? For you and your pathetic dream?!' Naruto shook his head, willing the tears to not cloud his vision anymore. To not be there anymore so he could glare death at the seemingly impossible to kill man.
'You never let him have a dream of his own but he didn't care. And you toss him aside like he's nothing! Like a broken tool! Man, that's so wrong! So wrong!' Naruto yelled, furiously rubbing his eyes.
'You talk too much!' Zabuza growled, ripping his bandages away from his mouth with his sharp, pointed teeth.
He finally turned to glare at Naruto but it fell short. For the piercing eyes were wet. 'Your words cut deep. Deeper than any blade! But don't you dare diminish his sacrifice with your pathetic weakness and childish crying.'
WHAT?! His sacrifice?! Enraged, Naruto opened his mouth to yell at the infernal, selfish man again but he was cut short.
'Haku was a shinobi of Kirigakure! He deserves respect, not tears of a naïve child. He died a shinobi's death!' the Demon of the Hidden Mist yelled and he suddenly somehow had a kunai in his mouth.
'Don't avert your eyes kid. Or you will never be a shinobi!' Zabuza growled through the kunai in his mouth and charged headfirst into battle, facing a horde of fifty mercenaries.
Hands and arms useless, Zabuza swung, and dodged, and he slashed and got slashed. He stabbed and he got stabbed.
Zabuza released a howl of fury, dark purple chakra bursting out of his battered, slashed and cut body, with swords sticking out at odd angles, giving him the strength to finish his self-imposed mission.
What followed could only be called a slaughter of mortals by a demon. And at the end, Gato's head rolled of his stunted, fat body. Zabuza crashed to his knees amongst the sea of dead killers and rapists. But not fallen. Merely injured.
'Uzumaki,' the Demon wheezed. 'Come here.'
Kakashi tried to hold him back but Naruto obliged the injured man, looking down at the bloodied face, his watery blue eyes staring into the black beady ones of his one-time enemy.
'Closer.'
Naruto obeyed.
'Promise me… Haku's sacrifice…. Will not be… in vain… the Mizukage… will die…,' the demon coughed up blood, hanging on to unconsciousness – or maybe his life – through sheer will.
Shocked at what he had just seen, stunned at the truth that Haku was a ninja of Kiri and awed by Zabuza's skill, Naruto could only nod his acquiescence.
The last thing Naruto saw were the black, peaceful eyes as he buried the kunai to the hilt, in the injured Demon's chest.
'Hugghhh!' Naruto awoke with a start, hyperventilating and unable to breath, heart racing like a race horse, his t-shirt slick with sweat and sticking to his chest, his bed sheet soaked.
He lay there for a few minutes. Trying desperately to calm his furiously beating heart. That nightmare again!
It has haunted him every day since he that day on the bridge. It never went away, no matter how much Naruto tried to chase away his demons. It seems that Zabuza's eyes were always there, watching him, judging him and finding him unworthy.
Strangely at peace with death when they should be panicked, glad when they should be morose.
Naruto turned his head to the side to look at his alarm clock. It was just past five and faint traces of dawn's early light could be seen in the sky, coming through his cracked glass window. He knew, just like every other night, trying to sleep some more now, would be useless.
Now that he had calmed somewhat, Naruto with some monumental effort, scrambled out of bed to do his morning rituals and leave for training. After of course, eating a large helping of eggs and grilled sausages for breakfast.
While the villagers actively shunned and avoided him, the civilian merchants take it one step further by always giving him rotten or out of date produce, and often at three times the price.
But, again evidence of his earlier stupidity, it had taken him all these years to figure out that he could fool those shopkeepers by simply henge-ing into a civilian. But better late that never. As such, he was still the shortest in their group due to his consistent malnutrition.
But now he was making an effort to eat a healthy diet, high in proteins, moderate carbs and low fat. Yes, he knew what those were now. It hadn't taken much effort to get Ayame-neechan to explain it to him. She always liked to mother him.
Haku's face swan in his mind, 'Do have someone precious you want to protect?'
His seemingly innocent question had driven more sleep away from Naruto than Zabuza. Even before the battle of the bridge. Precious people? What a ridiculous question.
He had no precious people. This damn, hateful village wouldn't let him! At first, he thought it was his teammates. But they had proven themselves to not be. Sakura had even said that she hated Naruto in their introduction to Kakashi!
And then he had thought maybe Hinata could be it. But she hadn't supported him. No, she had supported that ass Kiba. Didn't she see how hard he was trying to better himself?
Didn't she see that he trained until he collapsed just to get that damn dead-last label off of him. But no, she hadn't seen it. She hadn't even considered it. Most probably because she was a precious, high and mighty Hyuga princess.
Of course, a no clan orphan like himself would be beneath her notice. Why did he even think he could be friends with her in the first place?
Precious people. Che! Naruto threw the fork down in frustration at his plate, scattering his eggs and smashing his face.
Protein… And it was like a light bulb went on in his head, turning the hate churning inside him into some semblance of hope, unknowingly making a beast growl in frustration.
Ayame! Yes, he could protect her. The teenage civilian girl, who after closing her modest ramen stand for the night, used to feed a hungry young boy for free, even though she and her father couldn't really afford it. And Teuchi-san who served him even though it probably drove customers away.
And Iruka, even with his meagre Academy instructor's salary, always tried to make sure he had enough groceries during his four years in the academy. Yes, they were his precious people! In a village of thousands, he only had three. But that's enough, he supposed.
Much better than the hordes who adore the teme without even knowing him. He would take those three over the hundreds any day. Because while he had no friends, he did have those he cared for. And he would get stronger to protect them.
Once again, pulling himself from his dark thoughts, he hurriedly finished his breakfast. No sense in wasting time. Naruto set out to do battle with another day of training, at least before he was to meet up with his team for a mission.
His route took him to the outskirts of the village, through the residential section and past the clan compounds. However, the blonde hadn't even made it halfway to training ground fifteen, the one furthest away from the centre of the village when he noticed a most peculiar site.
All of the training grounds were empty, however one of them only had two people in it. And from what he could see, they looked to be clones of each, except one of them was much younger. Neither paid any attention to him as it was obvious, they were racing each other the length of the ground, which was substantial.
Once they reached what was their marked finishing line, Naruto thought they would take a break. However, much to his surprise, not only did they not continue sprinting back towards the starting line, they sped up much more.
More to his shock however, was the sight that greeted him when the two came here. In all of his short years, Naruto could safely say that he hadn't seen anything so horrifying. Not only were the eyebrows of both the clones looked like bushes with their own life, they were dressed in green leotards that stuck rather disturbingly to their bodies. Not to mention their similar bowl cut hair.
And the sweat they had accumulated did nothing to hide the outlines of parts that Naruto never wished to see of another man and that of his younger clone. This was beyond disturbing.
But he had noticed that both of them were wearing their leaf headband and cursed himself yet again for losing his.
'Aha!' the older green one exclaimed. 'Who do we have here?!'
Naruto was stunned by the pearly white teeth for a moment before he realised that he should probably answer, lest these two think he was spying on them. 'Umm… I was just on my way to train. Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I'm Naruto Uzumaki.'
'OHO! It's always a pleasure to see someone stroke their flames of youth so passionately as to get up to train so early!' the older one grinned and the younger seemed to be taking notes on a notepad.
Weirded out enough by the duo, Naruto did not even want to think about where he could have hidden it, since the suit didn't seem to have any pockets.
Just when Naruto thought he was done with this, the man struck up a pose, pointing at himself, with a wink and said, 'I'm Might Guy, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey.'
He then motioned to who could easily be his son – and Naruto instantly fell sorry for the boy – 'And this is my student, the very handsome Rock Lee.'
Naruto nodded, now understanding the matching outfits, the haircuts and the eyebrow. They were insane. Both of them. But he wasn't blind to a part of him that felt jealous of this boy.
'PLEASE TO MEET YOU!' the younger one, Rock Lee surged forward and grabbed Naruto's hand that he hadn't offered and shook it vigorously. 'It is great to see someone get up to train so early.'
The boy was so excited that Naruto didn't want to ruin it by telling him that it wasn't by choice. He just couldn't sleep. But then a thought occurred to him. Kakashi didn't seem like he wanted to train Naruto any time soon. Yes, he could do the basics but given his sabotaged education, there was no point in practising something that was already flawed.
And he knew he could hardly get better by training himself. He needed a trainer. That was certain. The mysterious scrolls which had turned up on his bed didn't count. Even the Yondaime and the Sandaime didn't get so strong by training themselves. They had help from their senseis.
'It looks like you were training for conditioning and stamina?' he asked.
Rock Lee nodded. 'We sure are. We do this every morning. This is our cardio workout.'
'Do you mind if I join you. I also need to work on my stamina? I won't be a bother, I promise,' he asked the sensei more than the boy, almost certain he would be denied.
The boy turned to watch his sensei's serious face, who stared at Naruto as if deciphering a puzzle, making him increasingly nervous. He really didn't like that look. Especially on someone like Guy.
'Well of course you can. But only if you drop down now and give me a hundred push-ups!' Guy grinned, giving him what Naruto supposed to be a nice-guy pose and a thumbs up.
That caught Naruto by surprise. He really hadn't been expecting a test but he really should have. Even Kakashi had tested them before allowing them to be his genin. Granted, the insufferably lazy Jounin hadn't taught him much, if anything since then. But that's beside the point.
So, Guy wasn't being unrealistic, even though a hundred push-ups in one go seemed a bit much. Naruto nodded, 'Of course, Guy-sensei,' and put his bag down on the grass.
'YOSH!' Lee punched the air enthusiastically, 'I shall join you my youthful comrade in this youthful endeavour!'
'Well done, Lee. Just what I expect from my student! Let us show the world that we are burning with the passionate flames of youth!'
Okay. Maybe he had made a mistake in asking to join them. But too late now.
Damn, the ground was cold. But no way in hell was he going to show weakness to this weird duo especially now that the boy was going to be doing the same exercise.
So, ignoring the freezing grass, Naruto dropped down in what he thought was the proper form, immediately eliciting a grunt of disapproval from the sensei.
'Clearly my youthful young friend! You need my advice desperately,' Guy exclaimed, shocked at seeing a ninja who didn't know what the right form a push up was. Granted, most of those girls who called themselves kunoichi didn't either, but he wasn't one of them.
'Put your hands almost under your shoulders, shoulder width apart, back and legs straight. When you go down, go all the way until your chest hits the floor, stay for a second, contract your chest muscles and then push back up until your arms are straight. And then continue pushing until you are almost on your fingers. And then repeat!'
Guy quickly summarised the instructions, as Naruto watched Lee do the demonstration, slowly as if Naruto was mentally challenged. Which, the blonde genin was actually glad for this time.
As soon as he had done one, using the proper method not the bullshit that his academy instructors had taught him, he realised it was actually quite hard. And to do a hundred would be a challenge.
Grinning, Naruto got to work, aching already when he got to twenty.
'Come on! Don't stop!' Guy cheered, 'And no cheating with chakra like my eternal rival!'
Naruto wasn't really paying attention to what the sensei meant by cheating with chakra or who this eternal rival was. He was more concerned with his straining muscles, begging to be let down at thirty.
'I can't… Too hard…' Naruto growled but the image of Zabuza calling him weak screamed into his mind. No, he would not back down!
'Don't let yourself fall to the ground. When you want to rest, go in the plank position and continue when ready,' Guy instructed, looking at the blonde genin really struggle to not crash, at fifty.
But he could do it, Guy could tell. He could see that this boy wasn't unfamiliar with effort.
More so, he knew the fire in those eyes. He had seen it in his own, his student's and his father's. And in that moment, Guy knew that this Naruto Uzumaki would rather die than give up.
And he was right. About twenty minutes later, with several short 'breaks', Naruto had crashed into the grass, his arms, core and his legs all screaming in protest. But his mind was racing. His face, though slick with sweat and almost heaving due to lack of breath, was alight with the glow of triumph.
Yes, he would get better. Not today, not tomorrow and maybe not even in the next year. But he would surpass the Uchiha even if his sensei didn't train him.