A/N Going over my earlier chapters, I've noticed a few major mistakes. After I finish part one, I plan on going back over the story fixing mistakes and refining my style, and clearing any plot holes and inconsistencies I find. I estimate that there will be a week long Hiatus between parts one and two while I look for and fix these mistakes. If you could PM me any of the mistakes you find it would save me a lot of trouble. Also if there are any Japanese words you feel I regularly misspell, or if there are better spellings for please tell me. Thank you for your assistance.
XVIII: A Chance Encounter
Road To Konoha Present Day:
"Jiraiya-sama, why haven't you shown up recently in the story?" Shizune had been wondering why Jiraiya hadn't mentioned himself for the last few hours.
"For the last two years of the story I had been focusing on my spy network, I came back twice a month to change Naruto's training regime as I saw fit." Jiraiya shrugged, "But I was in the village when he came back, and I didn't leave until after he woke up."
"How come you didn't teach him Kushina's Chakra Chains technique?" Tsunade had seen what Kushina could do with them, "I know you know how she made them."
"I tried, but there was something off with the Kid's chakra. I'll explain it soon, so any other questions?"
"Yeah what about Zabuza, did he stay in Konoha and what about the rest of the rookies?" Shizune wondered what had been going on with his childhood friends.
"Zabuza stuck around for a while. His 'sentence' as for being a Missing-nin who interfered with a mission was community service. He had to do one hundred D-ranks." Jiraiya snickered at the thought of the large man babysitting, "The funny thing was, he actually enjoyed himself, it probably helped that the Hokage actually paid him for the missions. Before the whole fiasco with the Chunin exams; Sensei was contemplating inviting him to join the village as a Jonin"
Konoha: Seven Months, Sixteen Days ago:
It took two days for the hospital to discharge him. After he got out he headed to the Hokage's office to collect his pay checks for his first two A-rank missions. "Iruka-sensei, how are you? I haven't seen you in ages!" Naruto jumped over the desk Iruka was working at and gave him a bear hug. "I'm here to collect my pay from my last two missions!"
Iruka began to shuffle through papers on the desk, "Let's see… Ah, here it is! Uzumaki Naruto, Pay: 1400000 Ryo. For: 2 A-ranks? That can't be right!" Iruka looked up at Naruto confusion clearly written all over his face. "Tell you what Naruto; I'll take you out for ramen if you tell me what your mission was and why it's worth One million, four hundred thousand Ryo."
Naruto smiled but shook his head, "How about I treat you to ramen and we have the discussion anyways?" Laughing, Iruka agreed to let Naruto treat him to ramen for lunch. While eating, Naruto told Iruka what had happened in Wave. Needless to say, Iruka was shocked when Naruto told him how he had apparently brought two people back from the dead.
"Wow, Naruto that's an amazing story… I guess that answered my other question."
"What other question Iruka-sensei?"
"If what you did, used up enough Yang chakra to put you in a coma, it certainly used up enough to turn your hair white."
"MY HAIR'S WHITE?" Naruto, who hadn't looked in a mirror since he woke up jumped out of his seat and nearly, ran for the hospital.
"Just a little around your temple, you didn't notice?"
"I… uh… haven't looked in a mirror yet…" Naruto sheepishly answered while rubbing the back of his neck.
"It's barely noticeable, Naruto sit back down and keep eating,"
After finishing lunch (twenty five bowls of ramen) Naruto headed straight to head to Training Ground Zero. "ERO-SENNIN, I'M HERE!"
"You don't need to shout brat, I'm right here." Jiraiya said from behind Naruto. Placing his hand on Naruto's shoulder he continued. "I heard what happened in Wave. I'm proud of you Naruto." Naruto's smile warmed Jiraiya heart. "I have some good news for you. Remember how I tried to teach you Uzumaki style Jutsu?" Seeing the crestfallen look on Naruto's face, Jiraiya interrupted, "Cut that out brat, I'm trying to tell you I figured out why you couldn't do them."
"You did? What was I doing wrong?"
"Nothing, I should have figured out the problem on my own. You know how your father only sealed half the Kyuubi in you?"
"Yeah, Kurama always complains about it, at least when he's awake."
"To suppress the Kyuubi's Yang chakra, your body produced an excess of Yin chakra. Uzumaki style jutsu, like combat seals and Chakra Chains all require large quantities of Yang chakra, too much Yin and the Jutsu fizzles."
"Does that mean I can never learn my own clan's styles?" Naruto hung his head; sure, it was nice to know why he couldn't do those jutsu but it really hurt to think he wouldn't be able to use his mother's techniques as well.
"Of course not Naruto!" Jiraiya was clearly happy, and that brought some small measure of hope too Naruto. "All you have to do is learn to separate your Yang from your Yin chakra, then recombine it two parts Yang to one Yin. Now you won't be able to use it as long an Uzumaki with normal chakra would, but you would still have them!"
"Really, so what do I have to do to?"
"More chakra control exercises!" Jiraiya loved the look of agony on Naruto's face, he knew the brat hated chakra control exercises, and he was running out of ways to get Naruto to actually do them. This, he figured, was perfect. "I know you don't like chakra control exercises, but you need good control to be able to separate your chakra and recombine it in different ratios. Look at it this way Naruto, if you do these exercises not only will you be able to use your mother's techniques but you'll master your father's."
"I already can do Rasengan, and you won't teach me Hirashin…."
"Yes you can do Rasengan, but of the three people in the world who can, you're the worst. If you want to master it properly, you need to be able to do it one handed and instantly. You still need a clone to do it, and it takes you too long to actually make it." Seeing the look of anger building up on Naruto's face he continued, "Look Naruto, if I'm harsh on you about things like this it's because I believe you can actually complete Rasengan. Maybe one day you can complete Hirashin as well."
"What do you mean Ero-sensei? Aren't Rasengan and Hirashin complete?"
"No there not, at least as far as your father was concerned. He wanted the Rasengan to be the ultimate seal-less jutsu capable of being any element the user mastered. And as for the Hirashin, he was working on making the beacons unnecessary before he died." Jiraiya patted Naruto's shoulder, "Come on kid, we need to get to work on advanced chakra control."
After the day's training he, along with the rest of Team Seven decided to hang out together in one of the parks. "Hey guys, we should grab Zabuza and Haku, they must be lonely here by themselves!"
"M-M-maybe we sh-should introduce them t-to the other teams too?" Despite her quiet rivalry with Haku, Hinata still wanted Haku to have friends in the village.
"Hn." Sasuke didn't care one way or the other.
"Stay here then, I'll go get them!" Naruto ran off to find Haku and Zabuza. A few seconds after he left Team Eight, minus Sakura and Team Ten arrived at the park.
"Hey, where's Naruto?" Shikamaru asked Sasuke.
"Hn."
"I don't speak grunt, Sasuke. I lack the troublesome blonde's talent in that area."
"He s-said that N-Naruto-kun went to get o-our two new friends, that c-came back w-with us from our l-last mission."
Shikamaru blinked, and after a moment he said, "Is than actually what he said? Or is that what he should have said?"
"B-Both, He's going to come b-back with Momochi Zabuza, and his d-daughter Haku." She turned to Sasuke, "D-Do you know, if Haku is g-going by Yuki or Momochi now?"
"Dunno, ask her yourself."
"Wait, Naruto's new friend is a girl." Kiba asked, "And you haven't killed her in her sleep yet Hinata? She must… be… really…ugly…" Haku had just entered the park, dragging Zabuza by his wrist, while Naruto chatted amiably with her. "Uh… bwah?" Kiba's brain had melted when he saw Haku.
"Troublesome…"
When Haku arrived at their table, Shino turned to her and said, "You broke my teammate." He
gave Kiba a gentle push which toppled the stunned boy over. "See?"
"Give him five minutes to recover and he'll be all over you like a bad case of the fleas," Ino said to Haku, "I'm Yamanaka Ino. This," she poked Shikamaru, who had almost immediately started cloud watching, "lazy bum is my teammate Nara Shikamaru," she pointed to Choji, who was sitting with Shikamaru, and now Naruto, eating a bag of chips, "He's my other teammate, Akimichi Choji. It's very nice to meet you."
"Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, Haruno Sakura isn't here yet." Shino said pointing to himself then Kiba.
"I'm Momochi Haku and he's…" she looked around trying to find her father, before noticing he was sitting between Choji and Shikamaru, watching clouds with them, "He's my father Momochi Zabuza. We were on opposite sides during their mission to Wave, but Naruto still saved our lives."
"What village are you from?"
"Kiri technically, but my father hates the Mizukage for starting the Kekkei Genkai wars that claimed my mother's life."
"So you're missing-nin then?" Shikamaru asked Zabuza, suddenly nervous about sitting next to a known criminal.
"Yeah, but the revolution can't be stopped, even without me. I'd give it two years tops before Yagura is deposed and a new Mizukage is chosen. It's likely to be my second in command, Terumi Mei."
"Why not you? If you're in charge of the rebellion, shouldn't it be you?"
"I don't really care about the village; it's just revenge for me." Zabuza shrugged.
"Hey, where's Sakura?" Naruto asked, he had greeted everyone else and he wondered if Sakura still hated him enough to not show up.
"She was with her mother when I saw her last." Kiba, who had finally come back to reality said. "I think she'll be here soon." After fifteen minutes of small talk, chatting about training and missions, Two pink heads of hair could be seen walking through the crowds. "There she is!" Kiba shouted
The one thing that no-one expected, however was the mutual reaction shared by Zabuza and Sakura's mother, Haruno Umeko.
"You!" Zabuza shouted, jumping up and grabbing his sword.
"What are you doing here?" Umeko was panicking and backing away slowly.
"You set me up!" Zabuza stalked forwards weapon drawn.
"Whoa, whoa! What's going on here?" Naruto asked stepping in between them.
"Remember how we first met kid? She set that up."
"She did WHAT?" Now Naruto was stalking towards the clearly terrified woman.
"You stay away from my mother!" Sakura jumped in front of Naruto.
"Hinata, get Jiraiya and the Hokage! I'll try to keep them from killing her until he arrives." Sasuke said, "Now!"
"Sakura, if what Zabuza said is true, she tried to have me killed!" Naruto tried to push past Sakura, and Umeko turned to run, but before anyone could get anywhere, they found themselves wrapped up by Sasuke's ninja-wire.
"Now let's just wait until the Hokage gets here. I'm sure he'll sort everything out."
Fifteen minutes later the Hokage and Jiraiya arrived to find Zabuza, Naruto, Sakura, and Umeko, strung up like puppets while Sasuke controlled them from the tree above them, much to the amusement of the people gathered around them. "You shall have one other soon, Judy, my dear, more where that come from."
"Sasuke, either you let me down, or give me a cut of the money, or when I free myself I will kill you." Naruto growled.
"Just what is going on here?" the Hokage asked trying not to let his amusement show.
"Um… I was bored?"
"I can see that, I meant why exactly was I summoned here? Hinata wasn't very clear."
Zabuza, who had drifted off during the impromptu puppet show and woken up when the Hokage started speaking said, "That woman arranged my first meeting with Naruto."
"Do you have any proof of this Zabuza? She's a member of the Civilian Council, and that's a serious accusation."
"HE HAS NOTHING!" Umeko shouted, "I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT!"
"Let's take this to my office. This isn't something that should be discussed in public. Teams Eight and Ten come with us, you are witnesses and I might need your testimony." The Hokage said. Nodding his head, Sasuke re-wrapped his 'puppets' and dragged them off towards the Hokage's tower. A few minutes later they arrived and were shown into the Hokage's office. "Now what is going on here?"
"She hired me to kill Naruto four years ago."
"My Mother is innocent!"
"Sakura, calm down, you'll get thrown out, or arrested if you make a scene." Shino whispered to Sakura
"No I did not Hokage-sama! I sincerely hope that you will take my word, that of a Civilian Council member in good standing over that of a missing-nin wanted for attempting to kill his own Kage!"
Jiraiya, who was glaring daggers at her said, "I hate to tell you Umeko, but you're not a council member in good standing, you've been the prime suspect in a number of attempts on Naruto's life. The only reason you haven't been tried for those crimes, is the fact that all the evidence mysteriously disappears, before we can take you to court."
"I have proof; I keep a copy in a storage seal on my wrist, if you'd untie me I could show you." Zabuza said.
"Try anything, and we will kill you." An ANBU said as he cut the wires binding Zabuza.
"Think I'm an idiot?" Zabuza said as he unsealed some documents and a few photos from his wrist, "These are just copies. I keep the originals somewhere safer." He handed the papers over to the Hokage.
"I see..." The Hokage said slowly as he read the documents. Looking at Haruno Umeko in the eyes he calmly stated, "Haruno Umeko, I formally arrest you for charges of attempted murder of a clan head."