"Hn...What did I die?" Naruto asked himself before he heard someone calling out his name, "Wait...Old man? Am I?" Naruto's eyes slowly opening as Tazuna looked at him with a smug and satisfied grin.
"Welcome back to the land of the living Gaki!" The old bridge builder greeted.
"What happened?" Naruto said as he got up and composed himself, only to fall back on the ground when he saw Zabuza and Kakashi walking amongst the fallen forms of Gatou's men, chit chatting with each other as if they were old friends. While stood awkwardly off to the side, just watching. Thankfully, Sasuke was up as well, groaning in pain every time he moved as Sakura helped him getting back on his feet but his eyes remained transfixed on Ben, giving him a really strange look. While his right eyed remained complete unknown, that wasn't case for other one. For some odd reason he found Ben's left eye vaguely familiar but couldn't place where he had seen or heard about it before
"Old man! Are you seeing what I am seeing?" Naruto dumbfounded as he rubbed his eyes multiple times. There was no way in hell this was happening in real.
"We won. Apparently, Gato decided that Zabuza cost too much and hired a bunch of thugs to take out all of us." Tazuna chuckled, "Bastard learn the hard way street thugs can't match up to super skilled ninjas."
Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, his brain unable to process all the information at the same time, " What the...? It can't be real."
"I dunno much about that Gaki and I had no idea what actually take place inside the battle. But there was something up with Ben's eyes...they said he has a doujutsu like your sensei."
"What? Ben has..."
"Hey guys look! " Tazuna called out , " The blonde brat is up!" Kakashi, Ben and the rest members of Team 7 quickly turned to them, a brief look of relief flashing in their eyes after learning that Naruto turned out to be completely alright for the most part.
" Naruto-nii chan! I came back" another voice called out. They all turned around only to see Inari standing there with all the villagers, holding a small crossbow. The rest of them were also carrying objects like Pitches, clubs, shovels and even fishing spears.
"Naruto-nii chan!" Ben dumbfounded, his jaw literally dropping on the floor anime style. Since when did these two started getting along so well?
"This is..." Naruto began with shock. Pride welling up inside him as he saw how a crybaby like Inari had managed to rally the entire village to stand up to Gatou.
"Sorry, it looks like we were a bit late." Inari said with an embarrassed smile.
Naruto chuckled as he jumped back on his feet and walked towards Inari, slightly patting his head, "Don't worry about it, it was nothing we couldn't handle."
As the blonde ninja joined the villagers basked in post flight excitement, he forgot about the rather familiar looking girl standing with Zabuza. A group of two and three helped with carrying Sakura and Sasuke home. Fortunately both of them weren't injured that much. Most of the senbons either lodged in their ribs or missed any major arteries which would have made them bleed out, which meant they would be up and running in less then a week.
Ben could feel the invisible battle line draw between him, Kakashi, Zabuza and Haku. Even though the group had worked together , there really wasn't a whole lot of trust going on here. Which wasn't a big surprise considered the fact that they were doing their best to eliminate each other just an hour ago.
"What are your plans?" Kakashi asked offhandedly
Zabuza grunted, "An organization like that won't disappear overnight just because we killed the guy who used to run the things. It might take a while...but they will sort out who is next in line to take over...eventually. We still have business with them."
"I guess a good assassination makes the negotiations much easier." Ben remarked dryly.
Instead of responding with words, Zabuza just grinned, taking off his bandages all of a sudden and showcasing his really really white and sharp teeth. Which was kinda unnerving. Making him wonder if Zabuza was even a fully human in the first place
"Very well, " Kakashi said, " if that's the case..."
"Your bridge builder is safe." Zabuza shrugged, rolling his eyes in annoyance, "We won't come up against any of you again. I am done taking stuffing around requests and bullshit. Shoulda dealt with the bastard in my way from the very beginning."
Haku responded with a gracious bow, "We won't trouble you again."
"Well, we are staying here till the bridge is finished." Kakashi said, half as a way of offering truce, half as a warning of sorts.
"The bloodline purge...how did that started? and why the Mizukage started doing it in the first place?" Ben spoke out of curiosity as he turned to Zabuza.
Zabuza paused a moment before responding with a glare "Kiri has a long history of civil wars...as the wielders of Kekkei genkai...like Haku's ice release and your various abilities were often used as living weapons ...to a far greater degree than any other ninjas and striked fear in their enemy's hearts. Yagura and many other people from land of water, came to see them as demons who brought nothing war and suffering them. After the wars were over, in an effort to prevent further tragedies , he ordered the slaughter of all those who hold bloodlines." He concluded with a frown.
"That's bullshit. This Yagura dude sounds like a madman who needs to be stopped." Ben gritted his teeth in frustration and anger.
"Of course, That's why I am trying to get rid of him in the first place. That's the only way to save my homeland" Zabuza calmly responded, sharply narrowing down his eyes, " Beast-chan , I will offer you a friendly advice out of respect. The wave might be an isolated island for now but eventually words of your exploits will reach the ears of the Mizukage. And once that happens, the tyrant will leave no stone unturned in order to kill you."
"Huh? You gotta be kidding me. Hatake-san! Is that kind of thing a common occurrence in the ninja world?" Ben asked as he turned to Kakashi.
"No...but assassination and kidnapping of those with Kekkei Genkai is are common. They are powerful assets and dangerous enemies." Kakashi said, "I hope you will keep it under wraps as much as you can."
Zabuza eyed him for a second longer than shrugged, a maniacal grin forming on his face, "Of course, I would hate to see such incredible weapon go to waste. In fact, I wouldn't mind teaching him a thing or two incase he agrees to come along. The fun is about to start afterall."
An hour ago, he felt like an asshole. today he is making me fear for my asshole.
"I will pass." Ben scoffed in annoyance, "But let me tell you this, you gotta start treating Haku better. She respects and cares you about so much that when she lost to me, she asked me to kill you, just because she thought her loss meant she was of no further use to you..." The swordsman stared at him before looking at Haku, an unrecognisable look flashing in his eyes, "At first I couldn't stand how someone as kind and loyal as her would give her life for someone like you...but after hearing all this makes me think that there more to you than all this "Demon of the Hidden Mist" thing."
"Cheeky brat!" Zabuza chuckled softly, "You have made it on my Bingo book. I will keep an eye on you."
Kakashi grinned. Off handed as it might have been, but you couldn't deny it was a complement.
Ben turned to Haku with a smile, "Well, If you are going to stay here as well. You can visit us, make friends around your age."
"I...that might not be a good idea. We did attack you after all." Haku said gently.
Ben sighed, "That's all water under the bridge. Besides Gato was the real bad guy and we took him out. We can all be friends now."
"Friends?" Haku smiled tentatively, pink hue adorning her cheeks, "I would like that."
And just like that, The silver haired jonin and the young Tennyson, leaving the nuke nin and his apprentice to fend for themselves.
Zabuza looked at his apprentice before casting a careless shrug, " Ever since the battle inside that dome of ice mirrors, you have this odd glow about you." He put up quotation marks when he said glow, "From what I understand, that only happens when a girl becomes a woman."
"W-we haven't done anything like that..." Haku responded in a snappish voice, blushing a bit at the implication
"Well well, looks like your claws are out today." Zabuza said, hiding his surprise with a laugh, " I don't think you have ever snapped at me unless I got myself injured."
"I am sorry Zabuza-sama!"
"Meh, it's fine. Now let's go. I think a few of my ribs are broken."
...xxxxxxx...xxxxx...
After making sure that they were far away from the rogue Kiri nin and his apprentice, Kakashi called out to Ben getting his attention.
"Ben, What exactly happened in that dome? "
The Ultimatrix bearer began explaining the details of his fight, albeit minus the code and alien part, "So, when Haku managed to trap you, you blacked out and when you woke up, you had those eyes?"
Ben lightly tapped on his chest and the color of his eyes changed once again, however the scarlet dots on his forehead were missing this time as he was using his "Ultimate Human" form to channel the alien's ability , "It felt like I knew where she was going to be next, as if everything was moving in a slow motion. That's why I was able to overcome her with such ease." Ben concluded as he turned to Kakashi with a raised eyebrow, "Do you know what both of my eyes are?"
"I don't recognize the dojutsu in your right eye. However your left eye feels a bit similar to my Sharingan. I can't tell for sure why both of your eyes carry different dojutsu though it's not unheard for children of mixed parentage to only awakening the dojutsu in only one eye."
"That's strange." Ben said with bemused expression. He wasn't expecting something like that to happen. Perhaps that had to something with the friend of Professor Paradox he met earlier. But why did he want him to have this transformation in particular? That didn't make sense at all.
"Indeed...Ben, You should know that Dojutsu are coveted by the villages...it would be bad for Konoha if word got out about your eyes."
"Geez! Don't fret. I can take care of myself." Ben said confidently, "deactivating" his transformation
"Still it would be better if you officially begin your ninja training as soon as possible. Just so you can defend yourself properly." The sharingan wielder spoke in a serious tone.
"I know." Ben let out a sigh, "Are you sure your village won't have any problem taking me in? From what I heard, This Yagura bastard can still send people after me."
Kakashi smiled, patting Ben on the shoulders, "You don't have to worry about that. Konoha's feelings on Kekkei Genkai are pretty much opposite Kiri's and Lord Hokage trusts my judgement. Besides if he didn't say yes, Naruto would never let him live that down."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
"It's hard to explain but Naruto has a great bond with Hokage, he is kind of like a grandson to him from what I've seen." Kakashi said with an eye smile
"Fine, It's not like I have anything to lose at this point." Ben chuckled.
...xxxxxxx...xxxxxxxxx...
The Team 7 still had a week to go before the bridge was complete, however with Gatou dead and Zabuza and Haku confirmed to be not a threat anymore there wasn't really much for them to do. As both Sasuke and Sakura were still recovering from their injuries, Naruto was the only one left for Kakashi to train. The silver haired jonin had began instructing him on water walking exercise since he had already gotten the tree walking down . And even with his absurd stamina, he was running slightly ragged with the increase in difficulty. One of Ben's duplicates occasionally joined in
While Kakashi wanted Sasuke to rest , he wouldn't listen so he ended up giving him some target practise exercise to increase the efficiency of his newly awakened Sharingan, though as he feared, the Uchiha ended up working on water walking anyways. As he couldn't stand left behind by Naruto of all people.
Meanwhile Ben was busy dealing with a personal task of his own. He talked to Tazuna about making an orphanage for the children he often saw wandering on the streets. . Since he was the first official hero of the village everyone wanted to help him out but Ben insisted that all they had to was to get him supplies. Ben had used both his super fast aliens and the ability of Echo Echo to produce ungodly amount of duplicates to build the orphanage himself. He had also managed to appoint some kind hearted child less labourers as the caretakers of this place, with Tsunami being the head administrator. And whenever he had free time, he spend it reading contents from the book Kakashi gave or practising the real Clone Jutsu which was finally taught to him by Kakashi.
Despite he didn't mean it, Zabuza crossed paths with him many time. Gato apparently liked to horde his power so there was no clear cut inheritor. There was a lot of infighting going on. Albeit through blackmailing and politicking. Which towards everyone's annoyance put the organization in a state of limbo, unable to go either way. Thankfully Tazuna gave him locations of some of the known safehouses of Gatou, allowing him to syphon a decent amount of money
Since Sakura wasn't batshit crazy with training as other two, she went to the bridge with Ben's duplicate or helped out a bit in the village.
Things were a bit tense when Haku showed up for the first time, but after learning about the bloodline purge and how her mother was murdered by her father and her father in turn died when she instinctively tried to defend herself everyone couldn't help but sympathise with her. Especially Sasuke. He had been hearing about the exploits of bloodthirsty Mizukage ever since they arrived here and he already hear what "happened " to Ben but after learning what happened to Haku, he felt shaken to his very core. He had been always told by his late father that having the blood of an Uchiha, the Sharingan, made him special but to see that how people like Haku and Ben were demonised by the Kiri just for having this abilities...almost made him petrified.
Besides, she was warm, friendly and calm and polite, and she hadn't hurt anyone, not seriously anyways.
Even Sakura had warmed up to her and she was the most angry about how this wrench hurt her beloved Sasuke-kun!
Haku bonding with Ben and Naruto made Kakashi a bit wary and Zabuza a whole lot annoyed , yelling about keeping the village secrets but none of them seemed to mind overly much. Ben even managed to goad her into teaching them Hidden Mist Jutsu and her improvised version of Water Clone Jutsu.
Now that was a Jutsu which interested Ben. It was definitely annoying as hell if you didn't have an inbuilt sonar but incredibly useful for attack purposes. Unfortunately he was still limited to produce a light mist surrounding the garden, while Naruto could practically smother people using it. Ben could do the same but he had to use his "special eyes" transformation for that, which he now called Nephilim. As Naruto didn't share the luxury of transforming in Wildmutt he had to figure out on his own about how to navigate in it...
Ha! Sasuke would stand no chance against him then, even with his magical eyes.
Also for the first time in his life, Naruto understood what Sasuke had to suffer through while the horde of girls proclaimed their love for him. Which made him begrudgingly respect his rival a little bit. Ever since it had been know that he was the one to single handedly beat up Gatou's elite bodyguards and took part in the so called battle of the bridge , defending Tazuna from the scary water clone, the people here began staring at him in awe. Often whispering how strong and cool he was. Many of the girls would blush and giggle as he passed on the streets , tossing shy waves at him and few of the bolder ones even began asking for dates. While he remained faithful to his Sakura-chan, this did made him wonder about a thing or two.
At the end of the week the bridge, with more help from Naruto's clones and Ben's countless duplicates. Now all the people of Wave were there, not only to celebrate the completion of the bridge but also to see off heroes of the wave.
...xxxxxxxx...xxxxxxxx...xxxxxxx...
"Thanks to you guys we have finally finished the bridge, but do you really have to go soon? Especially you Ben." Tazuna said with a large smileas he placed a hand on Inari who looked like he was about to cry.
They along with the entire population of land of waves were standing next to the now complete bridge. This also included Naruto's very own fanclub who had tried to mob his shadow clone when he was running an errand for Tsunami. The knucklehead ninja only took a glance at the horde of girls holding up signs proclaiming their love for him before looking away with a shiver.
"Unfortunately," Kakashi replied with his erotica novel out as usual, " Until Ben-kun officially becomes a shinobi within Konoha he is fair game for Kiri. We must leave the place incase the bloodline extermination squad led by Raiga Kurosaki caught the drift of Gatou's death "
Ben moved over to Inari, kneeling down as he ruffed the kid's hair, giving him a large grin, "Don't worry, I will be back to visit sometimes."
Inari sniffled as his eyes as tears threatened to spill, "Promise?"
Ben chuckled a bit as he held his pinky out to the small kid, "Of course, you are not getting rid of me that easily. "
Inari looked up at the pinky for a while before he brought up his own and shook it with.
"You are going to get lonely, aren't you?" Naruto teased, albeit he began weiling up as well.
"I am not going to cry. I am now strong like big brother." Inari grinned with watery eyes "You can cry though."
"Oh yeah!" Naruto sniffled, "Well...see ya!"
Naruto then swiftly turned around as tears began falling from his eyes like a waterfall. Inari cried like a waterfall now that Naruto wasn't looking. Ben just sweatdropped at witnessing how stubborn both kids could be. Reminding him of how his relationship with Gwen was used to.
Geez! Was I really that bad?
Depending on his reaction when he thought Gwen died on Azmuth's planet many years ago, HELL YEAH.
"MARRY ME NARUTO-KUN!" The entire group of newly created Naruto fan club shouted, the blonde immediately froze in fear as Sasuke gave him a sympathetic glance and jumped over the newly completed bridge. Running far away from this place as much as possible
Ben had to hold in a wince from hearing all these voices shouting at once, clearly remembering that it wasn't that bad when he first arrived in the village. He was now glad for the first time having Harangue in his life. Thanks him constantly spouting nonsense about him, his popularity never went over the roof.
All of sudden he felt a rather cold hand on his shoulders, causing him to turn around. When he did, he was surprised to learn who came to see him off.
"Haku?"
The Ice bending ninja smiled as she handed over a rather large scroll to Ben, "This might be the last time we are seeing each other so Zabuza-sama wanted you to have this."
"What's in it?" Ben dumbfounded, blinking in confusion, Hack, even Kakashi was surprised at this point.
"A parting gift. That's what he said." Haku said with a wistful smile.
"Well, thanks for this thing but let me assure you and Mr Mochi, We are totally going to see each other again. So don't be so sad about it!"
Sasuke shrugged, Haku's talk about protecting people and living for your dreams almost made him oddly pensive and considering for a bit. Letting out a sigh, he turned to Ben and Zabuza's apprentice.
"Who knows what will happen in the future? " He paused for a moment, staring at the reflection of his own sharingan as his eyes wandered to the memory of witnessing Ben's own Dojutsu and how his left eye seemed quite familiar, "Regardless, I have learnt a lot."
"So have I." Haku smiled as she brought her hand and vanished with simple a body flicker jutsu. The four ninjas and young Tennyson said their final goodbyes as well, starting a long trek down the bridge to reach the mainland.
"That blonde brat put courage in Inari's heart." Tazuna smiled, "But it was Ben who brought back hope in our lands and taught us to believe in the heroes once again. Which confirmed Inari's courage and allowed him to change people's hearts."
"How about the Great Maelstrom Tennyson Bridge? " Tsunami offered her own two bits. Naruto's last name did mean Maelstrom and the mention of the Ben fit well together. The smiles from the others told her they agreed as well.