Kurenai's eyes tracked her team's movements as they followed the exercise they were instructed perfectly. It's only been 3 months since they were an official genin team and things were going great for team 12. Satoru and Izumi were basically even in skill level and already mastered tree and water walking. She already figured out their chakra elements with Satoru having a very strong lightning affinity, And Izumi having water. She was starting to show characteristics of containing an ice bloodline, with small icicles being found within her water jutsus. Naruto, on the other hand, was a complete enigma for her. From his records he was the lowest scoring child from the academy, only scoring a point above the bare minimum you need in order to graduate. Which is almost unlikely since he was the son of a Kage. The only answer she had was he was not as strong as his siblings and was a lack instead of a prodigy.

But he surprised her greatly when he performed the chakra control exercises perfectly and even showed how great his control was by holding a leaf on his forehead while walking on water. And the weirdest thing was when she tested him on his chakra affinity, there was no response from the paper. She thought it was just a fluke but when it started to happen consecutively she knew it was the truth. She couldn't fathom how that was possible, for someone to contain no affinity. She could see he wasn't surprised once he found out like he knew all along. Satoru and Izumi also seemed to know as well.

It seems they were hiding something.

But the strangest thing, if Naruto was scoring lower than anyone in the academy. Had poor test scores and no chakra infinity. And he seemed to not train as hard as his teammates. But in 3 months alone he was able to beat Satoru and Izumi in a spare. He was fast, nimble, he seemed to always look at an opponent. And he was able to best both his teammates with no problem. Even managing to win against both. So was the Academy wrong on assessing his skills? He seems much stronger than he lets on.

She shifted her eyes to the yellow-haired kid as he watched Izumi attempt a new water jutsu. His headband was loosely tied around his forehead making it fall slightly into his eyes.

Kurenai internally questioned herself, if Naruto was stronger than he let on. Then why was he scoring so low? Was he hiding his current skill level? But what reason would he have to hide his skills as a shinobi? She felt herself sigh, it just didn't make any sense to her...maybe she should bring this up to Hokage-sama. She shook her head, wanting to dwell on this later. She called all her students over.

"Okay training is done for the day, It's time to see Hokage-sama for a new mission."

Satoru pouted and he crossed his arms over his chest "UHH I don't want to keep doing this shitty D ranked missions!" Kurenai gave Satoru a look "Watch your language. And the mission we will do is the mission Hokage-sama gives us."

"It would be nice not having to watch them paint another fence of though." She thought somewhat bitterly, watching 3 genin paint a fence was not a good way to pass the time. Luckily they made it to the Hokage tower rather quickly. Once they entered they were sent inside to meet with the Hokage himself. When they entered the room they were met with a very sleepy looking Hokage.

Kurenai sweatdropped slightly

"Is something wrong Hokage-sama?"

Minato snapped to attention rather quickly at seeing the unexpected team 12. He looked down at his son and he felt guilt wash over him. He pushed those thoughts back into his mind. He looked back up to Kurenai and he attempted a smile.

"Hello Kurenai, what can I help you with?"

Kurenai bowed slightly

"Hello Hokage-sama, team 12 reporting for a new mission."

Minato nodded and he sat back down and looked through his scrolls for missions. He looked under the D ranked missions section and he frowned. He looked backup to see Naruto quietly mumbling to Satoru. Minato felt his eyes go wide. A sudden idea formed within his mind as he quickly grabbed a new stack of scrolls. "Team 12. I'm giving you a C ranked mission. Escort Tazuna the bridge builder back to his home in the Land of Waves." Kurenai along with her genin looked at the Hokage in shock. Satoru broke out into a huge smile as Izumi and Naruto both looked slightly surprised.

"H-Hokage-sama y-you can be serious. We are a brand new genin squad."

Minato nodded as he tossed the mission scroll to the raven haired women. "Yes, I am completely sure. Your squad is the first to complete the most D ranked missions in such a short amount of time. You have the highest success record and you seem highly qualified for this mission." Minato said glancing at his son "I believe you guys are more than capable completing a mission of this caliber."

Kurenai nodded dumbly as her eyes stayed wide "O-of course Hokage-sama."

Minato nodded

"Tazuna will be at the north gate in 20 minutes. There you will begin the escort mission. You are dismissed."

Kurenai got over her surprise and quickly gave a bow. She ushered her kids out ordering them to gather up all their supplies. All kids nodded happily with Satoru running out of the room to excited to start a REAL mission. Minato widened his eyes as he reached his arm out "N-naruto. Could I talk with you for a second?"

Izumi looked over at her blonde haired friend. Her eyes gave off a sign of worry, an emotion Kurenai couldn't understand why. Naruto narrowed his eyes, his headband making it invisible as he looked back over at his friend. He gave a nod as he stood in the middle of the room with the door closing behind the two blonde men. The room fell deathly silent as Minato couldn't keep his eyes on his oldest son. Minato felt his throat go dry and words refused to form.

"Is there something you need Hokage-sama?"

Minato internally flinched at that, his eyes fell somewhat as he tried his best to attempt a smile. "S-so Naruto how's the genin life so far?" he asked as Naruto tilted his head slightly. Naruto gave a hesitant nod

"It's fine."

The blonde Hokage gave a nod "So your first C rank mission. Pretty exciting isn't it?" he said with a smile, trying his best to spark a response from his kid. Naruto only gave another nod. "Yes, it's exciting to finally have a decent mission for once."

Minato nodded and he felt his heartbeat start to quicken. His palms started to sweat and his legs started to feel a little weak. "So anyway Naruto, I was thinking once you get back from your mission. Maybe we can finally start your training."

Naruto felt his spine stiffen and his heart skip a few beats. Naruto widened his eyes under his headband thankfully making it invisible to the Hokage. His surprise quickly turned into anger as he narrowed his eyes at his 'father'. He looked over at his anxious Hokage warily. His long forgone anger starting to resurface as he clenched his fists making them go deathly white.

"I figured your training schedule was already all booked up with Menma, Mito, and Natsumi."

Minato's body tensed up, his arms felt heavy as he tried to make eye contact with his son. His throat going dry once again as he tried to push back his uneasiness. "W-what n-no of c-course not!" he stuttered out "I just thought we could start your training. Since you're an official ninja now and all." he said as he scratched the back of his head. Naruto sent a dangerous glare over at his father and clicked his teeth "I've been a ninja for 3 months already. I'll be fine under the tutelage of Kurenai-sensei. If I went this far without your training, I don't need it now."

Minato felt his eyes go wide and he felt his brain shut down for a few moments. He watched as Naruto turned his back on him, making his way to the office door.

"Did I, did I wait too long?"

"Naruto wait!"

Minato yelled as he jumped up from his chair making Naruto stop dead in his tracks. The young ninja turned his head to meet his father's fearful expression "Naruto please consider this. I know what we did was wrong and I know what you're feeling right now. So-"

"Oh, so you know what I'm feeling right now?" Naruto said angrily cutting Minato off from speaking. "You were an orphan, You didn't have to feel what real abandonment felt like" he spat out venomously

"Excuse me Hokage-sama, but I have a mission to attend to."

Minato felt his heart drop, he watched his eldest son walk through the door "Naruto please...come back safe okay? And please remember, we didn't want this please, remember that we really still-"

SLAM

"Love you…"

Naruto looked at the wooden floorboards of the Hokage tower as he made his way out the building, he ignored the secretary saying a quick goodbye. He clenched his fists as he walked through the crowded streets of Konoha. Naruto clicked his teeth bitterly as made his way to the village gates.

"After ignoring me for 6 years, they think a simple training session would make it better'

He visibly scowled as he lowered his head, making his headband fall deeper into his eyes obscuring his vision almost entirely. Naruto sighed slightly as he looked up to see a familiar building he has spent many nights at. He strode past the oncoming people and walked right in not bothering to knock. The dim lighting hit his eyes as he tilted his head to see the dust stained cabinets and bookshelves. "Ah Naruto-san, I was worried you were never going to come back here. Kotomi would have been very upset."

Naruto turned to his right as a large woman stood behind a desk looking down at Naruto with a cheeky smile. Naruto gave a nod to the women "My life as a ninja has preoccupied my life at the moment." Naruto easily responded back earning a chuckle from the large woman. She stood up from her chair and bent over until she was above the yellow headed boy. She extended her arm and rested her hand on the boy's head ruffling his unruly locks.

"You know Kotomi hates when you have your headband over your eyes. She likes to see those 'pretty mirrors' as she calls them. Too bad only she gets to see them huh?" Naruto grunted as he swatted her hand away making her give a fond smile "I'm here to see Kotomi, is she in her room?"

The women gave a smile and offered the young boy a nod. Naruto responded with a small thank you and went on his way. Once he reached her small door, He gave a few soft knocks making dust and pebbles fall from the top and hit the ground with small thuds. Naruto waited and soon the door swung open revealing a small girl with her black hair. The young girl looked up and her eyes went wide

"Naru-ni!"

Naruto braced himself as Kotomi turned into a small black rocket and ejected herself up at Naruto. Naruto gave his best smile as said girl was hugging him tightly. Naruto bent down lowering the girl back to the floor, once her feet touched the floor she pulled back and looked happily up the blonde boy. She soon pouted and crossed her arms over her small frame

"Naru-ni I thought you weren't going to cover your eyes anymore?' she spoke in a soft voice making it sound angelic to Naruto. Naruto pushed his headband up until it was covering his forehead. He reached behind him and securely tied it. He looked back over at the small girl as she gave him a large smile.

"I like seeing your pretty eyes!"

She giggled out making Naruto's previous anger start to deteriorate. Naruto patted her head making her lean into his touch

"Kotomi since I'm a ninja now, I'm going to start taking missions outside of the village."

She tilted her head making her eyes blink in rapid succession. "And today I have an escort mission to the land of waves. So I will be gone for a few weeks." Kotomi's eyes went wide and her bottom lip pushed out and her already widened eyes became glossy. "Y-your l-l-leaving?" Naruto gave a nod as he pushed his arms out and pulled her into his chest as she gave a small sob.

"Don't worry Hime I'll be back. I won't be gone for long I promise."

"B-but I don't want you to leave." She mumbled as she tried her hardest to pull herself closer. Naruto gave her a reassuring pat on the back as her sobs started to die down. She pulled back and started to rub her eyes from the cascade of tears falling from her face. Naruto gave her a smile and she tried her best to smile back

"I had to come tell you, I couldn't leave and not say anything."

Kotomi nodded as Naruto got to his feet

"I'm late for my mission"

Naruto felt Kotomi hug herself around his legs.

"P-please come back."

Naruto closed his eyes and rested his hand on the top of her head and rubbed her raven locks

"Of course I will."

They broke apart and Naruto looked to see the outstretched arm of the young girl. He looked in her open palm to see a black threaded necklace with a small unruly shaped piece of glass representing a mirror hanging in the middle. He looked at her glossy eyes. Kotomi gave him a smile

"I saw this and it reminded me of your eyes. So I made this for you."

Naruto felt himself smile as he bent his head down and let Kotomi put the new charm around his neck. He looked up to meet her eyes as her tears reflected on his own pupils.

"Thank you, I will see you soon hime."

He said rubbing her head once again as he got to his feet and turned around to walk through the barren orphanage looked back to see the waving hand of Kotomi. Naruto felt himself smile as he made his way to the breaking orphanage door.

"Enjoy your mission Naruto-san, try and come back soon. For Kotomi's sake." Naruto turned his head slightly until he made perfect eye contact with the large women. Said women gasped loudly as her own eyes shined within his shattered looking iris

"Of course Katsumi-san"

Naruto reached behind his head and slowly undid the knot of his headband until it once again fell into his eyes as he walked back into the village making the sun rays shine down and obscure the remaining part of his vision for the time being.

He reached the village gates within a few minutes as he was met with a concerned glare of his two teammates and the angry look from his sensei

"Naruto you are 20 minutes late, what do you have to say to yourself?" she scolded as she crossed her arms over her chest

"I was talking with Hokage-sama, And I had to say goodbye to someone."

Kurenai raised her eyebrow at the very formal way of speaking about his father. While she thought it was odd, it did make sense to some degree. Kurenai lost her glare "This is our first mission outside the village, I would recommend not to be late. Don't let this happen again, this your only warning."

Naruto heard a grunt to his side and he looked over to see a tall man with a scraggly gray beard and thin glasses, he had a hat on and he looked down annoyed at Naruto.

"I would rather have a ninja that would actually show up on time and not late like this kid."

Kurenai looked at the older man and gave him a reassuring nod "There is no need to worry, my team is more than capable of completing this mission." she spoke smoothly making the elder man grunt and took a long swig from the small silver flask tied to his belt. "Whatever let's hurry up and get out of here."

"Of course."

( Time Skip - About 4 hour after leaving )

As they walked the team was given orders to protect each side Tazuna. Satoru protecting the right, Izumi having the left, Naruto bringing up the rear, and Kurenai taking the front. Naruto looked at his surroundings taking it all in. This is his first time outside the village and seeing the look of awe on Izumi and Satoru's faces made him chuckle slightly. He saw the sun shine off certain plants and reflect a different array of colors from the flowers. Naruto watched the scenery as he caught sight of the frantic moving eyes of the person they were supposed to be guarding. He looked around a lot and his eyes moved back and forth.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the strange behavior. Tazuna seemed tense, he held onto his bag tightly that his hands were starting to turn white.

"He seems anxious."

Naruto thought as he looked around the giant trees to their sides. Tazuna seems like he was ready to pounce at any moment. Naruto's ears perked as he shifted his eyes to the soft crackling noise that invaded his senses at the moment.

"Okay, guys were going to set camp for the day. Satoru stay with Tazuna while I set up a camp. Izumi and Naruto go and get some firewood."

A course of agreements rang through the darkening forest as all parties want to do their respective tasks. Naruto told Izumi that he would gather from the left side of the forest. She gave him a nod as they parted ways. Naruto walked into the vast forest and he breathed in the new air. It smelt of freshwater and new scented fruit he never smelt before. He looked around for a few moments before he brought his hand up and slowly lifted his headband up so he could see the small river passing by nice soft colored plants. His cracked eyes shined off the rising moon giving them a new white hue. Naruto let his headband fall back down as he went on his way gathering firewood.

He returned moments later to see Izumi stepping into the camp throwing her wood onto the centerpiece. Naruto followed suit as Kurenai finished putting up two separate soft collared tents. Naruto sat down as he watched Satoru and Izumi switch making the black haired boy start a fire with a perfect spark. Tazuna entered his tent alone now only leaving the ninja in the wilderness

"Izumi I want you to watch Tazuna for now. If he starts to scream again or drink...just knock him out."

"Uhhh of course sensei."

She said awkwardly making Satoru laugh and Naruto's shoulder to shake slightly.

"Satoru I want you to go and gather some fish for us eat. And Naruto." She said moving her eyes to the sitting boy "Keep the fire going, but keep it small. We don't want an obvious smile trail."

"Yes sensei!"

Satoru yipped as he jumped up and made his way to the small river near by. Naruto gave a nod as well and scooted closer to the fire. Kurenai watched the blonde haired boy in somewhat confusion. Even after all this time, he remained a complete mystery to her. He kept silent for the whole trip so far, never saying a word the entire time. One another thing that confused her was why he alway loosely wore his headband around his head. She figured maybe an accident occurred before his graduation that made him cover his eyes. Close to why Kakashi wore his headband over one of his eyes.

She walked over to her remaining teammate and took a seat beside the boy.

Naruto didn't say a word as his sensei came and sat next to him. The air gained an awkward breeze as they sat together in silence. The only sound is the crackling fire as it swayed back and forth regally. Kurenai felt a lump in her throat form as she watched the flames dance around.

"Crap I don't know how to start a conversation with this kid!"

"Did you need to talk to me about anything Kurenai-sensei?"

Said women blinked a few times not expecting such a soft tone to come from Naruto's mouth. Some of the previous tension left her body as she shifted herself slightly until she was looking directly at Naruto

"I wanted to see if you are feeling okay. You don't seem to be interacting with your teammates anymore like you used to."

Naruto didn't respond as he stared blankly at the wild orange flames. He brought his knees closer to him and wrapped a lone arm around them. His free arm was filed on his knee and was keeping his head up while he leaned on his open palm. Naruto stared at the fire as the blackened sky started to consume the forest life around the camp.

"I've just been thinking Kurenai-sensei."

Kurenai frowned at the vague answer she received from the pondering young boy. Kurenai reached out and rested her hand on Naruto's shoulder. She felt him stiffen slightly as Naruto turned his head to meet her exotic red colored eyes. She offered the boy a reassuring smile.

"Naruto I'm your sensei, you can tell me anything okay? No matter what it is or how bad it might be, I will always be here to help you."

Naruto felt his eyes widen ever so slowly and a new sensation came over his entire body. He felt his cheeks start to get hot, his heart rate starting to quicken and a foreign taste entered his mouth. He felt his muscles start to jolt and he suddenly felt very jumpy.

"N-noted K-Kurenai-se-sensei."

Kurenai gave him pleasant smile making his face feel even warmer than before.

"Good. So please feel free to ask me Naruto-Kun."

Naruto looked back up to her focusing his vision on her deep crimson colored eyes. He didn't know what has come over him, his ears started to burn. His stomach started to churn like never before, he watched her plump lips curve up into a beautiful smile.

"Why...why do I feel like this? What is this…?"

At that moment Satoru decided to return with his cargo of fish. He smiled happily and thrusted the fish into the air all the while smiling widely

"I have returned and slew the sea monsters! Now let us consume this meal for our famished stomachs!"

Naruto physically beamed as he noticed the return of his friend. He felt the hotness in his face start to go away as he quickly scooted away from his sensei. Naruto watched Izumi walk through the tent and start talking to Kurenai with Satoru occasionally joined in. Naruto kept silent as he sat on his wooden log eating his now cooked fish. His mind being pre occupied at the moment with a million thoughts running ramped within his mind. He just couldn't fathom why he felt so weird...during that talk with Kurenai. It felt different than anything he has ever felt before. His friends, not even Kotomi had made him get so warm before. He was just confused, he couldn't think of why it happened and how. What made him feel that way? What's the reason? And to top it all off his father wanted to start his training after 6 years. Making his mind go even faster with unanswered questions.

Yet still, something irked him greatly. Being earnest or not, the subject was still a very sore area and he liked to avoid it at all costs. To avoid it at all costs, that's what he wanted to do. Forget them, if they could forget him why can't he? He turned his neck sideways emitting a sickening crack. He looked over to the hanging moon and he gave a very distressed grunt. He got to his feet silently and made his way to his tent muttering a quick goodnight to his team.

He missed the slightly melancholy looks from his two teammates and the small frown from the raven haired beauty.

( Time Skip - Tomorrow Morning )

The sun rose on a very misty day in the Land of Waves. Team 12 woke up early in the morning in order to complete the mission they were assigned. Tazuna the bridge builder, he woke up with a serious hangover and actually managed to delay the team about 1 hour for his unwillingness to wake up and get dressed. But now they were back on track and managed to get back on the trail to Tazuna's house. Tazuna informed them that since the bridge was incomplete it was hard for them to get trade partners or allies. It made sense of course, no one would want to ally themselves with a now poor country that can barely support themselves. Kurenai nodded at the ragged man, saying we would do anything we can to help Wave. The raven beauty commanded her team as they took up all sides of the man once again.

Naruto took his position in the rear like before as his headband laid loosely around his forehead. He noticed his two friends looking around at the surroundings. He turned his head to see the most start to pass them. He wondered why it was so foggy today, yesterday it was a clear and sunny day with no sign of rain or clouds. But now, a thick mist started to form around them covering all vegetation in the near vicinity.

"What's with all this mist.."

He muttered to himself quietly as he tried his best to look over at his team.

"Try and stay calm everyone. This mist will eventually fade."

"Hai"

Naruto heard his team say as they were now almost completely covered by the mist making it roll off them.

"This seems suspicious. It seems Tazuna seemed nervous everyone we took a step. And all this mist is ruining our vision."

He thought to himself, it all seems too suspicious to him that they would have to protect a beige builder of all people. While he was making plans to firm allies after it was built, What possible good would come from attacking this man?

Naruto's eyes perked up as a noise reached his eardrums. It sounded like something was cutting the air itself, the loud sound of whistling broke the air as it continued to get louder

"GET DOWN NOW!"

Kurenai yelled making all genin stiffen.

Izumi was pulled down by Kurenai as fast as possible while Satoru grabbed Tazuna and tackled him to the ground. Naruto followed suit as a long wide blade flew over everyone's head embedding itself in the tree behind the genin. Quickly after that, a tall man appeared on the blade itself chuckling wickedly to himself.

"Well well well. Kurenai Yuhi, the Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha no Sato. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Kurenai schooled her emotions making her face go blank "Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Mist. What business do you have here with us?" Kurenai said as she cautiously rose to her feet. She ushered her genin back as they all moved behind her taking Tazuna with them. The mist started to flow away making the over 6-foot man more visible. Zabuza stood atop his blade and gave a malicious smirk under the bandages residing on his lower face.

"My business is with the bridge builder here."

He said as raised his hands up into the air his smile coming back

"Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu!"

The mist started to form from the woods once again as it covered the small area. Kurenai took out a kunai from her pouch as her genin surrounded a shaking Tazuna from all sides "Keep calm. I'll protect you all don't worry." her soft voice reached out into the genin as they all nodded pulling out kunai of their own.

"Well well well. It seems we have some kids playing ninja." a deep voice spoke sending shivers down everyone's spines.

The mist prevented them from pinpointing Zabuza's exact location. While Satoru and Izumi were unnerved by the killing intent being released, Naruto was a little less worried.

He looked around trying to figure out where Zabuza was in the area until he saw a dark silhouette appear behind Kurenai.

"Sensei! Behind you!"

Zabuza's oversized blade swung down impacting into Kurenai's skin earning a sickening crack of bones as blood started to seep out from the open wound on her shoulder. A scream of agony escaped her lips making her genin go wide eyes in fear.

"SENSEI!"

Naruto widened his eyes as his two teammates started to shake from the killer intent rolling off the mist. Zabuza didn't stop as he grabbed his blade in a reverse grip and swung his blade around attempting to take Tazuna's head. The blade stopped mid stride as a kunai intercepted the blade. The occupants all went in shock as they saw their sensei and protector was standing up still breathing. Naruto looked back and the bloody corpse of his sensei was nowhere to be seen. Zabuza smirked widely

"Genjutsu huh? Why am I not surprised."

Kurenai grunted as she started to apply more pressure to her blade making Zabuza's arm start to tremble trying to hold his blade at bay. Realizing it was futile to continue the struggle, Zabuza quickly ducked down swinging his blade up slashing up at Kurenai forcing her to evade. Kurenai took advantage of the swinging man and drove her kunai into his chest getting a yelp from the taller man. Water soaked from his wound making Kurenai scowl as Zabuza popped away turning into water and falling to the ground splashing onto the floor.

Naruto along with his team pushed down their shock as they looked across the clearing to see Zabuza standing across from them as Kurenai appeared in front of her team. Zabuza's sickening laugh came back making it echo in the clearing

"I must say you are stronger than you let on Kurenai."

Kurenai schooled her features as she turned her head back to her team "Protect Tazuna at all costs. I will handle Zabuza."

"But we can help sensei!" Satoru yelled making Kurenai look back at him "These are my orders. He is too dangerous for you three."

"These genins still think they're real ninja huh? Let me tell you something kids!" Zabuza said raising his blade up until it rested on his shoulder.

"Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu!"

In the blink of an eye, two perfect clones formed all wearing murderous expressions

"You aren't a real ninja unless you finally spill someone's blood!"

All Zabuza's said simultaneously as they rushed over to Kurenai all raising their swords up high. Kurenai flew through hand seals finally finishing and spitting out a medium sized fireball out consuming the water clones making them 'melt' as they turned into steam, evaporating almost as fast as they appeared. Next thing anyone knew they saw Zabuza barrel around the fire ball before dashing off towards Tazuna ignoring Kurenai. Tazuna shrieked at seeing the incoming man as the genin all stiffened their spines awaiting an attack. Kurenai clicked her teeth as she performed a quick kawarimi appearing in front of Zabuza once again sending a swift kick to the man's torso.

Zabuza, whose blade was too large to be used in such close quarters, wrapped his hand firmly around Kurenai's outstretched leg, before using his momentum to pull her off her feet, before twisting his body to arch her lithe frame over his head before smashing her brutally into the ground, as Kurenai's shaking body tried to rise from the ground, Zabuza's leg buried itself into her midriff sending her roughly into a tree, a small trickle of blood oozing from her lips even as her hands instinctively moved to her stomach to assess the damage. Feeling two damaged ribs, and knowing she was now at a severe disadvantage compared to Zabuza Kurenai turned towards her students, and showing blood-stained teeth said a single word,

"Run."

Zabuza's chuckle once again echoed throughout the area as he slowly began to stride towards the genin and the bridge builder, "Yes, run, I will enjoy hunting you down like dogs!" As he drew closer Naruto's mind began to race this man had just destroyed his sensei the person from whom he was to learn how to succeed as a ninja, which meant that there was no doubt that Zabuza could, and likely would hunt him and his teammates down even if they did run.

His hand slowly crept to the necklace around his neck, gently rubbing the gift between his fingers, in all likelihood he would die here, but he would not die with his back to his enemy, if he was going to die he would do standing his ground, he would die as a man that Kotomi could be proud of. The hand then resumed its journey rising to the headband that had largely obscured his eyes for as long as he had it, though luckily it hadn't prevented him from picking up the jutsu his instructor had just used, and lifted it higher onto his forehead revealing his eyes to the world.

Zabuza stopped his forward stride in apparent confusion, "A Hyuga? An unmarked one at that, I'll need to keep you alive, you could fetch quite the price as a bloodline source." Naruto made no effort to correct the man, if he was expecting a Hyuga he would tailor his fighting style to combat one, meaning he would expect close range, while Naruto planned on facing him from long range for as long as possible, the fact that Zabuza would only try to harm him as opposed to flat out kill him was also a definite plus.

Naruto took note of his sensei and the team's surprised and worried faces, after all, they knew for a fact that he wasn't a Hyuga and had no idea why his eyes were so similar. That was a concern for another time, Naruto had a plan he would try to force Zabuza into using more jutsu, which would only increase Naruto's options against the man, and keep him from close range for as long as possible, after all his eyes, as far as he could tell, were not meant to pick up sword fighting styles, and even if they could he didn't have a blade on him apart from his kunai, and looking at the sword in Zabuza's hand, he decided only having kunai was the same as not having a blade.

"Take Tazuna off the path, if he tries to rush past me he will leave himself exposed, which means that as long as I am up he can't come after you." Seeing that his team wasn't moving, Naruto snarled, "GO NOW!" Finally seeing his team respond and start herding the bridge builder away Naruto began his plan, quickly forming hand seals he blew out a fireball that was slightly larger than his sensei's, given how much chakra he had put into it, and watched carefully as Zabuza blazed through hand seals and before shouting out "Water Dragon Jutsu!" Naruto's fireball was obliterated before the dragon continued on heading directly for him, Zabuza's defense quickly becoming a potent offense.

Naruto performed a quick kawarimi appearing slightly closer, and to the side of Zabuza, before blazing once again through hand seals and releasing another fireball. Given the amount of time that it took Zabuza to create the water dragon, there wouldn't be enough time for him to summon another to deal with this fireball, Zabuza formed several hand seals, once again under Naruto's watchful eyes, before calling out "Water Wall Jutsu!", once again the fireball fizzled out before doing any damage to Zabuza.

Naruto quickly performed another kawarimi reappearing to Zabuza's left, he was about to perform another fireball jutsu when Zabuza turned and hurled his sword at him. Naruto quickly scrambled out of the blade's path and kawarmied once again as Zabuza appeared next to him and tried to smash him into the ground.

Zabuza grunted before striding over to his blade and ripping it out of the tree it had embedded itself in, "Your no Hyuga, if you were you would have tried to close the distance the first chance you got, just a guy with weird eyes huh? Not much use to me alive after all it would seem. That said you're a slippery little punk and I'm getting tired of this." Zabuza quickly formed several hand seals and several water bunshin appeared each with their own version of his blade resting on their shoulders. As a group they charged Naruto, who began his own chain of hand seals, too late did the clones of Zabuza notice that the hand signs weren't for the fireball jutsu, and the cry of "Water Dragon Jutsu" only confirmed what they already knew, The clones were swept up into the maw of a massive water dragon with blazing yellow eyes that then moved quickly towards Zabuza, Zabuza blazed through hand seals pumping as much chakra as he could into his jutsu before screaming out "WATER WALL JUTSU" he grunted as he felt the dragon impact his hastily crafted defense, and surged even more of his chakra into his wall, feeling the pressure relent he allowed the wall to drop, only to find three sets of his enemy right on the other side, each with a kunai ready to impale him. Still slightly fatigued from pumping out so much chakra Zabuza felt the first kunai into his left abdominal muscle, the second into his non-dominant arm, which he had brought up protect his face, while the third ran past and dug his kunai into his right calf.

The sudden weakening of his leg forced Zabuza to his knee, where with a roar of rage he swung the Kubikiribōchō slashing two of the bodies through vital points at which point they collapsed into water, before grabbing the final one by the head and squeezing it until it popped, the water from the clone splashing over him, and turning red as it mixed with the blood that was seeping from his wounds.

Zabuza turned with a glare towards the actual boy on the other side of the clearing. "I am going to GUT YOU!" He had grown cocky, that much he would admit, he had assumed the 'Hyuga' would go for close range attacks and had prepared himself for such, as soon as the boy started using jutsu he was on the back foot. Seeing the boy use so many water jutsu had also confused him, since he had originally only been shooting fireballs, water being the opposite of fire made him wonder if the boy had some sort of elemental Kekkei Genkai since having two opposing elemental affinities naturally was rather uncommon, and there was no way the boy had trained enough at his age to acquire a non natural affinity. Worst of all the boy had managed to wound him using his second most trademarked technique! That was unacceptable, it was one thing for him to be wounded, but by having his own methods used against him … that made his blood boil. If the boy wanted to wound him with his second most used technique, then he would die by his trademark.

His expression darkening, Zabuza once again formed hand signs before a heavy mist began to roll in, normally he would go for a direct kill, quick and relatively painless, but this brat was going to suffer, not for wounding him physically but for wounding his pride, the results of this would make the bloody mist look damn inviting, Zabuza swore the lake nearby would remain eternally red from the blood he would spill from this boy. He began to close the distance towards where he heard the boy's heartbeat when suddenly he disappeared.

Naruto stared down into the mist from a branch on a nearby tree. It seemed that Zabuza was running low on chakra, the mist wasn't nearly as thick, nor did it cover as much area as it had previously. This had allowed him to easily sense a nearby rock to Kawarimi with, his chakra easily punching through Zabuza's chakra, which was stretched thin trying to maintain the mist. There was no need to fight the man on his terms, terms Naruto was certain he would lose at, instead, he would let him try and maintain the mist as long as possible, draining himself even further before he struck again. The only strikes that had connected had been due to surprise and Zabuza not taking him seriously, such strikes would no longer suffice. No, now it was time to simply overwhelm him, luckily he was physically wounded, and largely drained of chakra, otherwise, Naruto doubted whether or not this next step would even work. Seeing the mist begin to fade, Naruto quickly brought forth as many water clones as was practical, as soon as he Zabuza through the mist, his face and bandages stained with sweat and water droplets, his clothes stained with blood, Naruto pointed, and the army charged forward.

As Naruto watched he was more glad than ever that Zabuza was wounded and fatigued, despite the numbers, the first fifteen or so went down before ever reaching him, however soon numbers began to prevail, small cuts began to get through, and as Zabuza floundered widely amongst the clones those cuts began to add up, and more serious ones began to get through. Once the final clone was killed, Zabuza stood amongst a drenched field, the Kubikiribōchō embedded in the ground as he leaned upon it, breathing heavily. His chest was almost bare given that most of his top had been shredded, though his chest was coated with a layer of blood from the numerous wounds that dotted his torso. His non dominant arm hung almost limply at his side, though his fingers still twitched slightly, proof that the arm was likely functional, just severely hampered, his dominant arm had two gashes, one along the bicep, the other along his forearm from when the size of his blade had prevented him from raising a sufficient defense, his legs were relatively unharmed since the clones had not wanted to go low and be crushed by the ones behind them before doing damage, though a few small nicks could be seen, the only other significant mark was the one Naruto was the most proud of, a small cut above Zabuza's left eye which was leaking blood down the side of his face and directly into a eye that all but burned Naruto's soul.

"YOU ARE NOT ENOUGH TO BRING ME DOWN BOY!" Zabuza yelled, the fact that he was still standing while coated was intimidating, though it was hampered by the heavy pants that punctuated his sentences and the heaving of his chest, each of which brought forth more blood, Zabuza lifted his blade from the ground and began to take slow methodical steps forward, "I WILL RIP YOU APART!" He staggered as he moved forward, clearly in great pain, driven by a motivation that held unconscious and perhaps even death at bay. Another five steps were made before he stumbled again while trying to raise three needles embedded themselves in his neck.

Just think a figure jumped from the shadows of the forest landing on the damp ground, a mere few feet from Zabuza's collapsed corpse. A white mask looked Naruto's way making the red pattern more visible as the eyes were completely hidden behind. "I thank you for injuring my target. It makes my job less painful." a soft feminine sounding voice came from the masked wearing shinobi as Naruto tilted his head away

"Who are you and why are you here."

The new shinobi bent down picking up Zabuza's body, ignoring the blood now soaking into the blue attire, "I am a Hunter-nin from Kiri, I was on a mission to capture and kill One Zabuza Momochi. I must thank you again for helping me with my mission."

Before Naruto could respond, the hunter-nin vanished taking the corpse on the sword wielding man. After a few moments of since Naruto let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He muscles un-tensed as he looked up to the darkening sky as his eyes shattered, going back to his original cracked state making them shine off the rising moon. Naruto didn't flinch as a small droplet of water fell from the sky hitting his cheek, before sliding down his chin till it fell down his neck. More and more droplets of water started to fall from the sky, Naruto lowered his head back to the ground overlooking the small currents in the seemingly endless ocean. Naruto followed the trail of blood going up the forest floor and up to a large tree making Naruto's eyes widen, remembering the previous events. Regaining some of his strength, he started a small not over to the tree was his downed sensei laid. Her eyes barely open, Naruto managed to see her exotic colored eyes peeking at him through her eye slits. "Kurenai-sensei, are you okay?" he said softly making her look up and give a soft nod of her head "H-hai."

Naruto gently put his open palm on her bloody stomach earning a yelp from the downed sensei. Naruto sent her an apologetic smile as her face started to heat up from embarrassment and pain. She turned her head making her eyes follow his. "Y-your ey-eyes." She stuttered out, her voice laced with pain as Naruto took his hand away from her bloody torso. He removed his coat and slowly wrapped it around her wound making her wince from the sudden action. "This might hurt but bare with me okay?" Naruto said locking eyes with her own, her crimson meeting his reflective own. He wrapped one arm around her waist, his other hand under her legs picking her up until he was carrying her bridal style. Kurenai trembled slightly at the sudden jolt of pain that flowed through her midriff. She felt herself lean her head on the young man's chest as she occasionally flinched at the rain dropping onto her body. She looked up to see her 'new' change to Naruto's eyes. She felt herself become mesmerized as she watched her ruby eyes shine within his.

"Kurenai-sensei, do you know the way to Tazuna-san's house?"

"K-keep going st-straight, the en-entrance s-s-shouldn't be too f-far."

"Arigato."

Despite the situation, she felt her ears start to warm up, the feeling of being held so close, his wet yellow hair now falling into his eyes giving him an almost regal glow. She felt her eyelids start to shut and her body snuggle itself closer into Naruto's chest. Kurenai's slow steady breaths sounded relieving to Naruto. Her condition seemed a little too bad as she still held an open wound on her torso. Internally damage could play a key favor into how long her recovery cycle would take. He relocated his eyes back onto the trail in front of him, letting his mind start to wander. He felt exhaustion finally start to creep up on him as he breathed in and out, in hopes to steady his erratic breaths. His muscles started to weaken sending small shockwaves down his nervous system. More clouds started to form sending more rain down onto the forest floor starting to obscure Naruto's vision more and more.

The rain started to get heavier, making Naruto start to shiver making his spine stiffen up in anticipation.

He needed to hurry up and get to Tazuna-san's house before fate decides his future for him and Kurenai.