Here's Chapter 3, Enjoy.

Chapter 3

Making Waves

As Naruto approached the main gate he saw that Tazuna, Sakura and Sasuke were there already waiting for the mission to begin. Sasuke was leaning against one of the gates while Sakura swooned over every breath he took and Tazuna was swigging from yet another bottle of sake. Kakashi wasn't in sight but Naruto knew where the Jonin would be, saying goodbye to the Memorial Stone. As much as Naruto wanted to tell Kakashi that Obito was alive, he knew that until he worked out what happened he couldn't tell anyone anything about the future. If what he knew was even the future that was going to happen, he didn't want to cause a panic over something that might not even happen.

There was also the fact that he couldn't predict what would happen if he did choose to tell someone, would Kakashi go running off to try and bring Obito back, would they just lock Naruto up and say he was insane thanks to the Kyuubi? If Kakashi did go after Obito that could just bring Pain to the village a lot sooner and that was one thing that Naruto didn't want happening any earlier than it had too, if it had to happen at all.

"Shrimp." Tazuna greeted

"Drunk." Naruto replied with a smirk, as he put his pack down.

"What's that Naruto?" Sakura asked, having briefly torn her attention away from Sasuke.

"What's what?"

"That thing on your back?"

"There's called tonfa." Naruto slid one from the holster and spun it a few times. "I figured that I'd get something to fight with and these just called out to me."

"Why would we need to fight? It's just an escort mission."

"Yeah, I know but there might be bandits or something." Out of the corner of his eye Naruto saw Tazuna tense and his sake bottle paused briefly before it completed its trip to his lips.

"If anything happened Sasuke would deal with it, right Sasuke?" Naruto sighed as Sakura's attention was turned to the emo of the team. Shrugging the blonde just put the Tonfa back into the holster and sat next to his pack, making sure he'd brought everything he needed. He'd noticed that under the look of disinterest Sasuke wore the Uchiha had actually paid attention to what he'd said.

Before coming to meet up with his team Naruto had gone to Ichiraku and had breakfast, telling the ramen cooks he was going on a mission and wouldn't be around for at least a few days. He'd passed his apartment keys to Ayame, asking her to drop by and water his plants every couple of days until he came back. There was the added bonus of not having the risk of losing his keys on the mission, like last time. It had cost him a pretty penny to get new locks fitted.

"Kunai, shuriken, repair kit, tags, smoke bombs, wire, spare clothes, water, ramen cups." Naruto muttered to himself as he went through his supplies. He smiled as he lifted something out of his bag. "Happy Gama." He patted the fat frog wallet in his hand before carefully placing it back into his bag, making a little bed for it out of his spare clothes. He really did love that frog wallet. Closing his pack, Naruto lean back against the gate and shut his eyes.

When he opened them he was sitting in front of the Kyuubi's cage. Standing up and approaching the bars he looked into see that Kurama was sleeping.

"Hey Furball, wake up!" He shouted and was blasted backwards by a wave of energy.

What do you want brat? Kurama asked as Naruto approached the cage again.

"You have any idea how we can keep Zabuza and Haku alive?" They were running out of time and Naruto couldn't come up with any workable ideas.

Tell them Gato will kill them once the job's over.

"They won't believe me."

Kill Gato, if he's dead he can't pay them. They wouldn't have any reason to go after the drunk.

"You know how I feel about killing."

I know, only if absolutely necessary but doesn't this count? One life for two right now and who know how many in the future. Naruto fell silent. You might not like it but sometime killing is the only option.

"I'll find some other way. Haku didn't want to kill me or Sasuke, maybe I can get through to him."

Your funeral, but if things start going badly on the bridge I'm taking over. You might be willing to die for what you believe in but I'm not ready to go just yet.

Naruto nodded and left his mindscape, his eyes opened and his hand shot up on reflex to grab Sakura's wrist before her hand could touch his shoulder. His grip made the pinkette squeak in surprise and try to pull her hand back but couldn't break out of Naruto's hold. Blinking a couple of times Naruto let go of Sakura's wrist and apologised, noticing Kakashi standing nearby and watching him Naruto stood, shouldering his pack.

"Alright, let's go!" Naruto shouted, getting back into character. Kakashi followed with Tazuna having Sakura and Sasuke behind them. Naruto made sure to avoid the dog poop that was on the ground as he took his first steps outside of the village.

The journey to the Nami no Kuni was mostly the same as Naruto remembered it except for a couple of bandit attacks and a spot of bad weather. He'd kept in character and let Sasuke show off against the bandits while he took down the ones Sasuke wasn't close enough to. The downside of that of course was hearing Sakura go on and on about how strong and cool Sasuke was. Whenever they camped for the night Naruto would ask Kakashi for some help learning the fighting forms for tonfa and while he wasn't an expert using them Naruto was quickly becoming adept thanks to the use of his Shadow Clones, though he kept their training a secret for now. He'd make some to keep watch during the night and have some train so he'd get the memories when they dispelled in the morning.

They travelled for a few days before coming to the area where the Demon Brothers had attacked them but due to the bad weather there was more than one puddle on the ground. Naruto's eyes flicked between the pools of water but he couldn't pick out which one the Brothers would appear from, he tried to see if Kakashi reacted to one in particular but the Jonin didn't show any signs of noticing a danger nearby.

Having walked past all the puddles Naruto assumed that this was just something else that was different, like the bandit attacks but as he started to relax, that was when he heard the rattling of chains and turned just in time to see Kakashi wrapped in a spiked chain with the Demon Brothers pulling it tight. Sakura screamed, Tazuna tensed up in fright and Sasuke stared on impassively, Naruto meanwhile was fighting his body's instinct to react. He could just about make out the pieces of the log Kakashi had used for his Substitution Jutsu in the dirt that had been kicked up but didn't see any sign of where Kakashi was hiding, not that he had much time to look anyway. The Demon Brothers made their move but instead of targeting him like he remembered, they moved on Tazuna straight away, not thinking three kids were worth their time, either that or they wanted to get their mission over with and then have some fun terrorizing a bunch of fresh Genin. However just like he remembered Sasuke was there with a shuriken and kunai pinning the chain to a tree trunk. The Demon Brothers separated from their chain before Sasuke could attack and advanced again this time targeting them, one going to Sasuke and the other charged at Naruto as Sakura stood in front of Tazuna with a kunai ready, backing up against a tree.

Being prepared this time Naruto didn't freeze and reached for his tonfa, ready to meet his opponent head on but as he pulled on his weapons, the handles caught on the harness. Naruto continued to tug at the tonfa as panic started to set in but they refused to be drawn, seeing his opponent's clawed gauntlet swinging towards his throat and knowing he needed to do something quickly he did what he always did. He trusted his instincts.

He lunged forward, getting inside of the swing and out of the claws path, as he moved forward he drew his head back before throwing it forward with his bodyweight behind it. Naruto drove his forehead protector into his opponent's face. Hearing a crunch and a howl of pain, Naruto allowed himself a small satisfied smile before he was kicked backwards. He rolled to his feet quickly and finally managed to draw his tonfa, grinning at the broken nose of the Demon Brother.

"Want to try that again or do you give up?" Naruto taunted, spinning his tonfa lazily.

"You're dead runt!" Gōzu spat, or was it Meizu? Naruto could never remember which one was which but left that thought alone, deciding to call the Chunin in front of him Gōzu, as his opponent charged at him. Moving to meet the charge Naruto ducked under the gauntlet at the last second, probably losing a few hairs in the process and stuck out with a punch but Gōzu pivoted to the side and turned his initial slash into an elbow striking Naruto in the temple. Gōzu then followed up the elbow strike with a backhand with his gauntleted hand. Naruto's sleeve was slashed open as the blonde raised his guard but a follow up punch to Naruto's temple knocked the blonde off balance even more. Staggered from the hit Naruto stumbled to the side and brought his tonfa up in time to block a shuriken, Kurama funnelled a little of his chakra into Naruto to clear the blonde's head and received a mental thanks in return.

Don't get over confident just because you broke his nose. You're in an undertrained and underexperienced body, you don't possess the speed and strength you're used too.

Faking a dazed state Naruto managed to lure Gōzu in, he dropped to a knee, letting a tonfa fall to the ground and put a hand on his head making it look like he was trying to regain his wits. What Gōzu saw was too tempting a target to give up but what he couldn't see was the grin on Naruto's face as he let the tonfa he still held swing around so the long part was no longer resting against his forearm.

Waiting till the last second as Gōzu started to taunt him Naruto focussed his chakra into his arm and the tonfa before violently bringing it up between Gōzu's legs. Needless to say Gōzu soon forgot about taunting Naruto and grasped the injured area, unintentionally stabbing himself with the poisoned gauntlet he wore. Jumping to his feet as Gōzu fell to his knees Naruto leapt into a spin kick, the top of his foot cracking against Gōzu's temple sending the Chunin to the ground unconscious.

Taking a couple of seconds to catch his breath he heard a grunt behind him and saw Sasuke being kicked away as Meizu?, he really needed to get better at remembering people, charged at Tazuna with Sakura still standing in the way. Acting without thinking Naruto sped forward, picking up his fallen tonfa as he went, getting to Sakura and Tazuna a second after Sasuke and filled his tonfa with chakra to reinforce them as he brought up a cross-guard, standing in front of the three of them.

Swing. He heard Kurama say to him, trusting the Bijuu at his word Naruto spun his weapons so the long parts were pointing straight up and lashed out bringing his guard down as he pulled his arm away from reach other. The result surprised everyone present as a blue cross of chakra was sent out and blasted the Kiri-nin away. Meizu crashed into a tree and slumped to the ground, Naruto had enough time to stare at his tonfa dumbly before swaying and falling over. Kakashi appeared in time to catch Naruto before he hit the ground and lay him down. The Jonin then quickly tied the unconscious Chunin to a tree, breaking their fingers to make sure they couldn't use any jutsu to escape.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're alive!" Sakura said in surprise. "We thought…"

"I'm a Jonin for a reason Sakura, a simple Substitution Jutsu can be very effective, I can see you want to know why I stayed hidden though." Kakashi said lazily as he checked Naruto's vitals, noticing a small scratch on the back of Naruto's neck, most likely from the backhand strike he'd taken eariler. "I wanted to see what they were after, whether to just kill some Konoha-nin or something else." Kakashi levelled his visible eye at Tazuna. "Is there something we need to know bridge builder? They were after you, and caused this." He tilted Naruto's head to the side. "See this scratch, this is the reason one of my Genin is dead."

Sakura gasped as her hands covered her mouth, her eyes welling up and Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow, looking at Naruto as he lay on the ground.

"But…but it's only a scratch." Sakura whispered.

"Gōzu and Meizu, also known as the Demon Brothers, a pair of Chunin missing-nin from Kirigakure. They specialty is relentless assault they won't stop until they're either dead or their mission is complete. The claws on those gauntlet's they wear are coated in a deadly poison, it's a miracle that Naruto lasted as long as he did." Kakashi stood and slowly approached Tazuna, the old man's face was pale as snow and his entire body was shaking as what had happened struck him.

Naruto wasn't dead, or even close to being dead, he was in fact in perfect health, apart from a little exhaustion from sending out that chakra wave. Kurama had burnt the poison out of his system as soon as it had entered so he was never in danger but seeing that Kakashi wanted to make point Naruto decided to play along and lay as still as he could to see where it ended up.

"You are the reason Naruto will never get the chance to achieve his dream of being Hokage. You are the reason I have to tell the Hokage that the boy he sees as a grandson returned to the village sealed in a scroll rather than on his own two feet. Naruto worked hard to become a ninja, he mastered a clone jutsu that could kill your average Chunin and apprehended a traitor before he even became a Genin. He had potential to become an exceptional ninja and had only just began to fully apply himself but this is as far as he'll ever get." Kakashi continued, "You withheld information that was vital to the mission putting not only your life on the line but also my team's. The Demon Brothers were after you, this should be at least a B-rank mission, possibly an A-rank dependent on what else lies in store ahead of us if we choose to continue. With all that's happened I am well within the rules that you agreed to upon requesting this mission to either drag you back to Konoha and have your punishment decided there or make a summary sentence right now and leave you to whatever I decide. Either way you're looking at long term imprisonment or death."

Tazuna dropped to his knees as tears started to slowly trickle down his face.

"Please, my home, we barely managed to scrape the money together to pay for a C-rank mission. We're in desperate need of help, Gato is bleeding our country dry and the only hope we have of surviving to the end of the year is the bridge I'm building." Tazuna fell forward, touching his head to the ground between his hands. "I'm begging you, help me save my country. I'll give you anything you want, you can take everything I own and return to your village with me in chains, I won't fight or try to escape from you, I'll accept any punishment I'm given even if I'm condemned to death. Just…just save my home. Please."

"It's not just my decision to make, it affects my Genin too so let's have them make the decision. Sakura, Sasuke, what do you say?"

"Leave." Sasuke grunted without hesitation.

"I…I think we should help, it sounds like things are really bad there." Sakura said timidly, not looking at Sasuke fearing the look of disapproval in his eyes.

"So that's one for helping and one against, this is a pickle we're in. There's only one way to decide now, what do you say, Naruto?"

"We started this mission, might as well finish it." Naruto said as he sat up and stretched, wiping the dried blood off his neck. "There's no way I could be the leader of a village that leaves an entire country to die." Naruto got to his feet and swayed slightly. "Whoo, headrush. Anyway, whatever the rest of you do I'm going ahead with the mission, with or without you."

"You're alive!" Sakura shouted, "But Kakashi-sensei said…."

"Deception is a cornerstone of being a Shinobi, Sakura you need to look underneath the underneath. Naruto was just hit by the shock of sending out a chakra blast like that." Kakashi explained as he put a hand on Naruto's shoulder to keep him steady on his feet. "We live in a world that's filled with lies and mistrust, you can't take anything at face value. I needed to know why Tazuna was being targeted and know I do, Gato doesn't want the people of Nami no Kuni to finish their bridge because it will cut into his profits the best way to stop that from happening is to kill the bridge builder." Kakashi turned to look at the unconscious Chunin tied to the tree.

"Now to deal with those two." Kakashi slowly walked towards the Demon Brothers. "You might want to go and set up a little campsite, there's a clearing a little way into the trees. We need to know what they know." He pulled a kunai from his pouch. "You probably don't want to see what I'm about to do." Sakura paled and with a light push on the back from Naruto slowly walked into the trees with Sasuke leading the way and Tazuna following her. "You too Naruto."

"I have a question first." Kakashi looked back over his shoulder, hearing Naruto speak caused the trio in the forest to stop and listen.

"And that question is?"

"What would you have done?"

"Hm?"

"What would you have done? Gone back to the village or continued the mission?" Kakashi slipped his kunai back into his pouch and with a sigh turned to face Naruto.

"Why do you want to know?"

"I want to know what sort of person you are." Naruto holstered his tonfa. "I know who everyone else is, Sasuke is obsessed with whatever his goal is and only wants to get stronger, he's only putting up with me and Sakura because he has to be in a three man squad. Sakura is mostly focussed on Sasuke and barely tolerates my existence but she could be a great kunoichi, she just need to get past being a fangirl. She's smart and kind that's why she chose to help instead of go home. Out of everyone here, Sakura's the best person. Tazuna, he's the easiest to understand, he's a man who loves his home so much he's willing to put his life on the line to save it and won't back down when he's threatened."

"And what about you?"

"Me?" Naruto looked down and put a hand on his stomach. "I'm just a guy who's making the best out of life that he can. I never knew my parents and for some reason the village hates me, I'm…I was a failure but not anymore. I used to make boasts about being the Hokage, now I'm making a promise." Naruto pulled a kunai from his pouch and quickly sliced his palm, closing his hand into a fist and letting the blood slowly drip between his finger. "I am going to become the Hokage, not so people pay attention to me but to protect my home. I vow to protect everyone, whether they're from Konoha or not. If people need help then I'll be there no matter what. I'm going to be the Hokage that leads Konoha into a world of peace." Naruto stared Kakashi dead in the eye. "I know who I am, so who are you?"

Kakashi didn't answer at first, walking towards Naruto and taking his bleeding hand, wrapping some bandages around it even though the cut had started heal. As he made sure the bandage was tight Kakashi started to speak.

"A friend once said to me 'Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum.' If I'd been on my own or with a Chunin I'd continue the mission and once the bridge had been completed, take Tazuna back to the village but being with three fresh Genin who are outside the village for the first time…I would've had two choices. Return to the village with Tazuna and see what the Hokage had to say or make camp here and send a message back to the village requesting back-up, which I am actually thinking of doing." Kakashi looked back over his shoulder. "It's all dependent on what these two have to say, although they're from Kirigakure so what I had planned probably won't be very effective."

"Well, the one I fought stabbed himself with those claws. We could offer to get them help."

"Those who work with poisons always make sure they are either immune or had a high resistance to the poison they use. He'll be fine and his chakra has already started to heal the wounds. Any other ideas?"

Careful, he's testing you. Kurama cautioned as Naruto opened his mouth to speak.

"We could just ask them." Naruto watched Kakashi's face drop as he voiced his suggestion.

"We don't really have time to interrogate them here, anyone they may be working with will probably come to investigate eventually." Kakashi pulled two scrolls from his pouch and quickly wrote down a report and a request for back-up in one, before walking towards the Demon Brothers. "The two of you are going on a trip to Konoha." Kakashi unraveled the other scroll and flipped through some handseal but before he could press his hand to the scroll Meizu spoke up.

"Wait, at least tell me how you knew we were there."

"Your puddle was clean, all the others were muddy." Kakashi replied slamming his hand to the scroll, simultaneously putting the Demon Brothers under a stasis jutsu and sealing them into the scroll. The Copy Ninja then sped through some more handseals and once again put his hand to the ground, in a puff of smoke a pug wearing a Konoha headband appeared in front of Kakashi.

"Yo." The pug said raising a paw.

"Pakkun, I need you to take these scrolls back to Konoha." Kakashi held up one scroll. "Give this one to the Hokage and the other needs to be delivered to Ibiki."

"Do I really have to go to that sadist?"

"I'm afraid so, I have some prisoners for him to interrogate asap. This mission has taken an unexpected turn and any information he can get out of these prisoners will be a great help." Pakkun sighed as he heard Kakashi's reasons for sending him to the Torture and Interrogation Force.

"Fine, I'll go to Ibiki but you owe me." Pakkun took the scrolls in his mouth and sped off down the road, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.

Kakashi stood and walked back to Naruto. Putting a hand on the blonde's shoulder and turning him round, Kakashi started to lead Naruto into the forest.

"We'll camp here for the night and move out at first light. Pakkun will've reached the village by then and given Ibiki's track record he'll have broken the Demon Brothers by nightfall, after that the Hokage will have organized our back-up and they'll be sent out the following morning. If all goes will they'll arrive in Nami a day or two after us." The Copy Ninja said, after walking for a minute Kakashi stopped and with his hand still on Naruto's shoulder caused the blonde to stop too.

"Kakashi-Sensei?"

He's sensing your chakra, to see if you're lying. Watch how you answer. Kurama warned.

"Did you notice anything earlier? Before the attack?" Kakashi asked.

"What do you mean?" Naruto replied.

"I want to know whether you saw something or knew something about the attack before it happened."

"I didn't see anything before, I heard the chains and turned to see you wrapped up in them."

"It's just that when I was watching who the Demon Brothers were going after I noticed that you seemed to be fighting your own reactions. It's not uncommon for Genin to freeze up during their first battle and Sasuke would have to come to save you if you had."

"Like I need him to save me." Naruto spat, sensing Kurama sighing at his reaction. "I was going to pulverize them but knew I couldn't leave Sakura alone."

"She wasn't alone, Sasuke was there."

"He wouldn't have done anything to help her."

"But he did, he jumped in front of her before you jumped in front of him."

"That wasn't for Sakura, that was for the mission. If Tazuna died we would've failed the mission and Sasuke's ego wouldn't let that happen."

"You could be right but when we were going past the puddles, I saw your eyes moving between them and looking at me. So I'm going to ask again." Kakashi's grip on Naruto's shoulder tightened slightly, though his voice stayed as relaxed as usual. "Did you know about the attack?"

"NO!" Naruto shouted, shoving Kakashi's hand off his shoulder and stepping into the Jonin's personal space. "How could I? This is the first time I've been outside the village and you would've noticed if someone was talking to me while we've been on the road." Kakashi studied Naruto's angry face for a minute before nodding.

"That's true, I just needed to be sure. You were acting suspicious, I suppose it could've been adrenaline though." Kakashi patted Naruto's shoulder before starting to walking towards the clearing again.

'That was close.' Naruto thought to himself as he took a few breaths to slow his heartbeat. Getting angry and choosing his answers carefully was just enough to slip through Kakashi's questions without actually lying. True, it could be classed as lying by omission mostly but Naruto didn't worry about that. This technically was his first time out of the village, even if for him it was for the second time.

I keep telling you to be wary of that one. Kurama said. Do you think it's coincidence that you were put onto a team where the Sensei has the Sharingan?

"What do you mean by that?"

You know what happened to me, use that pebble you call a brain and think about it.

Naruto slowly started to follow Kakashi as he thought about Kurama's question, stopping the blonde spun around and punched a tree. His fist leaving an indent that splintered the surrounding wood. Naruto didn't feel any pain, only the pounding of his heart, he stood there breathing heavily as he tried to control his temper. How had he not seen it before, it was all there in front of him yet he'd been blind to it.

So you worked it out then. Kurama chuckled. Bijuu are susceptible to the control of the Sharingan which extends to Jinchurikki hence why none of you are capable of performing more than the most basic Genjutsu at most, if any at all. While the old man may have faith in you he has to put the village first and probably had to do something to quiet the Elders.

"Just…just shut up." Naruto closed his eyes and waited for his heart to slow down.

Someone's coming.

Naruto didn't reply as he pretended to pee.

"Naruto? Where are you?" Sakura called out from between the trees.

"I'm over here Sakura." He replied. "I just needed to pee real bad. I'll be at the camp in a minute."

"Oh…okay, I'll let Kakashi-Sensei know you're alright." Naruto waited as he listened to Sakura's footsteps fade away.

"Damn."

What?

"Now I really do need to pee." Naruto heard Kurama sigh and could picture the fox rolling his eyes as he took care of business.

The Following Morning

Naruto and Sasuke quickly packed up their campsite and covered up the fact that they'd been there, in case any more enemy ninja were tracking them. As they continued to walk down the road Naruto was waiting for Zabuza to appear, he saw the Demon of the Mist in every shadow and behind every tree. No matter how hard Naruto tried to calm himself down he couldn't and as a bush rustled he launched a kunai into it, hearing a dull thunk as it impacted with it's target.

"What did you do that for Naruto?" Sakura questioned angrily, stalking toward him..

"Sorry, just a little on edge after yesterday." He replied as he went to see what he'd hit. Moving the branches of the bush aside he saw a snow white rabbit. Picking it up by it's ears, he retrieved his kunai and turning around Naruto grinned stupidly. "I've got lunch." Seeing Kakashi eye the rabbit reminded Naruto that this had happened before, he'd reacted the same way except he'd hit the rabbit this time.

But the rabbit meant only one thing, causing Naruto's grip on the rabbit's ears to tighten, Zabuza was coming and sooner than expected.

"Get down!" Naruto shouted at the same time as Kakashi seeing Kubikiribōchō speeding towards them. Kakashi dove onto Sasuke and Tazuna, knocking them to the ground as Naruto tackled Sakura a split second before the blade passed through the space her head had been in.

Everyone kept their heads down until they heard the sword impact a tree. Slowly lifting his head Naruto saw

Kubikiribōchō had sliced halfway through the tree before stopping and crouched on the handle, staring down at them was Zabuza Momochi. Seeing the Demon of the Mist and feeling the killing intent radiating from him, Naruto could only think of one thing to say.

"Fuck."

That's all I've got for now.

Until Next Time

BasicTrainer