Naruto of the Nine Tails Chapter 11: The Demons in the Mist, a naruto fanfic

Insert disclaimer here

Blah Blah Blah basic text (i.e. description, speech, etc)

Blah Blah Blah Thought or some transaction within someone's mind (also flashbacks)

Blah Blah Blah Kyuubi talking Jutsu will also be bold

BLAH yelling, or emphasis of some sort

((Blah Blah)) author comment/random explanation

Naruto of the Nine Tails

Rated M for language, violence, adult themes, graphic imagery, clowns, gallows humor, rabid fangirls, puns, butchery of the English language, funny hats, and the big comfy chair.

Edited: 7/22/11

A/N

First things first, Haku is going to be a girl like she was supposed to be in the original (I hate higher ups they always screw stuff up, saying a girl can't fight like that HA I fart in your general direction you sexist pig)

ATTENTION: I started a challenge forum so if you have challenges or are looking for something to write check it out.

Description clarifications

Hinata- a long sleeve purple shirt in the style of the one she is shown wearing in both the manga and the anime, black pant tucked into black ankle bindings, black tabi(split toed socks), and a sleeveless version of her usual jacket (minus the fuzzy trim)

Sakura- basically the same outfit she wore in manga accept with the added backpack/personal library that is ALWAYS present. Her hair is already short (the only reason she grew it out was because of Sasuke and seeing as she hates his guts at this point in the story that wouldn't have happened)

Sasuke & Kakashi- no changes

Naruto- walks on all fours (think Valley of the End), and wears only a pair of black pants. His hair/fur is a rusty color (if you want a reference think of the Akatsuki leader's hair)

Chp 11: Demons in the Mist

Somewhere

A crouching figure finished its report to a bandaged man.

"So the old man's not dead after all," mused Zabuza, damn those fools now that the Konoha ninja had been attacked once they would be more alert. Normally this wouldn't be a problem he'd just go in and kill them himself, but from the descriptions he'd been given by the Demon brothers and now Haku he recognized two members of the group protecting the bridge builder: Copy-cat Kakashi and Kyuubi no Naruto. Then there was the Hyuuga, she would essentially nullify his Kirigakure no jutsu. Kakashi and the Hyuuga weren't so much the problem though, it was the Jinchuuriki that worried him.

So, what to do...

He couldn't risk a head on assault for obvious reasons (he had no delusions about defeating an enemy that could fight on the level of the Third Hokage) and now that they'd been attacked once that damn Kakashi would be on high alert so he had almost no hope of being able to do this the sneaky way.

He knew the best course of action would be to cut his losses and run but…

Tazuna's house the next day

Kakashi was feeling uneasy, like he was being watched. The best time for a ninja to attack would have been as he and his team were still on their way to Tazuna's home and unfamiliar with the area, but nothing had happened.

"I'm home, and I brought help," called Tazuna as he entered the house.

"You're just lucky you came to Konoha idiot," grumbled Inner Sakura as she, somehow, pouted in a corner, "Any other village would have killed you for lying to them, just to make an example."

'You know that's probably why he chose to come to us in the first place, right,' Sakura thought back as she walked through the door, this statement promptly shut up her more volatile half (she's the nicer side? a scary thought no?).

"Just send them back they'll just get killed if they go against Gatou," spoke a small voice from somewhere nearby.

Looking to her right where she felt the voice had come from Sakura saw a little boy who couldn't be more then eight glaring daggers at them, "…Who's the pessimist?"

As Kakashi came thru the door Tazuna answered, "That's my grandson, Inari."

"And just why is it that you think that the strongest gennin the Leaf has to offer and two of Konoha's most powerful members can't take on a pencil necked paper pushing like Gatou?" asked Sakura raising a disbelieving eyebrow. In all honesty she had a point, she, Hinata, and Sasuke were the top three in the academy not to mention she'd read about her sensei's exploits (and those were just the declassified missions), and then Naruto was…well Naruto was self explanatory.

"It doesn't matter how strong you think you are Gatou will just kill you!" Inari countered.

"I highly doubt that," said Sakura jabbing her thumb at the door where Naruto had just padded in after Hinata and Sasuke.

Inari was scared shitless. This guy looked more like a demon or an animal than a human, what could have happened to make him like this, "W-what is that?"

"That, as you put it, is Naruto," spoke Kakashi.

"What happened to him? Why's he like that?" asked Tsunami who looked on the verge of tears.

"From the day he was born he held back a great evil that ounce threatened our village," answered Kakashi in a subdued tone as everyone turned toward him, "Unfortunately, a great many of our people took their misfortune out on him and something eventually went wrong with the seal. I have no idea why he did it, but rather than release his prisoner on the people who had tormented him for longer then he could remember and possibly save himself, Naruto gave up his humanity to save us."

What followed this statement could only be described as a deafening silence, nobody said anything, no one dared to breathe as though the slightest disruption would send the world into an irreparable chaos.

Silence

Then…snoring?

Everyone whirled around to stare at Naruto who had, evidently, taken up residence in the corner and was now sleeping peacefully, or at least he was until Sakura and Hinata broke down into laughing fits and woke him up.

The next week and a half passed in the relative monotony as every morning Team 7 would accompany Tazuna and his family to the bridge (Sakura had voiced her concern that Tsunami or Inari could be taken as hostages to get to Tazuna if left alone). There no further instances of 'emo Inari-ness,' as Inner Sakura had so lovingly dubbed Inari's little spat from when they had first arrived; he seemed to have realized that there was at least one person out there who had had it worse then him. Kakashi had informed his team that the next opponent or opponents would be of considerably greater skill and had set them to the "water walking" exercise, originally he had planned on teaching them tree climbing but evidently Sakura and Hinata had already learned it from Anko and Sasuke wouldn't say where he learned it (he would jump off a cliff onto lemon juice covered rocks before he admitted that he had been spying on the girls to figure out how they had been improving so much).

Which brings us to the first 'relative' aspect of the monotony.

It was the second day since Team 7 had arrived and Kakashi had just finished explaining the exercise so we find Sasuke, Sakura, and Hinata attempting, with varying degrees of success, to walk on the water surrounding the bridge. Well to be more accurate Sasuke went swimming every time he stepped off the dock while after some experimentation to figure out what worked Sakura was now working on fine tuning her technique and Hinata had finished and gone back to the bridge. Suffice it to say that this did not sit well with Sasuke (understatement of the century).

'GAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Why can't I get this!' fumed Sasuke as he, once again, climbed onto the small dock attached to the side of the bridge. He couldn't understand why he was having trouble with something that seemed to come so easily to his teammates. Now, this in itself was not the problem, the problem was the internal conflict it caused. His wounded pride demanded that he reclaim his title as the strongest/best as soon as possible, but he was getting nowhere by himself. The obvious, and fastest, solution was to ask one of the girls for tips; something that his pride would not allow. So now it was down to a debate of the lesser of the two evils. Either he could figure it out himself and remain inferior (at least in his mind) longer or take a stab to his pride to ask for help but figure it out faster. After about ten minutes of deliberation he came to the obvious conclusion, so seeing as the nearest source of help was Sakura.

"Oi Sakura!" he called.

Unfortunately drawing his teammate's attention had the unexpected effect of drawing her attention away from what she was doing.

SPLOOSH

Too late Sasuke realized what he had done as Sakura surfaced glaring daggers at him, "Yes Sasuke-kun?" she asked in a voice that was entirely too sweet for the murder in her eyes.

"THIS HAD BETTER BE GOOD SHANNARO!" raged Inner Sakura.

Clearly disconcerted by the look Sakura was giving him Sasuke looked off to the side breaking eye contact, "Um, I was just wondering if... since you seem to be so good at this... if you could um…" he trailed off mumbling his request.

"Sorry didn't catch that," she asked climbing out of the water.

Sucking it up, "Could you help me with this?"

Sakura just stared at him completely dumbfounded; Sasuke was asking her to help; Sasuke was asking her for help. Sasuke asking for help was unheard of; Sasuke asking her for help was a paradox.

Mistaking her silence for indecision rather then disbelief (he's still not looking at her), "Please?" when he still didn't get an answer Sasuke turned to see Sakura searching the sky for… something, "Um what are you doing?"

"Looking for the flying pigs."

"Huh?" What the fuck! Flying pigs? What did that have to do with water walking, "Why?"

"Because the day you ask me for help is the day that hell freezes over and pigs fly."

FACE VAULT

"WHAT?"

"Well I can't really see if hell froze over now can I?" she said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world still searching the sky then, "Ok no pigs so…" she felt his forehead, "…Huh. No fever either."

Finally having had enough of this foolishness Sasuke swats Sakura's hand away, "Honestly, is it really that hard to believe that I might decide to ask for help?" he demanded exasperatedly.

"Yes."

Sweat drop

"Will you help me or not?"

Tapping her chin as though making a very important decision, "OK," she said causing Sasuke to relax, "but you have to answer one question."

"Ok," it was just one question it couldn't be that bad. Could it?

"Which team do you play for?"

FACE VAULT

"What kind of question is THAT!" Sasuke practically screamed.

"A rather simple one," answered Sakura her face expressionless as though analyzing a math problem.

Seeing no way out of it Sasuke decided he might as well answer the question 'But honestly didn't everyone know that?' he wondered. "I like girls."

"Well damn, this is a day of firsts isn't it?" Sakura mused, simply fascinated by these strange happenings.

As if poor Sasuke wasn't confused and frustrated enough from the past few minutes he was, once again, at a loss for words, well almost, "How's that?"

"Well first, this is the first time I've seen you this confused," a comment that thoroughly agitated our favorite avenger. "Second, you actually managed to swallow your pride and asked ME for help, that counts for two by the way," poor Sasuke looked like he was going to have a conniption fit, "And lastly I haven't been proven wrong ever, aside from the 'fieldtrip' where I realized that you were a jerk but that doesn't count, since I was six."

FACE VAULT

Poor Sasuke's face and ego were still bruised from that encounter, though in the end Sakura did help him, though she remained skeptical in respect to Sasuke's sexual orientation (just to piss him off if nothing else).

The water walking and its sideshow aside it had been a week and a half of sitting and watching the construction crew as they constructed the bridge and today had started out no different though shortly after work had started the second "relative" aspect to the otherwise monotonous stay in the Land of Waves decided to show its ugly mug.

"Well looky what we have here," came a condescending voice from the end of the bridge, "a bunch of baby ninja and their sitter trying to protect an annoying bridge builder," it was-

"Gatou," hissed Tazuna.

Now the obvious question would be, "What is he stupid?" but one must keep in mind several key facts contributing to his current arrogance: (1) the only information Gatou has is that Team 7 are Konoha ninja (and let's face it they aren't that intimidating), (2) Naruto is currently curled up out of sight in the shade of some of the construction equipment out of sight, (3) in addition to the usual band of 100 plus heavily armed thugs Gatou has 5 Kumo nukenin working for him all of whom just happened to be Jounin.

And the best part?

He didn't need to pay the ninja.

Again many of you are thinking something along the lines of "WTF? How is he getting off without paying them?" well to answer you question these particular nukenin were homesick. How does working with Gatou for free help them get home without being killed on sight? Easy. They get something that their village wants and use it as a peace offering, and if you haven't figured out what I'm talking about well 'Doomed Kumo Jounin #1' is about to tell you.

"Looks like Gatou was telling the truth she's unmarked, so definitely main house," he said looking straight at Hinata.

"Of course," spoke Gatou, "And this way it saves me the trouble of having to kill that flake Zabuza."

So it is that we find our heroes in a seemingly hopeless situation.

'Well this sucks,' thought Kakashi when all of a sudden several things happened in very quick succession.

But first…

Konoha: Sasuke's Bedroom

It was, in a word, immaculate. Everything was as it should be, everything in its place, nothing out of the ordinary... well one thing was out of the ordinary. If someone were there, they most likely would have soiled themselves as they heard something that sounded suspiciously like "let the bodies hit the floor" whisper thru the room. Upon closer inspection they would realize it was just Sasuke's MP3 player playing "Bodies" by Drowning Pool but they'd still need to change their clothes.

Back in Nami no Kuni

No sooner had the words left Gatou's mouth a thick fog swept over the bridge cutting visibility to almost nothing. Fog this thick wasn't uncommon in Nami but for it to come so suddenly and in the middle of the day was another thing entirly.

Then as if to confirm that something was wrong a series of thuds and cries of confusion, pain, death, and terror filled the air as the gennin Team 7 formed a defensive perimeter around Tazuna. Hinata had activated her eyes and what she saw both relieved and terrified her, a man was running through the mist cleaving flesh and bone, sending gore and blood everywhere as he swept through Gatou's thugs with a sword that she could use as a cot. Three of the ex-Kumo nin were already dead, lying in ragged pieces where they had stood not moments ago, most likely cut down by the swordsman before they even realized that something was wrong while another, one that she could only assume had been alerted to the danger by his comrades' deaths, was fighting Kakashi and losing badly.

At some point during Hinata's horrified observations Naruto had appeared at her side, no doubt stirred from his nap by the cries of the dieing mercenaries, glaring into the mist his tails swaying dangerously behind him.

It was then that 'Doomed Kumo nin #1' came out of nowhere a hand extended to grab Hinata only to have the petite girl strike his side doubling him over while tripping him and using his momentum throw him toward Naruto.

The poor dumb bastard never stood a chance as with a snarl Naruto took the man's still extended arm in one of his tails and swung the man like a hammer into the unforgiving concrete of the bridge dislocating the man's arm with a loud pop before sheathing his clawed hand in the man's chest killing him before removing it with a sickening squelch as he tore the man's rib-cage apart.

Then everything went deathly silent.

Moments later the mist cleared revealing 100 dead thugs, the other 4 Kumo nin, a grouchy looking Momochi Zabuza, Zabuza's sidekick, and a rather alone Gatou.

"What's this I hear about you planning to kill me Gatou?" asked Zabuza, nonchalantly balancing a bloody Kubikiri Houcho on his shoulder. Now let's be fair (not that it matters at this point), Zabuza had been planning to kill Gatou once he outlived his usefulness, but that is neither here nor there.

At the word Gatou Naruto's fuzzy ears twitched, "Gatu?" he asked Hinata indicating the short ugly man that had just wet himself with a still dripping talon.

"Yes Naruto-kun that's Gatou," answered Hinata though she wondered why he was asking.

She wouldn't have to wait long as Naruto snagged the little man's ankle with one of his tails and proceeded back down the bridge toward the village dragging a kicking, screaming, and thoroughly terrified Gatou.

Omake: Flying Pigs

By: EDelta88

"Oi Sakura!" he called.

Unfortunately drawing his teammate's attention had the unexpected effect of drawing her attention away from what she was doing.

SPLOOSH

Too late Sasuke realized what he had done as Sakura surfaced glaring daggers at him, "Yes Sasuke-kun?" she asked in a voice that was entirely too sweet for the look on her face.

"THIS HAD BETTER BE GOOD SHANNARO!" raged Inner Sakura.

"Sorry didn't catch that," she asked climbing out of the water.

Sucking it up, "Could you help me with this?"

Sakura just stared at him completely dumbfounded; Sasuke was asking her to help; Sasuke was asking her for help. Sasuke asking for help was unheard of; Sasuke asking her for help was a paradox.

"Looking for the flying pigs."

"Huh? What does that have to do with-do you hear that?"

"...aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH"

SPLOOOOSH! Sasuke and Sakura get hit by a mini wave as something fell out of the sky into the water in front of them.

Then Ino's popped out of the water, "Cough Hack SPLUTTER SPLUTTER Weeze, ok that is the last time I try to make a jutsu without asking Asuma-sensei"

For a moment Sakura and Sasuke just stared then Sakura turned to Sasuke, "Wasn't exactly what I meant when I said 'flying pigs' but it works I guess."

Omake: Meddling Siblings

By: EDelta88

On the Road to Nami no Kuni: Team 7 campsite

Team 7 and Tazuna had set down for the night just as the sun began to set. It had only been a few hours since Tazuna had finished explaining his situation and everyone was getting ready to go to sleep, minus Kakashi who had first watch.

Hinata was not happy. Why you may ask? Contrary to what you might think her current… ire was not due to the fact that their client had lied to them about the mission parameters. Nor the fact that they were now facing, at the least, a B ranked mission, though she knew it was more likely an A rank. In fact everything was as it should be, with one 'minor' exception… her bedroll was missing.(1)

'Where is it?' she thought as she went through her pack, she knew she had packed it, hell she had even packed a spare in case something happened to the first, but now both of them were gone. 'Ok think Hinata how could this have happened,' they had gotten their mission specs, she had gone home, packed, run to the kitchen to get something to eat, gone back to her room to get her bag, and then left… wait. Turning to the red haired boy curled up next to her, "Naruto did anyone mess with my bag while I went to get lunch?"

Taking a thoughtful pose, "Chibi take sleepy rags," he answered.

By this point Sakura had noticed that something was off with her female teammate, "Is something wrong?"

"Hanabi swiped my bedroll," she growled.

Konoha

"AAACHOOO!"

Glancing over at her student Anko grinned mischievously, "Sounds like your sister figured it out."

"Looks that way," answered Hanabi as she rubbed her nose.

CRACK

Anko looked at Hanabi's now cracked teacup, "That can't be goo-"

CRACK!CRACK!CRACK!CRACK!CRACK!CRACK!

Staring around in abject horror as everything glass, clay, ceramic or otherwise brittle in the room cracked, "I'm screwed aren't I," Hanabi said in a resigned tone.

Waving her hand dismissively, "Nonsense, she'll thank you…eventually."

That really was the operative word, 'eventually.'

'Got to get another C.T. scan,' thought Anko as she pondered the mysterious disembodied voice that seemed to be narating her situation, 'I'M RIGHT HERE YOU KNOW I CAN HEAR YOU DAMNIT!' she screamed in her head, 'GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!'

Back at the Campsite

"I AM GOING TO KILL HER!" by this point Hinata was in a towering rage, threatening many forms of bodily harm (disembowelment, amputation, broken bones, dissection with a spoon, death-by-paper cuts, and the like) upon her sibling for "plotting"against her. Frankly everyone else found this hilarious, even Sasuke cracked a smile (gasp).

"Oh come-hahahaha- come on Hi-haha-Hinata it's not that bad you could sleep with one of us," Sakura said while gripping her sides only to receive a rather stern glare from her friend, "Or you could always use Naruto's tails like you did before," she said referring to the night Hinata had spent in Naruto's cage, which only served to turn Hinata red as a tomato and send Sakura into further fits of hysterical laughter.

"B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-but-" she protested, well attempted to protest as her pubescent mind ran away with the idea of sleeping with the object of her affection.

"Hinata," explained Kakashi, "I don't know what we are going to run into and I can't afford for any of you to be in a less then optimal state."

"B-but it's not-" she began to protest.

"Alright fine," said Kakashi in a commanding voice, "I order you to get some decent sleep," he finished while conveniently leaving out that they could just shuffle bedrolls with the watch but wording it in such a way that she couldn't call him on it later.

Hinata's only answer was to mutter about "interfering midgets" as she went over to her, for lack of a better term, pet and settled into the fluffy goodness that would substitute for her usual bedding, not that she was complaining but still, sleeping with him like this just made her feel...dirty. Like she was molesting a pupy or something.

End Notes

DEAR GOD! I have written, deleted, rewritten, revised, corrected and reworked this chp more times than I care to remember. Seriously I went thru at least ten different scenarios for the interactions with Zabuza before I gave up and bugged muse

Also I haven't decided what I'm going to do with Jiraiya so feel free to toss ideas out there. And remember I do go back and correct/revise/add to chps that I have already posted (in fact I've done so with several chps since the last update)

PS sorry for reposting this I accidentally deleted the original while fixing certain aspects of this chp

Cliff notes

1. Bedroll because it's easier to get out of in a hurry. It consists of a insulating pad and blankets.

2. Kyuubi no Naruto- Naruto of the Nine Tails (hence the name of the fic)

3. Kirigakure no jutsu- hidden in the mist technique

4. Nukenin- missing/traitor/defector ninja

5. Kumo- cloud (as in the village hidden in the clouds)

6. Kubikiri Houcho- head chopping cleaver (Zabuza's Zanbatou)

Muse Rant

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! It feels good to have this up and running (sort of). Delta, being the procrastanator he is, took way too long to finish this. Although, to be fair, he finally started going back to school. (good for him) the bum. I, on the other hand, am almost done with school, for now. (in your face Delta). And now, once again I leave you at the so incapable hands of Delta, may your deity have mercy on you, for he has none.

*walks off a cliff that suddenly appears in his path*

Mock me will you...