Hey guys. I had a bit of fun screwing around with Team Twelve this chapter. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Sekaioni
The next morning, Team Twelve woke up to an embarrassing moment. Nagi struggled to breathe, as his face was pressed into Aki's cleavage. The jonin had her arms wrapped around his head and her legs were locked around his waist, preventing him from escaping. Naruto and Michiko, on the other hand, were cuddling, their faces barely a centimeter apart. Needless to say, everyone in the house had a noisy wake-up call.
Kushina, recognizing the sound, giggled at the success of her little prank. After the team had fallen asleep, she went back and snuck into the room to change their positions. Hey, she was an Uzumaki! And it was law that those of the Uzumaki clan were required to pull pranks!
Menma and Natsumi winced as they heard multiple thuds. Taro merely cocked an eyebrow and wondered what was happening. In the next room, Sai and Kakashi blinked as Sasuke scowled and Sakura screeched in shock. Tazuna and Tsunami glanced in the direction of the noise as Inari scowled at what he perceived as carefree behavior.
As the shinobi dressed up, Tsunami started to make breakfast. Just as she started to boil the rice, Naruto, who was finished changing his clothes, asked, "Is there any way I can help, Tsunami-san?"
The woman nodded and said, "You can help me set the table, Naruto-san. Thank you!" As the two worked in the kitchen, the rest of the shinobi and Tazuna's family filed in. Sitting at the table, Kakashi commented, "Teams, it's time for us to train harder for our next encounter with Zabuza and his accomplice."
Glancing at a torn picture on the wall, Sakura asked, "Hey, Tazuna, what's with that picture?" Tazuna explained the history behind the picture, much to Tsunami's displeasure.
Frowning, she reprimanded, "Father! You know better than to mention that in front of Inari!"
Reaching the breaking point, the boy scowled and yelled, "It doesn't matter!" As the shinobi turned to him, he continued, "You should all just leave!" He ran out of the room and went upstairs.
Tsunami sighed and said, "I'm sorry about Inari. Ever since his father died, he's been like that." Tazuna looked down sadly. The rest of the meal was eaten in silence.
The three teams went into a clearing filled with trees. Kakashi declared, "Alright. Today, I'll be teaching you how to climb trees-"
In disbelief, Sakura responded, "But we already know how to do that!"
Sighing, the silver-haired jonin finished, "Without using your hands."
Sakura, still not understanding, yelled, "That's impossible!" As if they had rehearsed it, Kakashi, Kushina, Aki, Sai, Taro, Menma, Natsumi, Naruto, Nagi, and Michiko all walked up the trees, much to Sakura's and Sasuke's disbelief. Sakura yelled, "How did you do that?"
Kushina asked, "Don't you know any chakra control exercises? They talked about tree walking, water walking, and tree hopping in the academy, right?" To her disappointment, Sakura shook her head with a look of confusion on her face.
As Kakashi taught the two genin the basics of tree walking, Teams Eleven and Twelve walked away to train on their own. Taro and Sai tagged along, since they already knew the tree walking exercise. Naruto asked, "Mother, will you help me with my kenjutsu?"
Kushina said, "Alright! I'll help you work on protecting those blind spots, along with fixing your footing. Now then, come at me!" She drew her katana and dashed at Naruto, who pulled out a butter knife he bought two weeks ago and manifested it into a sword that looked a lot like Kubikiribocho, just without the hole in the center.
As mother and son clashed in the clearing, Aki told the remaining genin to spar with each other as well. Since she was the only one left with nothing to do, she decided to do the tree walking exercise, the kunai balancing exercise, the leaf sticking exercise, and the senbon balancing exercise all at once.
Unknown to the group, Inari glared at them from behind a tree. He watched as they trained, and thought that they didn't know about what they were getting into. He mumbled under his breath as he walked back to his house.
At dinner, the adults watched in silent amusement as Sasuke practically stuffed himself and Sakura ate just enough to get the minimum amount of nutrition needed to not starve. The other genin, however, were not as amused. They all knew that a ninja should consume a large amount of calories, but not eat too much.
Suddenly, Sasuke leaned over and vomited, to Sakura's horror. As he wiped his mouth, he yelled, "More food!" Everyone frowned at his lack of manners.
Inari finally snapped and yelled, "You should just leave already! You'll all just die!" Everyone turned to him. Tsunami yelled his name, but he ignored her. The boy continued, "There are no such things as heroes! Nobody can beat Gato!"
Menma frowned and retorted, "Now listen here, kid-" He was interrupted by the boy.
Inari continued, "You don't know what it's like to suffer! I bet you all have happy lives back where you live!" He would have said more, but a heavy killing intent filled the air.
Everybody looked at the source- Naruto. He shook, trying to hold in his anger. He failed. Suddenly standing up from the table, he yelled, "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" He glared at Inari, and everyone gasped at the change in his appearance.
His skin was pale, just as pale as Sai's, and black cracks were on his face, spreading out from the sides of his eyes. The sclera of his eyes was now grey, and his irises and pupils were pure white. His hair became wild, giving it a ruffled look.
"You know little about pain," rasped Naruto, "and Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei, mother, Sai-chan, and I will know pain more than you ever will! You have a mother and grandfather who love you! Until a month ago, the only people in the village who cared about me were Hokage-jiji, Teuchi-san, Konohamaru-chan and his only friends Udon-chan and Moegi-chan, Anko-chan, Ibiki-chan, and Ayame-nee! So grow up!"
Calming down, the blonde Alice coldly said, "I'm going to go train. Don't bother stopping me." With that, he body flickered away in a flurry of trump card symbols. Everybody stayed sitting, too shocked to move. Inari broke the silence, crying, as he ran back to his room.
With a concerned look on her face, Michiko said, "I'll go after Naruto-kun to make sure he'll be okay." She then ran out of the house to check on her teammate. Aki sighed and shook her head. Kushina, Menma, Natsumi, Taro, Nagi, and Kakashi glanced at the retreating girl sadly, knowing that the geinin cared a lot about her teammate.
…
Naruto snarled as he demolished another tree with a mace. Sighing, he hoisted the weapon on his shoulder and asked, "Why did you follow me, Michiko?" The girl stepped out from the tree she was hiding behind.
Michiko frowned at how he addressed her differently than he usually did and said, "I was worried about you, Naruto-kun. I just wanted to know if you were okay." To her relief, the blonde boy dematerialized the mace and turned to her.
He said, "I'm just a little angry at Inari. He kept talking about things he didn't understand, and it made me upset." Sighing, he walked over to another tree and sat against it. Michiko went over and sat at his side. He stiffened when the girl pulled him into a hug, then relaxed and gently held onto her forearms while leaning into her embrace.
Michiko whispered, "It's okay, Naruto-kun. You have us now- me, Nagi, Aki-sensei, and Team Eleven. We care about you." Naruto's response was to break into tears and hug her back. The two genin stayed there, Michiko gently rocking Naruto back and forth while whispering soothing words into his ears. They stayed in that position until they both fell asleep.
The next morning, a figure walked into the clearing. They stiffened at the sight of the two sleeping genin, then relaxed. Walking over to them, the figure woke them up.
"Wake up, you two. You'll catch a cold sleeping out here." This is what Michiko and Naruto heard when they woke up. They blearily looked up and saw a feminine face looking down at them.
Naruto stretched as he yawned. "Munya~"
Michiko froze and registered the sound. Suddenly, she hugged Naruto and squealed, "So cute!" The girl proceeded to cuddle her teammate, who blushed massively. They quickly separated when they heard a cough from the person who woke them. When the two genin got a good look, they saw a beautiful girl slightly older than them.
The girl said, "I'm sorry for waking you up, but yuou shouldn't really sleep out here." The two blushed once more and apologized. Giggling, the girl asked, "Are you two shinobi?"
A few minutes later, the three children were gathering herbs for the girl's friend. The girl, who introduced herself as Haku, asked, "What do you fight for?"
Michiko cheerfully chirped, "I fight for my friends and the people who can't fight for themselves!"
Naruto replied, "I fight for my friends, family, and the innocent."
Haku smiled and said, "Then you two will become strong." When the two genin gave looks of confusion, Haku added, "You truly become strong when you fight for the sake of others."
As Haku walked out of the clearing, Michiko called out, "I hope your friend gets well soon, Haku-chan!"
Haku looked back and replied, "Thank you, Michiko-san. And by the way, I'm a boy." As he walked away, Haku silently giggled at the shocked faces the two genin made.
As Haku walked out of the clearing, Naruto flashed through a few hand signs and summoned Roukai, one of the smallest World Devils. Roukai was small, about the size of a medium-sized hat. It took the form of an octopus, a rather cute one at that.
However, Roukai was very dangerous. It was a parasite that possessed its host and drained the host's life in order to stay in control. Additionally, it was very strong and was capable of spraying acid and flight.
Bending down to Roukai, Naruto said, "I want you to follow Haku, the girly looking boy who went that way. If you see any lead to Gato, take it. If you see Gato, it's even better, so if you do see him, follow him and gather information. Come back by the time Zabuza recovers, okay?"
Roukai gurgled, "Yes… master…" It leapt into the trees and followed Haku away.
Michiko looked at Naruto questioningly. Noticing her glance, he said, "Haku walks in a way a civilian shouldn't. He walks in a way a shinobi would. I noticed that he was ready to fight and I saw several senbon needles hidden in his sleeve." As he finished his explanation, Nagi walked into the clearing.
He said, "Hey, you two, Aki-sensei and Kushina-sensei are worried…" He realized that they had spent the entire night in the clearing, and smiled. "So," he added, "did you two do anything last night?"
Naruto and Michiko blushed rapidly, realizing what their teammate was implying. Stuttering, the blonde managed to say, "We d-do-don't know w-what yo-you're t-ta-talking ab-about…" Beside him, Michiko nodded rapidly.
When Nagi snickered, Michiko snapped, "Don't laugh at us! If I remember clearly, your face was snuggled in between Aki-sensei's boobs!"
Nagi faltered and retorted, "It wasn't my fault! Plus, I like the smell of flowers! How was I supposed to know that Aki-sensei smelled like lavenders?" His eyes widened and he slapped a hand over his mouth, but the damage was done.
Michiko and Naruto started shaking uncontrollably, and then they ran away, laughing hysterically. Michiko yelled back, "Nagi! I am so telling Aki-sensei about what you said!" Nagi paled and ran after his teammates, screaming bloody murder.
…
Nagi arrived at Tazuna's house far too late. By the time he got back, everyone, sans Team Seven, broke into laughter the moment they saw him. Standing in the corner, Naruto and Michiko smiled far too innocently and cheerfully waved at him.
Huffing, the humiliated boy said, "Looks like it's a good time to mention that you two spent the entire night together out in the clearing." It was his teammates' turn to be subjected to humiliation. The two genin sank to the floor in depression as the tables turned on them.
Feeling that they wasted too much time, Kakashi said, "Come on. It's time for you to train." Everyone turned to him in disbelief.
Aki managed to say, "But Kakashi, you didn't even teach your students tree walking until yesterday! So why are you focusing on training now?" At this, everyone nodded; Kushina did so with a look of disappointment.
Tuning his fellow jonin out, he walked out the door, followed by his students. Well, Sai was the only one who seemed reluctant to follow the man. After all, the only things Kakashi taught them until the mission were basic exercises and teamwork exercises.
The rest of the shinobi followed shortly, but with hesitance, like Sai. For the next few days, the process repeated, except with Kakashi being more active, due to a furious Kushina yelling about how lazy he became over the years.
Finally, it was the day Zabuza would return. Teams Seven and Eleven, along with Team Twelve sans Naruto, headed to the bridge with Tazuna. As they approached the construction site, the mist thickened to the point the group could barely see ten feet ahead of them.
Workers were knocked unconscious, scattered all around the bridge. Kushina, Kakashi, and Aki all dashed over and placed them in areas where they would be safe. After the workers' safety was secured, the shinobi and bridge builder carefully walked onto the bridge.
A few moments later, two figures appeared in front of them. One was Zabuza, who had recovered. Also, he was wearing new pants, with stripes instead of a cow-skin pattern. Next to him was the fake hunter shinobi. Unknown to the group, it was Haku.
"Alright," said Zabuza, "time for a rematch!" Kushina, Aki, and Kakashi readied themselves, and the final clash on the bridge began.
And the fourth chapter is done!
Please review, tell me what you think, constructive criticism appreciated, but no flames. Onishin Tsukitenshi, signing out.