Chapter Seven: A Reason To Fight!

Unknown Area

The masked ninja arrived in a swirl of leaves with 'dead' of Zabuza over his or her shoulder. The mask ninja put Zabuza's down on the bed. He/she reached to grasped the senbon needle from his neck. Zabuza's hand shot up and gripped his wrist. The masked ninja let a surprised gasp. Zabuza groaned in pain and with the help of the other occupant in the room sat up.

"Dammit Haku, you're always so rough with those senbon." he said flatly, reaching and grasping the senbon from his neck, winced slightly from the pain of pulling the senbon needles. The now identified masked ninja Haku just chuckled at his master.

"Careful now, I don't want you to ruin that flawless body of yours." Haku said, removing the ninja mask from his face. Haku is a young man with an androgynous appearance, he had long black hair, pale skin and large, dark brown eyes, he has a slender frame and was quite short for his age.

Zabuza didn't respond immediately. They both kept silent for a short period of time before Zabuza broke the silence, grasping his Executioner's Blade.

"Take us to the hideout Haku." He ordered, Haku didn't reply. He put a hand on Zabuza's shoulder and they disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Tazuna's home

Kakashi woke in a start, sweat pouring down his brow, his heart beating frantically against his chest, his breathing became shallow. Kakashi took deep breath to calm his racing heart and breathing. He looked around after he regained composure, trying to figure out where is he and what happened to his genin team.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when the door open and a young woman walked into the room, she saw that Kakashi was awake trying to sit up. She quickly went to his side and helped sit up.

"You shouldn't be moving so much." She admonished him, she stood back and started walking back towards the and paused and turned around to look back to speak again. "I'll let your team that you're awake. They will be up here shortly." She turned around and walked out, closing the door. Her footsteps fading until they weren't heard.

Kakashi stared at door before shaking his head and took out his little book from his pouch and started reading. It didn't pass a minute before Naruto opened the door and walked inside, followed by Sakura, Sasuke, Tazuna and the young woman from before followed shortly afterwards.

"Good to see finally awake sensei." Naruto greeted curtly followed with a curt nod of his head. Kakashi didn't respond but he did greet everyone with a wave and with eye smile. Sakura greet their sensei cheerfully and was relieved that he was finally awake. Sasuke didn't say anything other than nod his greet. The three genin gathered around their sensei's bed.

"So... What happened after I lost consciousness?" Kakashi asked, trying to clear his mind.

Naruto answered his question. "Well... since the Mist's hunter ninja left with the body of Zabuza Sasuke and I had to carry you to Tazuna's house and his daughter Tsunami lead us to a room to lay you down. So here we are." his tone filled with boredom. Sasuke and Sakura nodded their agreement (Sasuke reluctant nodded).

"Sensei, where did you get your Sharingan from?" Sasuke asked, curiosity laced his tone.

The one-eyed jōnin wince , the memory of Obito sacrificing himself just to save him still fresh in his mind. He shook his head to clear his mind.

"I don't really feel like telling the story yet." his tone became filled with guilt and pleading. Not wanting to relive the memory.

Sasuke open his mouth to ask but was cut-off by Naruto.

"Sasuke." his tone was even and hard. Sasuke quieted down but glared at Naruto, to which his ignored. Kakashi nodded his thanks to Naruto, which he gave a nod with a smile in return. Kakashi was about to speak up before he was interrupted by Naruto.

"Kakashi sensei I think Zabuza might be alive." Naruto stated.

"What makes you say that?" Kakashi asked.

"Hunter ninjas decapitate the missing ninja from their village on the spot not somewhere else." Naruto stated. Kakashi rub his chin in thought, remembering the events quite clearly.

"Yes, I can see why you say that and I agree with you." Kakashi replied, still in deep thought, not noticing the unnerving glances that Tazuna and Tsunami shared, or the a spike of fear that flickered in Sakura's eyes.

"Don't you think you guys are over thinking thing?" spoke up Sakura with Tazuna nodded in agreement. Naruto and Kakashi shook their heads almost at the exact same time.

"Think about it Sakura. The hunter ninja didn't use any weapon besides the senbon needles and those aren't the exact weapon to kill someone." Naruto informed the group.

It took a moment but realization flickered in both Sasuke and Sakura's eyes. Sakura was a little scared of facing Zabuza again along with companion. Sasuke was a different story though, he feels anticipation for a fight against someone strong to test himself and he thinks this his chance to shine. Sakura caught Naruto's eyes for a few moments before she looked away.

Kakashi snapped his book shut, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. "I know that I haven't taught you guys much since we became a team but starting tomorrow I'll will seriously train you three to prepare for the battles ahead." he said in a tone that ment business, a glint in his eyes that promise pain, making the three poor genin shiver. He gave an eye smile before starting to read his book again, making the two civilian sweatdrop and the genins sigh.

"Now I'm about to make lunch and it should be done in an hour." Tsunami spoke and heading out the door.

Zabuza's Hide Out

Gatō and two of his body guard stood at door of Zabuza's room, screaming at the top of his lungs about how he couldn't kill the old bridge builder and the little protection that he gotten. He walked nearer to the bed and reach out until his wrist was grabbed by Haku, who stood by the bed.

"Don't you dare touch Master Zabuza." he said lowly and with a malicious tone, scaring the smaller man. Haku broke his wrist, making him whimper in pain and a little fear, his body guard reached for their weapon but their wrist were also grabbed by Haku, killing intent oozing in wave from him.

Gatō shook in fear. "Fine! I'll give you another chance, you better not fail again." he said shakily before him and his guards bolted from the room.

Once Gatō and his guards were far away of earshot Zabuza spoke up. "You didn't need to do that Haku." he muttered, revealing the kunai that he had hidden under the sheet.

Haku shook his head and smiled. "No not yet. He's the only one that's keeping the hunter ninjas off our trail. Maybe after we finish the job." he said, Zabuza just grunted in agreement, still upset that he couldn't kill Gatō at that moment.

"You're far too kind for this Haku." Zabuza muttered. Haku didn't say anything but smiled.

Forest clearing, Near Tazuna's home.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura stood in the clearing, staring at Kakashi who is also at with them. He snapped his book shut, gaining the attention of all three genin. "Alright, I'll skip the part of explaining what is chakra since you know the theory behind, am I right?" Kakashi asked the genins. All three nodded. "Alright, now controlling your chakra is important so you don't waste too much. Naruto, in particular needs to have good control of his chakra since his clan's Taijutsu style, which is known as Gentle Fist, uses chakra."

Kakashi moves closer to the tree. "Now, I want you guys to climb these trees -" he was cut-off before he could finish explaining the exercise by Sasuke.

"What good will this do? This is a waste of time, we'll know how to climb trees sensei." Sasuke said coldly. Kakashi shook his head in disappointment. The Uchiha was rookie of the year and a genius, but he can't figure why Kakashi was having them doing this chakra control exercise. Before he could say anything, Naruto spoke up in a indifferent tone.

"It is not as pointless as you think Uchiha. Like sensei explained just a few seconds ago it will helps on our chakra. When you're using the fireball jutsu, you make it stronger while using less chakra." Naruto said. "And you call yourself an Uchiha." He added. Sakura opened her mouth to say something but didn't, she brought her hand up to hide her giggling. Naruto had an amused smirk on his face while Kakashi merely eyed smiled. Sasuke seethed in anger but stayed quiet.

Kakashi clapped his hand to get their attention. "Now as I was saying before Sasuke intinterrupted me." Sasuke grunted and crossed his arm. "Anyways, this particular exercise helps your chakra reserves and control. When you grasp the exercise, run up and down to master it." He took out three Kunai and threw them near the genins feet. "Get to it." He commanded.

Naruto and Sasuke nodded while Sakura saluted and started the exercise.

Few Hours Later.

Naruto and Sasuke were on one knee, panting in exhaustion. Sakura was sprawled in the ground a few feet away from them, also exhausted. Since Sakura has complete control of her chakra because of her small reaerve she decided to build her reserve by going up and down on tree. Naruto had gotten down after an hour and decided to keep working on it until it is second nature to him. Sasuke also gotten the hang of it and has decided to build on his own reserve.

That's how Kakashi found them when he returned from guarding Tazuna. He sweatdrop when he saw Sakura. He cleared his throat, gaining the tired genius attention. "Hello sensei!" Sakura said in exhausted tone. "Well... it seems you guys have the hang of it. Good work you three." Sakura beamed at the praise, Naruto nodded his thanks, and Sasuke merely grunted. Kakashi motioned them to follow him back to Tazuna's house.

They arrived to the smell of dinner, the genins' stomach growled, making Sakura blush in embarrassment, Naruto gave her an amused look, making poor Sakura more embarassed. An amused smirk tugged on the Uchiha's face. Tsunami served up their share of the food. Sasuke quickly digged into his food, along with everyone else. Tsunami's son merely stared at them, his anger rising, soon he exploded. "You should all leave while you have the chance! You're just going to die anyways!" The boy snapped, the ninjas stared him. Naruto asked why.

Tsunami gained a stern expression. "Inari that is not how you should be treating the ninja that are protecting your grandfather. You should apolo-." She was stopped by Naruto, who turned his attention back towards Inari.

"What is your problem kid?" Naruto asked Inari with a raised eyebrow. Inari wiped his tears angrily and continued to glaring at the blond Hyūga.

"Why do you care anyways!? You ninjas should've stayed back at your ninja village! I bet you guys lived a sheltered life back home! You have no idea what we've suffered!" he spat angrily. Naruto stilled like he has frozen before he angrily stood up and slammed his palms down of the table, making the civilians flinch.

"We don't know about suffering?" he asked lowly, without looking up. He looked up with eyes filled with pain and loneliness. "each one of us has suffered in the past, the Uchiha had his family murdered right before his eyes by his older brother, Kakashi-sensei watched as his teammate pushed out of the way of a boulder that was about to crush him! I have been shunned by the civilian from my village for what I had no control over!" Naruto said hotly. He walked towards the door and without looking back he said. "I'm going to train sensei. Don't bother looking for me." he closed the door behind him.

The room was filled with tense silence. Tazuna broke the silence. "I'm sorry about my grandson's behavior. He's been like that since Kaiza was killed." Inari ran out the room after that sentence was uttered by Tazuna. Tsunami called out to him but she didn't get a reply, she threw a glare at Tazuna before running after Inari. Sakura asked what happen. Tazuna launch into the story of how Inari and Kaiza had met, they kept seeing each other soon he was introduced to the family, and soon he married Tsunami becoming part of the family. The wave was being flooded and was saved by Kaiza, then Gatō came along, bleeding the country dry. Kaiza decided to go against Gatō but it has cost him his life.

After Tazuna was done, Sakura was shedding tears. She was sad the Wave country is suffering. Kakashi was in a solemn mood but he went to look for Inari to try and talked to him. The only person who has not showed any emotion was Sasuke. The Uchiha had a cold look of indifference. What no one is noticed was that Naruto listened to the story before going up in smoke, indicating that it was a clone.

With Naruto

Naruto was going through his taijutsu kata before pausing, receiving memory of his shadow clone that he left behind. He was sad that Inari lost his father-figure but that doesn't excuse his attitude. He made a hand sign and created an army of clones. These clones are different. Instead of being illusions they are solid. They are used as recon but they could also be used for training. Naruto knows that he has more chakra than most jōnin, maybe even kage-level chakra. He has good control of his chakra but not enough to do medical ninjutsu or Genjutsu. He could be more of a ninjutsu specialist.

Naruto, at the moment, is working on gaining more control of chakra by using a mixture of tree walking and the leaf exercise. He would work on water walking when he is near by a body of water. He trained until he was exhausted and fell asleep at the clearing he was training at.

Next Morning

A young man or woman with androgynous appearance was walking into the clearing with a basket in hand, collecting was appeared to be medical herbs. The person saw a blond teenager asleep and neared the sleeping teen. "That's one of the ninjas that Tazuna hired." the androgynous person thought. He reached a hand near his neck, preparing to wake or choke him. His hand was a few inches away before the blond caught hand. Naruto opened his eyes and noticed he was not alone. Naruto saw someone that consider beautiful before noticing that the person was in fact a male.

"Could someone like this can actually be a boy?" he thought, a little creeped out with a little shudder running down his spine. He shook his head, clearing the disturbing thoughts from his mind. "What is your name?" Naruto asked politely. The young man hesitated for a moment before answering in a soft tone.

"My name is Haku." The now identified young man said. Naruto nodded in acceptance, not really bothering to ask more questions. Naruto noticed that Haku let out a quiet sigh of relief but made to move to speak. He also noticed the basket that Haku was carrying was filled with medical herbs. Naruto asked if Haku needed a hand which Haku gladly accepted. Haku asked Naruto a question while they were picking up the herbs. "Do you have someone precious to protect? "

Naruto pondered on the question before nodding. "I do." he said quietly, wondering where this conversation will lead too. Haku merely smiled stating that he believed if someone has someone precious to protect they could truly become strong. Naruto thought of Hinata, Sakura and his clan head. He nodded to what Haku said.

Haku gave him a smile before standing up. "Oh and by the way. I'm a boy." He informed Naruto, who just stared at him. Haku continued one his way. Naruto stayed there for a few moments before heading back towards Tazuna's house.