Remember Naruto, Shusui is a meito, so show it the proper respect when wielding it." The swordsman said. Eight year old Naruto gave his master his full attention, absorbing everything he said and taking it all to heart. Not everyone got to learn from the world's greatest swordsman."Its greatest attribute is its hardness. Even if a biju was to step on it, it wouldn't bend a single millimeter. Shusui was designed to increase the destructive power of its wielder. However, even though Shusui is capable of such feats, it has a temper which makes it harder to wield. You'll have to prove to it that you're worthy enough to wield it." The moss head swordsman grinned. "I expect my apprentice to have no trouble with that though."
After Kakashi went off after Naruto and Mizore, Team seven stayed at Tazuna's house to keep guard. Sakura was helping Tsunami with some house work, Sasuke did some light training outside, and Sai sat on the roof drawing a picture. A small ink mouse suddenly ran up to Sai who then pulled out a blank scroll. The mouse jumped onto the scroll and splattered into words. Sai's eyes widened slightly before there was a loud crashing sound. Sasuke quickly prepared himself for anything and Sai stood from his position. Without warning, the lake beside the house suddenly exploded, as if something crashed into it. Looking off into the forest, the genin saw several trees collapse, adding to the chaos.
"What the hell is going on?" Sasuke said aloud while covering his face from the water raining down on him.
Sai jumped down next to him. "It seems Kakashi-sensei is currently in battle with those two that recently left." The boy answered. "It would be wise if we went to help, since Kakashi-sensei wasn't the one who delivered that attack."
Sasuke looked at Sai is disbelief. There was no way someone who looked to be the same age as them could cause such destruction in one attack. "Tch, fine. Sakura, stay here." He yelled towards the house. With that the two boys jumped off towards the forest.
With Kakashi
Kakashi panted heavily. He had his sharingan uncovered and had several cuts on him with a deeper cut on his left leg after barely dodging Naruto's last attack. "What was that?" the jonin thought in shock. "Some sort of wind technique? But my sharingan didn't see any chakra being used." Naruto stood across from him, still looking as good as new with a blank expression on his face. Kakashi gritted his teeth. "And I can't even touch him. It's as if he already knows what I'm going to do next. But how?"
Mizore was sitting on a tree branch silently watching the one sided fight. Once she saw Naruto only unsheathe Shusui, she knew the jonin didn't stand a chance against him. Out of all the times she's seen Naruto fight, there was only one person who the redhead took absolutely serious, and that was his master.
Naruto glanced back towards Tazuna's house before sighing. "Let's go Mizore." He said while sheathing Shusui. "Kakashi-san, I know you're gonna tell the old man you found me and what happened here. Word of advice, make sure you tell him to leave me alone. Any shinobi he sends after me to forcefully bring me back will die. Good day and I hope we never meet again." With that he jumped up to where Mizore was and they both went on their way.
Sasuke and Sai arrived to see their sensei sitting against a tree tying medical gauze around his leg. Sasuke was a bit shocked to see Kakashi's sharingan but decided it was more important to help their teacher at the moment.
Kakashi stared off in the direction Naruto and Mizore went. For Naruto to defeat him so easily really amazed him. Kakashi was by no means arrogant, but he knew he was one of the village's strongest shinobi. For a 12 year old child to defeat him so soundly, and what looked like little effort, really made him think that Naruto would live up to his word to kill anyone sent after him. And that thought somewhat frightened him. Kakashi put his head down and mentally apologized to his dead sensei for failing to look after Naruto while he grew up.
With Naruto
"Think you overdid it a bit with that last attack Naruto?" Mizore asked with a little concern. "I mean you could've just wounded him enough so he wouldn't follow us. You would've killed him if he didn't dodge."
The redhead shrugged. "Good thing he dodged then huh." Naruto stopped on a branch. Surprised by his sudden halt, Mizore stopped on the branch ahead. "More importantly, Mizore….are you sure you want to do this?"
Mizore looked down sadly before turning away from him. "I'm sure. I'm much stronger then I used to be. I'll be fine."
She felt Naruto's arms wrap around her. "Just say the word and I'll let them know we're not going."
Mizore smiled. She always felt safe in his arms. They were family in everything but blood. Naruto found her at the age of seven and was about to be killed after watching her parents die. It took her months to start to recover from the trauma, but Naruto took his role as her big brother seriously and was with her every part of the way. She owed her life to him.
"I'll be fine onii-chan. I promise." She said softly and a little embarrassed. He could always make her feel like a little kid at moments like these. She was ten years old damn it. She wasn't a child anymore.
Naruto pulled back to look at her and chuckled at her cute pout. "I'll hold you to that, imouto." He said and ruffled her hair a bit. Mizore glared and Naruto felt his hand get a bit colder. His smile grew and he removed his hand. "Your temper's worse than Shusui's" he laughed.
Mizore sighed. "Can we go already? Idiot." Mizore jumped off and Naruto followed with a huge smile on his face. Neither noticed the small bird made of ink trailing above them.
In a port town (one week later)
A bartender was shaking in fear as he tried to pour a drink. The man's presence alone was intimidating enough, but he kept staring at him as if he was going to behead him at the very moment he spilled a drop of sake. The young girl beside him did nothing to ease the bartender's nerves as she just sipped her drink obvious to his plight. It almost seemed like she was enjoying seeing him so scared. Was she some sort of sadist?
The bartender almost had a heart attack when the man suddenly snatched the bottle out of his hand. "I'll pour the damn drink myself if you're gonna keep shaking like a wuss." He said clearly annoyed.
The girl giggled a bit. "Well it's hardly fair when you use so much killer intent against him Zabuza-sama."
"Not my fault he can't handle a little pressure while pouring a drink Haku." Zabuza said and then took a large gulp of his sake. He slammed the bottle on the table and wiped the sake dripping down his chin. "Where is that kid anyway?"
Haku shuddered unintentionally at the memory of the redhead that stormed Gato's hideout with just the help of an even younger girl. Although it was obvious he didn't need her help with the way he took out all of Gato's thugs. She's never seen such power before. It scared and amazed her at the same time. When Zabuza stepped forward to stop his advances, the redhead seemed ecstatic to battle another swordsman and what followed was something Haku thought she'd never live to see. Zabuza totally outclassed in a sword fight. When she made to step in to help, the young girl stood in her way. She told Haku that interrupting a sword fight between two swordsmen would get herself killed and not to worry as he wouldn't kill Zabuza. Even Zabuza himself told Haku not to interfere. After losing Zabuza was prepared to be killed much to Haku's horror, but the redhead surprised them both by offering them his friendship and asked them to meet him at this port town on this date.
And here they were. The only question was where were the people they came to meet?
"Would you please stop scaring the locals Zabuza-san?" Both shinobi turned quickly and was shocked to see the young purple haired girl sitting right next to them.
"What? When did she get here?" Zabuza prided himself on his ability in the silent killing technique, so for someone to be able to appear right next to him without him realizing shocked him. "Where's the other brat?"
"He's in town. He had some business to take care of though so he'll be meeting us on the ship." Mizore answered.
"Ship? What ship?" Haku asked Zabuza was curious as well. Why were they getting on a ship?
"The ship to Kirigakure of course. The leader of the rebellion could use the help of one of the seven swordsmen and his apprentice." Mizore said as if the matter was already decided.
"Wait a minute girly." Mizore glared at being called 'girly', but Zabuza ignored it. "What makes you think Haku and I would just willingly go back to Kiri? In case you haven't noticed, I'm a missing nin and Haku was already hunted for her bloodline. I've seen the Mizukage in action and that little rebellion doesn't stand a chance."
"That's why Naruto and I are going as well." Mizore said simply.
"What's your point? I'll admit I'm impressed he managed to best me in a sword fight, but it's not as if I'm the strongest ninja from Kiri. He may be strong, but there is a big difference between Gato's thugs and the shinobi in Yagura's army."
Mizore rolled her eyes. "Fine. Would you change your mind if I told you Naruto was also meeting his master in the Land of Water as well?"
Zabuza looked at her curiously. "Why would I care if he was meeting his master?"
Mizore smirked. Ah she loved moments like these.
In Konoha
Sarutobi burned the letter he finished reading with a small fire jutsu even though he knew it wouldn't do any good. Danzo most likely already knew about Naruto's appearance and now that Naruto was on his own, there was nothing stopping the warhawk from getting him. Although if what Kakashi said was true, maybe Danzo won't have such an easy time. It was hard to believe that the young redhead could defeat Kakashi without a single injury. That meant that after Naruto left, he didn't just wander. Someone trained him. The question was who and for what purpose.
"I wanna be the very very strongest"
An image of a six year old Naruto grinning while proclaiming his new dream entered the saindame's mind. He sighed and lit his pipe. He really did care about Naruto. However as a hokage, the needs of the village outweighed the needs of the few and as much as Sarutobi hated to do so, the village needed it's jinchuriki.
With a signal, a hawk masked anbu appeared in his office. "Hawk, I'm assigning your team a retrieval mission. Kakashi's summon has been tracking the target. Meet with summon and bring the target in alive. Force is authorized."
"Hai hokage-sama" and with that the anbu disappeared.
The sandaime sighed again. "I'm sorry, Naruto".
Root hideout
Danzo sat in his office reading the leading he received from his agent Sai. "It seems the kyubi jinchuriki is back on the map."
"Would you like us to go and capture it Danzo-sama?" The root anbu who delivered the letter asked.
Danzo kept his silence for a few minutes, thinking of the best course of action. "No. Sarutobi might be foolish enough to send a team after it, but that will do nothing but earn him animosity. The jinchuriki is powerful so we can't act recklessly. Let it continue to do what it wants for now." The root anbu nodded before disappearing. "I wonder what you'll do next." Danzo thought aloud.
On the ship towards Kiri
Zabuza's eye was twitching violently while Naruto enjoyed the sea breeze and Mizore and Haku talked. "And the brat said we were getting on a ship". Zabuza thought annoyed. The four were sailing on small boat that barely accommodated all of them. They were barely going anywhere because of the very light breeze.
"Oi brat! How the hell do you expect us to get to Kiri in this sad excuse for a ship?!" Zabuza yelled.
Naruto just opened an eye and looked at him lazily. "Eh what's the problem?"
"The problem is we're barely moving. It'll take weeks at this pace."
Naruto sigh. "Fine fine. Jeez no patience. Mizore if you would please" he said closing his eye back. "Gentle please. We don't want a repeat of last time."
"Yea yea whatever." Mizore got up with a huff of annoyance. She clapped her hands together and began to mold chakra. As she began to move her hands apart a loud howling noise could be heard coming from the large ball of wind in her hands.
"Mizore. Gently I said" Naruto warned her.
"Gosh I know already." She complained. The large ball of wind began to condense and the loud howling noise started to die down. When the ball of wind was about the size of a kickball, Mizore threw it at the sail. Contrary to what Zabuza and Haku thought was going to happen, instead of tearing the sail to shreds, it stopped in front of it and began to spin at fast speeds.
The boat suddenly got a huge increase in speed that had Zabuza and Haku immediately channel chakra to their hands and feet to stay put. The boat was now going so fast, everything started to look like a blur.
While Zabuza and Haku were struggling to stay onto the speeding boat, Naruto had a small tick mark while giving Mizore a mock glare. "I said gently."
"It's better than last time." She replied sitting back down and resting her head in her palms. "Besides it's really the waves crashing into us that's making it a bumpy ride. You should do something about that."
Naruto decided not to fall into that trap and instead lazily closed his eyes and enjoyed the wind rushing through his hair….it really wasn't as relaxing as before. "Sigh what a drag." If anyone else saw him, he might've been mistaken for a Nara with how lazy he was being. "Mizore, wake me when we're almost there" he said with a yawn and nodded off.
"Lazy idiot" Mizore mumbled to herself. She looked over and finally noticed how much trouble Zabuza and Haku were having. "Oh sorry." Mizore threw her hands out to the side using wind chakra to make the rushing winds going around them allowing the two shinobi to relax.
The two breathed a great sigh of relief. "You couldn't warn us before you suddenly make us go flying like that!?" Zabuza yelled agitated.
Mizore looked at him blankly for a few seconds before turning to Haku. "Are you okay Haku-chan?" Zabuza felt like he was in Snow Country from the freezing cold shoulder he just received.
Haku giggled a bit. "Im fine Mizore-chan. Thank you. That really is incredible though" Haku said staring up at the ball of wind pushing the sail. "You really have a great deal of control over wind chakra to do something like that."
A small smile showed itself on Mizore's face. "If there's one thing Naruto praises me on, it's my control. He said if I had great control over my elements, it would make my kekkei genkai much easier to use."
Zabuza looked at her curiously. "You have a kekkei genkai?" Mizore looked at him before turning away. Zabuza felt like a block of ice.
Haku sweat dropped. "Uh you have a kekkei genkai Mizore-chan?"
The violet haired girl nodded, a bit of sadness entering her eyes. "Yea. I would've been killed because of it too if it wasn't for Naruto. Stupid Kiri nins."
Haku and Zabuza immediately made the connection and Haku held the younger girl's hand in comfort. "I understand. I went through the same thing. It was Zabuza-sama that saved me from my hell." Haku told Mizore her story while Zabuza silently listened.
"The Yuki clan?" Mizore looked at Haku in shock. "I didn't think there were any left."
Haku smiled sadly "I'm the last one unfortunately."
Mizore was suddenly in Haku's face, much to her shock. "No no you don't understand. If you're a member of the Yuki clan, we're pretty much family!" Mizore said in a rare show of emotion.
"Wha-what do you mean?"
Mizore backed up and cupped her hands together. After a couple of seconds she held her closed hands up to her face and when she opened them and blew out pure white snow.
Zabuza and Haku gave unbelieving looks as they processed what this meant. "You actually have the ice release bloodline?" Haku asked softly, as if saying it to loud would cause her to wake up from a dream.
Mizore smiled brightly. A smile only seen by Naruto himself. "Yep. The Yuki clan was actually a branch of the Shiraiyuki clan that split up after the bloodline purges began. All the others were wiped out and after my family was killed I thought I was the last member of my clan left." Small tears fell from the young girl's eyes but her smile stayed bright.
Haku embraced the girl, her own tears of happiness showing themselves. A part of her clan, even a distant part, was still alive. She was no longer the last of her bloodline.
Zabuza smiled softly at the scene and turned towards the front and was slightly surprised to Naruto with one eye open looking at the two girls with a small smile on his face before closing his eye again.
Naruto, after silently witnessing the whole scene couldn't be happier for the girl he thought of as his own little sister. "Hopefully now that you've found a piece of your family, you'll show that smile more often imouto." The redhead thought before actually going to sleep.
Yay chapter two! I know I'm jumping around a lot, but that's because I want to get through the "Konoha finds naruto after he disappears and their reactions" because, i'll admit, you've probably read a million of those reactions before. Now next chapter is going to feature the first fight scene of the story and some of naruto's and mizore's abilities will be revealed. Oh and in case anybody was wondering, Mizore is the same Mizore from Rosario Vampire, except she's not a monster. just a girl with a bloodline, but you'll see how her bloodline is different from Haku's. Until next time!