Disclaimer: Blah blah, don't own, blah blah.
Speech
Thought
Kyuubi
Wolf-Naruto
theDragonBard: That may be, but the idea of him instantly doing it perfectly didn't really sit well with me.
Edo Ryuujin: The sword? Well, the tip is rounded with the edge going over both sides; no hilt, just the blade narrowing into the handle, and that's it. In a way, imagine a big bladed oar, and there you have it. I know, it's nothing real fancy, but I kinda wanted to go with something that says 'simple, but deadly'.
Wolf In Fox's Clothing
Chapter 10: Do The Wave Again
"THIS is Wave!?" Kurenai and the genins could hardly believe their eyes. It took them a few days to reach the town Team seven were at, but what greeted them was near ruin: the entire place looked to be in poverty, people were wandering the streets begging for anything to spare. Naruto let out a snarl when he saw a little kid rummaging in a trash can; bringing up memories of when he was forced to do that same.
"What happened to this place?" Hinata asked, looking mournfully at the child as well.
"More like who. And that 'who' is Gato." A weary voice spoke up nearby. They looked over to see an elderly woman who looked pale, "Wave's been destitute ever since that..that thing..took over all shipping from the island. He charges whatever he wants and we can't do a thing to stop it." She sighed, "I just hope Tazuna-san can finish that bridge in time. Then we won't need that horrible little troll."
Shino looked over, "Bridge? You mean the large one we saw on the way here?"
The woman nodded before looking at their headbands, "Konoha ninjas, huh? Tazuna arrived with a group of you fellas a couple days ago. If I remember, it was a one-eyed man with spiky white hair and his nose buried in a smut book...
Kurenai's eye twitched, "Kakashi Hatake.."
"There was a kid with a lil pooch on his head, a girl with pink hair who seemed more interested with a broody-looking boy that was with them than anything else."
"Can you tell us where they might be now?" Kurenai asked.
"Well, if their with Tazuna, then odds are they'll be at his place." The old lady gave them the directions before taking her leave
On the way, Hinata saw a look of concern on her sensei's face, "What is it?"
Kurenai furrowed her brow, "This Gato character sounds like someone who'd do anything to keep the power he's already aquired."
"You think he might have sent the missing-nin after Team 7 and Tazuna?" Shino asked, getting a nod in response.
"It's a strong possibility, but we'll have to ask the others to be absolutely sure"
The group made their way to where the woman said Tazuna's family lived. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he walked, grateful to Kyuubi for suggesting he cover up his ears and tail just to be safe. While he still had on his usual attire, he now had a bandanna wrapped around his head and his tail under a trench coat.
It wasn't long before they found the right place and were greeted by a slightly haggard-looking old man that they guessed was Tazuna. Beside him was a young woman that Tazuna introduced as his daughter, Tsunami.
Inside they saw a white-haired man with his headband covering his left eye and reading a book. From the glare Kurenai was giving him, the genins guessed he was Kakashi.
"Oh, hey, Kurenai. So, the Hokage sent you guys?" Kakashi spoke up, never taking the book away.
"Yeah." Kurenai was trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice, "Where are the others?"
"I have them doing chakra exercises right now. I figure that Zabuza'll be back within the week after what happened." The one-eyed nin recounted the incident.
The man had attempted to ambush them just before reaching Wave and forced Kakashi to reveal that he had a Sharingan hidden under his headband. The two managed to trade blows for a short while until Zabuza knocked him into the water and followed up with his Water Prison Jutsu. He then sent a Water Clone to finish the others, but with a little help from a couple of Kiba's family jutsus, the genins managed to free Kakashi who promptly took the missing-nin out. Unfortunately, a hunter-nin beat him to the punch and took off with the supposedly dead Zabuza.
"I didn't put it together until we arrived. If that was a real hunter-nin, he would've destroyed Zabuza's body right then and there, plus he used senbon needles in the neck, not a great method to kill, but perfect for faking a death."
"Well, at least that gives us time to prepare. I doubt he'll be expecting another team when he tries again." She motioned for the three to head out, "How 'bout you guys go get some training in? Things are gonna be a little quiet for now at least."
As they left they suddenly heard, "KAKASHI HATAKE! What the hell did I say about reading that garbage around me?!" Followed by a loud WHAP and a yelp of pain.
Sasuke glared at the tree as if he wished it would burst into flames. A couple of days ago, Kakashi had set them to the task of climbing without using their hands, giving them kunais to mark their progress as they went up. Sakura had managed on her first try. Due to her low reserves, the control she had was far better than him or Kiba, although Kiba was slowly getting up further than him. He rolled his eyes when Sakura segan yelling at Kiba for going past him.
"Will you put a cork in it, Sakura!? Kakashi-Sensei just said to reach the top. He didn't say squat about a race!"
"Admit it, Kiba! You're just trying to show up Sasuke-Kun!"
"Geeze, will you two cool it? They could've heard you halfway back to Konoha." Naruto muttered as he, Hinata, and Shino came out from around a shrub, a finger in his ear..
Sasuke scowled at the sight of him, "What are YOU doing here, Dobe!?"
"The Hokage sent us to provide assistance due to this Zabuza person." Shino spoke up, grabbing Naruto's arm to stop him from giving the rude gesture he knew the blonde was about to use.
"At least they sent somebody sociable." Kiba muttered, "I'm actually surprised we managed to pass the test thanks to Mr. I-Don't-Need-A-Team and his fangirl. Me and Akamaru are lucky if we hear anything besides Pinky yelling 'Sasuke-Kun!' a dozen times a day." That remark earned him a bit of killing intent from his teammates and a stifled snicker from Naruto.
"So, he has you doing tree-climbing?" Hinata looked up at the marks midway up two of the trees.
"Hn, like you three could even make it a few steps," Sasuke snapped haughtily, "If it's taking ME this long to do it, you losers'll never even stick!" His ego-stroking vanished when Team 8 began marching single-file up Kiba's tree in response. Like Naruto, Hinata and Shino weren't really fond of the Uchiha.
Kiba stared up at them before roaring with laughter at the twitch Sasuke had developed, "Thanks guys! I ain't laughed this hard in weeks!"
"Kurenai-Sensei had us do a lot of training in our spare time." Naruto said. In a way it was true, he just left out the part about his hand in it.
The Uchicha, much to Kiba's entertainment, began to seethe when they revealed they also knew water-walking and were currently working on kunai and senbon levitating.
"Ah man, that's funny! Sasuke looks like he's gonna hemorrhage something!" The Inuzuka gasped between peals of laughter. That is, until Sakura punched him in the head.
Naruto panted as he raised Silverfang over his head for the hundredth time and began to focus chakra into it. The blade soon began to take on a pale blue hue that slowly grew brighter and brighter. Before long, the blade was burning a bright azure. When that happened, Naruto brought it down as hard as he could.
"Kenjutsu: Howling Edge!" A flaming blue crescent rocketed from the tip; howling like a wolf before it slammed into a nearby boulder, coming close to splitting it in half. All around him, rocks, trees, even the ground had identical slashes ang gouge marks. It was a chakra technique Kyuubi had shown him similar to one he could use with his own claws. But since Naruto didn't have any big enough, the sword was an effective replacement. As the dust cleared, Naruto collapsed to his knees, a slight wheeze his breathing. That technique, even with his reserves, took a fair bit outta him after all the attempts.
"Not bad, kit, not bad. It's starting to charge up quicker now."
"Yeah, but I'll have to work on that. I'm a setting duck if I have to wait on it."
Since their arrival to wave, Team 8 had agreed to spend some time doing a bit of private training to fine-tune their own styles. Since Kyuubi had a preference for attacking with straight chakra, the two had decided to incorperate the moves he would teach Naruto into his swordwork. His Hiraishin practice was doing better as well; he could finally appear at the kunai, ready to strike. Next step: doing it in rapid succession like the Hokage said his father was capable of. Every now and then he could pick up the sounds of Hinata or Shino in the distance. That or Team 7 arguing with each other.
He took a breath and raised his sword up again.
That night, during dinner at Tazuna's, they were once again treated to statements that they were all going to die, courtesy of Inari, Tsunami's son. Tazuna had explained about Inari's surrogate father. Wave had considered him a hero until his was captured and publicly executed by Gato and his thugs. The man firmly believed if something was worth fighting for, then that's what should be done. Naruto felt for the kid loosing someone he cared about, but still...
"Why are you even bother!? None of you'll stand a chance against Gato's men!" Inari yelled, furious that the shinobi all had the nerve to look calm.
Naruto rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I don't think I can take much more of this. Will you chill out, kid? Aside from this Momochi guy, Gato sounds like he's just got a bunch of 2-bit hoods working for him. I think we'll be fine."
"What do you know!? You're not from here! You idiots don't know ANYTHING about what it's like to suffer..."
Naruto's eyes narrowed, "Oh really? Let me ask you: did the majority of your village make sure pain was all you ever really knew the first 5 years of your life?"
"W-what?? No!"
"Did any of them refer to you as 'demon' or 'monster'? Did any of them say you had no right to live!?" The other stared as Naruto's face seemed to grow darker.
"N-no."
"Kid, pain is something I happing to be quite familar with, so don't EVER assume you know me!" They all thought he was finished, but the blonde had something else to get off his chest, "You know, your dad put his life on the line to try and protect this place, but all I've seen you do is mope around feeling sorry for yourself and acting like Gato's unstoppable. That's a damn sorry way to honor the memory of a guy everyone calls a hero!" With those words, the blonde got up and headed for the door, "I'm gonna get some more training in."
Haku's PoV
Haku hummed a quiet tune as she gathered up herbs for Zabuza. She knew how much he wanted a rematch with the one-eyed jounin, she just wished he'd be a little more patient. His Injuries from before were still healing; plus they had gotten word that more Konoha shinobi were coming as backup. As she gathered, she noticed something odd with the terrain. At first it looked like someone had simply struck the trees with kunai or swords. It gradually moved to larger cuts, some going in deep. Before long they looked as if they had been snapped, others were simply lopped in two. Several had deep indentions, as if they were struck with a particularly savage blow. Even nearby rocks were cracked or busted.
"What happened here??" She asked herself. Her answer came when she wandered into a small open area. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw was there.
A massive wolf-like humanoid creature, asleep on the ground. A large shining white sword was driven into the ground beside it. At first she considered leaving it be. Then she noticed a Leaf headband around it's neck. Her curiosity aroused, she edged closer. Its fur was jet-black but had a mass of golden yellow hair running down its back. The clothes it had on seemed to call out 'I'm a shinobi'.
"What are you?" She asked, taking in the sight of the being before her. The creature looked capible of being vicious, but at the same time, it almost looked...cute, in a way.
Normal PoV
Naruto's nose twitched, catching the scent of herbs and lilac. He knew there was nothing like that in the area when he started training to blow off steam from the boy's comments. That could only mean someone was nearby. He pried his eyes open to see a girl staring at him. A surprisingly cute one, he had to admit. Defiantly on par with
Hinata. She looked like she was a couple years older than him.
"Oh-ho! Looks like we got a player!" Kyuubi joked, seeing what his container was thinking about.
"Put a shoe in it, fox! It ain't like THAT!"
The moment she caught sight the two silver eyes looking straight at her, she froze up. Haku had no idea how strong it was, or if she could handle it if it did attack.
Naruto slowly sat up, "Uh..hi" He said, hoping she wasn't about to run screaming into town, "Don't worry, I'm not a lecher. I'm Naruto." He mentally berated himself for not changing back before he nodded off.
"H-Haku." She replied, finally getting her voice back.
It didn't take Shikamaru to tell she was frightened. So even though it was a risk, he make a quick decision, "Um..there any chance you can keep what I'm about to do a secret?"
"Why? W-what are you going to do?"
"This." As the girl watched, he began changing back. Within moments, Naruto was in human form again, "I..um...I'm a werewolf. You might say it's a Bloodline, sorta"
That didn't quite register with Haku. In her mind, she could only think one thing, "Kami! He's gorgeous!" That is, until she mentally punched herself, "GET A GRIP! So what if he's attractive; you just met him! Plus, he's from Konoha!"
"Hello? You ok?" He waved a hand in her face.
After a moment, she quickly shook her head, blushing brightly, "Oh, y-yeah, sorry."
He pointed to the basket she was carrying, "Running errands?"
"You might say that. I'm making some medicine for a friend."
"Need a hand?" He felt it was the lest he'd do for scaring her like that.
Haku hesitated; as much as she hated it, she and Zabuza had a job to do and the Konoha-nins were there to stop them. They'd be on opposite sides once he recovered. After a moment, she decided, "Couldn't hurt for now."
"Ok. It shouldn't take the both of us long to find what I need."
With those words, the two started, neither really knowing what would come in the next few days.
I know I said I was going to put wave in one chapter; but as I thought of the bridge fight, it just felt like it deserved it's own; ya know? Gonna put my ability to write a good fight scene to the test.
So, next time: Brawl on the bridge!