Disclaimer, ect..yada yada yada

Wolf In Fox's Clothing

Chapter 12: Blades on The Bridge

"Kami..my men! What happened here!?" Tazuna cried out when they arrived on the bridge. All the workers lay on the ground, either incapacitated by senbon or awake but in pain from slash marks on their bodies, "Who did all this!?"

"I believe I can take the credit." A voice chuckled nearby.

Kakashi narrowed his eye as a man welding a massive sword stepped out from behind a stack of girders. Beside him was a smaller masked figure. "The 'hunter-nin' I presume."

"I see you've recovered from our last scrap as well, Kakashi." Zabuza said, looking towards Kurenai and the genins, "Kurenai Yuuhi, I've heard of you as well. Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress. So they sent you to help." A grin formed under his mask, "Guess I should consider myself honored. Now, shall we begin?" The missing-nin began going through seals, "Suuton: Hidden Mist Jutsu!" Within seconds the bridge was covered in a thick mist and the two quickly vanished into it.

"Everyone keep together! Hinata, stay close to Tazuna and keep your eyes open!" Kurenai shouted, grabbing a kunai.

Zabuza's voice chuckled again from inside the mist, "Don't think I know about the mighty Byakugan. It won't help you here. Haku, see to the gakis. I'll deal with the jounins."

"Hai, Zabuza.." Another voice replied; one that they guessed was Haku's. The shinobi tensed, not sure which way the two would attack.

Hinata put all her focus into tracking Haku and Zabuza's chakra, trying to spot them before they could get too close. As she scanned the area, something caught her attention. Another, very familiar, chakra signature was coming from the end of the bridge; and fast, "Kurenai-Sensei! Someone's coming this way!"

"Is it one of his?"

"No..I'd know that chakra anywhere..It's Naruto!"

The second she said it, the other looked in time to see the blonde come charging in, "Hey guys...am I in time for the fireworks?"

"Right on time, Naruto." Kurenai said, her eyes darting towards any sound coming from the fog.

"Who the hell are you?" Zabuza demanded.

"Me? Who the hell are YOU?" Naruto snapped, his ears twitching around to pinpoint the voice.

"Naruto, that's Zabuza Momochi. He and his partner, Haku, are the reason we called for reinforcements." Kakashi answered, earning a pair of raised eyes from the werewolf.

"Haku..? Wait. could that be the same.." Naruto befan to sniff. Through all the water he managed to catch the same herb and lilac scent as the girl from the other day, "Looks like it is. Guess we're running into each other again sooner than we expected, Haku." He called out.

"Say what? What was he mean 'again?" Kiba said, getting a shrug from Shino.

She hesitated for a second before replying, "I regret the circumstances, but I must do this, Naruto-kun..I mean san!" she quickly added, grateful that no one could see her flush. Unfortunately, Zabuza caught the suffix.

"Kun..? Wait a sec..." The mist dissipated, giving the missing-nin a better look at the new guy. For a moment he didn't see anything odd about the guy, aside from the marks on his face..at least until he saw the ears, and tail draped behind him. His eyes widened briefly..

Then Zabuza Momochi, the Hidden Mist Demon, busted out laughing., "BAH-HA-HA!! You're the guy that had Haku blushing?? All you're missing is a collar with the name 'Fido' on it!" The man grabbed his sides.

"Hold on..." Kurenai said, "Naruto, there something we're not aware of?"

Naruto's eye began to twitch in annoyance at the laughing, "Well, I met Haku the morning after I got pissed at Tazuna's grandson. I didn't know she was working with the guy after the old man." He directed the next line straight to the masked man, "And for YOUR information, Mr. No-Brow; their not dog ears, their wolf! And so's the tail!"

Unfortunately, that only made the sight even more hysterical to him.

Behind her mask, Haku was a mix of embarrassment at how he was acting and trying to subdue the part of her mind that wanted to perform the 'kawaii squeal' at the sight of the fluffy tail.

"Oh man.." Zabuza wiped his eyes, "I haven't had a laugh like that in years." It was then he finally saw the sword on Naruto's back, "So, a fellow swordsman, huh?"

"I guess you could say that." Nartuo drew Silverfang, glad the man was finally taking him seriously.

Zabuza's eyes widened again, earning a glare from the blonde, thinking he was going to laugh at him again, "That...that's a Whirlpool sword!"

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow, "What the hell's a whirlpool sword?"

"Aren't you taught anything these days, gaki!?" Zabuza said, not believing what he heard, "Whirlpool Country was known for the quality of its blades. They had a knack for being rather nasty in trained hands. Whirpool blades were designed to never pierce, only slice. Hence no corners." He slowly drew his blade and focused intently on Naruto, "I've always wanted to test my cleaver against one. Waddaya say?? No jutsu, just sword vs sword."

"Naruto, you idiot! Are you trying to get yourself killed!?" Sakura yelled, "Kakashi-Sensei! You gotta stop him! He won't last a second against..."

"You want me to go all out?" Naruto interrupted, a feral grin on his face.

"N-Naruto!" Kakashi said, "He's an A-Class criminal!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way." They could see him grinning ferally as well through his wrappings.

Haku started feeling uneasy, She had no doubt in Zabuza's ability. But judging from the destruction she had seen at Naruto's hands, he wasn't a pushover.

"Naruto! I know you're good with that sword, but you've never faced an opponent like him." Kurenai yelled, ready to pull him back herself. Before she could, both of them blurred out of sight

Suddenly the air rang with the sound of swords clashing behind the Konoha shinobi. They wheeled around to see the two trading blows several feet behind them. Every now and then they would vanish again, reappearing with their blades throwing off sparks as they collided.

"I gotta admit...Naruto, was it? I'm impressed. You're not half bad." Zabuza said, ducking under one of the blonde's swings. He had more skill, but the Leaf-Nin had reflexes that rivled his own. "Although, I can't really say I approve of the idea of you and Haku."

This caught him off guard and he narrowly avoided a strike that would've took his arm off, "Nani??"

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed. I think she likes you." He snickered when an embarrassed cry of 'Zabuza!' came from nearby, as well as a shriek of "NANI?" From Hinata. "But still, you're what..23? 24? She's still 16. That's a fair sized age difference."

Naruto raised an eye in confusion before sputtering a laugh, "Actually, if she's 16, she's older than I am." He said over the screech of metal. "You're fighting a 13 year old genin. I'm just tall for my age."

This time it was the Hidden Mist Demon's turn to be startled as, even though he blocked it, he still staggered from one of Naruto's overhead chops. "I'm fighting a KID!?"

Haku was surprised as well, "13??"

"Hey, it's not my fault you assumed I was full-grown." He replied, deflecting another attack.

Meanwhile, the jounins noticed Sasuke leaking killing intent at an uncontrolled rate, "Sasuke! Calm down! There's no point in getting angry right now." Kakashi ordered, "If things get out of hand for Naruto, then we'll step in. But right now we need to just keep on our guard..." With that, he resumed watching the fight, not seeing an evil smile form on the Uchiha's face as two tomoe appeared in his left eye and one in his right; an incomplete Sharingan.

Zabuza wiped the sweat from his face; this kid was giving him a fight and he was enjoying it. As he parried one of the blonde's strikes, an idea hit him. It was obvious Haku liked the boy, so killing him was out, but that didn't mean he could have some fun. In honesty, he didn't like Gato at all, especially from the way he would keep leering at Haku, "Hey, gaki, how about we up the stakes in this little match?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"If you can beat me, I won't kill the bridge builder. But if I win, I get that sword. Loser's the one that gets knocked off their feet."

Before Naruto, or anyone for that matter, could respond, a high cruel laugh mixed with applause came rolling from the other side of the bridge, "That was an entertaining performance, Zabuza. I guess you aren't as useless as I thought."

The group looked to see a short, ugly little man standing in front of what Kurenai guessed was a couple hundred of his men.

"You must be Gato." She said, drawing a pair of kunai.

Haku scowled behind her mask, "You had no intention of paying us, did you, you slimebag?"

Gato's smile widened, "Why pay when I could've killed him after he did his job? But since it looks like he'd rather be playing, it gives me an excuse."

"You! You're the son of a bitch that those two after Tsunami and Inari?!" Naruto growled.

"Looks like they screwed the job up. No matter, kill them! but leave the women." He licked his lips, "It'll be fun to break 'em." At those words, his men let out a cheer and began to charge them/

"Well, old man." Zabuza stepped up beside Kakashi, "Looks like I'm fired, so I'm through going after you. And my beef with you is over as well, Kakashi. Although, " He chuckles as he turned to Naruto, "We still have our match..to...finish..." His eyes widened at what he saw.

Naruto. Was. PISSED! He was baring his teeth and snarling like an angry wolf. This little shit had the nerve to state that he and his men were going to rape every girl there...that was something he would NOT stand for.

The blonde let out a howl as he started to change. The howl was enough to make Gato's man stop dead in their tracks

"These bastards.."

"..Are gonna DIE!"

Haku was forced to remove her mask in order to get a better look at what was transpiring. She had already seen his transformed state before, but not in this fashion. It was actually kind of scary to see him like that.

The other Konoha nins looked on in shock and a bit of fear as well at their teammate's fully altered state. The massive wolf snarled at the thugs and drove his sword into the ground.

He gave the others a glance, "This if my real wolf form. I didn't find out till a few months ago."

"N-Naruto..??" HInata said, barely able to keep her voice above a whisper.

The wolf gave her a grin, "It's ok, Hina. It's still me, just..hairier."

The kunoichis (minus Sakura) weren't going to admit it, but Wolf-Naruto's voice sent a chill through them. One they liked.

"If you want them, you bastards, you're gonna have to come through me!" Naruto growled, taking a few steps foward.

"What you cowards waiting for!? It's 200 against 8! I want them d...!" Gato's voice caught in his throat when Naruto howled again and began running straight towards him, teeh and claws bared.

As soon as he did that, Zabuza took off in hot persuit, "Don't think you're going to have all the fun, kid!"

Needless to say, the end result was a bloody end..

For Gato and his men.

I know the fight between Naruto and Zabuza seems rushed, but that was honestly the first real fight scene I ever wrote. So bear with me.

Next time, Naruto's inheritance and the chunin exams arrive.