Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

"Speech"

Thought

Jutsu

Naruto and the Tornado of Konoha

By: Sealed-Dragon

They had been walking for a few hours since they'd fought the Demon Brothers. They hadn't encountered any more enemy ninja just yet. But that hadn't dropped any of the tension that was in the air. Naruto constantly pulled out a kunai, spun it around, put it back and repeat for two hours. Ryuu was looking over his equipment for the thirtieth time. And Hinata, though she seemed to fidget the least, was twitching every now and then in anticipation.

Tazuna was feeling worried. If Gato found out that his first assault had failed, he would send someone else. But the problem was that they didn't know what time he would send them. It was unnerving to see just how calm the kids were taking the situation. Although they seemed to be a little fidgety, he would've asked to go back if he were their age. Or if his entire village wasn't depending on him.

Kurogane was doing, stuff. He hung out in the back and observed his team. He'd expected them to be much more scared about what was going to happen, but they only seemed tense. He sighed. He hadn't taught them enough patience, and now they were suffering because of it.

He suddenly perked up. There was someone in the bushes, to the left. But the chakra, wasn't like that of the Demon Brothers, it was to high, maybe Jonin level.

He quickly chucked a kunai into the bush. All of his genin jumped. He quickly put on a smile for his team. "Hey Naruto, would you mind getting that for me? I don't want to run out of kunai before the end of our mission."

Naruto glared at him. There was something he wasn't being told, but he wasn't sure what it was. He quickly walked into the bush, grabbed the kunai and a rabbit that accompanied it.

"Hey, sensei, looks like you caught us dinner." Naruto said, holding up the rabbit, and tossing him his kunai.

Ryuu glared at it. "It's summer."

Hinata shot a confused look at him. "What?"

Naruto caught on. "This rabbit still has a winter coat."

Kurogane looked around slowly. "We're being watched…Everyone get down!"

A large sword flew down through the air, heading strait at Tazuna. Both Ryuu and Hinata tackled him to the ground, while Naruto just jumped out of the way. When they got up, there was a man standing on the hilt of the sword, looking smug. He was wearing bandages over his mouth, camouflage pants, no shirt, and a weird headband, tilted to the side.

"Interesting. They sent a group of genin to protect a very important bridge builder." He looked them over. They looked like they were still wet behind the ears. Well, they wouldn't be when he was done.

He looked at their Jonin instructor…and nearly fell off his sword. "No. Freaking. Way." He annunciated every word, staring at him.

Kurogane looked up at him, he recognized him from somewhere, but he just couldn't remember. Then it hit him. "Hey Zabuza, how've you been."

As soon as they heard this, his team face-vaulted. They'd been on edge for so long, and then their sensei goes and personally knew who their enemy was!

Zabuza looked at them in a new light. If they were trained by him, they just might have some skill. "Well, I see you've finally taken a second batch of genin, eh Kurogane?"

Kurogane pouted. "What, no Kurogane-sama anymore?"

Zabuza smiled. It was definitely the same person. "Well, I have become a Jonin since we last met."

Kurogane smirked. "Well, word on the underground says that you are also a missing-nin. Why didn't you listen to me? I told you that just because someone is evil doesn't mean you should try to kill them."

Zabuza just shrugged. "It seemed a good idea at the time."

Naruto looked at his sensei. "Um, sensei, who the heck is this guy?"

Kurogane smiled. "Ah, that's right! This is Zabuza, he's an A ranked criminal, known as the Demon of the Hidden Mist. He enjoys leisurely walks, sword training, and the feel of blood. He hates slave traders, the Mizukage, and anyone who hurts someone close to him."

His team sweat-dropped, while Zabuza fell off his sword. He quickly got up and glared at Kurogane. "I can't believe you remembered everything I told to you when I was a genin!"

Kurogane shrugged. "You yelled it in my ear so many times, how could I not remember?"

Zabuza grumbled to himself. "You really haven't changed much, have you?"

Kurogane grinned at him. "Nope, torturing everyone and anyone is still a favorite pass time of mine."

Ryuu looked at his sensei. The guy really did love to torture him. He'd have to watch his emotions. Another thought came to him. "Hey, sensei? How do you know this, Zabuza?"

"Well, I once fought with his sensei. As I said before, he kept on yelling what I just said in my ear, and he boasted he would become the greatest swordsman ever." He turned back to Zabuza. "Let's see how that's turned out."

Zabuza grinned. "I was just told to kill the bridge builder, but I guess showing you my newfound skills wouldn't really be a waist of time." He quickly pulled out his sword from the tree.

Kurogane pulled his from it's sheath. "Just remember, it doesn't matter if you use your mist technique, I'll still be able to know where you are."

Zabuza nodded. "Well then, let's get started."

The both jumped into the air. The team tried to keep track of their movements, but they kept disappearing, only to reappear on the other side of the clearing. Finally, they both got into a deadlock, holding still so they could actually see them.

For a moment, it looked like their sensei was winning. But Naruto looked closer, and saw that he actually had several shallow cuts along his arms. While he was holding his own, he was beginning to falter under Zabuza's style. Plus, having a big sword had some advantages.

Then, Zabuza saw an opening. He pulled his sword down and swung it back up, spinning in a circle, and pulling the sword from Kurogane's grasp. He looked over at it for a second, but that was all that Zabuza needed. He completed his circle, and kicked Kurogane into the water. He quickly ran after him, forming hand signs.

"Advanced Water Prison Jutsu!" He yelled, as he formed the last seal. A large bubble quickly formed around Kurogane, trapping him inside of it.

He looked around. "Well Zabuza, I really didn't expect you to have learned this jutsu…oh well, I guess I better break out." He formed the ram seal, and began to focus as much chakra as he could through his entire body.

Just as he was about to release it, it suddenly disappeared. Kurogane blinked. He never lost control of his chakra, and yet here he was, with no chakra for his break out technique. He tried again, only to get the same results. He looked up to Zabuza. "This is an advanced version, eh? Did you make it yourself?"

Zabuza nodded. "I saw how you broke out of my sensei's and developed a way that would suck out your chakra to further feed the prison. It takes a lot of chakra, but it can't really use much, so I still have to stay here and maintain it."

Kurogane cursed to himself. He looked up at his team with a smile on his face. "Hey, would you guys mind rescuing me? There's very little entertainment and I'm hungry!"

The all face-vaulted. Naruto yelled at him, "You mean to tell us, that you need to be rescued because it's boring? And because you're hungry?"

Kurogane got a dark look on his face. "And if you don't…NO RAMEN FOR THE ENTIRE TRIP."

Naruto got really pale. That was something he really didn't want to hear. He had no idea how long this mission would last, and that could drive him crazy!

Zabuza looked at Kurogane, confused. "Why would you threaten his ramen? I mean, ramen's not that good."

Kurogane looked up at him again. "Zabuza, to him, ramen is like an idol. Plus the fact that you just insulted that will have brought your utter demise."

Naruto was getting red-faced now. How dare he insult ramen! He reached over and grabbed both of his teammates, pulling them into a huddle. After a few moments, they got what his plan was.

"All right, let's get this party started!" Naruto yelled, forming a dozen shadow clones. "Let's get the ramen hater!!!" a cry when through the clones, as they charged Zabuza.

Zabuza sweat-dropped. Apparently Kurogane wasn't kidding when he said that ramen was like an idol to him. He sighed, and quickly formed a water clone. This wouldn't take long.

With two swings, he'd wiped out all of the shadow clones, leaving only the one Naruto on the shore. "You're pathetic, you couldn't even touch me."

Naruto grinned. "Oh really?"

Zabuza looked down and saw one more clone zooming up towards him. To late, he wasn't fast enough to block the incoming blow, as Naruto stabbed him as quickly as he could.

"Ryuu! Do it now!" Naruto yelled, poofing out of existence. Ryuu nodded, and pulled out a large shuriken. Pulling his arm back, he quickly chucked it at Zabuza.

"Again, pathetic." He simply caught it in his free arm. He contemplated throwing it back, when he saw a second one coming at him. "The Shadow Shuriken technique?"

Just as he braced his legs to jump over it, it poofed into Naruto. He didn't have time to move as Naruto slapped his chest. For a moment, he couldn't understand why he would slap him, it was such a girly move. But then he realized, he couldn't move.

"What, did you do to me, brat?" He struggled to get out. What ever it was, he wouldn't be able to see it until he was free of it.

Naruto grinned and turned back to the shore. "Hey Hinata! It's your turn!"

Hinata nodded and ran out to them. Activating her Byakugan, she looked over his arm. She quickly turned off several of the key chakra point to the water prison. A second later, Kurogane was freed.

Naruto grinned at his sensei. "This means I get lots of ramen!" he turned to Ryuu. "Hey! How long to the paralysis seals last?"

Ryuu shrugged. "They usually last for a minute or two, why?"

Zabuza, hearing this, and quickly realizing that he was free, began to swing the shuriken at Naruto. Just as he was about to connect, he realized that it had been apart of Naruto's plan.

The first shuriken poofed back into another Naruto. Grasping Zabuza's hand, he kicked Zabuza in the face, soundly knocking him onto his behind. Zabuza grimaced. That had actually hurt! He was starting to wonder what he'd gotten himself into.

He tried to get up, just to find that his arms weren't moving. He looked at Naruto. "What did you do?"

Naruto grinned at him. "Simple, Hinata turned of one arm, and I placed a second paralysis seal onto your other arm. I wasn't stupid enough to let you hit me with the first shuriken, so I was the first shuriken. Pretty smart, huh?" Zabuza looked down at his arm. True enough, there was a seal on his other arm. Well damn, this kid might actually make something of himself. Zabuza thought to himself, wondering if he should mention it to the kid.

He didn't get to answer, as several needles came flying out of no where. They all looked at a tree near the water. "I finally found you, Zabuza."

Ryuu looked up. "Oh, a hunter-nin has finally arrived."

The hunter-nin jumped onto the water and picked up Zabuza. "I must go." A moment later, he'd flashed though several hand signs and disappeared.

Kurogane looked at that spot for a couple of moments. Then he noticed that he was starting to sink into the water. All that he got out before he passed out was, "Oh crap."

xX On the road again: 1 hour later Xx

They hadn't said a word since the battle. They'd kept on moving so that they wouldn't have to encounter any more ninja, since their sensei was down. He was now being carried by Ryuu and Naruto, with Hinata at the rear, guarding Tazuna.

There was one question that was lingering in Hinata's mind, and she finally decided to ask it. "Hey, Ryuu?"

He turned back to her. "Yes Hinata?"

"How do you know how to do sealing jutsu's? And how do you have so many tags?"

Ryuu sighed. He been withholding this information, but he felt that they probably should know. "I learned from my uncle."

Naruto looked at him. He remembered him mentioning his uncle once before. "What was he like?"

Ryuu grinned sheepishly. "I don't know what he was, but I know what he became. Remember? I told you guys that he became an avenger?" They all nodded. That wasn't information you forget lightly. "Well, it was because everyone, other than me, my parents, and my uncle, were kidnapped by Orochimaru."

Naruto gasped. Everyone turned towards him. "I know who he is! I learned about him during my remedial history lessons! He used to be one of the legendary Sanin. He was the snake lord. He conducted experiments on different hidden leaf villagers, and became a S-ranked missing-nin because of it."

Ryuu nodded. "That exactly who he was. So my parent's went after him and were killed. My uncle slowly went into the insanity of an avenger. He even went so far as to try to make me into a human weapon for himself. Or perhaps, a human shield.

"He found early that I remember every detail of what I read. He made me read anything and everything on seals that he could get his hands on. He even went so far as to steal the secret to the Fourth's Flying Thunder God technique."

Naruto and Hinata gasped. That was an S-ranked jutsu, and his uncle had taught it to him? Ryuu quickly waved his free arm around. "Don't worry, I know the basic principals behind it, but I didn't learn it because it required to much chakra at the time. Even now I'd have a very difficult time trying a different version of it.

"So anyway, this went on for five years, since I was three years old. Then my uncle got wind of where Orochimaru could be and went after him. He was killed by Itachi Uchiha. So, right now, I really don't have a family, and if any of my clan's members survived experimentation, they probably won't recognize me."

Naruto felt a twinge of sympathy. He understood what it was like to be alone, to not have someone who was really there for him.

What Ryuu said next, shocked them to no end. "Without a purpose, I found myself looking for one. After a while, I found it in depicting the enigma that is Naruto."

Naruto stared at him. "Me? You found your purpose in, studying me?"

Ryuu nodded. "The citizens behavior towards you made no sense, and that was also true with the teachers. So I followed you around, watching you and what you did. It was the sort of things my uncle taught me, about surveillance and other such things." He explained when he noticed Naruto was gawking at him.

"So anyway, I finally figured out a part of what you are, the Kyuubi part. The villagers got more violent towards you on the day it was defeated, and there were several attempts to kill you. Once I put the pieces together, I found that the only explanation was that you had the Kyuubi's soul sealed inside of you."

"Wait, so you knew all this and you didn't tell me?"

"Well, I was planning on telling you, but by the time I'd figured it out, it was the genin exams. That, and I still needed to depict the Naruto part."

Hinata glared slightly at Ryuu. "You've been avoiding my second question, why do you have so many tags?"

Ryuu waved in a defensive way. "Sorry, I kind of forgot. But for that, my uncle was the one who created the Earth's Barrier Field, I just made the last few seals to make it work. My uncle also made up the second one, but he never completed it. And the paralysis tag was developed by ANBU. My uncle had a scroll on it and had made up one hundred for my usage."

Naruto was beginning to feel confused. "Wait, so you're saying that you don't have enough chakra to make most the seals you use, but that you already have them made up?"

Ryuu nodded. "Yep, that's been the way thing have been going for pretty much all of my life. I don't have to observe you anymore, and I now have places to try and help my team. Working over different seals."

Naruto looked back at Hinata. "Hey Hinata, you've been pretty quite about my little secret."

Hinata shrugged. "So you have some demon sealed within you, big deal. It just means there are two people in our group who are judged by the seals we wear."

Ryuu looked at her. She'd changed so much from the shy girl who they once knew. But he already knew that old habit's were hard to break, and was beginning to wonder…which Hinata was the real mask? The quiet, shy one, or the one who didn't have a crush on Naruto, and seemed a little bit more forceful? He would have to take some time to ask her, if she wanted to talk about it. And if not…he was starting to get a little rusty on his stalking skills.

Tazuna finally spoke up. "Look, my home is strait ahead!"

They all looked at the cozy little house, and Naruto began to wonder something. If all the competition was as hard as Zabuza, would they live to see the end of the bridge?

Author's Note:

I've been getting some reviews asking when I'll put down the final results for my pairings…and here they are with the reasons for them!

Naruto x No one

Naruto is going to be really focused on getting stronger to protect those he treasures. He won't want anyone to have to really hang onto before he becomes Hokage. That, and some people left very good points on this subject.

Ryuu x Hinata

I've had several people who've said that these two would make a good pair, so I'm taking their advice.

If there is any other pairing you viewers want, or complaints you want to make on the chosen pairings, please continue to read and review! Please note that I won't accept flames.