ZnK: Sorry i'm late. I got lost on the road of life.
Kakashi: HEY! You stole my excuse!
ZnK: Tough luck. Now scram before i decide to make Itachi use the Tsukyomi on you.
Kakashi: You don't scare me!
ZnK: Oh Itachi!
Itachi: Yes?
ZnK: Use Tsukyomi on Kakashi, attack plan Y
Kakashi: Attack plan Y?
Itachi: Y is for Yaoi! (Places Kakashi in the Tsukyomi where he is forced to watch gay hentai for 72 hours straight.)
ZnK: Dude... I wish i could do that.
Itachi: (Smirks arrogantly) Like you told Kakashi: Tough luck.
ZnK: Lousy Uchiha, i should kill you off. Anyway, enjoy chapter 5!
Naruto was currently sitting in Tazunas dining room eating dinner with Tazuna, Tazunas daughter Tsunami, Tazunas grandson Inari and Team 8. They had made it back without any trouble. Right now Naruto was pondering about that hunter-nin.
"What's wrong Naruto?" asked Kurenai seeing Narutos face in deep thought.
"I'm thinking about that hunter-nin." he said as he placed his hand on his chin. "Aren't hunter-nin supposed to dispose of the body on the spot?" he asked getting wide eyes from the occupants of the room.
"W-Wait, so you mean that Zabuza might still be alive?" Kiba asked with a small stutter.
"It makes sense." Kurenai said with a frown. "The weapons she used were senbon needles, with near perfect accuracy they can be deadly. The hunter-nin most likely just put Zabuza in a near-death state." she said and Naruto nodded.
"Yeah, but the good news is that it takes a while for the body to readjust after that so we have some time to get ready before he returns." he said before he began eating.
The next day Kurenai decided to teach them tree walking. Naruto, who already knew it, was assigned to guarding Tazuna while his teammates trained.
'Ano, Tou-san.' he said through his mental link as he sat on a crate, watching Tazuna work. 'How do you think they'd react if i told them about me being a rider?'
'I don't know.' came the answer. 'They might shun you or they might accept you. But i think you should refrain from telling them just yet. Let them know that you're not a bad guy before telling them.' Mephisto said and Naruto subconsiously nodded.
Later that evening Naruto could be found sitting outside Tazunas house, dangling his feet above the water while watching the sun set when Kurenai came up to him from behind (The same place Inari sits after Narutos scolding in the anime/manga).
"Mind if i sit here?" she asked making Naruto jump alittle in surprise.
"Not at all." he said and moved alittle to the side making room for Kurenai to sit. "Why did you come out here? You obviously didn't just come here to watch the sunset with me." he said and Kurenai shrugged.
"I just wanted to know what jutsu you used after you used the black fox missile."
"And what makes you think that i did a jutsu?" he asked and Kurenai once again shrugged.
"The fact that the temperature doesn't just rise 30 degrees by itself." she said and Naruto sighed.
"I'm afraid i can't tell you that yet. I don't know if i trust you enough and just so you know, it has nothing to do with the fox." he said before he got up and walked into the forest. "Please don't follow me." and with that he disappeared into the darkness of the forest.
The next day Naruto was sleeping under a tree deep inside the forest. He had been up all night in his ghost rider form with nothing to do. Why get turned into the rider if there are no corrupted souls around to be collected. Sometimes he thinks Mephisto likes to just piss Naruto off.
He was woken up by a familiar smell approaching.
'Smells like the hunter-nin.' he thought and pretended to be asleep to see what would happen.
The girl saw Naruto laying under the tree as she walked into the clearing to find some herbs. 'That's the boy who hurt Zabuza-san.' the thought as she narrowed her eyes. She then reached out in an attemp to grab his throat, only to have her hand caught by Narutos own.
"Good morning hunter-nin-san." he said as he opened his eyes to see her reach for a hidden weapon in her kimono. "Don't worry, i'm not gonna attack or anything." he said as he let her hand go. The girl was still wary but chose not to attack the blonde. "My name's Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto. What's yours?"
"Haku." she said and Naruto nodded before pointing at the basket in which she kept her herbs.
"Are those for Zabuza?" he asked and Haku nodded eyeing her suspsiously.
"Yes, why?" she asked and Naruto shrugged.
"Just wondering. What i really want to know is why you work for scum like Gatou. I mean, Zabuza should know what it's like to be oppressed by an evil man, coming from Kiri and all." he said and this time it was Hakus turn to shrug.
"We need money. Almost no one except for criminals wants to hire a missing-nin." she said looking down on the ground and Naruto put his hand to his chin.
"Then how about being Konoha-nins?" he asked making Hakus head shoot up so fast Naruto worried that it might come off.
"Konoha-nins? What do you mean?" she asked and Naruto smiled.
"The Hokage is a close friend of mine, he's kinda like a grandfather to me, i might be able to get him to allow you to become Konoha-nins." he said and Haku narrowed her eyes.
"How do i know i can trust you?" she asked and Naruto put his fingers into his mouth letting out a loud whistle. Not two seconds later, a fox, the size of a horse came running into the clearing while Naruto wrote something on a scroll. When he was done he showed it to Haku.
Oji-san
I've met someone in Wave who with your permission could become valuable assets to Konoha, one Momochi Zabuza and his apprentice Haku.
Should you allow them to stay in Konoha then write an official scroll where you state that you would like them to become Konoha-nins and give it to the fox.
Now remember that if you don't do this then i will never tell you the way for you to defeat your paperwork.
And for Kamis sake, DON'T FORGET TO SIGN IT!
Your friendly neighbourhood rider, Naruto.
Once Haku was done reading Naruto rolled up the scroll and gave it to the Kyuubi and whispered "Give this to the Hokage and wait for a reply. Go as fast as you can." before the fox disappeared in a blur. When the fox was gone Naruto turned to Haku.
"Meet me here tomorrow. We'll have our reply then." and with that he disappeared in a swirl of fire, leaving a stunned Haku behind.
That evening everybody at the Tazuna residence were having a nice dinner when Naruto noticed that Inari was staring at him intently.
"What? Is there something on my face?" he asked and Inari started shouting.
"Why do you try so hard?! You're just going to die!" he shouted and Naruto stood up.
"Now listen you little brat! One: I'm not trying at all! Gatou is way below me! And two: I'm not gonna die until i become Hokage!" he shouted. "Or maybe until i get inside Kurenai-senseis pants." he added earning himself a blush and a bop on the head from Kurenai.
"Baka! Don't say things like that! Especially when i'm around!" she yelled while Naruto just scratched his head and laughed sheepishly.
"Sorry. I was only supposed to think that." he said earning him another bop on the head and a grin from Kiba.
"You're not gonna become the Hokage! It doesn't matter what glorious claims you make! When facing the strong, the weak will nly end up getting killed!" Inari yelled pissing Naruto off which did not go nnoticed by his teammates who spotted that tiny twitch in his eye.
"Whatever kid... I'm not like you." he said as calmly as he could.
"I'd hate to be like you! You don't know anything about this country, yet you're being so nosy! What the hell do you know about me?! I'm different from you, you're always smiling and fooling around, you don't know how hard life can be!" Inari yelled with tears streaming down his face. You could almost hear Naruto snap. To their surprise Naruto started laughing.
"I don't know how hard life can be?" he asked with a small slime. "Let me tell you something you little twerp. When i was 6 years old i had already had around 800 attempts on my life. All my life i've been shunned, beaten and glared at for something i had no control over. Nearly everyone in my village hates me. Oh you're wrong twerp. I know all too well what it's like to live a hard life." he said and walked out of the house.
"Is that true?" Tsunami asked with tears in her eyes and Kurenai nodded.
"That was just the tip of the iceberg." she said sadly and watched Inari run up to his room.
Outside the house Naruto was sitting, thinking about if he had been to hard on the brat when the Kyuubi blurred into view.
"Damn, that was fast." he said and the Kyuubi dropped the scroll he had in his mouth and Naruto read it. Once he was done reading, he smiled widely. "Great!" he exclaimed before heading inside to sleep.
The next day Naruto could be seen in the same clearing he was in when he met Haku. Said girl showed up five minutes later with a fully healed Zabuza.
"How are you feeling today Zabuza-san? Fully healed i see." he said and Zabuza grunted.
"No thanks to you." he grumbled massaging his shoulder before straightening up. "Haku said that you could get us instated as Konoha-nins." he said and Naruto nodded.
"Yep. I got the letter back from the Hokage yesterday." he said and gave the scroll to Zabuza who proceeded to read it.
Dear Momochi Zabuza-san
Naruto-kun has told me that you might want to join up with Konoha. It would be an honor to have one of the Mists seven swordsmen to serve as a Konoha-nin. However. The fact that you're an Kiri missing-nin still remains. Though, if you were to "die" on this mission, let's say that Naruto-kun "kills" you and your apprentice and then goes to "dispose" of the bodies. Then you could meet up with Team 8 on their way back from Wave. The populance of Wave can then verify the fact that you are indeed dead, resulting in Kiri stopping their pursuit of you. Once you make it back to Konoha safely you will be escorted to my office where we will decide your rank.
Hope you have a safe journey.
Sandaime Hokage.
"How do i know i can trust you?" Zabuza asked as he rolled up the scroll.
"I could have just killed you the moment you walked into this clearing." Naruto said simply. "You know i could do it."
"But this "kill" thing as the Hokage was talking about. What does he mean by that?" Zabuza asked and Naruto shrugged.
"I don't know. Maybe we'll have to conjour up a plan." he said and sat down. "We could make it so you attack the bridge today, i "kill" you by using my Black fox missile and you fall down and play dead. Then i'll walk up to your "corpses" before any of my teammates does and then i'll pick you up and say that i'm going to bury you and shunsin away to a place where you can wait until we leave." Naruto said and Zabuza nodded.
"Fine, but remember, if you doublecross me, i'll kill you." he said before using shunshin to get back to his hideout. Naruto left with a smile on his face.
When he got back to the house he saw two samurais holding Tsunami tied up with Inari running towards them, waving a kitchen knife.
'He's gonna get himself killed!' Naruto thought before using Kawarimi to replace Inari with a log just in time for it to be cut in three pieces by the two samurais.
'Kawarimi?' they thought and turned around to see Naruto standing over a knocked out Tsunami with Inari in his arms.
"You know that it's not nice to pick on a ten year old right?" he asked with a raised eyebrow before he turned to Inari who was standing behind him. "Inari, you better close your eyes. This is gonna get alittle bloody." he said and Inari did as he was told. "Let's go fuckers." Naruto said and charged the samurais while unsheathing his sword. The samurais where quickly decapitated and burned by one of Narutos fire jutsus.
"Inari, you can open your eyes now." he said and Inari did as he was told and opened his eyes to see a smiling Naruto. "Inari, what you did was incredibly stupid." he said making Inari hang his head. "But it was also very brave. You were willing to risk your life to save your mom. I respect that." Naruto said with a grin which Inari mimicked. "Now i have to go to the bridge, Gatou dies today." and with that Naruto disappeared in a blur.
When he got to the bridge he saw Zabuza standing there looking like he's waiting for something. When Naruto came into view Zabuza grinned.
"There you are you little brat. I've been waiting for a rematch." he said and grabbed his Kubikiri while Naruto unsheathed his sword.
"Kurenai-sensei. You'll let me have a rematch right?" he asked looking at Kurenai with puppydog eyes. She sighed. it's impossible to resist that technique.
"Fine." she said and with that Naruto charged. He and Zabuza clashed several times before Zabuza jumped back and started doing some familiar handseals making Naruto grin.
"I remember that." he said and started doing some handseals of his own. "Unknown" to Zabuza Naruto had a Kage Bunshin standing right behind him making some seals for a Fuuton jutsu.
"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" Zabuza called out and immediatly a dragon shot up from the water under the bridge just as Naruto finished his handseals.
"Katon: Dai Kuroi Kitsune Endan!" he shouted and blew his black fox at the dragon at the same time as his clone called out his jutsu.
"Fuuton: Kamaitachi! (Wind element: Sickling Wind)" he called out and blew a huge gust of wind at the fox magnifying its power. The fox blew straight trough the dragon scorching Zabuza and Haku alittle. When the steam created by the clashing of the jutsus had dissipated, team 8 could see the smoking "corpses" of Zabuza and Haku. Naruto walked over to them and checked their pulse.
"They're dead!" he yelled to his team. "I guess Zabuza wasn't at his full strength yet." he said and crouched down to pick up the "bodies" with his clone when he heard the distinct sound of a cain hitting concrete. When he turned around he saw Gatou standing on the end of the bridge with about 200 thugs behind him.
"Well, i guess the so called "demon" of the hidden mist wasn't so great after all." Gatou said and Naruto nearly laughed when he could feel alittle killer intent coming from Zabuzas prone form. "I wasn't going to pay him anyway so it's my gain." Gatou said with a smirk.
"Gatou. For crimes against Wave and its people, i hereby sentence you to death." Naruto said and went through some handseals. "Ninpou: Kirigakure no Jutsu. (Ninja arts: Hidden Mist technique.)" he said in a low voice and a thick mist rolled in. "You're goners." he said with a smirk as the skin started to peel off his face revealing that oh so lovable flaming skeleton. Naruto then proceeded to pour some chakra into his sword making it burst into flames.
Naruto charged the thugs, slashing through everyone who got in the way of his target. When he got to Gatou he picked the short man up and held his face mere inches from his own. "Look into my eyes..." he said as Gatou shivered and winced in pain from the burning sensation Narutos fingers brought him. "Your soul is stained by the blood of the innocents. Feel their pain." and with that the short man started screaming in pain. When it all was done, Naruto threw the man into the water and walked over to Zabuza and Haku.
"My foot is probably gonna burn alittle. I thought i might give you a heads up. Land safely." he whispered to the "corpses" before kicking them off the bridge and dispelling the mist. 'I know it was not part of the plan but it should work.' he thought and smiled at his team who smiled back.
"Oi, oi, oi!" said one of the thugs. "You just killed our meal ticket. Where are we supposed to get money now?" he asked before another one of the thugs spoke up.
"Let's kill these bastards and then raid the village." he said and the thugs cheered before charging the shinobi but stopped when an arrow imbedded itself into the bridge. When they looked to see who fired it they saw Inari standing with a whole bunch of villagers, all carrying a makeshift weapon.
"You will not take one step into this village ever again!" Inari shouted and the villagers cheered. Naruto who saw the thugs shiver slightly in fear decided that he could add to that by creating a bunch of Kage Bunshins.
"Try to get past us... bitches." they all said with a smirk in perfect unison. Needless to say the thugs ran for dear life, hopping off the bridge. They never realiced that the bridge was like, 160 ft high. Only some of the thugs were smart enough to run down the stairs to the boats. The rest of them just turned into goo when they smashed against the water below.
One week later we find our heroes walking over the now finished bridge on the way back to Konoha with the entire populance of Wave waving them off.
"Bye! Come back anytime!" Inari yelled while Naruto waved with a smile on his face.
"So what should we name the bridge?" a random villager asked and Tazuna smiled.
"We'll name it after the boy who brought back hope and saved this vaillage. We'll call it 'The Great Naruto Bridge'!" he said and the villagers cheered.
When Team 8 had gotten about one mile away from Konoha Kiba stopped them.
"How come i can smell Zabuza even though he's dead?" he asked while Naruto grinned and turned his head towards the forest.
"I didn't expect to see you for another two miles!" he yelled into the forest making his team raise a simutanious eyebrow.
"Naruto-kun, what are you talking about?" Kurenai asked only to see Zabuza and Haku walk out of the forest.
"I'm talkíng about these guys. The Hokage agreed to let them join Konoha so we had to fake their deaths so Kiri would stop hunting them." Naruto said with a grin.
"Yeah, but you didn't really have to hit us with that fire fox." Zabuza said pointing at a bandage on his arm. "It really hurts." he said and Naruto started laughing.
"Sorry about that. I wasn't planning on making it that strong with that wind jutsu. I just wanted to get through the water dragon." he said scratching his head sheepishly. "Now, then. Lets head back to Konoha!" he said and started making his way back to his home village.
ZnK: And i'm spent.
Itachi: This wasn't that bad actually.
Kakashi: (Twitches uncontrollably)
ZnK: What did you do to him?
Itachi: I put him in the Tsukyomi again.
ZnK: You evil, evil little boy.
Itachi: (Laughs maniacally) I know!
ZnK: Well, i hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Itachi: Dude. You forgot something in the first chapter.
ZnK: And what might that be?
Itachi: The disclaimer.
ZnK: SHIT! Can you do it.
Kisame: (Bursts through the wall waving Samehada around) ZenoNoKyuubi doesn't own Naruto or any of Kakashis lame excuses!
ZnK: Umm... Thanks?
Kisame: No problem buddy! Everybody remember! Say no to shark fin soup! (Jumps back out through the hole in the wall)