Kakashi saw the look in Naruto's eyes even at the distance and through the chakra infused water holding him in place thanks to the Sharingan, "Mizu bunshin can't get too far from the maker, unlike kage bunshin, so you can escape if you just run! If he chases you then I can escape because his bunshin holding this up will collapse!" he explained quickly.
Zabuza chuckled darkly, "I could just kill you and then go after them you know." he pointed out, reaching for the oversized sword on his back to emphasize the point.
Naruto considered his options, "I'm going to use kinjutsu." he told his sensei bluntly as he holstered his weapon.
Zabuza frowned under his bandages and narrowed his eyes at the blonde, "What?" he asked.
"Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto announced as he crossed the first two fingers of each hand and poured his chakra into it, his problem with most jutsu was too much chakra and apparently this jutsu used enough chakra to kill people.
It's not like the jutsu would actually kill the blonde genin.
A mob of orange clad blonde's filled the clearing, Zabuza stared at the sheer number of kage bunshin, too many to count, some hidden in the treeline. Then some of them used henge, becoming his teammates, "Run!" one Sasuke told a Sakura and nearly a quarter of the bunshin ran off.
The real Sasuke and Sakura assumed the plan was for them to regroup while the bunshin covered their sensei and that the real Naruto would be with them, it was a clever plan and neither would have expected it from Naruto.
Tazuna was picked up by one of the kage bunshin and taken as well, Zabuza noticed his outline move in between trees, "Just what the hell kind of chakra does this kid have?" he asked.
Kakashi decided to answer that just to stall for time, "He is Naruto Uzumaki." he said dryly despite how the water distorted his voice slightly.
Zabuza's eyes began to widen before he narrowed them, refused to turn back and see Kakashi, he knew the jonin would have no tells, "Liar," he accused, "he doesn't have the red hair." he denied.
"He has the chakra, and the vitality." Kakashi said, that they knew he had the vitality was concerning and the Kiri ninja decided to reappraise Konoha shinobi.
"Hey, Naruto Uzumaki." Zabuza called out to test the theory.
"What do you want?" Naruto asked.
Zabuza wondered if the one speaking was actually the boy but he doubted it, he could afford for the brat to know which one was the real him but the same could not be said of the reverse, "Who was your first kill?" he asked.
Naruto tensed up, all of him, every single bunshin looked nervous, "I killed a chunin instructor to graduate when the man turned traitor." he answered eventually.
Zabuza laughed, "Well isn't that something, and you got that weird wicked blade, do you know how I graduated brat?" he asked.
"Bunshin no Jutsu?" Naruto answered with a shrug.
Zabuza scoffed, "No, in Chigiri no Sato we had a different graduation ceremony." he began, "Kids would pair up and kill each other to graduate," he explained, smirking under his bandages at how uncomfortable all of the Naruto bunshin looked, "they changed the tradition the year I turned up and killed all the other wannabe ninja." he added before he intentionally widened his grin, "Such fun, I wasn't even a student!"
Naruto blinked, his opponent was a monster of a human, the man was just like the desiccated husks beneath Konoha, or the rambling crazed old ryoshi who didn't dream anymore. Zabuza may not have the blood, but he was no better than a beast.
Naruto's bunshin lunged, copies of Nokogiribocho snapped open as the front rows of the kage bunshin horde attacked the two mizu bunshin. The massive sword, copied by water, managed to land glancing blows that dispelled some but were soon dispelled themselves.
Then the kage bunshin started throwing shuriken at Zabuza and the remaining mizu bunshin to rescue his sensei, "You think that shit will work!?" the nukenin snarled as he pulled his massive blade from his back and knocked the first volley out of the air, "You think I can't see right through you, unpolished brat!?" he added as he charged, his body ducked to avoid the second volley.
Zabuza's mizu bunshin took his copy of the massive sword to hand and swung it to avoid being dispelled by the second volley as Zabuza leaped to the back of the bunshin and swung at one who was slightly to the back, the blade went right through with a puff of smoke but no log.
The follow through of the swing dispelled another six bunshin, but there were still forty Naruto, the rest didn't dispel. Zabuza had been lured onto the land, five copies of Naruto's blade, still folded, swung at the nukenin.
Zabuza was surprised even the bunshin could block his blade with theirs, but each Naruto was still knocked back. He wasn't sure if he'd miscalculated, been bluffed, or fooled with a kawarimi between the original and the bunshin.
The five Naruto hit the ground, four dispelled from the impact and the fifth rolled to his feet smoothly, barely winded. Zabuza could tell from the way four of them dispelled that the blonde was not completely unharmed by being thrown around, but the boy hid any pain well.
What disturbed Zabuza more was Naruto's placement had been right there waiting for him, he was sure he would have seen the boy perform a kawarimi. That certainty wavered as he considered the use of henge and the sheer amount of kage bunshin, the boy had even declared it a kinjutsu.
Zabuza had to accept that he had actually been lured into what the blonde considered an ambush, "Nice try," he acknowledged, "but the difference between us is still a bit too vast for you to cut me. That you haven't been cut yourself defending against me is worth some praise though."
Naruto scuffed the ground with his right foot, "I, uh, good instincts?" he excused, it was a poor excuse. Technically he was self taught, but this self teaching of how to fight with his weapon had been accomplished by throwing himself at things he thought were far scarier than Zabuza, some were even bigger than the muscular nukenin. Granted few had blades even half the size of that sword of his, but still.
Zabuza's hackles raised as he noticed the kage bunshin moving to surround him, the way they walked gave off a malevolent intent to kill, it was predatory. He eyed the blonde boy without giving away he noticed, for all the world the genin seemed like a nervous brat if not for the hitai-ate, armored gloves, shuriken holster, and that weapon.
"What is that thing anyway?" Zabuza asked as he pointed his blade one handed at Naruto's weapon in an impressive display of arm strength.
"Nokogiribocho." Naruto answered calmly.
Zabuza laughed again, "Well now, Kubikiribocho versus Nokogiribocho, what an odd match up. I suppose that weapon makes sense for Konoha but still, you seem like you're trying to copy me." the man mused, "I suppose your sensei is the copy ninja too." he added dryly, he wasn't sure how long his bunshin holding the man would last.
Naruto took in the name of his opponent's weapon, it was a little ironic, "Well, it's not intentional, Mizuki betrayed the village and I just ended up killing him and learned some stuff so Hokage-jiji made me a ninja." he said, withholding as much information as he thought he should.
Zabuza picked up on the affectionate honorific for the Sandaime Hokage though and eyed the boy more closely, Uzumaki, close to the Hokage, and disturbingly competent in a fight even if he seemed oddly untrained at being a shinobi.
If the blonde was more emotionless, more focused, more disciplined, then Zabuza might assume the boy was a covert black ops. However Kakashi had ordered them to run and the blonde was ignoring that and trying to rescue his sensei, the boy was more experienced with fighting than taking orders.
Naruto's blood lust was another matter to consider, killing intent was not a jutsu or technique, it was a simple phenomena. At its base form it was expressed with body language, chakra enhanced that to a degree but it was most usually a passive thing.
Creatures gave away subconscious thoughts in their body language, in the way they moved and stood. Zabuza felt that being surrounded by Naruto was akin to being surrounded by a pack of wolves, the boy had a hunger, blood lust, in his eyes, his stance was that relaxed but predatory stance and his bunshin moved slowly as if not to spook the nukenin.
Zabuza had not expected a genin to actually make him feel such a chill down his spine, but he would not react to a genin triggering his fight or flight response with anything but violence. Kubikiribocho swung through the air, a bunshin attempted to halt the attack and while Naruto had the impressive strength to withstand the nukenin he lacked the power to actually stop the attack.
Two blonde boys went flying, one dispelled as they hit the ground and the other rolled to his feet and tossed a shuriken under his right arm with his left arm. Zabuza watched it spin through the air and skip across the water once at his remaining bunshin, the mizu bunshin managed to dodge it.
Naruto narrowed his eyes and a dozen of him moved to completely encircle the nukenin, Zabuza spun and swung his blade to send each Naruto who managed to defend flying. Two were dispelled by the blade itself, another nine dispelled as they hit the ground.
Zabuza glared at Naruto as the blonde rolled smoothly to his feet yet again, the boy showed no signs of getting tired or being in too much pain to continue. The number of kage bunshin was dwindling though, Zabuza could actually count there were fifty left.
The one genin army charged again, another dozen much to Zabuza's annoyance, none were dispelled from the blade, eleven clouds of smoke helped conceal the blonde as he rolled to his feet again. Then Naruto surprised Zabuza again by throwing a fuuma shuriken at his mizu bunshin left handed, the watery duplicate was almost taken off guard but managed to get its copy of Kubikiribocho up knock the surprise weapon aside.
As Zabuza wondered where the boy had gotten the weapon he was answered as the knocked aside shuriken became Naruto, who had used his Nokogiribocho to defend himself with a metal blade in henge but still had a vicious cut on his right forearm.
Naruto swung as he snapped his blade out to full length and palmed a kunai in his left hand, the mizu bunshin caught the boy with a blade lock of their weapons which was all the air time the blonde needed to throw his kunai into the right foot of the mizu bunshin.
Zabuza was livid, having to hunt the target was one thing, needing to deal with Kakashi Hatake one of the few living people left who had the Sharingan was a fun challenge. A genin having such blood lust, combat instinct, and ability was novel even.
That same genin actually managing to get one up on him, rescue Kakashi, and make his job take longer was not amusing. The nukenin ignored the remaining kage bunshin, he raced across the water and swung his blade furiously, a hand on Naruto's ankle dragged the boy under water.
Zabuza turned left and followed his swing through, he shifted the angle upwards to swing at Kakashi as the man, or a bunshin, came at him with a kunai. The blade glanced off his sword and Kubikiribocho turned the bunshin into water, which confirmed the jonin had his genin and might try to escape.
The nukenin noticed Gozu still unconscious on the ground, seeing as the Konoha ninja had not thought to capture the chunin he decided to let Kakashi get away for now. He would have liked to clash with the Sharingan more to figure out a way to deal with it, but he'd make do with what he had learned.
Zabuza took out his misplaced aggression on the remaining kage bunshin before he rescued Gozu though, he was still annoyed.
"Why am I aware of Zabuza killing my bunshin?"
Kakashi raised an eyebrow as he readjusted his hitai-ate over his left eye, "Dispelling them," he corrected idly, the blonde was a bit too morbid at times, "you never noticed that you retain the memories of kage bunshin?" he asked.
Naruto shook his head, the two were rushing to get to the rest of their team through the trees after Kakashi got Naruto away with a burst of speed that left the boy dizzy, he wanted that jutsu whatever that was.
"How do you never notice that?" Kakashi asked incredulously.
"I can't read kanji and I used the jutsu like twice." Naruto responded blandly.
Kakashi was silent for a moment, "You learned a kinjutsu and the parent ninjutsu from the Fuin no Sho without being able to read kanji, just using the description of the hand seal and practicing with your chakra and the seal until you could make kage bunshin." he guessed, the blonde just nodded since that about summed it up, "That's actually amazing, but yes it's a scouting ninjutsu primarily."
Naruto was glad for the praise and even happier that the way he first used it was technically a correct application, not that his sensei would ever know since it looked like he just used them to fight. He'd never actually tried that before, he wondered if the bunshin could collect Chi no Isshi for him.
"Still, it seems you have even more chakra than me to be able to make that many, which means you can actually use them for a combat distraction." Kakashi praised, "For most people, the Taiju part means like ten or so. You made nearly a hundred or more." he clarified, "It's a kinjutsu because of the chakra requirements, but I suppose you have extra chakra reserves."
Naruto was pretty sure his sensei was talking about the kitsune, he had no idea and he did not actually know if the man was right or if there was something else weird making his chakra so monstrous. A few weeks ago Naruto would have loved to be special, growing up an orphan gave him dreams of grandeur, now he just wanted to be a normal ninja. He still wanted to be Hokage though, so he'd suck it up and use his advantages.
"Your cut isn't bleeding," Kakashi pointed out, the blonde hadn't even noticed and looked at the right arm, the red wound was visibly closing.
Naruto thought he needed blood for that, maybe it didn't matter, but the doll said he needed blood so perhaps as long as he had blood in his body he would be fine? The boy had no idea, the adult shinobi of Konoha seemed to think his healing factor was related to the Kyuubi somehow.
The jonin continued, "we can tell your teammates it's an Uzumaki thing." he said, taking note of his students surprised look he clarified, "It's not a complete lie, and they don't need to know why it's so potent. Besides what are the odds of another Uzumaki pointing out your healing factor is stronger than normal?"
Naruto wondered if this was a test, a lot of bombshells had just been dropped on him, "Uzumaki have a healing factor? We're a clan?" he asked.
"Well not anymore," Kakashi said apologetically, "I'd be surprised if there are even two more out there. Most wouldn't even think you are one because of the hair. The clan was known for red hair and fuinjutsu." he explained.
"I'm the orphan heir of a dead clan." Naruto said bluntly.
"I did not say heir." Kakashi denied quickly.
Naruto frowned, "Still, orphan of a dead clan, guess me and Sasuke have more in common than I thought." he muttered.
"You should keep the other secret to yourself, but technically everything I just told you about your clan could be learned at the public library if anyone cared to research your name." Kakashi explained plainly, the fact that none of Naruto's classmates had ever looked into his name was not too surprising but the realization that he himself had never bothered to look into it put a weight in his stomach.
Soon enough Kakashi and Naruto caught up with Sakura and Sasuke, Tazuna panted and leaned up against a tree, "Did you get him?" the man asked nervously.
"We disengaged, basically a draw." Kakashi informed and the client slumped to the ground with a horrified expression.
Sasuke glared at his blonde teammate, "I thought you were with us." he accused, Sakura joined in glaring although she looked far more shaken.
"I was." Naruto retorted.
"Bunshin do not count!" Sakura snapped, "Do you know how worried we were when I slapped you and you disappeared!?" she scolded angrily, "You even got hurt, moron." she grumbled, her eyes snapped to the bloody right arm, "Wait-" she noticed the wound healing.
Naruto stepped back on his right foot and pulled his arm away from the kunoichi, he was touched she was worried about him but he had to hide things, "I'm fine." he insisted.
"Uzumaki were said to have enhanced vitality," Kakashi began to explain and the word vitality clicked in the blonde boy's head, "it seems that may have inferred whatever branch Naruto-kun descended from with a healing factor based on their chakra." he explained for the nervous genin, "I'm surprised you don't know this Sakura-chan, based on your test scores I assumed you knew all the clans, even dead ones with scattered survivors since one was in your class."
Sakura flushed as attention fell on her, "It, uh, I never noticed, it never came up in my reading." she excused bashfully, "So, Naruto has a Kekkei Genkai?" she asked and the blonde flinched as he registered the meaning of the words.
"Not quite but-" Kakashi began to retort.
"It sounds like a Kekkei Genkai." Sasuke said bluntly, eyeing the cut, "So, Naruto can match jonin because he can heal?" he asked.
"Well, that's not quite the whole story, but there is a civilian present my adorable students who are talking around dangerous military secrets." Kakashi warned in a sing song tone, Tazuna and Sakura paled at the implication.
Sasuke looked at Naruto, but besides being a bit nervous the boy looked oddly relieved. Before the Uchiha could analyze that further the bridge builder spoke up, "Alright, not much further to my house." he said as he shakily stood up, the man had put on a brave face and pulled a fresh bottle of booze from his travel bag, "My daughter will have a super dinner for you shinobi, come on." he said, eager to get going.
Tazuna's daughter was a young woman named Tsunami with straight black hair, and she did indeed have food for the shinobi, "Thank you all so much for bringing Otousan home safe, I've been worried sick ever since he said he was going to hire shinobi." she said gratefully as she served dinner.
Kakashi had wanted to have a kage bunshin patrol the area, but given the situation and how much chakra he'd pulled Naruto aside and asked the blonde to do it. The boy had casually made six like it was nothing, the kid really did have some monstrous chakra.
"It was no problem." Kakashi lied politely, "My students are the top of the graduating class at Konoha's shinobi academy." he explained. Nobody corrected him about Naruto being the dead last, but Sasuke and Sakura did glance at their mysterious teammate.
Tazuna looked at the pink haired kunoichi, "Really? The girl was just not doing anything to guard me then?" he asked incredulously.
"Any normal genin would be shaken when faced with an opponent like Zabuza Momochi, even I'll have difficulty defeating him." Kakashi said with some levity to his tone, but that just put more scrutiny on Naruto who didn't even look like a normal genin.
Awkwardly enough despite his displayed combat prowess and use of a decently sized weapon he was still shorter than either of his teammates, Sasuke knew the blonde was physically strong but not that skilled and had been completely floored by what he saw.
Tazuna joined the two genin in staring at the third, his daughter picked up on it and looked curiously at him, "I've, uh, seen worse y'know." Naruto excused awkwardly with a shrug, Sasuke narrowed his eyes because he had seen worse before too and he had still been shaken so he wanted to know why the blonde was different.
Tazuna raised an eyebrow but Kakashi interrupted by coughing into his fist, "It is best not to pry into ninja secrets. Especially not with such a lovely dinner in front of us." he said, praising Tsunami with his words.
"Well, Naruto's bunshin can sense if Zabuza or more assassins come, right?" Sakura asked and Naruto tried not to give away that he'd forgotten he pretended to be a sensor as Kakashi nodded, "What about when he goes to sleep?" she asked.
Naruto wished the pink haired girl would stop trying to give him a heart attack because he still had yet to explain to anyone he didn't sleep like a normal human anymore.
Kakashi simply hummed thoughtfully, "Depending on how much chakra they have the kage bunshin might either dispel or get drowsy and last a little bit longer, I suppose if something attacks one of them in this moment it would jolt Naruto-kun awake but they'll all dispel naturally once he fully falls asleep." the jonin explained to his genin.
"I can go all night." Naruto said casually and Tazuna snorted, his daughter glared at him as the man covered his amused smirk with a mug of beer.
Kakashi shook his head, "I appreciate the offer, but we can't risk you exhausting yourself to the point you can't fight." he insisted, "I'll need to rest up before I can get a message back to Konoha asking for back up." he pointed out.
Naruto frowned, "We can take them." he insisted right back as he crossed his arms.
"You might be able to take Gozu, and I might be able to take Zabuza, but who else could Gato have hired?" Kakashi pointed out as he stepped his fingers, "Zabuza might be too proud to accept help, but he was fine with letting Gozu try to kill you and Gozu is merciless." he explained and the blonde shivered, "He'll be fine with working with whatever scum Gato can hire if it means taking you out, and after you pissed him off Zabuza might just let him."
Sakura had gone pale during the speech, Tsunami looked numb, Sasuke was tense, but Naruto just sighed in an almost resigned matter, "I'll live." he said dryly, the underlying certainty there confused the jonin who was the only one to notice it.
Sasuke grit his teeth at the confidence of his blonde teammate, "I can fight too." he pointed out as he crossed his arms, "We're a cell." he added off hand.
Sakura jolted, she felt compelled by the Uchiha speaking up to do so herself, "Yeah!" she added, her voice wavering a little too much to seem confident.
Kakashi sighed, "I'm still calling for back up when I can, I'd like you three trained far more before letting any of you fight unknown enemy shinobi but there is no telling when the enemy will strike." he muttered.
Naruto paled as he recalled his sensei and team thought they were safe because he, and by extension his bunshin, could sense chakra, "I need to use the bathroom." he said and stood quickly.
Tsunami pointed him in the right direction and the blonde was off, as soon as he was hidden he made more kage bunshin. Screw Kakashi's recommendations, that was based on an incomplete and flawed knowledge of Naruto's abilities.
The boy sent kage bunshin out the window to explain his revelation to the existing bunshin on patrol, as well as a few four bunshin cells to patrol extra and a couple to investigate the town. He was good at thinking on his feet so he was sure his bunshin would come up with some information on Gato or if anyone weird had been seen around town.
With that done Naruto returned to the dinner table to find a young boy was being introduced to everyone, "Inari-kun, this is Naruto-kun, the other shinobi who helped make sure Ojiji got home safe." Tsunami introduced, indicating the boy was her son, "Please greet them properly." she asked, the jonin of cell seven noticed her tone was pleading.
"But, Kaachan, they're all going to die." Inari protested morbidly with a straight face, Sakura was horrified and Sasuke was perturbed.
Naruto snorted with an amused smirk, then his face dropped when the attention turned on him, "Uh, I mean, we got this, easy win." he insisted, the way he was trying to hide how amusing he found the concept of death concerned Kakashi.
"No one can defeat Gato and his men." Inari pointed out at is if he was saying the sky was blue or grass was green.
"They're human right?" Naruto asked Tazuna with a raised eyebrow and the man nodded numbly, "Then we'll be fine, Zabuza is the real threat and Kakashi-sensei can take him in a one on one, right sensei?" he asked.
Kakashi shrugged, "It's a fight, I have no idea for certain but I think I have good odds." he answered.
"There, see, certain victory." Naruto bluffed blatantly, Kakashi raised an eyebrow since the blonde seemed more confident in his act now but it was also more obviously an act.
Inari didn't pick up on that, "Don't lie," he called out coldly, "you can't beat Gato. Even if you get rid of Zabuza there'll just be more and you'll die." he intoned darkly.
Naruto frowned, "So I'll just kill Gato then." he said, the solution seemed obvious to him.
To Kakashi it was as it the blonde had viewed the problem as a knotted rope that he intended to untie by cutting the rope with a blade, it was alarming how quickly the boy resorted to murder. Combined with his sudden competence and unnatural blood lust the jonin was concerned about what had happened between the genin and Danzo Shimura, he had no idea how little the man had to do with it.
Inari seemed surprised by the solution, Naruto wasn't sure why, it seemed obvious to him. Sakura frowned, "You'd end up with a bounty for that even if you are with one of the Shinobi Godaikoku." she pointed out.
Naruto blinked owlishly at the new information, filed it away, "I don't really see how that matters." he decided after a moment of processing.
Sasuke made an amused scoffing sound, "He has a point, Kakashi has a bounty, most shinobi get one sooner or later." he pointed out.
Sakura frowned, "I guess, but we should take our time to build up our abilities before getting that kind of attention, right?" she asked.
Naruto shrugged, "I'll be fine." he said dismissively as he picked up chopsticks, "Itadakimasu." he almost forgot to say, he realized he was saying it less when eating home alone. Inari stared at the boy for a little longer as everyone else followed the blonde's lead and began to eat.
"Are you trying to be a hero or something?"
Naruto looked up from his food at Inari and glared, "I'm trying to eat." he retorted, "If you think it takes a hero to kill Gato then I guess that's what I'll be to you when I succeed." he mused.
Kakashi blinked at the sudden insightful comment from the blonde, but Inari glared, "Heroes aren't real! There's no such thing!" he snapped.
"What about bakemono?" Naruto asked quietly, looking back down at his food.
"Huh?" Inari asked, the wind taken out of his sails.
"You don't believe in heroes, do you believe in bakemono?" Naruto asked again, clarifying his question. Tsunami and Tazuna frowned but were curious about the younger boy's answer.
"Gato and his men might as well be." Inari grumbled, and his glare only intensified when Naruto laughed at that, "It's not funny! They do awful, terrible things!" he insisted angrily.
Naruto sighed, "Yeah, I'm sure," he agreed, "ningen can be real bastards." he groused, "I don't mean do you believe in murderers, tyrants, or whatever other sick stuff Gato and his mooks do though." he continued, "Do you believe in bakemono who aren't ningen." he clarified.
Kakashi frowned at his student's line of questioning, with what he knew of the bakegitsune it was very concerning to hear the young blonde speak like that.
Inari frowned, "No, I'm not a baby." he insisted.
Naruto smiled, "How do you think you react if you ran into a real bakemono? Something unnatural but pretending to be an animal or person?" he asked as his smile dropped.
Now Inari looked scared, "That stuff isn't real." he insisted.
"Yeah, so you'd be scared and freeze up, hope it's a nightmare y'know." Naruto agreed idly as he played with some of his rice, "If Gato is a real genuine bakemono, then I'll be worried." he said before he returned to eating.
Everyone who wasn't Inari or the blonde who had spoken could tell Naruto was speaking from experience regarding running into a real bakemono, Kakashi suspected the kitsune, Tazuna and Tsunami were concerned.
Sasuke and Sakura exchanged a glance, then both looked pointedly at their sensei who shook his head at them.
Sakura and Sasuke waited until the four man cell was alone without civilians eavesdropping, "Alright, spill it," the pink haired kunoichi demanded with hands on her hips, "what happened with you?" she clarified at her blonde teammate while Sasuke stood behind her with his arms crossed.
Naruto looked panicked, his eyes darted around the room, at Kakashi, then back at his genin teammates, "What happened?" he repeated the question back at her.
"You can suddenly fight!" Sakura snapped, she tried to be quiet but her voice still came out in a loud hiss.
"I could fight!" Naruto defended himself.
"Your taijutsu was awful, the only reason you ever won spars was brute strength and anything that required scoring points you sucked at." Sasuke reminded blandly.
"I have the stamina to ignore that stupid point system." Naruto grumbled back, crossing his arms and averting his gaze.
Sakura sighed, "Look, something clearly happened with you that made you a better fighter." she pointed out, Kakashi had been worried about that.
"I was hiding my true skills this whole time." Naruto attempted to lie.
"That's stupid, you expect me to believe you pretended to be an inept attention hog for six years to hide that you're a super soldier?" Sasuke asked dryly.
"Hey!" Naruto protested angrily.
"Case in point, reflexive answer at your supposed cover identity being inept or otherwise insulted." Sasuke deduced.
Kakashi sighed, "Alright, look," he began, "it's okay Naruto-kun, Danzo is not here." he assured, "We're not in the nation and he doesn't have an operative that could evade me." he promised.
Naruto blinked owlishly, he was confused about Danzo being brought up and it took him a second to realize what his sensei was implying, "Eh?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"If you don't say anything I'm checking you for fuinjutsu." Kakashi said bluntly, startling all three of his genin.
Naruto scrambled to recall what Danzo had told the Hokage and what the Hokage might have then told his sensei, "Uh, okay hang on, I was hiding after I painted the Hokage monument and wound up in a secret abandoned Anbu base that some guy in a mask almost found me in, well he sort of knew I was there but there was this false back closet and-" the boy halted his ramblings, he was about to tell the truth and he couldn't.
Thankfully the blonde was interrupted by his dark haired teammate, "You accidentally broke into a no longer used Anbu facility while evading Anbu?" he asked.
"I am excellent at stealth." Naruto insisted, it was his best field.
"What's better than excellent then? Because I believe I still scored higher than you in that too." Sasuke mocked competitively.
Kakashi sighed, "Boys, please." he requested shortly, "Naruto-kun, continue." he requested, "You found your weapon down there right?" he asked and the blonde nodded.
"I knew you didn't make it." Sakura grumbled.
"I will have you know I was researching how to do so and was going to become a weapon smith!" Naruto defended himself, "I was going to live that lie until it was no longer a lie!" he insisted, "I still might!" he added hotly.
Kakashi rubbed his temples, "Naruto, continue." he insisted sternly.
Naruto frowned, fidgeted a moment, then he sighed, "I fell back into some weird place, I got lost, it was scary, there were some dogs and they were rabid or something I guess." he explained, "I found this weapon and, well, defended myself." it was technically true, the only true lies were the massive lies of omission.
Kakashi frowned, "That's really all?" he asked, "Naruto-kun if there's more you can't say because of a fuinjutsu then I'll just check you over to find it but I promise not to touch it until we can get to an expert." he assured.
Naruto groaned, "I do not have a, well, I don't have any fuinjutsu affecting how I speak," he babbled, "look I just saw some weird shit down there and had to fight for my life a little. I dealt with it and took my training more seriously, that's all." he lied insistently, "I don't want to talk about it." he added.
"Is this why you cut yourself in class that day?" Sakura asked with a frown.
"I don't want to talk about it." Naruto repeated himself.
"Well what weird shit did you see?" Sasuke asked.
"I do not want to talk about it." Naruto insisted, "It was just, gross and fucked up and I killed and there was blood but I'm fine!" he continued to insist.
"You killed more than a few rapid dogs." Kakashi guessed, he was confident the blonde's memories and words were no longer locked behind a fuinjutsu at least.
"There was a scorpion but nothing human, just some things that looked human." Naruto muttered.
Kakashi frowned, "Danzo has bakemono?" he asked suddenly.
Naruto stiffened, "What? No, I don't think so." he denied.
"You think you killed them all?" Kakashi asked pointedly.
Naruto scoffed and wished he hadn't, if he'd managed to bluff that the jonin might have dropped it, "I wish," he grumbled before he shook his head, "look, it, they, I don't think anyone can tell them what to do." he clarified.
"They could be directed." Kakashi pointed out.
Naruto frowned, he wondered how much he should give away, "I don't really know what Danzo has to do with anything, but Anbu were guarding the way out when I found it and they took me to safety." he explained.
Kakashi leaned back and crossed his arms, "Interesting," he muttered, "so just some freaky things, some that looked human, you had to learn how to kill fast, and then you took your training seriously?" he asked, something about the story still didn't quite add up but it explained a lot.
Sasuke frowned, he didn't buy it. The Uchiha wasn't sure how or why but he could just tell that his blonde teammate was hiding something, he knew he couldn't just make an accusation on gut instinct though so he'd watch and wait for proof to confront the blonde with.
Sakura just sighed, "Okay, that explains a lot." she confessed, clearly she bought it, "You really should have talked to someone." she pointed out, she had noticed how traumatized the Uzumaki clearly was.
Naruto drooped and looked annoyed at the suggestion, "Sure, I'll just contact my dead clan by summoning the Shinigami using a family heirloom." he grumbled sarcastically and Sakura winced.
"No one can actually summon the Shinigami." Sasuke retorted with rolled eyes.
Kakashi sighed, "Alright, we're a team, that means you should be able to talk to each other if no one else, got it?" he lectured.
Sasuke and Naruto both looked away and scoffed in unison, Sakura frowned as she worried about her team.