Author: R. Anthony Roth
Pairing(s): Naruhina & potentially others
Language: Canadian English
"Speech"
'Thought'
"Kyuubi/Inner Sakura speech"
'Kyuubi/Inner Sakura thought'
(Clarification, fun fact or author's musing)
Anything bolded indicates emotion or extraneous content
A/N: To those of you who have taken the time to review, you have my deep thanks, those of you who haven't…. EVIL EYE! A special thanks to SaphireShade who constructively pointed out the difficulty the layout was presenting, a comment, which brought to you the new structurally improved chapters (after an hour or two of editing), I do it for the fans! Now back to our intrepid heroes! Ohh and for those of you who don't feel like reading another wave country rehash cough dmitric300 cough, I will be starting my own arc soon, plus I plan on making things interesting… (Ohh and on a side note, I am getting rid of Inari, I prefer Tsunami not as a widow, and that little boy pisses me off, if you have any complaints about this specific fact, kindly shove them up your arse where they originated from)
Team 9 continued their journey towards the Land of the Waves for another few thankfully uneventful hours, but like all good action stories this time was limited by fate (and the author). As they were passing a small lake, a strange mist began to envelop them, an occurrence they were now all too familiar with.
"C'mon! Not this damn mist again!" complained Naruto "I mean really, other than dramatic effect its kinda pointless to start a battle with it, your element of surprise is gone, and we all know you are gonna fire some ranged projectile or a jutsu"
'Sigh, everybody is a critic these days' thought a deflated Zabuza 'So the brat thinks he can predict what I'm going to do, we'll see how well he handles me!'
"Naruto, Lee, protect Tazuna, Hinata activate your Byakugan" shouted Gai
"Hai, Byakugan!" Scanning the surrounding area Hinata picked up around seven weak chakra signatures, and one significantly stronger one. "Sensei, we seem to be surrounded by moderately powerful opponents, but a significantly stronger one is probably directing them!"
"An ambush? Yosh! It is time to unleash the fiery passion of our youth!" Gai responded
With that, suddenly they were attacked by seven masked opponents, each wielding the same massive sword, and outfitted in camouflage pants and a shirt of rippling muscles (the ladies love Zabuza). They moved for Tazuna, but before they could reach him, two were intercepted with a blistering "Konoha Dai Senpuu!", subsequently exploding into twin bursts of water!
"Kuso! (Shit) Mizu Bunshin, that explains what you detected Hinata, but where is the strong…" noted Gai before being interrupted
"Suiton Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" shouted Zabuza, who was followed by an immense dragon composed entirely of roiling water
Team 9 was suddenly engulfed by a torrent of water, which swept the unsuspecting genin, along with Tazuna, off their feet. The Zabuza clones and Gai dodged the blast, but the odds were now against the Konoha-nin, three Zabuzas stood facing only Gai, and three of them were already moving to attack the stunned genin. Knowing that he couldn't turn his attention away from the real enemy jounin, Gai trusted in the abilities of his team and began his fight.
Soaking wet and dishevelled, the battered genin got to their feet, only to suddenly face three bunshin who, despite their watery forms, were radiating killer intent. Readying themselves for combat, Lee and Naruto took up taijutsu stances, while Hinata stayed close to the otherwise defenseless bridge builder.
"So if it's a Clone War you want, watch Star Wars, or… Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" shouted a small army of Narutos
"Kage Bunshins? You're a surprising one, but no matter, I Momochi Zabuza Demon of the Hidden Mist will kill that bridge builder!" stated one of the water clones before closing in on the genin with his replicas.
Meanwhile Gai began engaging his opponents, trading blows with all three, and avoiding Zabuza's impractically huge cleaver. Finally he broke through the defenses of one and delivered a powerful strike to its stomach, the result was the clone bursting into a cloud of water. But just as Gai was moving on to the next one he heard the shouted words "Suiro no jutsu!" and he was suddenly engulfed in a spherical watery prison formed from the body of the destroyed clone.
"Hah! As long as I maintain this jutsu, you will eventually die as your lungs are starved of oxygen" gloated Zabuza
While considering a method of escape, Gai glanced over to see how the rest of his team was faring against their watery opponents.
Lee and Naruto were barely holding their own, as even Naruto's multiple clones were of little use against the massive sweeps of Zabuza's weapon, and Lee's honed taijutsu couldn't penetrate the Demon of the Mist's trained defenses. Hinata on the other hand seemed to have already defeated her opponent, and was moving to aid Lee and Naruto in their respective battles. With a few quick strikes to each clone, Hinata finished the conflict, and was met with awed words and facial expressions from her teammates.
"Sugoi (Amazing) Hinata-chan! How did you manage to defeat them so quickly?" queried a clearly impressed Naruto
'He called me Hinata-chan!!' thought a now reddening Hinata
"The spirit of your youth must be burning with the strength of a thousand hot suns to have defeated them so easily!" espoused an equally excited Lee
"n-no it was nothing really, the clones were held together only with chakra, and even their swords were composed of water, so all it took me was a few strikes to disrupt their flow" whispered an embarrassed Hinata while twiddling her thumbs
Seeing his students were safe, Gai decided to end his imprisonment and the battle, "Initial, Heal Gates Release!", the sudden explosion of energy rippling from Gai's form broke the prison and sent Zabuza flying backwards.
Then launching him into the air with a rising kick followed with a smashing uppercut, Gai proceeded to grab Zabuza in a full body bear hug and send him plummeting towards the ground at full speed "Omote Renge!". With a sickening crack, Zabuza's now limp body tumbled to the ground. But suddenly it poofed into a splintered log
"Naruto, Lee, Hinata WATCH OUT!" screamed Gai
But before his students could react Zabuza descended from the trees and sliced the unsuspecting bridge builder in two with one sweep of his massive sword. Team 9 could only look on in horror as their client was killed and their mission ended… But to (almost) everyone's surprise, Tazuna's severed parts poofed away into smoke, and the immediately confused Zabuza was met with a solid roundhouse kick to the head!
"Hah! You think I was doing nothing while you dealt with Gai-sensei? As a precaution I substituted one of my clones for Tazuna, and now you are going down!" shouted Naruto as another one of his clones dropped from the trees delivering a dropkick to the stunned Zabuza.
But just as Gai rushed to join Naruto, both were stopped by a hail of senbon descending from the upper canopy of the trees.
"You amuse me boy, but next time you won't be so lucky! This fight shall be finished later" said Zabuza before disappearing into the still present mist.
Beginning to run after Zabuza, Naruto tripped and fell, the exhaustion of battling a jounin class ninja and creating so many clones broke past his previous adrenaline rush. Thankfully Team 9 had come out of the battle with no significant injuries, but with the knowledge that a known jounin assassin was preparing to attack again, and that next time he wouldn't underestimate them. This, coupled with the fact that the unseen senbon-wielding attacker was likely also quite dangerous, left them in a worried silence.
"Good job team, the flames of your youth evaporated the waters of danger, but he will be back" said Gai "However his recovery will take a few days, this will give us time to train for our next battle"
"Yosh Gai-sensei! We are ready to learn!" replied Lee
"Good, then we shall begin when we reach the village…. Uhh Naruto where exactly is Tazuna?" inquired Gai
"I left him in-" began to reply Naruto before being interrupted by a rapidly approaching source of incoherent curses
"Damn cocky shinobi! WARN ME NEXT TIME YOU PLAN ON GAGGING ME IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOREST!! &$#" screamed a seriously pissed Tazuna
"I saved your STUPID ASS! You would probably have given yourself away if I hadn't gagged that old foul mouth of yours!" replied Naruto "Besides its your ass that's being hunted by killer jounin assassins, not mine, so be grateful!"
Mollified by the truth of Naruto's words, the irked bridge-builder quieted down, but not before spouting another stream of curses, which left the impressionable Hinata blushing profusely and wilted several flowers in the vicinity.
Soon they reached the village, and were guided by Tazuna to a moderately sized, but modestly furnished, two story house, where his elegant raven-haired daughter Tsunami greeted them. The sight of whom sent Gai, Lee, and Naruto blushing, and drew out an otherwise rare twinge of jealousy from Hinata.
"Welcome to our humble abode, please make yourselves at home" Tsunami courteously said "I can't thank you enough for protecting my father, you can't imagine how much it means to me and the entire village"
"The fiery passion of our youths would have us act no other way Miss Tsunami-san" replied the enthralled Gai
"Well I better get dinner started, after all you must be hungry from your long journey" noted Tsunami
"Hai, I will help you in the kitchen" offered Hinata
"Arigato Hinata-chan" replied Tsunami
After discussing the arrangements for the bridge building with Tazuna, Gai turned to Naruto, while Lee hung around the kitchen, floating on the delicious scents that came wafting out.
"Naruto you might have noticed that you can clearly remember the sight of Zabuza's sword cleaving you in half, in addition to seeing the previous battle from multiple viewpoints" began Gai
"True, that had been confusing me for a while now" replied Naruto hesitantly
"The reason for this is that the Kage Bunshin no jutsu creates clones that provide their memories and experience to the user when they are poofed from existence" continued Gai
"That mean that I was able to gain five times the experience…?" queried Naruto
"Very perceptive, apparently your springtime of youth is bountiful in knowledge, however this isn't an RPG, meaning that although you did benefit, it wouldn't be exactly five times more" noted Gai
"But still, that's awesome!" commented a now thoroughly excited Naruto
"Yes, any physical or chakra based training you do with your clones shall provide the memory of the exertions and the associated benefit your own body, but there is a caveat" cautioned Gai, "As you noticed it takes a great deal of chakra to do this, and as such can be a dangerous technique, hence its original entry into the forbidden scroll"
"But I can make a lot of clones if I try" protested Naruto
"Indeed we have seen that, however maintaining them is necessary for prolonged training, and doing so is quite draining" replied Gai, "however your body's constant struggle with its… tenant… has given you a significant chakra reserve, enough for you to train using this method, but still limiting how far you can push yourself"
Just as their conversation drew to close, Tsunami and Hinata brought in their simple, but exceptionally delicious, meal. As the group ate, Naruto provided a slightly exaggerated account of his "epic duel" with Zabuza to an appreciative Tsunami. Meanwhile Gai and Lee challenged each other to a speed-eating contest, the loser of which would have to crab walk 100 laps around the house.
After dinner was finished, and Gai completed his 100 laps, the group rejoined for a brief team meeting.
"It is clear that we must be prepared for Zabuza's inevitable reappearance, thus my youthful charges, tomorrow our training begins!"
A/N: My laziness has led me to scrap the mini-glossary, except in the event that I invent my own jutsu, which you should count on in the future. Otherwise wiki the jutsu names yourselves. What can I say? I'm one hell of a lazy bastard. Ohh and review or you'll find the head of your decapitated pet/sibling/parent/guardian on your bed in the morning!