Took a bit longer than expected, but I'm back. If any of you are still interested in this story, thanks for sticking around. There were some things I wasn't satisfied with in this chapter, so I had to rewrite it.
Fun fact: Chapter 3 contains exactly 6,666 words. How 'bout that.
Previous Chapter:
Inari felt a tap on his shoulder, and looked up to see Naruto, offering a kunai. "The kill is yours, if you want it." Inari looked unsure. "I don't know if I can…" Tazuna placed a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder. "Do it for Kaiza." Inari nodded. "For Kaiza." With a yell, Inari plunged the kunai into Gato's chest, piercing his heart and killing him. Gato gurgled for a moment, and spat some blood before his eyes glazed over, and he died.
The group of people cheered, and Inari's family embraced him.
Chapter Eight: Stand Tall
It was the day after the battle. Tazuna and Naruto were at the bridge with a large group of workers, while Zabuza, Haku, and Anko had all stayed at the house with Tsunami and Inari. Tazuna looked over the group. "With this many people it should only take about a week to complete the bridge." He said cheerfully to Naruto.
Naruto tapped his chin. "How many workers would you need to complete the bridge by the end of the day?" he asked.
Tazuna quirked an eyebrow. It was an odd question, but given all that he had seen in the last week, he wasn't too surprised by it. "By the end of the day? At least a thousand."
Naruto nodded. "We'll call it 1500." He formed a seal, and they were surrounded by a massive cloud of smoke. When it cleared, they were surrounded by Naruto's clones. "Let's get this bridge built!" he yelled. The clones gave an enthusiastic shout, and Tazuna quickly started directing them to different areas of the bridge.
Apart from a few accidents (mostly due to the large number of people on the bridge), construction went smoothly for the rest of the day, and by the time dusk had fallen, the bridge was complete, and the workers had left. With a final victory cheer, Naruto's clones dispelled themselves. Naruto didn't even flinch from the massive intake of information.
Tazuna surveyed the finished bridge with satisfaction. "That went quicker than I rhought it would."
Naruto nodded. "Shadow clones are handy for this kind of thing."
"Well, we'd best get back to the house." Tazuna said with a yawn. "You guys can leave in the morning."
When he and Naruto returned to the house, they were met with the smell of food. They walked in the door to find Tsunami cooking a large dinner on a makeshift stove.
She smiled as they entered. "How's the bridge coming?"
"It's completely finished, thanks to Naruto." Tazuna replied happily.
"So soon?" Tsunami asked with surprise.
"It helps when you have a literal army of workers at your disposal." Naruto said.
Everybody laughed, their recent victories putting them in a good mood.
They ate hearty, and the tone of conversation was light and mirthful. After a couple hours, they decided to get an early start in the morning, and they went to bed. In the morning, Naruto's group made their preparations and said goodbye to Tazuna and his family.
"Make sure to come visit sometime, okay?" Tazuna said while shaking Naruto's hand.
Naruto grinned. "Of course." One of Naruto's clones suddenly appeared in a flash of red light. It handed Naruto two scrolls and dispelled. Naruto handed them to Tazuna. "Here. The larger one contains all of the money from Gato's bank account, as well as everything valuable that was in his hideout. Use it to get your country back on its feet."
Tazuna accepted the scrolls with a look of shock. "You're just giving this to us?"
Naruto shrugged. "It belongs to you anyway."
Tazuna beamed. "I won't forget all you've done for us. All of you."
Naruto turned to Zabuza and Haku. "So, what will you two do now? You're welcome to return to Konoha with us, if you'd like. Or you could always return to Kiri."
Zabuza shook his head. "There's nothing left for me in Kiri. I'll come with you." He turned to Haku. "What about you?"
Haku smiled softly. "I go where you go."
"Then it's settled!" Naruto said cheerfully. "To Konoha!"
After saying their final goodbyes, Zabuza Anko and Haku each placed a hand on Naruto, and they vanished in a flash of red light.
Inari looked fondly at the place where the group had stood. 'I want to be that strong someday.' He thought to himself.
Tazuna suddenly remembered something. "I forgot to ask what was in the second scroll!" he exclaimed.
"Well, open it and find out!" Tsunami chided.
He unfurled the scroll, and saw that Naruto had left a note.
'I went out and bought you some new furniture for your new house. It's a gift, so don't even think of paying me back! Your friend, Naruto.' He had drawn a chibi fox next to the note, flashing a peace sign.
"Damn brat," Tazuna said with a smile, "Didn't even give me a chance to thank him for it."
X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X/X
Naruto's group appeared in front of Konoha's main gate, startling Izumo and Kotetsu, and making them knock over the house of cards they were building.
Izumo sighed. "This is gonna be a regular thing, isn't it?"
Naruto chuckled at the chunin's reaction. "Yep. Anyway, we're back from our mission."
Regaining his composure, Kotetsu said, "The Hokage wanted to see you as soon as you returned. He'll be in his office."
Naruto nodded. "Thanks." The group of four vanished again.
They reappeared in front of Sarutobi's desk. He looked up. "You could have just used the door."
Naruto shrugged. "Why bother? Anyway, do you want to hear our report or not?"
the last few days, so please, don't spare any of the details."
Naruto took a moment to compose his thoughts, and began his explanation. "It was a normal mission until we were attacked by the two Kiri nukenin, the Demon Brothers. I killed them quickly, and Tazuna explained his country's situation and why there were ninja after him. We decided to continue the mission, and that's when I sent my clone to you. After that there weren't any problems until after we made it to Nami.
"A while after we arrived in the country, Momochi Zabuza and his student Haku, the two who are here with Anko and I, attempted to assassinate Tazuna. I traveled with them for a while a few years ago, so when we recognized each other, they gave up their contract with Gato and decided to help us protect Tazuna. We made it to Tazuna's house, and spent the rest of the day training. While we were out, the house was attacked and Tazuna's daughter was missing. Anko and I went into the forest to search, leaving Zabuza and Haku, as well as several of my foxes, to guard Tazuna.
In the forest, we discovered signs of an onigumo colony, and theorized that since they were hostile despite sensing my distinct youki, they must have been controlled by someone else. When we returned to the others, they were being attacked by a small group of onigumo. A while after they were defeated, we discovered that Tazuna's grandson had been poisoned by one of the onigumo. Once again, Anko and I went into the forest to find the onigumo's nest.
"We successfully infiltrated the nest, killed the queen, obtained its venom, and rescued Tazuna's daughter, as well as destroying the nest and the onigumo that were inside it. However, while escaping, Anko was poisoned by one of the onigumo, while I still only had enough of the venom to treat one person. We decided to give the antidote to Tazuna's grandson, and I used my youki to extract the poison from Anko's bloodstream, containing it where it had already caused too much damage to safely remove.
"As a result of this, some of my youki bonded with the venom, which in turn bonded to Anko's chakra network, turning her into a hanyou with onigumo traits, such as the ability to produce acidic venom and a telepathic link with the onigumo colony, who seem to have selected her as their new leader.
"A few days later we all went to the bridge to guard Tazuna, and found Gato waiting for us. He had been imbued with some sort of power, and was able to withstand one of my attacks. However, he was quickly overpowered. As I was about to finish him, a mysterious stranger intervened, holding Tazuna's family hostage. From some of the records I found in Gato's hideout, this man was apparently named Shimura."
Sarutobi's eyes widened. "You mean-"
Naruto shook his head. "No, it wasn't Danzo. If Danzo had that much power, I'd have noticed it the moment I saw him. Things like that are not easily hidden from me. And whatever this guy was, he definitely wasn't human."
"Anyway," Naruto continued, "I had no choice but to release Gato. When I did, Shimura dropped Tazuna's family and summoned a gigantic onigumo, as well as several hundred regular sized ones. When the battle began, Shimura had vanished. I transformed and quickly defeated the giant one, while Zabuza Anko and Haku along with a few of my clones held of the rest.
"After the defeat of the large one, the others fell silent, and began to communicate amongst themselves. After a few moments, one of them stepped forward and they seemingly proclaimed their loyalty to Anko. After that, we finished off Gato, I cleaned out his hideout and bank account, Zabuza and Haku decided to return to Konoha with us, and the whole village partied until they couldn't stand. Any questions?"
Sarutobi massaged his temples. "I suppose a little normalcy is too much to ask for these days. Do you have any idea what became of this Shimura person?"
Naruto shrugged. "I don't know, but I have a feeling we'll see him again. He seemed interested in me."
Sarutobi sighed. "Well, I suppose there's nothing we can do for now. I'll have Jiraiya tell his spies to look for any information on the matter." He turned his attention to Zabuza and Haku. "I assume you two wish to join our ranks?"
The two nodded. "Yes sir," Zabuza replied respectfully. "I'm a capable jounin, and Haku is between chunin and jounin level."
Sarutobi nodded. "Very well. Since Naruto has vouched for you, I will allow you to join the village while retaining your previous rank. However, Haku, since you were never an officially registered ninja, you will have to begin at genin rank. The chunin exams are in a few months, and you will have a shot at promotion then. Are these terms acceptable?"
Both Zabuza and Haku agreed quite readily.
Sarutobi smiled with satisfaction. "Good. Now, since the two of you have experience with Naruto, I think it would be best if you joined his and Anko's team. Naruto, you and Haku will still compete in the Chunin Exams separately, due to your strength being far above that of a genin, but other than that, you will function as a regular four-man team. And I believe a new team deserves a new name. As of now, the four of you will officially be known as Team Oni."
The four of them grinned wickedly (apparently Naruto and Zabuza's personalities had rubbed off on Haku somewhat). "Perfect." They said in unison.
And there it is. Took longer than expected, and it's a little short, but at least it's something. Expect more, but I definitely won't be giving myself any deadlines. Doing that just adds unnecessary pressure and makes writing seem more like work than fun. I'll also be posting the first three chapters of another story, just test the waters, so to speak, and see if anybody is responsive to the changes in my writing. The chapters will be shorter and the pacing will be somewhat slower, so there won't be too much crammed into one chapter. Anyway, I've already got those three chapters written, so I'll be posting them at the same time as this one.
The song for this chapter is Sand Tall by The Dirty Heads.
Don't Fear the Reaper,
Kumo no Shinigami