Alrighty! I do not own Naruto at all! All rights and regulations do go to Masashi Kishimoto! Azuna does belong to me however! Ok now to write this fan fiction I did use the episodes and I used all of the actual sentences said from the anime so all of those rights again go to the producers, Madman Entertainment and of course the beautiful voice actors and everyone on the crew. Thanks guys... hope you like it!
sorry for the long wait lovelies, i hope you all forgive me. and happy birthday to Zabuzasgirl xx
Chapter Twenty-Two: Haku's Secret Jutsu: One Heck of a Kekkei Genkai: Part One:
"Inari! Could you give me a hand here?" Tsunami called back at the house. "Inari?"
"I'll be right there!" Inari called back.
Outside of the house, the two goons who were Gato's personal body guards stood outside of Tsunami's house. They both clicked their swords open and moved towards the front door of the house. Both had a sinister look in their eyes and a cruel smile plastered upon their lips.
Somewhere deep in the forest Naruto was running and jumping like his life depended on it. And if it wasn't his that was in danger he was racing towards someone whose life just might be. "Ugh! I really hope I'm not too late!" Naruto cried to the wind.
Back on the bridge Haku picked up Azuna and held her in her arms. He began to walk to the edge of the bridge and Sasuke tensed, ready to run to her. Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder to tell him no, that Azuna would be fine.
Haku placed her down gently and pushed the hair from her face in a lovingly fashion. "Azuna, I am so sorry." He whispered to her before he left and walked back to Zabuza.
"What did you do to her?!" Sasuke shouted to him.
"I put her to sleep. Can't have her caught in the cross fire of our little death match now can we?" Haku stated simply facing him.
Kakashi pushed forward so he was standing beside Sasuke instead of behind him, telling them all that the conversation on Azuna was over. "Well, well, so I had it right. It was all an act."
"And act?" Tazuna asked.
"With a cute little mask." Kakashi smiled.
"HUH?" Sakura shouted looking back and forth between Kakashi and Haku.
"Big phoney!" Sasuke mocked.
"So I guess all that about being a Tracker ninja protecting his village was just a bunch of bull." Tazuna assumed gruffly.
"They look pretty chummy to me. I say they've been pulling scams like this for a long time."
"He's got some nerve facing us again after pulling that trick." Sakura sneered, pulling her mean side out for a while.
"And hiding behind a mask, who does he think he's fooling?" Kakashi mocked.
"Ha, speak for yourself Sensei." Sakura teased clearing her throat.
"That's it." Sasuke ground out. "I'm taking him out. Who does he think he's fooling, hiding behind that mask like some sort of clown?"
"Sasuke!" Sakura cheered. "You're so cool!"
Wait a second. Kakashi thought sighing. Didn't I just say that? She'll never change.
"He's impressive." Haku said to Zabuza. "Even though they were just one tenth the strength of the original water clone Jutsu, he did destroy them all."
"That move still gave us the first advantage." Zabuza growled. "Now use it."
"Right." Haku said before he joined the wind and spun in circles quickly, making him look like a small tornado.
"What's this?" Sasuke shouted holding his Kunai ready. Sasuke seemed to be grinning and Haku turned towards him. His thirst for battle was circling in the air and even asleep Azuna could feel it – and she was restless as her mind searched for a way out so that she could help him. Because Azuna knew that the even Sasuke, as brilliant a ninja he is, had no chance against Haku. There was only one person who could defeat Haku without breaking a sweat – and he was dead.
Back at the house, the two goons cut down the front door with their swords. Inari was upstairs in the bathroom and Tsunami was unfortunately in the kitchen where the two men stood facing her. She sucked in a gasp and her eyes went wide as they looked at her.
"So your Tazuna's daughter huh?" The shorter one with the beanie asked. "Too bad, you'll have to come with us, now!"
Inari from upstairs could hear plates smashing and his mother screaming. He froze gasped looking at the closed door in fear. Down in the kitchen Tsunami lay on the ground covering her head in fear. Another plate went flying across the room and landed with a smash. The taller one with the tattoos smiled creepily down at Tsunami as she cowered in fear.
Inari come running down the stairs and stood in the doorway to the kitchen with his eyes wide. "Mother!" Inari shouted.
Tsunami looked over to Inari in shock and then got onto her hands and knees and shouted urgently at her son. "No don't come out here! Run away! Hurry!"
"Don't move!" The taller one commanded Inari turning towards the shorter thug. "Should we grab this one to?"
"No, Gato asked for just one hostage."
"Uh!" Inari gulped in fear. Hostage!
"Alright." The tall one said holding up his sword. "Then let's waste him!"
Inari yelled and hid further behind the door as the crazy man started to pull out his sword. "No wait!" Tsunami called out distracting the ninja. "Please don't hurt my son; I'm begging you he's just a boy. I'll do anything. Just, please don't hurt him!"
The ninja gave in and smiled cruelly at Tsunami. "Looks like your Mum came through for ya kid, lucky."
Inari burst out crying and fell to the floor as the ninja walked closer to his mother. "What a waste, I was in the mood to cut something." The taller one groaned.
"Give it a rest, you already drew blood today. Let's get her outta here." The shorter one said as he grabbed Tsunami's arm and hauled her to her feet. They tied rope around her wrists as Inari just continued to cry.
"I'm sorry Ma! I'm sorry!" He sobbed as they took her out of the house. "What, what could I do? I'm too weak to protect you! I'm scared! I don't wanna die."
As Inari's tears hit the floor the words of Naruto came flooding back to him. Coward! Listen to yourself whining and complaining like some sorry little victim. You can whimper all day for all I care. You're just a coward. And as Naruto's words left they were replaced by Kakashi's older and wiser words. My guess is, he just got tired of crying and decided to do something about it. He knows what it means to be strong, like your father did. And then like lightning, his father's words came flooding back to him as well. If you care about something, protect it! Even if you have to put your life on the line! Protect it with both arms!
He whipped away his tears as he remembered his mother's smile. He thought of Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura, Tazuna and his mother, Naruto and his father. Can I? Inari thought. Can I be that strong to? Inari stood up and dried his tears. His hands were balled into fists at his sides and he glared at nothing in particular willing himself to brave.
Outside of the house Tsunami was walking with the ninja hoping that Inari was going to be ok when they suddenly stopped and the taller one bent down and smiled at her. "We're gonna treat you just fine so don't you worry your pretty little head." He laughed.
"Come on keep walking!" The one with the beanie shouted pulling the ropes to make them tighter.
Inari came running out of the house and stood before the ninja and his mother, his brave fast painted on. "Stop!"
"Inari!" Tsunami shouted.
"Well, well, if it ain't the little tough guy." The taller tattooed one mocked. "How cute you've come to save your mommy."
"You, you better get away from my Mum!" Inari shouted running at them.
"Inari no!" Tsunami screeched.
"This kids a little short on brains don't you think?" Tall tattooed man laughed.
"Take him down." Beanie boy said impatiently
"If you hurt him I swear I'll –" Tsunami started screaming before she was cut off by being hit in the back of the head.
"Shut up, take a nap." Beanie boy laughed holding his sword.
"Inari." Tsunami mumbled before passing out.
The two drew out their swords as Inari ran at them with a battle cry. And simultaneously they swung their swords at the boy with cruel smiles. They knew that his kid wasn't making it out of this alive.
Back at the bridge, Sasuke and Haku clashed. Sasuke was pressing his Kunai knife against Haku's Senbon needle in a way that you could see the tension just spitting off the blades.
So he can keep up with Haku's speed huh? Zabuza asked himself as he looked at Kakashi.
Mhmm. Kakashi thought like he could read Zabuza's mind. "Sakura cover Tazuna and stay close to me. Let Sasuke handle this!"
"Yes Kakashi Sensei!" Sakura shouted as her eyes darted to where Azuna lay. She just ran from us like it was nothing, like we didn't mean anything to her. In two seconds flat she left us for the enemy! I can't feel somewhat betrayed, she better have a good excuse for doing that!
Sasuke and Haku broke away from each and then swung with full force. Their blades collided again with an ear piercing shrieking sound. Haku raised his head, looking directly at Sasuke.
"We want the bridge builder not you." He stated simply like that one sentence might persuade the young Shinobi to give up. "If you back down I won't have to kill you."
"Save it." Sasuke smirked putting more pressure on the blade.
"You're making a mistake. You won't be able to keep up with my speed. I've gained two key advantages."
"Yeah? What are they?" Sasuke asked mocking him slightly.
"First, we're surrounded by water. Second, I've blocked one of your hands; therefore, you only have one free hand to defend yourself." Haku said holding up his free hand in a hand sign.
What? Using one hand? Sasuke shouted in his mind.
Haku started moving his hand into the hand signs as if it didn't matter he wasn't using the other hand to complete the sign. It was like he had done it multiple times before and it didn't faze him, not one bit.
Hand signs with a single hand? I've never seen that before! Kakashi gulped staring wide eyed at Haku.
"Secret Jutsu." Haku said calmly. "A Thousand Needles of Death."
He then stomped his foot and send the water flying into the air. It wrapped around them like a whirlpool and rose until it was above their heads forming the shape of needles.
He doesn't want to kill the kid. Does his mean that? Zabuza asked himself watching the scene play out before them.
Kakashi looked up at the needles with a gasp as Sakura shouted out to Sasuke. Tazuna watched worriedly and Azuna whispered Haku's name in her sleep knowing exactly what would happen if Sasuke continued to fight him.
Sasuke kept calm and held a hand up focusing his chakra. Remember the training. Focus. He then thought of the time when he was climbing the tree and he was pushed off because he used to much chakra. He tried to remember that feeling, the surge of chakra that was pushed through his body and onto the tree. Summon my chakra at once.
Just as the needles began to fly towards them Sasuke opened his eyes and looked at Haku. Haku was staring at Sasuke as well and as the needles got closer it was difficult to tell which one was going to get out of their alive.
Back at the house the two ninja pushed their swords back into their sheaths as they sliced up the boy. His hat went flying into the air as they landed back on the ground effortlessly. They stood and looked behind them to see Inari turn into a log that had been cut into three. They gasped and their eyes became wide.
"A substitution Jutsu!" Beanie boy shouted.
"And the women! She's gone!" The tall one huffed, bewildered.
"Sorry I'm a little late." A cheeky voice called out.
"Huh? Who's that?" Tall guy yelled.
The two ninja looked up to see a boy clad in orange with holding Inari and placing Tsunami softly on the ground – it was Naruto! "Well, you know, hero's usually show up at the last minute."
Inari opened his eyes and grinned. "Oh Naruto it's you!"
"Who else?" Naruto laughed as he placed Inari down beside his mother. He turned to Inari and grinned widely. "Inari you did great! When you charged they forgot about your Mum for a minute. That gave me the chance to use a cool Jutsu to get her away from them!"
"Naruto, how did you know these Samurai guys were coming here?"
"Uh, in the forest I found a boar that had been attacked and the trees were all cut up to like someone had been practicing with a sword or something. The cuts led back towards the house so I followed them here."
"That was really smart." Inari said bewildered.
"Blah, blah, it's one of the puny ninja brats Tazuna hired." The taller one spat.
"Get him!" Beanie boy growled.
"Yeah, alright!" The other one shouted as they both ran at Naruto grabbing the hilts of their swords.
"There – there coming!" Inari shouted worried.
Naruto pulled out two Shuriken from his pouch and threw them effortlessly at the ninja. They deflected them with their blades easily and laughed at Naruto. "Ha! Try something else!"
"I did!" Naruto laughed as he turned around grinning.
"I want him he's mine!" The taller one shouted as two Naruto clones jumped at them from behind and delivered bone crushing kicks to the two goons.