The Need of a Hero

Naruto kicked a stray pebble on his path as he walked on into the foggy night, his mind too full for him to rest as his team was instructed to by the team Seven's Jounin sensei. His thoughts were too occupied with the events that occurred earlier that day and he just couldn't shake off some of the things that were going through his mind. The fight with Zabuza, seeing the condition of Wave under the monopolistic economy because of Gatou, and finally meeting people like Tazuna's family brought too many emotions and questions within him to fall asleep anyway. This was the first time he had encountered shinobis outside the village of Konoha and both of these occasions the ninjas he had encountered had either tried to kill them or their client, and these constant thoughts always went back to the fight he had with the hired assassin from Mist.

Flashback:

"You got spunk kid, I will give you that but…luck only works once," Zabuza said as he made another seal, once more a clone rose out of the water. "Try taking on my clone now," he said in a goading manner as his clone smiled behind the bandages that masked his face. Naruto had enough of this rogue thinking he was as mighty and he took off in a blur towards the clone, it was time he showed this Mist Assassin just what Konoha shinobis were made of. The clone that met the blonde in combat was more than a little surprised at the speed this young boy seemed to possess, not only that but the power behind his blows surpassed even full grown men, just who the hell was he fighting?

The Rogue's clone and Naruto traded blows furiously, but neither could gain the upper hand, though Zabuza could feel that his clone would get overwhelmed if this continued for too long. Coming to a deadlock, both the combatants jumped away from each other before circling one another, trying to get an advantage that they did not have before. As the two circled each other, Zabuza tried to read the chakra signature of the boy. That usually gave away a lot about the potential and mindset of the opposing ninja and was a useful skill that most able shinobis possessed. Studying his opponent, it did not take long for the rogue to realize that this kid was no joke, unlike his teammates, this kid was different, more in control of his emotions and feelings, and more…deadly for it.

"Yes," thought Zabuza as a glint of malice entered his eyes. "This is a real shinobi; he surely would have been something back in the time of the Bloody Mist! Perhaps he can replace Haku if—" he never got a chance to finish his train of thoughts before Naruto attacked his clone once more, this time holding nothing back as he unleashed a few high level combos he had learned from the Professor himself. He attacked the vitals with what appeared to be nearly reckless abandon, yet hidden precision, one of the results of Monkey Fist's feint style of fighting. The clone's defenses stood little chance and soon it melted out of existence, unable to maintain its form at the physical beating it took from the genin. "You know kid, I can keep making clones and you can keep beating them up, but there is one thing that you do not have and that is time."

"What are you talking about?" asked the blonde as he looked up to see Zabuza, still holding Kakashi in the water prison.

"Well, for one, your sensei here is going to die eventually as he runs out of breath, so unless you can do more than just beating my clones, you better do it now, but then who will protect that old man?" Zabuza gave a chuckle as three clones rose out of the water before heading towards him. Two of the clones launched themselves at Naruto while the last jumped high into the air, intending to vault over the blonde haired genin and reach Tazuna, the intended target. The young jinchuuriki's anger rose with each word that the assassin had said, and finally he reached it's apex when he heard that the rogue was not only killing his sensei but was also going for his friends, he had reached his limit.

The blonde jinchuuriki shook his head slowly, but no matter what he tried, it was becoming increasingly hard not to brood or dwell on the events that had occurred in the late afternoon on their way to Tazuna's house. As Naruto had learned from Ibiki Morino, it was not healthy to dwell on unpleasant events, especially for a shinobi on the events that might have happened during his duty, but it was still hard not to think about the negativity that the job of shinobis seemed to represent. And whenever he thought of the fight, which now he couldn't seem to get out of his head, his mind always returned to the safety of his teammates and sensei, and both had been severely threatened this day. He had lost his control today, at seeing Kakashi there imprisoned in the water prison suffocating and suffering for breath. He had almost thrown caution out the window at the sight before him.

The blonde's teammates though were a completely different matter. Today, he had proved, whether willingly or not, that he was the only one in their group apart from Kakashi who even stood the slightest chance of beating Zabuza. Naruto felt his stomach curl at the thought, he was lucky to not get himself killed fighting the Assassin, but where did this situation leave his teammates? The strategy that the team had tried to form had not worked at all. With Kakashi's fall, their team was left completely defenseless, and if Zabuza had truly chosen to go after his teammates in order to take out Tazuna, they would have been as good as dead, whether Naruto tried or not, his win was through sheer surprise of skill and luck. Had the assassin not underestimated him to the degree he had and not taken the time to fight him and see just how much amusement he could gain from the genin, the Mist Swordsman would have easily succeeded in taking out Tazuna even with Naruto was on the field fighting him.

Flashback:

With a roar, Naruto launched himself into the air as his hands seamlessly flew through a sequence of seals, and a simple blade of wind was all that was needed to decimate the clone that the rogue was planning to send after Sakura and Sasuke. But the blonde was far from done. As he landed back on the water's surface, he threw something at the clones, who now had their backs to him. As one of them turned, the clone's eyes widened as he saw a Fuma shuriken heading straight for him, but there was little else he could do, the shuriken's speed was aided by wind chakra, and before the nuke-nin's clone could react, the shuriken had shredded his face in half, making it burst into a splash of water. However, that did stop the other clone in his tracks as he turned to look at the blonde with even more interest that before. He was definitely not dealing with a common genin here, heck when he was a genin himself; even he did not know how to use elemental affinities with such proficiency like the blonde here was doing. A grin appeared on the clone's face as he slowly drew his Zanbatou before turning to face Naruto, and this time there was no mistaking that he intended to take the Nine-Tailed Fox container out.

"You're different…" The doppelganger of the nuke-nin paused only a moment before it slashed the huge sword down at him. Naruto nimbly stepped forward and to the side of the attack, before he slashed the clone with a wind scalpel. The assassin's eyes narrowed as he saw what happened and rolled to the side, neatly avoiding the technique. Deciding to see just how good this Rogue's taijutsu was, Naruto charged straight at the clone but this time he was ready. Zabuza grinned maniacally under his bandages and lifted his sword, sweeping it around horizontally into the blonde's path. The speed of the attack was much greater than his usual vertical slash. Naruto pushed chakra into his feet and pushed with his legs as he leant his head down, forward flipping just over the blade and through Zabuza's guard. Now that the hard part was done, it was time for him to go on the offensive. The blonde flicked his arm across Zabuza's chest and ducked under the nuke-nin's right arm as the man brought the hilt back violently into the blonde's back. Naruto took the blow around his upper abdomen area. The genin ignored the pain and continued to run before he slid and turned, sending a spray of water up as he faced Zabuza once more. Even though the clone had been able to throw the genin off, he had not been able to avoid the blow that Naruto had landed on his chest, and even now it surprised him about the boy's telling strength.

This time, the Mist Assassin's clone ran towards the blond who stood waiting, keeping his sweeping movement constricted, with the point of the blade down. He swept the massive blade across the space in front of him, only to see his opponent disappear altogether. Gathering his massive cleaver back to himself, the clone ran a trained eye around his surroundings, only to realize a little too late, that his cleaver had suddenly increased the weight by more than a hundred pounds. Whirling around, the clone's face met with a powerful kick, as Naruto jumped off the blade of Kubiriki Bocho and wielder tumbled off, reeling from his kick. Yet, still the blonde was not done, as he ran through hand seals and clone burst into droplets of water when its body was met with another wind blade.

"Damn gaki, where the hell does he keep pulling these techniques from?" wondered Zabuza as he continued to follow the blonde Konoha genin as he trashed all his water clones. "This is bad, he has taken all of my clones out, now he will come for me and I will have to let the copycat out!" Zabuza was trying to frantically think of a way out of this situation when his troubles just increased. It seemed like the other Konoha genin, the one wearing a dark blue shirt came forward with a Fuma shuriken poised to throw at him. "Damn, I hope you are ready Haku, I will really need to get out of this mess and the only one I have as back up is you." With that the Mist assassin got ready to take this fight to the next level.

The fight had left Team Seven shaken. He knew that the only ones that came out of it mostly unfazed was Kakashi and Tazuna, and it made Naruto only feel worse that it had been him that had insisted that they continue, well Sakura had but he had backed her up. What worried the blonde the most though, was that their strategy had not worked…at all. He hated to think of it in such a pessimistic way but Sakura and Sasuke had come very close to dying and Kakashi had nearly been drowned. The team had discussed returning to Konoha, and he was sure that Tazuna had heard them because they were not even trying to be discreet at the time, but that option was…well not an option at all. After the fight between Zabuza and Kakashi, he was sure that the assassin would not be able to return for at least a few days, but that did not mean that his partner was not out there. Naruto knew that the one posing as Hunter-nin would let them pass, only in exchange for Tazuna's life, but then what? What would happen to the country and what of the people that still have no means of escaping this man called Gatou? The requirements for the mission have changed, obviously, but at least they were not completely unaware of it.

The builder had also pointed out that they were not in Fire country anymore, but in Wave, a country where everything was owned by the one person they were here to perform against. They had luckily found a way in, but getting off the island without getting on Gatou's radar would be about as hard as getting out of a snake's belly after being eaten alive. That also meant that any form of backup would be damn near impossible, and even if any did get on the island, they would be facing the same situation as Team Seven. This Gatou the businessman's men were everywhere; some were out in the open and obeying his orders with bravado while others stayed in plain sight and worked for him from the shadows. Every member of Team Seven had too much pride to allow that type of shame; to simply step aside while their client was butchered like a pig because the task at hand was too hard.

Shinobis would rather choose to die by impaling themselves on their own sword for far less. When it came down to the hard nut of the issue, failure was not an option. One bad move was all it took for a ranked shinobi, who fought and bled alongside peers and companions, to permanent border patrol in some unknown part of Fire country. And if a woman, Naruto's immediate thoughts went out for his dear sensei and older-sister figure Kurenai Yuuhi, managed to escape a high priority mission with her life; the shinobi would be lucky to escape a long-term mission helping rid Fire country of its many illegal brothels and human trafficking organizations. If it really came down to it, Tazuna would either complete the bridge, or they would all die trying. When you are a ninja with nothing to lose, there wasn't much you had to give besides your word.

There is a saying back in Konoha, one the Jiji had actually made up years back that was carved into the memorial stone. "Embrace your dreams. And, whatever happens, protect your honor as a Konoha shinobi!" It was a bit morbid when you considered where the quote had been carved, but that was the life of a ninja. Naruto thought he knew the Sandaime Hokage well enough, and he wouldn't put it past the man doing something that devious to scare away the ones not cut-out to be ninja, but he also knew it had a deeper meaning. You live for the village and you die for the village; when you bleed, so does the village. The young jinchuuriki was sure that the quote had kept many a ninja from wasting their lives away in sorrow or abandoning Konoha altogether. Because when the Hokage called on you and said the grand-child of some minor lord had to die so Konoha could inherit a piece of land and keep enemy forces out of the Leaf's blind-spot, you didn't say no, you did your duty and you shoved your own personal code of honor in the name of your village. And when your time came to move on, and you had already faded to dust, your name would sit on that monument and all of the dreams you once had would live on in the current generation of Shinobi serving Konoha.

When the old bridge-builder had called out that they will get to their destination soon, it was about as pleasant news as they could hope to get at the time. It wasn't cold, but there was an unpleasant chill in the air that only being inside could rid a person of. The kind of chill that came with the knowledge of knowing silent and invisible protectors were watching you, always out of reach but only an arm's length away. Or those times in the wilderness when eyes hid behind bark and bushes, always watching and assessing, judging if you were to be their next meal and the risk was worth the reward to be. Naruto shuddered in mid-step along the forest path as he looked around once more; just to be sure he was alone. He could still feel the icy senbon with which the masked ninja had tried to attack him when he had decided to stop the person from taking Zabuza's body.

But Tazuna's home was nice, or at least as nice as he had expected it to be, a simple two-story structure with a decent view of the water, though that latter wasn't really saying much, given the surrounding area. Naruto wouldn't doubt Tazuna if the man said he built it himself, and said as much. Their client had rubbed his head sheepishly as he had proclaimed "You saw the bridge, kid. Here in Wave we take care of our own, whether that is problems or people." Naruto chose not to mention that he himself had brought Wave's problem to Konoha's doorstep and so far it had taken them all nearly their lives as an opening fee. As they made their way towards their client's house he added another bit of information about his life. "Just thought that I'd mention my daughter Tsunami and her son Inari," he admitted after a moment of silence. "She can be a handful at times but she's a good woman, real caring type, always worrying about everyone." His proud smile slipped momentarily and the replacement hastily plastered on was a fake one Naruto knew all too well. "My grandson Inari is a good kid, but he's been through a lot due to Gatou and his reign of terror. I just wanna apologize ahead of time if he says anything to offend you all."

Entering the house was by far the most exciting thing that had happened to them after their fight with Zabuza. As soon as Naruto had knocked on the door, it was opened by a woman, who very much reminded Naruto of his Aunt and just by the look of concern from her face he had realized just how tired he was. Before he realized even what was going on, his legs gave away and he toppled on top of the surprised woman, losing consciousness along the way. When Naruto had regained consciousness, he had woken up to find himself in a well furnished but modest sized room. A bunk bed was set in the corner and he was in the lower one while the upper one contained the backpack that Sasuke had with him when they were travelling. He suddenly blushed as he remembered what had occurred just after he had reached Tazuna's house and decided he would apologize to the woman as soon as he saw her again. He sat up slowly, and as the covers fell away, he noticed that his shirt was missing. Looking down, he realized that the small abrasions and cuts that he had received while fighting the assassin had been treated and the longer gash that he had received across his chest was bandaged, and by the looks of it, by an adept person that handled treating small wounds very often.

Looking around, his eyes fell upon his jacket, that was neatly folded and laid on the floor across the room and next to it sat his boots, storage scrolls, and Konoha head-band. Getting up slowly, the blonde took one of the scrolls from the floor and laid it on the bed before making a quick hand seal to open the storage. Quickly deciding what he would need to wear, he pulled out a black muscle shirt and two rolls of white wrappings. Pulling on his muscle shirt, he went downstairs as he wrapped both his arms in the wrapping cloth about half-way up his forearms. As he went down the stairs, he realized that he had not been unconscious for as long as he had thought. It had only been an hour or so because dim sunlight was still filtering through the windows, but what did surprise him was the fact that it seemed the woman, Tazuna's daughter, had been hard at work as she was placing dish after dish filled with food on the dining table. Kakashi and Tazuna looked like they were having an intense discussion over some sake, while Sakura was helping Tsunami anywhere she could. Looking around, he realized that only his other teammate was nowhere in sight.

"I hope you are feeling better," said Kakashi from his spot even though Naruto was standing directly behind him, and there was no way he could have seen the blonde coming down the stairs, but ninjas had a few more accessories at their disposal than just the five senses that humans were normally born with.

"Yeah, it was a temporary paralysis that the hunter shinobi hit me with," replied the blonde as Tazuna looked up and gave him a small smile.

"You gave my daughter quite the scare when you fainted on her. She thought it was somehow her fault when she realized that right after looking at her you lost consciousness," said the old man with a chuckle as Naruto face flushed a light shade of red. The blue-eyed boy nodded before looking back.

"Yeah, I need to apologize to her for that," Naruto muttered as he rubbed the back of his head.

"You don't need to do that Naruto-san, I realized that it was because you were attacked and I thank you very much for putting yourself in danger to save my father's life and help the people of this village," said the dark haired woman he remembered as she placed another bowl on the table before turning to him and giving him a very deep and gratitude filled bow.

"Umm…" muttered Naruto not sure what to say in return, he had never had such kind of respect from the people in his own village and neither had he expected something of this sort to happen.

"Oh there is no need for such formalities Tsunami-san, we are here because it is our duty," said Kakashi, coming to Naruto's rescue. As he got up, the blonde instantly noticed the severe limp he had along with the large amount of bandages tied around his left leg.

"Can you call in that other boy now, I think you all should have a warm dinner tonight," said Tsunami as she indicated towards the open door and Naruto nodded.

"I will call him in, we need to have a talk anyway," he said as he went out the door. He did not need to look to know that Sasuke was on the roof. He quickly jumped on as he landed a couple feet behind Sasuke.

"So will you care to fill us in or were you intending to keep this a secret from all of us?" asked Sasuke, he was obviously angry about something because Naruto could tell by the tautness of his shoulders that he was clearly quite displeased because of Naruto. It did not take a genius to know what the raven haired boy was pissed off about.

"Look Sasuke, it is not my fault if you underestimated my abilities to the degree that you think I intentionally lied about it, but you know as well as I do that I have not been around you or Sakura long enough to know the full extent of my abilities but—" he was interrupted as Sasuke whirled towards him gave him a classic scowl.

"Underestimated your abilities does not even come close to what I thought!" he said as his voice went up with every word. "What you did, not even the best of genins are capable of. I thought I was the best in the academy but you…you failed the damn test but right now you are the only one other than Kakashi-sensei who could even stand a chance against Zabuza, a ninja whose notoriety is legendary. How do you explain that?" Naruto sight, had he really thought he could get away from Sasuke's radar after actually fighting all out in front of him as openly as he had? Well he still had to try, because raising questions about his true past could not only put him, but Jiji and the council in jeopardy too.

"Okay, yes I did hide my true abilities from you to a degree, but that does not mean I am even close to Kakashi's level, and trust me, the fight with Zabuza was a fluke because you do not even realize how lucky I got. If that assassin had not underestimated me to the degree that he had, I would have been dead before even a minute in the fight." Naruto said, hoping that his teammate would at least believe some of his lies; he knew full well that it was still not time to reveal to them what he really was, but building a small foundation from now would only lessen their pains when they truly realized why he was so different from them.

"Fluke? You call yourself destroying that many of the assassin's clones a fluke? Explain what you mean!" demanded the Uchiha as the scowl on his face only deepened.

"Yes, it was a fluke because Zabuza was not expecting me to be able to do all the things that I was capable of. For example, me using wind affinity techniques, and my Tai jutsu being above average. In fact I can go even as far as to say that you would have been able to do all the things I did too. You also have your fire element techniques, not to mention that you know all the basics of the Uchiha hand-to-hand style," said Naruto, trying to sound as confident as possible. He knew that in doing so, he was only adding fuel to the already burning ego Sasuke possessed, but at the moment it was necessary if he was to maintain his secret.

"So, did Kakashi tell you yet?" asked Sasuke, and Naruto blinked at the sudden change in topic.

"Tell me what?"

"His theory about that Hunter-nin not really being a Mist ninja but an accomplice to Zabuza, and that he believes that the missing-nin is still alive and will probably be back in a week or so," replied the raven haired boy in a grim tone. Naruto nodded, saying Kakashi had, but truthfully he did not need to hear it from their sensei to figure as much out. That Hunter-nin…there was something about that guy.

Flashback:

Sasuke saw his opportunity and did not hesitate as he threw the Fuma Shuriken at the figure of Zabuza, still holding Kakashi in his water prison. The missing-nin smirked; did the boy really think he can actually hit me with such a straight forward attack? He looked at the blonde one and his eyes widened. His hands were formed in a seal, and he was channeling quite a bit of chakra on his next attack, this one he better watch out. Zabuza caught it, just as the shuriken reached him, making the assassin turn away a little as head to absorb the full momentum of the heavy shuriken with only a dingle hand. That was all the time Naruto needed. Just as Zabuza landed back in the water, he realized something was off, though everything appeared exactly the same, except for one small difference. There was a clone standing next to the pink haired teammate of the blonde he had been fighting.

"Sasuke, cover me," said Naruto just before he unleashed his wind jutsus that he had been building up. "Wind Release: One with the wind!" shouted Naruto as Zabuza's eyes widened, an A-ranked technique! This genin had just used an A-ranked technique, what the hell was this kid! But Zabuza thoughts cut off as he heard another whisper coming from the rapidly approaching genin. "Wind Release: Wind Blade," Zabuza was barely able to stifle the curse that would have escaped him had he not understood the urgency of his situation. First the gaki used a technique that allowed him to literally travel as fast as the wind itself, a very useful technique in combat situation since Sushin would not have allowed him to activate another technique while he was moving in that technique's process. But what surprised Zabuza the most was that not only had this blonde had pulled off two A-ranked wind elemental techniques, but the genin had so much control over them that he had pulled off one while he was using the other! Only shinobis with an extremely high level of elemental chakra mastery could even pull that kind of feat off, much less actually perform it as successfully as this kid had in a real battle situation.

"Speaking of success," thought the Kiri Missing-Nin as he looked down at the deep gash that the Konoha genin had been able to inflict, which still surprised him as to how the boy had been able to land the attack? He had moved away from the water prison in exactly the small amount of window that was available after Naruto had started to move towards Zabuza. He was sure he had dodged all the shurikens that the black-haired teammate of the blonde had thrown, just before the orange wearing genin had attacked himself. So, his question still remained, how the hell had the gaki been able to land that attack if his evasion had been performed so accurately?

That was when the ex-Swordsman of the Mist felt like punching himself in the gut. How had he missed such an obvious sign? That other teammate of his, with that absurdly pink hair, she must have done something as well, and the only solution he could come up with was "Genjutsu, well played," thought Zabuza as he glanced back the blonde gaki as he stood there with a small smirk on his face. "Kai!" he said as he did a simple hand seal and all the distortion that his senses had been under disappeared. "Enough games," though Zabuza as he started spinning the Fuma that was still clutched in his hand. "Damn brat dies now," he said as he moved his arm back before coming forward, he would at least take care of the blonde before his next encounter with the Konoha group and finally kill that bridge-builder. His plans came to a short-stop as the shuriken was blocked before it even had the chance to leave his arm. Copy-cat Kakashi was back in the game.

"Good plan guys, and well done Sakura. I am very impressed with your ability to cast a layered genjutsu on Zabuza without him even realizing he was in one.

"Thanks Kakashi sensei!" shouted the pink haired kunoichi as she waved her hands making Naruto grin and even Sasuke cracked a smile.

"Heh, I got distracted and released the technique…" muttered the swordsman as he tried to cover his surprise with disdain while regaining his composure.

"Wrong," cut in Kakashi's voice as he turned back to look at the missing-nin with a stony look. "You were 'forced' to release the technique."

Kakashi's entrance back into the action had pretty much decided the fate of the match, and while Zabuza knew that he had another ace left in his sleeve, he was quite sure that this fight was over. "Yet, it would not hurt to truly realize what this man is capable of," thought the ex-Swordsman of the mist as he leapt away from the silver-haired Jounin and started running through hand-seals and was not surprised when he saw his opponent running through the exact same seals with just as much speed, ease, and accuracy. The Konoha Jounin grinned under his mask as he thought this would be a good time to play a psychological game with the missing-nin, after all he knew techniques from all elements, and water was an element of which he knew the most techniques. Taking this chance was risky because of he got caught, only his credibility would be questioned, but if it worked, then it could mean the difference between winning and losing this fight. The Konoha Jounin sped up the rate at which he was running through the hand seals, and smirked as he saw Zabuza's eyes grow wide when they both shouted simultaneously "Water Style: Water Dragon technique!"

The dragon rose out of the water at the same time, except the one rising behind the masked shinobi rose just a moment before the water dragon rising behind the missing-nin from Mist. And Kakashi had intended it that way because he was sure that Zabuza, no matter how small a difference in timing, would notice it and he had intentionally finished his hand seals just a tad bit before he knew his opponent would. The two dragons clashed against each other and spray of water showered and splashed as they struggle against each other before the dragons exploded and landed back in the lake it. The assassin did not wait for the dragons to fall back completely as he rushed at Kakashi, sword leading the way, but it seemed as if the Konoha Jounin already knew as he raised his kunai, almost lazily and blocked his zanbatou.

"Strange, what is going on?" wondered the missing-nin as he jumped back from his opponent, putting some difference between himself and the copy-cat. "Is he reading my moves?" Zabuza thought as he scrutinized the man in front of him with a critical eye. Even if he had the Sharingan, it could copy a technique only after he himself had performed the technique, not at the same time and definitely not before he himself finished doing the technique himself! "Is he reading my mind? Damn, that freaky eye is pissing me off!" thought the assassin as he slowly did a seal and raised his hand, and was mimicked by his opponent simultaneously, he was not copying he was doing them as if he knew what Zabuza's next move was going to be. "Heh, all you are doing is copying me," shrieked the zanbatou wielding shinobi, almost as if denying what he was seeing to himself, before forcing himself to run through hand seals once more. "You can't beat me you monkey bastard!"

Kakashi could not help by smirk slightly, his plan was working. Zabuza was losing his cool, soon enough a simple genjutsu was all that was needed to make the assassin completely believe the ploy that the silver haired ninja was trying to play. "Damn, I will make it so that can never open that mouth of yours again!" Kakashi heard his opponent shout before stopping abruptly, his eyes grew wide and he froze. Kakashi could see the sweat dripping down the side of his face even from fifteen feet away where he was standing.

"That…that is…me? That's not possible!" Zabuza's thoughts were interrupted when he heard his opponent speak.

"Water explosion technique," said Kakashi in a calm and even voice, no hesitation was there as he uttered the name of the jutsu he was using.

Zabuza looked down at his hands and gasped, he hadn't even finished running through the hand seals, what was going on? How did the copy-cat know what technique he was going to use even before he had finished running through the hand seals? Zabuza looked back up at Kakashi and saw the black tomes that were placed evenly around the pupil starting to spin, they slowly gained speed until they were nothing more than a blur. The lake exploded. Zabuza was thrown violently around as he landed once more on the leg, but this time the strain of the fight was showing clearly on his face. He shakily stood up only to hear something coming from behind him and felt the sharp and cold point of a kunai resting against an artery on his neck.

"It's over," said Kakashi in a dead serious voice as a shiver ran down the missing-nin's spine. The ex-Mist ninja slowly turned around until his eye met Kakashi's.

"How…can you see the future?"

"Yeah…you are going to die."Even Kakashi was surprised when two senbon needles buried themselves on Zabuza's neck, and the force of them threw the missing ninja out of Kakashi's grasp and onto the land near the lake.

"Hehe, you are right he is dead," came the voice of a boy, a young man maybe a year or so older than Naruto. Kakashi thought as his head whipped around to see a mask wearing shinobi standing calmly on the branch of a tree. The markings on his mask showed that he was actually a Hunter-nin from the Village hidden in the Mists. Naruto saw his teammates tense at the new arrival and could not blame them. Even though this boy appeared to be on their side, he was subtly leaking a little bit of killer intent, enough that people will be weary of him, but not that much that people will turn tail and run. Kakashi sushined from his place on the lake to where Zabuza's body had landed and checked for the missing-nin's pulse. There weren't any, Zabuza was really dead? The flow of killer intent suddenly stopped as the masked ninja jumped down from the tree before bowing to them.

"Thank you very much," he said, and surprisingly in a very humble voice. "I have been searching for the opportunity to kill Zabuza for a long time."

"So you are a Hunter-nin from Mist?" asked Kakashi and got a nod.

"Yes," he replied. "It is my duty to hunt down missing shinobis as I am a member of Hidden Mists' Hunter-Nin squad."

"By the sound and height of this kid, he is not much older than Naruto and claims to be a Hunter-nin? Impressive but…he is not a normal kid," Kakashi's train of thoughts was interrupted when Naruto walked in between Zabuza's body and the Hunter ninja.

"Why did you kill him?" asked the blonde, his voice was low, and had a sinister quality to it that Kakashi recognized immediately. Naruto was very angry. The hunter-nin cocked his head to one side as he seemed to be contemplating what the blonde meant.

"It is my job," he replied after a while.

"I know that, but what I mean is he did not get a trial or even got a chance to explain his part of the story! Where d the justice in that, I thought Hunter-Nins were the noble ones, going after deserters to bring them to justice, not to slaughter them without understanding the reasons behind them deserting their own village. How can you do that?" said Naruto as he looked on angrily at the masked shinobi standing in front of him.

"Naruto, this is not a matter that concerns us, leave him to do his job," ordered Kakashi in a stern voice as he placed his hand firmly on the jinchuuriki's shoulder.

"But Kakashi-sensei—" Naruto started to say as he looked up at the Jounin but stopped when he saw the man shaking his head. This was a personal matter of another village and those interfering in it would only show them as the bad guys here.

"The battle is over for now. I must take this body with me; it seems to hold too many secrets. Farewell," said the Hunter-nin before vanishing in a puff of mist.

Naruto slowed his steps as he came to a halt beside a solid oak tree. Zabuza was coming for a second round, and this time he would be ready, and he will probably also be bringing that fake hunter-nin with him too. He knew that squad seven was not ready to handle a threat of this caliber yet, but asking for help was a not a choice either. Then he remembered Tazuna, his daughter Tsunami, and even that little kid Inari and sighed. The dinner was just another fiasco, and he had made a big deal of it because he lost his temper on that poor kid. Now that he thought about it, he supposed that even though the kid needed to hear what he had said, it could have been a little nicer way to put it to him.

As the blonde had returned to the house with Sasuke and had sat down at the dining table with Sakura, Tazuna, Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke, and of course Tsunami, another young member had joined them, who was promptly introduced to the newcomers as Inari, Tazuna's grandson. They boy was around seven or eight years old and was wearing a worn out hat. He was also wearing white t-shirt underneath a dark green vest that ended at his knees, like shorts.

"Welcome back grandpa," he said in a dead voice before he crawled onto the chair across from Naruto and waited patiently for his mother to serve him dinner. Naruto was more than stunned; he was a little curious and quite a bit worried. This kid seemed completely devoid of life, he had seen more life in a dying squirrel than in this boy, heck even Shino showed more emotion than this kid did, and that was saying something since the Aburames intentionally tended to hide all emotions from their expressions and body language. As Tsunami got to the table, the boy looked at her mother for a moment before asking "Mom, why are they here, they are going to end up dying anyway." Naruto was taken aback, and not because of the boy's comment, but because of the casual and careless way that he addressed the guests in his house and how he seemed like he could care less that these people could die trying to save his own village.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!" shouted Sakura as she jumped up from her seat; she seemed ready to pummel that kid until he was nothing more than a smudge on the floor.

"There is no way you can win against Gatou," he murmured and in that same emotionless voice.

"You brat, I will…" Sakura stopped bawling as she felt a firm and restraining hand placed on her shoulder by her blonde teammate, she looked back to see him looking at Inari with something akin to…sympathy?

"Hey Inari, listen! I am a super hero who will one day become an incredible ninja called Hokage! I don't know who this Gatou guy is, but he's nothing compared to me!" shouted Naruto as he extended his fist towards Inari and gave him a lopsided grin.

"Pft," Inari looked up as he set his stoic expression-less on Naruto once more. "What are you, stupid? There's no such thing as a hero."

"WHAT?" shouted Sakura and Naruto simultaneously, the blonde could not believe a kid could be so averse to optimistic feelings. In fact is he had to describe someone as the polar opposite of Inari, it would have to be someone he considered his own younger brother, Konohamaru. Inari slowly walked up to the door that led out to his backyard before looking back the genins one more time. "If you don't want to die, you should leave," with that he slowly opened the door and headed out.

"Where are you going kid?" asked Tazuna from his place.

"To take a look at the ocean," came the faint reply of the hat wearing boy's voice.

Naruto turned to look at Tsunami and saw her flinch a little when the door closed behind her son. He had purposely the woman until now, who was kind enough to treat his wounds, and provided them with a warm meal and a comfortable roof over their heads. But if he looked at the situation at hand, he realized that for a person like Tsunami, who was still fairly young and quite good looking, a quick and pain-less death would be the best way for her to go with a man like Gatou after her family. One look at her was all the vile businessman would need for death to be the last thing on his mind and she probably knew it too. Just like being close to a ninja, you always feared that dreadful letter telling you he or she was never coming home. Sometimes your death even came first and it came hard, inflicting as much pain as possible on the one's that were left behind. He shut his mouth; he would need to see the kid for himself before he finally gave the boy his final judgment for what Inari truly was. A boy troubled and angered at his life because of situation that was completely out of control, or just a brat with little to no manners.

"Sorry," Tazuna started to say but Naruto was already on his feet and walking towards the boy before the bridge builder could even complete his apology for his grand-son's rude behavior to the guests.

"Darn it, where did that kid disappear off to," grumbled Naruto as he followed the boy outside. "He need to learn that…" the genin's trail of thoughts went cold as he heard low sniffling sounds coming from one of the higher benches where the kid sat. His back was to Naruto and his shoulders were shaking in a very familiar way. "Oh," muttered Naruto as he realized that Inari was crying. He quickly jumped onto the tree branch that was hanging a little above the kid's head and peered down. He was holding a picture of a man with a large grin on his face, he had a few very defining scars on his face and had a rope that was tied on his forehead very similar to the fashion in which Tazuna had worn when Naruto had first met the drunk bridge-builder. The young jinchuuriki looked down, he knew what it felt like to be all alone against the rest of the world, and shoved his hands in his pockets. He needed to clear his head, decided Naruto before jumping off the branch silently and making his way towards the forest that was a little ways behind the house.

As the genin walked along the forest trail, he let his thoughts wander. He'd been glad when they got the mission because not only was it of higher demand, but it also gave him a chance to finally see the world outside of Konoha's reach and taint, one where the opinion of Uzumaki Naruto had not been dragged through the mud. And now the world was turning out to be just like he'd come to see Konoha and not so pretty, after all. Along with his own blood, he felt just a little more innocence had been lost for them all, but now, it felt like the stranglehold on his hopes and dreams were slithering from around his own neck and tightening on Inari's like the passing of a baton. If anything, now he knew for sure that failing would mean the end of another country's hope and dreams and another corrupt man's ambitions being fulfilled. But this also gave him a sense of duty, like a meaning for his existence had just been created. Like maybe blood spilt, his or not, was actually worth it, no matter the quantity. Now…now the mission had a real purpose. They sure as hell weren't going to flee because of some missing-nin looking to cash a check and they weren't going to stay just because they had to. Inari…no, not just Inari, he corrected himself while gnawing at his lower-lip. Wave needed a hero and they were going to fill that role.

Naruto stopped chewing on his lip and frowned, letting his flow of thoughts go deeper. He was a ninja, a young one at that, and perhaps the lines between good and evil had yet to be mixed completely, and he could still see the difference between what was right and wrong, and what was right for the village and what was wrong for the village, because there was a big difference there that some just could not handle. And that part of him buried deep down beneath hours of training and stunted by nasty looks and uglier words knew that this was it, the moment he had always been waiting for, the reason he became a ninja and the stuff dreams and legends were made out of. You ask a hundred academy students why they keep on coming rain, sleet or snow, training to be a tool for their village that will one day get them killed and you'll get different answers. Some want glory, some want power while others wish to stop being weak and some were even forced, but there will always be one that wanted to be a real hero; wanted to save the family they never got to know, maybe a princess or daimyo they will never get to meet, there will even be some real stupid ones who think they'd be good enough to save the old man if he ever got caught in a pinch by some traitorous missing-nin, and THAT was his job!

On some level, maybe he wanted to be Hokage so he could save Konoha from itself. On some level, maybe he even wanted to thank all of the hateful villagers because due to them his spirit was never truly broken, falling away piece by piece while rebuilding itself stronger than before, whereas some, Sasuke came to mind before he could find another example, had their faith shattered in one single, abrupt moment, forever broken and never to return.

Who really knew? One man's trash was another man's treasure while one man's dreams were another's nightmare.

As Naruto walked, he could not help but feel like he owed Tazuna somehow and he would never be able to replay the man. In fact, he was sure that the old bridge-builder was thinking along the same lines and B-Rank pay or not, he would always be in debt of the Village hidden in the Leaves.

How did you repay someone that gave you the means to fulfill a dream, intentional or not?

Naruto assumed you did it the same way you thanked someone who took away your dream, intentional or not.

You did it to the best of your abilities and you made absolutely sure nobody could erase the mark left behind, the intent never in question.

His resolve only grew with each step.

If needed he would personally take up the task of removing Gatou's head from his shoulders if the man so much as looked at Tazuna and his family the wrong way, and if it came to it, he would learn how to build a bridge with his own two hands, and do so until he hands were no more because this was not just a bridge anymore, it was never really about just the bridge. Konoha had the Will of Fire and Iwa liked to say that they are as unbreakable as the rocks they so loved, but they were both wrong while at the same time right. You could put out a fire and you could crack a rock, the same way you could destroy a bridge. Only difference was you could rebuild that same bridge down to the last brick whereas that fire will never be the same nor will the rock. But sometimes perfection in rebuilding was probably not the answer, as scars healed only showed character. Maybe that was the beauty held by the Will of Fire; forever burning bright, illuminating the night with the eternal flames of Konoha's youth, generation after generation stoking the flames (wow he really was starting to think like Gai-sensei).

Wave, however, did not have the Will of Fire. They were a land that still needed to find theirs, and the bridge would be that pillar of hope, but just as the infant fire needed an ember and someone to tend it, the bridge needed protectors to help it reach a state of influence before change could happen. Once their pillar was complete, there would be no stopping the revolution that was bound to come and Gatou would be nothing more than a bad stain on that bridge. With resources came strength, and with strength there was always an uprising. Gatou knew this, but he seemed like the typical tyrant and Naruto got the feeling he was measuring every inch and centimeter that bridge gained, waiting for the right moment to swoop in and strike, crushing the bridge along with the hope of every Wave resident watching the events like a hawk. Maybe Gatou would even have the bridge completed to cement his victory; Naruto wouldn't put it past him.

They say that freedom always came with a price, and a high one at that. But Naruto realized it then and there that when the time came, by his doing or not, Gatou was going to pay for Wave's freedom with his life like all the tyrants had before him.

Hello again people, you don't know how sorry I am for this extremely late update but what can I say, this chapter was giving me the mother of all writer's block! If it is any consolation, I made this chapter a little bit longer for you guys to enjoy So finally we get to see what Naruto thinks of this whole situation that he is finally in wave and has experienced firsthand what Gatou does to the people who intend to defy him. So next chapter we get to delve a little more into our favorite hero's conscience, and we will also see the schemes that Danzo is plotting now that the Chuunin exams are upon them and is going to be held in Konoha this year. Ooh, yes things are heating up and are it will only get more and more intense from this point on. As always ideas and opinions from readers are always welcome and if you would like to discuss the story in farther detail, just send me a quick P.M. Loved the reviews I got, so please keep them coming. Poll about Zabuza's sword has been concluded, so stay tuned to see what happens next. And please, please, please don't forget to review. Special thanks to people who started to follow and favorited this story after the last chapter was posted and if you are one of them please send me a P.M. or a review to let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Tanneal