Chapter 3



Sorry for the delay, work is very straining at the moment. Its pretty hard to relax for writing after around 10 hours of sitting in front of a PC at work. As soon as the amount lessens a bit, I'll be back to my intended interval of roughly one chapter per week.

I do hope you will still enjoy the fic, and of course review!



Zabuza stood unmoving on the upmost branch of a dead tree, split by a Raiton Jutsu long ago, and kept looking out for „The Demon Brat". Naruto was supposed to arrive any minute now, so he was getting impatient pretty fast. Being late for his first Training Session? Smiling madly he kept waiting.

He would teach the boy.....

Naruto had desperately been hastening around in the village, all in search for that stupid gate Zabuza had ordered him to go through. Damn him if he'd be late in his first session of Tai-Jutsu training! Jumping onto a nearby house he finally got a look at the door. It was made of shining, very dark blue plates, roughly 3m high and wide and everybody seemed to ignore it.

Running frantically towards it, he didn't manage to stop early enough, resulting in his left shoulder bumping into the gate. It seemed to ripple at that, but Naruto quickly made the mumbling sound Zabuza had told him to make, and the Door opened far enough to let him through.

Ah, there he was. About time, Zabuza thought, meanwhile silently pulling his Training sword from its sheath. "Yeah, run little boy. Not looking around you? I'll beat that idiocity out of your lazy, maltrained ass soon enough........." he thought to himself.

When Naruto reached the rocky clearing at the Grounds centre, Zabuza teleported directly behind him, and with a "Grmh" struck him in the back with his huge weapon.

The Brat was smashed into the nearest rock, a flat thing of roughly 4m height, and slacked down to the ground.

As he tried to get up again, Zabuza aimed another strike at him, this time slightly missing (good, he had some reflexes at least) and scattering roughly a quarter of the rock to splinters. With a panicked glare Naruto tried to get some distance between himself and Zabuza. Another mistake he would remove from the brats portfolio, Zabuza thought, letting the blonde run for a few seconds, just before suddenly standing in his way, swinging his leg in a quick, straight up-kick, which threw the Demon-vessel high up into the air.

"Ah, I better meet him up there", the Demon thought, then jumped too and smashed the battered youth forceful towards the ground.

"OK brat", he said as soon as Naruto began to struggle to his feet, "This beating was to demonstrate that what you are now is everything but a Ninja. Care to tell me what you think you did wrong?" At that the swordsman glared madly.

"Cough, ah, damn...." Naruto muttered, before trying to think straight enough to answer the question. "Ah, I didn't look around enough?" he tried half-heartedly.

"True. But that's only one of 4 points. I am wondering more and more what your trainers and their superiors were thinking in training you that badly........". At that Naruto started to hang his head.

As soon as Zabuza was out of the brats vision, he charged him, landing a heavy knee in his stomach, followed up by a sweep of the training sword that sent the blonde flying again.

"DAMN!" he shouted, "What were we just talking about? What led you to believe you could drop your guard while we are talking?"

Naruto stood up, his shaking hands holding his stomach. His eyes had a dull, resigned expression.

"Damn", Zabuza thought, I forgot how the village treated him. Ah, well, time for a little "Nice Guy" then, enough time to have fun with him later on......:"

"OK boy, sit down. I'm gonna tell you a few basics and you better LISTEN! First, I didn't do this because I fear or hate you. Only to show you where your training is lacking (which is almost everywhere, he added silently).

Second: Never, ever!, drop your guard unless you are SURE you're alone or other Ninjas you trust are standing guard! That's the damn CORE of being a Ninja, being alert and ready to react to threats to you and your village, anytime!"

At that he shot a questioning look at the kid, who nodded in understanding (or at least submission, both would work for now, Zabuza mused).

"Third: Always try to act according to your enemies strengths, as soon as you can gauge them, in a fight. When before you tried to put distance between us even though you knew that range is no problem for me, it was the dumbest thing you could do, get it?" Another nod, this time Zabuza was almost sure the brat really got it.

"And lastly, listen to your trainers, which at least right now means me. We WANT you to grow stronger after all. But I wont be nice and slow with it, you're almost 16 and on the skill level of a 12 year old at most, so we WILL move fast, understood?" At that he emitted a little bit of killing intent.

"Yes, Zabuza-Sensei!" Naruto declared.

"Most of his bruises seem almost healed, so we can pro.... Wait, what? How can that be" Zabuza looked his pupil over more thoroughly. "How is it you're almost healed again?" he inquired sharply.

"Ah, the Kyuubi`s Chakra has this effect. I heal bruises and small wounds within a few minutes at most. A broken arm needs perhaps a day or so......" Naruto replied sheepishly.

"Hmm", Zabuza thought, "That's great! This way I can go almost all out and don't haver to worry about disabling him for long.....:"

The smile that appeared on his teachers face made Naruto gulp......

ZM

A totally exhausted Naruto opened the door to his house at roughly 6 pm. Zabuza had smashed, kicked, tripped, thrown, knocked and otherwise "forcibly moved" him around the training ground for more than 4 hours. In this time he seemed to have only one goal in mind: To test Narutos regenerative abilities and stamina to their utmost maximum, which was reached after he had disabled his pupil roughly 20 times by finally breaking his arm in two separate locations.

With a smirk he had called for a Medic Nin to heal the broken arm, but nothing else and sent Naruto back to rest, announcing they would continue the next morning.

Perhaps this hadn't been such a good idea after all, he thought, but this was now his home and Zabuza his Sensei, so he sighed, showered, ate and went to bed.....

Zabuza meanwhile sat in his main Inn, drinking Sake and stretching his hurting legs. Damn, this kid could take damage like no one he had ever heard about. He had been really happy when the brats arm finally broke, so he had an excuse to abort the training, or else he would have started to show signs of weakness (mainly more sweat, but still.....).

"Hey, another one", he ordered, while pondering what to do with the blonde tomorrow. After all it was his last day as Narutos only trainer, the day after that Nahema would get her shot too, so he would have far less time to maximize the Kids physical advantages........

Ah well, time enough to think about it tomorrow, he thought, and added a "Leave the bottle" to the Innkeeper.

The rest of the evening was rather relaxing for the "Demon of the Mist".

ZM

The next Morning, Zabuza sat on a small stone at Training Ground 4, waiting for Naruto to make his appearance.

AGAIN.

He really had to get that brat a Jutsu-powered Alarm Clock. Best with some Raiton Jutsu, note: Ask Mizukage about that. Or he could always go for the more drastic approach.....

While he pondered his options, a wary and tired Naruto jogged onto the Training ground. This time only minutes late. Still, a little punishment was in order, so his trademark glare would have to do.

"Well, late again, aren't we", Zabuza drawled, fixing his glare at the boys eyes, "No matter how tired you may be, your duty to your superiors and the village HAS to come first. Remember that!"

Naruto nodded.

"Good, now sit down here", while saying that he gestured towards a small bush close to the stone he sat on. The boy did so, always keeping his guard up and his eyes focused on Zabuza. Good, he had started to learn. "Now, as you know tomorrow, respectively the day after tomorrow, you'll start your training with your two other teachers as well, so we only have today to test out the maximum of your "Bloodline" without depraving you of the needed condition to follow your other teachers as well....." He let the words stand, waiting for questions from the blonde. Which of course promptly made their entrance.....

"Zabuza-Sensei, who else will be training me? And what exactly do you mean by "test my Bloodline to its maximum"?"

"Well kid, your Ninjutsu trainer will be Nahema, a 17 year old Special Jounin of our village. She might be weak physically, but her Ninjutsu is better than every ones here, except the Mizukage." Seeing the face of his pupil light up, he hastened to add his warnings. "But don't freak out. She might look all cute and seem friendly, but she lives up to her namesake (a/N: a combined word meaning Demon witch, NOT the NATO Helicopter!!). Don't let her get to you, as it will be unpleasant to kick any idiocities that might cause out of you again.......for you that is" he added with a smirk.

"Which brings us to your Genjutsu Trainer. As the Mizukage informed me this morning, you'll be trained Genjutsu by Hohiro. He's a strange kind of Ninja, calm, relaxed and far too nice for my liking, but I assume you'll get along well enough. If you want to know anything else about them...." at saying this, he was instantly interrupted by the boy jumping up and starting to spill various questions. That did not deter him however, and he finished: "Ask THEM, not me." At the sad look of his pupil he added "You can still ask me other general Info about the village though, as long as you don't bother me too much." At that he really tried to look a bit more trustworthy, but neither his huge sword nor his , ahem, individual stile of clothing helped much in achieving this goal.

Still, the kid was brave enough to inquire more information.

"Well, ah, could you tell me more about the village then? How old is it? How many Ninja do we have? How many people in general? Who are the strongest and most well known Ninja?....

At Zabuzas glassy expression Naruto stopped asking further questions.

"Damn, what did I agree to....." Zabuza thought, well, better get it over with, hmm?.

"OK, lets see, the Village was founded by the first Mizukage 38 years ago during the Great Shinoby Wars of that time, mainly as a remote refugee for Ninjas who shared his ideas.

Not counting Academy pupils we have roughly 180 Ninjas right now, parted to 61 Genin, 80 Chunin, 16 Special Jounin, 18 Jounin, 4 Elite Jounin and the Mizukage. As you can see, we still lack the numbers of other villages, but our levels in skill and power are far better."

"As for the general number: who knows? Who cares? My guess is about 5500, a few more or less.

Your last question however....:" his voice went silent, as he glared intently at the boy.

"You´re not trusted and experienced enough now to get that info. However," he added at seeing the blonde looking very sad, "I can give you a look at 3 of our best from the outside, as I have a mostly recent Bingo Book of Konoha that details a few of our rank. You'll find it in your house tonight!"

After that, another 5 hours of gruelling physical exercise (e.g. savage beatings) followed.

The boy might not have been the brightest, or the fastest learner, but his physical talent was undeniable. Zabuza had to use more of his strength already to send him flying, and his speed was picking up too. Nice, if he kept that up, after 2 weeks he might even be able to pose a smaller challenge (that is, as long as I use my Training sword, Zabuza smirked inwardly....).

"OK boy, dismissed for today, get cleaned up and relax. Tomorrow you'll start your training with Nahema at Training Ground 3 at precisely 8 o'clock. DONT be late!"

The brat slumped off the training ground, towards a good meal and his warm bed.....

Zabuza on the other hand had a little due visit with the Mizukage.....

ZM

"Come in", he heard the Kage´s voice through the door, as soon as he had entered the waiting room.

He entered and was surprised that the old man didn't pull off his "blue light in the dark" show this time. Instead he saw Hohiro leave the room. He eyed the other Shinobi, again wondering how someone with an appearance like that, slight belly, fat over his (agreeable pretty strong) muscles, tossled, dark blond hair and Goatee, could be one of the most feared Jounin of the village. He didn't even TRY to look intimidating for gods sake!

"Ah, well, later, now lets see what the old man wants." he thought, taking his usual stand exactly opposite the Kages Desk.

"Sit down, Zabuza-san. Some tea? No? I thought as much....

Now tell me, how was training with Naruto today?"

"Well," Zabuza started, "He is very far behind regarding technique, quite a bit behind in terms of speed and perception, his strength is good but damn, his stamina and that damned regeneration are simply..."

"Astounding?" the Mizukage interrupted him before he could get to another curse.

"Well, yeah, suppose so. I beat him for more than 4 hours on 2 days in a row, and yet, the day after, he's back to normal. Most bruises are healed within 5 minutes. If I can get his Taijutsu up to date, he'll be a challenge for most Ninja who don't favour the "one-shot-kill"." Zabuza didn't like it much, but he had to give credit where it was due.

"Well then," the Mizukage continued, "As you might have suspected when seeing Hohiro leaving my office, I have now talked with all of his trainers. And therefore I have a pretty good daily regimen set up for him. You, as his prime teacher, will have training lessons every day from 10 to 12.30 o'clock. 2 days per week, at your choice by the way, you can have another hour at 6 pm. Nahema, as the only one of you 3 who is usually awake at this time, will get the morning hours every 2nd day, Hohiro the Afternoon from 2pm to 5 pm alternating with Nahema. This will give all of you enough time to get some skill into him without neglecting his free time overtly, don't you agree?"

Zabuza could hardly argue about that, though he would have liked to have more time, this was about as good as he could get. "Yeah, that's fine with me. Starting his training tomorrow then?"

"Yes. Dismissed."

And with that Zabuza left.

ZM

The next morning, Naruto carefully approached Training ground 3 to meet Nahema. So far he was still a bit tired from the last days ordeals, but his regeneration (and the fact he had food, a shower and a warm bed) had put him back to shape quite well. He just hoped that the woman would not be as bad as Zabuza had said she would.....

"Hey, you there," he heard a voice, breaking him out of his musings. Turning around he saw a slim, long-legged woman (or girl?) with auburn hair, big hazel Eyes and a very beautiful, high-cheeked face standing to his right. He was pretty sure she hadn't been there a moment ago, but well.....

"Ah, hello." He replied "You must be Nahema-Sensei, right?"

"Yes, Naruto, how perceptive of you." The smirk made her eyes glitter. Oh god, hopefully he hadn't trampled on her feelings or somesuch. He remembered Sakuras reactions well enough, and this girl was a Special Jounin.......

"Relax kid. I'm not Zabuza. I wont hurt you unless it is absolutely necessary for your training." As she said that she started walking towards a small grassy hill. "Now then, why don't you come along?" she inquired, not even turning her head to face him, so he followed.

She sat down on top of the little hill and pointed her finger slightly below her. "Sit down, will you? I intend to tell you a few things and don't want you to squirm around to much."

Naruto made haste to comply, then looked up at his newest Sensei with interest.

"OK, where to begin..." she mumbled, "Ah yes. I am Nahema, the foremost Ninjutsu Specialist of our Village, as Zabuza has undoubtedly told you. I will teach you all I can about Ninjutsu in general, and as soon as we have determined your Elemental Affinity, some Info about the Elements as such. After that..." She realized that he looked up at her with a very puzzled expression.

"What is it? Don't tell me you don't even know WHAT Elemental Affinities mean?" He nodded, a sheepish expression slowly creeping back onto his face.

Nahema sighed deeply. "Well, it seems Zabuza did not exaggerate your lack of proper Training. So back to the basics it is then,"

She squirmed around a bit to find a more comfortable position, then looked Naruto straight into the eyes. "OK, the basics. There are 5 Elements, which are Air, Water, Earth, Fire and Lightning. Almost all existing Jutsu that are not tied to a Bloodline can be clearly placed to one or more of these Elements. There is a bunch of so called "Sub elements" too, which are both exceedingly rare and due to the far smaller number of Jutsus dedicated to them, less useful, but they tend to be more powerful in some areas, also the have no Counter-element. They are Metal, Wood and Ice. Clear so far?"

Naruto had a pretty easy time catching up with those facts, so he nodded.

"Good," Nahema continued, "Most people have a clear affinity for one of the 5 basic Elements. Exceptions tend to be special Bloodlines, like Konohas Hyuga for example, who usually don't have any affinity at all. Whenever you use Jutsus that are of "your" element you need less Chakra to do so. Also learning them is a bit easier. When you're advanced enough you can even manipulate parts of your Element without the use of a Jutsu, or modify a Jutsus effects "on the fly", which can lead to interesting results. However, your Affinity also gives you a weakness against the Element strongest against your own. "

At that she stopped again, a questioning expression on her face, but strangely Naruto had understood it all, so he nodded.

"Well, seems you're not that slow after all. Now I will give you a sheet of special paper used to determine your Affinity. Simply channel Chakra into it, as much as you can without too much effort." She drew a sheet of white Paper out of a pocket at her back and gave it to Naruto. He looked at it intently, it seemed completely mundane, if a bit thicker than regular paper.

He concentrated and channelled Chakra into it. As nothing happened, he almost panicked and channelled far more Chakra into the small sheet, as much as he could in the short time, just as Nahema started to say "OK, it should show your Affinity after a few...." the paper split in half in the middle, one of its halves instantly evaporating into dust, the other one bursting into a flashing, bright-white Flame.

Dodging back Nahema looked at the boy "What the hell", she thought to herself, "2 Elements? And so strong to boot, very promising for someone that young....... Seems he's worth the effort after all." Thinking this to herself, a small smile crossed her lips.

"Well, that's terrific! You have Earth and Fire Affinities, both very strong!" She smiled widely while saying this, and Naruto found himself unconsciously answering with a smile of his own.

Finally, it seemed, he showed potential in something other than taking consecutive beatings without longer lasting harm.....

"However," Nahema continued, "This does also mean that I myself cannot teach you control of your Elements, as my Elements are Lightning and Water. We will therefore concentrate on Chakra Control and of course Jutsus. Your Fire Affinity you'll have to research all by yourself, I'm afraid, as no Shinobi of our Village has shown this affinity yet, but luckily your Genjutsu Trainer Hohiro is an Earth type too, so that should be no problem." Inward she found it both hard to believe how strong his affinities were and sad that her pupil did not share any of her own.

"Now to the Elements Strengths and weaknesses. We`ll begin with your own, as they will be most important to your further training. Fire is strong against Air and weak against Water, Earth is strong against Water and weak against Lightning. So a skirmish between us two would be interesting." she added in between, a small smile tugging at her lips. "lastly, Air is strong against Lighning. THats all with theory for today"

"Now, to our first lesson. Water walking!"

Which they tried for more than 2 hours, to Narutos chargrim he had no luck whatsoever in walking on water at all.

His mood was even worsened when he went to Zabuza the afternoon, and got beaten and kicked all over the training grounds AGAIN. As it seemed his Sensei was all into using the last day he could torture him for more than 2 hours to its fullest, and so Naruto was VERY tired, bruised and beaten up when he got home. However: he seemed to get used to it, because after a load of food (mainly fish and rice) he felt more than fit enough to go through the 3 Pages of the Konoha Bingo book Zabuza had left on his table. After all, he WAS pretty curious about the point of view his former village held about his new trainers.......

It read:

Bingo Book of Konohagakure Revised Edition 5

Year 3 of the Godaime Hokage

Kirigakure Nins

1.: Zabuza Momoshi:

Alias: None, Zabuza always travels as himself.

Titles: The Demon of the Bloody Mist, The Silent Killer, The 1. Swordsman of Kirigakure

Description: Size: 6 foot 7 Inch, weight: around 235lbs, hair colour: dark brown, Eye colour: Black

Age: 29

Estimated Overall Level: Elite Jounin (raised from Jounin after Capture of Kakashi Hatake)

Taijutsu: High Jounin

Ninjutsu: Jounin

Genjutsu: Low Jounin

Kenjutsu: Elite Jounin+

Village Rank: Elite Jounin

Elemental Affinity: Water, perhaps second, if yes: unknown

Well-known Deeds: Killing his whole Graduation Class, various Genin and 3+ Chunin at the Age of 11, when graduating from Kirigakures Academy, Capture of Kakashi Hatake, has not lost a Sword fight ever (since records, e.g. 9 years).

Advice: Approach only with vastly superior numbers, if possible use Earth Jutsu to immobilize him. If neither one is feasible, avoid confrontation! Avoid a Kenjutsu-fight at all cost!

Bounty: A-S-Rank Threat, 355k at least,


2.: Nahema:

Alias: Soreene, Omiko Takara;

Titles: Ninjutsu master of Kirigakure

Description: Size: 5 foot 7 inches, weight: around 120lbs, Hair colour: Auburn, Eye Colour: Hazel, Age: 17

Estimated Overall level: Jounin

Taijutsu: Chunin

Ninjutsu: Elite Jounin+

Genjutsu: Jounin

Kenjutsu: Chunin

Rank: Special Jounin

Elemental Affinity: Unknown, possibly Water, Multiple Affinities likely.

Well-known Deeds: Besting Iwagakures best Ninjutsu Specialist at the age of 15 (2,3 Years ago), flooding an entire Valley to prove her point.

Advice: Engage in Close Combat as fast as possible, only attack if that (best combined with surprise) can be achieved, else: Avoid unless multiple Jounins (with high Ninjutsu skills) are present!

Bounty: A-Rank, 185k


3.: Hohiro

Alias: none

Titles: The Silent Master, The indomitable Mind

Description: Size: 6 foot, weight: around 190lbs, Hair Colour: Dark blond, Eye Colour: Sea green, Age: Unknown, most likely late 20ies

Overall esteemed Level: Jounin

Taijutsu: Chunin

Ninjutsu: Jounin

Genjutsu: Elite Jounin

Kenjutsu: Unknown, most likely low Jounin as he seems to prefer it over Taijutsu.

Rank: Jounin

Elemental Affinity: unsure, most likely Air or Earth as most of his known Ninjutsu are of that Types

Deeds: no special Deeds known

He was not born or basic trained in Kirigakure, as far as our sources can tell.

Advice: (Multiple) FAST Jounin should do the trick nicely, as his weakness is speed.

Do NOT let him get you to follow him under any circumstances!

Bounty: B-Rank, 120k

Interesting News indeed, Naruto thought, as he went to bed, looking forward to his further training in the morning.......