Disclaimer: Naruto is not owned by me. Neither are any other characters in the Naruto story. But you probably knew that.
Chapter 2: Journeying With Zabuza
Five years had passed since the day that Naruto had left the village hidden in the leaves. Naruto, Haku, and Zabuza trained nearly every day together. The Demon of the Hidden Mist had taught both boys very well. Naruto enjoyed the rigorous training and had learned so much from them. In the beginning Zabuza had been disappointed with Naruto. He had learned at a much slower pace then Haku and even some of the most basic jutsu had been difficult for him. But Naruto had refused to give up and eventually the gap had narrowed. He was now excellent at Suiton and basic ninjutsu, his taijutsu was better then Haku's, and his swordsmanship was topnotch. The team truly was a great one.
He didn't always enjoy what he did for a living. The first time he had ever killed someone was when he was eight. It was in self defense sure but it still traumatized him. However he had made a promise to Zabuza that he would follow his orders no matter how difficult, and he was not going to break a promise to the man who had saved his existence.
The trio's current mission was to Suna. Naruto always liked going to Suna, for that was where his only other friend, Garra of the Sand, lived. He had met Garra only a few months after he had first started his life with Zabuza and the two had created a fast friendship due to their similar lives. Garra had apparently been hated and feared throughout Suna due to a sand demon that had been sealed into him at birth. Naruto had wondered when he heard this if something similar was had happened to him but had shrugged it off as unimportant now that he had people who accepted him.
Naruto had asked Garra to come along as a forth member of their group but Zabuza hadn't allowed it. Either way Naruto was glad that he was seeing his friend again. He hadn't met with Garra in years.
"Hay Haku." He whispered so that Zabuza couldn't hear, "What's our mission again? I wasn't paying much attention when Zabuza-sama told us."
Haku rolled his eyes but smiled just the same, "There's been a person going around at Suna at night, killing people. We're going to stop him."
Naruto frowned. 'Stop him' the blonde boy knew, meant 'kill him'. Naruto didn't like killing. "How did we get picked for this job?" He asked, "Surely the Kazekage wouldn't hire three missing nin for a problem within his own village?"
Haku nodded, "The Kazekage didn't hire us, one of his aids did. The Kazekage doesn't know about us." Haku seemed to think for a second before continuing, "Actually, Zabuza-sama thinks that the aid asked us to do it because he thinks the perpetrator is a shinobi and he doesn't want to risk one of his own men being injured."
Naruto smirked, "But its okay for us to get hurt right?"
Haku nodded, "Zabuza-sama isn't angry though. The pay is surprisingly high for such a simple mission." Haku smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair, "Nothing we shouldn't be able to handle eh otouto?"
Naruto scowled. True Haku had always been like and older brother to him but it was still annoying when he treated him as though he was still five.
A few hours later the three assassins were behind the walls of Suna. Zabuza sat quietly by the window as he watched the sun set. Haku was reading an orange book of some sort whose title Naruto couldn't see. And Naruto himself was lying back on the couch with an annoyed expression on his face. He had looked through the entire village and had found no sign of Garra. Now all he could look forward to was the stupid mission.
"When are we going to start this!?" he yelled in annoyance.
Zabuza didn't turn away from the window, "The killer has only appeared at night so far." He answered, "We have a bit more time before we go out."
Naruto cursed under his breath. He didn't want to wait anymore. He just wanted to get out of this stupid village. Needless to say, Garra's unexplained absence had lowered his liking of Suna considerably.
"I'm getting something to eat," Naruto stated, "I'll be back before nightfall."
Naruto walked down the streets of Suna, a stick of dango in his mouth. It was later then he had anticipated but he wasn't that worried, Zabuza-sama had probably left already, then when he returned he would yell at Naruto and give him some sort of horrible, body numbing, exercise to do for training. Well maybe he was a little worried.
Suddenly he stopped. His nose twitched. There was an odd smell on the air, it was masked slightly by the dust but it was still one that Naruto would recognize anywhere. Blood, and lots of it. The blonde shinobi turned around and jumped onto a nearby rooftop, hoping that the less crowded air would give him a better sense of where the smell was coming from.
Naruto sniffed again, and cursed. The scent was coming from behind him, in the opposite direction of the place where his comrades were staying. He now had two choices. He could return to alert Zabuza and Haku and risk the person getting away, or he could head for the source of the scent by himself. Cursing one again he turned around and dashed off toward the scent.
A few moments later he jumped onto a rooftop and crouched down, sniffing again. The scent was coming from here…but obviously there was nothing here. What had happened? Had they already disappeared and cleaned up the evidence? So wrapped up in his own thoughts was he that he didn't hear the flying kunai until it was less then a few inches away from him.
Naruto quickly twisted away, the kunai barely grazing his shirt, and unsheathed his long katana. There were three of them. Each wore a simple Suna vest and held a kunai in each hand.
"Well, well," one of them whispered, "The famed Momochi Zabuza is too good for us, so he sent one of his little brats eh?"
Naruto frowned. This was a trap then? For Zabuza-sama? What of the nightly murders then, had that been only a tale to lure Naruto's sensei out? Naruto looked over the three that had ambushed him. The vests that they wore suggested that they were Chuunin or Jounin rank. Far stronger then Naruto could handle. But their stances were sloppy, and they looked apprehensive about attacking. Naruto suspected that they were not ninja at all, just a few punks that hoped to intimidate people by dressing as people stronger then they were.
Naruto smirked and stabbed his blade into the ground, then brought his hands together to make a handseal. One of the enemies jumped toward Naruto and swung his kunai in a mad arc. Naruto twisted around him and slammed his foot into the man's back, sending him sprawling onto the ground.
The blonde shinobi cycled through a couple more handseals and shouted at the top of his lungs, "SUITON: MIZUKEN!" he clenched his hand into a fist and slammed it forward, causing an enormous fist of water to shoot out of the ground and slam into the other two attackers, knocking them unconscious.
Naruto turned to the man on the floor, yanked his katana out of the ground, and slashed it downward. A moment before Naruto's blade connected a large stone wall rose up out of the ground and smashed into his shoulder, knocking him over and bruising him badly. Naruto rose to his feet and turned his head in the direction that the wall had come from. A fourth man was standing there, smirking, his hands still connected in a handseal. Naruto glared at him. There was no denying that this man was a ninja.
"That was a cheap shot." Naruto stated, though his voice was completely calm. Zabuza had taught him long ago that yelling at your attackers got you nowhere. It was much more affective to sound indifferent.
The man smirked, "You must be one of those brats that follow that freak Zabuza around." He stated, obviously trying to anger the young shinobi.
It worked. Naruto slammed his hands together and screamed, "SUITON: MIZURAPPA!!!" releasing a large blast of water from his mouth.
The Suna ninja smirked and called out, "Doton: Doro Gaeshi!" A large section of the roof of the building rose up to block the water blast.
Naruto clenched his hand around his sword and started to move foreword, only to be stopped as he watched to his horror, a half dozen ninja jump out of the hole in the roof and circle around him. Naruto looked back and forth in fear. This was not good. One ninja he might be able to hold off…but seven!? Swallowing his doubt, Naruto held his blade up in a defensive position.
One of the ninja made a handseal and yelled, "Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!"
Naruto jumped backwards in an attempt to dodge the fire blast, only to be slammed in the back of the head by the blunt end of one of his attacker's kunai. He slowly drifted into unconsciousness.
Naruto opened his eyes, and looked around in confusion. He was back in their hotel room, Haku was sitting on a chair next to his bed, Zabuza was nowhere to be found.
"Good morning Naruto." Haku stated once he realized that the blonde boy was awake.
"What happened?" Naruto asked in response.
Haku smiled, "That was a clever thing you did, screaming out your jutsu like that. Obviously Zabuza and I heard you and came running to help. We must have arrived right when you were hit in the head."
Naruto nodded, "And you and Zabuza-sama are okay?"
Haku's smile widened, "Of course. The Suna ninja insisted on fighting Zabuza alone and he ended the fight in only a few seconds. We rushed you back here after that to make sure you weren't seriously injured."
Naruto chuckled at the thought of seven ninja all fighting his sensei at once. "So then," he continued, "What was the deal with the murderer and all?"
Haku scowled, "There was no murderer." he answered, "The person who hired us was apparently a friend of someone Zabuza killed in the past. This was all just a set-up so that we would come and he could have his revenge. Zabuza was pretty annoyed when he heard that we wouldn't get any money for this."
Just at that moment the door opened and in walked Zabuza himself, a furious scowl on his face. He turned to face Naruto, "So…you were late last night." Naruto grabbed the blankets that covered him and pulled them up to his chin. Zabuza walked over to him, grabbed his hair roughly, and yanked him up so that the two were looking eye to eye. "You told me you'd be back before nightfall…with your healing rate you should be up and out of bed in a few hours, and when you are…you'd better prepare for the toughest training course of your life!" He pushed Naruto back into the bed and walked out of the room.
Naruto chuckled. Zabuza acted tough and nasty, but the young shinobi knew that it was only a ruse. Naruto would bet his katana that Zabuza had been waiting outside the door, waiting for Naruto to wake up so that he could make sure he was okay. The Demon of the Hidden Mist would of course give him a gruelingly tough training exercise but the reason was not to punish Naruto, but rather because he had worried the Demon by being hurt and he wanted to push Naruto so that next time he wouldn't need to come and rescue him. Then Haku would offer to do the training as well, telling Zabuza it is because he wishes to better himself but really just wanting to comfort and help Naruto through it.
Naruto knew this because it had all happened many times before. This was his life, and this was what his life would be for a long time to come.
Alaster506: Sarutobi was beyond furious at the time so I think he can be forgiven if he forgets to articulate a bit. Thank you very much for the comment though.
RobotPirateNinja: The point of the story is IF the villagers were able to overcome their fear and attack Naruto all together. And as for Sarutobi executing them, it was basically every non ninja in the village grouped together that attacked Naruto. He can't execute them all or he'd be left with an empty village.
cyclone08: He scared them so badly that they were too afraid to speak. I personally think that that's pretty good. As for him sensing the other ninja, Naruto had run a very long way before Sarutobi had even herd what had happened so he was out of his sensing range, perhaps I should have made that clear. When I said that Sarutobi would have found him if he had waited another moment, I ment that he would have fallen into his sensing range.
everyone else: Thank you very much for your reviews. I hope that you continue to like my story.
Also, would anyone know of a good place for me to translate things to Japanese? I have prexisting jutsu as their Japanese names but my water fist jutsu needs to be translated. I also want Haku to call Naruto "little brother" in Japanese.