Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Konoha, or any Naruto-y Kanoha-y products.

Chapter 4: Confronting The Enemy

In many ways Haruno Sakura was an ordinary girl. She was intelligent but her skills were nothing to be particularly impressed with. She was pretty but had nothing that particularly singled her out as exceedingly beautiful besides her pink hair. She didn't come from a prestigious family. She wasn't particularly well known for anything other then her obsession with Uchiha Sauske, and even that wasn't very unusual. But there was one thing that she had that gave her the potential to be greater then any of the other, seemingly superior girls in the village hidden in the leaves. She had the drive, ambition, and thirst to prove herself to push herself to achieve anything that she wanted, whatever that may be. That was why she was the most assertive of all the girls about trying to get Sauske as a boyfriend. That was why she was able to, despite her dismal physical capabilities, gain the middle of the class through constant study. And that was why she was the only Gennin in the group that had the knowledge to realize just how much stronger this new boy was then the two they had just encountered.

He was slightly taller then Sauske, and slightly more muscular. He wore a dark grey long-sleeve shirt with an ice blue flaming spiral insignia on the front and a kanji for "little demon" on the back, and dark blue denim jeans. His ninja shoes had closed toes and he had bandages that wrapped around his arms, similar to that of a bizarre, green-spandex wearing boy that she remembered seeing once or twice back in Kanoha, except that this blonde-haired boy's also apparently extended over his chest and up to his lower face. He carried a long, sleek katana that had no handgaurd and apparently no sheath, simply being tucked behind a midnight-blue cloth belt. He carried himself with a simple confidence that seemed either foolish or perhaps frightening considering who his enemies are and even from twenty yards away she could feel the sheer force of his chakra surrounding her. However this strength didn't seem to carry any killing intent with it, in fact it almost seemed friendly. That combined with his cheerful smile made it difficult for Sakura to be afraid of him, but she knew and forced herself not to let her guard down.

Sauske on the other hand, seemed to detect no threat at all from this new boy and boldly walked out to face him.

The Uchiha dropped into a fighting stance but the blonde-haired boy held his arms up and took a step back, "I'm not here to fight." He said nervously, "At least not yet. There's no way I could last more then a couple minuets against one Jounin, let alone two and their Gennin teams."

Sauske's eyes narrowed. He didn't let up his fighting stance. "Who are you?" he asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Who am I?" He asked, seemingly to himself, "I suppose I can tell you that...my name is Naruto. Momochi Naruto. And who are you? I mean I know that you are an Uchiha but honestly I wasn't aware that there were any of them left. Are you a survivor of the famed Uchiha massacre?"

Sauske's eyes opened wide in fury for just a moment and he charged at Naruto. He jumped and kicked at the blonde-haired boy in mid-air, who simply smiled and grabbed his foot, twisting him into the ground. His rage growing, Sauske slammed his foot upward, but Naruto simply brought his own knee up to block the blow. Now furious Sauske slammed his hands together and cycled through a few handsigns while screaming, "KATON: GOUKAKYUU NO JUTSU!!" Creating an intense blast of fire from his mouth that, to the shock of nearly everyone around, completely engulfed Naruto. It seemed as though Sauske had already won.

Sakura was astounded that this seemingly strong person had lost like that, but at the same time ecstatic that her beloved Sauske had won so fast, "Yeah Sauske!" She yelled, "You really are the greatest Sauske! No one can defeat you!"

Sauske didn't answer. He simply laid down on the ground, staring at the bright, dissipating flames. And when the flames disappeared he opened his eyes wide in shock. Naruto stood, his blade out and held out defensively in front of himself, two burn marks were on the ground on either side of him, his remaining hand still holding on to Sauske's foot. He had cut the flame in two.

Naruto smiled and pulled Sauske up by his foot. "Wow, I'm impressed." He stated, "I've never seen a rookie Gennin that can use jutsu that powerful." A confused look appeared on his face, "But was that a yes or a no?" Sauske pulled a kunai out of his pack and stabbed it at Naruto.

Sakura turned to look at her sensei in worry, "Kakashi-sensei, why aren't you stopping this? Sauske could get hurt!"

Kakashi looked down at her and smiled serenely, "And to what affect?" he asked, "If the boy wanted to hurt Sauske he would have already, and I think that this will be good for him."

Sakura looked incredulous, "Good for him? How?"

Kakashi looked up to the mock battle to see Sauske on the ground once again, this time with a light bruise on his left arm, "Sauske is too proud." he answered, "he thinks that because he is an Uchiha he must be the strongest person of his own age, and getting rookie of the year wasn't exactly a help. For him to be beaten so easily by a boy his own age, hopefully will humble him a bit and that will make him work harder in the future."

"But, Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi held up a hand to silence the girl, "Don't worry Sakura," he said, "if it does get dangerous then I'll step in. For now I just want to see what I can find out about this boy. Oh look! Kiba has already joined the fight."

Naruto smirked as the Inuzuka boy swung his fist at him. Effortlessly Naruto grabbed his fist and twisted it out of the way. The Inuzuka continued his attack by attempting to knee Naruto in the gut but once again his attack was blocked with little effort. Kiba simply smirked and tilted his head downward.

"What are you do-AH!" Naruto quickly had to duck his head as Kiba's small dog came soaring over his masters head, it's mouth open and ready to maul Naruto's face off. Naruto slammed his head forward right as the dog passed over him, sending it sprawling to the ground. Kiba's eyes opened wide in shock and then with a quick movement of his foot Naruto tripped the Inuzuka and sent him to the ground next to his dog.

Naruto grinned "That was a pretty good move!" he stated and jumped backwards, distancing himself from his opponent.

Naruto had been telling the truth, the move had been both sneaky and brilliant for a young rookie Gennin. Once again he felt himself very impressed with the Inuzuka boy. He hoped that in the end he wouldn't have to be killed.

He turned to view the remainder of his opponents. Two of the Gennin, the Aburame and the beautiful pink-haired girl, were standing in a defensive position, though both seemed ready to attack if they spotted an opening. Another, brown-haired boy wore a manic grin, as though he were simply enjoying the sight of his allies being beaten so badly, which made Naruto's stomach turn in disgust. And the Hyuuga girl was still hiding behind the leg of the lady whom Naruto could only assume was her Jounin sensei. The Jounin themselves seemed completely unfazed by what was happening, not that he had expected anything different. He had purposely released a large amount of chakra before the fight had started in hopes that some of the smarter Gennin would sense it and stay back while the more rash ones attacked. He could probably beat them all at once but he might actually have to push himself enough so that he would be forced hurt them which was something that he didn't want to do just yet. The Jounin of course simply called the bluff and were now observing him, waiting to see what he would do.

There was only one thing bothering him...he couldn't see where Tazuna had gone. Had he run away? No...Naruto could still sense his presence. He must be hidden under a Genjutsu of some sort. His eye's moved over the two Jounin expectantly but he couldn't tell if they were doing anything or not. One of them must be a great master of Genjutsu to be able to use one that could completely conseal the old man and not show any signs of creating it. His job was to find information on his enemies and it was good that he had deduced that one of the Jounin mas a Genjutsu master, but Zabuza-sama would want to know which one it is.

Another thing that bothered him was that he was almost certain that he recognized one of the Jounin from somewhere. It was the silver-haired one with the mask that covered his face, that almost seemed bored with the whole situation. Naruto wasn't exactly known for his ability to remember faces from the bingo books or wanted posters so if he recognized this man then he must be someone of monumental importance.

He didn't have much time to worry about it though, as he heard the familiar whistling sound of a kunai cutting through the air and instinctively twisted his head out of the way.

Annoyed now, Naruto turned and grabbed Kiba by the neck just as the dog boy was about to tackle him. "I already told you idiots that I don't want to fight you...so why don't you just back off so that I can deliver my message?" Kiba simply choked and tried, pointlessly to try and pry Naruto's hand off of his neck.

The sound of a second kunai caught Naruto's ears and he twisted his remaining arm around to catch the blade in mid-air, only to be met with a strong pain in his stomach. Kiba had slammed his knee into Naruto's gut. Naruto's muscles clenched instinctively and his grip on the Inuzuka's neck loosened, allowing him to pull free. Kiba grinned victoriously and swung his remaining fist directly at Naruto's face.

Naruto twisted his head out of the way and grappled his arms around Kiba's shoulders. "Will you stop for two seconds?!" He yelled into the Inuzuka's face, "I told you twice now that I'm not here to fight, I only want to talk!" Amazingly Kiba's face took on a look of contemplation and the force of his struggling lessened considerably. He was beginning to listen to what Naruto was saying.

Naruto's relief was short lived however as another sound reached his ears.

"KATON!"

Naruto's eye's opened wide in shock.

"GOUKAKYUU!"

He wouldn't...he couldn't use such a destructive jutsu with his teammate in the line of fire.

"NO JUTSU!"

Without thinking Naruto shifted his arms around Kiba's shoulders, twisted to the side and tossed him out of the way, then unsheathing his sword he turned to deflect the flames that he could feel coming up on him.

Kakashi stared on with a shocked face as he watched his student attack his own teammate. He could understand that Sauske was angry and annoyed but he really thought that his student had learned the value of teamwork from his bell test. This was a serious disappointment. He decided that he would wait a little bit longer to see what would happen during this one-sided battle and then...he would continue the mission. Sauske needed to learn teamwork and the only way that that would happen is if he were to be put into a situation where he would be unable to succeed unless he worked with his team.

Kakashi squinted his eye in an attempt to see what had happened now that the flames had started to dissipate.

Sauske smirked as he watched his flames disappear. Naruto stood, his head held downward and his blond hair covering his eyes. The sleeve of his right arm had been burned off and the arm itself was badly damaged. As Sauske had figured the act of saving Kiba had slowed him down long enough so that he hadn't been able to deflect the entire blast.

"Well, well," Whispered the Uchiha with more then a hint of superiority in his voice, "Looks like the wisecracking idiot isn't as tough as he thinks he is. You should have known that there was no way you could have stood up to an Uchiha for long."

As though someone had flipped a switch the air suddenly changed. Sauske staggered backwards, a look of terror on his face, and it was easy to tell why. Once crisp and clean the air was now thick and heavy and a powerful feeling of malice permeated everything. A strange red energy misted almost invisibly off of Naruto's figure.

After a moment Naruto spoke, in a voice that was far darker and more feral then it had been a moment ago, "You...you would risk the well-being of your own ally...just to get to me?" The red, mist-like energy intensified and Naruto turned his head up, revealing that his once blue eyes had turned piercing red, "YOU DISGUST ME!!"

Sakura's hand went up to her throat. She felt as though she couldn't breath, sweat oozed from her pale forehead, and she couldn't stood herself from shaking uncontrollably. whatever reservations she had felt about the danger of this boy were now dashed. In desperation she shoved her hands into her eye's hoping against hope that she could shut out the horrible feeling that pierced into her very soul.

Sakura felt a hand place itself on her shoulder and she looked up in the hope of seeing her sensei's comforting face, only to see her other teammate Satsu staring at the scene before him with an insane grin on his face.

"Looks like this is the end of your precious Uchiha twerp." He joked cruelly, "But don't worry, if I can find a box small enough I'll help you gather up what's left of him."

Sakura's eye's narrowed in hate, "Sauske won't lose..." she whispered so quietly he could barely hear.

Satsu raised an eyebrow, "Eh? You blind? Or just stupid? Look at the jerk, he can't even stand up right he so scared."

Sakura, against her better judgement, turned back to look at the fight again and indeed Sauske had fallen onto his back and was pathetically struggling to get back onto his feet, but only succeeding in flopping around on the ground like a fish. The Kunoichi turned her head away again in fear.

"You're...you're disgusting," She choked out, "I hate you!"

Satsu simply shrugged, "You hate me? Then you must really hate that Uchiha-teme. I mean all I did was simply point out what was going to happen, he actually attacked that Inuzuka idiot. But I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised about your stinkin double-standard by now eh?"

Sakura turned her head down and tried to block out all of the painful things that seemed to have all jumped on her so suddenly, but she couldn't help but recognize the truth in her cruel teammate's words. Sauske had indeed risked Kiba's life for seemingly nothing. And then this Naruto boy, their enemy, had saved him, getting badly burned in the process.

But no...she mustn't think like that. Sauske was her hero and this...demon could never be a good guy...certainly not a better guy then Sauske-kun right? Sauske didn't really do anything that dangerous did he? Kiba might have been hurt but most of the fire would have been blocked by their enemies body. Sauske did what was necessary to try and defeat an enemy that he couldn't defeat otherwise...right. And surely this boy must have had some ulterior motive for saving Kiba...his intentions couldn't be pure...right? But then he seems so angry at Sauske for risking Kiba...but no...he's just angry because Sauske got him. That has to be the answer, Sauske-kun was just doing his job and Naruto has some other, sinister reason for saving Kiba.

Slowly Sakura looked up. Already the dark aura that cut through the air seemed less frightening.

Kakashi was horrified. He, unlike any of the Gennin, recognized the energy perfectly, having been there the first time it had shown it's face in the village hidden in the leaves. But in all his life he never expected to feel the power of the Kyuubi again. As far as he knew the boy who had been chosen as the vessel of the nine-tailed had died years ago when he had fled the village...he still remembered the Hokage's rage as he executed the ringleaders of the group that had let the village in revolt against the Kyuubi boy.

But at the same time he certainly remembered the boy himself, blonde like this boy and probably the same age by this time. He had only seen him a few times but from what he did see the boy had been a kind and strong child. Never hating anyone for what they had done to him. How had he become a killer like he now was? Who had turned him into such a fearsome devil? His mind flicked bask to what the boy had stated earlier, that his name was "Momochi Naruto" and his face paled. He knew that Naruto had been the name of the Kyuubi boy, but it had not been Momochi Naruto, but Uzumaki Naruto. There was only one person that he knew with that name, and it couldn't be a coincidence. Naruto had been taken in by the demon of the hidden mist...Momochi Zabuza. Though he hated the idea of harming his sensei's legacy, Kakashi began making handsigns.

But however bad Sakura and Kakashi and the rest of them felt the killing intent of the nine-tailed fox, none of them were in as bad of a shape as the boy whom it was directed at. Sauske's brain was going haywire. In all his life he had only felt worse once and that was an experience that he did not often talk about. He could feel his body being torn apart by the sheer killing intent that pooled off of his foe. His blood was boiling and his skin was melting, it had to be, that was the only explanation for the horrible feeling that was encompassing him. After a moment he became aware that Naruto was speaking.

"You think yourself so great...and why? Because your daddy was great? Because your mommy was great? You are stupid. Strength does not come from blood or even fancy bloodlines, it comes from guts and willpower and experience and time and all of the other things that you don't have." Naruto paused for a moment and reached his hand up to the wrappings on his face and tore them off viciously, revealing fangs that had extended and sharpened to a deadly point.

"I have fought a lot of idiots like you," He continued, "Guys who thought that because they had a renowned name that made them invincible. I fought them and now every single one of them are dead. Some were strong, some not, but they all overestimated themselves. There is not a Gennin on earth, no matter what family they come from, that can defeat me. Come back when you have a bit more experience on your belt."

Sauske was barely listening, and yet somehow he understood every word, he was too frightened not to. He watched as Naruto took a single step forward, and then another. With each increasing step the affect on his body became worse, he was sweating and shaking and couldn't stand up no matter how hard he tried to get his limbs to respond. He felt his body hemorrhaging and his vision was becoming blurry from lack of blood to his brain. Then, all of a sudden an intense pain appeared in the center of his chest, so intense that it blocked all else out. Dimly he looked down.

Piercing through the center of his chest, was Naruto's katana.

TUI: Glad you like it. Yeah I've decided on who is going to die now. And I hope that I do not dissapoint you.

RobotPirateNinja: Naruto is about as strong as Chunnin exam Neji at this point.

Starfire201: Good point but I have two different directions that this story could take and I wanted to know wich ones people would like better. It doesn't matter as I have now made up my mind to do the way that I want it to be anyways. As for Zabuza not thinking, he suspects that Gato is lying but he is trying very hard not to let it bother him. Deep down Naruto has turned him into a better person but he doesn't want to admit that (especially to himself) so he made a point of not questioning Gato. He knows that if he does figure out that Tazuna is a better person then Gato says then he wont be able to bring himself to do his job and so he simply doesn't allow himself to find out.