First off, I would like to say that I am very, very sorry for the delay. My Computer got a virus (a very, very nasty one) and I have only now been able to retrieve my stories from it and place it on another computor. Another chapter should be up by the end of the week.

Disclaimer: If you have not yet realized that I don't own Naruto, I pity you.

Chapter 8: Wrath of a Fox,

Naruto paced back and forth, his face contorted in rage. Every few seconds he would kick at something, usually destroying whatever it was in the process. Haku sat on the ground in the corner of his room, a cup of tea in his hand and a patient look on his face as he waited out Naruto's tantrum.

"I should have been there!" the blonde-haired boy yelled in fury, "I should have been there taking care of the damn Gennin! Why the hell didn't you wake me up!? I could have stopped this!"

Haku sighed and placed his tea cup on a nearby table (the only one that hadn't been smashed by Naruto's rage). "Naruto, Zabuza-sensei decided not to wake you up because he thought that you needed your talk with the fox."

Naruto grabbed a chair and threw it at the wall, shattering it, "It doesn't matter!" he yelled, "I don't care what it means to me, Zabuza-sensei's business comes first, and yours." He seemed to calm down slightly. Though he was still fuming.

Haku raised to his feet and walked over to his foster brother. "Naruto, you shouldn't feel bad about this, it was no fault of yours that this happened." he smiled and placed his hand on Naruto's. The blond boy shrugged it off. Haku sighed, "You know it isn't as though we have failed yet. Zabuza-sama will recover and we will try again. You will have your chance to aid then."

Naruto dipped his head in defeat, "Yeah...whatever." he answered before turning to the door.

A moment before he walked out Haku spoke again in a cautious voice, "Where are you going?"

Naruto turned his head to look at Haku's face. He recognized the doubt and worry in his face. Haku knew him far too well. "Why do you want to know?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Just...promise me you won't do anything rash...okay otouto." Haku spoke slowly and deliberately.

Naruto grinned, "Don't worry Haku, I just want to make a few new friends." He walked out the door and closed it behind him.

Kakashi, Kurenai and their teams sat with Tazuna and his family, his daughter and grandson, a kind and simple lady named Tsunami and a quiet boy named Inari. Kiba wasn't sure what he thought of the boy, who hadn't said a word since they had arrived but whom seemed to be glaring at them from under his hat.

The adults were talking about something political or economic or something along those lines, things that Kiba didn't really have any care for. As best he understood it, this Gato creep had majorly screwed over the land of waves and they were supposed to take him out. That was all he needed to know.

The dog ninja turned back to Inari and, noticing that the boy was still glaring at him, began to glare back. Well turn about was fair game after all. Inari simply glared harder, which of course led to Kiba glaring harder, and back and forth until something had to happen.

Kiba was the one who bursted first, "All right ya little pipsqueak!" he yelled out. Every head in the room turned to stare at Kiba's sudden outbreak. The dog ninja ignored them. "Who the heck do you think your glaring at!? I'da thought that you'd be grateful considering we just saved your grandaddies ass!"

Inari stood up, tears running down his face. Kiba was slightly taken aback. He was annoyed but he didn't mean to make the kid cry. Inari opened his mouth as if to speak and then closed it again. His eyes shifted to each of the ninja in turn and then to his grandfather and mother, and finally back to Kiba. He opened and closed his mouth a few more times, thinking of the right words to express what he wanted to say, before he finally spoke.

"You...you don't get it do you!? All you so-called ninja! None of you understand!" He turned and ran to the doorway that lead to his room. A moment before he reached it he stopped, "You are all going to die...there is no way you can win against Gato...if you don't want to die then you should just leave." And he left.

Kiba snorted, "Who does that brat think he is. There's no way some cat-man is going to stop me! I'll take anything this Gato throws at me!"

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, "I'm glad you feel that way Kiba, because odds are very good that Momochi Zabuza is still very much alive."

Kiba fell off his chair and onto his face.

Kakashi and Kurenai walked side by side through the woods, their six Gennin students following a few feet behind.

"A hunter-ninja," Kurenai explained, "is not supposed to wait for anything. Once their target has been terminated they are meant to destroy the body immediately. This ninja did not do that."

"But Kurenai-sensei," Sakura asked, "didn't the hunter-ninja explain that his methods were secrets of his village?"

Kakashi answered, "That is extremely unlikely. The hunter-nin only needed to destroy the body, and a simple fire would have sufficed for that. It is possible that he needed to retrieve something from Zabuza's body before destroying it, but if so why did he state such an obvious lie?"

Kurenai spoke again, "We must also consider the weapon used to kill Zabuza, simple senbon needles. Useful weapons for a variety of purposes but unless a major vital organ was struck, such as the heart, they would not be fatal, and even then the death would not have been instantaneous as it seemed to be."

Shino nodded, "However it would have been easy for someone who is both a master acupuncturist and a skilled ninja to use those needles to stimulate a death-like state."

Kiba gave him an odd look, "Since when are you so knowledgeable?" he asked.

Shino shrugged, "Acupuncture is one of the methods that my clan uses to prepare our bodies for our insects."

Kakashi nodded, "Shino is correct. Considering both of these facts, both Kurenai and I both agree that the hunter-nin's true purpose was not to kill Momochi Zabuza, but to save him."

Kurenai nodded in agreement, "It is even possible that the hunter-nin was the same blonde-haired boy from before in disguise."

Sasuke spoke up, "So then what are we supposed to do?" he asked, "You and Kurenai should be able to stop him again. This shouldn't be a problem."

Kakashi shook his head, "Even if we were to be able to defeat Zabuza a second time, we don't know the strength of Naruto, and we also don't know who else he might have aiding him."

Kiba grinned, "Sounds great! I've been achin' for a good brawl!"

Kurenai smiled, "Which is why we are going to be training out here, until Zabuza returns."

Satsu, who had simply been staring out at the birds, finally drew his attention to the matter at hand, "What sort of training you got in mind?"

Kakashi smiled, "Considering what you did back at the lake I don't think that you need this. What we are going to be doing is climbing a tree."

Sakura stood in front of her tree with a slight glare on her face. Her mind had wandered back to her unsavory teammate Satsu. While Kakashi-sensei had been explaining the tree-climbing exercise the jerk had calmly walked up to the tip of the tallest tree...walking backwards. She remembered how he had threatened her after he had tricked Zabuza, and she remembered how he had seemed so excited at the thought of Sasuke being killed by Naruto and her anger grew.

"HAY PINKY!" she heard him call out from above, "HOPE THIS ISN'T TOO DIFFICULT FOR YA! I'D HATE TO THINK THAT MY TEAMMATE IS SO PATHETIC SHE CAN'T EVEN CLIMB A SIMPLE TREE!"

Sakura gritted her teeth, took a step back, and charged at the tree. She grinned as she felt herself rising up off the ground...three feet...five feet...ten feet...and fell. Sakura frowned as she heard Satsu's cackling laughter. She could hear him yell out "pathetic!" and, "Useless.". Furious, she dashed up the tree again, and this time made it up an even shorter distance before falling.

She couldn't think straight. All she could see when she closed her eyes was Satsu's cruel and disgusting face. All she could hear was Satsu's laughter and callous words. She couldn't concentrate, she couldn't focus. She felt weak, useless, it was a horrible feeling.

Angrily she dashed up the tree again, this time barely making it five feet off the ground before losing her grip. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact...but it never had caught her wrist, preventing her fall.

Sakura slowly opened her eyes, half expecting to see Kakashi-sensei, or even Sasuke. She was sure that this exercise would be easy for him. What she never expected to see was the blond-haired boy from before, Naruto, to be standing above her, a kind smile on his face.

She blinked in surprise and slowly looked around the rest of the clearing. No one else was watching. Satsu had switched his attention to Hinata, who was nearly in tears both due to her inability to stick her feet to the tree and Satsu's cruel words. Kurenai and Kakashi were attempting to comfort her and at the same time find a way to motivate her. Sasuke was totally wrapped up in his own exercise. Shino and Kiba were competing to see who could reach the top of the tree first.

She flicked her eyes back to Naruto. She wanted to call out, to alert Kakashi-sensei or Kurenai-sensei. She tried to yell, but her voice caught in her throat. As though he could read her mind he lifted his free hand to his mouth and pressed his finger to his lips, miming shushing her, and winked.

Winked? Why would he do that? He was the enemy right? What was it that he wanted, she wanted to ask him. She wanted to understand him, but she just didn't seem to be able to.

Naruto flicked his eyes around the field and then back to Sakura. He grinned. She titled her head to the side. Why was he acting so...nice!? This didn't make any sense.

Finally she found her voice, "What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, as though she was doing something taboo. She supposed she was in a way.

He spoke in the same whispering voice, "You have a lot of talent. You just need to stop letting him get to you. Your anger is inhibiting you. You need to be able to concentrate on what you are doing. You can make it up this tree, you know you can."

She blinked, her eyes full of doubt. He gave her a patient smile, "Would you trust me with something as simple as not letting you fall?" he asked.

She was floored. He was asking her if she could trust him!? She should be alerting Kakashi! He should be trying to kill her not help her! This was wrong. This picture just didn't add up. Why hadn't she called out yet? What was stopping her? What was wrong with her!? AND WHY IN HELL WAS HER FACE SO HOT!?

She realized to her absolute horror that she had already nodded. He smiled and began walking backwards. She walked with him up the tree. Her feet connected to the wood, not slipping, not stumbling. She was doing it. Somehow, he had given her the confidence to do it.

They reached one of the top branches and he gently lifted her onto it. Her chest was heaving. This was unnatural, she shouldn't, couldn't, be doing this. Why wasn't she calling out? What was wrong with her?

He spoke again. "You see? You can do it, just like I said." Her eyes flicked to his, questions gleaming in their jade depths. He smiled as he picked up on what she was wondering, "I didn't help you at all. I was only there, just in case. You walked up the tree all on your own."

His eyes shot to where Satsu was sitting, smug as a peacock, on a tree branch of similar height to the one they were on. "Now I hope you won't be too upset if I excuse myself for a moment, I did come here for a reason."

Her eyes opened wide in shock as she saw his hand settle on the handle of his katana. Before she could say anything he kicked off from the branch, flying at an insane speed toward her teammate. She opened her mouth to call out a warning, but even if she had enough time to say anything she wasn't sure she would have been able to.

It quickly became pandemonium. Naruto had been stopped before he ever reached Satsu, Kakashi had caught him in midair, the Jounin's fist slammed into the boys gut. Immediately Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke and a second Naruto flew toward Satsu from a different direction.

This time the blade found it's mark, the branch that Satsu rested on. He sliced clean through it, sending the Gennin bully sprawling to the ground. The second Naruto was quickly taken out by a kunai that flew from the hand of a shocked looking Kakashi. This one also disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Kakashi twisted his head around, searching for where the real boy was. "Show yourself!" he called out, his normally lackadaisical voice suddenly alert.

At the Jounin's words, a third Naruto appeared from the shadows. "Don't give yourself a heart attack Kakashi-san." he said, "I'm not actually here. Just a few of my clones. You don't think I'd be dumb enough to actually walk into an enemy camp myself do you?"

Kakashi pulled out a pair of kunai. Naruto shook his head, "I don't have any intention of fighting you. I just figured that if you wouldn't talk to me like I asked last time then I would just watch you for a while."

Kakashi glared at him, "You think that we would let you do that?"

Naruto grinned and shrugged, "Try and stop me if you want. Though that would seem to be a pretty big disruption when you could be spending time helping your students. I can just keep sending clones for as long as I want."

Kakashi continued to glare at the blond boy, but before he could reply, a brown streak dashed up to Naruto. Before anyone could react, Naruto backhanded the attacking Satsu into a nearby tree.

The tension in the air could be cut with a knife. Sakura was holding her breath, as were Shino and Kiba. Kakashi and Kurenai looked ready to pounce at a moments notice. Sasuke was glaring at Naruto with a hatred so intense that his eyes nearly burned red. Naruto slowly turned his head to look at the downed Satsu.

"I did want to talk to you." he said. "I hear that you were able to get one over on my sensei yesterday. I just wanted to make sure that you didn't actually think that you were in any way better then him." He smiled pleasantly, as though he were speaking to a close friend, "After all, even a mouse can get lucky against a tiger once in a while."

Satsu smiled a cheesy smile at him and nodded, "Of course Naruto-san, but I couldn't just let my own beloved sensei die could I? I knew it was a long shot but I had to try." A trickle of sweat ran down Satsu's forehead.

Naruto rolled his eyes. He had never heard such a lousy pile of crap in his life. The Gennin was obviously terrified and desperate to save his own ass. But he could play along too.

"Okay good, I just wanted to make sure that you understood that. And just to make sure you don't forget..." Naruto nudged his foot under Satsu's prone figure and with a lighting fast movement he flipped him into the air, before slamming his knee into the boy's gut.

Satsu didn't even have the eyes too see exactly what Naruto had done. All he registered was a sudden searing pain in his gut before his body slammed into a tree, transforming said tree into splinters. He twisted his head up, his vision shrouded with pain induced tears. His head was ringing but that didn't stop his from hearing Naruto's voice quite clearly as he spoke with the tiniest lacing of fury, "Just so you know, Zabuza-sama is ten times stronger then I am, and I am ten times stronger then you." His voice was suddenly jovial again, "So don't be getting a big head alright!"

Sakura was hyperventilating. She didn't understand this boy at all. His very presence seemed to make her emotions shift faster then a ninja using a henge. First she was terrified, then a moment later she was grateful and fascinated. When he attacked Satsu she had felt a strange mixture of worry and excitement. Not worry for Satsu, that jerk could go to hell as far as she was concerned, she shocked herself when she found that she was worried that Kakashi-sensei would kill Naruto. When the first clone had been hit she had blanched. She had let out a sigh of relief when he had proven to be alright.

Sasuke's thought were much more organized. He felt a blind fury at this presumptuous boy who thought himself so much better then them. In the back of his head he knew that the real reason he was angry was because Naruto had humiliated him and had spoken of something that he had tried so hard to suppress, but in his rage he couldn't bring himself to think logically. He needed to beat this boy, and prove to himself and everyone else that he, as an Uchiha, has superior to this punk.

The punk in question turned his head to smile at Sasuke, though behind his smile he had another, undecipherable look, "I also wanted to apologize to you Uchiha-san. Sometimes I have a bit of a problem with my temper but that is no excuse to nearly kill you like I did. I will save that for I am on the job and have no other choice."

Sasuke's eye began twitching. This guy was PATRONIZING him! He had never been quite so furious in his entire life. He attacked.

Sasuke propelled himself off of the branch of the tree he had been standing in, much in the same way Naruto had done when he had attacked Satsu, and drew a pair of kunai.

Kakashi and Kurenai realized what was about to happen a moment before it did, but were too far away to do anything about it. Naruto's sword was drawn before Sasuke had crossed half the distance between them. With unreal speed his blade flicked out twice, the first time knocking both kunai out of the Uchiha's hands, the second time knocking him out of the air and onto his back at Naruto's feet.

Naruto pressed the tip of his sword into Sasuke's neck with just enough pressure to draw a tiny drop of blood. The Jounin froze, relieved that Naruto had only hit Sasuke with the flat of his blade but also worried with the knowledge that if he suddenly decided to kill the Uchiha boy there would be nothing that they could do about it.

Naruto was smiling devilishly at him, "Oh come on Uchiha-teme, you're supposed to be better then this. I would have expected so much more." Sasuke glared at him but he continued, "You are going to have to become a whole world stronger if you are going to try and beat me, and I hope that you work really hard at it." His face raised and twisted around. He was now addressing all of the Kanoha ninja, "Because as soon as Zabuza makes a full recovery...we are coming back. All of us."

The clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.

It had been three days since Naruto's threat/warning in the training area. Kiba had had a few more fights with Inari but otherwise little had happened with the people of the land of waves. They had learned a few more things about what was happening in the economy and why they were so desperate to stop Gato.

Each of the Gennin were training as hard as they possibly could, always in groups where at least one of the Jounin were with them. Sasuke had convinced Kakashi to spend nearly every minute of the day training him one on one. Naruto's words had affected him deeply and he had thrown himself into his training like never before. He could feel himself improving at a much faster pace then ever before. Even his teammates had seen the tangible difference between his strength at the end of every day.

Hinata had become more and more depressed every moment, believing that she was useless and a liability to the team, a feeling that Satsu did nothing to help assuage. Kurenai and Kiba both attempted to help her out but neither made much headway. Shino kept to himself and trained with his insects.

Sakura was getting restless. She had tried tagging along with Kakashi and Sasuke but they had been so wrapped up in their own personal training that she had felt like a nuisance and decided not to go with them again. Kurenai had offered her to come train with her team but Sakura had quickly realized that she was again just being a hindrance. She wouldn't train with Satsu if she had no other choice.

And so she had taken to sneaking off on her own to practice in the woods.

Sakura stood alone in the center of a large clearing. She held four shuriken in each hand, one in between each finger, and her face held a look of determination. She pulled her arms into an X shape over her chest and flung the shuriken at a nearby tree.

She frowned at herself when she saw that none of the weapons had reached their marks. She had tried to slice through the leaves on the tree's branches, but each of the leaves that she had marked in her vision was still quite whole. This had been her eighth attempt.

"Those flew very well." spoke a feminine voice from behind her.

Sakura swivelled around to see a girl in a long pink kimono and smooth black hair. She was shockingly pretty, and Sakura found herself slightly jealous.

"I'm sorry," she continued, "I didn't mean to interrupt. I had just come out here to gather a few medicinal herbs, I didn't expect to find anyone else."

Sakura nodded, "That's alright, I wasn't making much progress anyways."

The girl twisted her head in confusion, "I have been watching you for a little while, and I have to ask, what is causing you to try so hard?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow in confusion, "What do you mean?"

The girl in the pink kimono smiled as she answered, "Well you have been training at least the last hour or so that I have been here, probably longer. You were sweating. You were cursing. You never took even a moments break. I have rarely seen anyone work so hard at improving themselves."

Sakura didn't answer. She simply continued to look confused.

"I know that you are a ninja, that much is obvious, and of the few ninja's I have seen in my lifetime I have seen some more talented but rarely one who has worked so hard at improving their talents."

Sakura frowned as she turned back to the tree, "It is a long story."

The girl sat on the ground, "I have plenty of time, and it is always nice to meet an interesting stranger."

Sakura thought for a moment, took a deep breath and sat down in front of the girl, "My name is Haruno Sakura." she spoke.

The girl smiled and nodded, "You may call me Haku." She produced a tea kettle from a bag that was slung over her back and placed it between the two. She poured a small canteen of water into the kettle and started a fire underneath.

"So then Haruno Sakura, what is your story?"

Sakura shrugged, "I am a ninja just like you said, and I am currently on a mission. My first really dangerous mission actually."

Haku nodded, "That sounds interesting. And I can understand why fear would motivate you to try and become stronger."

Sakura shook her head, "That isn't it. That isn't why I am doing this." Haku gave her a look that seemed to ask her to continue, "Well you see, one of the members of my team is someone who I am...very fond of."

"And you wish to impress him," Haku interrupted, "by becoming stronger and showing off your strength." It wasn't a question.

Sakura nodded, "He was the rookie of the year of our village and everyone in the village loves him. He is the coolest and strongest guy in the..." She let her voice fade into nothingness. She was about to say that Sasuke was the strongest guy in the world but unfortunately that illusion had been shattered only a few days ago.

Haku nodded. She seemed to understand what Sakura had been trying to say. However she looked slightly confused, "And you don't feel that he will care about you unless you are strong?"

Sakura blinked in confusion herself, "Well, I have tried everything else I can to get his attention." She spoke as if what she was saying was the most obvious thing in the world, "I grew my hair out because they say that is what he likes, I have tried to show him my intelligence, I had the second highest score on the written test in my ninja exam, but he still completely ignores me. I know that he cares about strength, so that is what I am going for."

Haku's look was now reprimanding, "Well that doesn't sound like the type of person who you should be pining after."

Sakura was now angry, "Don't you dare talk about Sasuke like that! He is the greatest guy in the worl-"

Haku interrupted by raising her hand to cut Sakura off, "And yet," he continued, "He ignores you completely even though you are a very beautiful girl. Even though you are nice enough sit down with a total stranger and regale him with such an interesting tale. If he won't love you for yourself, if you have to turn yourself into something else for him, then is he worth your time and effort?"

Sakura only glared at her.

Haku shrugged, "Fine. It is your life not mine. I would re-consider though." she thought for a moment and twisted her head to the trees, "If you truly desire strength, then it will come to you."

She poured Sakura a small cup of tea and began sipping her own. Sakura looked down at the plain, clay cup in her hands and the pale green liquid inside and took a sip. The drink was surprisingly good, though she didn't recognize whatever it was that flavored it.

Haku smiled, "You can become more skilled through training and pushing yourself to the extremes, but true strength has nothing to do with that."

Sakura frowned, "I don't understand." she replied truthfully, "What would you know about it?"

Haku smiled, "I have had a decent few experiences with ninja myself, and the one thing that I have learned without a doubt is that true strength comes not from training or anger. True strength comes from your heart."

Sakura smiled and she dropped her head. This all sounded very nice but it didn't seem very practical.

Haku recognized her doubts, "When you are fighting for yourself then you are fighting within your own limitations. It is only when you are fighting for something that you truly love can you overcome unbeatable odds. When you are fighting for the things most precious to you, that is when you will find true srength."

Sakura blinked in surprise. She didn't really expect something quite so profound.

"That is when you will know who it is that you truly love."

Haku stood up and smiled at her, "You will see." she bowed slightly and began walking away, "Thank you for sharing so much with this young man. It is always nice to meet such an interesting stranger." And he walked away, back into the woods.

Sakura sat for what felt like hours contemplating what Haku had said before something that she had said clicked into her head.

"YOUNG MAN?!"

Zettai Eniguma: Thank you for your insightful review. Just trust me. Nartuo will be a Gennin of a different villiage. Not Kanoha, a different one. Won't tell which yet. Thanks for your praise about my interpretation of Naruto's character. I think that he is quite a bit more insightful in my version, but I did not want to go with a dark Naruto. I think that he is a great character as is and I did not want to mess with that too much.

Starfire201: I am sure that they would get along famously :)

Fury Cutter: Yes I know...I will try to catch that in the future. As for Satsu, he has a couple tricks up his sleeve but him tricking Zabuza had more to do with luck and Zabuza underestimating him then with skill.

ares88: Yes I did have to add a sadistic bastard :P The great thing about sadistic bastards is that when they die, no one cries, so if he ever becomes nessisary to kill, I can do so without anyone getting that upset about it.

Everyone else: Thanks for reviewing, I hope you all know that it means a lot to me.