DISCLAIMER: Me not own nothingies, me can promize!

AN: Welcome my dear reader! Hope you enjoy another chapter, in which I hope I wasn't too bad. I mean, I know my grammar isn't the best, but I'm only your not-so-average 17 years old who's not even english, so blame, uh, HIM! Yes him.

PS: If you find any grammar mistake, you can tell me, even in PM if you want :)

Now, just to make something clear, I believe that I fell in the godlike trap, because no matter what I do, my Naruto become only stronger. Now I understand why Kishimoto made him stupid, there was no other way to nerf him! Make him a little smarter and Naruto become god-like in two arcs.

But I won't allow that, no sir! His strength will reach that of Madara, maybe just as soon as after the time of the end of the training trip, but till then he will have enemies that will be really cunning and powerful. After that there's Akatsuki, so I don't have to worry about good fights! Anyone from that Red Dawn group can give an hard time to any S-class Ninja!

And just to be clear, Naruto here is still a little bookworm who hasn't really experienced the ninja world, so it's normal to be scared for him.

Thor94: Seeing as I can't use privates message with you, I'll answer you here. In Canon there's no sign of mobs being formed to go against Naruto or villagers who overpriced him for his goods, that was all Fanon. The only thigs we know of that "abuse" is neglect from villagers who didn't even know him, and that there were some people in the village, like Mizuki, who hated him because they thought he was the Kyuubi. If you read my first chapter I cleverly said that as he was born in canon there was an aura of red chakra full of killing intent that helped in the spreading of the idea that he was the demon, but in this story I instead said that he was only another adorable baby in the care of the hospital. For your other doubt, I'll say that I always thought that Naruto had an overabundance of yang chakra, which contributed to his hyperactive behaviour, because yang is the physical side of chakra and it implies a strong sense of action, while yin is calmer, and seeing as it was implied in canon that if you were intelligent you had more yin while a stronger body had more yang, that mean that with more spiritual chakra Naruto should be more intelligent, even if you don't take in account that Kurama is enhancing his brain. Hope I was clear enough :)

Anyway, on with the story!


-Demonic Changes-

Naruto was still a little peeved off.

Sure, call him childish, but he just had his first near death encounter, and he was still feeling the shivers every once in a while, not that he showed it to anyone.

"Ahahah, you're a little scaredy cat, aren't you? Well aren't you?" He couldn't hide it from Kurama though, and the fox hadn't had this much fun since he playfully took his first world wide run.

The playful teasing grew old in the last hour or so. Naruto was beginning to get tired of it.

And it was all that idiot fault!

If Sasuke had just done what he had said, none of this would have happened, and he wouldn't be shivering every other minutes. Hell, even Kakashi sometimes threw careful glance at him by now!

Still, he was better than this. So what if he was near killed? He got out of it just fine, so he shouldn't worry anymore.

He took a deep breath and finally was able to still his nerves, returning to a more manageable condition.

By now they had finally crossed the great forest that surrounded Konoha, reaching a short hill, from which a small porting town could be seen.

At the leisure pace they were walking, a distance that an average ninja could cover in five minutes took more than half an hour.

In the time they took to get there, while there was still light, they could already see the moon opposite to the sun in the darkening sky.

Tazuna explained that an acquaintance of his would be able to take them across the large mass of water that separated them from the Land of Wave. But then Kakashi made a strange request.

"Let's first have dinner in this lovely town, eh Tazuna-san?" He asked/ordered.

"Sure, but why?" Tazuna was confused, but was quick to agree to Kakashi's request.

"We Ninja need to have food to be able to function at 100%, civilian-san." Kakashi said with an eye-smile, to which Tazuna just nodded confused, a sweatdrop forming on his head.

But he could see that the three kids in his convoy were just as confused as him, so he just let it be.

They reached a seemingly empty restaurant, even if it would be better to refer to it as a pub, which they entered, and they quickly took seats, a lovely waitress ready to take their orders as soon as they entered.

It seemed as if they didn't make that much business in this almost desolated town.

They quickly took their orders, and Kakashi, while mysteriously eating through his mask -a seal, Naruto mused- , somehow managed to look serious.

"Team, I'll say it right now. As we are right now, we're in over our heads" He halted the predicted protested with a single raised hand "It's not because we're not strong enough, not because the enemy out there is too strong, even if there's probably a jounin level opponent next"He mused "It's simply because you are not prepared to go through such dangerous situation while not only rookies, but also in contrast." Here he glared at Naruto and Sasuke "You seem to have the strange idea that one of you can order the other, but I can assure you, that I am the only authority you have to listen to, and my order are as follows. Naruto, Sasuke, be on the lookout for threats, and Sakura, you're support, so if you see one of them in difficulty, go help them. I've seen you do great things together in training, so don't forget everything you learned when you go out there" He pointed to the door, a stern expression on his face. " But every order I gave you means nothing, because the first thing you'll have to care about is our client., his safety will be your foremost thought. Any threats will be handled by me, you will just have to worry about Tazuna-san. Am I clear?"

He was answered by three "Hai, sensei", to which he nodded, got up from his chair and, like any ninja worth his salt, sprinted to the door leaving his young genin to pay for his meal.

Meanwhile, he mused.

I wonder if this delay will throw off their game? Meh, no matter.

-Demonic Changes-

A progressively denser fog accompanied Team 7 as they crossed the water surrounding the Land of Wave, the boat they were on creaking every once in a while, making some of the travelers winch every time.

It was a setting worthy of a horror film, and tension was at an all time high.

Knowing that anytime a jounin could attack them was nerves-wrecking, and it could be felt from the silence that everyone was immersed into.

The silhouette of the bridge that was soon to be built made itself known to the group, eliciting awed looks from all of them, and a smug expression on Tazuna's face.

They were near the coast by now.

"You" Naruto pointed to the bridge with a incredulous expression on his face while looking at Tazuna " made all that?"

"Yup, that's my super awesome bridge. Isn't it wonderful?" Tazuna said incredibly smug.

"I would have never believed you could create something like that if I hadn't seen it myself" Sakura whispered to herself, disbelief colored on her face.

Everyone looked at her, not expecting such a harsh opinion from the shy girl.

Sakura blushed.

"What" She tried to say, but Naruto shouted first.

"LOOK OUT!" A gigantic wave of water was headed their way, its size dwarfing the small boat they were still in. It was like a mountain was about to crash into them.

Kakashi didn't know what to do, he couldn't save everyone and still be able to fight the strong foe that was obviously waiting for them on the shore.

The only things he could do were too chakra extensive, like another water jutsu, which would backlash horribly or simply use shadow clones to get them all to safety.

That dinner will cost us our life, Kakashi thought.

That was when he heard five distinct poof, from which five Naruto clones came to life. Kakashi didn't know what Naruto hoped to do, but he couldn't help but feel relieved.

"Sensei! I'll get them to the other side! I trust you can look after yourself, right?" Naruto grinned, and his clones quickly took Sakura, Sasuke, Tazuna and his friend and jumped, quickly followed by Naruto himself and a relieved Kakashi.

And at the last second too, because the small tsunami soon after crashed into the boat, bringing it to depths unknown.

They landed on the water surface, and in a sprint cleared the last fifty meters in less than two seconds gliding across water, Kakashi looking surprised for a moment at Naruto. They reached the shore and skidded on the sandy ground for a second, before fully stopping, a little peeved that they couldn't find their enemy.

Naruto even tried using his sensory skills, but he couldn't find them.

In silence, Naruto and Kakashi advanced into the scarce forest ahead of them, leaving two shocked genin and two near crying civilian behind them.

Sasuke was the first to recover, and, after giving her a look, Sakura returned to her senses. The two urged the civilian to walk, but only Tazuna obeyed. The other just collapsed to his knees and ordered them to go ahead without him, to which they could only obey.

Sasuke and Sakura formed a perimeter around Tazuna, Sasuke at the front, Sakura at the bottom and two Naruto at either flanks.

Kakashi had some question for his blonde genin, but for now they could wait.

"Naruto, go protect the others, I'll take it from here" Kakashi said reassuringly.

After giving him an annoyed look, Naruto did as he asked, albeit with a peeved expression on his face, and soon after four poof were heard, signaling the dispelling of four Kage Bunshin.

They reorganized with the last clone and Naruto at the flanks, Sakura at the bottom and Sasuke at the top, naturally all around Tazuna.

"What was that?" Sasuke whispered urgently.

"I just saved you. Don't bother thanking me, you jerk. It's not like you're alive because of me..." Naruto trailed off, a smug smirk on his face.

Sasuke only scoffed, turning the other way, while annoyed that his teammate didn't answer his question.

"Thank you" Sakura whispered shyly, and only the last remaining clone heard her, and it smiled and nodded looking at her, which prompted a small blush.

It was not even three minutes that they started walking that they realized that the fog was thickening with every step they took.

"Team, this is the work of our enemy, be on your guar- SHIT, GET DOWN!" Kakashi screamed and was down in a instant, while the others were a little slower, Tazuna helped by a Naruto Clone.

Sakura was a little too slow, and even as she throw herself to the ground, the silhouette of the sword made it clear that she would be beheaded if nothing happened.

Naruto gritted his teeth, he could feel the object coming their way, and it was loaded with chakra, but he still had to try. He took a kunai out of his pouch and charged it with wind chakra, then he held it up toward the object, his head bowed to avoid any damage if his plan didn't work.

In the end it was useless, because his clone jumped in the way of the sword in his place, and was able to deviate it enough that Sakura lost only a hair on her head, leaving a poof as proof of its heroic action.

Naruto sweated. He still couldn't really channel wind chakra in weapons, especially such cheap ones, so he was sure it wouldn't have done as he wanted.

The giant sword flew till it was clenched deep inside the bark of a tree, its only meal a pink hair.

Suddenly a figure appeared on top of the bladed weapon, arms crossed. He was a tall man, his torso bare, while striped blue trousers were on his legs, and he had strange leg and arm warmers. But the most interesting pieces of clothing he had were the bandages over his mouth and neck and the forehead protector with the slashed Kiri sign.

A missing nin, and not an average one at that.

Maybe I should buy something to cover the lower part of my face too Naruto thought somehow amused, before shaking this weird thought out of his head.

As always when there was a fight, the Kyuubi quieted down and just observed.

If it was possible, the mist become even ticker, the form of their opponent blurring.

"Ah, so that's why the Demon Brothers failed." Zabuza nodded seriously " With Sharingan no Kakashi as their opponent, it's really no wonder." Sasuke's eyes widened.

Sharingan?That's my kekkai genkai, how is it...could it be?

"Are you the one who sent after us that huge wave? Because that was awesome, Hoshigaki Kisame" Naruto said in a sage-like voice.

Kakashi shook his head, while Zabuza bristled.

"It seems like your generation isn't that well informed, blonde brat." Zabuza scowled.

"You're not Hoshigaki Kisame? Ah, right he was the fish one, so you are... uh." Naruto looked up in thought "Well, you are one of the Seven Ninja Swordsman, right?" Zabuza nodded, an offended expression on his face "Well, then I was partly right." Naruto said stubbornly.

"Stupid brat, you'll be the first I kill." Zabuza simply decided to get back to what he was paid for. Kill that bridge builder.

"So, you don't think you can just give me that old man, Kakashi?" Zabuza asked, already knowing the answer, and he may have grinned, but who knows.

"Sorry, no can do, Zabuza Momochi" Kakashi looked at Naruto, who made a sound of realization "It would look bad for Konoha if we just handed our client to you." Kakashi said seriously, getting ready for the inevitable fight.

Tension was at an all time high, before the missing nin made a handseal.

"Ninpou: Kirigakure no Jutsu" Zabuza disappeared behind the veil of the mist.

And then the fog thickened to absurd levels, before the group of young shinobi was targeted by the strongest Killing Intent they had ever felt.

"Eight places" came Zabuza's voice, seemingly from nowhere.

"The larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, kidney, brain and heart. Now, which vital organ do you want to get struck at?" Zabuza's bloodlust become palpable.

Even Sasuke, as strong willed as he was, was contemplating suicide, Sakura was paralyzed by fear and Naruto stilled, his hair shadowing his face, but a tremor still shook his body every once in a while.

"Snap out of it!""Don't worry, I'll protect you till I die!" Kurama and Kakashi's exclamations were enough to make anyone return to a more battle ready state, Naruto and Sasuke cursing themself for their moment of weakness.

Team 7 quickly reformed a careful ring around Tazuna, as ready as they could be, while Kakashi lowered his mask, revealing a blood red eye. The Sharingan.

"Careful, Zabusa's known for his silent killing technique, he'll kill you before you know it if you're not on guard" Kakashi warned his team.

And that was when, without a sound, a figure appeared in front of Naruto, who had only a second to think. "Ghost?" Before he was beheaded.

And then he just went poof, white smoke adding itself to the already misty atmosphere.

Naruto grinned from his position behind Tazuna. Kage Bunshin are really incredibly useful, and by now creating them and exchanging place with a well placed Kawarimi was second nature. Well, not really, but he liked to believe that he was getting there.

"Damn, how could I hav-" Zabuza's looked down to see a kunai sticking from his chest, before he dissolved, leaving water in his place.

Kakashi frowned, before he too was killed, but again he revealed himself to be a Water Clone.

The real Kakashi finally appeared behind Zabuza, a kunai pointed to his jugular.

"Now I've got you!" He said triumphantly. Zabuza twitched, before he turned on himself, Kubikiriboucho poised to strike. Kakashi, even if surprised, was still fast, and managed to receive only a cut on his right biceps, before he brought down his Kunai, but from the vein he stroke squirted not blood, but water, which got him to widen his eyes in surprise and turn around. But there was nothing behind him.

Meanwhile Zabuza had his eyes set on the team of genin.

"That brat..." He gritted his teeth.

The source of his anger was naturally Naruto, who was attempting something that he had never done before. He was blasting wind chakra all around him, in an attempt to rid his team of the annoying fog.

It wasn't working, but that was because Zabuza was actively working to keep his mist together.

"Meh, whatever, I always did like it better to be blunt" Zabuza smirked and let his hold on the mist fade, which caused it to be quickly dispersed by Naruto, who was now smirking too.

Meanwhile, Kakashi used this time to disappear underground, confounding his opponent who couldn't see him anymore.

But he expected that, so when he spurted out of the ground he was ready to jump back in a perfectly executed back-flip, doing handseals all the way.

His mouth swelled, and he spat two ball of water in rapid succession at his opponent, but Kakashi was able to dodge them with ease, running to the right in a fast sprint, his hands easily slipping in familiar seals.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Fireball)" He shouted, while drawing two kunai, charging them with lightning chakra and throwing them behind the fireball.

Zabuza hastily erected a wall of water, which stopped the fire jutsu easily enough, generating steam, but the lightning charged kunai, when they hit his wall, discharged all the stored electricity through the water, and considering that even the air after the mist was humid, generated visible sparks that touched Zabuza, whose eyes had widened.

Steam hid the view, but soon the figure of a stinged but still in condition to fight Zabuza became visible. Kakashi sighed.

"That was nowhere near enough to beat the Demon of the Mist!" Zabuza shouted maniacally, his left arm fuming white smoke, but still able to do handsigns.

Naruto, seeing his mental state, quickly used a genjutsu which made him see Kakashi running to the side, as if to flank him, while doing his exact same handsigns.

Zabuza turned in the direction of the illusionary Kakashi.

"What! You bastard, are you copying me?!" Zabuza shouted

The grey haired jounin, who was effectively doing those handsigns, looked confused for a moment, before understanding showed on his face. Still, he was already gathering chakra for his technique, so he decided that he might as well finish it.

Just as Zabuza jerked as if to dodge a kunai, his jutsu was finally unleashed on innocent foliage, which was crushed by a dragon of water of epic proportions.

While Zabuza was laughing at his own apparent victory, Kakashi unleashed his own dragon of water, which was exactly the same in size as that of Zabuza, and directed it over the missing nin, who was then cut and shredded by the highly dangerous jutsu, a confused expression appearing briefly on his face before he was swallowed by the maws of the dragon.

As he was spat out of the destructive water, he crashed on the ground, hitting it harshly.

"Genjutsu?" He mumbled incoherently.

"Yup, my cute little genin did it, aren't you ashamed?" Kakashi mocked, before taking out a kunai and directing it right over Zabuza's heart.

But it was not to be, because senbon needles were thrown at the missing nin neck, which caused him to completely collapse on the ground, his body dead.

A masked hunter nin in a distinctively Kiri uniform then appeared in front of Kakashi, stilling his arm.

"Thank you, Konoha nin, but from now on its Kiri business" The young voice of the ninja echoed in the empty valley in a excessively polite voice.

"You're an hunter nin from Kiri?" Kakashi asked confused, to which the shinobi only nodded and, with a last bow, jumped in the water nearby, somehow disappearing through it, not leaving any trace of him behind.

"Wait!" Kakashi shout went unanswered.

"Well, that was anti-climatic" Kakashi said to himself awkwardly. Still, shouldn't he have burnt the body? Bah, who knows, with Kiri in the state it is right now it could have changed, I guess... Kakashi mused unconvinced, pulling his headband over his left eye, covering his Sharingan to preserve his reserves of chakra.

"Good job team, you handled this pretty well!" He eye-smiled cheerful. "Now, I'm a little tired and confused about this whole situation, so if you could lead us to your home, Tazuna-san?" The bridge builder nodded with fear still in his eyes, and if he had soiled himself, nobody commented, apart from some disgusted looks from Sasuke and Naruto.

And so they restarted their journey, their destination clear. Sasuke was angry at himself, Sakura was just glad they made it out alive and Naruto was happy with himself, so he started annoying Kurama, who just let out a long groan of exasperation.

-Demonic Changes-

While not exhausted, Kakashi could still feel tiredness slowly settling in, so, after they were welcomed in Tazuna's house by a lovely lady, named Tsunami, he excused himself and just crashed on his bed, crying a little on the inside at not being able to ogle some more the young woman.

Meanwhile Tsunami, after worrying over the safety of her father, graciously offered a quickly cooked up meal, which all of the genin eat with gusto, even if Sasuke was still disappointed at how he fared against his first real threat.

If I can't even beat that swordsman, then how can I ever... Sasuke clenched his fists, anger almost clouding his vision before he managed to rein it in.

Naruto thanked Tsunami with stars in his eyes for the homemade meal, which he had frankly loved. Instant ramen and simple recipes can only get you so far after all, and diversity was the spice of life.

The woman simply smiled amused, and then ushered them to their just prepared rooms, the three genin quickly falling asleep in their futon, the air still tense because of a brooding Sasuke, whom Sakura was too shy to approach and Naruto just was too smug today to care.

Hey, he had just helped beat a jounin while his teammates did nothing!

The next morning Kakashi woke up at the crack of dawn, and finally reassembled his thoughts. There was no way that masked shinobi was a Kiri hunter nin. The political climate in Mist was really peculiar, but it was more brutally peculiar than strange, and burning the body down wouldn't have hurt any of the secrets Zabuza could have, because the Demon of the Mist wasn't a bloodline user, but only an incredibly good swordsman, with one of the famous swords of Kiri in his hand and a skilled water user. There was nothing that could entice an hunter nin enough to not burn the body.

So it wasn't a third party, because if it was, it would have burnt the body to make the scene more believable. And that left an accomplice masqueraded as the hunter nin.

Kakashi sighed. I'm getting too old for this shit he thought, before suddenly realizing what he had just thought about and freezing. He wasn't even thirty and he was considering himself old!

For some reason, he cursed Guy and his youthfullness, before shaking his head and wondering if he had finally gone crazy.

He exited his room and decided to wake up his students. He entered their room and shocked them awake one by one, eliciting squeal, grunts and curses from his genins.

He concealed his amusement at their reactions by putting up a serious mask, which was also needed for what he was about to say.

"Team, Zabuza is alive." He just dropped the bomb bluntly and without any sense of tact.

The genins, who were just a moment before cursing him, quieted down.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE IS ALIVE!" Before they screamed at the same time.

"I meant what I just said, he is alive." Kakashi said amused. His team took a collective breath in annoyment.

"Why do you believe he is alive, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as calm as he could be for all of them.

Kakashi sighed.

"That hunter-nin. He should have burnt the body, that's the protocol. I thought something was weird about the situation, but you know, Kiri is strange so I guess I just chalked it up to a weird Mist-thing that I didn't know about. I may have been also pumped up from my awesome fight." He said sheepishly "But there's just no reason to not burn Zabuza's body, if that was a Kiri hunter-nin. Which brings to my conclusion. That masked shinobi is Zabuza's accomplice and he fooled us good, too good in fact. Because those senbon, even if they've not killed him, have at least put Zabuza in a death-like state, from which you can't just recover after a day. I give it a week, give or take a few days before we'll have to deal with him again, and in that time, I'll train you" Kakashi ended confidently.

"Finally" Sasuke blurted out, before looking around embarrassed.

Naruto busted out laughing and Sakura giggled, while Kakashi just looked amused.

"Anyway, we'll get a quick breakfast from our good hosts, then we'll head to the woods." Kakashi almost ordered, while thinking that sooner or later he would have to talk to Naruto about his newly displayed skills.

After breakfast they quickly departed from the house and, after finding a good enough clearing, Kakashi sat on a tree stump and began lecturing.

"Today you'll learn to climb trees" Kakashi explained without really explaining anything.

"But we already know how to climb trees!" Sakura whined, while Sasuke grunted and Naruto smirked.

Kakashi sighed, and decided that a visual demonstration would be what his genin needed, though he believed that at least one of them already knew what he was about to teach, especially because he had such a smug smirk on his face.

He turned, whipped his trusted book out, and walked up the nearest tree, seemingly defeating gravity, and strangely also his book defied the fundamental force.

He drew some surprised gasps, to which he smirked happily, and nodded to himself at the not-so-surprised expression on Naruto's face.

"How are you doing that, sensei?" Sasuke's question brought questioning eyes on the boy, everyone wondering about his strange behaviour.

"Didn't expect that question from you" Kakashi muttered under his breath "But anyway" He continued with a eye-smile" You just have to find the right quantity of chakra to put in your feet to stuck to the tree just like me, too much you will break the bark and launch yourself off the tree and too little will just make you slip. Oh, and it's said that if you can master this exercise you can potentially learn all techniques, given enough time naturally." Kakashi ended.

"Ne, and what if, potentially mind you, one of us had already mastered all these simple chakra control exercises a long time ago?" Naruto said nonchalantly.

"You mean there are more?" Sasuke asked inquisitively.

"Oh yes, and I can already do all of them, so I think I should do something else" Naruto hinted.

"And how exactly did you learn them? In fact, how did you learn all of your skills? You're too young to know all of that, especially because you weren't regarded as a prodigy in the academy, and I'm sure you would have been if you had showed all of those abilities" Kakashi asked the questions he had been holding for a while.

"I'm a Jinchuuriki. I'm bound to be awesome" Naruto exclaimed cheekily, grinning brightly.

His teammates stumbled on the strange word the blonde shinobi used, repeating it under their breath trying to understand what it could mean. Kakashi instead just looked really surprised, his mouth open in amazement at the bluntness in which Naruto revealed a S-class secret so casually.

"You know that's a secret that you shouldn't pronounce so boldly to everyone, right?" Kakashi eyebrow twitched.

"Why not? I'm proud to be Kurama's partner, and I'm even blessed with this amazing intellect, so you can be sure that I'm not shy of my 'burden' " Naruto said the last word with heavy sarcasm.

"You're saying that it's because of the fox that you were able to learn chakra control exercise?" Kakashi asked a little incredulous.

"Well, not really, it was more of a consequence of being so intelligent "Let it never be said that he was modest "And I really liked chakra theory, so I kinda read everything I could on the subject, which included a lot of suggestions about what kind of training I could do if I wanted to control my chakra, and I found that as a side-effect of the seal I have perfect, and I mean perfect, chakra control. Yes, perfect." He added when he saw that Kakashi was trying to ask something.

"No, I mean... whatever, if it's like that, I guess I should teach you something else..." He trailed off "Hey, so that's why you can move that fast, you've got perfect chakra control so it would be a joke for you to use advanced taijutsu techniques!" Kakashi said as if he had come to a realization.

"Yep, that's how I can be so awesome, and I have to thank my little furball for this" Naruto smirked before winching at the loud protests of the demon fox. It was more like cursing to be honest.

"Anyway, you two, I will oversee your training, while my shadow clone looks after our little genius here" He ruffled Naruto's hair, while a clone suddenly popped into existence in front of Naruto, and gestured for him to follow.

While Kakashi launched two kunais at the genin, his Shadow Clone and Naruto disappeared from the view of the others, finding a nearby clearing with a small river flowing through it.

"I think I'll teach you how to use Shunshin, it's an important skill for a shinobi after all..." The clone said, a finger tapping his chin.

"So, look here the handseals are-"

"Before that, can you explain to me the theory behind it?" Naruto asked to a perplexed Kakashi.

"Okay, if that's what you want" The clone was still dubious "You need to make your chakra run through your legs and I guess you also burst some of it out of your back" Kakashi hadn't ever explained Shunshin like this. "Then you let some chakra leak between your destination and your former position, leaving a line of chakra behind you, I guess, but if you just make the handseals, you just have to imagine your destination, so I suggest learning with them" Kakashi proposed.

"Nah, it's okay, and I believe I now understand how it works" Naruto smirked, and then he was behind his sensei, a streak of visible chakra behind him.

Kakashi eyes widened.

"Now I have a question. Is chakra faster than light? I guess it's slower, so do you know how much slower it is?" Naruto asked, an idea slowly growing in his head.

"It's... between 50 and 100 meters per second, or something like that. I don't really know, I didn't really study these things, but I guessed you wanted to know about Shunshin's speed, and that's how fast it is, around one hundred meters per second for a master of the jutsu." Kakashi said a little blindly.

"You guessed right!" Naruto grinned "Do you think one can change the proprieties of chakra to match light?" Naruto grin reached blinding levels.

"Nobody tried, but it probably would need a bloodline limit or something" Kakashi said dismissively.

"I think I can do it, I'll match my father speed!" Naruto pumped his fist.

"You know of your heritage?!" Kakashi was surprised "I guess the Sandaime told you eh?"

"Yep, and the Kyuubi too!" Naruto said happily.

"Oh, that explain it. Well if you're that good at learning jutsu, there's no doubt you inherited your father talent" Kakashi said, a hint of pride coloring his voice.

"If you say so, but I'll be even better than the Yondaime, so some skills are my own only." Naruto said stubbornly, his thirst for greatness showing along with the pride in his skills.

"Sure sure" Kakashi said humorously.

"Hey! I'm serious!" Naruto shouted, but his teacher only laughed.

This was how they spent the time they had before the inevitable battle, with Sakura and Sasuke practicing tree walking and Naruto working towards higher and higher skills, learning jutsu after jutsu, quickly leaving the Uchiha more and more in the dust.

-Demonic Changes-

Kurama was smug.

It filled him with such happiness to see so much hatred condensed in one being, and the fact that it was directed at him only heightened the feeling.

Of course, the Uchiha hated his container in reality, but he could always pretend that such negative emotions were directed towards him and he would get such pleasurable shivers.

He almost moaned.

But those hate filled glare the descendant of Madara, because he was his descendant and that only sweetened the sensation, were really so glorious to a beast of negativity like him. It was like the Uchiha was sending love filled glances to the fox and he didn't even know it.

Of course, if he knew that he was making a demon such as Kurama happy in any way, he would probably just stop staring at Naruto.

But oh, the anger, oh, the hate! The jealousy ran rampant inside the black haired boy.

He was probably feeling impotent at this moment, because he, who had trained all of his life to be the best, was being eclipsed by his once friend, and without effort! It was like Naruto could learn everything he wanted easily, like he was born for this! Just like Itachi.

And speaking of Naruto, the beast was really proud of him, and unfortunately there was no denying the fact.

Kurama was proud of Naruto, he admitted to himself, but only to himself.

Still, if he could not even deny anymore to himself that he was proud of the boy, the least he could do was take pleasure from what happen on the world outside, thing that he had prohibited to himself till now, because it would imply that he was proud of the blonde, and he didn't want that at the time, so he tried to look at reality as detached as he could be, not that it really worked.

And that was how, on the fourth day of training, when Naruto, after waking up early, walked to an empty clearing to begin his usual early morning workout, which he instituted just that morning because of the aforementioned fact that he woke up early, when he saw a young girl bending to collect some herbs, whom he identified as the masked shinobi from before, Kurama only whispered "It's him", before sitting on his haunches and waiting for the show to come.

He couldn't will popcorn into existence, but if he could and he knew what popcorn were, he totally would.

-Demonic Changes-

"It's him"

Naruto stiffened for a moment after hearing his tenant whisper, before stopping completely. As he dropped his chakra to not perceptible levels, he could only hope that the ninja wasn't capable of sensing chakra.

Fortunately it seemed that he wasn't, because he continued his work as if nothing interrupted him.

Naruto jumped up one of the many trees surrounding the clearing, hiding in the foliage as best as he could, and slowly and carefully began to approach a better position, so as to be able to knock out his opponent without fuss. Fortunately, the not-masked ninja moved humming cheerfully toward a protruding plant that was also right underneath the shadow of a tree, his back turned to the trunk.

In an instant, Naruto was in the branch above the ninja, and as he slipped a kunai in his hand, just in case, he jumped.

Swish.

In a blindingly fast movement the now serious ninja slipped senbons in his right hand and turned all in one movement, the needles flying true towards his target.

Naruto had only one moment to widen his eyes, before he shunshined to the ground just as he would have been impaled by the probably poisoned needles.

Naruto dropped his stance and sighed in relief, wiping his head with the hand not holding the kunai, while the still unidentified shinobi only seemed to get more tense, but did not attack

"Wow, I didn't think you would have reacted that fast! When did you sense me?" Naruto asked.

"Before you entered the clearing" The shinobi said, a barely there hint of pride in his voice.

"So, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage of Konoha, what's your name?" Naruto again asked casually, hands opened in a show of sincerity.

"Haku." It seems that this Haku was really unemotional, because not a muscle moved in his face, while his eyes were always in movement.

"No need to fear" Poof "This clone of mine is just going to get my sensei before we start our match, what do you- "He yelped, as a wave of needles were sent after him and his clone, and while his clone was able to evade them all in his bid to get Kakashi, Naruto wasn't that lucky, and one grazed his arm while he tried to shunshin between them.

Yeah, it wasn't really his best idea.

"Hey come on! Where are your manners!" Naruto shouted, while the clone disappeared in the forest behind them.

"Tsk" Haku turned and run, his direction unknown. Evidently he thought that he couldn't handle Kakashi.

Naruto give chase with shouted curses and thrown kunai aplenty, before Haku finally stopped on the shore just beneath the great bridge, handseals being made in surprising speed.

Meanwhile Naruto summoned and dispelled a clone to inform of his location the Kage Bunshin he sent to Kakashi.

And then Haku, in a incredible display of Ninjutsu, created an uncountable number of weapons of all kinds, swords, knife, spears, hammers, scythes and even shields and all other kinds of bladed and blunt weapons known to the world.

They raised from the water in a terrifying show, freezing almost as soon as they left the surface of the water, till the enormous wall of weapons towered at the same height of the bridge nearby, casting an ominous shadow over Naruto and Haku raised her hand to the sky.

"I'm sorry" Haku whispered, but in the silence of the clearing it could be heard as clear as a shout, before she lowered her hand in a finishing motion toward Naruto, and the weapons, as if following her order, launched at terrifying speeds toward Naruto, forming a sphere of death around him, before closing on him.

Some of the early workers on Tazuna's bridge shouted in terror at what they were witnessing.

"Don't be! This is a real challenge" Naruto laughed, before he concentrated on his chakra, ignoring Kurama alarmed shout of "Do something, quick!", changing it to the wind nature.

Around him, air started to circulate with strength, lifting his hair in the hair.

"Naruto's Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" He shouted to the wind.

And the wind answered.

A normal Great Breakthrough sent a wave of compressed air at the opponent, hitting him with enough blunt force to knock a normal ninja unconscious, but Naruto modified the jutsu in shape and effect.

Visible twisting wind rotated stronger and stronger around him, before expanding in a spherical wave in every directions around him.

He still didn't think it was complete, he had to make this a flaming sphere of wind for the jutsu to be perfect. So he snapped his fingers, and a small spark of fire lit the air around him ablaze, before being carried at immense speed in a orange flash with the wind, a circle of fire surrounding Naruto.

The range was still too short, but there was time to work on that.

The jutsu miraculously almost managed to stop the wall of weapon in their place, but the ice jutsu was too strong to be completely stopped.

Still, they slowed down considerably, enough that every weapon around him clattered uselessly on the ground, while those directly above him were slowed enough that his shunshin was enough to save him from a premature death, even if he couldn't dodge the small cut that a particularly vicious scythe inflicted him as he escaped, but overall, he managed to got out of the situation rather well.

He came out of the shunshin in a half crouch, hissing from the injury and glaring at his opponent.

"Hey, that could have killed me!" Naruto shouted and he could have sworn that he saw Haku wince.

"That...was not supposed to happen." Haku was now in a disadvantage, half her reserves were depleted, and Naruto had only a superficial wound to show for it.

Still, that did not deter her, she still had her secret jutsu, but it would be moments before Kakashi arrived to the scene, and if that happened she knew she had lost. There was no way she would be able to beat Sharingan no Kakashi and this blonde haired boy at the same time, especially when she couldn't even beat Naruto.

"Did I surprise you then?" Naruto smiled amused.

"Yes, and now you have me at a disadvantage. Your teacher is going to land in this clearing soon, and then you and I know that I've lost. I've to resort to something even stronger than my previous jutsu to end you" Especially because my secret jutsu would take too long to beat you she thought as she steeled her heart.

Two hands began making handseals at the same time, using the not-so-widely known half seals to complete whatever sequence she needed twice at the same time.

Naruto became instantly worried. He barely managed to escape from the last jutsu, and now she says that she has something even stronger in her arsenal? That was really worrying.

So he used a genjutsu on her. She couldn't very well use Release to escape the genjutsu while she was making the handsigns, at least if she didn't want to drop the jutsu.

He didn't want to mock her, but his twisted mind put her in a dolls' house, changing her environment so thoroughly that even a civilian would know he was stuck in a illusion, just so she knew that she had to drop her jutsu if she wanted to end the genjutsu, or use one of the more esoteric ways to end an illusion, like pain.

But in the meantime, he disappeared in the trees, carefully placing a second illusion over the first, this one more realistic, which would be triggered by the release of the first genjutsu, and it would show him in a dash towards her, a kunai drawn in the air.

Naturally he would have never made it, considering the distance, before she could drop whatever she was creating behind her with that huge amount of chakra on his head.

He had zeroed his chakra, so even if she had some sensory skills, she wouldn't be able to sense him. Meanwhile he wondered where in the hell was Kakashi, but it was only a passing thought.

He saw Haku bit her lips, before she ended her twin handseals

"Hyōton: Sōryū Bōfūsetsu"(Ice Release: Twin Dragon Blizzard) And two ice dragons emerged in silent roars from the water, freezing as they grew, till they represented the beast of legends.

The aforementioned spectators from the bridge again screamed.

Haku looked dispassionately in front of her, before commanding her jutsu to descend on the ground in front of her, and the two dragons blindingly fast executed her orders, so fast in fact that if Naruto blinked he might have missed them move.

Then they crashed in a amazingly loud boom, after which splinters of ice flew in all directions taking down a few trees and forcing Naruto to take cover, while the jaws of the truly massive dragons tore an impressive hole in the ground, leaving the land forever scarred.

Haku sighed sadly, then turned and hurried back towards her master, never suspecting that a blonde haired shinobi might be following her, especially because she has supposedly squished him just a moment ago.

-Demonic Changes-

Meanwhile Kakashi finally arrived at the scene of the battle, finding a barren wasteland to welcome him.

Naruto's clone was still with him, so that meant that the original was alive at the very least, and that made him less worried.

He searched along with the clone for anything that might be linked with the blonde and was just a breath away from summoning his trusted dogs when the clone yelled.

"Sensei! I found something!" He said looking at the trunk of a tree.

On it was written:

Following enemy

Stealth

No Clones

:(

Kakashi sweatdropped at the crude drawing of a sad face, thinking that it wasn't really necessary, especially because it was obvious that the words were carved with a Kunai, so the lines were rather wobbly.

"Well, now what?" Naruto's clone said, sitting down on the ground.

"Now" Kakashi bit his thumb"Summoning Jutsu!"

Poof

A small dog appeared from the smoke, looking around. Then it saw Kakashi.

"Yo" It raised a paw in greeting.

"Pakkun, I need your help track down my genin. "Kakashi said "The scent should be headed somewhere along with another one, and you need to find them" He was serious.

The dog somehow managed to nod seriously, then it started to sniff the air, before quickly identifying the faint but still there scents.

"One boy and one girl right?" The dog said, and for some reason nobody thought it strange.

"Don't know about the girl, but we're on track" Kakashi shrugged, then motioned for Pakkun to lead them.

Together they ventured in the woods, still ways behind Naruto and Haku.

-Demonic Changes-

Haku was almost spent, and Naruto was still fresh, albeit losing some blood from his cuts, his chakra was still almost full.

It was a joke for Naruto to follow the, by now, almost clumsy girl, as she even left obvious traces of her behind, like snapped twigs and crumpled leafs.

It took a while, but finally Haku reached an hidden out of the way cave, which she then entered hurriedly, her bags of herbs still firmly on her despite the battle.

"Zabuza-sama!" She almost shouted after seeing the man trying to get out of the bed she had prepared for him.

"I didn't expect- What the hell happened to you!" Zabuza instantly sit up on the bed only to wince at the sudden and unexpected pain.

"I-"

"She was in a fight with me, Kis- Zabuza" Naruto appeared behind Haku with a kunai to her neck, ready to strike.

Zabuza and Haku stiffened.

"I'm sorry" Haku bowed her head, tears streaming her face.

"What do you want?" Zabuza said bluntly after giving Haku an annoyed glance. "If you want my head, you'll have to fight me for it!" Incredibly, the Demon of the Mist managed to get up, leaning heavily on his sword which he had taken with his right hand just as he got up.

"I want to know only one thing." Naruto smirked, knowing he had the advantage. "Why are you doing this?" He said seriously.

"Money, brat. It's what makes the world go round, didn't you know?" Zabuza laughed.

"Yes I know that. But why do you want money? What could an anarchist like you want from money? Do you want to try to assassinate the Mizukage again?" Naruto asked, getting to the crux of the matter.

" Bingo! You guessed right! I want to kill that bastard once and for all." Zabuza said, a bloodthirsty grin on his face.

"And you want to do that at the cost of an entire country? I won't let you do that" Naruto said confidently, feeling Haku stiffen further.

"AH, as if a brat like you co-"

" I have another plan." Naruto interrupted Zabuza "Why instead don't we kill Gatou? Surprised? Yes, I know he's a good merchant, and right now he's trading with Konoha but I see an opportunity, and in the name of my village, I'll take it. No, hear me out" He said to not be interrupted "Killing Gatou is simple, there's no doubt about that. Then, we will divide Gatou's money. Half will go to Wave, and the other half will be all yours, and you will fund an army good enough to overthrow the Mizukage, just as you want. That way when, and not if, you managed your mission, I want an alliance between Kiri and Konoha, and Wave will be also included in a economical alliance with us. Naturally we don't want to advertise to the world that we're allying, but the finer detail will be for the higher ups to decide. Now, what do you say?" Naruto said, extending his arm from behind Haku toward Zabuza, who was staring at him with widened eyes.

Then he laughed.

"Man, you're so full of shit it's funny, but your cunning I'll give you that, and I like your style, kid. So" He took the offered hand and gripped it in vice-like grip "It's a deal" He smirked.

"What's a deal?" Kakashi finally reached the scene.

Naruto groaned and started to explain his plan to his sensei, who nodded.

"Good plan, we'll see you when your healed, Zabuza, then we'll go deal with Gatou, okay?" Kakashi asked, receiving a nod from the missing nin.

"Well, now I think there's a warm breakfast waiting for us, so we'll leave you here in this cold dark cave. Bye" Kakashi eye-smiled and vanished in a shunshin along with his student.

-Demonic Changes-

Kakashi reached with a series of shunshin the clearing, and then he began to shout.

"You brat, what do you think your doing, taking charge like that, who do you think you are to take such decisions, the Hokage? You can't even begin to understand how angry I am right now, so you better explain yourself, and fast!" Kakashi thundered.

Naruto gulped.

"Let me explain let me explain" He put his hand ahead of himself, as if to shield against Kakashi's anger. "I thought it out, if we don't want to go ahead with the deal, then we can just kill them when we go to settle things with Gatou, it work out perfectly, at the very least we have a planned date!" He almost shouted, before calming himself "And it's a good deal, isn't it? We can even make it hush, and be allied without any other nation knowing it, and even if they do discover our alliance, with our alliance with Suna and Mist we would be unapproachable in war! It's a great plan! And I couldn't just let that opportunity pass me by, especially because the other option was bloodshed." Naruto said firmly, his eyes determined.

The two glared at each other, neither wanting to back down.

"And that's the thinking of a chuunin" And then Kakashi broke the tension in a unexpected manner. "Or maybe even a jounin" He mused.

"What" Naruto dropped his jaw.

He thought he was in trouble!

"Yep, that was a test, I wanted to know if it was a decision taken in arrogance or if you had really thought it out, and you managed to surprise me!" Kakashi said with an eye-smile.

"What do you mean I "surprised" you?" Naruto deadpanned.

"Now, you might be wondering how this was a test, right?" Naruto nodded, because how can you value something if you hadn't even seen it? "Well, a Shadow Clone of mine was guarding the bridge at the time of your battle with the girl, and your conversation with Zabuza? I was there all the time." He said smugly. "And I got to say that you have the skills and qualities necessary to be a chuunin, so I'll forward your promotion for exceptional field work." Kakashi gave a thumbs up.

Naruto gaped like a fish.

Click

Kakashi quickly took a photo of his face with his camera-for-embarrassing-moments that he always had with him, then, satisfied, he took out his book and started to walk toward Tazuna's house, followed by a zombie-like Naruto, who was still processing his apparent promotion.

By the time they arrived at the door of Tazuna's house, Naruto managed to recover, and was now simply happy, so happy that in fact as he opened the door in all haste, he shouted: "I made Chuunin!" just to inform the whole house of his promotion.

"Don't brag" Then he was hit on the head by Kakashi, who was still reading his book.

"Ok sensei. Hey Sasuke-teme in your fac- OUCH! Did you have to hit me so hard?!" Naruto asked, holding his stomach after Kakashi's elbow was extracted from it. The jounin just continued to walked, giggling as he went, leaving Naruto alone behind.

"Stupid sensei, thinking they know it all" Naruto muttered nonsensically, walking toward the living room, where everyone had just finished breakfast. It was still early in the morning.

He could see Sasuke scowl a little, before he hid it by turning the other side, and Sakura smiling hesitantly at him, as he entered in the living room.

He was happy to see Sasuke scowl, while Sakura hesitant smile unsettled him a little. Was she afraid that their team would be dismantled? Naruto didn't know.

Kakashi excused himself because he wanted to write a letter to the Hokage, informing him of the current situation.

Naruto sat, but the awkwardness of the situation stopped everyone from speaking. Even their hosts seemed to understand the tension and become silent. Every time Naruto thought he worked up the courage to speak, a glare or a shy look from Sasuke or Sakura would stop him, and the situation carried on for a long time, in fact till at least the end of the mission.

The Hokage eventually gave the go ahead with Naruto's plan, while Team 7 trained and guarded needlessly the bridge, which progressed steadily in his completion, till Zabuza contacted them.

Today they were going to take the Gatou Company by storm.

-Demonic Changes-

The operation began before it really started.

They diffused the voice that they were going to relieve Wave of its suppressor in the village the early morning, so that some curios civilian would come to see and report that Konoha, aided by a Mist, even if naturally only after Zabuza hostile takeover they would really know that, had liberated Nami no Kuni from Gatou's grasp.

After that they would met on a small hill from which Gatou's mansion could be easily seen and Kakashi insisted on a "cool" entrance, so the whole team shunshined together to the meeting place, the three genin crouched with their backs exposed to Kakashi, who was standing there with his usual book out, even if somehow he managed to look serious.

"Man, you trained them good" Not to Zabuza though, who busted out laughing as soon as he saw them.

Hell, even Haku had a small amused smile on her face.

Soon though, they became serious.

"I think we're a little overkill for some simple mission like this, but I want my genin to have their first kill in a controlled environment, so it's okay" Kakashi mused casually, which caused different reactions from his genin. Sasuke tightened his glare and Naruto clenched his fists, while Sakura gasped.

"Y-you can't!" Sakura took a step back in horrified realization.

"That's the profession you chose kid, so you better learn to deal with it" Zabuza grunted out, while Haku glanced sadly to the mansion.

"But I don't know..." Sakura was still unsure.

"Sakura" Naruto called her "You're my friend, and I promise that nothing will happen to you, but you have to do this, you have to see if this is the life you want, because if you don't do it now, it could happen some other time, where there's nobody to protect you, and then you would be killed. And I won't allow that." Naruto said with determination.

Sakura gripped one hand with the other and brought them to her chest, still unsure. Then she glanced at Naruto, saw him looking at her with warmth in his eyes, and then at Sasuke, who just grunted and turned the other way, but she managed to catch the hint of worry in his eyes all the same. She steeled herself as best as she could then nodded.

"Fucking finally, let's go torch that place" Zabuza shouted a war-cry, charging the not-so-well defended mansion. In fact, only a small wall separated them from the garden surrounding the villa, and then it was only a matter of seconds to reach the house proper.

On the way, they had to dispatch several guards, and while it was pathetically easy, they still somehow managed to make themselves heard by Gatou, because the merchant, along with a small army, encountered them just outside of his home.

A surprised expression quickly gave way to fear, and then the midget screamed, before scrambling back toward the safety of his home.

"Get them!" Was the only thing he managed to say in a pathetic voice.

The mercenary didn't know what to do for a moment and in the next, Zabuza had cut through almost a quarter of the two hundred strong army while running towards the house, shouting maniacally all the way.

Behind him he left a terrified army and a shocked genin team, because they couldn't believe that human life could be so easily extinguished. It was incredibly humbling in a way.

"Let's go" Kakashi said solemnly, before whispering in Naruto ear "Go after Gatou".

The remaining mercenary organized and charged, while Sasuke, Sakure and Naruto instead charged, somewhat fearful, against them, and Kakashi and Haku stood to oversee and help the young ninjas, to intervene in extreme cases.

Naruto was quick to execute Kakashi's order, and with a quick chakra enhanced leap he jumped over the mercenary army in a somersault, landing perfectly on the other side of the group of bandits in a crouch, sending a challenging smirk at them, after seeing them look awestruck at his almost flying form. Then he took off.

Meanwhile Sasuke used the distraction to get his first kill, the kunai in his hand finding its way to the heart of a man who had the misfortune of being near him. His face was a cold mask, and he managed to clench his bloody weapon away from the soon-to-become corpse to parry an enraged swing by a mercenary, then he kicked him and was soon engaged in the brawl.

Kicks, punches, sword swings were soon becoming too much for him to handle though, and as he saw a large broadsword coming for his head, he knew he couldn't have made it in time to dodge it. Time slowed and permitted him to perfectly see as Kakashi gutted the man from behind with a kunai sparkling with electricity. The jounin eye-smiled at him, pointed at his covered eye, and then was in again in the fight, tearing through his enemy with ease.

Sasuke was confused, but then he understood. The Sharingan! After that it was simpler to follow the movements of the mercenary, so it was easy for him to fight, even if, to his displeasure, he still needed Kakashi to save him two times.

Meanwhile Haku and Sakura were back to back and they were managing their opponents quite well, though Haku had to protect the girl so much that it could be said she was babysitting her, but Sakura was doing her best, even if scared, so she should be praised. Kakashi had duplicated himself to help even in this situation, and soon the enemies dwindled enough that one of the mercenary wised up and escaped.

After that it become a race between the bandits, all running toward the exit in a confused mess.

Sasuke was prepared to give chase, but Kakashi stopped him, shaking his head.

"Why?" He simply asked, swallowing the bile that incessantly tried to rise up his throat.

"Because they were simply paid to do their job. There's no need for cruelty" Kakashi said firmly.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted, then turned to Sakura, and saw her retching on the ground, Haku rubbing soothing circles on her back.

"There there" She said in a caring voice.

Sasuke was a little worried, but didn't let it show.

-Demonic Changes-

Meanwhile Naruto was running toward where he sensed the miniscule presence of Gatou to be, but before that he entered a big room, fit for royalty, where he found Zabuza locked in a power struggle against two swordsmen at the same time. Somehow he managed to look back at him and the sensible bloodlust spiked for a moment in the room, though it was quickly brought back under control.

"Hey kid. I'm sorry, but these two challenged me to a pure sword fight, and I couldn't say no. Though that no chakra rule is a little annoying" Zabuza said almost happily. Then with a grunt he broke his opponents guards and sent them stumbling back, before beginning his offensive, bringing Kubikiriboucho in wide and fast arcs against his two enemies, somehow keeping them both at bay and on the defensive, a bloodthirsty grin on his face.

Naruto's eyes bugged out. He wasn't using chakra? How strong was he?

"Kid, do me a favour and go kill that midget for me, 'kay?" Zabuza said in the middle of a swing, grunting at the end.

"Y-yeah sure" Naruto stuttered, then he ran ahead, away from this impossible battle.

He had to pass some endless hallways before he finally reached a half opened door, which leaded to the outside, and behind it he could sense Gatou running at full speed towards the forest that surrounded the back of his property.

He shunshined in front of him, but he didn't take into account that Gatou was still running, so he crashed head to head with the midget with a loud bang.

"OUCH!" "What the hell!" They shouted as they fell to the ground, both holding their heads. Gatou looked up and then knew what fear is.

A blonde boy so angry that lightning flashed behind him, the clouds darkened in his presence and the mask of a demon emerged from his back, his soulless eyes staring into Gatou as if trying to analyze his soul.

"How-Dare-You-Ruin-My-Entrance!" Naruto said drawing out every words in a crescendo, till he ended shouting.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean t-"

"I Don't Care, if you wanna live, and you want to live, trust me, you'll tell me where you keep your money, and you'll do it now" Shadows started to come alive, clawing their way on a terrified magnate, till they reached his face, and a large claw of darkness traced his cheek, leaving a line of blood in its wake.

"In the bank! Now, let me go" He was a brave man, no doubt about that.

"Oh! You want to joke? Then how about this one, there was once a midget, who walked to his bank, and then ordered that all his money was to be taken cash and handed to a blonde haired ninja!" Then he started to laugh evilly, while a sweatdrop formed behind his head and Gatou looked in a deadpan at him, but didn't dare tempt his luck with the obviously crazy boy.

"Okay, I'll do that, I just want to live!" He thought that if he managed to live, he could contact some of his old "friends" and rid himself of this nuisance.

"Perfect, now give me your hands" Gatou obeyed confusedly.

Click

A pair of handcuffs were put on the midget who jumped and stared scared at Naruto, who just motioned for him to move.

In reality it was a genjutsu. It wasn't like Naruto carried handcuffs with him on missions. Yet.

They walked through all the uncountable hallways of Gatou's mansion, the midget walking in front of him, and whenever he slowed down, a kick was enough to remind him to hurry.

They passed Zabuza, who was in the process of bathing his sword in the blood of his enemies, who laid in a pool of blood at his feet. Nothing strange. Naruto sweatdropped.

"Hey kid, what you doing?" Zabuza asked after having finished doing that strange huh...ritual.

"Taking this boy here on a walk" Naruto said cheerfully patting Gatou on the head.

"You too scared to kill him? Got cold feet eh?" Zabuza mocked.

"As if" Naruto scoffed "We need him for the money, he keep it all in a bank, right?" He glared at Gatou who shuffled his feet.

"Well, there is some here too..." He said.

"Where?" Naruto growled.

After taking directions, he made a Kage Bunshin to go collect the money. They continued to walk toward the exit of the mansion, Zabuza and Naruto taking turns at disciplining Gatou whenever he slowed down too much.

They opened the door to the outside, where they found a carnage. More than a hundred bodies were scattered along the once green field, now red with blood. And the stench, oh god the stench! It was unbearable, but Naruto trotted on, pushing a shocked Gatou ahead.

They reunited with the rest of the group, and continued to advance toward the village confidently, Gatou still ahead of them, Kakashi and Sasuke using Katon Jutsu to burn down the house behind them.

"Hey!" Gatou said, before he was kicked again.

Naruto noted Sasuke's Sharingan too.

On the way they encountered stunned civilians, whom took one look at the midget and then began to smile and embrace each other, while a small group ran to the village to inform the others.

Kakashi and Naruto smirked and waved, Sasuke simply crossed his arms and marched on, Sakura and Haku had small content smiles on their face and Zabuza was glaring in every direction, as if still trying to discern any threats that may be attracted to them.

As they reached the village, they saw people disposed on two lines on the road, who began to cheer as soon as they passed through. Soon, the whole village was one big roar, and Gatou, bowing submissively, could only take all their curses walking on. But one day, he swore, he would have his revenge.

The village didn't seem at all like the depressed place they reached the week before, not at all.

They finally reached a strangely well-kept bank, where Gatou signed away all his money, half to Wave, and half to Zabuza and his cause. They got back on the street, where people were still cheering.

Then the midget sighed in relief.

"Now I'm free, right" He arrogantly almost shouted, to let himself be heard by all those around him.

"Hear me Wave! I'll return! And then I'll- GHHHAAAA"

Naruto, with cold emotionless eyes, had lodged a kunai in Gatou's throat. Then he extracted weapon, a river of blood following it.

"You...P-promised!" Gatou said between wheezes and cough, somehow speaking with his damaged throat.

"I did not. You just assumed, and I can't very well let you live, especially after what you were about to say. I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not, so I'll spare you the hypocrisy. Now, BURN!" Naruto shouted, and somehow Sasuke understood and sent a small fireball at the man.

Shocked and fearful gasps followed this action, but soon after it seems that the people of Wave remembered Gatou's wrongs, because they began to cheer, till of the body remained only ash, which were blown above the village by a strong wind.

-Demonic Changes-

After the public execution of Gatou, Wave slowly started on the way back to stability and prosperity, the run down village retaking control of their commerce people finally able to have a stable job to the benefit of every family.

Meanwhile the bridge connecting them to the mainland was finally built, assuring them that no more "Gatou" would ever happen, so the morale was quite high.

Zabuza, along with Haku, had departed a day after the execution, returning back to his homeland where he believed he would start to make a difference in the war against Yagura, the Sanbi Jinchuuriki and the current Mizukage.

In his last conversation with Naruto, he had mockingly invited him to help his war efforts, to which the blonde had answered seriously.

"But of course, Zabuza, did you think I would let you have all the fun?" He said with a grin, stunning Zabuza and Haku.

Before the missing nin just shook his head amused.

"See you there then, kid" He said with a wave as he started to disappear in the trees.

"Yeah, it's a promise. And I'm NOT a kid!" Naruto shouted.

Other than that, the time before their inevitable return was pretty calm and uneventful.

As they waved to the saved village, they could hear their murmurs, then a shout.

"Yes, I'll call it THE GREAT NARUTO BRIDGE!" Tazuna shouted with a smirk, and the blonde twitched but walked on.

The first monument dedicated to him! Yes!


AN: Well hope you enjoyed that, and I want you to know that I added a "Smart!Naruto" Tag, because I feel that before this chapter I couldn't have done it without thinking it was false. Now I hope I made him seems as smart as I gave him credit to, and still stupid enough to be funny, but that will be fixed with experience. Maybe.

Anyway, Read and review! Let me know what you think, even if it's a critique! :)ù

And now a little Omake! Enjoy!


The day Naruto thought he could beat Kurama

It was a sunny day, and the bright and happy Naruto was reading about his favorite story: The Myth of The Perfect Ninja.

The story narrated of a shinobi who could bend Nature to his will, learn any jutsu after only seeing it once, negate chakra with a glance, spitting and creating a hole so profound it reached the other side of the Elemental Nations-he used that method to defeat his archenemy Moony, the demon that couldn't be beaten.

Well that or he arm-wrestled it to the ground, the stories varied on that.

Anyway, Naruto thought he had figure out how to negate chakra with a glance, it was so simple! This was the day he fought and won against the Kyuubi, he could feel it!

Eh, Kurama won't know what hit him.

That night he went to sleep all pumped up, doing mental exercises to better prepare himself for the fight of a lifetime.

For some reason, he appeared in the sewer system, and he had to walk all the way toward Kurama, twisting hallways after twisting hallways.

He was understandably annoyed, but he was too excited to care, so he put that feelings aside.

He finally entered Kurama's chamber in a run, skidding to a stop in front of the giant hand containing the Fox.

"Hey! Kurama! Come on out if you want your ass to be beaten!" He shouted cockily.

The fox elevated himself to a standing position, sending Naruto an annoyed glance, before remembering his plan. So he grinned, and said in the most honeyed voice he could manage: "Yes Naruto, what is it that you want?" He could taste bile rising in his throat.

"LOOK AT ME GIANT MASS OF CHAKRA" Naruto shouted before laughing maniacally for a bit.

Then he stopped, and began to glare really hard in Kurama's direction, his gaze never dropping.

"..."

Kurama sweatdropped, not knowing what was supposed to happen. But internally he was raging with anger at how much time the brat was making him waste uselessly! If it wasn't for the plan...

An eternity of silence later...

"So...What's supposed to happen" Kurama asked.

"Why aren't you screaming for mercy?" Naruto asked confusedly, his stare starting to waver between Kurama's eyes, then to his fangs, then to his body, as if it would change something or it would miraculously activate his secret technique.

"What? Why should I be?" Kurama asked annoyed at the little boy.

"Because I'm negating your chakra with a glance, stupid!" He sing-songed the last word, making the fox actually began to shake from repressed anger.

"Yes, but that's not what..." Naruto started to pout, his eyes wavering with tears.

Kurama sighed. It's for the plan he reminded himself.

"Oh no! My chakra is being negated, save me! Stop! Noooo" Kurama said monotonously, still not believing that he was really saying that.

"Eheheh, I knew it would work! Now you'll be my friend, because I'm strong!" Naruto said happily.

That brat...

"Yes yes, now that you have shown that you're so strong, I'll let you be my friend. For real" Kurama wanted to sigh again, but it would ruin this special-no, not special, he reminded himself, stupid and useless- moment between him and the brat, and he couldn't allow that.

For the plan naturally.

Naruto started to shake, before with a prolonged cry he started to run toward Kurama arms opened as if to hug him.

"No, you idiot!"

Zzzzzt

And Naruto was electrocuted again.