Chapter 12 : Heroes of Wave

The rest of the day was pretty uneventfull expect for an incident during dinner prepartation involving Ino, bad cooking skill, Kagemane no Jutsu and hand biting making Tsunami wonder about kunoichi's cooking abilities. After that bed time came and we found ourselves inside the crowed male bedroom, more presicely over a certain blond's bed. Said blond awoke feeling a natural urge on his balder so he got out of bed, carefull not to walk on somebody and made his way toward the bathroom. Once relieved he made his way back, eyes half closed, that's when he registred something out of place.

"Roxas-kun, what a coincidence !"

"Ts-Tsunami-san, what are you doin here ?"

"I could ask you the very same question."

"Me ? I just went to the bathroom..."

"I'm just making sure nobody get lost..."

"Well, I guess I'll return to my room then."

"Yes, you should just do that, Roxas-kun..."

Roxas went back to the overpopulated bedroom passing by Tsunami whose glare sent shivers down hs spine. "She sure can be scary... Pffft, it's so hot in there... and it stincks, could use some fresh air..." So he approched the window and opened it, taking in the fresh air he admired the scenery before his eyes, ts was an especially starry night, the nearly full moon basking the surrouding landscape and ocean in silver light...

"Nice weather,huh ?"

"Gah ! Tsunami-san !" The young mother mother was standing at his left, leaning over the girls' room window. "It's not what it looks like ! I just wanted to see how beautiful Nami looks at night..." "Great Roxas, double-meaning sentences will do you so much good right now..."

Tsunami shot him a stern look"I sugest you to get some sleep, now." Roxas gulped and noded beforing retreating back inside. "I still good at this."

The next day 6 a.m., all the ninja were up and enjoying breakfast, when everyone finished they all ,exept Axel who stayed behind to guard the bridge-builder, went in search for a good trainning spot wich they found near the bridge.

"As you know you'll stay behind to defend the house at the time of the attack, at your current level there will be little you could do in case of adverse shinobi presence so you'll have to learn some new move, in order to do so you'll need a lot more chakra control and stamina so I'll teach you the water walking exercise." stated Asuma, he was responded by two "Hai sensei !" and a "What a drag."

His student having already mastered the exercise, Hayate decided it was time for some more advanced technique "Guys, since you will be in close proximity to Zabuza you'll face higher risk, we'll try not to let him get too close to you but he could pass through us evantually and consider Naruto and Roxas as secondary targets so you'll need a more efective evasion move thaan substitutin so you will work on the shunshin no jutsu." he studied his charges' expression their eyes were sparkling with anticipation and pride, typical reaction... "Now listen well this is actually only taugh to chunin but I know you already mastered a lot of chunin level technoque so I think you'll do fine with this one too. Contrary to most genin belief it is not a teleportation technique but high speed movements and an extremely draining move, the point of the move is to channel masive quantities of chakra in your legs to run faster, at this point your movements are supposed to be untraceable to the eyes, except maybe a fully develloped sharingan, but this still to slow to be considered shunshin yet... The trick to execute shunshin is to diminish air ressitance in front of you, to do so you must produce a chakra blade in front of you, that way you'll cut the flow of air into two and pass rigth in between. Basically it's just a matter of aerodynamics and chakra control, any question ?" Naruto raised his hand "Yes ?"

"Why is there a swirl of leaves when someone uses it ?"

"Well that's another important part of the technique; while its make your movement untracable, if your oponent is skiled enough a glimpse of your after-image will be enough to give axay your direction when you start the jutsu so you need to conceil it somehow, while advanced ninja can use natured chakra to do so, adding an ofensive or defensive edge to the technique, most use small capsules containing leaves, smoke, sand, flowers, feathers, etc... No matter wich you use, perfect synchronization between your hands and feet is nescesary, you must go the moment the capsule explose on the ground. Now, how to stop : just stick to the ground like you would to a tree, you don't have to use another capsule, the content of the first will follow you due to the aspiration effect, wich I won't explain since Naruto looks like he's ready to fall into a coma at any moment..."

"So, that's means we can..."

"Begin pratice ? Yeah, it guess you could... Don't try to use a chakra blade at first, just focus on reaching your top speed without it and stopping for now, do things one step at a time and you'll get it down by the day after tomorow: tomorow you'll pratice the chakra blade and we'll focus on capsle throwing and obstcle course the final day."

That being said, the three genin took place between the shore and the forest, they had a straigth line of bare land about ten meter wide and five hundred long all to themselves before the coast took an abrupt turn to the left, in sum the perfect area to pratctice traveling at high speed. Hayate got on the side to let them some space. As always when they could only practice a move one at a time, so to decide who'll go first team blondie turned to the fairest way to do so know to mankind, the ancient art of rock-paper-scissor; the game results were the following : after seven rough rounds, including five draws, Naruto came out victor, finally deffeating Naminé , Roxas having lost in the first round in what would later be refered as 'the time the scissor got caugh beween two hard rocks'. So the younger genin stepped in front of the other two and began to strech wich he did for nearly ten whole minute before the other boy hit him on the head "Just go already !"

"Okay, I get it ! That hurt you know ? Well, enough babble, here I come ! By the way..." he began to gather chakra through his legs "Don't even blink..." With that he disapeared.

Not even a second later a loud crash was heard, turning their head toward the sound, first thing they saw there was a rather large crater about thirty meter down the band of land, some meters from tht and a little to the left a tree was reduced to the state of sawdust and splinters,sign of a phenomenal impact, in its the remains was one dizzy genin moaning in pain. This stunned his teammates for exactly 2.469 seconds before they started laughing to tears. Once he reained enough composure Roxas expressed the collective tought "Hahaha, that's so you... I mean, you go 'look at me you don't wanna miss this' and then you screw up like that, man you were right I would have hate myself if I missed this !" Naruto looked at them angrilly before coughing some splinter causing his friends to lose it again.

After everyone's laugher subsided, their sensei cme to them "So, does anyone have an idea as to why Naruto-kun found himself in the position he's in right ?"

"Well it's Naruto-kun..." began Naminé.

"... and with almost everything has the same explanation..." continued Roxas

"... too much chakra." they concluded together.

"Do you guys even care about me being in pain ?"

"Want me to kiss it so it feels better ?" Naruto went paler than a ceratin snake sannin at that though "That's what I though... Well you kinda got lucky in your misery : you channeled so much chakra through your whole body that it shielded you from the impact. Just try not to make the ground explode under your feet next time. Be glad I have an earth affinity or you would have to refill that hole manually... " With one handsign their rampstep was as good as new and the exercise could begin again.

Unwanting to replicate the earlier fiasco, the two other youth turned devided to seek advices fromthier unlucky teammate "So, how was it like ? How did you fell ?"

"I'm not really sur I should tell you but I'll tell what I know... first it's a little like flying I guess, I never flew so I can't really know but I'm driffting her, anyway I lost control on my fifth stride so you can see what I mean ; then I guess the only thing there is to say about it is that you get a severe case of tunnel vision so taking turn must be tricky..." The following two hours were all about attaining the greater speed while using the lesser chakra and sucefully stoping at a designated location. By an hour and half they acquired decent accurancy, meaning they could stop within a fifty centimeter radius of their target and kept on praticinc for a half hour before Naminé, whose chakra reserve wasn't on par with the boys's, reached her limit and they called it a day all panting heavilly (exect Naruto of course, he's a stamina freak).

"You did good. As you see this is quite simple once you get it. It's around 9, you can rest now we'll go back to more regular training this afternoon, shunshin pratice will continue tomorow morning now let's head back to the house."

When arrived some ten minutes later Hayate escorted Tazuna to the bridge just in case while Axel was put in charge of the youngster, much to their dismay/amusement (depending of wich one). They decided to all watch some movies before lunch to pass time when it hapened, : at soon as Tsunami was out of earshot, being gone upstair to wake Inari, the fiery redhead gave Roxas a knowing smile "Tsunami-san told me about your nightly escapades..." he flashed him a thumb-up in a fashion not unlike the infamous 'good guy pose' "... good work boy, I tought Anko-chan and I scarred her off but..."

"I didn't need to remenber THAT !!!" yelled the poor girl.

"So that's why she needed sound barrier seals..." mused Naruto.

"Are we this loud ? Nah was talking about that one morning she took the wrong door..."

By this point Naminé was shaking violently and hugging her knes "Chains... snakes everyhere... Burned flesh... So much blood..." The implied images scared the two boy's psyche for months...

Axel only made a sheepish face rubbing the back of his head "Yeah, she can be a little rough at times..."

At a quart before noon everyone was already returned and on the couch trying to watch the end of a movie (wich I don't own either) despite the intense crying of Naruto and Axel.

"NOOOOO, why did HE have to die ?! Bouhouhou..." they both shouted at the same time.

"Man, stop it already, it was just some troublesome volleyball with a face painted on it..."

"No, it had a soul, Bwaaahhh !" Shouted Naruto.

"The midget is right ! And if you don't ralize that and cry then you don't have a heart !" with that being said the two crying wreck bear hugged ech other shouting "WILSOOOOOON !!!" before a sneaky frying pan attack sent them both into unconsciousness and most of all silence.

Meanwhile, in what could only be descirbed as another world, eight black coated hooded figures were holding a meeting, sitting each on a more or less elevated white throne when seven of them sudently sneezed. The one situated on the highest throne spoke up apparently unfazed by the precedent outburst "That obviously was not a natural phenomenom. If we get to the source of this sneeze we may get closer of our goal... that is your instructions." (Yes I officialy lost my mind ! Yesssss, follow the sneezing trail my loyal minions !!!!!)

« Huh, excuse me... » the one occupying the lowest throne, even lower than the ground , drew the attention of his companion "Well I was thinking... Hey don't look at me like that, I can think ! Anyway, I was thinking about all the member we lostr against the kid and I thought that maybe we could eventually take in my new friend..."

A feminine voice responde him "You realize it's not a real person ? We can't make a member out of everything you find out in trashcan, you moron."

"Don't be mad ! You'll hurt his sensibility" he holded tigh to a round object "Don't listen to her : she doesn't know what she's talking about..."

"Demyx !" came a deep voice "You know you can't keep... him. You must let go of him... Now." the last part was spoken with great authority.

"But..." he hard glare from his peers silenced him "...okay, I'll do it..." he removed his hood, revealing his you face teal eyes and blond mulet hairstyle, before bringing the spherical object to eye level gazing atthe eternal smilling face of his short lived friend "So this is the end of the road little buddy, snifff. We had good times, right ?" teary eyed he extended an arm in front of him making appear some kind of black foggish thingy "G-good-b-bye...." and he threw the ball into it.

"Now that it seems all matters are settled, you all are... dismissed..." Ordered the leader, orange eyes gleaming from under his hood.

"NOOO ! I forgot to open him an exit, we can't let him alone into a corridor of darkness, we must organize a rescue party !!"

"... could someone shut him up ?"

After a light lunch came the time everyone separated again, Hayate still guarded Tazuna at the bridge, Asuma took his team an a bunch of Naruto into a secluded part of the forest to prepare his genin to an eventual siege like confrontation against samuraï or low to mid level ninja all in various numbers, Axel had to supervise team 7 training but since Roxasvoluntered to help Naminé with her stage two Rasengan trainning it was only him and Naruto staring down at each other « Uhm, so it's just the two us then ? »

"Looks like it, got it memorized ?"

"What's with the catchphrase ?"

"Dunno, I just find it catchy, don't you have one ?"

"I used to but I lost it... »

"Oh..."

"So, what do we do now ?"

"We could spar I guess."

"No jutsu training ?"

"Well, I heard you have wind affinity and I only know fire jutsu so it could be difficult for you to learn from me..."

"But I have a fiire affinity too..."

"WHAAAAT ?! Are youu serious ?" The blond noded "You know what it means ?"

"No, what ?"

"You know that wind enhance fire, don't you ?"

"Yes, what's your poi..." a wicked grin found its way on the genin face "I can have kickass flammes !"

"No, more like super kickass flammes from the death !" (?!?!?! O_o )

"Sweet ! But how do I do that ?"

Axel face-faulted "Didn't think that far yet. » After a few seconds of reflection he spoke again « Well theorically you could mix both wind an fire chakra while performing a ire jutsu but you didn't began elemental manipulation yet, you could also fire a jutsu from one element first then one from the other slightly faster so the cross path and fuse but that would require a too great amount of control, no for someone with your chakra reserves the best way to do it would be to..."

"... make a kage bunshin and shoot both techniques at the target."

"Yeah, but you know what that means ? You have the best close quarter combat affinity of all, wind, but you can also use a long range affinity to an extent almost no one else can even dream of on your own !" The redhead had stars in his eyes, looking at the distant sky hands joined in front of his chest

"Come on, what are you waiting for ? Teach me already !"

It's beentwo hours since trainnin began and Roxas was growing worried for nearly one hour straight a black column of smoke could be seen not that far away, he hoped it was nothing serious but you were never cautious enough around fire, he shrugged before returning to his reading, if it came to this he would just have to make a dash to the house with his teammate. Speaking of Naminé...

"YAY ! I finally did it ! Roxas, look, look !" She took a new rubber ball and held it in her right hand, soon enough it bursted to pieces "So what do you think of that touth guy ?"

"Good, now do it with your bad hand." he said eye smiling, the lower part of his face hiden by his book (Kakakshi taugh you well young padawan)

"You're a jerk, you know that ?"

"At least you're not Naruto, remember he had to be able to do it in both hands at the same time to move on to the next step..."

"Okay, I'll do it... Saaaayyyy, what's this book about ?"

Another annoying eye smile "It's a secret..."

This routine went for the two folowing day, the three genin finally mastered shunshin, meaning they were able to use th move into woodland, so they all celebrated at dinner, this led to Inari snapping at them about havig reason to rejoice as they were all going to die anyway and that they didn't know what suffering was about, in short the typical emo kid's speech; of course Naruto didn't appreciate so he argued back sayng that giving up solves nothng and he didn't see the point to argue with such a crybaby, again typical hero's speech and as any confrotation emo/hero should end they both took off in different directions, Inari back to his room and Naruto to the woods. The two jonin looked at each, well it was more like Asuma glaring at Hayate as if saying "Your genin your problem, plus you took my cigs so don't count on me.", Hayate sighed and went upstair to smooth things with young Inari.

Naruto had stayed up a good portion of the night trainning so he could calm his mind, it's was only around two in the morning that he found himself relaxed enough to successfully fall asleep. He was pacefully enjoying his slumber when a russtle in the nearby bushes woke him up, he turned his head toward the sound to see an androgynious looking person with long brown hair and eyes of the same color clad in a turquoise yukata standing at the edge of the clearing he slept in. "Hello there ! Why don't you come over here so we can talk ?"

"Good morning ninja-san, my name is Haku, it's a pleasure to meet you."

As Haku approached him Nauto got a closer look of his features "Mine is Naruto. If you don't mind Haku-san you're prettier than a lot of real girls and..."

"What makes you think I'm a boy ?"

"Just a gut feeling, you're not really helping people say,you know that ?"

"I just love to see the reation of others when I tell them I'm male."

Naruto chuckled "Yeah, the look on their face must be priceless. Sorry I spoiled your fun this morning."

Haku laughed lightly "That's alright, I 'll have enough other chances on my way back."

"I suppose you're right... I don't mean to pry but what are you doing here today ?"

"A friend of mine injuried himself some days ago, I couldn't leave his side until now, I thought he could use some homemade medecine as it is nearly impossible to find some at the market."

"I see, I guess you coul use some help in picking up herbs..." Haku nodded so they both went around the clearing searching for the plants they needed.

"Say, Naruto-san, what is a ninja doing aroud here ?"

"You know of the bridge that's being built here ? Me and my team are in charge of the bridgebuilder's protection."

"Isn't that dangerous, Gato is ruthless you could very well die..."

"Well I can't really let the people here starve to death, and I don'plan on dying here either that's why I have to train hard to become the stronger that is."

"I don't quite understand,if you want to be strong so you can survive why do put yout life on the line like this ?"

"That's not what I said, it's just... How can I be there for my friends if I came to die here and now ? I'll protect them with my life if I have, and I know they wouild do the same for me. That got me a headache the first time I thought about it, I mean : what happen if I try to take a fatal blow for one of them and so he or she try to retake the blow for then I would insist but he or she would insist in return, there would be no end !"

"..." thought Haku

"But then I realized it could be useful, the guy trying to kill us would be like 'WTF !' and 'Hey, I'm trying to kill you there !' or 'Are they real ?!' then while he's distracted we double kick him in the nuts !"

"And if you're facing a Kunoichi ?"

"Easy I would..." he paused for a moment deep in thought then violently grabbed his head "GAAAHH ! MY HEAD HURTS !"

The brown haired youth chuckled "I guess you have to plan out that one now. But about what you said earlier, you mean you fight and live for your prescious people ?"

"Prescious people ? Yeah that's a way to put it. Anyway that's how we do thing in Konoha, we're all part of one big familly and look after each other... It seems I have all you needed now. » he handed him back his basket before puting his head into his weapon pounch « By the way, would your friend be suffering from cuts or any open wound by any chance ?"

Haku stiffened and disretly searched and found a senbon inside his sleeve "Yes, why do you ask ?"

Naruto smiled brightly and took a little jar from his pounch "You should try thison your friend, my girlfriend made it and it's really good stuff. Just try to tell me how good it work on your friend, she loves to have feedback on her healing creams."

Haku relaxed and accepted the jar "Thank you Naruto-san. I'm sorry but I must go back tend to my friend" he bowed and made his way out of the clearing.

Before Haku got away Naruto spoke out loud "By the way, try to get a different hairdo when you wear your mask..." Haku spun aroud and lauched a volley of senbon in the blond's general direction but he was already gone.

The rest of the week went with no major ocurence happening and the bridge was near his apparent completion, while it was only lacking about five hindred meters to reach the continent it's last sixth was sloppily built and presented various structural weaknesess due to the fact that it would be certainly destroyed during the battle the bridge was one day from its completion all knew Zabuza was going to make his move the following day so the worker were excused from work for that day. Finally the fated morning came ad the party divided, the genin of team 5, Axel and a shadow clone messenger stayed behind to guard Tazuna's familly and the rest went to the bridge.

The bridge squad's members were on edge opn their, except Naruto who looked like he knew everything was going to be alright. Once arrived to the part of the bridge that was still unfinished Naruto created a large group of clones disquised as workers wichhe sent to work. They waited for an hour before a thick mist covered the bridge, the team quickly sprang into action : the genins took a defensive formation aroud Tazuna while the jonins took the front, Asuma dispersing the mist with a wind technique. In front of the two jonin stood a mummified Zabuza and his masked accomplice, the swordman sighed "So much for a surprise attack... And you got reinforcement too, Konoha's wind master Sarutobi Asuma, if the books are correct that is... well I don't think I can beat the both of you in my current state so I guess I'll have to hear the brat's proposition..."

"What are you talking about ?"

"Let's just say that my aprentice met this kid" he pointed to Naruto « and found this note among his things once he got back » he took a piece of paper from within his arm-warmer an began to read "'I have a job for you, ten millions' so, what's you offer ?" the three jonin turned to Naruto only to see him being chocked by his beloved cousin who was shouting something about 'squandering the familly's fortune.'

Getting free from Roxas' death grip with thanks to the help of his other teammate, Naruto adressed Zabuza "It's a sensitive subject, the kind of I can't discuss in precense of Hayate-sensei and Asuma-san..." he bowed to the above-mentioned ninja "I know you have many questions but could you leave us alone with Zabuza-san and Haku-san, I assure you that Hokage-sama gave me and my team the authority to conclude such agreement as a part of a triple-S ranked special assignment. As you may have guessed the mention of such assignment's existence constitue itself a triple-S secret..." then he crossed his arm over his chest and close his eyes while everyone was starring at him like he grew a second head, after some seconds of silence he opened his eyes wich now showed exitement "So, how was I ? I still suck a bit at the snobish aspect but I'm getting better, don't you think ?" It was like time itself stopped aroud him, as if the world stood still while it digested what just toook place...

Then, as if nothing ever happened, the two jonin noded and left with Tazuna, resolving to bring the subject withe the aged Hokage. The kiri missing nin chucled at seeing the two getting dismissed by a mere genin "You're quite the surprissing one, boy. Never thought you had a 'all business' mode... So, what do you want from the gruesome demon of the mist ?"

"I learned from the best. First I would like to know your reason for wanting the Mizukage dead."

"Why does it matter ?"

"I don't want to finance a possible future threat to Konoha, that's all."

"I see... Well short story : he was a fool; long story : Haku make them cry..."

Haku took off his mask "Very well Zabuza-sama. The land of water is cursed by a profound hatred for Kekkei Genkai," he extende his right hand, a sphere of his forming in his plam « this is the cause of the systematic hunting and killing of wielder of such power. My father himself killed my mother and atempted to end my life, I only survived by accidently killing him and the mob he gathered..."

"What you must know is that this purge has been organized by the two previous Mizukage : the sandaime progressivly stripped the bloodline wielding clans of their privileges, in retalation the clans leaved the village and settled down in the countryside, about twenty years ago, when the Yondaime came to power he began the great war against Uzu and asked for the clans' aid and they refused, it took us four years and over two thousand nija to win, the Mizukage held the clans responsible for the heavy losses and the populace followed his example. The calns were scattered all across the land, they stood no chance. Me and the other swordmen only realized this when we brouth the matter with the Yondaime and he refused to pardon the survivors; we couldn't let Kiri destroy such potential so me and three others decided to take drastic measures since we thought he was in a weakened state, as you see we were wrong."

"So Madara was the Yondaime Mizukage, but why would he willingly weaken a village he's leading ?"

"Come on ! That's an easy one, what are the two main charateristics of an Uchiha ?"

"Sharingan and oversized ego. What's the connection with the massacre Kyuubi-sama?"

"Okay, one more hint : the sharingan can't copy other bloodlines."

"You mean he caused that simply because they could do something he couldn't ?!"

"That's how it works when you think the whole world should be handed to you on a silver platter, plus considering his immortality it's safe to presume he was the Sandaime too, he must have had to asume a new identity to avoid drawing too much atention ..."

"Why did you think him to be weakened ?"

"As you know we atempted our coup ten years ago, well two years before he suddntly reclused himself and he only made public apparitions behind a veil and no one was authorized to see him, we thought him dying of illness."

"And when you faced you got the lovely surprise to see some one-eyed guy claiming he fooled you for years with a basic ilusion... » If Zabuza's jaw wasn't encased in bandages it would have certainly hit the ground « No need to look at me like that, we of Konoha have a little score to settle with that guy."

Naminé and Roxas who had been silent untilthat abruptly understood what their fellow blond was planning "You the Mizukage was HIM !" shouted the boy.

"You could have at least told us before we came here !" insisted the girl.

Naruto jus scratched the back of his head sheepishly "I kinda forgot..."

"Why is that each I take you seriously you do something that make me regret it in the second ?" asked Zabuza "So, I take that what you want of me concern the Yondaime, right?"

"Yeah, you probably know this first hand but a direct assault won't do any good... What we want of you is to sabotage his interest in Kiri, even in the case where he is no longer in power or in the village he's not the kind of man to slimply let such a tool completly slip out of his influence. Anyway, in both cases : you steal missions you know will benefit him and assasinate his most important supports in the vilage."

"Okay... and what happen to me and my aprentice if I refuse ?"

"As long as you don't atack any of us and swear youu'll tell no one of what we discussed we'll let you go."

"You seem honest to me, I take your offer on two conditions, first : Gato, that little rat, planned to stab me in the back after the fight, it's clearly a rupture of our contract so I'll help you take him down but I want five million from his account as compensation, I'll tell what the second is once all is over..."

"Sounds fair to me, that's a deal !"

The excluded members of the group were called back and Haku explained he heard some samurai talking about an assault on the bridge led by Gato himself wich was iminent, just as he finished Naruto got a dazed look on his face for an instant "Forty thugs attacked the house, they've been taken care of effortlessly, it's seems my clone gave someinspirational speech and promised fireworks to the kid who's now gathering the villagers. Stupid me and my big mouth..."

Soon after that the evil businessman and an army of about two hundred swordmen arrived "So you betrayed me ? Bah, I would have kill you no matter what... Men, you know what you have to do."

Zabuza smirked and was ready to take them all down when Asuma steped in front of him "Mind to share ? It's been one week since my last cig and I'll go crazy if I don't punch on something soon."

Then Hayate came to his side, sword drawn "And what would I look like if I stayed on side while you two fight a battle of epic proportion ?"

"I say it's time for me to see what you Konoha guys got !" and the three elite nin charged an enemy that outnumbered them seventy to one the sun rays descending upon them surrounding them in a golden halo.

Roxas and Naruto whistled in admiration "That's one hell of an epic genjutsu Nami-chan." the young girl blushed and managed to sputter a soft thank you.

The author could describe this battle as an intricate dance of steel, blood ans flesh, that the hopes and dreams of the people of waves took form around the balde of the three shinobi slaugthering their vile opponentsut it wouldn't do justice to the scene that unfolded before the eyes of three genin, one ice user and one old man, what they saw can only be transcribed as the youthful pinacle of youth. For those who came after all the fighting was done, aka villagers plus team 5 and Axel, it was just a bloody mess...

Eventually one week later the bridge was finished and cleaned up, Gato possesions minus Zabuza part were given back to the people who decided to hold a great party with all the ninjas, Naruto kept his promise to Inari and convinced the party comitee to let him take found from the booty wich resulted in a firework galore costing nearly two billion ryo (everyone discovered all too late that Inari can't get enough fireworks, I swear kids this days...). The party went all night and cost another billion ryo in sake and other alcoholic beverages (it is my duty to inform the reader that Gato's fortune was estimated at three billion and five hundre million ryo, and that the people of wave lost his sens of values during its oppression) and clotured by a vote for the name over the bridge and the commemorative message associated, of course everyone being sleep deprived, drunk or both, the vote was far from a formality but they managed it somehow with very close results :

Great Naruto Bridge, in honor of the hero who brouught back hope to our land : 208 (143 were clones but since everyone was drunk nobody noticed)

Great Beer Brigde, for all the good times : 207

Great Akuroku Bridge, 'cause fangirls count too, tcha : 56

Great Grasshopper Bridge, to the martial artists who shed their blood on this very bridge : 102

The next the nins had to go back to Konoha, Zabuza and Haku tagged along to get the payment from Naruto, and made their emotials goodbyes. After some hours of walk Naruto remembered he forgot something important "Say Zabuza, what's your second condition for you-know-what ?"

"Oh that, I want you to..."

Omake : Haku's quest

Haku came back from his encounter with Naruto. He never thought his hair would betray him one day but the blond just proved him wrong... well at least he made it back in one piece and with his basket so he could heal Zabuza-sama. Speaking of healing, he didn't know what to make of the little jar that was given to him, knowing its provenance it could very well be poisonous, in his indescision he let it be : he still have more than enough herbs to make some potent medecine so he began to empty his basket. To his surprise he found a folded paper among the various plants, after a brief glance to its contents he deduced that the supposed healing slave has to be a token of goodwill. As you're never cautious enough when you walk the path of the ninja so he decided to experiment on himself (better him than Zabuza-sama) so he made a cut on one of his fingers then opened the jar « Uhm, smells like lavender... » and applied some of the cream an the cut wich healed in a matter of seconds « Impressive ».He quickly made his various concoctions on ointments and applied them to his master, saving the miraculous salve for the two major wounds on his arm and leg. When he finished his care Zabuza brow began to coverin sweet and his wounded limbs to turn purple, his eyes shot open in pain and his nostril took in the inusual scent.

"Haku, tell me its no lavander I'm smelling..."

"Why would you ask Zabuza-sama ?" Haku asked nervously.

"'cause I'm freaking allergic to lavander ! NOW MOVE YOUR ASS AND FIND A WAY TO FIX IT !"

The ice-manipulator quickly made his escapeand stood panting at the hide-out's entrance "So what am I supossed to do now ?" he paced frantically trying to figure what to do to heal allergies ? Allhe knew in the medical field he learned on the field patching injuries and neutralizing toxins he was familiar with, but he was unable to find a cure to some random basic medical issue... Then he remenber some old grimoire he and Zabuza-sama found during their travel, he didn't know why but he felt the solution to his problem lied within that book.

Some hours later Haku was in front of Konoha's gates to get the last ingredient he needed, as he stepped inside the ninja village he couldn't help but wonder at the misterious powers of the ancient book : at first all of its pages were blank but after an instant word appeared forming the formula of a powerfull antialergic, even stranger when he finished to read the ingredient list he found himself transported to an unknow location where he had to fend off various creatures before obtainning the first component of the healing potion : some kind of blood red flower. The cycle of teleportations and item collection went on for some time and now he needed yaoi fangirl hair (it will make sense, evantually) , being gifted by a sharp mind he immediatly deduced that such thing could only be found upon a yaoi fangir's scalp so he walked through the village in search of girlish squeal.

Soon enough he found a large bunch of all kind of women, young to old, skinny to chubby... Haku cleared his throat "Excuse me. I'm searching for Yaoi fangirls, could it be..."

"Kyaa !!! » squeled a green eyed fangirl whose jet-balck hair were tied in two long ponytail « You came to join us, right, right ? That's sooooo great, you'll be the 258th ! I'm number 257 I'm so happy to meet you, happy, happy happy ! Aren't you having fun ? I sure am !" the girl was obviously high on sugar.

"Sorry to disapoint you but I'm a boy..." it was the wrong thing to say as all the chatter died down and all looked at him in a disturbing way.

"GET HIM !!!!"

Haku groaned, his head was hurting and he couldn't move nor see anything so he assumed he had been knocjed out then bound and blinfolded. He could make out the sound of whispers and a low humming, he felt himself pulled on his feet an dragged towrd the sounds. Finally his captors stoped to lead him aroud aroud and removed his quickly took on his surrouding, he was in the middle of a circle made of fangirls, some of them apparently chanting prayer or something of the kind, in front of him was a boy, as bound as he was, whose hair stangely ressembled a duck butt, a look of pure terror was on his face. Shurikens flew at them freeing them from the ropes that constricted them, unsure as of what to do neither dare to move before a imperious feminine voice boomed "LET THE MATING CEREMONY BEGIN !" Haku understood what was to happen and, for the first time in his existence, ffelt true fear, the other boy did too judging by his now soiled pants, Haku swearred his once black eyes turned red as the fangirls closed on on them. Just as they reached them something strange ocured: a black something appeared over them and a ball fell from it distracting the yaoi forces, seeing his chance he close his eyes and grabbed what was closer to him an pulled earning him a yelp of pain and then all the noise ceassed. He opened his eyes to see hmself back at the hideout, a strand of black hair in his hand, he smilled to himself and went to make Zabuza-sama's medecine, but not before observing a minute of silence for the boy he left behind...

Ten minutes later Zabuza-sama's whole body turned blue "This is not what was suposed to happen..." the faithful aprentice took the grimoire and opened it, the letters soon appeared forming this message :

If one was to use emo boy hair in lieu of yaoi fangirl hair the potion would gain noxious properties... while the patient will be cured of his alllergy's effects, a powerful toxine will cause full body paralysis during three to four days. This paralysis can be cure by the use of a correctly prepared potion.

Haku threw the book to fire before he could be transported away "Screw this..."

Meanwhile, in Konoha, Sasuke was frantically coursing through hand signsas the fangirl snapped out of their stupor "Kinjutsu : Plot no Jutsu !!!" All the fangirls got replaced by tomatoes "I love this technique..."

Some hours latera man, wearing a cap bearing the number 596-03 on a metal plate walked in on a clearing filled by tomatoes' remains, among them he found what looked like a soccer ball with a smiley painted on it and an inscription on the back who read HI, I'm liitle buddy, if you find me please return me to my friend Demyx in The-World-That-Never-Was "Yosh, this is a new mission for... Courier ninja 596-03 !!!" and with that he took the ball under his arm and went running toward the setting sun.

AN: Sorry for the delay, seems that the gods of fanfiction didn't want me me to post this chapter : first my keyboard died, then my comp couldn't connect to internet (by the way, trying to read fanfics on your wii will get you headaches) so I made you a longer chapter... So, a lot of randomness, no it's up to you to find the hints hidden through the randomness. Now I would like to apologize to all Yagura's fans (if there's any...), yeah our favorite pink eyed guy is not Mizukage in my story but don't worry he'll make an appearance later. Now concerning the latest developments of the manga... so there is a Jyubi, whose body is trapped insinde the moon and soul and powers divided into nine parts sealed into humans, remind me of Grandia II's plot (it's a great game, you should play it)... then Madara get an Evangelion moment by wanting to fuse with this divine entity nd put the entire world into some huge illusion of peace and no suffering, as an ancient chinesse hermit once said 'master the plot or the plot will master you'... well, what I'm trying to say is : when the f*** are we gonna get some serious NaruHina moments ?! To finish on a more positive note : DEMYX IS AWESOME !!!!