Fragments
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Conversations
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Naruto smiled in relief as he spotted the tall walls of Konoha, if he had to take one more day in close proximity of Zabuza and Sakura trying to outdo each other in tales of bloody slaughter he would go mad.
And the worst thing? Haku and Sasuke had always managed to take up the rear guard, while Kakashi had somehow managed to scout ahead. Sticking Naruto with making sure the two psychos didn't do anything they would regret.
Luckily neither actually had the capability to do anything drastic. Zabuza still hadn't recovered from his faked death, thanks to the forced march. And Sakura's ribs would take a bit longer to heal still. Not that you would notice, since she walked as carefree as the rest of them.
But Haku assured them, her ribs would likely take another week before they were healed fully.
"... so there I stood, surrounded by over twenty of the guys bodyguards." Zabuza said a bloodcurdling smile on his lips. "And the other 20 bodyguards just stared at me. Their friends broken bodies made a rather nice scenery for that final battle."
Sakura nodded. "Yeah, the enemy fights so much worse if they are terrified of you. Strike hard and fast first, then just mop up the shaken survivors."
Zabuza laughed. "Exactly. Damn kid, how did Konoha manage to make you? The other two might be some soft ass pansies, hell Kakashi seems to be one. But you are something mist would be proud to call their own."
Sakura shrugged modestly. "Oh, I picked it up here and there."
Naruto rolled his eyes in disgust. Seeing those two bonding over their respective killing sprees...
Bah, better than them going at each other's throat he supposed.
"Well, here we are." Kakashi said. Naruto noticed the relief swinging in his voice.
"Glad you can offload Zabuza on somebody else?" Naruto asked snidely.
Kakashi nodded, a stupid grin spread all over his face. "Immensely. But I can also discuss your story with the Hokage."
Naruto felt a cold shiver run up his spine. "Hopefully we won't end up as Ibiki's chew toys." He muttered.
Kakashi shrugged. "I doubt it. You still have the Kyuubi, Sasuke had his Sharingan and Sakura has you two vouching for her."
Naruto glanced back at her, laughing loudly with Zabuza about one crude joke or another. "Kinda sad that she even needs it." He muttered dejectedly.
Kakashi nodded. "Well, if what she said is true, then I can understand her. The war had been hard on me as well. And if I hadn't had sensei..."
"Yeah, I can see that." Naruto agreed. And anyway, Sakura didn't seem to really enjoy it. She might laugh, but Naruto could see a tightness lingering around her eyes. He narrowed his own at that. She seemed to force herself into enjoying it? Did she tell herself she had to enjoy bloodshed to survive or something?
"Hey, Kakashi!" One of the gate guards greeted them. "Who's that?" He pointed at Zabuza.
Looking back at their captive lazily Kakashi shrugged. "Oh, just Zabuza of the Mist. We captured him and his apprentice in Wave."
Snickering, Naruto looked away from the bug eyed chunin. For a group of genin fresh out of the academy to accomplish that... sure they had Sharingan Kakashi, but still.
"And I didn't even have to move a muscle, my cute little genin did all the work for me." He patted Naruto's head. Forcing Naruto to resist the urge to snap at his hand, annoying bastard.
The two chunin slowly swiveled their heads toward Naruto, then Sakura, then Sasuke.
Sasuke and Haku had arrived as well, chatting amiably about hair care products... Naruto didn't know whether to scream or not. On the one hand, they were talking about the various uses of nice hair in the ninja life. For example, if you took the time to make sure your hair looked perfect people always assumed you didn't take your training seriously and thus underestimated you.
Or you had an easier time passing for a civilian with nice hair... on the other hand, they were talking about hair! Like freaking girls!
Bah, Naruto would have no part in it. Luckily neither of them actually always talked about stuff like that and they managed to include Naruto in many of their talks. He had gotten to know Haku a fair bit better by now.
Who knew the boy liked the giant sword of Zabuza and hoped he would be able to wield it one day?
Naruto still thought his breaking out in laughter at the image of Haku wielding that monstrosity was a perfectly reasonable reaction.
"Anyway, we need to see the Hokage, so he can decide what happens with Zabuza and Haku." Kakashi finished and walked on, waving his genin to follow him.
Sakura and Zabuza hadn't stopped their conversation at all, they did however lower the volume considerably. Suddenly Sakura punched Zabuza in the arm. "Oh that's evil!" She shouted, laughing loudly.
Zabuza rubbed his arm with a grimace, causing Naruto to smirk at him. Served him right for corrupting Sakura further.
Though Naruto supposed from Zabuza's perspective having a thoroughly bruised arm was a small price to pay for keeping Sakura away from Haku. She amused herself by freaking him out, sneaking into his bed at night, making lewd suggestions during the day.
Naruto didn't know whether she actually meant them or if she just tried to get a rise out of Haku. Could be both at once, could be one or the other.
He and Sasuke had made it clear to Haku that giving in wouldn't be an option. Not necessarily because she wouldn't enjoy it, but there were just too many unknowns. For all they knew Sakura bit the heads off of her lovers in the middle of the act. And after all the trouble they went through to save Haku, Naruto just wouldn't risk it.
He smiled at the people around him, not his demented grin he wore in his youth. He could recognize that as counterproductive, it had been more of a challenge anyway. Just the quite smile of somebody who understood their fears and worries.
They had a point kinda. If he lost control... well not much of Konoha would be left. A certain amount of fear wasn't entirely unreasonable.
Many people watched him uneasily, but most people just ignored him, which irritated him more. At least he could change the opinion of those who glared at him, those who didn't even look?
Bah, after the chunin exams he would get other looks and from there it would be entirely different anyway.
Sakura and Zabuza had stopped talking, he noticed. Zabuza instead watched the rooftops and the streets, his hand going for the sword handle it expected to find just over the shoulder. However Kakashi had carried the sword, just like Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto carried the rest of Zabuza's and Haku's equipment.
Just because they surrendered didn't mean they were trusted after all.
Haku and Sasuke hadn't stopped talking, but they had shifted the topic, to what Haku would do in Konoha. Which largely depended on their talking with the Hokage. Naruto really hoped the Hokage could spare Zabuza's life. Naruto wanted Haku to integrate into Konoha, but without Zabuza and worse a Zabuza killed by Konoha that would be a pipe dream.
In the tower they were quickly ushered up, into the Hokage's office. The capture of one of the Seven Swordsmen obviously was something the Hokage needed to deal with and fast.
As they entered the Hokage busied himself with some scant papers on his desk. He quickly looked up though and smiled at them. "Kakashi and Team Seven. It's good to see you." He frowned at Zabuza and Haku. "And who might these two be?" He asked mildly. Naruto narrowed his eyes, he had no doubt whatsoever that the Hokage knew exactly who they were.
"Eh, the pretty one counts as spoils of war." Sakura piped up. "And I'm willing to forgo mission pay if I can keep him. I have the prettiest collar that would go so well with his eyes."
Sasuke couldn't entirely suppress his smirk, and honestly Naruto had trouble keeping his own off his face.
Kakashi somehow managed to remain impassive and the Hokage just raised an eyebrow at Sakura.
Haku on the other hand hid behind Naruto and Zabuza glared at Sakura. "I said it before, you won't turn Haku into your pet... no matter how much I like you."
Sakura snorted at him. "And who's gonna stop me? You?"
Zabuza sneered right back. "No, him." He pointed at Naruto, who looked at the glaring Sakura and nodded
"Sorry, no human pets for you. The landlord wouldn't approve I'm sure." At least Naruto's hadn't, when he tried to bring in that badger... in retrospective it had been clear from the get go... and the badger had fought pretty badly and would have made a shitty pet anyway.
Sakura huffed dejectedly but kept quiet from that point on.
The Hokage looked at Kakashi with a raised eyebrow. "And what am I supposed to do with them?" He asked him.
Kakashi shrugged and grinned in that way that pretty much said. 'It's not my problem anymore, now that I'm here you deal with it, that's your job.'
Naruto noted that the old man's eyes could twitch pretty neatly, conveying a lot of annoyance with just one little twitch.
"Hey old man, don't ask Kakashi, ask us! We captured them. Shouldn't we get a say what happens to them?" Naruto grinned disarmingly at the old man. It had always worked in the past.
But now the old man looked at him kinda...distant. Naruto sighed, he had changed a fair bit from the little kid the Hokage expected, which cut a bit into their closeness he supposed. Still the old man did raise an eyebrow. "And what would you want me to do with them?" He asked dubiously.
Naruto didn't stop grinning, just what he wanted to hear, even if with a bit more doubt than he would have liked.
"Let them live in Konoha." He said proudly.
The sad smile the Hokage gave him hadn't been unexpected really.
"I can't just let two enemy nin join our village as ninja Naruto. It's much too dangerous." He shook his head.
"I don't want both of them to join the forces, just Haku. As long as Zabuza is here and he's alright Haku will be loyal, right?" He looked at the boy who nodded slowly back, though he made it quite clear just how dubious he was of Naruto's plan.
The old man sighed tiredly. "Even then, we have treaties with Mist; we are obligated to hand Zabuza over to them. If we don't, they don't need to hand over our missing nin either."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "So what? The only missing nin that would even be in Zabuza's league are Itachi, Orochimaru and Madara... and quite frankly if either of them are ever captured by Mist we have bigger problems than Mist not handing them over."
He didn't chuckle at the Hokage's expression as he imagined the nin that managed to capture either of those.
"Maybe." The old man conceded. "Still Zabuza is dangerous, we can't just have him walk around the village." He glared at Naruto. "And before you suggest posting a guard on him, we can't just delegate a jonin to watch him for days on a time."
Sasuke piped up. "It could be a vacation post or something, Zabuza's not going to try anything with Haku here either. They are kinda codependent like that."
"I'm not." Zabuza said harshly.
Though when Sakura muttered something in his ear, he turned away. "Ok maybe I am..." He admitted.
Sakura smirked victorious and Haku looked at her and Zabuza with not a small amount of wonder in his eyes.
"See? He won't start trouble." Naruto pointed out to the old man.
The Hokage leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. "I'll admit, the thought of having the demon of the Mist in Konoha is somewhat tempting, on the other hand having the demon of the Mist in Konoha is also very troubling. You know what he did to his graduation class."
Naruto nodded. But he knew he had the Hokage, now he just had to sweeten the deal. Having some pull with the people in power always had some advantages.
"Well for one I can tell you where some of Orochimaru's bases are." He opened the negotiations. "And I suppose Zabuza won't mind telling Ibiki all sorts of secrets about Mist in exchange for his life and a lack of new scars."
"What makes you think that brat?" Zabuza sneered angrily.
Naruto merely looked at him, an eyebrow raised. Zabuza sighed and backed down. "Fine, you're right, I don't like those bastards from Mist enough not to tattle."
Nodding Naruto turned back to the Hokage, who had already recovered from the shock of Naruto's revelation. He had wiped his face and looked at Naruto very, very dangerously. "How do you know where they are?" He asked, his voice hard.
Naruto had expected that though. He glanced at Zabuza. "After we have finished the negotiations. And Zabuza is out of here. Actually let's make it part of the deal." Not that Kakashi didn't already know, but he kept quiet for now, watching how this would play out.
The Hokage glared at him, but a glance at Zabuza made him see the wisdom of that.
Then his smile returned. "You know who Orochimaru is, how dangerous he is, don't you?" He asked genially.
Naruto nodded carefully. "And you want me to believe you would keep that information back from me, just to protect a criminal like Zabuza?" The Hokage asked.
Naruto grimaced, damn, his bluff got called. "Well, not Zabuza, I care more about Haku, but Haku's only happy if Zabuza isn't dead..."
The old man nodded, a real smile on his face now.
"And yeah, I would have told you anyway... damn it old man, couldn't you have just let me get away with it?" Naruto glared at the bastard in front of him.
"If you want to become Hokage you will have to be able to bluff better Naruto." Was the amused reply. Bastard, using his goals against him...
"Meh, I suppose." Naruto grumbled.
"Still, those bases, together with Zabuza's information would be rather useful." Sarutobi mused.
"But not quite enough eh old fart?" Sakura piped up, grinning evilly at Naruto.
"Hey, do you want to have Haku around to play with?" Naruto fired back.
"I thought he wasn't a toy?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.
"He isn't, but I doubt that would stop you from playing with him."
"True... well I know about a few of Madara's bases, I can probably lead a task force there." Sakura shrugged.
Slowly Naruto looked at the Hokage. The expression on his face... absolutely hilarious. To find out a genin had that kind of info...
"How?" The old man whispered.
"Sakura shrugged dismissively. "Hey, after Zabuza's gone alright? Besides, I might be wrong. There are some things that... well after Zabuza's gone."
"That... that would be... I believe you have just bought Zabuza's life... and his full health... if he agrees to a full disclosure, of course." The old man had been visibly shaken by their revelations.
"By the way, I have the mangekyo sharingan." Sasuke piped up.
Wow, watch the Hokage turn to stone at that revelation.
"Uhh, why mention that now?" Naruto asked his friend.
"I felt left out. You were telling him cool things, but I had nothing to tell him." He shrugged.
"Heh, attention whore." Sakura sniped. Luckily Sasuke ignored it, Naruto didn't want them squabbling in front of the Hokage.
The old man shook his head quietly while looking at Sasuke. "Can you..." He started saying, but then Sasuke activated his eyes, showing off the sharp edges of his tomoe.
"Incredible... somebody so young..." The Hokage muttered. Hmm, so he knew about that little effect of the sharingan? Naruto filed it away. He supposed that if Itachi had really worked for the Hokage he would have known about it... or Itachi had told him in an effort to keep Danzo in check.
"So, Zabuza remains healthy and whole, as long as he doesn't cause any trouble?" Naruto asked.
Slowly the old man nodded. "I... yes, the both of them will have to go through a security check by Ibiki, nothing too intrusive of course, and both will have to remain in the village under constant guard... for quite some time." The Hokage looked at them, searching for any hint of defiance.
But Zabuza merely sighed resigned. "Not as if I can do much against the kids. If they wanted to they could keep me healthy and whole while beating the shit out of me." He grumbled.
The Hokage raised an eyebrow at that. "Very well, Matsuri?" He called for somebody.
A young chunin came in quickly. "Could you collect a jonin guard for these two and escort them to Ibiki? And make sure Ibiki only asks them questions, no torture whatsoever... unless they cause trouble, if they do he has permission to do whatever is necessary."
Matsuri nodded and gestured for them to follow him, which they did surprisingly meekly.
"Did we break Zabuza or something?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well... at least his ego. I mean beaten by three totally unknown genin? That had to hurt." Sasuke shrugged.
The old man watched them as well as Kakashi, then he turned to Naruto. "I trust you Naruto, that is one reason I made this trade, I trust in your judgment, but... I'm not certain..."
Naruto nodded, not entirely unexpected. He pulled his jacket and shirt off, revealing his stomach. Then he pulled on his chakra and the familiar spiral seal appeared on his stomach.
"Well, that..." The old man started, but Naruto wasn't done yet, he pulled some of the Kyuubi's chakra out. Sakura hissed distasteful, not in fear, but he could feel the anger rolling off her. Keeping this up for long probably wouldn't be conductive for his health. Especially if he wanted to avoid killing her, so he shut the chakra down quickly.
"As you can see, I can control the Kyuubi to a certain degree." Naruto grinned at the flabbergasted old man. Flabbergasted and slightly afraid as well.
"Naruto... how?" He asked.
Kakashi coughed. "Time travel."
The Hokage glared at him sharply. "Don't be absurd!" He snapped, before he looked at them. And stopped. "He's serious?" He asked, looking at them, searching for any hint of falsehood.
Sakura shrugged. "It's not quite accurate, but it's the easiest explanation and the only one I actually bothered to listen too. Madara had the habit to ramble on and on and on... bah, I've been lucky to remember as much as I did."
"Madara... you talked to him?" The old man leaped at the topic.
Sakura nodded. "I worked for him. Got him some rare stuff, books, scrolls, drugs. You know anything you might need for chakra research."
As expected the Hokage looked at her in a mixture of horror and disgust.
"Why would you work for that madman?" He asked quietly.
"Hmm?" Sakura looked at him, her face a study of boredom. "Maybe because Konoha had been destroyed years ago. The last survivors scattered through the world... or what's been left of it. Maybe because he was one of the few that could actually fight me and stand a chance of winning. Though mostly because he offered me a way out of that hellhole." Her face twitched while she said that, not much, barely noticeable really, but it did.
The Hokage had paled. "And you all..." He whispered.
Sasuke shook his head. "Nah, she's from an alternate time line or something. Where I come from my father sacrificed himself, rather than Naruto's father. Threw a spanner into Madara's plans really, since the Uchiha were integrated quite firmly into Konoha, instead of driven to the sidelines."
The Hokage looked down for a second, away from Sasuke, then he nodded sadly. "I see." He looked at Naruto, probably expecting something similar.
"Eh, my time line looked pretty similar to this one... Sakura's as well I suppose... well until after the invasion." Naruto answered easily.
"Invasion?" The Hokage and Kakashi echoed each other.
"Yes, invasion." Sakura repeated. "Sound and Sand plan to invade Konoha at the finals of the chunin exams. Though really it's mostly Orochimaru playing one of his little games." Sakura shrugged.
"Orochimaru..." The Hokage sighed. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Eh, he's also after Sasuke... but I doubt he'll succeed this time." Naruto added.
"This time?" The Hokage asked. "I'm feeling a headache coming on." He added, massaging his head.
"Well, thanks to the whole Uchiha massacre Sasuke kinda became obsessed with revenge, Orochimaru preyed on that. And well... Orochimaru's cursed seal and Itachi's mind rape kinda... well... "Naruto trailed off, he didn't need to add anything anyway. The old man understood.
"And why do you think... ah right, he's not obsessed with revenge."
Naruto grinned back. "I'm actually wondering what he'll do once he meets Itachi. It should be fairly interesting."
Sasuke whistled innocently. "I might have to borrow your expertise on pranks for that Naruto."
"You got it." Naruto nodded grinning.
"What exactly happened during the invasion?" The old man tried to steer the conversation back on track.
Sakura answered for them. "Well, Sand brought their own crazy Jinchuriku, Gaara, he went mad, Naruto flattened him and somehow healed him or something. Don't ask me what exactly he did... and damn, all this talking made me thirsty." She pulled a ever present bottle of sake out of nowhere and guzzled it down.
"Ahh, that hit the spot. Anyway, no idea what Naruto did, all I know is he said some stuff to Gaara and the loser leaves. Meanwhile you were killed by Orochimaru, so Naruto and Jirayia were sent to collect Tsunade to become the next Hokage."
"And failed of course." The old man said.
Naruto laughed. "Ha! You should have more faith in me old man. I succeeded, totally."
Sakura shrugged. "That he did, he somehow brought her back, fat lot of good it did. After he and Sasuke defected she broke down and made way for Danzo... yay we have a warmongering idiot for a Hokage. Not fun the next few years lemme tell you."
Naruto grimaced, way to rain on his parade. "I obviously didn't defect where I'm from. She did a superb job there." He grinned at the Hokage, but he looked sharply at Sakura.
"Why did Naruto defect?" He asked.
"How should I know?" She countered. "He just disappeared one day. No explanation given just gone. He showed up a few years later, leading some sort of monster army. I have no idea what happened. For all I know the Kyuubi got the better of him." She shrugged. "Or he went mad because his lover had a thing for older men, no idea really."
Ohh, Naruto would get her for that one.
The old man leaned back in his seat, then slowly, ever so slowly looked at Naruto. "You managed to bring Tsunade back as Hokage you said?" He asked with deceptive innocence.
"I can do it again. No problem really." He grinned, that should make sure the old man got to enjoy the end of his life at least a little bit.
The old man smiled back. "If you do manage it... well I don't think I can reward you appropriately, but a promotion to chunin should be in it, don't you think?" He asked.
"Huh? We aren't going to enter the chunin exams?"
"Well... if we assume what you are saying is true, then you all are above chunin level already, right?"
Naruto nodded slowly and he could see Sakura and Sasuke do the same.
"Then what point is there in entering you? It would be rather unfair for the other genin wouldn't it?"
Kakashi snorted in the background.
"You disagree Kakashi?" The old man asked.
"No, I'm in total agreement. The other genin would get slaughtered. They wouldn't stand the slightest chance." He chuckled at the thought. "They beat Zabuza without breaking a sweat sir. Mere genin, even this Gaara wouldn't stand a chance really."
The old man nodded. "See, even he agrees."
Naruto groaned, he had looked forward to acing them easily, then he narrowed his eyes. "Let's make a deal, I find and drag back Tsunade and you let me enter into the exams. I want to do them. I failed the first time, hell I never ever managed to do them a second time! For fucks sake, I was still a genin when I faced Madara! I want that promotion, and I want it fair and square!"
"You do realize that the chunin exams are only one way to become a chunin? They are the most public way, sure but not the only way." The old man said.
Naruto looked at his teammates. Sakura chuckled darkly and Sasuke grinned in anticipation. "You two want to enter the exams as well don't you?" He asked.
"Hell yeah, that should be fun." Sakura shouted, and emptied her bottle.
"Ohhh yes, this will be so much fun!" Sasuke added.
"I totally support them there." Kakashi added, somehow a little yen sign had appeared in his eye.
The Hokage groaned. "I will not..."
"Then it's no early retirement for you... or rather late retirement..." Naruto quickly attacked.
The old man glared at him. "Do you really think I can't call your bluff?" He glared at him.
"I can totally prevent Orochimaru from killing you." Naruto grinned back insolently. "No need for Tsunade to come back then. Years more of having to worry about the village. And I'm sure I can steal every single Icha Icha book from you, without you being able to do..."
"Enough... you've won. I pity those poor souls in the exam, but better them than me." The Hokage sighed.
Naruto nodded, keeping his expression passive, he could celebrate later.
"Well... since you managed to catch a high class missing nin I'll assume the mission didn't go as planned?" The old man quickly changed the subject.
Naruto blinked confused. "Huh?"
"We can't do anything about the Invasion at the moment, we still have a lot of time to plan. The exams don't start for another two weeks after all. So I would prefer if you had some time to gather your thoughts and present me, or better Ibiki, he's better at ferreting every bit of useful information out... don't look at me like that, I mean he's good at debriefing, spotting things you might miss, not torturing you."
"He wouldn't be able to keep us down anyway." Sasuke snorted.
"Maybe." The old man said dubiously, but Naruto had no problem letting him keep his illusions.
"Anyway, I want to give you some time off before he's grilling you. Not to mention I have to order my own thoughts as well. What you have told me..."
All three of them nodded, they could get why he needed some time to think.
And maybe discuss them with Kakashi?
"So, a high class missing nin, so the employer lied... which is unfortunate, since we can't pay you the full..." Kakashi coughed again.
"Actually, since the situation improved dramatically thanks to us, Wave managed to pay us quite generously, we have received payment for an a-class mission as well as a bonus for the deception up front." Kakashi lied with a straight face.
The Hokage blinked, but nodded. "I see, well in that case each of you receives the full a-class payment of course as well as the bonus. Now, dismissed and enjoy yourself."
He gestured for them to leave.
They quickly left the office, whatever he wanted to talk to Kakashi about, he wanted it to be private, and they had no desire to intrude, besides Naruto might not want to hear what was said, the revelations had caused a rift between him and the old man, he hoped he could bridge that rift given time, but... better not think about it.
-o-
The Hokage stared at Kakashi for a long time, smoke slowly rose from his pipe. After about a minute he spoke up.
"This has gone remarkably smooth." He said.
Kakashi nodded, the kids had quite the important information.
"Do you think we can trust them?" The Hokage added.
Now Kakashi remained silent for a long time. He trusted them, trusted them to tell him the truth, even Sakura, maybe especially Sakura. She looked at him... a lot like his team members in Anbu had looked at him, unconditional trust, mixed with admiration. However, there was something there his old subordinates had missed, the knowledge that he could fail! That even he made mistakes.
"That depends on what you mean by trust. Do I trust them to tell the truth? Yes. I have no idea how it's possible, but I fully trust them to tell us the truth... as they see it. Do I trust them to be right? Well, as they said, they are from different time lines, that much is certain. Just because this time line is similar to one of theirs doesn't mean it actually is. There might be quite fundamental differences here."
Kakashi shook his head. "And even if I trust them, we have to be careful, I can be wrong. We will need to watch them. Especially if they are telling the truth. They are used to behaving differently than what people expect, that might get them into trouble."
The Hokage nodded slowly. "I agree, I assume you want to continue the surveillance?"
Kakashi considered it, he wanted to yes, but should he? His emotional involvement... no matter, whoever started observing them would sooner or later be involved, they were too good not to notice somebody watching them.
"Yes. I think creating an emotional bond with me... or strengthening the one that already exists will help them reintegrate faster." He said.
The Hokage snorted, but nodded. "I see. I hope they are telling the truth, there are so many problems we can stop before they become worse problems...
"Well, I've read a few time travel stories... and the knowledge of the future becomes useless rather fast, the more you change..." Kakashi pointed out.
The Hokage rolled his eyes. "Maybe, but if Orochimaru is planning to invade he won't stop now. Too much effort went into the invasion and he isn't one to stop just because some variables changed."
He looked hard at Kakashi. "Make sure Ibiki get's everything they know about the invasion out of them. Everything. We can't afford to miss anything. Oh and... once I've finished with sorting through this expect a real debriefing for you as well."
Kakashi nodded, it would be a bit rough on them, however they could take it. And with him there Ibiki couldn't become too rough anyway. So the Hokage just gave him permission to protect his team. Not that he thought his genin would break. But they might break Ibiki.
"Thank you Hokage sama." He bowed and left.
As he closed the door behind him he could see the Hokage smile broadly and Kakashi could even hear him chant. "Retirement, retirement, finally retirement."
Kakashi smiled. The old man did deserve to rest some.
-o-
Sasuke whistled as they walked down the main road. The meeting with Ibiki wouldn't be fun, not by a long shot, but he didn't worry too much. Sure the man had a sadistic streak, but he could keep it in check. They had arranged for Haku and Zabuza to have a chance to live in Konoha, as long as they behaved at least... no worries with Haku, Zabuza on the other hand.
Oh well, they would cross that bridge when they came to it. Sasuke wouldn't worry about it now, not as if they couldn't just beat Zabuza into submission.
Sakura hummed some creepy tune, and Naruto led the way to some food. Probably ramen, his friend had an unhealthy obsession with the food.
A long coat caught his attention, hmm...
"Anko!" He screamed and threw himself at the woman, who had stopped still, as soon as she heard her name. She managed to keep standing even as Sasuke barreled into her.
Sure, she wouldn't be anything like his Anko, probably, but she would still be Anko. Thus always good for one prank or another.
"The hell? Do I know you brat?" Anko asked, as she futilely tried to pry him off of her, but Sasuke wouldn't be that easy to dislodge... he liked Anko not just because she acted like a cool older sister and mentor after all. He grinned lecherously, glad she couldn't see his face.
"You two! You are his teammates, what's wrong with him?" Anko asked confused. "I don't usually have strange kids throwing themselves at me."
He heard clothes rustle as Sakura shrugged... "How should I know? I'm currently filing it under brain damage, but who knows he might just have a thing for older women."
Anko locked down. "Is that so? You want a piece of me?" He could hear the dangerous grin, he didn't need to look up to see it. He would be lying if he said he didn't want a piece of her.
But it felt... all kinds of wrong to seriously consider it. Fun to tease her? Hell yes, but seriously consider sleeping with Anko? She was like his big crazy sister! Wrong wrong wrong! And let's not get into the age difference. Even with the years he had on this body.
Still, he could hear her playful lilt, she didn't seriously consider it either, so...
"Hmm, I've always thought you were one of the most beautiful women in Konoha." He smiled up at her, using a minor genjutsu to enhance his appearance.
Anko twitched back, clearly expecting a different reaction. "Huh?" She asked.
"Really! I've adored you for a long time." Technically true, just not in the way she thought he did at the moment.
"Uhh you are..." She started, trying to make the crazy kid go away. If he kept this up she would swear revenge. Oh, the fun!
"Anko, I've loved you for so long!" He swooned into her arms, and she caught him quickly. Probably shocked surprise. He looked at her face, the genjutsu adding sparkles all around him.
"Will you make me yours?" He asked her breathlessly.
"Ahhhhhh!" Anko dropped him and turned tail. She had disappeared before he could even blink.
"Bwahahaha! Talk about commitment problems." Sakura howled as she watched Anko flee.
"I.. I've never seen somebody do that to Anko..." A female voice said behind him, as Sasuke pushed himself up and dusted himself down.
Behind him stood Kurenai, staring at the dust-cloud Anko had left in her wake. "And I'm not sure I approve of Anko seducing minors." She added. "You are Kakashi's kids aren't you?"
Sasuke nodded eagerly, Kurenai might never have been as close to him as Anko... but whatever else you might say about Kunoichi, most of them were real lookers and now nobody tied him down... it wasn't supposed to make him sad damn it!
Naruto shrugged. "Yes, you are entering your team into the chunin exams as well?"
Kurenai looked at him in surprise. "I didn't think Kakashi would tell you he would entered you. At least he wouldn't until a day before the exams."
"Eh, he would have done it, if we didn't already know about the exams and demanded he enter us." Sakura grinned at the older woman. "We have a way with words you see."
"A way with words?" Kurenai asked.
Sakura nodded and pulled a bottle out. "Yes, a way with words it's all hush hush though. Wouldn't want the Hokage's love for certain books to get out in the open now would we?"
Kurenai raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you'll find that his like for Icha Icha is an open secret."
"Of course it is, but did anybody tell that to him?" Sakura smirked at Kurenai, who smirked back.
"I suppose some good should come from it at least. I hope you can keep your boys in check." Kurenai looked at Sasuke as she said that. Which he found totally unfair, not as if he went around molesting random strangers.
"Hey, I resent that. I'm a perfect gentleman." He grumbled.
Giggling Kurenai nodded. "I'm sure."
Idly he sidestepped several kunai, and the next wave. His eyes widened as he dodged the kurenagi as it whirled for his head.
"Die Uchiha!" Tenten screamed as she continued her mad attack.
"Oh come on! It was a test! Not my fault you didn't pay attention where my hands were going." Sasuke defended himself.
It would have been nice if his teammates had interfered... and where did Sakura get the popcorn from anywhere?
"Hey! Could you maybe help instead of watching?" He shouted at her.
Instead she turned to Kurenai. "I don't need to keep them in check. Konoha kunoichi are perfectly capable of doing it on their own... popcorn?" She held the bag out for Kurenai.
"I would love to, but I have to meet my team. Don't let her kill him?" She shook her head grinning.
Sasuke glared darkly at them, barely paying attention to the various weapons coming his way. Sure, they would have killed a lesser being from the get go, but his sharingan easily enabled him to dodge them, even when they came ten or twenty knives at a time.
Naruto didn't interfere as well... "Damn it! If you had the time to get some ramen at least have the decency to bring some for me as well!" He shouted at the blond.
"Pay attention when I'm killing you!" Tenten screamed at him, attempting to drive a sword through his stomach.
"Don't you think this is a tad excessive?" He whispered in her ear. "I mean sure I tricked you. But I didn't lie when I said that you are very attractive, actually you are kinda hot even trying to kill me."
Her left eye twitched and she redoubled her efforts to eviscerate him. Her breathing came in short gasps by now and slowly but surely she wore herself down.
He wondered why, usually she could be counted on to move a lot more conservatively and much smarter as well. So why...
"By the way Uchiha." She grinned at him. "You are now trapped in my web."
He looked around blandly. Weapons surrounded him on all sides, but they were inert, no wires attacked to any of them, so what? A lightning fast punch send him to his stomach.
"Uff, what was that for?" He glared at her. Then looked down, as he noticed a new weight on his chest.
"Something I always wanted to try out. A chakra charged magnet. Just a silly little Idea I had one night. I always wondered if it would be useful for real combat, figured I would test it out on you." She shrugged.
Sakura nodded in approval, the bitch. "Nice going kid." She gave Tenten a thumbs up, who didn't even acknowledge Sakura's existence.
Sakura took that in stride however. "By the way, where's Lee? I have some fun games in mind."
Tenten immediately rounded on her. "Keep your dirty claws off Lee, he deserves better." She growled at Sakura.
Who smiled back saucily and burped into Tenten's face. "Whatever you say princess."
Tenten stumbled back, coughing and blinking. "What? What did you... oh god, I think I'm gonna be sick!" She groaned.
Sasuke meanwhile proceeded to disable the magnet, having to keep moving at a slow pace because otherwise a kunai tried to hump your leg would get annoying very fast. At least the weapons were slow. If the magnet had been stronger...
"You might want to develop this idea further." He told Tenten, who currently stumbled uncoordinated around the area. "If you add some more chakra this might be an interesting weapon. You might need to make sure it sticks to your opponent though, I would have just had to toss it to the ground to get rid of it."
He dropped the magnet into her hand and kissed her cheek. "Have fun improving it." He said as he waved her goodbye.
He didn't mention that it still attracted her weapons. It would after make cleaning up after her so much easier. And he was nothing if not considerate.
"Here." Naruto said and handed him a bowl of ramen. "Don't say I don't think of you again."
Sakura had a bowl sitting beside her as well, she contented herself with her popcorn and sake for now though.
"So, what do we do now?" She asked, staring at the Hokage monument.
"I figure we tell Ibiki everything we know, maybe help plan some sort of defense, if they let us. Though, if Ibiki can confirm some of the things we say then that should give us some clout. And we are all rather experienced. Even if we don't look like it." Naruto answered easily.
Sakura snorted. "Some more than others."
Sasuke sighed. "Yes, yes. You are more badass than we are. You don't have to rub it in."
Her other faults were bad enough, bragging didn't need to be added to the list.
"Whatever." She said. "But that's not what I meant. I meant what are we going to do now? I'm already bored. Maybe I'll go look for Lee. I'm sure he can keep me... entertained."
"You are twelve." Sasuke pointed out. Even if he cursed that little fact.
"So?" Sakura asked oblivious.
"He's only a year older." Sasuke added.
"Again, so?"
He sighed in disgust. "I'm not allowing it." He glared at her.
"What are you, my mother?" She glared right back.
"For the purpose of this conversation? Yes! No way are you going to have sex this young. It's bad for Lee's mental development."
"What little of it there is." Naruto sniped, earning himself a kunai to the head. Which he didn't dodge.
"Ahhh crazy bitch!" He shouted as he quickly pulled it out.
"Don't insult Lee in my presence then." Sakura growled, while Naruto mourned the death of his forehead protector.
"I'll have to get a new one now! This was Iruka's! He gave it to me himself!" Naruto moaned.
"I know, I was there remember?" Sakura sneered. Sasuke sighed, would he ever get used to these team dynamics? Probably not, but whatever.
"Forehead, what did you do now?" Ino asked and Sasuke turned around to smile at her.
"Hey Ino." He greeted the girl and ignored Sakura's coughed manslut. So what if he liked pretty girls? Since when was that a crime?
"Sasuke! Has Sakura been bothering you?" Ino had immediately wrapped around him.
"Nah, she's been annoying but..." He found himself talking to empty air.
"No sex for you two." Sakura grinned at him. "It's bad for Ino's mental development."
Foiled by his own argument... damn, he would have to be careful in the future about pulling stuff like that.
"I didn't plan on sleeping with her. Just some light make out sessions." He fired back.
Ino had exited the conversation at that point, lost in some sordid fantasy he guessed.
Damn, he wished he could enter her mind and see it. But as Itachi and Naruto's dad had hammered into his head again and again, invading somebody's privacy like that wasn't just rude, it also undermined the trust your fellow ninja had in you.
"Beside I think she's a bit farther along in her development than Lee. Isn't that generally true for females?" He added quickly. Maybe he could still salvage this.
The hard glare from Sakura hammered the final nail in that coffin. "Fine." He sighed. "Hey Ino? Wanna make out?"
Humm, having a girl hanging from you was as pleasant as always. So what if he was a man slut? What was so bad about that?
-o-
Naruto stared at Sasuke, he had know that this Sasuke didn't mind female attention, but that he actually encouraged it? Naruto considered his mind well and truly blown... he glanced at Sakura who glared sullenly at everything but the couple. He inched closer to her.
"If it makes you feel better, I don't think he actually considers her his girlfriend or something." He told her.
Sakura looked at him and a truly twisted smile crept onto her face. He felt a shiver run over his back. "Ohh you are still a virgin aren't you? Nearly forgot about that." She said. Why did they feel like pointing that out constantly? And what was so bad about being a virgin?
She patted him on the head. "Of course he isn't serious. It's just a fling to him. Even without sex. They'll have some fun, then he'll drop her, break her heart and she will find somebody else, somebody better who isn't you or Sasuke." She sniffed. "Or at least that's what I hope. If he decides to make this something serious... well, castration is always an option."
Naruto shivered. Man he always forgot that Sakura had some definitely warped ideas, he wanted nothing to do with.
"Ehehehee... whatever you say Sakura." He nodded quickly.
"Meh, now that he found some entertainment I'm bored again." Sakura sighed.
Naruto nodded, before he blinked he had nearly forgotten that Sakura still had broken ribs.
"You know? You could go to the hospital. Might heal your ribs a bit faster."
Sakura looked at him and eyebrow raised. Finally she nodded. "That is actually a reasonable idea. I totally forgot about hospitals, back home I just let it heal naturally. Nobody around to set a broken bone you know?" She pushed herself up and stomped over to Sasuke and Ino.
"As for you two. Don't do anything I wouldn't approve of, or Sasuke might regret it."
Somehow Sasuke managed to nod and wave her away without breaking lip-lock with Ino.
Sakura's eye twitched, but she merely huffed and walked away. Naruto fell in step beside her.
"Why are you following me Uzumaki?" She looked at him as if she had smelled something bad.
"I'm just as bored as you are. And once your ribs have healed I thought we might get some training done." He explained. He needed to do something, sitting around, doing nothing just grated on his nerves.
Sakura looked at him for a bit longer and nodded. "Fine."
-o-
Sakura stretched slowly, the doctor had taken one look at her ribs, done some chakra manipulation and declared her fit for duty. After he pressed her for the salve Haku had used on her. She had referred him to Ibiki for the answer to that question and fled the building. Hospitals gave her the creeps, ever since... she stopped thinking about it. It was over with, over and past and she wouldn't have to go there ever again if she had any say about the matter.
And she had a lot of say in the matter. She had learned more than enough suicide jutsu after all.
"You done warming up?" Naruto asked, finishing his own warm ups.
Sakura nodded, she kinda regretted that she couldn't beat his face in again, but she had just now recovered, no sense breaking her ribs again.
And then they clashed, whirling and slashing, hitting, kicking and spitting. They went through as many different forms as they could. Even with several weeks of training in these bodies and with the body memory of their bodies mostly intact they still had little errors in their stance, only Sasuke somehow had managed to remove them. Sakura attributed it to his more formal training.
Naruto to natural talent. Both agreed that it was utterly unfair.
Still, whining had never improved anybody, so they preferred to work on their weaknesses instead of crying about it like little children.
They trained in silence, each focused on their own bodies, the little corrections needed to increase their performance. Though she noticed the watcher as soon as Naruto did, the subtle change in stance gave Naruto's knowledge away and the not nearly as subtle change in the ambience of the training ground gave the watcher away.
Still, they ignored him or her, Sakura couldn't detect the gender yet, though from the way he or she kept hidden it had to be a Hyuuga. Only they could stay that far away. Which meant either Neji or Hinata.
She growled slightly and struck Naruto stronger than strictly necessary. But he didn't comment or even let her know he noticed, maybe he had maybe he didn't. In the end it wouldn't matter, he could deal with it.
It took them another hour until both of them sank to the ground exhausted, after only half an hour Sakura had shifted into a highly conservative style, and only moved if she absolutely had to. Naruto by contrast had shifted into a style that took full advantage of his stamina.
It had still taken him quite a while to exhaust her and he hadn't fared much better himself. Not that he couldn't just pull on the Kyuubi and instantly refill his reserves.
"You coming out now or do you just want to watch?" Sakura asked loudly.
Only a silent "Eep!" came as an answer, though it told her who watched them. She forced the growl away from her face. This Hinata hadn't done anything and if Sasuke had taken her with him...
She still had to fight rather hard to keep the angry frown of her face. She had seen Hinata only once after she had defected with Naruto.
She had been surrounded by her and Naruto's creations, cooing at them and giggling at everything the monsters did, which mostly consisted of feeding on human prey.
Once you saw something like that...
Quite frankly Sakura had no idea how exactly Hinata had turned from the shy girl into that creature, she had obviously been infected with some sort of chakra growth, the blue and red veins running all over her skin, and into her skin had been more than enough proof of that, but who could tell if she had been driven insane by that, or if it had been a product of her insanity?
Sakura hadn't intended to ask, she had been send to kill Hinata and for no other reason.
In the end Sakura had retreated and never looked back. If she had jumped in there, she would have ended up as just another would be assassin feeding Hinata's creations. And there had been far, far too many of those already. Sakura had even witnessed one attack.
The assassin had been fast, nearly as fast as Sakura. And he had actually managed to cut Hinata.
But the woman had just smiled at him, as her flesh had erupted around the sword embedded in her skin and held it there. The horrified assassin had then been ripped apart by her creatures. Not a fate Sakura had felt eager to share.
So she had returned to Konoha, dodging the various monsters roaming the land.
She shook her head and returned to the here and now and an innocent and pure Hinata, who smiled uncomfortably at her and Naruto.
"A.. I... Umm..." She stuttered, though Sakura could only sigh.
"Spit it out already." She grumbled, what kind of problem did the girl have with talking?
"Umm, I'm, I'm sorry for spying on you." She quickly bumbled out.
Naruto glared at Sakura, but Sakura merely raised an eyebrow. "What? We would have been here for a while if I hadn't prompted her."
"You could have been nicer." Naruto grumbled and turned to Hinata. "Don't mind her, she's a bitch." He said, smiling.
"And proud of it." Sakura added.
Hinata blinked confused. "Uhh, uhh... I thought you... umm... liked her?" She stuttered at Naruto.
Naruto shrugged. "Ehh, I kinda do still. But well, as she said, she's a bitch and proud of it as well." He leaned in, towards Hinata, totally ignoring her violent blush. "So I can call her a bitch all I want. And hey, if she behaves like a bitch to you all the time…"
Which Sakura found to be a crass exaggeration, she only behaved like a bitch seventy percent of the time after all, the rest of the time she tried to ignore him if possible.
"You kinda become disillusioned." He finished, utterly oblivious of Hinata's reaction.
Really, she would never get what the girl saw in him... unless she liked him because he ignored her. After all, if she never got together with him, then he could never hurt her.
Hmm made a strange sort of sense Sakura supposed.
"You still haven't said what you want here though." Sakura pointed out. Not that she didn't know why Hinata stood in the bushes staring at Naruto training, without Naruto noticing. But maybe the girl would get over her shyness and actually spit it out?
"I'm... I'm just..." And she went down, head as red as a tomato.
"Meh, weak... well better weak than crazy psycho I suppose." She said.
"Since training is over I suppose I should get going. I need to restock on the good booze, the stuff from Wave is only so-so after all. See ya Uzumaki." She waved and strolled away, leaving the oblivious idiot with his fainting stalker.
Both utterly clueless. At least Sasuke knew what you did with a willing female. Though she would kill him if he did it with Ino.
She stopped and considered that little tidbit, maybe she should introduce Naruto to sex ed? He might just have missed it after all. It would explain his lack of knowledge in that area.
Something to think about at any rate.
-o-
Ibiki sighed as he stepped into the room. Some light shone through the window since the Hokage insisted that this shouldn't be an interrogation in the strictest sense. Just an insistent question and answer session.
Zabuza sat in the middle of the room, he looked incredibly bored, but he also seemed resigned to his fate judging by the fingers tapping on the table.
He glanced up only as Ibiki sat down on the other side of the table.
"So." Ibiki started.
"So." Zabuza answered.
"Why don't you start?" Ibiki had really no idea how to approach this. Usually defectors came to Konoha, they weren't dragged in at Kunai point and told to defect or else. It just didn't work that way.
"What do you want to know? How your freakish genin beat me into the ground? Without even trying? Why I attacked Mist and became a missing nin? Some of mists more esoteric jutsu? Gimme a hint here." Zabuza growled at him, slightly.
"The first one then. I don't know too much about them." Ibiki replied blandly.
Zabuza snorted. "Well, the pink one is insane, that's obvious. A girl after my own heart really. If she were just a few years older..." He paused and grinned in the most obscene manner possible. "We would kill each other eventually I'm sure. But we would have so much fun on the way." He chuckled.
Ibiki sighed, why did he have to deal with the insane ones? What did he do to deserve this? Oh right torture and interrogation, what had he been thinking.
"Anything more, beside she's crazy?" He asked.
Zabuza looked at him then nodded. "She's got insane chakra control. She managed to accelerate herself to speeds... utterly insane, I couldn't even block her punches, she would just slip past my defenses. And that should tell you something." Zabuza looked at the table.
Well, beside the fact that Haruno found a way to boost her reflexes far beyond anything a ninja before her had achieved it didn't tell Ibiki much. But it would serve as info as soon as he debriefed her.
"What about the Uchiha?" He asked the man.
"Eh, I would say a total pansy... if he didn't cheer his teammates on as they attempt to kill each other. And he can use those eyes of his. He can use them too damn well. I didn't even notice that he caught me in a genjutsu." He sighed and looked up again. "But the last one... he's the most terrifying. The amount of chakra he has. He can create his own army, an army of supercharged shadowclones."
Zabuza shook slightly as he sat there. "He just created them, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. And he isn't even using the Kyuubi for it. He only uses that to heal himself I think."
Ibiki managed to keep his face impassive, what contempt, to use the power of the Kyuubi for nothing but a quick regeneration.
"How many clones did he make?" He asked the other man.
"Around 500 hard to count... the girl reduced them pretty quickly as well. She can move... hmm you know that might be another reason to stay in Konoha, if I wait a few years..." Zabuza licked his lips.
"Please, don't give me those mental images." Ibiki sneered at him. Zabuza merely rolled his eyes.
With a sigh Ibiki moved on, he would have to ask a bit more in dept about the kids later, but this would be enough for a rough framework.
"So tell me, do you think you can live in Konoha without starting any trouble?" He glared at the man. Honestly Ibiki didn't think Zabuza could.
Zabuza shook his head. "Nah, I'll try for as long as possible, for Haku's sake, but I doubt I'll make it for more than a month or so. I enjoy killing way too much to just give it up." He leered at Ibiki, maybe hoping to intimidate him?
"I honestly don't know what the Hokage sees in you." Ibiki shook his head.
"Nothing really, but those kids had info on Orochimaru and Madara... though I thought the later was dead. Oh well you learn something new every day." Zabuza shrugged.
Ibiki stared at him for a while. "The kids had that info? From where?"
"No idea, they wanted me out of the room before they talked about it. I'm sure you'll get to ask them soon enough though." Zabuza winked.
Ibiki sighed, this would be so much easier if he was allowed to bind Zabuza to a chair and rip his fingernails out.
"Ok, before we go on, why don't you give me a general rundown of the techniques you can perform?"
Might as well start with the easy bit of info. If Zabuza stayed with them a while, they would have ample time getting the more interesting bits.
"Heh, even without the Uchiha you guys steal techniques like crazy eh?"
-o-
Thanks to slamu for reading through it.