A New Hope
Disclaimer; I don't own Naruto, so don't judge me.
It has been three weeks, since Team Seven started doing some real training and their improvement is already starting to show. Sasuke, though nowhere near beating Kakashi, has been able to hold his own longer and come out of a spar, with less injuries than before. Naruto's stealth, though still low, has gotten better and he has been improving in his taijutsu and reflexes. Sakura is now able to use wires adequately in battle, though she still needs practice, and she has been working on her endurance. Minato has, slowly, but surely, been getting faster at using his thunder god technique and has been practicing some of his old jutsus, when training by himself or with only Kakashi.
Right now, Team Seven were asking for a new mission, from the Sandaime.
" Well, I haven't seen you guys in a while." spoke the Hokage.
" We've been training hard, old man." said Minato with a grin.
" Yeah old man, so hows about a mission?" asked Naruto, with a similar grin to Minato's.
" Boys, you can't call the Hokage "old man", it's disrespectful." scolded Iruka.
Minato and Naruto looked at him, then each other, then back at Iruka and said at the same time." But, he's old."
Said man twitched, Sakura giggled, Sasuke smirked, and Kakashi just sighed, hoping he would not have to talk with the Hokage about this later.
The Sandaime coughed to get everyone's attention." Alright Team Seven, let's see what missions are available. There's a missing cat, some of our elderly need help grocery shopping, you could -"
" No! No! No! We deserve better missions than those lame ones."
" Naruto, how can you say that, when you are just a freshly graduated genin?! There is a system to how things work, genin get D-rank mission, being the most inexperienced, chuunin get C-rank or B-rank missions, when given special permission, jounin get B-rank to A-rank missions, and ANBU get mainly S-rank, but sometimes A-rank missions. " explained Iruka.
" Oh come on. Were ready for a C-rank, plus we have five people instead of four, so our chances of succeeding are greater." argued Naruto.
Sarutobi and Iruka were a bit shocked that Naruto was able to use a valid argument. It just proves to them even more, that the team might be ready for a higher ranked mission.
Sakura decided to speak up at that moment." If I may Hokage-sama, Naruto has a point and we have all been training hard, a higher ranked mission could be what we need to test our skills and see what we need to improve on."
" Just give us the mission, Hokage-sama, we can handle it." stated Sasuke in a slightly polite way.
The Hokage looked at them all, until his eyes locked with Minato's and a silent conversation was made.
' Give us the mission, old man, I will watch out for them.'
' If you say so, then I trust you.'
" Alright, if you all believe you can handle it, then I will allow you to take this C-rank mission. It should not be too much trouble, however as ninja you should always remain on your guard and be alert." spoke the Hokage.
Team Seven beamed." Hai, Hokage-sama!" they chorused.
" Your mission is to escort someone back to the land of waves."
" Is the person a monk? Feudal lord? Princess?"
*Knock**Knock*
" Enter."
A man entered the room, he had gray hair, wore glasses, and was carrying a sake bottle." These brats are my escorts? They look like they couldn't hurt a fly, especially the short one."
" Haha, who's the short one?" laughed Naruto, but when everyone stood in a line, Minato and Sasuke were the same high, with Sakura being a few centimeters shorter, and finally Naruto being the shortest." Hey!" he shouted.
" My name is Tazuna, I am the bridge builder you will be escorting and you better be worth the money!" he announced.
" Be ready to leave in an hour. Dismissed." commanded the Hokage.
Everyone bowed and left.
An hour later found the boys Team Seven at the main gate, waiting for their female teammate, sensei, and charge. Oddly enough, Naruto was quiet and standing still, instead of the usual pacing and complaining.
" Is something the matter Naruto?" questioned Minato as he put a hand on his 'little brother's' shoulder.
" Eh? No, why would you think that, Nii-san?"
" Because your too quiet, are you sure nothing is bothering you?"
" Well...this is the first time I have ever left the village and of course I'm excited, but..."
" But?"
" But, what if the people in other villages hate me too?" he asked softly. This is one of the rare times Naruto let's his insecurities show and it made Minato both sad and upset that his son even has to think like this.
" Naruto, the only people who will hate you, will be enemy ninja, because you defeat them in battle."
" Really?"
" Ah, and someday this village will realized that they hate you for all the wrong reasons and once they do, everyone will care and respect you for who you are."
" How can you be so sure? For all we know they can hate me until the day I die." spoke Naruto disheartened.
" Because, I know the real you Naruto and the real you can't help but make people like you. You have something special that will make everyone acknowledge you, as long as you keep working for it." Naruto smiled at Minato, who ruffled his hair in return.
" Sorry I'm late guys!" called out Sakura as she approached them.
" What took you so long, Sakura-chan?" questioned Naruto, back to his cheerful self.
" I was packing some medical supply and extra food. Mom said to always be prepared, no matter how short the journey, cause anything can happen. So, she got me this medical pouch yesterday, for all my bandages, disinfectant spray, ect." she explained pointing to the white pouch at the center of her hips, while her weapons pouch was off to the right side.
" That was both smart and nice of her." commented Minato.
" Un!" replied Sakura.
The genin glanced over to the sound of approaching foot steps and saw both their sensei and charge heading towards them.
" Alright kids, let's move out, we should be able to make it to the land of waves by evening." announced Kakashi, to which the kids nodded at.
They had been walking for at least two hours, when they came across a puddle. Minato and Kakashi locked eyes quickly, while the boys and charge completely ignored it. Sakura looked confused and walked over to Kakashi, who was next to Minato.
" Kakashi-sensei, it hasn't rained here in weeks right?" she asked lowly. Kakashi nodded, glad that at least one of his students, Minato does not count, is observant. Sakura began sending wary looks towards the puddle and got closer to the boys in case an attack happened.
After the group walked a few more feet, two people sprang up from the puddle and sent chains with spikes at the end towards Kakashi, they wrapped around him and turned him tore him to shreds. His team, minus Minato, looked on in horror. Minato was the first to react and pulled out a kunai, while charging one of the two men heading for Tazuna. Sakura pulled out several kunai and launched them at the second and she moved to guard Tazuna.
Minato had jumped away from his taijutsu match with one of the men, as the guy sent his chain towards him. Sasuke finally snapped out of it, after he heard Sakura yell Naruto's name as the other chunin was heading straight towards him. He took action and sped towards the nin, appearing above the guy's head and slammed his foot down on him. The guy that Minato had been fighting rushed towards Tazuna preparing to strike. Sakura got in front of him with a kunai, however Sasuke appeared before her ready to take the attack. But before the attack could be made, Kakashi appeared and took out both chunin, then proceeded to tie them to a tree.
Naruto finally came out of his frozen state and stared at Kakashi in disbelief." Y-you were dead!" he shouted as he pointed an accusing finger at the man.
Kakashi chuckled nervously and looked over towards the spot where he 'died'. In Kakashi's place was a broken up log.
" Substitution jutsu." mutter Sasuke.
While Sakura asked if Tazuna was okay and Kakashi and Sasuke made their way towards them, Minato grabbed Naruto's wrist and held it up, so that the boy could see his bloody hand.
" Are you alight, Naruto?" Minato questioned. Naruto started freaking out, catching everyone's attention.
" You might want to check out that wound Naruto. The demon brothers are known for putting poison on their weapons." commented Kakashi, which only caused Naruto to freak out even more.
" Naruto if you remove the infected blood, before it spreads, then you will be able to get rid of the poison." stated Sakura, calming Naruto down. He nodded and took out a kunai and stabbed the cut, which caused more blood and some purple liquid to ooze out." Here, let me clean your wound." she said as she brought out some tissues and disinfectant spray. Naruto complied, wincing a bit when the spray met his opened wound, however before Sakura could pull out bandages the wound closed up on it's own.
Sakura and Naruto looked on confused, while Kakashi and Minato knew that it was part of the power of the kyuubi. Kakashi decided to distract his team by speaking up.
" These were chunin level rogue ninja we just face, however we should not have needed to deal we them if this were and ordinary C-rank mission." he looked up at a nervous and sweating Tazuna." Tazuna-san, is there something you weren't telling us?" Tazuna fumbled for his word for a minute, until finally sighing and giving in.
" The truth is this mission might be somewhere between a B and A-rank mission, depending on whose after me."
" Why is that?" questioned Minato.
" The truth is my home is being run by a man named Gato. He is running our town poor and is trying to stop me and a few others from building the bridge to the main land, for he will lose his power over us. I'm sorry I lied, but our people did not have enough money to pay for a higher mission rank." said Tazuna guiltily.
" What are we gonna do now, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura.
" Were gonna go back to the leaf -"
" What?!" yelled Naruto." Come on Kakashi-sensei, we've already come this far, plus were able to handle ourselves!"
" You froze up, Dobe."
" Shut up Teme! I was just shocked, but I won't be anymore, now that I know what I am dealing with, so let's continue with the mission!"
" I agree with the Dobe."
" I'm with the boys on this one. After all we can't just leave Tazuna-san." agreed Sakura.
Kakashi looked to Minato to hear his thoughts. Said boy smiled and gave a firm nod.
" We got this, Kakashi."
Kakashi sighed and looked ahead of their trail. They were already near the river they would need to cross, so might as well continue." Alright, let's go." Naruto and Sakura cheered, while Sasuke smirked and Minato smiled.
They had arrived at the land of waves and hour ago and were not too far from the town. During the boat ride, Tazuna filled them in on everything Gato has done and how the people are scared to even work on the bridge, because his men have been getting violent with the workers. However before they could take another step, Kakashi yelled.
" Get down!" everyone dropped down and Sakura made it a point to drag Tazuna as well. A huge sword came flying above their heads and implanted itself in a tree, a man appeared on top of it.
" Well well well,if it isn't the copy-cat ninja, Hatake Kakashi." came a low, rough voice.
" Momochi Zabuza, one of the legendary seven swordsman of the Mist." announced Kakashi in the same tone. He moved in front of the group." Everyone stay back, this guy is too powerful for you to take on." he said as he pulled up his hitaite and revealed his sharingan, much to the shock of his students.( so there is no confusion, when I say 'students' Minato is not one of them for obvious reasons.)
" So, that is the famous sharingan, I've heard so much about. I look forward to cutting you to pieces with my sword, then I will take out the bridge builder." Zabuza said as he grabbed his sword and jumped. He did a few hand seals and a thick fog began to form around them.
" Guys, protect Tazuna, while I deal with Zabuza!" Kakashi shouted as he pulled out a kunai.
Naruto and Sasuke began to protest, while Sakura got in front of Tazuna. Minato was observing his surroundings, he sensed another presence up in the trees, however he would not act, until that person did. Plus he wanted to see his former student in a real fight, after so many years. Mist was known for their skilled swordsman and violent killings, so he would watch over the students as Kakashi battled.
Zabuza created a water clone to attack the kids, while he charged Kakashi. Sasuke and Naruto ran towards the clone, but jumped out-of-the-way when it swung its large sword. Sasuke summoned a giant shuriken, flipped in the air, and launched it at the clone, who dodged. The fog made it so that it was hard for Team Seven to see their sensei and each other, if they weren't close, so Minato did a few hand seals and preformed a low-level version of Wind Release: Vacuum Wave, so that it only got rid of the mist, instead of lashing out at everyone in the mist cleared, Team Seven saw that Zabuza had Kakashi trapped in a water sphere.
" Kids, take Tazuna and run!" shouted Kakashi, worried for his students safety.
" But what about you, Kakashi-sensei?!"questioned Naruto.
" Leave me and get to town, where you will be safe for a while."
" Were not leaving you, sensei." stated Sasuke.
" You have to, he's to strong!"
" No, Kakashi-sensei! You taught us teamwork and told us to never leave a team member behind, so there is no way were gonna run!" argued Sakura as she took out some kunai with wires, preparing to attack.
" She's right, Kakashi. No one is getting left behind." announced Minato in a tone that marked the end of the discussion.
" Your all a bunch of fools!" hissed Zabuza as he sent his clone towards them again.
" You guys, I'm going to separate Zabuza's hand from the sphere, so that Kakashi can be released. You all need to deal with the clone." explained Minato, to which everyone nodded. Minato quickly flash-stepped passed the clone and landed in front of Zabuza." Wind style; Blade of Wind!" whispered Minato as chakra emitted from his fingertips and materializes it into a near invisible weapon that assaulted Zabuza in a gust of wind, similar to a long sword. Zabuza blocked most of it, with his sword, however his arm in the sphere was cut a few times and resulted in him removing it, causing Kakashi to be freed. Out of the corner of Minato's eye, he registered the rest of team seven taking out the clone. Minato rushed to Kakashi's side and stood next to him, with a kunai in hand. " You okay, Kakashi?"
*cough* " I'm fine." *cough* he chocked out.
" You little brats are better than I expected, however the games end here!" he began running at Minato and Kakashi, but stopped mid-step, because two senbon needles implanted themselves in his neck, causing him to collapse.
" What happened?" asked Naruto as he and the others rushed over to their sensei and teammate. Kakashi stood up and walked over to Zabuza's body checking for a pulse.
" He's dead." answered Kakashi.
" Indeed." came a new voice from behind Kakashi. Everyone tensed and Minato narrowed his eyes recognizing the chakra of the person, who was hiding earlier.
" Who are you?" demanded Sasuke as he looked at the mask wearing nin, that could not be that much other than them.
" I am a hunter nin from Mist and have tracked down Zabuza for a long time. I appreciate your assistance in his defeat." explained the nin as he picked up Zabuza's body.
" No problem, we are just glad the fight is over." Kakashi said as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
" Now I must deal with the body, thanks again." the nin said and disappeared right after.
" That's not fair! We didn't even get to battle the guy, yet some kid is able to take him out in one strike!" complained Naruto. Sasuke grunted in agreement, Sakura sighed, and Minato stared at the spot the nin disappeared from.
" It can't be helped Naruto, there are going to be people out there younger than you, but stronger than me. Not everyone progresses at the same rate." spoke Kakashi. Naruto started grumbling, while Sasuke's face darkened in thought." Now let's -" however before he could take on more step, Kakashi passed out. Minato quickly caught him, while the others cried ' Kakashi-sensei.'
" It's alright guys, he's just unconscious. We need to get to town, so he can rest properly." soothed Minato.
" Everyone follow me, my house is not too far from here." announced Tazuna.
" Hmm~" groaned Kakashi as he opened his eyes.
" Kakashi-sensei!" came a surprised female voice.
" Where am I?" he questioned as he saw his team sitting next to him.
" Where at Tazuna's house, you've been out for two days." answered Sasuke.
" I see, the sharingan really took a lot out of me, but it could have been worse."
" Kakashi, that hunter nin." stated Minato, knowing his student would catch on.
" Ah, I want to ask you guys something, think back to our fight with Zabuza and then the hunter nin's appearance at the end, was there anything you found strange?" he addressed his student to see if they were as observant to there surrounding and as knowledgeable as they should be.
Sasuke and Naruto were thinking, however Sakura spoke up." Well, something has bothered me, actually. The place where the nin attacked Zabuza and his weapon of choice."
" Care to elaborate?" asked Kakashi.
" Well in a book I read on the human anatomy, though there are many pressure points in the neck, getting hit there with senbon should not be enough to kill a person. Even the amount of blood they would produce after puncturing the skin would not be enough to kill someone."
" Minato nodded and Kakashi spoke." Good. Do you boys know what this means?"
" Hn. It means that hunter nin is working with Zabuza."
" And that we get another chance to fight him!"
' They' re actually excited to know that he's not dead.' thought an amused Kakashi." Exactly, meaning I need to have you guys do some more training, so that you can be ready to face both of them."
" But, Kakashi-sensei, your still suffering from the after effects of the sharingan." said a worried Sakura.
" It's alright, I can still teach you, plus Minato can help out as well. He's done a lot of extra training and can help you out if need be." Sakura reluctantly nodded, Naruto cheered, Sasuke looked slightly upset about hearing that Minato got more training, but was able to get over it knowing that he was about to train some more, and Minato smiled.
" So , I am going to be teaching you all how to climb a tree." he said after they all were outside and in the woods.
" But we already know how to climb a tree." complained Naruto.
" Ah, but with this, you won't be using your hands." at the students confused looks,he decided to demonstrate, by pulling chakra into his feet and placing them on the tree, calmly walking up it as if it were an everyday thing. He looked down to see his students awed faces and Minato's amusement at them. He tossed down three kunai." I want you to get a running start and do what I just did. Mark the spot you stop at if you begin to lose your footing and try to climb higher each time." he directed.
The three nodded and pushed chakra into their feet, they all ran at their tree. Naruto only made it five steps, then his chakra flow stopped and he fell on his head, Sasuke made it a fourth of the way up, but was repelled when he pushed too much chakra into his feet, and Sakura was able to make it all the way to the top. Much to the shock of Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi.
" Well, looks like the girl has the best chakra control of the group. She seems more capable than the last Uchiha and seems closer to becoming Hokage than anyone else." goaded kakashi as he watched the boys upset, then determined expression cross their faces. They quickly went back to practicing.
Minato looked up at Sakura with a small smile. He knew the girl's chakra control was really good, but was still impressed that she got the exercise down on her first try." Kakashi, I'm gonna take Sakura and teach her how to walk on water, since she completed the exercise." he knew Kakashi wanted to watch the boys, but did not want to just abandon Sakura, so Minato decided to take it upon himself to teach her.
" Thanks." replied Kakashi as he went back to instructing the boys.
Soon Sakura came and stood next to him." I'm gonna be teaching you how to walk on water, since you were able to climb up the tree." Sakura looked excited and nodded, following him to the nearby river.
Once they got there, Minato began speaking." Okay this is similar to the tree walking exercise, however it is a bit more challenging, because water does not have a definite shape and ripples occur with the slightest disturbance, meaning it could affect your chakra balance between your feet and the water." he said as he walked on the water effortlessly. his amusement came back at seeing her amazed face, this reminded him of teaching his team back at the beginning, when they hung onto his every word.
Sakura carefully molded chakra into her feet and stepped on the surface slowly. She was still stand, so she took a step, however the ripples cause her chakra balance to become unstable and she fell in. She quickly swam to the surface, only to see Minato with a cheeky grin on his face." Not so easy, is it?"
Sakura glared." Shut up! I'll learn to walk on water, if nothing else than to get to you and bop you upside the head!" she declared.
" Well, considering the fact you can't take a step, I'm gonna be good for a while."
Sakura glowered as she got out of the water and prepared to do it again.
All three genin have been training all day. Naruto and Sasuke are still trying to walk up a tree the former mentioned closer than the other. While Sakura is still trying to master water walking, she is able to take a few steps however her chakra always gives out causing her to fall into the water, much to her charring and Minato's delight. They were all seated at the table eating, with Inari, Tsunami, and Tazuna. Inari just screamed at Naruto, how heroes don't exist and that he should give up his dream, while Kakashi went to talk to him.
" I'm sorry about, Inari. Ever since his father passed away, he has been really withdrawn." apologized Tsunami.
" It's alright. He is still young, but had to suffer a great loss and it still is effecting him." reassure Minato.
" Yeah, I'm not gonna give up on my dream no matter what! And because of what he said, I'm ready to get back out there and do some more training, are you with me Sasuke?" questioned Naruto, to which Sasuke nodded and the two left.
" I'm done as well, but if you would like for me to help you with the dishes before I go Tsunami-san, I would not mind." offered Sakura.
" Oh no deary, I'm sure you have important training to do, plus your already protecting my father, so it's no trouble." waved off Tsunami.
" Okay, thank you for the meal, it was delicious." thanked both Minato and Sakura as they headed out to the river.
Once there they picked where they left off, Sakura falling in the water, while Minato teased her.
" Sakura, you really suck at this." stated Minato as he was sitting cross-legged on the river, with ease, which only severed to piss Sakura off even more.
" It's not my fault, I add and maintain a constant amount of chakra in my feet, but after a few steps, I end up underwater." complained Sakura.
" Think of it like this, Sakura. Water is constantly flowing and has no real form, so if you don't constantly change the amount of chakra, so that you balance, then you are going to fall in."
" Constantly changing the flow of chakra is impossible, while trying to fight a battle."
" It does seem that way, but if you have your chakra glide with the water, instead of having it repel to keep you afloat, then maybe you will be able to walk on it."
Sakura looked hesitant, but stepped onto the water and concentrated on having her chakra flow and mix with the water instead of keeping it bunched together at her feet. She closed her eyes, in case she fell into the water and took step after step, until she collided with something and felt hands balance her, by her shoulders. She opened her eyes only to be met with sapphire sparkling blue eyes.
Minato smiled." About time you got here."
Sakura smiled back and stuck her tongue out." Shut up, I made it didn't I?"
" Yes you did. But with my guidance, it was obvious you would."
" Speaking of guidance, why the heck didn't you tell me that before!" she whined, while smacking his arm.
" Well, I knew once I told you, you'd get the hang of it and I wouldn't get to see you fall in the water anymore." teased Minato.
Sakura glared, then a look of surprised crossed her face." Hey Naruto!" she called out. Minato turned around to see his 'brother', but the moment he did, Sakura pushed him into the water. He swam to the surface and glared at her laughing form.
" You tricked me!" he accused.
" Payback." she stated grinning at him.
He smirked." Of course you realize, I have to get even now." he said as he climbed on top of the water. Sakura stopped grinning and quickly ran back to shore and tried to get as far away from Minato as she could, however Minato was having none of that. He quickly caught up to her and wrapped his arms around her from behind, spinning her around, causing them both to laugh. They were not too far from the house in a small clearing, so the moonlight was shining into the area.
" Minato, your making me dizzy." said Sakura between fits of laughter.
" Too bad." was Minato's reply. After a minute he stopped and their laughter slowly subsided. Minato did not let her go.
Sakura looked up and pecked him on the cheek." Thank you, Minato." she smiled softly at him, just like the first time he had helped her.
Minato had a small blush on his cheeks." For what? You definitely would have gotten water walking down on your own, if Kakashi told you what I did."
" Yes, but you stayed with me through the whole thing and motivated me to master water walking, if only to deck you for teasing me." she giggled softly.
Minato grinned." It's what I'm here for."
" Ahem..." a throat cleared behind them. They turned and saw Kakashi leaning against a tree lazily." I heard laughter and wanted to warn you guys to come inside soon before you catch a cold, playing in the water and all."
Sakura huffed." We were not playing in the water. I just learned how to walk on it and was getting even, with Minato." she broke out of Minato's hold and made her way towards the house." See you guys later and goodnight." sh called over her shoulder.
" 'Night." they chorused together.
" Where are Naruto and Sasuke?" asked Minato after Sakura's form disappeared.
" Sasuke will be back in a few hours and Naruto's gone AWOL for the night."
" Do you think it's safe to let him do that?" questioned Minato, with a hint of worry in his voice.
" Ever the doting brother, I see. Don't worry, Naruto will be fine. Zabuza is not meant to recover until late tomorrow, so the fight won't happen until the day after. Besides, you seemed busy earlier." Kakashi spoke, giving him a pointed look at the end.
Minato returned the look with confusion. " Well, yeah. Sakura needed to learn water walking at some point, might as well teach her when we have time, plus with our opponent being a water user, the skill could come in handy." answered Minato as he began walking towards the house, with Kakashi not far behind.
' Sensei, you don't even realize that you...' trailed off Kakashi as he looked at the back of his shrunken teacher.
The last training day was when the boys finally mastered the tree walking exercise and Sakura practiced water walking more, even sparing, with Minato to test her concentration. Needless to say everyone was feeling pumped and ready to take on Zabuza and his mysterious hunter nin. The day of the battle found all of team seven, minus Naruto, was making their way to the bridge with Tazuna. Once they got there, they saw all the workers knocked out and Zabuza and Haku standing in the middle of the area.
" It's time for the final showdown, Kakashi of the sharingan and I guarantee, I will be the one to walk away." declared Zabuza." Haku take care of the brats."
" Kakashi, I'm fighting with you, while Sakura and Sasuke will take on Haku." announced Minato, to which Kakashi nodded. They both charged at Zabuza.
" Sakura stay back, I will deal with this 'Haku'." stated Sasuke as he rushed forward before sakura could say anything. The two engaged in a taijutsu match for a while, until Haku through senbon, cutting up Sasuke and forcing him back. Sakura was about to intervene, however Naruto showed up and quickly jumped into the fight, surprising Haku.
" Thanks so much for waiting for me guys!" shouted Naruto, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
" Hn. About time you showed up, Dobe."
" Shut up, Teme!"
" Enough talk." commanded Haku after regaining his composure and performing a few hand signs, making ice mirrors appear. He quickly stepped into one." Now, you will not stand a chance." he said while multiple images of himself appeared all holding senbon.
Back with Minato, Kakashi, and Zabuza'z fight, they weren't fairing much better, because Zabuza created a heavier mist than last time and is aware of how the sharingan works, thanks to Haku, so he is keeping his eyes closed, while attacking.
" I can't see a thing in this mist and every time I go to perform a wind jutsu a water clone appears." spoke Minato. He had been able to disable Zabuza's left arm, but once the mist was created, he could not do much.
" Don't worry, I have a plan." stated kakashi. He did a few hand seal and predictably Zabuza came and attacked him, however instead of stopping, Kakashi completed the seal after taking the attack. Zabuza retreated and Kakashi's nin dogs appeared." Guys, I need you to sniff out Zabuza in this mist, sniff for my blood, his sword is covered with it." commanded Kakashi, causing the dogs to run off.
Back to the genin of team seven, Naruto and Sasuke had been getting punctured and repealed repeatedly by needles and haku himself,taking out Sasuke and preventing their could not escape. But Sakura saw this and began shattering the mirrors, with chakra laced kunai, breaking several in the process. Haku however, did not let this continue and quickly attacked and captured Sakura as well.
" Dammit! What are why gonna do now?!" questioned Naruto.
" I've got a plan." said Sakura after a minute." Naruto you try running towards the exit, with you clones again, while I will try to capture Haku in my wires, and we break the rest of the mirrors, once he is taken out. Naruto nodded, he was pissed that Sasuke was knocked unconscious and was ready to beat that mask wearing bastards ass!
" Shadow clone jutsu!" yelled Naruto as 20 clones appeared and they all rushed towards the open spots in the mirror prison. Haku rushed out to destroy the clones, with his ice senbon, however before he could reach Naruto and the last two, Sakura caught him with her wires and she pulled him, forcing his body to her, where she punched Haku's face. Effectively knocking off the mask. Naruto and his clones took out the rest of the ice prison before facing Sakura and their opponent, but once he did he was shocked to see that it was the same boy from yesterday morning.
" I-it's you!" he said, pointing at Haku in surprise.
" You know him Naruto?"
With Minato, he had taken out the two water clones that had been attacking him and looked over towards Kakashi to see that he was preparing his ' Lightning Cutter' to finish Zabuza off. He looked over towards the rest of team seven, to find Sakura and Naruto listening to Haku talk, while Sasuke was unconscious, with a bunch of needles in his body.
He looked back to see Kakashi charging at Zabuza aiming to kill, but Haku appeared before him and prepared to take the hit. Kakashi was not able to stop his attack, however Sakura through a shuriken,with a wire attached that wrapped around Kakashi's arm and pulled it down so that it created a small crater in the ground.
" S-Sakura, why?" stuttered a confused Kakashi. Haku and Zabuza were just as shocked.
" He doesn't deserve to die Kakashi-sensei." she simply stated.
" Who are you to decide whether or not my tool dies." sneered Zabuza, however that ticked Naruto off greatly.
" WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO CALL HIM YOUR TOOL?! Haku was about to risk his life for you! His life! Meaning that he would have been dead and there's no coming back from that, but you don't even care?! Your upset about Sakura-chan seeing the value in his life unlike you, you bastard!?" yelled an outraged Naruto.
" It's alright Naruto-kun, I live to serve Master Zabuza, until my very last breath." he looked back towards a slightly in shock Zabuza." What ever your orders are, I'll do them."
However before Zabuza could say anything Gato and 30 of his bodyguards showed up.
" Look at you Zabuza, can't even finish off a bunch of snot nosed kids and a bridge builder. I am tired of you disappointing me and here by fire you! Boys get ready to take out that man over there." snapped Gato, pointing to Tazuna.
" Oh, I'm fired am I?" came Zabuza's rough voice." Well in that case, I don't have to put off killing you any longer." he said as he grabbed his sword in his good hand.
" Allow me to help. After all, I was the one who disabled you." smirked Minato,to which Zabuza returned.
" Don't blame me, if you get killed for getting in my way." replied Zabuza as he charged, with his sword in hand and a kunai in his mouth.
" Wouldn't dream of it." spoke Minato as he too charged, with two kunai.
Minato took out most of the men, while Zabuza took out the ones protecting Gato. Once they were out-of-the-way he took the kunai in his mouth and pieced Gato's heart.
" Nobody, double-crosses me." Zabuza stated as Gato fell. Zabuza collapsed on the ground as well, from the exertion.
" Master Zabuza!" called out Haku as he rushed to his side.
" I'm alright, Haku, just tired. Heh, you really are a good tool."
" What are we going to do now?"
"Were gonna have to find some other way to gain funds to take out the Mizukage."
" If you're talking about the Yondaime Mizukage, he is already dead." came Minato's mater-of-fact voice.
" What?!" screamed Zabuza.
" He was killed in secret, nearly six month ago, so it was not likely you would here of it for some time."
" Che, some lucky bastard got the honor of taking out the guy before me." grumbled Zabuza.
" I guess we no longer need funds in order to plan a coup?" questioned Haku.
*sigh* " No we don't." answered Zabuza.
Sakura was helping Sasuke, who came to a little bit ago, sit up.
" Cool! This means you guys can come back to Konoha with us!" announced Naruto happily.
" Naruto..." called Kakashi, but Zabuza beat him to it.
" It's not that simple kid. I'm still a wanted rouge ninja and would be capture on sight, if I went to any of the hidden villages."
" Then why don't you stay here for a while?" asked Tazuna.
" What?" came both Zabuza's and Haku's surprised voices.
" We don't have ninja here , so provided you help around town and don't cause destruction your welcomed here anytime."
Zabuza gave a deep horsed chuckle." You really want the 'Demon of the Mist' staying in your town?"
" Your not as bad a fella as the rumors make you out to be, besides this town needs some protection and who better than you?" answered Tazuna.
" What do you say, Haku?"
Haku looked surprised, but answered none the less." Are we still gonna be criminals?"
" Well, with the old Mizukage out-of-the-way, there is no real need to be. However until we go back to mist and meet with the new Mizukage, we will be considered rouge ninja."
" Why don't you guys stay here and slowly work your way out of the criminal records, before returning home?" offered Kakashi.
" Yeah! And once your home and get permission from your kage,you can come visit us!" spoke up Naruto.
" Humph. What if I don't like the new kage and want to kill him as well?" questioned Zabuza.
" Then we will just see you again in a few years and go from there. Unless of course you get killed off by some other ninjas." taunted Minato.
" Kid you don't know who your messing with." grunted Zabuza.
" Neither do you." mumbled Kakashi thinking no one had heard him, but Sakura had and secretly gave both him and Minato confused looks.
The following few days, in which team seven stayed to recover, the bridge was finally completed and the towns people were more lively than ever. All of them, including Zabuza, Haku, and the demon brothers, were there to see team seven off.
" Bye Everyone!" shouted Naruto as he waved like a maniac.
" Bye Naruto-nii! Thanks for everything and don't cry!" called out Inari as he waved, though he was crying himself.
" Your the one that's crying!" however tears began to run down Naruto's face as well.
" Goodbye Naruto and I hope to see you and your team soon." came Haku's gentle voice, but they heard it. Zabuza just scoffed and looked away. Haku smiled." That means he'll miss you too!"
Zabuza scowled, Sasuke and Kakashi smirked, Sakura giggled, Minato grinned, and Naruto laughed.
" If you have any trouble, contact Konoha again." announced Kakashi as he pulled out his favorite reading material.
" Will do! responded Tazuna.
" Take care." said Tsunami.
" Bye guys, come back anytime." came Inari's final goodbye." Say grandpa, what are we going to name the bridge?"
" Hmm~. How about 'The Great Team Seven Bridge' in honor of our young heroes?"
" Yeah, that sounds great." Inari spoke softly.
" Well guys, our first C-rank turns A-rank and we not only complete it, but we turn a criminal from his bad ways. I feel accomplished for the week." spoke Sakura.
Minato nodded." Definitely."
" Hn."
*Turns page*
" I want ramen."
Everyone turned and stared at Naruto.
" What after training, two battles, and all that yelling a nice hot bowl of ramen is just what the doctor ordered, right Sakura-chan?"
" Knowing you Naruto, one bowl really means five." said girl replied.
" Then what are we waiting for? The best ramen in the world can only be found in Konoha at Ichiraku!" exclaimed Naruto as he ran ahead of the group, only to trip over his own two feet. Minato and Sakura burst out laughing, Kakashi giggled due to his book, and Sasuke shook his head, while smirking.
" Dobe."
" Definitely." confirmed both Minato and Sakura, laughing again.
Done! Sorry for the wait, but as you can see this chapter was pretty long.( over 7,000 words) IT TOOK FOREVER! *Ahem* But I hope you enjoyed it and didn't mind the alternate ending, I felt sad when Haku and Zabuza died, when they weren't bad people, just dealt bad hands, so I decided to let them live.
The next chappy should be chunin exams! That was my fave arc in part one, cause it shows a lot of Sakura's growth, with her encouraging Naruto's dream, protecting her teammates even though she knew she had no chance, and not giving up during her fight with Ino. So be looking out for it, though I might break it up into two chapters if it gets too long or I find a good place to stop. Cause I just type whatever pops into my head and go from there.
Sorry again for the long AN and thanks for reading! Please review!