Hey guys! Back again with another update! I sincerely hope you all like the chapter and I hope it turned out well since I ended up being sick while I was writing it. Happens to everyone right? No? Oh, really? Hm? Ok. So apparently it doesn't. Most people wouldn't have but since I love you all so much I just couldn't help but try to persevere!

On with the show!

Naruto and Tenten tensed as the mist joined their breaths, clenching their kunai firmly. Only Haku seemed to be able to stand without hinder, dark eyes seemingly hardening, as if she was an indomitable gargoyle. Fearless.

Naruto smelled the air, taking slow measure and drawing in staled and fresh scents. A minute later and nothing came. There was no scent to be found. Either Zabuza left the area or the chakra in the air prevented or even stalled his senses.

Hazel eyes checked over again towards him. He shook his head to which he could visibly see Tenten tense again. His eye-lids closed momentarily. He needed to calm her down if they wanted to be able to fight him. Turning his head slightly, he saw Haku seemed loose, ready even.

Remember your training.

From a distance, Zabuza observed the three supposed anbu from the trunk of a tree as he leaned slightly against the trunk. Their positions were tight, covering all sides of the bridge-builder, a typical formation Zabuza surmised. Narrowing his eyes, he paid special attention to their stances. Firm, well spread, and… was one shaking slightly?

He leaned over carefully, trying to get a better view. One of them was shaking a little - whether in rage or fear - his piercing eyes couldn't tell.

To his right, Zabuza's apprentice sat against another tree-trunk, silently observing the team with questioning eyes. Though another moment passed and his eyes wandered over to the famed interrogator, Morino Ibiki. Interestingly enough, his attention wasn't on the anbu—him and his master could take them, no doubt—no, it was on the man who could disable nearly anyone with his taijutsu and psychological attacks during battle.

His master may not fear Ibiki in particular, opting for the anbu instead, but then again he did have a tendency to underestimate his enemies.

"Let's go. We need to prepare before we attack."

Kimimaro shifted his eyes over to Zabuza, nodding. At least this time he was trying to be somewhat careful.

Blonde hair, like a wisp in the wind, blazed as a great torrent of wind blew from their sensei's jutsu. It seemed to be working, his senses were returning and he could actually see the rigid path ahead. Smiling somewhat, he focused again, pushing his skills further to catch some trail of a scent.

Nothing.

Opening his eyes, he peered over to Tenten and Haku before unwinding his muscles. That was too close.

"Tenten-chan, Haku-chan, he's gone. Are you two okay?" he asked, his eyes shifting in between the two.

"We're fine, Naruto-kun," Haku said softly.

"Yeah, we're fine." Tenten chimed in.

"I'm glad."

Ibiki's kept his eyes ahead as he listened to his genin. He trusted Naruto's senses since they seemed to be highly attuned to the environment around him.

Training him months ago meant learning their abilities and what they could do along with adjusting his own style to theirs. In that time he'd learned quite a bit about his blonde genin, spanning from his adept fighting style that weaved itself within Haku and Tenten's, to the vast quantity of time he spent with them. His arsenal wasn't precisely as large as it could've been in his mind, but it worked with the team dynamic better than the Ino-Shika-Cho trio combo ever did and for that he was grateful. The council spent way too much time bickering over a remaking of that...

However, he'd never thought that Naruto holding the Kyuubi would actually give the boy special powers or abilities that could ultimately turn the tide of battle, if things were to go awry. Initially he thought the boy holding the Kyuubi would be comparative to a scroll to some degree. But, he supposed that wasn't exactly the case.

A scroll doesn't allow what's inside to have any adverse affects like increased senses and doubled stamina. No, not simply like a scroll...

He chuckled. Training those kids to act the way they did under stress was simply the most fun experience. He'd bombarded those genin with his killer intent and many other situations, like being trapped in several layers of different genjutsu. Everything he did was to prepare them for the shinobi world.

Of course, that wasn't all he did with them. He'd trained them to fight with their dynamic to the best of their abilities, with a few of his own techniques thrown in as well.

Shaking his head, he tried to remember what exactly he did teach them.

Naruto smiled graciously, looking left to right. He had left some of his equipment back at their apartment, so if they had decided to take on Zabuza then he would've been down several strategies from the get go.

He turned his eyes to the road ahead. They were nearing Tazuna's house, so hopefully he could get some rest with Tenten and Haku, or he could run into town for a bit to perhaps buy some of the things he left behind... after, of course, they resolved the situation regarding Zabuza.

Shifting aspects, Naruto wondered...

"Tenten-chan, do you have those new weapons I gave you?"

"Yeah, they're in my pack," her eyes shifted to him. "Why?"

"We need to make sure that we have everything. Besides, I didn't think to bring some of my wire or powder."

Haku looked over at him, tilting her head, Tenten apparently mimicking her. "Why?"

Embarrassed, Naruto found the leaves flickering nearby far more interesting. "I didn't think we'd need them. We were supposed to only face a few bandits every once in a while and from what I heard from Nee-chan, I thought that bandits were supposed to be really easy to fight."

"Naruto-kun, you know better!"

"I know, I feel so stupid," Naruto said, "I can't imagine what would've happened if we had started fighting Zabuza!"

"It's alright. We can just ask Tazuna-san if there's some sort of weapons shop near his home," Haku interjected, quickly.

With a long sigh Naruto nodded before walking over to Tazuna.

"Tazuna-san, could there, by any chance, be a shop nearby your house that sells weapons?" Naruto inquired.

The older man merely raised one of his brows before shaking his head, passing a hand over his face.

"You know there isn't anything, Naruto-san. Remember when I told you all about the state of my country?" Tazuna said gruffly.

The blonde nodded. "Is it really that bad?"

"It is. You couldn't walk two feet without feeling the overwhelming depression in the air. The way the ground's lost its earthly glow, or the way the village's brightness has dulled to a pale ghost of its former self with shops closing, buildings rotting, and the people growing weaker." Tazuna sighed, "Even the air has lost its flowered scent."

"Ah."

"I'll tell you what," Tazuna said. "If you are in need of weapons then you can head out into the forest. There's a small willow with a hollow trunk. In it should be a collection of old weapons."

"After all the time they've spent in there, I wouldn't be surprised if they had lost their cutting ability."

Sensing Naruto's question, he waved his hand and answered, "You're a shinobi, right? Shouldn't you know how to make touch-ups on a weapon? If not, your sensei should know."

"That wasn't what I was going to ask."

Tazuna merely raised a brow at the teenager. "I wanted to ask why you didn't just use those weapons to fight off Gato's mercenaries."

"We tried using those weapons to fight off as many mercenaries as we could. You see, even though it may not look it, we did fight back. It may not have been as grand of a rebellion as the one happening in the bloody mist, but we put up a fight," Tazuna replied.

Sighing, he continued. "Eventually the mercenaries simply overwhelmed us. Those weapons in the trunk are what were left after the battle, so I hope you can put them to good use."

Walking beside Tazuna, the pair turned their heads away from one another before testing the air, savoring the sweet smell of the free wind. Naruto nodded.

Flashes, images, sensations, devastation, reformation, depression, all of those explained her dreams. Nothing could soothe her though. The day she lost the one she loved was the worst day of her life. The way she lost her loved ones so easily made her bitter and calculative, cold to the outside.

Picking herself up and out of her bed, she recollected her dreams. All she could remember was a small tuft of hair and the robe belonging to her loved one.

Everything had been chaos after that. That one day, she couldn't even recall what happened afterwards, it was simply too vague. It was all too fast. She hadn't even seen her child, which she had just given birth to after the first twenty minutes of him in her arms. His soft giggles echoing in her mind made her stomach wrench as she nearly threw up.

The feeling was always unbearable. A monster had been sealed in her child, killing him.

Silently, with numb hands she threw on her own robe before exiting through the window to her room and taking flight with her abilities. Caressing and caring wind kissed her skin, the smell of fresh water filling her senses, sunlight blinding her but acting as a wisp below.

Occupation of the mind is what she needed. Thinking about her child and lover did nothing to help her and acted as a constant depressant if she let it. As her wings flew towards the earth below she could faintly see small groups of fish jumping up from the water. Giddily they ate their break-fast. Shining below them and covering the dark, water danced.

After another minute of flying, she landed solemnly on the ground. After walking up to a tree, she took a seat under it. She directed her eyes and peered out towards the sea.

Could she have taught her child to fly?

"Naruto-kun, do you have the equipment?"

The squad had arrived at Tazuna's house and they were all surprised to find a child and his mother standing in front of the door. Out of the two, Naruto had to say that he liked Tsunami better. Her reaction to their coming was a lot more positive than one little brat.

The way Inari looked at them gave off warning signs to him as he had found himself gripping Haku and Tenten's hands firmer. It was similar to how the villagers looked at him sometimes, but it was different, much different. His hatred was visible to everyone except his family.

Shortly after their arrival, the kid seemed to try and avoid them as much as possible.

When arrangements with rooms were made, Tsunami had nearly thrown a fit when she'd learned about what they did to sleep. However, after Ibiki managed to decisively defuse the situation along with Tazuna—him telling his daughter exactly what Ibiki said—she calmed down and patted each of their heads, much to his chagrin.

Later, about five minutes later, Tazuna instructed them to head five-hundred or so feet out to the back of his house and into the woods where the willow he spoke of earlier should be. The only trouble he seemed to encounter along the way had been, surprisingly enough, the obscene amount of mist in his way. Though, through his smart thinking he somehow managed to lay himself a trail back to the house.

Now, he had a scroll full of weapons from the tree and as he was about to head back, the sun blotted out for merely a moment, but enough to attract his attention. He looked up and to the sky, through the mist he could see a woman soaring down to the ground with huge wings, possibly heading down miles away if he guessed right.

Strange.

Hey Guys! Anyone wondering about that little bit I put in the middle? I'll tell you all now that it's going to be such a beautiful thing that you all won't be able to even comprehend the magnificent's of it! Either that, or I'm just talking out of my butt. Alright, if anyone guesses who the woman is correctly than I'll tell them who it is! That's the bribe!

R&R and PM, it does help!

See ya!