Hey guys! Back again with another update! Sorry about not updating as frequently as I have been previously, my workload is simply getting larger so I've had a harder time adjusting my time to make room for my writing. Hopefully you all like the chapter!

On with the show!

It had merely been hours before he'd sent a message via hawk back to Konoha. In it read his report and instructions catering to what they would need, and if he was right about one thing, then it would be that the ANBU would be able to get to them soon.

Before Zabuza would get to them.

That is, of course, whether the Hokage would receive the message in time. Hawk's flight times varied depending on distance and timing at which one sent them, and sending one through the mist wasn't the best place to do it. But, he didn't have a lot of options.

He traced the room, scanning every inch as if to memorize for some debut. Falling stars graced his eyes after glancing skyward. They struck. He shut his eyes, and rubbed. The small gray speckles had caught him off guard.

Shaking his head, he took another look at the roof, this time with a hand raised just above his eyes. The ceiling cradled dust like a mother does her child. Disgusting. Turning his attention back down, he individualized the small furnishings lining the room. Oh, how they wept.

The wooden chair sat neglected in the corner surrounding a small coffee table, just a foot away from a poorly kept couch. The legs keeping them up would indefinitely give if anyone or child sat down on it. The wood itself seemed stable, but the nails keeping them together looked rusted, and the jagged corners sometimes appeared like they were jutting off after every slate of wind that groaned out near it.

The floor creaked beneath his boot. He could feel his temper rising. The house was in dis-repair, completely shutting down any kind of sensible direction as to what a home should really feel like. The kitchen was small—which in retrospect wasn't their fault—the floor was generally clean, but the water damage was vexing, the roof needed re-thatching along with new...

Standing up, his annoyance had shown through. He'd had enough. The whole house needed to be rebuilt. Plain and simple. There was no other way to put it, and if he did mention it to the woman—what was her name? He rubbed his chin before nodding to himself. That's right.

Tsunami.

He would definitely tell her if he—

Attentively he crossed the room to the window. Opening it, he leaned out and looked to the sky. From inside he'd looked out in thought when a shadow somehow made its way over the glass. Its shape: Wings. The smell faint of Alyssum. Teasingly, the floral aroma nestled itself deep within in his lungs before airing back out.

That was strange.

Stepping down the stairs, he looked back to the door just before the decline. He shook his head. He needed to get on those weapons his student brought back. Hopefully there would be something worth salvaging.

Naruto panted as he lay on the ground. Training with Tenten and Haku proved troublesome, as always. Tenten especially. They would throw weapons non-stop, Haku more ice than weapons, but even then that didn't matter. Dodging did.

Both of the young women had made it clear that they would not be underestimated, firmly saturating a belief to keep him on his toes.

Frankly, he didn't know where that idea even came from. He had never underestimated them. Not when he was younger, nor when he was just training with them. Living with Haku at such a young age—he'd been told—had effectively weaned him of any sort of female degradation he would've been subjected into believing as he grew up.

The only person he could even consider was Ibiki, but even then that was sketchy. The mere idea that Ibiki had done anything to underestimate them was incomprehensible and bluntly ignorant. From the first day to present, he had driven them all to the limit. So no... Ibiki hadn't done it. But who?

Arching his head back up to alignment, he pondered the implications and possibilities presented if they kept that behavior up. He shook his head a second after. Decidedly, he hopped onto his feet. The sun was just coming up and the horizon was beautiful, if not mesmerizing. The morning dew still tickled his toes over the sole of his shoe. He moved. Rushing past in a daze of freedom, the wind kissed his cheeks.

He was moving fast. He wanted to get back to the pseudo training ground to retrieve his teammates before they had to take up their shift at the bridge when the workers arrived. Assuming, that is, he could make it in time. While twisting his head around once more, he stared deeply into the sun's strokes of light.

Bam! His thoughts tumbled and cascaded down to his stomach as he looked forward again, the only sight awaiting him being the large chunk of bark glaring down at his crumpled form. He rubbed his head. He needed to pay more attention.

Adjusting, he rubbed the back of his head before sprinting past the damnable tree. He headed swiftly to their position. If he was right they would be right about... here!

He stopped. The field ahead of him could only remind him of the plains he'd seen as a child. Overlooking the village, he could've sworn that he saw a wide array of trees laid flat on the ground as Haku presented the picture. From high above, everything looked so small and flat.

Suddenly a whistling pierced the air in front of him. Instinct dictated. He arched. Dodged. Grabbed, and then threw back.

The sound after was a surprise. His eardrums heard the distinctive sound of solid hitting solid. But not so either. Balancing himself again, he spread his stance and readied himself. The girls could be pulling another surprise on him.

"Naruto-kun, why'd you do that?"

Standing idly in front of him, both of the girls stood staring at him as if he was a fool. Tenten seemed to be cracking up a little. Yes, he knew who threw the kunai now.

"And why did you, Tenten-chan, throw a kunai at me?"

She shrugged. "I was just having a little fun," she glanced over towards his arm. "It seems your accuracy is getting better. Along with your reaction time."

"Yeah, well after all the surprises you two put me through, I'm not surprised," he teased.

Walking forward, Haku embraced him, his arms following the gesture.

"You two know not to do those things."

Naruto merely shrugged before setting his head gently on hers. "I wouldn't but when you both are trying to kill me, how am I supposed to react?"

"Like this."

Suddenly, Haku pulled back, standing steadfast in her usual stance. The look on her face said playfulness, but the position and rigid structure of her body said otherwise. Shaking his head he put up his hands, trying to dissuade his teammate.

"We can't do that right now, Haku-chan. We've got to get to the bridge for our shift."

"Is it already that time?"

Naruto nodded before walking over to Haku. Bending over, he kissed her nose. "Yes."

Suddenly a weight fell upon his shoulder. It was Tenten. His eyes widened momentarily, and as he was about to speak, Tenten cut him off.

"I won't be left behind." she whispered, seconds after breaking the kiss.

Naruto's face heated along with his body. Her scent combined with the sun's expert lighting made her look angelic. The way the light cascaded past her face and body, shadowing and accentuating the best of her. He hugged her.

"And I'll never leave you behind." He separated, choosing to instead walk back towards the forest. "We don't want to be late now do we?"

Both the girls looked to one another. Then they were off.

Whenever Ibiki decided to have his team meet up for training, they always ended up doing it themselves, except when the training was something actually new. Otherwise they would end up polishing it themselves. That, however, was not the problem.

For a while his team was a dream for him. They did everything asked of them without question, but after a while of simply following orders, he'd found that although they had grown on him, he had not grown on them. Why? His first and most deadly mistake was trying to force torture and interrogation on the most sensitive of the group so early on.

At least, that's what Anko had said. Harshly said.

That alone had stagnated his relationship with them to simply a good sensei-student relationship. Not a bad thing. Though from what he'd seen in a lot of other teams and even the old Hokage's students, they were far closer than simply student and sensei. They were friends.

That worried him more than most things frankly. He shook his head. No need to worry about those things. He could indeed repair his relations later.

Padding down on the scrolls around him, he picked up five of the eight scrolls he used. The kanji on the front signified the classification he was to use for the weapons Naruto brought back. When that shadow flew overhead...

He pinched the bridge of his nose. He swore he was losing his mind. The kanji were what kinds of weapons they were and then they were also from most dangerous to least dangerous. Though that last classification was simply speculation, if he thought hard enough.

Ahead of him worked several full grown men along with some teenagers who all believed in Tazuna's cause. They swung their hammers and placed the stones quickly and efficiently. It was hard to believe really. People from the Land of Wave were judged as being cowardly. This did not seem to be the case.

The sweat on their brow. Dirt and rubble padded pants. Heavy and lumbering boots. No, these people were certainly not cowards.

Listening around him, he attuned his senses from the workers to the forest, awaiting the arrival of his students. Furrowing his brow, he heard something. The steps grew louder. He strained his hearing. Closer.

Like a man full of raging power, he turned and stood indomitable to the forest. That was the way his students went off to train... The atmosphere around him glared as he stared off into the forest. What came next was a surprise in its entirety. Anbu masks showed up. Behind them were his students.

All of them walked together, not even questioning the others' sudden appearance.

"You requested back-up, Ibiki-san?"

Ibiki started, he didn't expect that. "Yes, are you the back-up I requested?"

The anbu nodded before sweeping his hands to the side, showing the other five anbu aside him. Each of them looked ready for combat, holstering the typical weapon assortment. No one was under-equipped. Ibiki smirked. Apparently the Hokage was taking precaution with one of the alleged swordsmen. Good.

Stepping forward, he waved his students over to him. Eying them as they walked past, he faced the anbu again.

"So, the Hokage decided to take this situation seriously?"

The anbu nodded. "Yes. It was only due to your detailed description. Otherwise he would've sent another Jonin sensei with his or her genin squad as back-up."

"I'm not surprised," he turned to his genin. "Go and stand guard for the workers."

The anbus' eyes widened when they saw the genin disappear. One of the anbu tilted her head, asking a question silently.

"They are prodigies," another one of the anbu said.

"Prodigies of hard-work and loyalty," Ibiki said proudly.

When another one of the anbu was about to speak, he raised his hand and shook his head, opting to say: "I'll tell you all later. Let's do our job first."

Hours passed on that bridge. Haku and Tenten stood on either side of Naruto. Opposite them stood their sensei, along with a few other anbu. Hidden in the mist were the rest of the anbu. All of them stood, stiff, waiting.

Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly. The job they were doing was tedious and annoyed him to no end. Along with the stale stench of sweat lingering in the air, the mist not aiding that effort, he could hear the non-stop bashing and groaning forcing its way through his nerves. It was maddening. Blurring mist pecked at his eyes like birds do the dead.

Arching her back, she stretched and cracked her spine. Spreading her wings out wide, she prepared for flight. Her day had been stretched out in thought and possible redemption. Since the day of her child's death, she had been searching for a way to reconcile... or possibly try to bring him back. Anything to atone for her sin. Staring blankly off in the horizon could speak volumes of the time she spent there...

Day after day, her child-hood friend would try and aid her. She wouldn't want any. So she would fly away to this beach she stood upon now. It was the beach she wanted to take her little boy to. Her knees waned and fell limp under her as tears threatened to break their barrier.

She felt sick.

So sick.

Sometimes just the mere thought would drive her insane. She was lucky that she could even rasp that much out. Her throat gagged, she could feel bile rising up her throat. Oh, Kami! She brought her wings over to blanket her body as she sent herself into droves of sterilizing shivers. The sun was so beautiful, she thought. She tasted her lips. Salty.

Silently, her eyes widened. She started crying?

Make it stop, please!

The tears would not obey. They mocked her as they fell. Sickeningly, vile tears slithered down her pale cheeks with an unearthly grace announced only to the most uniquely evil. All of a sudden, a loud explosion bellowed off in the distance.

Whipping her head around to the harrowing sound, her eyes widened.

Hey guys! How did you all like that chapter? Hopefully you all liked it! Anyways, I'm hoping to keep a more frequent update schedule since I always feel horrible if I don't manage to get out to you guys when I need to so i hope I can in the future!

R&R and PM, it does help.

P.S. If I reach 115 reviews I'll write up an extra long chapter for all of you! I usually write 2300 words so imagine if I did somewhere around 4000 for an update. Maybe even 6000 words. That's if I can reach that 115 reviews legitimately.

See ya!