This chapter is rewritten
With Minato,
A few days have passed since Minato received word of his son, Naruto. A roaring battle of emotions stormed inside the Fourth Hokage. His son had not perished, thanks to his companion. That made him happy. However, deep inside, he still felt guilty for failing his son and shirking his duty to him as a father. As bleak as Naruto's chances seemed, considering he didn't have a lick of chakra, he still wanted his son to have a good life. The Third Hokage sealed the Nine-Tailed Fox and its chakra inside of Natsumi, and in fear of her not having good control when she grew up, he gave her more attention than she needed at that time and Naruto grew more and more distant until one day...he just vanished from his mind.
Well, he would change that. When he found Naruto or when Naruto returned to him, he would do everything he could to make things right with his son. He didn't entertain a fantasy of Naruto forgiving him easily.
He just hoped that time would heal the damages he caused.
With Kushina,
Kushina hopped from branch to branch, searching high and low, looking for any sign of Naruto. A few days have passed and they still haven't found him. However, this time, Kushina would not go back to the Hidden Leaf Village without her little her husband, Kushina had a battle of emotions going on inside her as well.
Annoyance, worry, and happiness.
After 4 long years, she would finally get to meet her son again. However, she had an instinct that made her apprehensive. Well, no instinct would get in between her and finding her son. The three anbu who tailed her barely had any energy to continue. They've searched up and down, high and low for Naruto, without any breaks. Still, they didn't complain. After all, Itachi and Seisui saw Naruto as their little brother, and even if Yūgao didn't talk much to Naruto, she knew Naruto had a heart of immense kindness.
With Mito,
Mito could barely contain her excitement. She would finally see her dream come true. She would finally get to meet her big brother. She always dreamt about her brother; how he would take care of her, play with her, and love her. Even if she had a sister who did all that, she just wanted to have a big brother to brag to her friends. She would tell them about her big brother's strength and how he would beat up mean guys for her.
She didn't know why she felt that way, but she liked it that way. Ever since her younger days, she just hoped that her brother would accept her as his little sister. Though with hope came a small bit of fear.
"What if...what if my big brother doesn't accept me?"
Land of Waves
One week later, at the bridge...
When Tazuna and everyone looked on the bridge and saw dead bodies of Tazuna's friends and workers, he fell to his knees in despair. Then mist slowly started to appear.
"Kakashi-sensei, this is Zabuza's Hidden Mist Jutsu!" Sakura announced.
"Everyone, protect Tazuna! We guard him with our lives, understand?"
"That's right, you have to die first!" Zabuza spoke gruffly and they saw ten Zabuza clones surrounding them. Sasuke and Natsumi shuddered.
"What's wrong, kids? Are you trembling with fear already?" Sasuke and Natsumi smirk.
"No way, you browless freak. We're trembling from excitement." With that, the Rookie and Kunoichi of the Year took down all ten clones in quick fashion, causing the mist to clear a little. They saw Zabuza back on his feet and with the fake hunter ninja ready to fight.
"So that was excitement, huh...I think you got some rivals, Haku." spoke Zabuza.
Sasuke and Natsumi dashed towards Zabuza but Haku stopped them.
"You shall not touch Master Zabuza. I will be your opponent."
"You masked effeminate bastard, you think you can defeat the two of us?"
"It's not the quantity that counts, it's the quality that matters. Unfortunately, I just happen to outrank the both of you in quality." Haku spoke behind the mask.
Sasuke and Natsumi just growled at that but continued their assault. On their own, they barely got to Haku, but together, Haku would have some problems. The hunter nin needed to take them down quickly in order to assist Zabuza, so Haku jumped back to make some distance between them and started to make hand signs
"Secret Water Art: CrystalIce Mirrors."
With that, mirrors of solid ice appeared around the Hidden Leaf ninja and trapped them inside a dome of ice.
At the same time,
In the woods of the Land of Waves, two figures with hoods walked, one of tall stature and plentiful muscles, the other of a younger age, but also had quite a muscular build.
"Nervous?"
"Yes, I think so."
"Don't worry, kiddo. They'll understand and accept why you left them, after all you did this training because you wanted to help them, but if you want, we can still change the plan so we can avoid some people"
"No, master. We're sticking to the plan because they should know who and what they've missed." The smaller person said disappointedly.
At Tazuna's house...
Tsunami stood over the sink washing dishes while her 8 year old son, Inari, sat in his room. Kurenai still needed to recuperate from her injuries sustained at the hands of Zabuza, so she lay in a nearby room, resting.
20 thugs stood outside Tazuna's house under orders to capture one hostage from this house, then they cut the front door and stepped inside. They burst into the living room door with a crash and sauntered inside, scaring Tsunami.
"My, my, my. The boss told us the geezer had a daughter, I didn't think she'd be this hot. I mean, damn!" One thug spoke.
"Yeah, in fact, so many people are scared of the boss, no one seems to come out at night. That's too bad, considering when we can't relieve ourselves, we get a bit pent up. Looks like I've found my outlet." Another thug spoke, licking his lips and sending a shudder of disgust down Tsunami's spine.
"Shut up, you idiots. Let's just nab the lady and get this over with." A third one spoke.
Inari ran from his room at the sound of a door crashing. When he saw the amount of thugs standing outside, he started to tremble in fear.
A thug looked around the house and saw Inari's frightened form. "Hey, do we need that kid too?"
"Nah, the boss said just one. Do what you want with him."
The thug that saw Inari smirked. "Well, that's fantastic. I need something to sink my new sword into, and nothing's better than the tender flesh of a brat!"
"NO, DON'T! I will come with you. I'll do what you say. Just please don't hurt my son!" Tsunami begged desperately with tears in her eyes. The thug scoffed.
"Well, it'd be wrong to turn down a woman's proposition, so consider this your lucky day, kid. Enjoy your life and pray you never come in front of me, otherwise I may not be as civilized."
Inari stood there, trembling still, this time with shame. He couldn't just stand there and let those jerks take his mother away, but what could he do? He's just a boy! He's just...just...
'I'm just a weakling. I'm a pathetic weakling who can't do anything but cry.'
The thugs tied Tsunami's hands and started walking towards their hideout.
"Stop right there!."
The thugs heard a voice, calling for them to stop. They turned to see Kurenai sweating and holding her stomach with one hand and with a kunai knife in her other hand
"Unbind her, NOW!" She yelled and started to attack thugs. Despite her injury, she still cut down a good number of them, 5 or 6, before one attack her from behind and slice her back.
"AAAGGGGHHH!" She yelled in pain. She knew she couldn't fight properly since her cut from Zabuza went deeper than she thought, but she wouldn't let these bastards take off with an innocent as long as she still drew breath! She cut down one or two more thugs before one attacked her leg, further impairing her movements.
"DAMN BITCH! NOW YOU DIE!" One thug roared before swinging his sword down towards Kurenai.
Her life flashed before her eyes as she reminisced her childhood, her father's death, her love Asuma, and her students Kiba, Shino and Hinata, especially Hinata. Ever since the blonde boy named Naruto left the Hidden Leaf, she showed little to no emotions in front of anyone. Kurenai wanted to help her make new friends and get her to show more of her emotions. How would Hinata ever return to the caring and lovely girl from before if she didn't have a sensei to help her?
"My dear Hinata...forgive your teacher."
The deathblow never came.
After a few moments, she opened her eyes and saw a tall man with a brown hooded cloak holding the sword between two fingers. With a twist of those fingers, he broke the sword. All the thugs that Kurenai hadn't killed stood afraid of this newcomer, but some of them attacked the man, or at least tried to. A smaller cloaked person jumped between them and knocked them out with simple karate chops, kicks and punches on their pressure points.
The tall man looked at Kurenai.
"Hey, you're not hurt too bad, are you?"
Kurenai shook her head, earning a sigh of relief from the tall man. He then turned to Tsunami, who still stood against the wall in fear.
"You, are you ok?" The man asked her. She just gave a nod, like Kurenai.
"Who are these people? Could they be ninja?"
The smaller hooded figure turned to speak to Tsunami. "Can we know why they were taking you like a prisoner?"
Tsunami then came out of her daze and move her arms. She had no idea when they cut her bonds until she saw a rope in the taller man's hand.
"How...when did he untie my hands?"
She started explaining how Gato came to the Land of Waves and shook down every last ryo the country had. Her husband, Kaiza, died opposing Gato and since then, the country has lost its morale, bending to the will of Gato. She then explained about her father building a bridge of home and that ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village had taken asylum in her home. When she mentioned the Leaf, the smaller person turned to Kurenai.
Suddenly, Inari charged at the cloaked figures with a roar and a wooden stick.
"STAY AWAY FROM MY MOTHER, YOU BASTARD!"
The child went after the smaller person, only for his weapon to fly out of his hand. Inari lost his footing and fell in front of the smaller figure.
"INARI!" Tsunami yelled desperately. The person in front of the child looked at him and moved his right hand towards Inari. Tsunami went to get him away, but the taller man held her back. If they could knock out mercenaries from Gato's organization, what chance did they stand? "STOP, PLEASE DON'T HURT HIM, I BEG YOU!"
As the hand drew closer to Inari, he closed his eyes and braced himself for an attack. Imagine his surprise when the person put his hand on his head and ruffled his hair.
"You were willing to attack me in order to save your mother. That takes a lot of guts." The smaller figure commended, giving Inari a grin only he could see. "What's your name kid?" The smaller person asked.
"I-Inari" Inari spoke with hesitation.
"Inari, originally female origin, it means one who is successful. You've impressed me, Inari. You remind me of myself when I was your age." Inari's lower lip started to quiver and he immediately put his hands to his eyes. He didn't need anyone to see him cry. The person saw this and pulled the boy closer.
"Inari, crying doesn't make you weak. It makes you human. Don't suppress your emotions anymore, just let it out."
With that, Inari clutched the small person's cloak and wept freely and the small person comforted him for every tear he cried. The smaller cloaked figure looked at the tall man.
"I think we need to move, but I want to help this village before we leave, is that ok with you, master Ryu?"
"I'd expect nothing less from my student. Also, I need some warming up so I think that it will be good for us."
When Inari heard this, he tugged on the smaller person's cloak.
"Please don't go! Gato is way too strong for you! I don't want you to get killed." When the student looked into Inari's eyes, he saw the same thing he used to feel:
Fear.
"Inari, life is beautiful. However, sometimes it's harsh, damn near unbearable, but living in fear is not my idea of living. I refuse to let anyone suffer like I did until four years ago. It's the reason I wanted to train; to become strong enough to protect those who are precious to me."
Inari and Tsunami stared in awe, as if they'd never expect such wisdom to come from a kid. Kurenai had heard everything from start and lay still in a bit of shock. These two newcomers defeated those thugs so easily and when she heard the student's voice, she couldn't believe it belonged to a kid; barely her students' age. Still, he defeated them in a matter of seconds but the fact that they wanted to help this country because of their moral code struck a chord within her. She knew she would do everything in her power to defend the Hidden Leaf against all enemies, but these people, they just met them and without thinking, they wanted to help them and also the small person spoke with the wisdom of an adult and she knew that only children who have lived harsh lives could speak such wise words.
"Excuse me, I just wanted to know; why do you want to help this country?"
"Simple. We like to help people and these guys deserve better than this. So we're gonna help." Ryu replied.
"Master Ryu!"
"Yeah?"
"We need to go right now if we want to help them." Ryu nodded and they started to leave but Kurenai spoke up.
"Wait! Please let me come with you, I can help you."
"We can't let you do that."
"But why?"
"You need to be here if someone attacks her once again." Ryu said, pointing at Tsunami. Kurenai just nodded, reluctantly.
"In that case, can I please know your names?" Ryu looked at his student and nodded. Said student turned to Kurenai.
"My name is Naruto, and this big man is my sensei Ryu." With that, the student-teacher duo left the house for the bridge.
Tsunami and Inari had small bubbles of hope rising inside them at the thought of freedom from Gato's rule. Kurenai sat in shock at the fact that Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, the long-lost son of the Fourth Hokage and the reason Hinata grew colder than ice, had just saved them after he vanished from the Hidden Leaf for four whole years. Before Kurenai could say anything to the boy, they had gone.
Kurenai held her stomach and tried to lift herself off the ground, but the wound in her leg made it extremely difficult, if not impossible. Thankfully, Tsunami stopped her before she could strain herself further.
"Please stop, I know you want to help your friends but those two will help them. You don't need to worry about them."
"I'm not worried about that, Ms. Tsunami. The kid who knocked out those thugs, Naruto, is the son of our Hokage, who vanished all of sudden four years ago. I have to tell my team that I've seen him."
"Where did you see him?" Kurenai recognized that voice and look backwards and saw a woman with red hair in Leaf Jonin wear and three Leaf ANBU behind her.
"Kushina sensei? What are you doing here?"
"Where, where is my son Kurenai? Please tell me!" Kushina asked desperately.
"They just moved towards the bridge you will catch up to them if you go to full speed."
Kushina accepted it and started to move towards the bridge as fast as she could with her special ANBU team trailing her.
Meanwhile, at the bridge...
Haku trapped both Sasuke and Natsumi inside his deadly jutsu, his reflection showed in every mirror he created and he attacked with his senbon ice needles at such a high speed, the two Leaf genin couldn't possibly track him. Sasuke and Natsumi blocked as many attacks as they could from Haku, but he wouldn't give them a chance to breathe.
Outside the dome, Kakashi fought with Zabuza and the remaining genins protected Tazuna so that should Zabuza get past Kakashi, he wouldn't get to Tazuna without a fight. Shino tried to help Sasuke and Natsumi but Zabuza stopped him, kicking in the gut and he flew across the bridge and landed across the bridge unconscious.
Zabuza and Kakashi had reached a stalemate, so they decided to use their one last technique to finish the battle. Kakashi made four different hand signs and in his palm came a ball of lightning that shrouded his hand.
"Chidori!"
Zabuza used his sword instead of a jutsu, and both ran at each other with a battle cry. Kakashi thrust his hand towards Zabuza's chest and Zabuza swing his sword to cut Kakashi in half. However, a single person appeared and put a stop to both attacks.
Kakashi and Zabuza stopped, shocked that someone could have stopped their attacks, but their shock increased from the fact that the person who stopped their attacks did it with their bare hands! They jumped backwards, creating some distance between themselves and the newcomer.
"Who are you? Another man who working for Gato?" The stranger began to chuckle, much to Kakashi's annoyance. "What's so funny?"
The man lifted his hood, revealing a handsome, brown-haired man. "My name is Ryu. And I am not working for Gato so just take it easy." Then Ryu turned his face towards Zabuza. "I did not come here to kill you, but I will not let you kill innocents, so I suggest that you leave with your partner before you curse yourself."
'What the hell? Whoever this guy is, he stopped my attack with his bare hands, like it was nothing! This guy...I can't sense his chakra, but I can tell he's way beyond my league. Plus, with Kakashi here, I'll be lucky if I get close enough to kill him. Withdrawal seems like my best option here.'
Zabuza nodded, canceling his mist.
With Sasuke,Natsumi, and Haku...
Haku panted heavily. Moving at such high speeds drained the fake hunter-nin, but in order to protect his master Zabuza, he either had to stop them or kill them. He decided the latter and moved for the killing blow. Suddenly, his ice mirrors shattered and the person with a cloak stopped Haku from attacking.
"What just happened? This person surpassed my speed and cancelled my attack! Who are they?"
The cloaked person turned towards Haku, but looked back at Sasuke with a smirk.
"It's been a while, hasn't it, bastard?"
And cut,
Thanks for reading story,
Special thanks to MODdenial
Have a nice day