A Loving Heart, A Body of Steel

by renegadeofficer89

Love is the only cure to hatred. A person with a heart so big that he can accept anyone in his life, either human or not will be the saviour of the world. With a body of steel, he will rise above the hatred of the world, and be the catalyst to bring peace. Bloodline/Strong/Naruto, NaruxFemKyuuxHina pairing.

14. Chapter 13: The Wave Ends

Hello there, people! It's me again, and this time, the chapter's out faster than before! ... except for the gap between prologue and chapter 1, which was only 1 or two days or something. Now, I'm not much of a talker up on these ANs I guess, but once again, I'm going to rant about Kishimoto and what he did to an awesome manga.

Naruto is seriously a good manga. Faults and a bit of problems aside during the early parts, it creates a great universe where a lot of things can happen, can be done and can be twisted thanks to the relatively open set of rules the universe acted on. We can see this from the hundreds of thousands of Naruto fics on this site alone. But nowadays, there's just a lot of asspulling done by Kishimoto. Skills came out without any concrete explanations, like Sasuke's Sage Susanoo. Or whatever that thing was. Really Kishi? Sasuke's too used to nature chakra thanks to his Cursed Seal, and can somehow absorb it from around him. What kind of shit was that? The seal is already gone. Even the characters lampshaded that. Him gaining that ability all of a sudden was utterly a huge asspull.

I have no problem with jutsu asspulls. We can just say, "oh this guy's lived for hundreds of years, so he'll have a lot of jutsu in his mind." That I can accept, no problem. But sudden, mysterious powerup like that Sage Susanoo? What the hell? Wasn't even an acceptable explanation to it too. And what's this about the Juubi being a huge, living tree that went on a rampage because of a woman's idiocy? Come the fuck on. The Juubi making a tree with a Sharrinegan (a Rinnegan with tomoes, at least that's what I called it) on it, that I can accept. It's a force of nature anyway. But that Fruit of Chakra thingy? Seriously? It went against what he said earlier on the story itself, that chakra was within every living thing. Animals, trees, humans, whatever. Thus why Sages can detect people no matter how, they are one with nature. And chakra is a part of nature. Or something. But he then said that chakra came from that fruit or something somesuch, so how did that explain those words from the start of the series? Does her shit gave trees chakra? Does his piss made insects and trees gain chakra all of a sudden? Did the two went and whored themselves to spread chakra to everyone? What the hell.

And once again, the clan of sheer HAX, the Uchihas. They had the history of the Sage himself on their stupid tablet! Really?! If I recall correctly, Uchihas were the descendants of one of the Sage's child. We don't know how far from the Sage they were descendents of before they got the name Uchiha. So, unless if they mysteriously had the entire history of their father written on a scroll, they won't be able to write all that on a tablet. And if they do, why did they miss the part about the bijuu being created by their father and that he was the first jinchuuriki? And why didn't the child who became the Senjus did the same? He must've been an airhead like Hashirama was. A lot of weird shit nowadays in the manga, really.

Another thing was with the fact that Kishi seemed to read a lot of fanfics. Demonic Sage mode, where Naruto gathered nature chakra while in bijuu mode. Now where have I read that...? That was the most obvious, for me at least. That was overused in hundreds of fics, and now it's canon! Even had the same eye formation too! Vertical bar with demonic slit. Exactly the same as fanfics. It's good reading fics. As writers, we can see how far people loved our story, how they expanded the universe, the twist that they expected, all that stuff. But taking ideas straight from them? True that the stories that were written on FFN wasn't copyright. We even had disclaimers saying that we didn't own the story. But for god's sake, please think of some original ideas of your own.

Well, enough ranting. So here's the new chapter you've been waiting for!

CHAPTER 13: THE WAVE ENDS Uploaded 29/09/2013

-CHAPTER START-

-AT TAZUNA'S-

Kakashi was already in front of the house as they dropped down from the tree lines towards Tazuna's house. Giving all of them an eye smile, he asked, "So how'd the mission go?" Then, his eye wandered and he caught the sight of a sleeping Hinata. Feeling worried about the well-being of the only noteworthy medic within their teams, he added, "and what happened to Hinata-san?"

Naruto replied. "The mission was a success. Gato's men are all dead and his mansion's going to be destroyed in a bit, right after the clones freed all the captured people from their cages. As to your question about Hinata, this was her first couple of kills."

Kakashi understood immediately and knew that it wasn't a topic to be breached right now. And so, he turned and entered the house, the members of Team 11 behind him. In the house, the members of Team 7 looked towards them in surprise except for Sai, and Sakura was the first to stand up, approach them and ask. "What happened? How did Hinata-san faint? And was she crying? She seemed so strong!"

"We killed Gato, destroyed his mansion and freed everyone he captured, it was her first couple of kills and yes, she was crying. Until you killed in cold blood and without mercy, strength doesn't matter. You can be a genin or a jounin, but only after your first kills are you able to stomach the life of a ninja and to further appreciate life." He said before heading back towards the forest, intent on creating a tent for him and Hinata.

Looking at Naruto's disappearing back, Sakura asked, "Where are you going?"

Naruto replied with "To set up a tent for both of us!" before completely disappearing from view.

Sakura was about to say something when she was stopped by Kakashi's hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about them, Sakura. Besides, they're both husband and wife, so you have nothing to worry about." Kakashi said, once again showing her his customary eye smile with a small giggle at the end. Exasperated, Sakura just left and returned towards Tazuna's house, followed by Sasuke and Sai.

Having nothing else to say, Anko and Kushina entered the house, where Inari was sitting at the table before realising that Kushina was in and running towards her. "Kushina-san, where's Naruto-nii?"

"Naruto-nii?" Kushina said. "Since when did my father became your brother?"

Inari then said, "Well, this evening, he saved me from the waters before talking with me and then playing with me. He's a pretty good guy, Even if he's actually a demon" Thinking that last bit to himself "so I asked if I can call him my brother, and he said okay, so he's Naruto-nii now! Where is he?"

Kushina crouched in front of him before petting his hair, replying, "He's busy with some family business. Don't worry, he'll be back tomorrow. Go to sleep now. Tomorrow comes faster that way." Before giving Inari a smile.

"Okay!" Inari replied with a cheerful voice before he bolted upstairs to his bedroom, leaving a bewildered Tsunami who was listening to all that from the kitchen. Clearing her thoughts, she then walked towards Kushina before bowing in front of her.

"Thank you." She said, tears nearly falling from her eyes. "Inari lost so much. I haven't seen him smile ever since Kaiza died. Your father's presence was such a boon for us. I have no other way to thank you than to bow in front of you like this."

"Hey, you don't have to do that." Kushina said, being humble. "My father always taught me to help whenever I can, and this is just one of those times where I can. Wave can worry no more. Gato was eliminated, and the bridge was completed. It's only a matter of time before it recovers."

"Really?!" Tsunami nearly shouted out, tears of happiness pouring out of her eyes unbidden now. "Oh thank you! Thank you so much!" she cried, running towards Kushina and hugged her even as she cried profusely into her longcoat. Having never had someone cry on her like Tsunami did, the only thing she could do was hug her back and let her cry.

Anko and Kakashi looked at the two, the success of their mission really made Anko feel good. As Anko was about to go to her bed and catch some good night sleep, Kakashi asked. "Anko, what's our next plan?"

Anko stopped at this before slowly turning her head to look at Kakashi. "Oh? Are you handing me the team leader mantle? I'm so proud." Anko said, mock sniffing by the end.

Kakashi just waved her off, causing her to pout at his instant dismissal. "Eh, your team's the one who did nearly everything anyway. Mine just guarded the drunken old man. I think it's just right to hand mission command over to you."

Now it's Anko's turn to wave him off. "Well, I don't actually do much within this team. It's all Naruto. He's the leader, strategist, planner, strongman, everything. But from what I knew of his plans, we'll have Tazuna announce Gato's death and the completion of the bridge at the town tomorrow and bring all the villagers towards the bridge, just to let them watch it." And suddenly, a huge explosion that lights up the night sky was heard from the general direction of Gato's mansion. "And it seems that the mission's complete now. The people were freed, the mansion destroyed, and Gato's dead. Happy end for everybody. Yaaay." After finishing with an extremely unenthusiastic cheer, Anko then let out a huge yawn. "Well, that's it for me I guess. I'm going to sleep." And she walked upstairs, ready to sleep her night off.

Kakashi had a blot of sweat on the back of his head as Anko waved him off and went to sleep, not mentioning the lame cheer. But still, a mission complete was still a mission complete, so he decided to inform his team of the current development.

He walked towards his team, still with a pretty relaxed expression on their faces as they saw Kakashi walking towards them. "Alright. As you all heard, the mission's a success, and tomorrow, we'll be able to go back home after Tazuna informs the town about the completion of the bridge and Gato's death. With that, I officially gave all of you a night of rest and relaxation. Kushina-san will be guarding the house while you all take some rest."

"For the entire night? Will she be alright?" Sakura asked.

"For your information," A Kushina that appeared out of nowhere in the middle of Team 7 said, causing them all to jump backward in fear before landing in their respective stances. Kushina just sighed. "Chill out, you guys. Now, as I was saying , my bloodline enables me to forfeit sleep for a long while, up to a week and then some if need be. As such, I am able to guard the entire house and our client without any problem. So just chill out."

"What about your mother and father?" Sakura continued asking.

"You're quite the busybody aren't you?" Kushina said, causing Sakura to blush. "Don't worry about them. They're fine."

"What about Zabuza?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, no worries. Dad'll handle him. Just get your asses to sleep for the night. I'll guard the house." And with that, Kushina Shunshined away towards the roof of the house, ready to act as alarm for anything that would attack them while the rest of Team 7, Kakashi included, went to their respective places to sleep.

-WITH NARUTO-

Reaching the same clearing where they met Haku, a clone immediately appeared beside Naruto before he prepared a campsite in a couple of second. Having an entire tent sealed within a special camp scroll helps during times like these. Still carrying Hinata bridal style, he entered the tent, leaving the clone to create all the necessary defensive seals around the campsite.

Within the cosy Naruto-sized tent lie two sleeping bags with more ready to be unsealed from a seal close by. The tent was created to be the perfect camp, with temperature control seals lining the walls, storage seals for supplies, privacy seals to endure no one can see or hear anything from the inside with special heating seals for cooking and light seals to ensure visible light at any time. It seals and unseals with a simple application of chakra, allowing the tent to be packed and unpacked at unprecedented speeds. Sadly, it is still in prototyping stage and as of yet unavailable for mass production.

Naruto then placed Hinata on top one of the sleeping bag before going to the tent's many storage spaces and was about to unseal some food for her when she groaned. "Naru-koi..." Naruto, upon hearing this immediately shot towards her location before cradling her head in his hands. "Hina-hime, you alright?" Naruto immediately asked, worry evident in his voice.

Slowly, Hinata's hand reached Naruto's face, holding it while her thumb slowly stroked his whisker marks. "I am lucky to have such a loving husband by my side. But..."

"But?"

Hinata sighed, the pain in it visible to Naruto. "I... I know I've been much more confident since becoming your wife, no matter how forced it was at the time, but today was the first time I've killed, and I have to say, I hated it."

Naruto nodded, his hand on hers. "Good. Never like it, because liking it means that you've become nothing but a monster."

Hinata nodded. But then, a sudden spike of sadness came from her before he looked into Naruto's eyes, her tears falling down slowly. "B-but why *sob* did I need to kill him?"

Seeing her distress, Naruto immediately hugged her, letting her tears fall on his shoulder. "Hina-hime, you should know that people like him will have contingency plans for when their business suffers. If we had let him live, he would only rebuild his business elsewhere, and the same thing will happen to others elsewhere. The only way to completely stop him is to kill him."

Still sobbing, Hinata spoke, her speech muffled due to the fact that her face was still buried in Naruto's clothing. "I-I understand. B-but *sob* that doesn't mean I like it."

Naruto rubbed her back gently while saying, "You don't have to. I said that already. But just know that I'll be here every time, even if you feel like you can't take the life of a ninja."

Hinata suddenly pushed Naruto away, shocking Naruto. Looking at Hinata, he felt pride blossom in his chest as he saw that Hinata had a resolute look of confidence on her face even as tear marks stained that white, confident face of hers.

"No." She said, her voice filled with hardness. "No. This is the life that I chose. Not you, not my father, not anyone. I made this choice and I won't back down just because of some fat, bald evil guy that I killed. It's just that... his execution was a bit... unwarranted, especially after you promised not to kill him."

"Hey, I promised I wouldn't kill him, and I didn't. You did." Naruto said.

Hinata sent a glare towards Naruto. "I know. But still, I feel like I just broke another milestone in my life. Not a good one, but a milestone nonetheless." Her face then gained its softness again. "But still, I know that this is the path I chose, and I will walk this path until either its end, or my own. Hopefully with you by my side, my Naru-koi." She said, love pouring from her eyes into Naruto's.

Immediately Naruto gave a kiss to her lips which she responded greedily before turning into a makeout session before they separated, Hinata panting for breath. "Don't worry about that Hina-hime. I will definitely be with you until the end, no matter what. I promise."

"And I know that you'll keep your promise. After all," Hinata said, before pushing her face closer to Naruto's, so much so that their noses touch, "An Uzumaki-Namikaze never breaks their promises, right?"

Naruto turned the closeness into another kiss before he separated saying "Yeah. We never do."

Both of them then went into their respective sleeping bags, their heads outside the bags when Hinata turned to face Naruto and asked something that's been bothering her mind since she saw Naruto in a true, bloody fight (even if the fight wasn't so much a fight). "Naru-koi, I saw that when you fight, you seemed like someone else, like you had a different personality. Why is that?"

Immediately Naruto answered. "That was actually the result of my Battle Mode. In that state, I am nothing but a killing machine, not affected by anything. It is a special type of meditation that allows me to ignore everything and focus only on my enemies. Every defence was instinctive, and every distraction was removed. It is gained through a special combination of mental strength, meditation through movement and so much training that dodging, feeling, attacking, blocking, everything is by instinct, naturally. A level so high that can only be achieved through many years of training."

Hinata just nodded. "No wonder he seemed like a different person. He must've let his Battle Mode on during that time."

Then, suddenly Naruto grinned. "But just now? That was all me. No Battle Mode there. I just wanted to toy around with those two."

Hinata's facial expression turned from acceptance to thoughtful and to horrified in mere seconds. Immediately she shouts out. "What?! Why did you do that?!"

Naruto just grinned again. "Well, sometimes I just do. They deserve to die horribly anyway. Just imagine the atrocities that they performed before. Do they not deserve it? Just like Gato."

Hinata thought for a while. True that he killed them mercilessly and brutally, but when she thought about it, they would've deserved it. And suddenly, a thought went into her mind. "If you said that they deserved it, then by that same token, WE deserved a brutal death!"

Naruto chuckled. "True. And I am prepared." He then had his serious face on as he stared into Hinata's lavender tinted Byakugan eyes. "Hinata, we are ninjas. A horrible death awaits us at the end, no matter what. I have prepared myself for it, and have already accepted the truth. Now, will you?"

Hinata thought for a while. Then she nodded. "Yes, I do. We are ninjas. Performing atrocious acts is part of our lifestyle. You drilled that deep into me. There is no honour among ninjas, only those who lived and the rest who died. This too, you had me learn. It's all for me to accept this, right?"

"Right." Naruto answered truthfully.

"Then I accept it. We are ninjas. We are shinobi. This is our life. The life that I chose."

"And you're still a crybaby." Naruto said, giggling.

Hinata blushed before playfully hitting Naruto. "Oh hush. It's who I am. And it won't change."

"Please don't." Naruto said with a small smile. "Now let's sleep. Tazuna's got a very important announcement tomorrow."

Hinata pulled her sleeping bag closer towards Naruto. "What? No 'playing around' tonight?" she said with a grin of her own.

Naruto looked at her before giving her a kiss on her lips. "Someone needs her sleep tonight. Sleep tight, honey. I Love you." Naruto said before ruffling Hinata's long hair. He then proceeds with his nightly meditation, lying down.

Hinata smiled before slowly saying, "I will. I Love you too." Before she went to sleep, the meditating figure of Naruto beside her sleeping bag.

-NEXT MORNING-

Last night, the clones freed everybody and brought them towards the town of Wave, where the captives were immediately treated with kindness and gentleness, no matter how resource-starved the people of Wave were. Prior to their arrival, a bunch of clones cleared the town of any thugs before bringing them all somewhere, for what reason they don't know, nor did they care as long as Gato's menace was gone. The same clones also notified the people there of the impending arrivals.

Upon reaching the town, the people immediately cleaned them up before dressing them in better clothes than the rags that they wore, and also feeding them with what food they have. Unknown to them, a bunch of Naruclones and Kushiclones had hunted some game around Wave and brought the results of their hunt there and sold them while henged at extremely cheap prices, even just giving them out sometimes, allowing the people to have more food in their stomachs and for helping others since they already received the report of Wave's condition from Kakashi. They are then settled inside an inn within the town until a huge boom was heard, where they saw Gato's mansion going up in flames even from afar, a sign of just how big the fire was.

Their cheers and shouts of happiness were heard through the entire night.

The next morning, the people of Wave was shocked again when the bridge builder Tazuna came towards the town while being escorted by a bunch of ninja kids, one strange one-eyed ninja with a mask on his face reading a little orange book, a criminally under dressed kunoichi and two giants, one a woman while the other's a man who had a kid that everyone there knows as Tazuna's grandson Inari on his head laughing happily.

This motley crew stopped in front the citizens of Wave and even the people who are rescued from the cages. One of them even shouted ,as he pointed towards Naruto and Kushina. "Hey! That lady and that man saved me yesterday!"

The rest of the people looked at him as one asked. "They did?"

"Yeah! She placed something within the cages' locks before it blew up and she came with that guy and ushered everyone out! As we were leaving, the entire house blew up and burned!"

Everyones' heads immediately turned towards Kushina and Naruto even as Inari, who was sitting on Naruto's shoulders looked downwards and said, "You did that?!"

Naruto grinned before answering. "Nope. WE did that." He said, emphasizing the 'we' in the sentence.

Everyone looked at them in awe and reverence. As the crowd stood there with their mouths open, Tazuna walked forwards before saying out loud. "People! My fellow citizens of Wave! For years we have been oppressed by Gato and his henchmen! He extorted us! Threatened us! Levied heavy taxes on us! Even our daimyo were under his heels by the time we started the construction of the great bridge, our final hope for the survival of Wave.

I went to Konoha to request a C-rank mission to guard me from bandits while me and my partners construct the bridge. While on our way back, we are attacked by rogue ninjas and the kids of Team 7," he said, before waving his hands in front of Team 7 who are standing side by side now with Kakashi at their back, Sakura in the middle and Sasuke and Sai beside her with Kakashi holding both their shoulders with his creepy eye-smile in place.

"The kids of Team 7," Tazuna repeated. "handled them deftly. They then made me spill the beans about the actual mission, and yet, they still decided to continue, ignoring the fact that they are allowed to just leave me there at the roadside. Then, another ninja ambushed them. This time, a powerful missing nin by the name of Momochi Zabuza.

Although they managed to handle him, I am sad to say that his killing intent alone froze me on the spot, making me unable to recall the fight. But once everything clears, I was met with the sight of the three of them carrying Kakashi-san who was tired after such a huge battle. I immediately offered them a place to stay; my home.

After recovering a bit, Kakashi-san sent a message to Konoha, requesting backup. And the backup was none other than the entire Uzumaki-Namikaze family here and their leader, Anko-san."

Immediately Naruto and Kushina pushed close to each other, squashing Anko and Hinata together. Probably on purpose. Both Naruto and Kushina are sporting familiar grins while Hinata and Anko was looking at the people in general even as they whooped and cheered them.

"The Uzumaki-Namikazes are a very, very strong bunch. In fact, once they arrived, they set traps around my house to prevent attackers immediately! The next day, Kushina, the giant lady over there, went to the bridge to guard me. But suffice to say something happened, and Kushina ended up helping build the bridge.

Whilst that, the rest of Team 7 trained to face Zabuza again, who Kakashi said was still alive. They trained until they bleed and suffered, yet with Hinata-san over here," He said, pointing towards a lightly blushing Hinata who then waves her hand towards the crowd. "She managed to heal both Team 7 and Kakashi as well. She is a great medic.

Then, we left the bridge while Kushina's clones kept on building the bridge even through the night, never stopping, never resting. And the next day, the bridge was complete. But I decided to delay the announcement to others because Gato was still here.

After that, Naruto managed to befriend my grandson, even allowing him to call him Naruto-nii.

And last night, they performed the ultimate act for our freedom! They annihilated Gato, once and for all! Destroyed every part of his criminal empire! And crushed Gato under their heels! THREE CHEERS FOR THE KONOHA NINJAS!" Tazuna shouts out at the end of his speech.

The crowd, already fired up due to both the death and destruction of Gato and Tazuna's speech, immediately roared, their voices drowned the sound of everything around them.

"KO! NO! HA! KO! NO HA!" the people of Wave screamed into the morning sky, their sound echoing throughout the entire village. A feeling of euphoria rushed into the ninjas as the people cheered and praised them, Tazuna's urging making the cheer louder and stronger.

As the crowd screamed out praises and cheers towards the ninjas, Sakura was the only one who felt miserable. At the end of the day, she's the only one who did nothing. Stayed at one spot when the Demon Brothers attacked, froze when Zabuza came, and didn't even guard the old man. She's the only one who did nothing throughout the entire mission.

When she looked back, she realized how sheltered a life she had ,even as a recently graduated ninja. She knew no extra jutsu, no skills beyond her book smarts which did practically nothing in real life and the only thing that she was capable of was acting as a meat shield. Against someone powerful, she could do nothing, not even scream. Even nice, gentle Hinata had a strong look of confidence, which if possible, looked more confident than when she first met her at Wave on her face even as she had a small, nearly invisible blush on her face due to the people praising them.

Tightly gripping her hand, she built a resolve within her mind. She'd visit the Demon Family's home, ask them to train her, and will grow stronger! She will not be a burden anymore, the weakest link in Team 7's chain! She will be there, side by side with her team members and make sure that they all will survive anything! And the first step is by meeting them at their home.

Kakashi who noticed the fire burning within Sakura's eyes right now had a feeling of pride grew within him. His team had already advanced well in the world, even if they are not bloodied yet. But they will, and he'll make sure that they will survive their future ordeal, even win any battles they may encounter. He might need some help though. Well, he knew just who to ask for it.

"Fellow citizens!" Tazuna shouted, silencing the cheer with only some words and a hand gesture. "Our bridge is now complete, and it is an honour for me to bring all of you to it to see the bridge and to celebrate its opening!" a loud cheer erupted from the crowd. "Now everyone! On to the bridge!" and led by Tazuna who was followed by the Konoha ninjas, the people of Wave walked together as one towards the bridge of their hope, the bridge that connects them to the mainland.

A while later, the huge rabble of people reached the area close to the start of the gigantic bridge. However, everyone there immediately realized that there was a strange, thick mist around the bridge and the areas surrounding it. Immediately Naruto stopped Tazuna from continuing.

"What?" Tazuna asked, his tone a bit grouchy and more irritated then before.

"Wait. Something is wrong." Naruto said before scanning the area with his eyesight. And as he suspected, the mist was actually charged with chakra, signifying that it was not a natural occurrence. And he knew the only person around who could perform something like that without any problems. Turning towards Tazuna, Naruto said, "Tazuna, take everyone back towards the village. This mist was charged by chakra, and that means that it's not natural. Get everyone away. We'll handle this."

Knowing exactly how powerful a ninja could be when he's serious, Tazuna immediately called out to the people of Wave. "People! Unfortunately, we are forced to return to our town! There is an enemy ninja in this area, and he might just attack us while we're here! Turn back at once! We'll wait for the Konoha ninjas to come back towards us to say that everything's clear before coming back!" and with a loud "YEAH!" the people of Wave went back to their town, awaiting good news from the ninjas their future would-be leader hired.

Once Naruto saw that the last of Wave's citizen's back had disappeared, Naruto faced the thick mist before drawing in a huge breath and charged his lungs with wind natured chakra minus the cutting part. Holding it for a moment within his three lungs, he blew them out, the sheer quantity of air he blew creating a massive gust of wind rivaling hurricanes towards the mist. His overcharged, sealless Futon: Great Breakthrough blew the thick mist away, revealing the figure of both Zabuza who was wearing his customary camo patterned pants with leg warmers and shirtless with a bandage-like mask on his face with a huge cleaver at his back and Haku, wearing her grey battle kimono standing atop the water beside the bridge with Zabuza's eyes showing his shock though he hid it well, not appearing in his body language at all.

"So," he growled out. "You're the guy who gave us the deal through Haku before killing Gato off eh?" Zabuza said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Everyone was feeling confused at this point except for Anko, Kushina and Hinata. Naruto nodded before replying, "Yes. I am."

Zabuza said, his tone angry. "Your deal's a good one, but I'm not one who could easily join forces with someone whom I haven't even met yet, and one who threatened my daughter just to give out a deal."

Naruto just shrugged. "Well, here's the first part of the deal then. As a gesture of goodwill, if you may." Naruto immediately unsealed the scroll that contains Gato's cash and treasures before tossing it to Zabuza who caught it with one hand.

Despite his tough words, Zabuza was actually shocked at this guy's strength. He blew away his mist without even using a jutsu! Well, he actually did, but Zabuza didn't know that. And even from afar, he could see that this guy was huge! Being someone pretty tall at a little bit higher than 6', he could judge easily if someone was taller than he was. And this guy made him look like a normal person! And from the way he carried himself, he knew that he was a strong person. Though that longcoat and hair looked oddly familiar...

Pushing his thoughts to the back of his mind, he created a Water Clone seallessly, having used the same clone technique for years gaining him mastery over the technique before having the clone take the scroll towards another area of the riverside before unsealing it to check for traps.

The clone unsealed the scroll, revealing the tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of ryo that Gato had stashed in his safe that Naruto took from him before he killed him together with all the valuable gems and diamonds that he also had. Zabuza's eyes bulged widely as his clone carried everything that was unsealed from the scroll towards him to confirm the validity of the items within.

After he checked the contents of the seal, he resealed the items back into the scroll before handing it over to his daughter for her to store it. He then continued speaking. "Alright. That was all cash and goods. I'll take it."

"Then, what about the deal?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm... A deal's a deal, and you giving us this would mean that you're serious. But first, show me your strength. I cannot just take your deal when I don't know how strong are you, right?" Zabuza said before he unsheathed his sword, one of Kiri's Legendary Seven Swords, the Kubikiriboucho, and his KI skyrocketed, once again causing the members of Team 7 to fall to the ground gasping, not being able to handle such overwhelming KI.

"I was hoping that you'd just take the deal and let us pass, but I guess that just won't happen, eh?" Naruto calmly said, ignoring the glares that Kakashi sent his way.

"Yeah. Now before I kill your piece of shit teammates down there, show me that you can follow through with the deal. Show me your power!" Zabuza said, screaming the last part out before lifting his hand in a half Tiger seal before the mist grew thicker.

Before Naruto could act, Kakashi's hand stopped him. "Naruto, what's this talk about plans and deals? Are you planning on betraying Konoha? Because if you do," Kakashi was now standing in front of Naruto, his KI also increasing close to Zabuza's. "Sensei's son or not, I will kill you." He finished, sending a death glare towards Naruto.

"What? No!" Naruto said, his face frantic. He don't want to attack anyone from Konoha anyway. That is, if they didn't warrant it. "I will explain my plans to the old man back home, but not now. And right now, I have a battle to fight, and an ass to kick just to prove a point." Stepping forward, he sidestepped Kakashi and prepared himself to fight against Zabuza. "Kushi-chan, you take his daughter. Don't. Kill. Her."

Kushina stepped up front, ready to attack Haku. "Well, it seems that we're going against each other. So let's get this going!" She shouted before dashing towards where Haku was standing.

"What the hell are they thinking?" Kakashi said out loud.

Anko, hearing this, just shrugged. "Beats me. Sometimes, these guys are just fucking crazy. Better off just letting them be. They work better that way." She said nonchalantly.

Kakashi looked at Anko strangely before looking back towards Naruto and back to Anko. He then let out a huge sigh before saying, "At least we both know Naruto's going to take care of Zabuza while Kushina's going to handle the fake hunter nin. What are we to do then?"

Anko scratched her chin, a thoughtful look on her face. She then said, "Well, let's start with waking up your catatonic genin down there." She said while pointing towards the twitching figure of Team 7, Hinata already beside them.

Kakashi sheepishly laughed. "Oh. Yeah, I kinda forgot about them. Well, let's." He said to Anko, not noticing that Anko was looking towards Naruto who was standing on the water looking towards Zabuza even as Kushina and the fake hunter nin split away towards the bridge. "I hope what you're doing is right, Naruto." She thought.

-NARUTO VS ZABUZA-

On the water, surrounded by the chakra charged mist, Naruto stood his ground (or water in this case) even as Zabuza's voice echoed around him. "Now let's see... there are eight points-"

Zabuza's threats were cut short as Naruto's chakra flared blue around him before being released in a huge blue shockwave around him, blowing Zabuza's mist like it was nothing.

Even as Zabuza was reeling back in shock at the fact that one of his best skills was countered easily, Naruto unsealed the cleaver blade he received from Ichigo before unwrapping it and dashed towards Zabuza, sword raised high in a two handed hold to cut Zabuza in twain.

Only highly trained instincts saved Zabuza from a quick overhead strike as he immediately took his blade in one hand and parried Naruto's blade with a loud clang while his other hand pushed against the back of his blade, sparks flying from the blades.

Zabuza cannot believe this! He was a pretty strong guy strengthwise, but this guy just pushed him downwards due to their height difference and he was unable to push him back! What strength! Trying to regain the initiative, Zabuza angled his sword, causing the cleaver to slide downwards as he freed Kubikiribouchou from the deadlock before sidestepping the falling cleaver and spun his body to deliver a full strength overhead slash towards the guy.

Much to Zabuza's shock, he found that the blade that was supposed to plunge downwards into the water was heading straight towards him. The guy seemed to switch the direction of the blade's downwards motion to sideways motion and attempted to slice him in half! And due to their close proximity, he may have succeeded if not for Zabuza turning his slash into a deflecting strike.

Naruto immediately rolled on the water before backflipping into a defensive stance with one hand on the grip and another behind the blade before he saw Zabuza rushing him, Kubikiribouchou behind him. The gigantic blade rose high before Zabuza brought it down from a huge arc, increasing its speed.

Not deterred, Naruto did what Zabuza did before, deflecting the blade and sidestepping it but instead of trying to cut Zabuza in half, Naruto decided to use his speed to enter melee range with Zabuza, sending a powerful haymaker his way. Immediately Zabuza jumped back, avoiding the haymaker before rearing his hand backwards and tossing Kubikiribouchou like a boomerang towards Naruto.

Using his inhuman reflexes, Naruto brought his sword upwards, sending the huge blade upwards with a loud clang, the hit rocking the entire Kubikiribouchou's frame. But before Naruto could do anything, Zabuza appeared in a water shunshin right atop his blade before grabbing it and once again slicing it downwards, the wind singing as the blade cleaved through the air. But Naruto decided to play a different game this time. Instead of deflecting it, Naruto channelled wind chakra through his nameless sword, creating a coating of humming, sharper than a razor chakra blade. And Zabuza, once again was shocked when that cleaver blade the guy used cut through Kubikiribouchou faster than he could pull it back, causing the front one foot long piece of his beloved sword to fly away as he retreated before growling towards Naruto. "You'll pay for that! No one breaks my sword and lives to tell the tale! Kubikiribouchou will drink your blood!" Zabuza screamed out before running through handsigns quickly and shouting "Suiton: Water Dragon Bullet!" the water behind him churned and rumbled and rose into a massive dragon of water, 3 stories tall with glowing red eyes, showing his mastery over Suiton ninjutsu.

With a mental urge from Zabuza, the massive water dragon sped forward, creating huge wakes along the way towards Naruto even as the sheer crushing power of the dragon was felt by anything close by; the aquatic animals, trees and other debris blown away attests to that.

Immediately Naruto made a single handseal and moulded water nature chakra in his mouth after taking a very deep breath. "Suiton: Water Trumpet," he thought, before he placed his fingers on his mouth and blew a blast of highly pressured water from his mouth towards the gigantic water dragon.

Zabuza was smirking inwardly as he held the last handsign to control the dragon, knowing that a C-rank jutsu like the Suiton: Water Trumpet cannot beat a B-rank like his water dragon. He urged his dragon to go faster, clashing with the water jet that Naruto spits out from his mouth in a huge cloud of water, creating a miniature mist at the area the two jutsus met.

Zabuza was once again shocked when he saw that his water dragon was smashed completely by Naruto's water jet before the high pressure water came rushing at him at high speeds beyond anything he ever saw or knew a Suiton: Water Trumpet could be. Immediately he ran through handseals before shouting "Suiton: Water Encampment Wall!" and spitting a stream of water into the ocean beneath him before a huge wall of water erupted in front of him, intercepting Naruto's Suiton: Water Trumpet and once again sending showers of water everywhere.

Zabuza's danger instincts screamed at him to dodge, and dodge he did, barely missing a huge beam of chakra that blew through his Suiton: Water Encampment Wall and seemed to split the surface of the water, even evaporating them due to the sheer force of the chakra beam. Looking towards where Naruto was, he saw that he was in a strange stance, his blade pointing downwards, making it seemed that he just sliced the air in front of him.

The attack was one that Naruto accidentally discovered when testing a certain theory. His sword was capable of holding a huge amount of chakra. Using the same jutsu theory on how the Blade of Wind was capable of being shot or thrown, he discovered that he could send a medium to long ranged attack using only compressed chakra towards the direction that he sliced his blade to. A very useful attack for those pesky long-range attack users.

Before Zabuza could even wonder what the hell was that just now, Naruto already appeared in front of him, his sword's tip ready to skewer him like a shish kebob. Zabuza's sword wielding arm immediately rose together with Kubikiribouchou in a defensive position right in front of him, deflecting the speeding blade upwards. This time, Naruto didn't channel chakra through the blade, causing Zabuza to successfully deflect it.

Naruto's lone free arm shot forwards at lightning speed and grabbed Zabuza's neck before lifting him up and slamming him head first into the waters of Wave before releasing him, causing him to sink into the water as the pain of crashing into the water's surface made him lose his concentration to walk on water. As he was under, the sea churning around him, he had two thoughts in his mind. "Damn this guy's strong! I hope Haku's having a better time than I am..."

-KUSHINA VS HAKU-

Kushina was dashing towards Haku's location when Haku immediately left in a shunshin towards the bridge. Stopping, Kushina thought. "So, she wants to fight on solid ground eh? Well, I'm fine with that!" She immediately shunshined towards where Haku was, standing directly opposite Haku on the bridge while facing her. "Please stop," Haku said. "I do not want to fight needlessly."

"So do I," Kushina responded. "However, your father wanted to test our power, so we're forced to do this. I'm sorry."

Haku was about to reply to her words when Kushina appeared in front of her, disappearing from her original spot in an instant before sending a powerful right hook towards her temple from above, their height difference forcing her attacks to be aimed lower.

The hook hit her directly, but she exploded into shards of ice thanks to a quick substitution with an Ice Clone as the fist impacted her temple. Shrugging off the sharp icicles hit like they're nothing, Kushina immediately looked for her before realising that she was farther away and was preparing a jutsu. Not giving her a chance, she dashed.

Haku ran through handsigns even as she saw Kushina coming closer to her before saying "Suiton: Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death!" and stomping the bridge. Immediately the water around the dashing Kushina gathered together, creating a thousand water needles, all poised to stab Kushina to Swiss cheese. And with a mental nod, all that flying water needles flew at high speeds towards Kushina.

Much to Haku's amazement, the water needles immediately disintegrated on impact with Kushina's skin, though it still pierced her clothes, leaving her with her clan's favourite longcoat in tatters. This caused Kushina's charge to stop, even as Haku still stared at her in awe. "She didn't even have a mark on her! How is that possible?!"

Meanwhile, Kushina was looking at her clothes, checking the extent of the damage the flying water needles did, and what she saw, she didn't like. She had holes on nearly every part of her clothes, they are wet due to the water, and right now, they looked like crap.

Haku was just about to perform another jutsu when a massive KI came her way from Kushina, nearly causing her to kneel on the ground even as Kushina growled towards her. "That was my favourite coat!" she shouted angrily. "You'll pay for that! Nobody damages my coat! Except my parents!"

Completely ignoring the fact that their clothes all had self-repair seals on them, Kushina disappeared from Haku's sight before a MASSIVE fist crashed into her face, destroying her porcelain mask like it's glass and even embedding some of the shrapnel into her face before continuing ahead and smashing her nose, breaking it before it sends her flying away, unable to do anything against the sheer strength and speed Kushina just showed.

All the members of the Uzumaki-Namikaze were actually trained to fight in any and all conditions, and thus all of them are capable of engaging an enemy at any combat range. But they each had their own preferences on how to fight. Naruto likes to swing his sword and use it to extend his attack range. Hinata slips into his enemy's guard before hitting him with Gentle Fist or Gentle Crush hits. Kurumi prefers using her tails as well as her arms to overpower and disable an enemy before punching a hole in them. Kushina? She charges ahead at high speeds, fully utilizing the toughness and regeneration her bloodline gave her to tank all the damage she received before getting right in her opponent's face and smashing it in with her extreme strength.

Haku was still flying away when Kushina appeared beside her still-flying figure before she grabbed her by the neck and tossed her skywards.

But before Haku could even fly too far away, another similarly massive punch hits her in the stomach, rupturing her stomach lining and nearly folding her in half like wet tissue before the force of the hit sent her flying away, before she bounced a couple of times on the bridge before stopping completely, already in a bad situation early into the fight.

As she was shakily trying to lift herself up, she coughed blood into the waters on the bridge and only managed to prod her body up with one hand before Kushina appeared all of a sudden again beside her. "Get up," she said, her eyes filled with anger. "Get up so I can beat the shit out of you again." Actually, she was just playing around. She knew better than that, but she just wants to show the difference between the two. His dad may have been fighting Zabuza pretty fairly, but it still remains that he was holding back. So she did too.

In an extremely tight situation like this, Haku only had one more card to play, her second most powerful technique. Lifting her lone arm up, she ran through one handed handsigns before saying, "Hyouton: Gemonic Ishe Mirrorsh!" suddenly, the mist around them coalesced into a formation of mirrors of ice around Kushina with the temperature around them dropping rapidly. Looking around in awe, Kushina missed that Haku was dragging herself with one arm towards one of the mirrors. Kushina just let her be while waiting for the effects of the jutsu. It's easier to know a trap when you spring it after all.

Haku managed to meld herself with one of the mirrors and though she was pretty severely injured, she still managed to stay within her mirror especially considering that she still had nearly full reserves. Her battered face, together with the blood dripping from her broken nose was visible in all the mirrors suddenly. "Thish ish my mosht powerful shkill, the Gemonic Ishe Mirrorsh. In here-"

She was cut short when Kushina immediately rushed towards one of the mirrors while she was still speaking, her fist cocked back and ready to deliver an extremely powerful blow towards an ice mirror close by her position. Another thing that her father had drilled in her was that you shouldn't talk during battles. You fight for your lives. There are no such things as an explanation of your own skills to an enemy. Let the enemy talk before or while you pummel them until they're a pile of goo.

Haku gasped at the sheer audacity of Kushina who rushed towards her ice mirrors seemingly without any forethought at all. Knowing that her mirrors would hold firm against just a punch, she immediately summoned senbons within her hands, making all of the images having the same senbon as before, throwing them with unerring accuracy towards Kushina. Also, thanks to Kushina's massive size, her aim becomes easier since she's bigger.

Unfortunately for her, the Uzumaki-Namikaze's clan secret chakra armour technique and their bloodline's toughened skin prevents Kushina from taking any damage, letting her shrug the blows off like light gusts of wind. Before Haku could even think to do anything else, Kushina had already appeared right in front of one of her mirrors, Haku's thrown senbons doing exactly nothing against her charge.

Using the fact that her technique allowed an increase in speed, Haku tried to attack Kushina by appearing from her mirror with her senbon primed to stab her, but it did nothing even as she stabbed it directly towards her torso from the opposite direction which she charged from. Watching as Kushina came even closer towards her mirrors without even slowing down, Haku immediately retreated into the mirror she came from, the same mirror Kushina was targeting before going to another mirror almost instantly. "What is she?" Haku thought. "Her skin was impenetrable! It felt like trying to stab steel!"

With no fanfare, Kushina's fist smashed into the mirror with a loud crack before a series of spiderweb cracks appeared on the mirror, shocking Haku beyond anything, clearly visible on her face in all the mirrors. No one had ever cracked her mirrors before! Not even Zabuza! Even as she was saying "Imposhible! No one ish capable of breaking my mirrorsh! Eshpeshially with a punsh!"

Kushina just flexed her arms before replying. "Well, there's got to be a first, and I'll be the one." Once again she ran at blinding speed within the formation of mirrors, the coldness of the atmosphere within the formation not hindering her at all thanks to her Astarte constitution while the many senbons that Haku throws towards her not even affecting her at the least. Near instantly Kushina appeared right in front of the already recovered mirror, her fist glowing blue with chakra.

Though they have perfect chakra control thanks to their Linker Core and harsh training, the fact remains that only Tsunade knows the secret to her trademarked mountain-crushing fist. The best that even the Uzumaki-Namikazes could do was strengthening their muscles with chakra. But since their original strength were already amazing, the chakra enhancement made them four to five times stronger, making them more than capable of ripping one's head straight off of their body like it's nothing.

Much to Haku's ever growing horror against this monster she was fighting, the mirror that Kushina punched the second time shattered with a loud crash, sending shards of ice everywhere and not harming her in the least. And what made it worse was that Kushina immediately ran away from her formation of ice mirrors before a clone of hers appeared without handsigns. And much to her horror, both of them started going through handsigns before both stopped and drew a massive breath.

"Katon Combination: Roaring Flames." Kushina thought as both of them blew their jutsu at the same time. The combination of an overcharged Futon: Great Breakthrough from her clone and her own Katon: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet created a massive cloud of extremely hot fire more than capable of burning an entire squad of ninjas to ashes without any protection. The huge cloud of flames came at Haku's ice mirrors formation like a flaming tsunami crashing into a beach unstoppable.

Haku's eyes grew wide with horror as she saw the massive cloud of fire coming her way. Still activating her Demonic Ice Mirrors technique, she manoeuvred the mirrors so that they made a barrier for her against the roaring flames coming her way. Even the heat from the flames alone was starting to dry the air around her, and she was hoping to every god that she knew that she'll survive this. Even so, she already knew that she was going to die, and that nothing she does can protect her against that massive gout of flame coming her way. Slowly, she closed her eyes. "Zabuza-sama, father, I failed. Forgive me."

And not even a second later, the massive gout of flame crashed into her makeshift barrier of ice mirrors before the barrier drowned underneath a gigantic cloud of punishing flames without any mercy in them.

-WITH THE REST-

Kakashi's eye widened upon watching Naruto and Kushina fight. Both of them are handling their opponents with ease! Though Naruto's fight looked fairer, even he could tell that he's just holding back. And he's pretty sure Zabuza knows that too. Looking at his cute little genins, he saw that each and every one of them was also gaping with their mouths wide open and their jaws on the ground. Even Tazuna was shocked!

Kakashi looked at Anko before rethinking his move and looked at Hinata who was looking at the two fights, her Byakugan activated. Kakashi then said, "Hinata, is this how they usually fight?"

Hinata waited for a while before she answered. "Not really. Usually Naruto would be the one kicking Kushina around while she defends herself from her father's attacks. And it goes without saying that their punches could liquefy a man's internal organs. They held back when sparring with me, but that's a given."

Kakashi looked at Hinata in shock before looking back at the two in amazement. He knew that they're powerful, but not THAT much. Zabuza was having a hard time breaking even against a holding back Naruto while Kushina was handling that girl like she's nothing. Even her bloodline didn't help her as much as it should be. More proof that it's either that the Uzumaki-Namikaze's bloodline was fucking crazy powerful or that bloodlines didn't ensure your victory. Yeah, he's sure the first was the answer.

His thoughts were cut short when a very hot heat wave came towards them, nearly singeing the people standing there. His head snapped towards where the heat wave came from and was absolutely floored when a totally huge wave of fire burned the area where Kushina was fighting before and burning everything on the bridge.

"Holy shit!"

The expletive came from the last person that Kakashi expected to say something like that, who was Sasuke. But he partly understood why. As an Uchiha, one of their specialties was Katon jutsus, yet what Kushina just spewed was much, much stronger than anything he or even his brother could create. It might made Sasuke felt a bit inferior, but thanks to Itachi's training, he'll train himself even more to overcame that.

Meanwhile, Sakura was completely and utterly shocked at what she saw. Kushina just burned everything in a huge area with just one jutsu! (Technically, they're two, but she didn't know that.) Even now, she envied the sheer power that the Uzumaki-Namikazes had. Gripping her fist tightly, she resolved herself to meet the Uzumaki-Namikazes when they're back in Konoha to train with them. She will not be useless anymore!

-NARUTO VS ZABUZA ROUND 2-

Still underwater, Zabuza failed to feel the flames enveloping her daughter and was busy thinking of what to do against the monster he's fighting. Straightening himself within the waters with his head pointing towards the surface of the waters, he ran through some handsigns while within the water, ready to launch an assault on Naruto from underneath the waters.

"Suiton: Great Waterfall technique!" He thought. The waters in front of him churned before the water shot forwards in a man-sized rush of death towards where Naruto was standing on water. Unfortunately for Zabuza, his attack was just too obvious for Naruto to not counter or defend against it.

Charging a huge amount of chakra into his feet before releasing them at once, Naruto shot skywards even as the huge gush of water rushed his previous position, causing him to temporarily float skywards to avoid the massive cascade of water. Combined with his manipulation of wind, he was able to stay in the air for a couple of seconds, enough for him to see that Zabuza had surfaced back from when he tossed him under.

Zabuza appeared on the water with a huff and started taking in life giving air into his lungs. He may be able to breathe for a while underwater, but air is much more important than anything. But just as soon as he surfaced, he saw that at the area on the bridge where Haku was fighting against that other woman, an absolutely humongous cloud of flame had just dissipated into thin air; its objective completed.

At the sight of that combined with the fact that Haku's chakra signature was nearly gone, it's so low that he felt in his heart that his surrogate daughter had died, sparked a fire within Zabuza's heart. The fire was stoked further till it's white hot by the sight of his target still surviving even after he was hit with one of his most powerful jutsu (he dodged, but he didn't know that.) made him angry, angrier than he'd ever been.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGHHH!" Zabuza roared, all his anger heard within that powerful roar that shook the hearts of weaker enemies, but not Naruto. And without any buildup, he shot forwards towards the figure of Naruto, sword still in hand and who had just touched the surface of the water.

Immediately he swung Kubikiribouchou like a madman, intending on decapitating Naruto or cutting him in half, as long as he died. His swings are powerful and fast but lack any skill behind them, fuelled only by his rage and anger at Haku's apparent death. Naruto parried the madly-swinging blade using his sword, meeting it with a clang and a shower of sparks every time. After a while of this game of swing-and-deflect, Naruto grew tired of it.

"It's time to end this. You're getting boring." Naruto said. Zabuza was mid swing with his sword when Naruto caught his sword with just his pointer and middle finger without so much as a scratch. Before Zabuza could even wonder what happened, Naruto grabbed Kubikiribouchou's edge with his bare hands before twisting it, breaking the huge blade into tiny pieces with a loud crack, the pieces of the blade glinting as what sunlight was available reflected off of them.

Zabuza was in a state of utter disbelief when Naruto suddenly appeared in front of him before delivering a powerful punch to his solar plexus, forcefully removing all the air out of his lungs in a loud gasp before Naruto gets even closer to him and smashed his knee into his stomach, causing Zabuza to cough out a massive amount of blood.

The problem with Naruto's massive size was that most people are smaller than he was, forcing him to concentrate on attacks that for him would be considered low attacks. It's not that he can't use his fists, but due to height differences, his fists are usually farther away to an opponent than he'd like. This makes it necessary for him to concentrate more on kicks, since his legs are usually about the same level as an enemy or on his sword attacks, no matter how rudimentary they are since it adds to his attack range, solving the problem.

Unfortunately for Zabuza, his 6' height makes him more susceptible to Naruto's powerful punches, as seen when Naruto's left fist buried itself into his face, sending him flying away with a spurt of blood coming straight from his nose before he crashed into a tree at the beach, causing him to black out. Even so, his strong grip on Kubikiribouchou's hilt does not weaken, even if he himself was almost knocked out and his vision badly blurred.

When he came back, he could still see the figure of Naruto appearing in front of him, the blunt side of his sword placed on his right shoulder as he looked at the downed figure of Zabuza. Naruto's eyes went from Zabuza's busted face towards his hand, where he saw that Zabuza was still grabbing onto the blade in a death grip even when the blade was only a third of how long it originally was. "I think that's enough, Zabuza." Naruto said, before sealing his sword back into his hand. "You fought well, but I think I've proved my point here. And I'm sure that's enough."

Zabuza had a fire nearly erupt from his eyes suddenly as Naruto said his piece, causing him to lift his sword with his remaining strength and tried to toss it towards Naruto, but Naruto just caught his sword before saying. "I'm sure it's enough. Stop it. You're better off alive than dead."

Zabuza seemed to get angrier at this. "Your teammate just killed my daughter! Give me her head for Haku's!"

Naruto gets confused for a while before a proverbial lightbulb seemed to light in his head. "Oh! You mean that girl going up against Kushina? Well, newsflash dude. She's alive."

Zabuza's eyes widened and he was about to call bullshit when Kushina's figure appeared beside her father in their family's trademarked Hiraishin, a smoking, knocked out and slightly singed but still alive figure of Haku on her shoulder. "Hey dad!" she said cheerfully. "She's alive, no problem. Not too much of a fight though, sadly."

Naruto just waved her off. "Yeah, yeah. Now give her back to Zabuza."

Kushina just nodded as she placed Haku right within Zabuza's arms. Zabuza still looked at her daughter in disbelief that she survived such a powerful Katon jutsu, one that he himself wasn't sure that he could face off against. Though he still had a hardened look on his face, Naruto could see the love that he had towards Haku.

"Before, you said that Haku's your daughter. Care to tell?" Naruto asked.

Zabuza stilled himself for a while, seeming to debate the pros and cons of telling them about Haku. After a while, knowing that he's defeated and that they're going to follow through with the deal, he sighed before answering. "Her mother was actually a member of the Yuki clan. From what she knows, I adopted her after I found her about to be killed by her father due to the Bloodline Purges. The truth was that her mother was someone whom I loved, but was forced to separate from me in order to prevent Kiri from hunting her after my failed coup attempt.

Before I ran away from Kiri, I slept with her one last time even when knowing that she was married to someone else before leaving Kiri for good. But afterwards, I was travelling around the area where her house was located and saw that the house was abandoned. I thought she was dead. Sadly such was true.

But then, I was travelling to another town about a day's journey from there when I met Haku behind some houses trying to scavenge some food from a trash bin. When I looked at her, I saw that she was almost the exact same look as her mother, though she had my eyes. Instantly I knew by heart that she was mine. I took her with me, and the rest is history."

"Damn, man. But she didn't know it yet, right?" Kushina asked.

"Yeah." Zabuza answered.

"It's better if you tell her." Naruto said.

"What?" Zabuza asked, his tone slow, though it still contained all the outrage from what Naruto said.

"Tell her. She'd be extremely happy that her real father was still alive and well, and had been training her ever since she learned of her bloodline. It's pretty amazing, you know. It's not every day one like her can meet with their real father without dying."

Zabuza remained silent at this. Seeing this, Naruto then said, "Alright. We've fought you and proved our strength to you. Think you'd go through with the deal?"

Zabuza reluctantly accepted. "Yeah, fine. You guys are strong alright. No doubt. But I'm sure that it's going to take more than the two of you to win a war, and especially when our enemy is a jinchuuriki."

"Don't worry about that. We're more than capable of handling him, no doubt." Naruto said cryptically. "So, a deal?"

Zabuza nodded, though he's still sceptical at their skills. "Alright. But how are we going to contact you?"

Naruto unsealed some of his special tri-pronged kunais from a seal in his arm before handing them over to Zabuza. "Just toss this somewhere. I'll be there in a short while."

Zabuza's eyes widened at seeing the seal tagged kunais. He never faced him, but damned if any ninja worth his salt wouldn't know the trademark tri-pronged kunai used by the Yondaime Hokage to slaughter thousands of Iwa nins in minutes using his Hiraishin. Receiving the kunais with a shaky hand, he asked nervously. "H-how did you...?"

"Well," Naruto started, already knowing what he was about to ask. "My name, and forgive me for not telling you this earlier, is Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, son and only child of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha and Uzumaki Kushina, also known as Arashi the Blood Drinker in the bingo books." He said with a bow.

Zabuza's eyes turned comically wide at this point as he spoke out his next words. "The Yondaime Hokage had a son?! Damn! And you're the Blood Drinker? You haven't drunk mine yet, though. Why's that? And an Uzumaki as well? Just... damn."

"Yup. He did. It's a secret though. And I don't just drink blood actually. I also ate their brains. And I don't like doing so towards a potential ally. And yes I am. Master of the sealing arts, if i do say so myself. Think you believe me now?"

Zabuza stayed silent in horror as he thought of how he could just tear his head off and eat his brains for a while before sighing and saying, "I guess I have no choice now, eh? Alright, I guess that you're a good guy, and that I can accept your plan. But it'll take a while, though. Need some time before I could set up shop."

Naruto just nodded. "Don't worry. Of that I assure you. Now, let's get you back to working order. Hina-hime!" Naruto shouted the last part out.

In a signless shunshin, Hinata appeared beside Naruto, ready for his orders. "Yes?"

"Heal them. We'll need them to be at their best." Naruto said.

Wordlessly Hinata complied as her hands glowed green from the activation of her Mystical Palm medical jutsu before she ran her hands over Zabuza's wounds. "Naru-koi went easy on him," she thought, noticing that Zabuza's wounds are mostly surface wounds and just a couple of injuries and bruises that was pretty much nothing compared to the facial bruising and the cracked cheekbones that Zabuza had right now. And luckily for him, those healed fast enough. Underneath Hinata's expert glowing hands, Zabuza could even feel his cheekbones healing itself and his body mending together.

A couple of minutes later, Zabuza was fully healed as Hinata went to the still unconscious and slightly singed Haku before her hand continued their glow again and she healed her, noting that even though she was singed, she wasn't burned at all, much less being dead. Her wounds are still much more severe though, since not only she suffered chakra exhaustion, but she also got a good punch from Kushina. Apparently she didn't quite know the meaning of holding back.

Still, she treated her as well, as her slight burns and pretty much shattered nose healed visibly with Hinata's jutsu, the bleeding stopped before her wounds rapidly clotted and healed without even a scar, her nose visibly rearranged itself as she healed her before a loud pop was heard and her nose recovered to its actual condition and her minor facial injuries are also healed, the bruises disappearing.

As Hinata was treating Haku, Naruto stood beside Zabuza with Kushina beside him as well, both of them having their arms crossed. A silent moment later, Naruto looked towards Kushina before saying. "Kushi-chan, I told you not to beat her too much. You nearly burned her toast." Zabuza was also interested in this question, so he just strained his ear while he remained down on the ground.

Kushina remained silent for a while before she sighed. "Okay. It goes like this..."

-FLASHBACK A COUPLE OF MINUTES AGO-

Kushina watched as the huge cloud of flames that she spewed hit Haku's ad hoc barrier before the huge mass of flames engulfed her mirrors. Kushina was already feeling prideful of her victory as she thought, "Take that you ice bitch!" and was about to make an evil laugh when she recalled what her dad had specifically told her NOT to kill Haku. They may have photographic memory, but sometimes the adrenalin of battle just overrode that.

"Oh shit!" she said loudly, cursing her own penchant for unleashing hugely overpowered attacks against an enemy. Acting immediately, she used the Hiraishin seal she placed on Haku when she punched her face, she immediately appeared at her location, which was behind the line of mirrors that she previously saw.

Instantly she saw that she's seen better days. The cloud of roaring fires were slowed and weakened by her impromptu barrier that evaporated under the onslaught, but the fires still reached her, no matter how small. The air around her was dry and hot, and judging from her knocked out position, she deduced that her fire must've burned hot enough to suck in all the oxygen around her and caused her to faint.

Immediately using her control over water chakra she put out all the remaining fires, she took stock of Haku's condition, with her burned clothing, singed skin and busted face, she knew that she was in a bad shape. "Dad won't like this." She thought before lifting Haku's figure on her shoulder before disappearing in a Hiraishin towards her father's location.

-END FLASHBACK-

"...And that's what happened."

Zabuza was silent for a while before he slowly spoke. "Kid, the only reason why I'm not trying to kill you right now," he said, his tone getting angrier at the end. "Is because I'm FUCKING DOWN HERE! I WOULD'VE SLICED YOU TO BITS!" He was nearly frothing at his mouth by this point.

Naruto just sighed at her daughter's actions before saying. "Kushi-chan, it's not something good to do. I mean, we're about to make allies of the guy, and you just HAD to go and try to kill his daughter. When I told you that you can't!"

Kushina just dug her ears with her pinky before flicking the ball of earwax away. "Chill out, old man." She said, making Zabuza even more ticked off. "She's still alive, and Hina-mama's healing her anyway. And dad," she said, looking towards Naruto. "I just wanted to test her. And she tore my coat!" Kushina said, pointing towards the insane number of holes on her longcoat due to Haku's attempt at stabbing her with senbons.

"Just pour some chakra into it. The seals will fix it."

"I know!" Kushina replied, a bit angry. "But that's not the point! The point is that this is our clan's trademarked gear! And she made holes in it!"

Facepalming himself even as Zabuza was nearly raging towards Kushina's reasons for beating the crap out of his daughter, Naruto dragged his hand over his face before saying. "You know what? As long as she lives. Whatever. I hope my next couple of children will not be someone like you."

Kushina had a mock hurt look on her face by this point even as she jumped in front of her dad, her puppy dog eyes in full effect on her dad even as she clenched her hands together in mock forgiveness. "Aww dad... Please don't say that... I'm sorry... give me a hug? Pretty pleeeeeease?"

Naruto just sighed. He loved his daughter too much to say anything. "Alright." He said with an I-surrender tone before hugging Kushina. Kushina returned the hug as well. She loved all three of her parents, and she'll do anything for them, though sometimes her playfulness was a bit too strong and it ended up ruling her actions. At least she knew when to be utterly serious.

A while later, they separated about the same time Hinata finished healing Haku. "Naru-koi, it's done." She said. Naruto nodded, acknowledging her report. "Thanks, Hina-hime." Naruto said before looking towards Zabuza who had a whole jumble of feelings in his head from how he could see this guy and his team worked. One's playful, one's kind and the other's a leader. A damn weird combination if you ask him, but it's the results that count, and being a missing nin, he understood that more than most. No one there noticed that Kushina was going towards where Haku was lying on the ground fully healed.

Meanwhile, Haku's eyes opened with a snap where the first thing she saw was the grinning face of Kushina right in front of her, causing her to gasp in alarm. "Hey," Kushina said. "So, you're good, I'd say. Hina-mama's an awesome healer! See! You're all fine now!"

Not quite listening and still thinking that they're in battle, Haku, to Kushina's shock, sped through handsigns before slamming her palm on the ground, shouting "Hyouton Forbidden Jutsu: Hyoukenseisou!" Immediately the ground around her palm froze before the ice quickly spread around both of them before massive ice pillars grew from the frozen grounds and converged on one spot directly on top the two of them, creating a massive cone-shaped cage of ice around Kushina, the temperature around and within the gigantic chakra-powered ice cage becoming so cold it felt like a winter day, the chill capable of freezing one down to their bones.

Zabuza's eyes widened at the activation of this jutsu. The ultimate Hyouton jutsu that she created, the Hyoukenseisou. Even he cannot win against Haku within that ice cone. "That lady must've been strong to force Haku to use it," he thought as he turned his head towards where Naruto and Hinata was standing, about to gloat to them of the ensured victory of her daughter. Her jutsu was powerful! That was her ultimate jutsu! With it, she was undefeated!

To his absolute shock, Naruto was just standing there with a look of indifference on his face, though Hinata seemed to pull her coat tighter even as wisps of steam came from her mouth as the cold hit them. Zabuza immediately shouts out, "Are you guys crazy?! You're really not doing anything?! That's her most powerful skill! Even from here we can feel the cold and the sheer chakra flowing within the ice! And you two just looked at it like it was nothing?!"

Naruto remained silent for a while before answering. "Ice cold, temperate, scorching hot, climate doesn't matter to an Astartes." Naruto answered cryptically. Before Zabuza could ask just what the fuck did he meant when he said that, Hinata's Byakugan, still activated, caught sight of something from across the bridge, their approach covered by the thick natural mist on top of the bridge. A lot of somethings. Focusing on the things that she saw, she immediately alerted the two of them.

"Naru-koi, a huge band of bandits are coming this way. Estimated to be about..." Hinata strained her eyes to get a better headcount of the bandits. "...150 people."

Naruto sighed, before a brilliant-but-not-so-swell idea popped in his head. Placing a hand on Hinata's shoulder before turning her around and holding both of her shoulders, he crouched down before staring straight into Hinata's lavender tinted Byakugan eyes. "Hina-hime, do you trust me?" she nodded unconditionally. "Do you believe me?" once again, she nodded. "Then, there is something that I need you to do. This will be hard, both on you for doing it and on me for having you do it, but this must be done. And I think that you are the best candidate for it." Hinata returned Naruto's stare with confidence and a fire within her eyes, making Naruto felt even guiltier at what he was going to tell her. Slowly, Naruto's mouth opened, and what he told her to do made Hinata's eyes widen in horror.

"Hina-hime, I need you to go up there and kill all of them."

Hinata's mouth was open in shock and outrage. 150 people! He told her to kill 150 people! Potentially in cold blood! They're humans too! And here Naruto was telling her to kill all of them! But before she could voice her anger, Naruto enveloped her in a warm, calming hug, one that also told her that he only told her to do so because he cared for her. "Hina-hime," he began, his eyes shining with tears. "I know you've done a lot in this mission. You've had your first couple of kills. Unfortunately, that was not enough. Hina-hime, you need to learn to kill off your heart. I'm not saying that you should be emotionless like those ROOT guys. You should know when to care, when to be soft, when to feel worried, and when to just turn off all emotions and kill everything in your way. We are living in bad times, Hina-hime. Even if I were to find peace, the path to it will be beyond doubt covered by blood, sweat and tears, both from us and our enemies. I need you to learn to turn off your heart and kill." He gave her a comforting smile as he continued.

"As ninjas, we perform atrocities on a nearly daily basis as our rank increases. You're kind, don't lose that. But know when to lose that kindness and become a terror on the battlefield, a spectre of death and fear for your enemies. This is necessary, I'm afraid, this baptism by fire. Remember that as long as you regret killing them, that makes you human, and not just a killer. I said that already, didn't I? Know that I won't hate you no matter how much you've killed. You are my love, my queen, my mate and will be, forever. Always remember that. Now, stop crying." Naruto said, wiping Hinata's tears with his hand. "Still a crybaby, eh? Don't worry. I love you, Hina-hime." Naruto said before removing her hair from her forehead and kissing it softly.

Hinata still had tears flowing from her eyes as Naruto looked back into them even if they had a fire within them. "Naru-koi, I will do this. I will not let you down." She said.

Naruto shook his head. "No. As I said, don't do this for me, do this for yourself. Now go. I'll back you up if I see you faltering." Naruto said before standing up again, watching as Hinata's tearful face turned around together with her body and she disappeared, ready to annihilate the bandits once and for all.

Zabuza looked at this interaction with wonder. "So," he started. "She's a softie, eh?"

Naruto nodded. "Quite."

Zabuza snorted. "Can't believe someone like that was a Konoha ninja."

"Not really."

Feeling the dismissal inherent in Naruto's short answers, he looked towards the ice cone and the bridge, awaiting the result of the battles. Unknown to him, Naruto meant that she's not quite a softie, not that she's not a Konoha ninja.

-KUSHINA VS HAKU ROUND 2-

Kushina looked around her in wonder. The only thing she saw was ice, ice and more ice. Even the ground was covered in ice completely and making it slippery. Only her chakra training allowed her to grip the ice like they're solid ground. No sign of Haku at all. Even so, she could tell that this was an even more powerful technique than that mirror thing just now from the sheer chakra flowing around them. And the temperature's pretty damn insane too. If not for the mucus that the Mucranoid secretes onto her skin, she'd definitely feel weaker by now, if she wasn't freezing her ass to death.

From the corner of her eyes, Kushina saw the figure of Haku standing right beside her. Wordlessly she turned with her hand ready to punch the shit out of her before sending a powerful fist towards where she saw Haku standing at with blinding speed, the fist rocketing towards where Haku was standing.

As soon as the fist hit Haku, Haku suddenly exploded into shards of ice, showering Kushina with extremely sharp, tiny icicles that only thanks to her chakra armour, made no damage against her. She looked around, before she saw that everywhere on the ice, Haku was there. Beside her, on top of her, around her, there were no place where Haku was not seen. "What's wrong? Missed me?" Haku said with a mocking tone before she continued.

"Welcome," Haku said her voice echoing everywhere within the cocoon of ice, "To my Hyoukenseisou, my most powerful and forbidden Hyouton jutsu. Within this ice cocoon, you are trapped, and the cold will sap away your strength quickly as you remained longer within the cocoon with me. Within this, I can torture my enemies slowly or end them quickly, whichever I chose. And each of them are me as well, and can attack at the same time. This is your end, Kushina. I will remember you as the first person who has managed to force me to use this jutsu in combat. I will be sure to remember your name as I kill you." All the Hakus within the cocoon lifted their hands, showing the sharp senbons that she had within her hands.

Instantly Kushina was attacked by a massive barrage of senbons that came from everywhere, from the top, the sides, the bottom, the rain of ice senbons hit her everywhere, making tiny holes on her clothing even as the unending barrage continued. Much to Haku's shock, Kushina just stood at her position, getting hit by all the senbons. And just like within her Demonic Ice Mirrors, the senbons did a whole lot of nothing towards Kushina, jumping off her reinforced skin like they're absolutely nothing at all. "My attacks did nothing! The senbons hit! All of them! But they did nothing!"

As the hail of senbons pricked her skin ineffectively, Kushina was deep in thought. "Okay. How do I hit her like this? The easiest way would be to just spam a powerful jutsu everywhere, but that might kill her. Hmmm..." Suddenly, a proverbial lightbulb appeared beside her besieged head "Yeah! That might just work!"

Amidst the hailstorm of senbons, puffs of smoke signifying the creation of a number of sealless Shadow Clones appeared, themselves reinforcing their bodies with chakra to prevent themselves from popping due to the sheer number of attacks rained on them. Haku's initial confusion turned to horror as the Kushiclones lifted their hands before chakra swirled within them, instantly creating a huge number of Great Ball Rasengan within them, each about three feet in diameter.

Knowing of the power and the sheer amount of chakra behind them, Haku intensified her senbon assault on all of them even as the Kushiclones dashed towards the ice pillars close to them. And just like before, they're as ineffective as ever. She even appeared from the ice and stabbed the clones as they charged, but their chakra armour and their bloodline prevented any damage and any of the clones popping from her hit and run attacks.

All of the Great Ball Rasengans crashed into the ice cocoon's walls and started grinding it at high speeds like a bunch of chakra based gigantic drills, breaking it apart and sending ice shards everywhere. Haku was powerless to counter this attack, and even as her chakra dwindled to nothing, she could only watch helplessly as the Kushiclones with their Great Ball Rasengans drilled through her Hyoukenseishou like it's nothing, before the entire ice construct exploded into a million glinting pieces, the shards showering itself around the two of them.

Lying on the ground powerless and without chakra, Haku saw Kushina coming towards her with her mouth moving, signifying that she's saying something. Unfortunately, she was unable to listen as her world turned dark and she blacked out, completely spent.

As the gigantic ice construct shatters, Kushina walked towards Haku while speaking. "That skill is extremely powerful. Even more so than the mirror thing. It disorients, confuses, and saps away an enemy's strength, leaving them completely to your mercy. Against anyone else, you would've won, no doubt. But unfortunately for you, we're your worst nightmare. Our Mucranoid's secretion prevents us from being affected by the cold, neutralizing one part of the technique. The cocoon itself was powerful, the resulting shard deadly against any enemy attacking your images. Once again, our chakra armour prevented you from dealing any damage. The same factor also neutralises the senbon shower that you can send from your reflections, making your attacks useless. And the chakra upkeep was extremely high, and due to the insane chakra production from our Linker Core, we can outlast you long after you ran out of chakra to maintain the cocoon. In other words, we Uzumaki-Namikazes are your worst nightmare."She then looked carefully towards Haku before slapping her forehead. "Dammit, she's out again? Urgh, need Hina-mama to heal her again." She said before lifting her up. But as soon as she touched her, she jolted her hand back, shocked at what she's feeling. "What?" She thought. "She's ice cold! But I'm sure I didn't kill her! What..." She shook her head, pushing the thoughts for later.

Immediately she ran through handseals, making her palms glow green due to the Mystical Palm jutsu. Kuru-mama wanted her children to excel in everything, not just one aspect. Having been taught by the Shodaime himself in medical techniques, she taught them to Kushina, knowing that it's better to know everything than not. It might save you someday, she was fond of saying. Guess that's true.

She ran her hands on Haku's figure and realised that her temperature and pulse was dropping rapidly. She immediately created a Shadow Clone who continued to heal her while she ran through a couple more handseals, her hand now glowing blue. "Medical Jutsu: Chakra Transfer," She thought as she placed her palms, one on the other on her navel and started to transfer her chakra towards Haku's prone figure.

A while later, she could feel that Haku's temperature had risen and the colour had returned to her face. Breathing a sigh of relief but knowing that she was still in danger, she kept on transferring her chakra, hoping that she'll manage to save her. A while later, she felt that Haku's body temperature had rose to its proper level, making her breathe out a massive sigh of relief as the clone dispelled and she wiped her sweat from her forehead. "Damn you're difficult," She said before lifting her up, placing Haku on her shoulder again before disappearing in a Hiraishin towards where her dad was waiting.

-HINATA VS BANDITS-

The band of Gato's bandits are walking towards Wave on top of Tazuna's bridge. They are supposed to stop the construction of the bridge, but suddenly, the entire bridge was completed in a night without any warnings! And not just that, they didn't have any further news or orders from Gato. Usually he'll send his men to update their situation or give out new orders and their pay. And he's late. One of them, the leader of the camp gathered everyone and everything that they had before walking towards Wave on the bridge, intend on meeting Gato and asking for their payment for the week. The men need their booze and drug fix, after all.

As they were walking on the misty bridge, a wind swept through their path, blowing the mist away courtesy of a Futon: Great Breakthrough from a Naruclone watching Hinata from the sides. And to their surprise, their path was blocked by a single person, a girl with long, dark blue hair and white eyes which had veins popping out from their sides wearing a black longcoat with white flames at the bottom, her forehead protector hidden from view. She looked like she had just stopped crying. She had tear marks on her face and her eyes were bloodshot.

Looking at the bandits in front of her, she immediately entered the initial stance of the Gentle Crush, her right fist straight in front of her at chest level with her elbows bent outwards a little and pointing downwards and her left fist beside her body, the elbow pointing backwards. "Turn back. Please. Gato is dead now. You won't have any reason to come to Wave. Please turn back." Hinata said loudly in a begging tone, nearly crying.

At the sight of this, the leader of the group turned to look at his deputy to his right and to his second deputy to his left before looking back at his men. Immediately they all started laughing their ass out at the sight of this girl who even cried and tried to stop them with just words.

"Girl," he said. "You can't see, I think. You're outnumbered here. 150 something to 1. And not just that, if you killed Gato, all the more reason to continue. You see, he's our paycheck, and he's late for the payment. We need our money for our booze and our women. With him dead, our paycheck is gone, and we'll need to take it from the people of the village there. So better off you stand back and let us pass."

"Hey boss," his left deputy said. "That chick's kind of cute, you know. Maybe we can catch her before we have some fun with her." He said, eyeing Hinata lecherously. "And she has huge boobs too! And she's still young! She'll be worth a lot if we can catch her." He said before giggling.

"Hm. Now that's not a bad idea." The leader said, scratching his chin. "Alright!" he said, turning around to face his men. "Guys! Charge her and capture her! Those who succeeded in capturing her will get extra pay from the people of Wave tonight!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAARRGGHH!" The bandits all roared as one while lifting their assortment of weapons from machetes, pitchforks, makeshift spears and clubs among others. And as one, they all charged, fully intent on catching her.

Seeing this reaction, Hinata's tears prickled down on her face before slowly she whispered to all of them. "I'm sorry. I really am." Before disappearing from sight in a blur.

The first bandit didn't even know what happened. One moment she's there, the next she's in front of his, her fist cocked back. The punch that came afterwards blew his ribcage apart. Being a non-ninja, his bones and organs are much weaker than a ninja's, even a genin's. It sent him flying, already dead before he even hit the ground. The next guy felt a strike which was actually from an elbow to the side of his neck, smashing it and sending him crashing onto the ground, his head flopping lifelessly on his shattered neck.

Another died when a Gentle Crush punch destroyed his heart and the surrounding ribs. Another fell as Hinata destroyed his stomach. Another flew as a kick to the chest crushed his lungs. Hinata's tears are falling nonstop by this point, even as she punched and kicked the men around her to their death. A bunch of bandits tried to catch her with a huge rush, but a powerful wind chakra charged Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm sent them all flying away.

Much like the Gentle Fist, the Gentle Crush targets one's insides. The main difference was that the Crush uses a different theoretical approach on internal chakra attacks to be performed. By using a group of chakra needles generated at her fist and using the Byakugan's penetrating sight capability, she was capable of sending a series of rapid fire chakra pulses towards the targeted muscles, bones or organs. This creates a massive disruption within the target, capable of destroying the organ, muscle or bone outright in a shower of gore. It also combines what anyone knew of Tsunade's super strength technique to launch a chakra burst to weaken the defences before 'poking' it with the chakra pulses. This process seemed complex, but Hinata had refined it so much that it's now instinctual and can be done in a split second. Sadly, this is just a theory that Hinata created and never tested, mostly because she tested it on Naruto whose insane regeneration healed the damage before it even became worse and his strong bones prevented them from exploding.

Hinata became a crying whirlwind of death, her tears falling as she blurred around the battlefield and men died brutally around her in various ways. Counter attacks broke, if not outright destroyed, limbs, direct attacks smashing bones, and long range attacks sent people flying with either broken bones at best and liquefied organs at worst. Hinata was crying madly even as a Rotation she performed sent a bunch of bandit who was about to dogpile her flying away. Another bandit trying to blindside her with his club failed due to her Byakugan seeing it before a Gentle Crush punch to his shoulder made the shoulder explode in a shower of blood and gore, separating limb and body as he fell to the ground while gripping the remains of his shoulder and screamed in agony.

The leader watched in horror as all the men that he sent forward either lost limbs, had their limb exploded from their body, or just died for some reason as she touched them. Invisible gusts of wind blew his men away, a bluish, spinning dome of... something sent them flying, and now, she had blue fox heads on her hands! What the fuck was that?! "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING?! ATTACK HER! CHAAAARGE!" He screamed at the rest of his men who stood motionless in fear behind him, about 100 of them. Immediately his deputies started riling them up, causing them to charge Hinata with reckless abandon.

As Hinata activated one of her Gentle Crush special techniques, the Gentle Crush: Twin Fox Step, she charged ahead, her tears falling unfettered, as her fist caved a man's face, turning his face into mincemeat. Another man had his torso destroyed as the foxlike chakra construct made Hinata's fist into a sort of mini bomb, exploding within someone as she hit them, killing them instantly. A club aimed at her back was met by her fist, causing the club to explode in a shower of wooden splinters before she sent a jumping heel kick towards his neck, breaking it and sending him flying away.

As more and more men came her way, she caught a break as the first wave of men was cleared by her. Jumping back and wiping the tears of her bloodied and dirty face, she finally managed to harden herself enough that she stopped crying, knowing that these men won't stop until either she was caught by them all, killed by them all or she killed all of them. Keeping in her mind that they are scum of the worst kind, she strengthened herself to kill all of them so that they won't bother anyone else in the future. She also held back the bile in her throat as she remembered and saw the grizzly remains of the men that she killed, knowing that this wasn't a good time to do so.

As the second wave came at her with all the subtlety of a raging bijuu, she hardened herself before throwing herself into the fray once again, intent on annihilating these scum from the face of the planet.

-WITH TEAM 7 AND ANKO-

When Kakashi saw that Hinata was crying when Naruto spoke something towards her, he prepared for the worst as Hinata shunshins away. Much to his shock, Hinata reappeared at the middle of the bridge, facing what later looked to be a huge army of bandits. Kakashi was about to order his genins to assist her when Anko stopped him. "Don't." She said. "She needs this. Princess is still too kind for her own good. Even Naruto knows this, and he told her to go there."

Kakashi stared at Anko, one thought running through his mind that he decided to voice. "How did you know that?"

"I've been with them for years, since Naruto's second year in the academy. I trained with them, sparred with them, ate, slept at their house, and I understand them more than most. The entire family's extremely kind, but against their enemy, they become the demons that they are. Pray that you never end up at their bad side, because it'll be the first and last time you do." Taking a small breath, Anko continues. " But Hinata doesn't have that same brutality. She's strong and confident and will have no problem kicking ass, but when it comes to killing, she's still a newbie. Naruto must've told her to fight that entire mob at once."

Kakashi's eyes widened. "What? That's Insane! Why would he ask that of her? Even a low level jounin would be hard-pressed to go against that mob!"

"True," Anko said, agreeing. "But they're not normal, you know. Hinata's been trained at an entirely different level than your kids, even us. She was trained to be better than everyone; stronger, faster, deadlier. But ultimately, her gentleness will hold her back sometimes, and this trial by fire's the best way to make her learn. Oh look, she's getting serious."

Once again, Kakashi was shocked. "Getting serious?! She blew up those men's limbs with her freaking FISTS! And that's not serious?!"

Anko had an evil grin on her face at this moment. "Oh yes. I said something about Hinata being trained better than most right? Actually, her hits are deadly, even glancing blows. She always held back. Always. Only against Naruto or Kushina will she not hold back, but even then, she prevented herself from dealing killing blows to them, only blows that would kill a normal person. But now, she's serious. Now this is going to be a show." Anko gives a mock sigh " Sadly I didn't bring any popcorn..."

Kakashi was actually terrified at how strong Anko said Hinata was. But from what he could see, even he wouldn't want to tangle against Hinata in close combat. It's like signing your own death warrant unless you're Naruto or Kushina. He then looked at his own genin and he nearly laughed his ass off at the incredulous looks that all three of them sported by this time. Only Sai wasn't openly gaping, but based on how wide his eyes were, he might as well have been.

Sakura was absolutely floored. Who knew the cute, gentle Hinata from the academy had such a brutal side to her? She practically DESTROYED them! That one guy had his ribs turn to jelly from what she could see! And those people, their arms are blown off! She's practically bathing in blood by now! She suddenly remembered that she was going to ask them for training. "Will I be able to do something like that...?" She thought.

Sasuke was having a hard time believing this. Sure, he knew that the entire Uzumaki-Namikaze family was crazy powerful, but she just blew off that guy's arms like she had exploding tag powered punches! And she didn't even use a single jutsu! Except for that weird wind blast. All close combat taijutsu. Nothing else. "What in the world..." He was practically at a loss for words now.

Sai, well he was thinking that maybe 'white eyed bitch' isn't something to call someone that can punch your arms clean off of you. He then realized that he should know more about someone before giving nicknames. "Though dickless and pink banshee are still the same as ever."

Anko just laughed at the sight of Team 7 gaping before wiping her mirthful tears as she looked at Kakashi. "Well, I guess we're better off enjoying this spectacle. It isn't easy, but we need to see it." Kakashi just nodded before he looked back towards Hinata.

-HINATA VS BANDITS ROUND 2-

She started out simple, unsealing a brace of shurikens and kunais from seals on her hands, she jumped upwards before tossing all of them with pinpoint accuracy, hitting kill points as the kunais and shurikens buried themselves into heads, necks and arteries, downing at least 15 of them. She then fell in the middle of the men, her legs bent and her arms outstretched, ready to perform one of her best close range multi-target attack.

"Futon: Eight Trigrams Rotation!" she cried as she spun, the sharpened edges of wind chakra swirling together with the barrier that is the Rotation as she unleashed her chakra in a dome around her, sending slicing blades of wind to anyone caught close towards her. Limbs and torso flew off, a man was both cut in half and dismembered, another lost his head, and another became minced meat due to his proximity with Hinata's Futon: Eight Trigrams Rotation.

As the pieces of bandits that crashed into her Futon: Eight Trigrams Rotation fell around her in bloody heaps with no drop of blood on her at all thanks to the Rotation's protective effect, she shot forwards before 10 sealless Shadow clones appeared beside her, all of them had the Twin Fox Step activated on their fists. All of them shot aside, ready to make a line against the tide of bandits.

The clones just ran straight towards the bandits before punching the shit out of them. The brutal effects of the Twin Fox Step made apparent again as each hit shattered bones, destroyed muscles, liquefies internal organs, and made throats explode. Meanwhile, the real one ran backwards before running through handsigns as she gave a mental order to her clones to dispel.

"Futon: Great Breakthrough!" She thought as her clones dispelled before blowing hurricane force winds from her mouth, the cutting blades of chakra from the jutsu invisible to the naked eye. Unlike the ones her husband used, the one she just blew had all the cutting power of multiple blades of wind in it, and it went rushing to the terrified band of mercs and bandits.

One moment the bandits are scared of the lady in front of them due to her insanely overpowered blows, the next, the people in front of them suddenly was cut to pieces by an extremely sharp yet invisible blade. Heads and arms are seen flying into the air as whatever gust that she just blew crashed into them, sending some of the men flying away while chopping them to pieces, their blood, flesh and internal organs rained down on the rest of the bandits still alive. No one was spared. Those who didn't die wished they did, their torso cut open with their intestines spilling onto the concrete below them. Some had their bodies sliced in half before being chopped to pieces, the random nature of the blade of winds' flight made some of them being hit with more than ten slice while some other only get blown away. Sadly, into the waters below.

Dashing ahead on the slippery-with-blood concrete bridge, her footsteps causing the blood that she stepped on splashing on her pants and clothes, she once again entered melee range with another bandit, appearing right in his face, both her hand in claws cocked backwards ready to perform a powerful attack. "Eight Trigrams: Mountain Crusher!" she screamed before thrusting both hands point blank right into the bandit's chest.

The result was instantaneous. The bandit's entire chest area exploded from the sheer force the Eight Trigrams: Mountain Crusher created before the pieces of his bones flew behind him, the force from the Eight Trigrams: Mountain Crusher not quite expended. The pieces of bone buried themselves into a couple of bandits behind the exploded guy, injuring them.

Once again, Hinata disappeared in a shunshin and appeared right in the middle of the bandit rabble, her body straight with her palms together at chest level, her Byakugan activated and her eyes closed, preparing one of her best technique to take out weak scum like her current enemies.

Her eyes opened suddenly as her palms fluidly moved to her sides, a thin, greenish laser-like blade of wind chakra extended from them. "Futon: Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" Immediately her palms moved in a blur around her, the thin wind chakra blade slicing into the bandits like a wind chakra enhanced blade through tissue paper, leaving severed limbs, dismembered bodies, decapitated men and creating a general bloodbath around her, so much so that she was practically standing on blood by now.

The actual Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms combines the Rotation's defensive shell together with the Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms' offensive chakra knives and Hinata's flexibility, creating a dome of sharp, cutting chakra around her that can be used for both attack since the chakra blades can cut and defence as the blades can also cut and block any projectile that came towards her and is also capable of repelling any opponent from her thanks to the cutting effect of the chakra blades. The one weakness of the Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms was that unlike the Rotation, the Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms had holes in it, thus it can be countered by a sufficiently strong jutsu or a weak jutsu that covered a huge area. When wind nature transformation was applied, the deadliness of this technique increases tenfold. The range was much farther than if regular chakra was used and the cutting power increases exponentially, so much so that someone can be sliced in half with the technique from their head to their crotch. Combining these two with the fact that Hinata was more than capable of sending her wind blades to nearly anywhere around her, and it resulted in a massacre for any army willing to go against her at this point.

By the time she ended her technique, she was drenched in blood from all the bandits that she massacred, some of them basically ended up diced like carrots due to the grid-like pattern attack shape of the Futon: Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. Around her, the remains of tens upon tens of bandits are turned into minced meat, their blood hitting her as she performed her technique, causing her entire body to be coated with blood, the entire bridge smelling like death from the sheer amount of blood pooling on it. Their bone shards mixed with the minced remains of their organs. A man's eye was seen sliced in half, the owner long since dead when his head was cut in two. Another man had no discernible trait, his entire body anything but in one piece. The entire bridge looked like someone just picked up the bandits before dumping them into a humongous blender with super sharp blades before turning it on at the slowest speed possible before dumping the contents on top of Hinata and the rest on the bridge.

As she walked slowly but surely towards the last remaining bandits, of which the leader was one of them, they immediately tried to turn tail before running away, but saw that their path was blocked by the same bloody figure of ,what just had to be, a demon in human form that they are about to run away from.

As Hinata watched their faces turning into abject despair and fear, so much so that their blood seemed to be sucked out of their head, Hinata slowly spoke as she walked slowly but surely towards them, her entire body trembling with both rage and sadness. "You... all of you. You threatened the people of Wave... with SLAVERY! And DEATH!"

The leader's head was shaking at this point in fear as his face paled beyond what a human can and nervous sweat starts dripping from his pores. "You..." he began. "This... This is insane! You killed everyone brutally, without mercy! And yet you called us out on what we did? This is MADNESS!"

Hinata's steps stopped at this. How dare the bastard say that her actions are insane! And mad! She tried to save a country! These men... These... scum... they intended to rob Wave of everything they had! And then some! How dare they accuse her actions of madness! Clenching her fist so tight they nearly bleed as they shook in anger, she asked them, her words coming out slow yet carried an immense aura of power. "Madness?" she asked them. The leader immediately nodded quickly, so quickly that his beads of sweat fell off his skin as he nodded, trying to show defiance against this demon.

For a while, Hinata said nothing, just standing there with both her fist clenched. He was about to breathe out a sigh of relief as he thought that she'll let them go when an extremely powerful KI came from Hinata, so powerful it's almost tangible, causing the bandits beside him to choke on air even as he fell on his knees at Hinata's extremely oppressive aura, her chakra swirling in anger around her.

Immediately she dashed forward, not caring about technique as her anger burns white hot within her heart. "THIS!" she screamed out as she was one step in front of the still kneeling bandit leader. "IS!" she screamed again, her right leg cocked high behind her for a powerful kick. "FOR WAVE!" She screamed out louder than she ever did as her leg swung forward, sending a powerful Gentle Crush powered punt kick towards the bandit leader's chest, lifting him skywards, his ribs crushed due to the sheer force behind that Gentle Crush kick before it sent him flying away somewhere, already dead before he even became airborne.

She was panting as the adrenaline left her system, leaving her feeling weak and tired, more tired than she ever felt in her short life. But then, she looked around her, her Byakugan already off and what she saw horrified her to no end. Everywhere she looked, she only saw blood and dead bodies. Blood pooled everywhere, on her feet, around the dead bodies, across the bridge, and muddying the dirt. Flesh and internal organs, some unidentifiable due to the state they're in, possibly due to her Protection of Sixty Four Palms, some of the still mostly intact faces with looks of utter fear and disbelief on them. Some even had their face in a look of anger and hate. If they had a face. The groans and moans of pain of the survivors told her that they won't last long, most wouldn't last another 5 minutes, and the death tolling moans of mortality were all that any could do in their currant states.

"I... I did all this...?" She thought, before lifting her trembling hands towards her face. But before she could bury her face into her shaking hands, she saw, but not feel, the blood on her hands. Her hands are completely covered in blood, both front and back, she noted as she examined her terribly shaking hand. Looking lower, her sleeves are also in the same condition, smeared with blood, whatever bits of flesh stuck to her and small chips of bone. Looking downwards again, she realized that her clothing was now slick and wet with blood and whatever that a man stuck in a blender could create. Her footsteps heavy, the sound of blood spattering around her sounded like an explosion to her. And finally, as all her senses start returning to her little by little, she smelled the aftermath of her rampage, the sheer amount of blood around her made the smell of death hung heavy like the mists of Wave. That was the final straw.

Immediately, all the bile that accumulated at the back of her throat immediately exploded outwards in a spew from her mouth even as she tried holding it back. But the smell of blood on her and around her made her spew even more, making her fall on her knees to the blood smeared ground, her puke mixing with the blood of the bandits around her. She was about to faint when the Naruclone watching her immediately caught her, saying "It's alright, Hina-hime. Let it out. You've done well." Before disappearing in a Hiraishin towards the real Naruto, leaving the bridge and the dead on them alone.

-KAKASHI, ANKO AND TEAM 7-

Even Anko had her jaw firmly on the floor by this point. She never thought that once Hinata stopped holding back, the results are this... messy. Too messy, in fact. The damage she did with each hit... was utterly terrifying. Her skills aren't meant for disabling. They're meant to kill, and kill 'em dead. Even Kakashi was paralyzed from the sheer devastation that the demure, kind Hinata made against the bandits. Not even his Chidori could perform such damage. The sheer death count that she alone did was overwhelming, and it pretty much looks like it's her first massacre. "That's gonna leave a mark," Kakashi thought.

But what surprises Kakashi more was that no matter how brutal her attacks was, especially that Futon: Protection of Sixty Four Palms thing, the bridge remained solid and steady, not even a scratch was on it thanks to the seals that Kushina placed on the bridge as she was building it. "The Uzumakis are truly seal masters of the highest calibre." He thought.

His mind then went back to Hinata. Naruto's method was a sink-or-swim kind of teaching method, but he knew that in these situations, it's better for such a method to be applied. She needs to learn that in the life of a ninja, strength and power doesn't matter, it's the heart and the mind that does. Though power affects how far you can go, the heart made you go. It's a necessary lesson, and one that took the life of so many new genins as they died when their heart cannot be steeled or moved for what they're about to do.

Anko just whistled after she managed to lift her jaw from the ground. "Damn... never thought that princess could do something like that. I mean, some of those guys are unrecognizable! Did you see that, Kakashi?!"

Kakashi just sighed. Anko can be such a pain sometimes. "I did, Anko. And it's not cool. It's terrifying."

Anko had her bloodthirsty smile on her face at this point. "I know! That's what makes it cool!"

As they argued over the coolness of Hinata massacring the entire 100-strong bandit army, the rest of Team 7 were basically catatonic, already blanking out while standing.

-NARUTO AND ZABUZA, AFTER HAKU LOST-

Kushina appeared in a Hiraishin flash right beside her father who was sitting down with Zabuza right now, just enjoying the sight of the current battles. Zabuza immediately jumped in shock at the sight of Kushina with nary a scratch on her while Haku was knocked out on her shoulder. Immediately Zabuza's rage burned again before he remembered that she wasn't going to kill her.

But still... "How the hell did you win?! No one can win against Haku when she activates her Hyoukenseisou! Even I will no doubt lose when she uses that!"

"Well, we're just awesome that way," Kushina answered. Before Zabuza could strike her in anger, Kushina interjected with a question. "Wait. One thing I need to ask. Why did she immediately fell down when I destroyed her Hyoukenseisou? I mean, I didn't even attack her directly, but she suddenly fell down, knocked out and felt like she almost died!"

Zabuza sighed. "The Hyoukenseisou's main power came from the fact that it was not just cast by chakra, it also uses her life force to fuel the jutsu, making it her forbidden jutsu, and the reason why it's so powerful. That's why, if I were to guess. But you still beat her, even when she used her most forbidden jutsu."

Kushina nonchalantly answered. "Well, let's just say she had a bad matchup."

Zabuza was confused, but realising that Kushina's tone doesn't sound like she'll answer him again, Zabuza's sight turned towards the bridge, where Hinata was busy attacking the bandits on the bridge. Much to his shock, the cute and small Hinata was busy destroying the bandits brutally, watching from afar as her hits break bones and smash faces, her kicks snapping shins and blowing knees off.

Zabuza whistled appreciatively. "Damn. She packs one hell of a mean streak in her eh?"

Naruto watched without words, thinking. "I never thought that the Gentle Crush had such an effect to a regular person's body. And this is when Hina-hime's not serious yet. Those bandits are nothing but dead man when she's done with them."

After a while, they watched as Hinata wiped the last of the first wave of men charging her. And this is where it gets gorier. Much to Zabuza's shock again , and he seemed to be having a lot of those today, after she threw a powerful Futon jutsu to the bandits, Hinata's hand glowed blue before she charged the remains of the bandits once again. And this time, even he was horrified at what happened.

With every hit she made, a body part exploded into a shower of gore and blood. Every contact practically destroyed someone, even glancing hits. Each and every one of her attacks was deadly, precise and utterly, terribly unstoppable. Then, she jumped in the middle of the bandits before some weird chakra dome appeared around her and both bodies and body parts started flying away. Even his Kubikiribouchou never did that much damage with that much brutality!

And after a while, she managed to wipe out nearly all the bandits. The remaining bandits kneeled in front of her. She then seemed to speak something before the man spoke something and she screamed something as she kicked him in the chest. And looking at how the guy flew, Zabuza didn't even want to know what happened to him. But then, she suddenly looked like she's in a catatonic state before she immediately puked everything in her stomach and nearly fainted, but not before a Naruclone nearby caught her and used the Hiraishin, appearing right beside the real Naruto before poofing away.

Quirking an eyebrow, Zabuza asked Naruto who was holding the fainted but still crying figure of Hinata. "First couple of kills?"

"No. First massacre." Naruto answered.

Zabuza just nodded in understanding. "For someone like her, something like that will probably break her."

Suddenly, a huge burst of KI came from Naruto, the KI so potent that even Zabuza immediately start sweating bullets as he fell on one knee at the sheer intensity of the KI. But as sudden as its coming, it left, letting Zabuza breathe easily while wiping the nervous sweat from his brow. He was looking at Naruto who was still holding Hinata when Naruto suddenly said. "Sorry about that. Actually, it might just break her like you said. But she's strong. No worries. She'll take some time, but she'll bounce back from this, better than ever. I believe in her."

Zabuza said nothing, preferring to not risk his life once again saying stupid stuff. Besides, he didn't want to be some of the first ninja to die from whatever she did just now. Wisely, Zabuza went towards Kushina who was still healing Haku, saying nothing all the while.

Sometime later, Hinata woke up with a start, and immediately start chucking the contents of her stomach, which due to being empty meant a bunch of dry heaving. Even as she coughed to clear her throat, Naruto's gigantic figure was beside her, already rubbing her back to try and soothe her chest.

A while later, Hinata stopped coughing but still stared at the ground towards the small puddle of spit and bile that she had spewed, her entire body trembling. Suddenly, she said, the target of her words unknown. "I killed all of them, didn't I?"

"Yes." Naruto said, not mincing words.

"I brutally killed them right?"

"Yes."

Hinata remained silent for a while before saying. "Naru-koi?" her tone questioning.

"Yes?"

"I want to make a promise."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "What promise?"

"This is my promise." Hinata said, before taking a deep breath. "From now on, I promise that I will not use the Gentle Crush on anyone ever again, only when required to save my precious people."

Naruto was surprised, but he could see where she's going with this. "And why is that? It's a skill that you developed, you made. Tested on me and Kushi-chan though. Why would you limit your own skills?"

"Because," She said before turning her face to meet Naruto's where he saw that she had tears on her eyes, yet they're shining with admirable determination as her entire body trembled with memories of her massacre. "The skills, they're too brutal, too cruel. Not to mention fatal. A massacre... that's the only reason for one to use the techniques. And as such, I will not use them again, not until I deem it necessary."

"Hina-hime..." Naruto said while staring straight into Hinata's lavender-tinted Byakugan. He moved his face closer to hers before giving her a small kiss on her lips. "Good. You've learned."

Hinata nodded. "Yes. As ninjas, we perform atrocities, but the why is what differentiates us from a regular bandit. Just now, on the bridge, when I was... was... massacring them all, I... understood what you've been trying to teach me all this time. I... just wished that I didn't take something like this to have me learn."

"Hina-hime, that's good enough. Better that you learn it now than when you're about to die. Now rest. You've earned it." Naruto said, before lifting her up and letting Hinata lie on the ground right next to Haku. Naruto then stood while giving an order to Kushina. "Keep both of them safe. I'll clean up the mess." Before disappearing in a Hiraishin.

Zabuza looked towards the three, before he said, "Damn. I guess it's a good thing that you'll be at our side later on."

Kushina was still treating Haku as a clone of her acted as a lap pillow for her mother when she replied, "Yeah. Just don't get on our bad side."

Zabuza crossed his arms while nodding. "I know. I'd be an idiot if I did that." Both of them then remained silent, one doing his job and another looking everywhere, watching for any signs of any events.

-AT THE BRIDGE-

After they've calmed themselves after the death of their leader via a powerful punt kick to the chest, the remaining bandits stood up and on legs so shaky one could think that they're jellies, they wobbled away from the massacre site, the blood of their companions sticking to them like a bad memory.

Unfortunately for them, Naruto ended up at the starting point of Hinata's massacre. Seeing that the remaining bandits are going to run, Naruto performed handseals to do two things at once: clean the bridge and wipe the bandits as well. Two objectives done with one jutsu. He then drew a deep breath, ready to launch his jutsu.

"Suiton: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!" He thought, before a huge amount of water spewed from his mouth and crashed into the bridge, creating massive waves that roared on top of the bridge, some of the water cascading down into the sea below.

Hearing a massive roar of water behind them, the bandits stopped their fear induced hobbling before they turned around. And much to their horror, a huge wave was rushing at them, the water tinted red and pink from the blood of their comrades.

In fear the bandits hastily turned and ran as if their life depended on it, which it does, and they ran and ran, their legs pumping as hard as it can to take them away from the onrushing wave of death. Unfortunately, their regular, not chakra charged human legs are nowhere near capable of going up against the sheer power of the jutsu that Naruto spewed.

Within seconds, the two and a half metre tall wave overtook them, and in a huge roar of water that drowned their screams of fear, the bandits were caught within the huge wave, their panic preventing them from thinking rationally, and in just seconds the waters managed to drown them, ending their lives. And at the same time, the wave also cleaned the bridge, making it safe for the people of Wave to use it.

Letting out a sigh at the completion of his objective, Naruto Hiraishined back towards Kushina, not realising that Zabuza was standing close by, a bewildered look on his face at the strength that Naruto showed. "These guys are insane!" He thought. "She destroyed limbs with one hit! He can spam powerful jutsus like no tomorrow without even looking winded and is fucking strong! She beat Haku pretty much effortlessly! It's a good thing that we made this alliance. If not, I'd be minced meat by now."

Zabuza then said to Naruto, "Hey, Naruto."

"Yeah?"

"I think your offer is acceptable. I'll take it."

"Okay. Here's some extras. Give them to your daughter as well." Naruto said before standing up and unsealing a couple of Hiraishin kunais before tossing them towards Zabuza who caught it all and looked at it in awe. He's holding the kunais that once made the Yellow Flash SS-rank within the Bingo Book! And he'll be working with his son! But as soon as he thought that, a certain thought entered his mind. "Hey Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"You said you're the Yondaime Hokage's son. How come you're so fucking huge? You should be younger than I am!"

"I AM younger than you." Naruto said. "And the reason's a secret. Maybe I'll tell you later once you've gained more of my trust. But for now, knowing my identity's the best that you'll get."

Zabuza harrumphed, understanding the reason for the secrecy. "But tell me this one thing. Why did you offer me the deal? Why not look for someone else?"

"Well, you're the only one from Kiri that I met in recent days. And from what I knew, you tried to stop the nonsense, but failed. So I decided that you and your apprentice are the best person to carry it out."

"And how the hell did you know that Haku's my apprentice? She's not one to open her mouth on anything."

"Well, for a random girl in a forest, she smelled strongly of sword cleaning oil and herbs. The only two reasons why she'd smell like that was if she used a sword, which I find weird because she didn't have the smell of steel on her. Another reason was because her chakra level was comparatively high even when she did her best to suppress it when I found her. So, since the reports that I received from the Hokage said that you're the only ninja around here, it's easy to relate her to you." Naruto answered.

"But how can you smell that? She's very thorough when cleaning herself."

Tapping his nose, Naruto replied with, "The nose knows, dude." With a grin on his face.

Zabuza snorted at this. Damn that kid. He toyed with him! But even he knew that secrets are not something you'd want to reveal, especially when you're talking to an enemy. Zabuza then looked at his sword, which was only down to its last foot. "But you still broke my sword. What are you going to do about it?"

"Go and take a swim." Naruto said nonchalantly. "Kill some fishes. Some sharks, maybe. You're not that worthless, even without your sword. Anyone knows that. And you can regrow it back. Just kill some bandits or whatever. Pretty damn easy, if you ask me. They breed like rats. Kill 10, and another 100 pop out somewhere else."

Zabuza was pissed by the lame dismissal that Naruto did about his sword, but he had to admit the kid had a point. It's easy and pretty faultless too. Sighing, Zabuza holstered back his now massively shortened sword on his back, intending on looking for shitheads to kill to recover his sword's condition back to its original. "So, now what?" He asked.

"Now?" Naruto asked again, though he replied immediately. "Now it's better off if you guys leave. Go back to Kiri and prepare for the deal to go through. Might take a while, so only call me when you're in life-threatening danger or once you succeeded in your part of the deal."

"Let us go? Just like that?" Zabuza asked incredulously. "And you'd even help me when I need it. Why's that?"

"Do I need a reason to take care of my ally? Temporary or not, you're still an ally." Naruto countered.

"What if I called you in a trap?" Zabuza countered back.

"What makes you think I'm weak enough to not be able to kill you back and crush your traps? Or much simpler, I can just Hiraishin back to Konoha or somewhere else. Less messy."

Zabuza had to admit the kid had a point. He could crush anything that he went up against, and from what he could speculate of their bloodline, he'd be the one in trouble afterwards. "Alright kid. You got me there," He said.

"Good. Now, Haku's awake, and it's better if you can leave now while I distract the other team. Go. Call me later." Naruto said before standing up from his crouching position once he saw that Haku can stand on her own now. Kushina immediately replaced herself with her clone, she now acting as Hinata's lap pillow.

"Zabuza-sama, what…" Haku said before Zabuza interrupted her.

"It's alright, Haku. The girl healed you, and we've been asked to leave. And I guess that's the best course of action now. Kakashi's eyeing us, and I doubt he'll like it if we stay here longer."

"As you said, Zabuza-sama." Haku said while standing up and standing beside Zabuza.

With both of them already up and ready to leave, Zabuza looked to Naruto before saying "So I'll see you later." And Shunshining away.

"Good luck to you, Zabuza." Naruto muttered under his breath before standing up and Shunshining towards Kakashi's location.

-WITH ZABUZA AND HAKU-

Both of them exited their shunshin at a tree branch somewhere before immediately going to the ground and running as fast as they can to get away from Wave. As the two was running away, Haku asked Zabuza, "Zabuza-sama, are we going to-"

"Don't call me that." Zabuza said, cutting Haku's words. Immediately Haku's face turned into a shocked expression before her face fell.

"Do you hate me now, Zabuza-sama? Am I useless to you now? I know i lost against that girl, but-" Haku asked, sadness visible on her face even as she still ran beside him.

"No!" Zabuza answered quickly. "No. Well, I guess that came out wrong. Haku, from now on, call me father."

"W-what?" Haku was absolutely shocked at this. Although Zabuza had actually become a father figure for her for a long time, she was completely and utterly floored when Zabuza said what he said just now.

"Let me tell you a story…" And so Zabuza told her of how her mother was Zabuza's love, the affair, their last night, and how they met. By the end of the story, Haku had tears flowing from her eyes at this. She never thought that she would be travelling with her real father all this time! No wonder sometimes Zabuza would look at her with a melancholic feeling before it hardens back to his usual look. This was an unprecedented event for her. "So Haku, would you call me your father?" Zabuza asked finally.

"I'd like that… father." Haku said with a smile, the tears still flowing from her eyes now tears of joy. "But," She questioned. "What made you say it to me now?"

Zabuza stayed silent for a while before he sighed. "That Naruto… He told me that it would be better for you to know. And looking at you now, I'd say that it's a wise choice."

"Yes… It is a wise choice." Haku said, tears still pouring from her eyes. She had a father now! A real father!

"Oh yeah. Here." Zabuza said, before handing two Hiraishin kunais to her.

"T-these…" Haku stammered out. Being a freelance ninja, she had copies of the Bingo Books and already memorized everything in it. So, when she was met with the sight of the legendary Hiraishin kunai, she was completely shocked, especially since the Yondaime Hokage was dead.

"That blonde guy I fought, he's the Yondaime Hokage's son. Those are his." Zabuza said, understanding the reasons for her shock.

"B-but…" was the only thing Haku managed to say as she wiped her tears on the sleeves of her kimono.

"Don't ask. Long story. He said to use it when emergencies. He'll arrive immediately to help us."

"Can we trust them?" Haku said, wondering why her father easily trusted them.

"Well, they didn't kill us, for starters. I have a huge bounty on me, don't forget. And them both healing us and letting us go showed that they plan to go through with the deal as well. They already handed us a part of the deal, so I guess they can be trusted. Though we'll still keep an eye on them" Zabuza said.

Haku said nothing, trusting in the decision of her father. Both of them then continued their run towards anywhere that Zabuza's legs are carrying them to, their destination ultimately undetermined.

-WITH TEAM 7, ANKO AND NARUTO-

Kakashi was eyeing Zabuza, afraid that he'd backstab Naruto or something. And as the girl walked beside Zabuza, they both suddenly disappeared in a Shunshin, surprising Kakashi. But before he could do anything, Naruto appeared in front of him in a Hiraishin flash.

"Kakashi, don't worry. They're just getting away, and I have Hiraishin tags on them. If anything happens, I'll just Hiraishin towards their location." Naruto said.

Hearing this, Kakashi relaxed, though he still had some questions that he felt should be asked. "Naruto, why did you let them go?"

"It involves the deal. But as I said, I'll explain it to the old man back in Konoha. You're welcome to listen to it as well." Naruto said.

Though still wary, Kakashi accepted the explanation. Besides, Naruto had Hiraishin seals on them, and that means that no matter where they are, they can't go far. No distance was too far for Hiraishin, and Kakashi and Iwa are some of those who knew that best.

Sighing, Kakashi asked, "So, what now?"

"Now," Naruto replied. "We get back to the town and tell everyone that the bridge's finished. Then once the drunk old man signs the mission scroll and paid for it plus a deal involving the payment of the A-ranker in instalments. Then, mission complete, we can get back to Konoha and I can meditate in peace again. Hopefully." He finished.

Placing a finger on his chin, Kakashi hummed, before nodding. "A solid plan. As good as any, I guess. Well, let's go now." Picking the still shocked figure of his genin team, Kakashi ushered them back towards the town, ready to leave as soon as possible.

Anko walked beside Naruto who decided to walk instead of using the Hiraishin. "So, I see that princess has one hell of a bloodbath to her name, Kushina was toying around with another bloodline girl and you beating Zabuza like he's nothing before healing the both of them and letting them go. Did I miss anything?" Anko asked.

"First of all, Hina-hime is just one of my queens. Don't forget that. And yeah, you pretty much didn't miss anything. Except for the fact that the bridge was still solid after everything that happened on it." Naruto answered.

"But Kushina placed seals on it! No way something like that can harm what she did!" Anko replied.

"I know. And that's why it should be focused on. We're Uzumakis. Seals are in our blood."

Exasperated, Anko just lifted her hands into the air before continuing her walk beside Naruto, this time in silence. A while later, they reached the place where Hinata was supposedly sleeping with Kushina and saw that both of them are up and Kushina's clothes have recovered and Hinata sitting beside her.

"Let's move, guys." Naruto said. Nodding, both Hinata and Kushina stood up from their position and dusted their pants. All of them then get together before grabbing each other's hands and disappearing in a yellow flash.

-WITH TEAM 7-

Kakashi and his team reached the town of Wave without any problems and with his genins all recovered from their shock at watching the terrifyingly great performance of the members of Team 11. Upon reaching the town, they saw that the people, led by Tazuna were waiting for them. Immediately all the townsfolk erupted in cheers, knowing that their arrival means that the Konoha ninjas won.

Kakashi went on a beeline straight towards Tazuna who had Inari standing beside him, holding his hand. The cheers died immediately as Kakashi was about to talk.

"We have managed to defeat the ninjas and the remaining members of Gato's mercenary army, and now, the bridge is safe and secured. Our mission here is complete." Kakashi said.

Once again, the people exploded, this time the cheers coming louder than before. Everybody was shouting praises, some hugging the people beside them in happiness, some even fell on their knees as they cried tears of joy.

Amidst all this chaotic display of happiness, Kakashi stepped forwards to meet with an extremely elated Tazuna before patting his shoulders.

"Tazuna-san, we need to talk for a bit." Nodding, Tazuna followed Kakashi, his team following behind him.

A bit far away from the still roaring crowd, Kakashi talked to Tazuna. "Tazuna-san, here's the mission scroll. We'll go to the bridge later, so you can check its completion before signing it and paying us the rest of the mission money. However, there is a second mission that you'll need to approve, an A-rank mission for our backup team. They already performed their job well, I'm sure you knew. You'll need to sign their mission scroll as well. The payment will be in monthly installments, don't worry. You won't feel burdened by this, I'm sure."

"Mister," Tazuna started, "If money alone can show you how much I am thankful for you, I will give you everything that I have. We will be eternally grateful for Konoha's assistance in this mission." He said, bowing his body towards Kakashi.

In a flash of yellow, the members of Team 11 appeared, absolutely shocking all the members of Team 7 before they calmed down.

Immediately Naruto said, "Then this will make you even happier old man." Before tossing Tazuna a scroll.

"What's this?"

"That scroll contains all the deeds to Gato's business, factories and plant, also his ships. In other words, you're now the legal owner of the previously-called Gato Corporation. Use it to start your country back up again. Push it further with the fleets and the company, and make sure that the company runs well without the dirty businesses." Naruto said.

Tazuna's face became white with shock before he fell on his knees, the scroll clattering away as tears fell from his eyes. He started sobbing after a while even as he tried standing up and ran straight towards Naruto and hugged him. "Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Tazuna shouted out, not caring if everyone around saw him crying in his happiness.

A while later, Tazuna stopped crying before wiping his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt. "I will treasure this. You can expect Konoha to have a trade deal with Wave once our economy is restored to its actual capacity. And with this, we'll no doubt recover completely in a short time. Your Hokage can expect a quick payment once Wave is back." Naruto then showed him the scroll for their A-rank mission, which he signed together with the installment payment deal and the original C-rank that he requested.

He then walked back towards the crowd, the members of both team following behind him. Addressing the crowd, he made his announcement.

"People! Follow me! To our bridge!"

In a loud cheer, the entirety of Wave followed him to their bridge, thie sign of their hope, currently bathing in the light of the evening sun. Once there, they saw that the bridge was indeed complete, and the children immediately broke away from the crowd and started running on top of the bridge, playing with each other even as the crowd looked in disbelief at the sheer size of the completed bridge.

"Tazuna-san," Naruto said, attracting the sight of everyone there. "I'm afraid this is where we part ways, now that the bridge is complete and our mission was completed. Ow that you have signed the completion of our mission, we have no reason to stay here any longer."

"I understand." Tazuna said. "Still, it would be sad for you guys to leave this early. We are about to have a festival with you guys as the guest of honour."

Naruto let out a small laugh before saying. "That's alright. In fact, I think you're better off as the guest of honour, since your effort was the one that called us here. If not for you, the bridge would still be incomplete and you're still oppressed by Gato."

"I get it. Maybe we'll be seeing you guys again some time." Tazuna said with a sigh even as all the citizens of Wave watched the two teams in sadness, knowing of their imminent departure. Immediately Inari ran straight towards Naruto's legs, hugging it as tears fell from his eyes. "Naruto-nii! You're leaving! Don't leave us!" he screamed out, tears and snot fell on his face as he cried out on Naruto's departure.

Crouching down, Naruto patted his head before rubbing his hair, saying "Inari, with every meeting there will be separation. That is a fact of life. I cannot be here forever, and I am also pretty sad to leave you. However," Naruto said, unsealing a Hiraishin kunai and holding it with one finger through the ring of the kunai. "Here's a souvenir for you, so that you can remember me." He then hands over the kunai to Inari, who took it with a glow in his eyes.

"Remember Inari, this kunai is special. With this, you can throw it anywhere, and I'll be there for you. Here, watch." Unsealing another kunai, Naruto tossed it to the air, the eyes of everyone there following it. As the kunai reached the peak of its trajectory, Naruto disappeared in a yellow flash, causing all who saw him to be shocked as he appeared right beside the tossed kunai before grabbing it. Once again, he disappeared before appearing right beside Inari who had a look of awe and reverence on his face even as tears still flowed from his eyes.

Deftly sealing the kunai back, Naruto said towards Inari, "So, if you're in trouble or want to meet me, just throw it, and I will be there for you. Don't worry." As Inari twirled the kunai in his hand, Naruto said again, "Be careful, it's sharp. It's meant to kill people, so don't play around with it."

Inari nodded before crashing towards the crouched figure of Naruto in a hug. "We'll meet again, right, Naruto-nii?"

"Yup. We will. Just throw that kunai anywhere."

Separating from him, Inari had a resolved look on his face. "Naruto-nii, when I grow up, I'll go to Konoha, and train as a ninja! I'll be as strong as you!"

"Hah!" Naruto said. "Good! Look for me when you're there! I'll be with you, believe it!"

Still with tears from his eyes, Inari nodded.

Standing up, Naruto faced Tazuna. "Tazuna-san, I guess this is goodbye. Our mission is done, and your country's better with the bridge. No problems."

"Yeah. Can't keep you too long anyway." Tazuna replied, his eyes showing how thankful he was at them.

Turning towards the members of both teams, Naruto said, "Alright you guys! Let's go back! Our mission's complete!"

"OOHHH!" All of them responded, before the members of Team 7 prepared themselves to run away. But much to their shock, Kushina, Anko and Hinata stopped them.

"I have a better idea. Hold my hand everyone." Naruto said. Confused but approving, all of them held Naruto's hand before he said, "Hang on tight. For you first timers, this will feel weird." But before they could ask, all of them disappeared in a yellow flash.

Tazuna just looked as all of them flashed away. "Well, they're gone now. At least Inari can call him back." He then looked towards the people of Wave. "Everyone! Since the bridge is complete, we need to name it! I welcome every suggestion!"

And everyone started giving ideas for the bridge's name before Tazuna stopped them all. "What about The Great Tazuna Super Bridge?! It's a good name!" immediately he was met with jeers and boos from the people of Wave to his shame. But then, Inari suddenly decided to speak up, his words causing everyone to listen.

"What about… The Great Konoha Bridge? The heroes who saved Wave from the tyrant Gato and his henchmens, they're all from Konoha. And how else to honour them than to name the same bridge that they saved and completed in their name?"

Everyone was silent for a while, admiring the maturity of the kid who said that before all of them cheered loudly, signifything that the name was accepted. "That settles it!" Tazuna shouted out loud. "The name of this bridge will be The Great Konoha Bridge, in honour of the heroes from Konoha who saved us!"

And so, the citizens of Wave celebrated the completion of the bridge of their hope, and at the same time lamenting the departure of their heroes, the ones who brought Wave back from its hellish conditions and left their mark in the world. Unknown to all of them, this was just the beginning of the adventures of our heroes, and they will leave more of their marks on the world at times to come…

-CHAPTER END-

Alright! So that's one monster of a chapter done! And also my first major battle scene. And down here's the explanations for the original jutsus that I placed in the chapter.

Hyouton Forbidden Jutsu: Hyoukenseisou (AN: Because Eternity Trapped in Ice sounded crappy. Inspired by Akira of the Shiseiten's attack of the same name from Samurai Deeper Kyo)

Rank: Forbidden, High A Rank

Explanation: Creates a massive cone of ice by freezing the area around the user before creating pillars of ice made of chakra that centers on top of the enemy. Each surface inside of the cone of ice acts the same as the Demonic Ice Mirrors, where the user could appear from each and every reflection while also firing rapid fire barrage of projectiles, both dealing damage and confusing the enemy. Furthermore, the temperature within the ice prison will sap an enemy of his strength; making them unable to fight properly the longer they stayed within the prison. Also, the ice of the jutsu was capable of injuring enemies as they tried smashing through them to escape from the ice shard that came from the effort to do so. Also, the ice can recover as long as the user channels chakra and their lifeforce into it. The skill is forbidden because it uses the caster's lifeforce to be used, creating an extremely powerful ice and the chill surrounding it, but use it for too long and the user will die from being drained by their own skill. It is only ranked High A because although the potential for the jutsu is extremely high, spreading it in an area too wide for the user to handle will cause the user to die even before the ice prison could be properly constructed.

Medical Jutsu: Chakra Transfer

Rank: B Rank

Explanation: This jutsu is a medical jutsu made to transfer chakra from a person to another, replenishing the transferee's chakra stores. This technique is useful when one wants to transfer chakra from himself to another, allowing the transferee to use more powerful jutsu. The skill is ranked B because for a medic nin to use it, he needs to know the limits of both how much chakra he could transfer and how much chakra the transferee could receive. A mistake in this part will cause death for either, or worse, for both.

Gentle Crush: Twin Fox Step (3 guesses where this was inspired from)

Rank: Forbidden, High A Rank

Explanation: Creates two fox-like chakra figures on one's fist, supercharging their Gentle Crush attacks. In this mode, even glancing hit can deal immense damage, and a direct hit was capable of blowing one's torso. Each hit seemed like a miniature exploding tag, since each hit takes a little chakra from the figures before exploding them from within, no matter how much. A civilian will be destroyed outright, while a trained ninja will only have their insides liquefied. Forbidden, because the creator forbade its usage in normal conditions. Only gets A rank because it isn't a multi-target skill.

Futon: Eight Trigrams Rotation

Rank: A rank

Explanation: Using the Hyuuga's Rotation as basis, this technique changed the chakra nature of the spinning dome from that of a regular chakra to one of wind, creating a huge dome of spiralling wind blades surrounding the user. In this form, the Rotation becomes an insanely powerful offense and also a near impenetrable defence, the wind blades slicing anything that might come. The main weakness of this technique came from Katon attacks, allowing a good Katon user to utterly annihilate the dome and the person in it. Only received A rank because of its close range, the necessity for a proper footing and the fact that during its use, the user cannot move from his spot.

Futon: Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms

Rank: High A Rank

Explanation: A combination of two of the Hyuuga Clan's skill which is the Eight Trigrams Rotation and Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms and wind chakra manipulation, the jutsu creates a dome of rapidly moving wind chakra knives that was capable of cutting any projectile that came towards the user while also functioning as an extremely powerful offensive technique that can slice through defences easily, even slice through someone. Due to the sheer amount of chakra blades moving in this technique, an enemy up close will literally turn into minced meat. High A rank because holes within the chakra net means that it can still be pierced and also natural chakra opposition means that Katon jutsu will be able to disrupt the technique and even kill the person using it.

I might create an entire separate chapter that I will update every time I placed a new jutsu within the story. Makes it easier for all of you guys, you know. So, now that you've read this monster of a chapter, would you kindly leave a review of how you liked or hated of this chapter? Send me comments, whatever you want. I'll answer any questions I receive no matter how absurd, so send them. Now, until next time. Renegadeofficer89, out.