Another Path

Chapter 11

Ok, I just read something on a Naruto wiki, yes this is a spoiler, that Naruto's mom, Kushina was the demon container for Kyuubi before him…HOW DOES THAT WORK OUT? God, I need to start watching Shippuden.

At a hideout, in the forest of wave country, Zabuza was being treated for his injuries by the person his thinks of as a son but will never admit it. Just as the boy was done, a short man barged in with some samurai thugs. "So you failed?" the man asked with a smug grin, as if he knew the answer already.

"Yeah Gato, but just give me a week to recover and that bridge builder with be dead, along with those annoying Konoha ninja." Zabuza said.

"I have a better idea, how I kill you and save the girl for later." Gato said, gesturing to Zabuza's feminine looking boy.

The boy didn't take well to that as he was next to Gato in a heartbeat. He broke the small man's arm before his guards could react. "You will not hurt Zabuza-sama! Besides….I am a boy!"

It took a moment for the thugs and Gato to register what they heard before they yelled, "WHAT?"

"Haku…that is enough." The former Mist Ninja said. "Gato, go and let me rest so I can complete my job."

"Fine Zabuza….just get it done!" Gato yelled as he and his men left.

Zabuza sighed as he leaned back on his chair. That short little man was a pain in the ass. As his hand brushed over his pocket, he felt that something was in there that normally was not. He quickly took it out and saw that it was addressed to him. "Haku, did you put this in my pocket?" He asked showing him the paper.

"No, I did not." Haku stated.

Zabuza frowned in thought before he remember that blond ninja. Could it be from him? He needed to find out, so he opened it.

Zabuza,

My name is Naruto Uzumaki, you know, the blond ninja. I read about your little battle with the Mizukage….after I am done with this mission, I am to go to the Mist and aide the rebel, led by Mei Terumi, a beat some sense in to him. After reading about that guy, it would seem to me that he is under some sort of powerful genjutsu. I am asking you to come with me to Mist and help since you are from there.

Please consider,

Naruto Uzumaki, the Ninja Shinigami.

After reading that last bit, the Demon of the Mist almost had a heart attack. He had heard about him from some merchants. He defeated those things called Hollows and helped the Kazekage's kid. He would have to consider this offer.

"Haku, I think we should take young Naruto's offer and help him at the end of the week. We will aide him in defeating the Mizukage."

"It will end then?" Haku asked hopefully about the Bloodline Wars in Mist.

"Yes, I think with his help, it will." Zabuza said tiredly. Unfortunately for them, one of Gato's thugs heard and went to report it.

With Gato…

The thug had just explained what he heard Zabuza say and smirked. "Heh, it is a god thing I am not going to pay the fool."

"Sir, what should we do?" asked a random thug.

"Nothing….I am going to send one of those Hollows on them all when he decides to attack. That should kill them all!" Gato laughed as all his men quivered in fear at the thought of those things.

Naruto and Team 7…

It has been a day since they arrived at Tazuna's place in the Wave village. Tsunami was very nice while her son was a little bitch. The brat cried about everything and told them they were just going to die.

Of course Naruto ignored the little brat as he and his team was lead to the forest by Kakashi. "Alright, I am going to teach you Tree Walking."

"Uh Kakashi….i already know this….along with Water Walking and Kunai Balancing." Naruto said.

"Well, can you show them for me?"

"Eh, why not?" Naruto while the others wonder what was so special about climbing trees. Smirking, the blond walked up the tree, all the way to the top and with no hands. Sasuke's eye's twitched, yet another thing Naruto was good at and not him. "Remember, too much chakra and you fly off, but too little and you don't even stick."

"Very good Naruto. Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, I want you three to master this by the end of the week. That is the time I fear that Zabuza will be back and yes I think he is alive because of the fact that the Hunter nin did not dispose of the body at that spot." Kakashi said.

"I don't know it is him we should be worried about." Naruto said from a top the tree as he was walking down. "I did ask him for help in defeating the Mizukage."

"Wait what?" Kakashi said with his eyes widened.

"My second mission after this is to go to the Mist and help the rebels. I gave Zabuza a letter the moment I landed on him." Naruto said nonchalantly.

"You're insane, you know that?" Kakashi said.

"The world would not be any fun if I wasn't." Naruto said while everyone sweatdropped.

"Anyway…..Since you have good chakra control, I want the two of us to spar." Kakashi ordered. "Taijutsu only."

Naruto smirked and said, "Oh goodie….I get try out my taijutsu styles now."

"Style(s)?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, Genma-sensei said I should have a taijutsu style and not rely on my weapons. He was also teaching me Elemental Manipulation, so I combined them. So far, I only have two styles of my Elemental Fist styles."

"You can't be serious." The silver haired man said, "I am afraid to ask but what styles do you know and what elements are you aligned with?"

"Oh I got all of them." The blond spoke with a cheerful smile as the Uchiha heard this and lost his footing. He fell on the ground rather hard. "The two styles I have are the Spiral Fist for wind and the Blaze Fist for fire."

"Ugh….this is going to be a long day." Kakashi deadpanned. "Ok, let's go with the Spiral Fist first shall we."

Naruto nodded and got into an odd stance and Kakashi left the air shift a bit, but other than that, nothing really happened. So The one eyed man decided to charge in. As he threw a punch, Naruto bent back, dropped to the ground and tried to leg sweep the jonin but Kakashi just jumped up and Naruto smirked. That was the opening he was looking for. Sakura saw this as she was about to go back up the tree. She panicked but she didn't want to say anything for she wanted to see what would happen.

Naruto jumped up with enhanced speed thank to the wind surrounding him and palm struck Kakashi in the chest. The affect was instant as a huge blast of wind spiraled Kakashi in a nearby tree. The genin just looked shocked at what Naruto had just done. Sasuke could barely catch Kakashi like that, but Naruto is able to and send the man flying! There was a groan of pain as they saw Kakashi slowly get back up. Sakura, being the closest to the man saw that front of his jacket was warped into a spiral.

"Ok….I believe you now…..but how did you learn Wind Manipulation so quickly?" The Cyclopes asked.

"Oh that is easy….Shadow Clones. I can make enough of them to train with and everything they learn comes back to the user." Naruto said. "Oh and in case you are wondering…..I based the Spiral Fist off the Rasengan."

"Ugh….no wonder why it hurt so much." Kakashi said as he touched his chest. "So, what does your Blaze Fist look like?" Naruto smirked and crossed his arms so that his fists where on either side of his face with his fingers pointed away from him. His fingers were in the shape of claws so it would hurt more. Then, his hands and feet were set ablaze! Kakashi also saw that wisps of fire lashed out around the blond's body, as if to protect him.

"This is the stance for my Blaze Fist…wanna give it a chance?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

"Ah….no. After the Spiral Fist…I am sure of that." Kakashi deadpanned, not wanting to get burned at the moment. He then got an idea and asked, "Why are you creating different styles like this?"

"To have a surprise in battle. Besides, I plan on combining them to create a sixth style called the Elemental Fist."

"I see….well how about I teach you Lightning Manipulation since I know Gemna won't know how to do that. You can create your own style later." Kakashi offered.

"SURE!" Naruto said. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" With that, over a hundred Narutos filled the clearing. The reaction this was comical. Sai gawked on a branch, Sasuke was looking around frantically at all the Narutos and having a mental meltdown as this was just not possible in his opinion, and Sakura…..her eyes widened, giggled perversely and fainted….falling out of the tree she was in. Luckily, a Naruto clone caught her and wondered what was wrong with her…..clueless as usual.

For the rest of the week, Kakashi taught Naruto Lightning Manipulation. Kakashi decided to see what his other student's chakra natures were. It turned out that Sakura had earth, Sai ironically had water, and the Uchiha had fire and bit of lightning. Knowing theses thing were enough for the Copy Cat Ninja as he taught them all some jutsu for later on. There was alos a small oddity that were the Uchiha and Naruto sparred, they had both used their Doujutsu and Naruto copies the Uchiha bloodline. He did not understand why but he knew a few attacks that most Uchiha didn't know.

The end of the week came a little too quickly for the group. Naruto had seen the Haku boy again when he trained himself to sleep one night. That brat, Inari, pissed him of so much that he went and trained to blow off some steam. After Kakashi told him a little about the blond's life, he started to understand him a bit more. Of course he was dead scared of the small Raven that Naruto always had on his shoulder, because for every time he bitched about them dieing, she would try and peck his eyes out.

Now however, the group was at the bridge with some of Naruto's Shadow Clones keeping watch at the bridge builder's home, just in case if Gato tried something. As they approached the bridge, they saw a thick mist.

As they entered, they saw a bunch of workers unconscious and on the ground. Zabuza and Haku were in the middle of them. Naruto rose an eyebrow and said, "So, you wanna fight?"

Zabuza smirked beneath his mask and said, "Yeah, I wanna spar a bit before I decide to join you."

"Fine by me!" Sasuke announced, getting into his stance.

"I think not!" came a voice behind the Konoha ninja.

They turned to see that the mist was clearing to reveal several samurai and leading them was the business tycoon himself, Gato. The small business man smirked and said, "Sorry Zabuza. I was never going pay you and now, I will kill you and these pathetic Konoha ninja. BRING IT OUT!"

The warriors parted to reveal a large metal crate. Two of the samurai unlatched the crate and with a roar, the front of the crate was blown away and out stepped a huge black monster with a bone mask.

"Kill them for me." Gato commanded.

The creature stared at Gato for moment before saying, "Pathetic mortal…you cannot command me, but I will get rid of this Shinigami for my own purposes." The beast said as it turned its head to the minions of Gato, who were surprisingly not showing any fear. "It is time!"

At this, the ninja group watched in horror as the samurai were ripped apart, leaving more creatures in their place. The main monster then brought its hand down on a completely shocked Gato, ending his pitiful life.

"Shit….this can't be good." Kira stated, bring everyone out of their stupor.

"Naruto, what are these?" Sakura asked frantically.

"These are Hollows and it seems that they are being led by a Menos class Hollow…well I think it is a Menos." Naruto answered. "Just remember to destroy the mask and you will win."

"Right…let's do this!" Sasuke said as Sai nodded. Zabuza and Haku prepared to fight off these things as well. Zabuza was going to see the extent of the blond's power today.

"Shinigami….you will die along with your allies." The Hollow said and Naruto took a better look at it. It was very tall and humaniod in appearance, had greyish skin, large ass wings on its back, and its mask looked like that of a tiger's.

"Who the hell are you? Your now like the other Hollows I have beaten."

"Yes…I am nothing like those weaklings you killed. Yes I am a menos but I am also an Adjuchas…a middle class Menos. I wonder if you are anything like the old Shinigami were…trust me I would know because I was one of the many Hollows that destroyed them in Soul Society. But, in the years of peace, my skills have diminished over the years, so let's see how I stack up to a new Shinigami."

"This is so not good….be careful Naruto!" Kira said from her spot on his shoulder.

"You got that right Kira….this is not good at all." Naruto commented.

"ATTACK THEM AND LEAVE THE SHINIGAMI TO ME!" The large tiger humanoid hollow ordered.

Kakashi cursed, he was so glad they told the bridge builder to stay at home today. He, along with the others rushed forward to kill this small army of 50 or so Hollows. This was so not his day.

Naruto rushed to the odd leader of the Hollows, activated Xemnas, and attacked without mercy. All that seemed to do was annoy the high class Hollow. Naruto leapt back and yelled, "Nothing Wave!" The wave of energy caught the off guard hollow and blasted him back a few feet but that was all. The Adjuchas smirked and roared out, sending out a cero straight at the blond. Naruto growled, sending another Nothing Wave to cancel out the attacks.

Haku and Zabuza were far much better as Haku used his speed to his advantage to confuse the nearby hollows while Zabuza took his time in destroying the confused hollows in the mist. They were no match for the swordman's huge sword. Haku saw the cancelled out attack that Naruto and the leader Hollow had made. He saw the creature coming at the blond at speed that he thought that Naruto could not dodge from, he rushed in to help.

The ice user quickly grabbed the blond and jumped up while preforming a jutsu to distract the beast for a few seconds. "Ice Style: Nitro Dagger!" The Uzugan came to life and quickly copied the bloodline of the ice user. It then deactivated on its own. Naruto blinked a few times before scowling, he need to control that. He then turned his attention to Haku's attack and saw large spikes of super cold ice rained down on the Hollow. To his surprise, all it did was freeze the beast for a few second before it thrashed around and broke free, charging for them.

"Haku, thank for that but go back to Zabuza, I will beat him somehow." Naruto said as the ice user disappeared from his view. "I am not ready for this shit!" Naruto growled out as he dodged the Hollows claws.

Kakashi was back to back with a few of his clones, all with their Sharingan revealed. They were preforming Jutsu like no tomorrow. Well, if they messing up there would be no tomorrow, so no pressure. He then saw three large Hollows. The real Kakashi killed one with his Raikiri attack while the clones burnt the shit of them with fire jutsu. He was doing good so far but he was running out of chakra and fast. He just hoped that his student were ok.

The trio of Team 7 was sweating bullets. These things were strong and they had only heard about them in the academy, they were not prepared to actually fight these things! They were surrounded by these things and the only thing they could do at the moment was to try out their new jutsu they were taught. Sakura was first to attack.

"Earth Style: Raging Fists!" She called out as the earth itself was attaching itself to her hands and arms, creating some armor. She smirked as the Hollows hesitated for a second and that was all she needed as she performed another jutsu. "Earth Style: Quake Fists!" The pink hair girled the startled Hollows and punched them with earth shattering force. Their bodies flew away from the force of her attacks. She was luck that she got their masks because this jutsu combination was draining and she could not keep this up for long.

Sasuke was next as jumped into the air and yelled, "Fire Style: Spinning Dragon!" Sasuke started spinning wildly as fire surround him until it created a dragon. It then shot straight through a good amount of the Hollow before arcing in another direction. That direction was the Hollow that was about to claw up Naruto. He rammed into the Hollow and it cancel out his jutsu. Fortunately, it sent the Hollow flying back.

"Thanks Sasuke." Naruto panted as he got back up. He needed to new strategy.

"No problem, we can't have you dying on us." Sasuke smirked before reactivating his jutsu and headed straight for the Hollows that were giving Sakura a hard time.

We see Sai preforming some hand signs and calling out a new jutsu of his. "Water Style: Rapid Cyclone Blades." The water from below rushed up to surround the pale boy, forming a cyclone of water around him before blades of water shot out and decimated the Hollows around him. He was enjoying this. Since he had encountered Naruto, he felt he could befriend the boy and not be like his father, who he was starting to hate.

Back to Naruto, leader of the Hollows slowly got back up and growls. "Enough of these interruptions!" It yelled as it flew up into the air.

"Kira!" Naruto said.

"Right!" Replied the raven as it melted into Naruto's back and the wings grew. With that the blond flew into the air. The air battle was on!

Ok it was not that great of a battle because Naruto was still not used to ari battle but was slowly getting there. Naruto, use your Spiral Fist…it should speed us up and give this jerk some real hurt! Kira said in his mind. Naruto nodded as he went into his Spiral Fist and put his sword away. The effect was instant, As soon as the blond rushed forward, there was a sonic boom. He had struck the Hollow on the way, twisting up its skin!

"THE HELL?" It yelled, not prepared for this. He seriously doubted his chances of winning now.

Naruto just smirked as he did it again and again, creating sonic booms with each turn as he kept at the Hollow freak. Most of the other Hollows on the ground had fled at this point, seeing that most of their comrades were dead and this Shinigami was scaring the crap out of them. The ninja from below were watching in awe as Naruto's battle was going on. Zabuza was more than impressed by this blond now more than ever.

The leader of the Hollow army was not frantically weighing his opions, he could escape now and report this to his master but he wanted to really hurt this Shinigami. He then looked to the Shinigami's friends and spotted the ice user, the one that froze him. All of a sudden, the Hollow disappeared. Naruto looked around before he saw that he appeared right behind Haku. He tried to shout a warning but was too late as the Hollow shot a fist through the young teen's chest…killing him instantly.

"HAKU!" Naruto and Zabuza screamed.

The Hollow backed up as Naruto appeared before his fallen friend. He looked to the hollow, rage building up in his system, it seemed that was uncontrollable. Kakashi and the other saw that Naruto was pissed but what scared them was what came next. He screamed out in pain as a bone mask formed on his face and his eyes turned yellow. With primal rage, the masked blond rushed the Hollow.

"Shit, a vizard!" it said as it decided it was time to go and vanished, leaving a pissed off Naruto , who is his rage turned on to his friend, not distinguishing friend from foe. In other areas, three other felt Naruto's rage and yelled through their link to calm down. Fu, Gaara, and Sora were frantically yelling for him to calm down.

Luckily for Naruto's allies, he did calm down, but just back out, not yet ready for power like that. The other's looked in shock; this was not a battle they were ready for anytime soon. Sasuke and Sakura could understand why Naruto went ballistic for a fallen comrade, but they did not how that type of power to help him. Zabuza was cradling his son while crying a bit, if only that beast had stayed, then Haku's death would have been avenged by the blond. He would live on for his son. Kakashi picked up Naruto, knowing the pain of losing someone like that. He hoped the boy could move on, unlike him.

Done. Yes it is a sad ending, but don't be sad, we will see haku again! Yes Naruto will have Vizard powers but after he learns how to use bankai for both his swords. This was just a teaser for later.

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