A/N: Yeah I updated. Real life takes time and all that. I don't plan on stopping writing this. It's just going to be a while between chapters. As always please read and review.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Text examples:

"Hello." Biju or jinchuriki using biju's powers speaking

'Hi.' Person thinking

'Hi there.' Person speaking through mental link

'Howdy.' Biju speaking through mental link

Chapter 19: Wake Up Call

"Shino! Look out!"

Naruko shot up out of bed when she heard Hinata yell. The fox girl was disoriented for a moment and she was not sure where she was at first. Her mind cleared slowly and she realized that she was in her room at Tazuna's house. The last thing she remembered was lying down on top of her girlfriend the night before. The red head realized that she must have dozed off and Hinata put her in bed. She was drawn out of her thoughts when she heard the sounds of fighting coming from below. She bolted upright and rushed out of the room to head downstairs.

"What's going on?" Naruko's question went unanswered as she took in the scene before her.

The front door was destroyed as well as most of the furniture. In the center of the room were the Demon Brothers standing back to back. Hinata and Shino were on either side of them and looked like they had been having a tough time. Before Naruko could react the brothers turned on Shino and rushed him. They flanked to either side of the teen with their chain stretched between them. Naruko took in a breath half expecting to see her friend die, but the other half knew better. Shino already had his Earth Fists active and caught the chain in his hands. With a grunt he twisted the chain in his hands to weaken the metal before he broke the chain in two. He then gave the chains a strong tug and pulled the brothers off of their feet. Taking advantage of the situation Hinata darted forward to intercept Meizu before he hit the ground. With a few quick strikes she disabled his arms.

"That's my Princess." Naruko said to herself before she leapt through the air and landed behind Meizu. With a quick motion she ran a single chakra enhanced nail across his throat.

A gurgle escaped Meizu's throat before he dropped to his knees. He tried with all of his might to bring his hands to cover his neck but he could not move his arms. In just a few seconds he succumbed to the blood loss and fell forward to slowly bleed out on the floor.

"Brother! NO!" Gozu shouted as he charged towards the red head. He made it all of two steps before a swarm of insects were upon him.

The genin watched as the swarm lifted the ninja off the ground as he made muffled cries for help. It was not long before the cries stopped and the insects dispersed returning to their master leaving behind a shriveled corpse.

Naruko whistled, "Damn Shino, remind me to never piss you off."

Shino nodded and looked over at Hinata who seemed to have frozen from the scene in front of her. The blue haired teen had now witnessed three deaths caused by those that were close to her. It unnerved her how easy it seemed for them to kill and she wondered if she would be like that one day. She assumed that she would. It was part of being a ninja. She knew that she would have to kill someone eventually. She only hoped that when it happened that she would be ready for it.

"You okay Hinata?" Naruko asked.

Hinata came out of her thoughts at the question and nodded slowly. The red head frowned but decided not to press knowing that Hinata would talk to her eventually. Instead she took her love into her arms and held her tightly.

"Whatever it is, it's going to be alright." Naruko whispered before she planted a light kiss on Hinata's cheek.

The Hyuga relaxed a little at the contact and turned to see Shino carrying the corpses outside. Naruko followed her gaze and decided to try and keep Hinata's mind occupied. "So where are Tsunami and Inari?"

Hinata looked back at her girlfriend, "Oh, we told them to go into the cellar when the brothers attacked. We should probably let them know that it's safe to come out."

Naruko nodded and noticed that Shino had returned. She glanced around at the damage before a thought crossed her mind. "We need to get to the bridge."

At her words both Hinata and Shino realized that Naruko was right. If the brothers had attacked the house then it was likely that Zabuza had attacked the bridge. Both of the girls turned towards Shino.

The bug user nodded, "Right. Hinata, you and I will make our way to the bridge. Naruko check on Tazuna's family and then follow us, because you are faster than both of us and can catch up to us quickly."

With a nod Hinata set off with Shino while Naruko turned and headed for the cellar. Once there she knocked. She waited for a moment but received no response so she opened the door and stepped inside.

-The Bridge-

Anko was lazily kicking her legs while she sat at the edge of the bridge with a resigned look on her face. She was disappointed in herself. After her most recent talk with one of Naruko's clones she had vowed to herself that she would come clean with her feelings and tell Kurenai. So she decided to get a little drunk to help loosen her tongue. She remembered the club they went to and getting drunk. She even remembered the blonde that tried to take her home. What she could not remember was what happened after they left the club. She guessed it was something stupid because Kurenai looked disappointed and annoyed that morning. Since then Anko had been raking her brain trying to remember what it is that she had done, but after hours of thought she had still come up with nothing.

Anko let out a sigh, "I wish I could remember."

"What was that?" Asked a familiar voice.

Anko whipped her head around to see Kurenai standing above her. "Um, just thinking out loud."

Kurenai just shrugged before she took a seat next to her longtime friend. Anko admired the woman next to her for a moment before she turned to face the water again.

"So how are things with Asuma going?" Anko asked as she watched Kurenai from the corner of her eye.

"Same as always I guess. We actually haven't seen each other for a while. We've both been so busy with our teams that we don't really have time for much else."

"I'm surprised that he doesn't try to make more time for you."

Kurenai shrugged, "He does. It's just that after a long day of training with my students all I really want to do is either go to sleep or grab a drink with you."

Anko was silently pleased that Kurenai sought out her company more than she did Asuma's. The snake user edged closer to Kurenai so that their shoulders were touching. She then rested her head on Kurenai's shoulder. Anko smiled when she felt Kurenai rest her cheek on top of her head. The brown eyed woman absently began to trace random patterns on Kurenai's arm. She let out a sigh as she realized what she was doing and pulled her hand away only for Kurenai to grab it and gently hold it in her lap.

Anko was surprised at the action and turned to face her friend, "Kurenai?"

Kurenai raised a finger to her lips to gesture for Anko to keep silent. She then pointed to their left to indicate the fog that was rolling in.

"They're here." It was all Kurenai needed to say.

In a flash both women were up and headed for Tazuna but they stopped when a wall of ice appeared in front of them. The two women were shocked by the sudden appearance of the ice wall but were even more surprised when they saw the Hunter Ninja step out of the mirror like surface.

The Hunter held several senbon in his hand and raised them in front of his masked face. "You will not pass."

Anko smirked, "Oh really?" With a burst of chakra she leapt into the air.

The Hunter tracked the movement and hurled his senbon at the woman only for them to be knocked away by Kurenai. The Hunter did not see Kurenai move and when he looked back he saw that she was still standing where she had been before. With a quick flick of his wrist he launched another attack and dispelled the image of Kurenai. He then turned to face the real genjutsu user.

"You're quite skilled. I didn't even realize that I was placed under a genjutsu." The Hunter said.

"It is my specialty." Kurenai replied with a small amount of pride as she drew a kunai and prepared for combat.

On the other side of the ice wall Anko had engaged in heavy combat with Zabuza. The woman had arrived with just enough time to intercept the Kiri Demon as he made an attempt on Tazuna. Since the first exchange Anko had been feeling the pressure from the sword master's heavy swings. She knew that she could not keep on the defensive for much longer so she retreated back an extra step after his attack and launched several horned snakes at the man. Zabuza saw the attack and countered by chopping the serpents in half. Anko smirked as she saw Zabuza react exactly how she expected him to. The swordsman realized his mistake when he heard the telltale hissing of explosive tags. He looked down just in time to see the white paper stuck to the snakes before they exploded. Anko chuckled to herself over the success of her plan. The joy was short lived though as the smoke cleared revealing a large damp circle on the ground where Zabuza had once been.

Acting on instinct Anko turned around just in time to parry another swing from the massive sword. The impact sent her backwards several feet.

The snake user let out a huff as she straightened herself out. "Guess I can't expect this to be that easy, huh?"

Zabuza smiled under the bandages wrapped around his mouth as he shook his head. "I underestimated Yuhi and that coast me. I'm going all out this time." He then readied himself for the next engagement.

-Tazuna's Home-

"TAKE THAT!"

Naruko ducked under the blow and caught Inari midair as he flailed around with a stick in his hand. The boy continued to struggle for a few seconds until he realized who had a hold of him, and then he just scowled.

"Let go of me." Inari said and Naruko shrugged before she dropped him.

The boy let out a surprised yelp as he landed on his behind. The noise caused Naruko to chuckle. Inari heard the sound and scowled once again at the red head, but his attitude changed once his mother emerged from the shadows.

Tsunami walked up to Naruko and bowed her head. "Thank you for saving us."

Naruko smiled and returned the gesture. "There's no need to thank me. It's our duty to protect you."

Inari watched the exchange and grumbled silently before he too bowed his head and offered a small thank you. Despite his effort Naruko still heard him and proceeded to pat him on the head. Inari promptly swatted her hand away.

The red head chuckled, "You did good Inari, protecting your mom like that." The boy could not help but smile at being acknowledged. "But don't ever be that reckless again. If that had been an enemy you would have been killed and then who knows what would have happened to your mother. It's fine to be brave, but it's not okay to be stupid. Think before you act otherwise you risk getting yourself and those you care about hurt."

Inari looked up at the half demon with wide eyes. From the way she spoke it sounded like she was talking from personal experience. Inari realized that maybe there was more to the girl in front of him than just being a half-breed, that maybe she really was a good person. With that thought in mind the boy nodded.

Naruko smiled down at the boy before she looked back at Tsunami, "We took care of the ninja upstairs, but I don't know if there will be any other attacks so I'm going to leave clones here to keep watch on you guys while I'm gone."

The red head made her way back inside the house and made twenty clones to keep an eye on things before she headed out of the house. Naruko headed full speed for the bridge, but not five minutes later she came to a halt next to a big tree. Slowly she looked over her shoulder to see Arashi asleep underneath a tree a few feet away from her.

"Arashi! Wake up!" The fox girl shouted into the ear of her fellow Uzumaki.

"Kami! What was that for?" Arashi asked as he clamped his one hand over his damaged ear.

"I need your help."

Arashi noticed the serious tone in the young girl's voice and could only nod as he stood up. With a small smile Naruko turned and began to run towards the bridge once again.

-The Bridge-

Kurenai was pinned down. The Hunter had surrounded her with ice mirrors that he could travel through. It was easy going at first for Kurenai to avoid the senbon being thrown at her, but the speed of her opponent was steadily increasing and she was beginning to receive light wounds along her arms. The genjutsu user was patient. She knew that the Hunter was trying to wear her down before he went in for the kill. She waited for the right moment to counter. That moment came when the Hunter passed within arm's reach of her. She acted instantaneously and slapped her hand down on the Hunter's Back.

The Hunter's eyes went wide behind his mask when he felt the hand slammed down on him. He was forced to the ground and turned to see the black haired woman standing over him before she began to cut in to him with a kunai. He let out a few grunts of pain as the kunai racked across his motionless body. Try as he might he could not move a muscle. All he could do was silently scream as his flesh was torn apart. After a few minutes the Hunter was still in agonizing pain. He was sure that he should have died already but his body seemed to simply refuse to. It was then that it occurred to him how impossible that seemed. With a burst of chakra he shattered the genjutsu that was placed on him just in time to see a kunai descending towards his throat. With a quick motion he caught the wrist of his assailant.

"Not bad." Kurenai said. "You were only out for seven seconds. Most chunin I know take at least ten for that genjutsu."

The Hunter lashed out with a senbon to force Kurenai away from him. To his surprise she dodged and ran instead of counter attacking. Most ninja he knew would have pressed for the kill and he wondered why she had retreated. His question was answered when he saw her escape from the encirclement of mirrors and head towards Zabuza and Anko who were still going blow for blow.

Anko had summoned a large silver horned serpent who was taking on some of Zabuza's clones while Anko focused on the real one. The Hunter realized that Kurenai was going to try to overwhelm Zabuza and he could not let that happen. He raised his right hand and performed some hand signs. When the jutsu was complete a rugged ice blade formed over his left hand.

Anko was breathing heavily as she countered another attack from Zabuza. The man was a pro and Anko was paying for her hesitation to go all out. She had plenty of tricks up her sleeve, but she was saving those for someone who really deserved them. Zabuza may have been her enemy, but he was not deserving of her full wrath. Not like a certain snake bastard did. The brown eyed woman smirked as she saw Kurenai break away from the ice mirrors and head in her direction. With the help of her old friend she was sure that they could take down Zabuza in no time. Her thoughts quickly changed though when she saw the Hunter form some kind of ice blade and silently race up to Kurenai.

"Behind you!" Anko shouted.

Kurenai heard the shout and quickly leapt to the left just in time to avoid the attack. However she was not fast enough to dodge the follow up and received a gash along her thigh.

Anko cursed under her breath when she saw the blood run down Kurenai's leg.

'I'm the only one that can make her bleed!' Anko thought menacingly as she clenched her teeth.

The snake user almost charged at the Hunter but reframed when she realized that Zabuza had not attacked her in her moment of rage. She turned towards Tazuna with fear in her eyes, but let out a sigh of relief when she saw that Hinata and Shino had come to the man's aid. The genin had set up one of their defensive formation around the bridge builder and it had been enough to see Zabuza's attack coming and move Tazuna out of the way. Anko rushed towards the genin.

"When did you guys get here?" Anko asked.

"Just a few moments ago. We saw you and Kurenai engaged in combat so we decided to defend Tazuna." Shino replied.

"Smart thinking. If you guys weren't here when I got distracted the old man might be dead." Anko said with a chuckled.

Tazuna heard what the snake user had said and gulped thinking about how close he had just come to death. Wisely he decided not to bring it up. Anko glanced over at Kurenai again and was pleased to see that her friend had gotten the upper hand. The snake user turned back towards the genin.

"So where's Naruko?" Anko questioned.

"She stayed behind to check on Tazuna's family. She should be here soon." Hinata answered.

Anko would have nodded but instead she had to avoid a devastating slash that was directed at her neck. She countered and forced Zabuza away from her. The man retreated and quickly formed a thick mist around him. Anko cursed silently. She knew that he was baiting her. He would wait in the mist to lore her out and then eliminate her. She took in a breath before she slowly made her way towards the edge of the mist.

"Anko! Duck!"

The brown eyed woman complied and lowered herself just in time for a large blast of wind to pass over her head. The wind was strong enough that it dissipated a majority of the mist to reveal Zabuza standing a few feet in front of Anko. Before she could do anything a figure raced past her and clashed blades with Zabuza.

"Zabuza. This is a surprise." Arashi stated grimly.

Zabuza nodded. Nothing needed to be said at that point. They had crossed swords and both knew that they had become enimes.

"Hey! It's rude to interrupt a lady when she's dancing!" Anko shouted as she let loose a barrage of horned serpents.

Arashi ducked out of the way and sliced up some of the snakes. He looked to his left just in time to see Anko come barreling at him.

"What the hell? I'm on your side." Arashi said loudly.

"I don't know who you are and I don't trust you!" Anko replied.

The two separated when Zabuza tried to take them out in one swing. They then turned on him and attacked simultaneously. Zabuza parried the attacks and countered with a strike towards Arashi who blocked the attack, but the Uzumaki had to leap out of the way to avoid Anko's fire ball. It was obvious to Arashi that this had become a three way brawl.

Naruko could only shake her head as she saw Anko attack Arashi and Zabuza. She had not expected the snake user to treat the samurai like an enemy, but then again it was not that hard to believe considering that Anko had no idea who Arashi was. Thankfully it seemed that the older Uzumaki was more than capable of taking care of himself. Naruko turned her gaze over towards Hinata and Shino and gave the two a wave before she made her way towards Kurenai.

The black haired woman was standing near the ice mirrors as she watched the Hunter leap through the air and make cutting motions with the ice blade on his left hand. Kurenai's gaze shifted when she noticed her student walking towards her.

"Naruko." Kurenai said.

"Sensei. What did you do to him?" Naruko gestured to the Hunter.

"I put him in a three level genjutsu. He got past the first level, but still hasn't realized that he's caught in another one."

"Why didn't you kill him?"

Kurenai shrugged. "He didn't try to kill me. When we fought he never aimed for my vitals."

Naruko nodded and took in the man before her. He seemed familiar and when she sniffed the air her eyes went wide.

"Sensei? Can you release him from the genjutsu?"

Kurenai looked at the red head skeptically. "Why?"

"I think I know him."

Kurenai's eyes went wide. "And how do you know him?"

"I met him in the forest a few days ago, though he looked different then. I recognize him from his scent."

"Why didn't you tell me you met the Hunter?" Kurenai asked sternly.

"Because I didn't realize he was the Hunter. I didn't get a good whiff of him the first time."

Kurenai shook her head slightly. "Okay. But that still isn't reason enough for me to let him go."

"He's like me." Naruko looked at the Hunter with sad eyes. "Please? I just want to talk to him."

Kurenai sighed. "Alright then."

The black haired woman canceled her genjutsu and the effect was almost immediate. The Hunter stood still and looked around until his eyes landed on Kurenai and Naruko.

"Haku." Naruko stated as she moved towards the masked man.

The Hunter removed his mask to reveal the pretty face that Naruko had seen when they first met.

"Why aren't I surprised?" Naruko asked with a sad smile.

"Because you're smart and I'm guessing you recognized my scent."

The red head nodded and the two of them just stared at each for a while.

Naruko's gaze shifted to land on Zabuza. "I take it he's your father?"

Haku nodded and looked at Hinata. "Your girlfriend?"

"Yeah. That's Hinata." Naruko said with a smile.

"She's lovely."

"She really is."

Naruko rolled to the side just in time to avoid the strike from Haku's ice blade. The red head smirked as one of her tail reached out and wrapped itself around the Hunter's arm. Haku's eyes went wide when he was lifted off of his feet and thrown a few feet away. Haku crouched low and drew some senbon from his sash.

"Sensei, leave him to me." Naruko said loudly.

Haku was puzzled for a moment until he noticed the kunai that was under his chin that was held by an arm that seemed to come out of thin air. After a second the kunai was removed from his neck and disappeared along with the hand holding it. When Haku turned back to Naruko he saw that there were now five of the red head. All of whom quickly charged him.

Naruko was using her clones to distract Haku so she could circle around behind him. Unfortunately Haku dealt with the clones quickly and turned his sights on Naruko. The red head ducked another slash from the ice blade and countered with her chakra infused nails. The strike caught Haku along his bicep and left five deep gashes there forcing the Hunter to retreat a step. To cover himself he launched several senbon towards Naruko. The red head dodged to her left and then charged at Haku. She aimed low, aiming for his knees, but he saw it coming and hopped into the air. The Hunter landed a few feet away and was ready for another attack, but realized that everyone around him had stopped.

All the combatants were turned towards the entrance of the bridge when a loud laugh echoed through the air. Standing at the entrance of the bridge was a large group of people numbering at least one hundred.

"Very impressive. Your fights were a sight to behold." Said a short round man.

"Gato." Zabuza said just loud enough to be heard in the silence.

"Yes my friend, I've come here to inform you of the termination of your contract."

At his words two men appeared at his side. One was tall and the other short. The both had shaved heads and flak jackets on along with a white mask that had the Kiri symbol on it.

"So you're Gato?" Arashi asked as he stepped towards the crowd.

"Yes I am." Gato said with a chuckle.

"Do you know Orochimaru?" The samurai asked seriously.

The question shocked several people on the bridge for various reasons, Anko most of all. She did not know who the one armed samurai was but her gut was telling her that she should find out. Her thoughts were interrupted when Gato let out a loud cackle.

"Seeing how none of you will be alive for much longer I'll answer your question." Gato said and paused just to enjoy the look of desperation on the samurai's face. "Yes I do know Lord Orochimaru."

That's all it took. Arashi rushed forward bringing his sword to bear. At the same time the small hunter ninja leapt into the air and bounded towards Zabuza while his tall partner gathered up Gato and moved the man to the rear of the mob. Arashi swung his katana and easily cut through the first line of the thugs. The Konoha ninja watched as the samurai tore into the crowd as if he was a one man army. Zabuza had fallen back to engage the short hunter.

"Who is that?" Kureani asked no one in particular.

"He's Arashi Uzumaki, my cousin." Naruko said.

All eyes turned towards the fox girl and Naruko just chuckled sheepishly. Hinata glanced from the red head towards the slaughter that was going on near the entrance and then back at her girlfriend.

"So that's Arashi?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah. That's him." Naruko said with a smile as she reached out and squeezed her girlfriend's hand.

"I could use a little help out here." Arashi called over his shoulder.

The request got everyone moving. Kurenai and Anko moved forward towards the mob to assist the samurai while Naruko, Hinata, and Shino went to stand guard by Tazuna. Haku had already moved to help his father deal with the hunter ninja seeing that the tall one had started to attack Zabuza as well. With their combined skills they quickly took down the smaller hunter and turned to the taller one. The tall hunter saw how quickly his partner was dispatched and turned to run away but Zabuza cut him down from behind.

Naruko, Shino, and Hinata stayed close to Tazuna to protect him from the thugs that managed to slip past Arashi, Kurenai, and Anko. The rough looking men were not at all trained and were easily dispatched. So easily in fact that when Hinata struck down one of the thugs she was astonished to realize that she had killed him. The blue haired teen froze as she realized that she had just made her first kill. She looked at the man, no corpse, and saw that part of his chest had collapsed from her strike. She just stared at the corpse as thoughts raced through her head.

'I didn't think I hit him that hard. I killed him without even realizing it. Why don't I feel bad about it?' Hinata shook her head to clear her mind. Now was not the time.

She quickly refocused on the matter at hand and continued to take care of the men that tried to attack her. It disturbed her how quickly the body count went up. By the time Kurenai and the others had dealt with the main force she had already killed seven people.

Gato was shocked as he watched the ninja and samurai take down the last of his men. He was so sure that he was going to win that he had no idea what to do now that he was faced with defeat. He slowly started to back away, but remembered his trump card. With a small laugh he bit his thumb and preformed several hand signs before he slammed his hand down on the ground. There were many puffs of smoke as hundreds of small rat demons appeared.

"You may have defeated my men but now you have to deal with my demons!" Gato laughed manically.

"Okay." Naruko replied as she finished her own summoning jutsu.

When the smoke cleared about thirty fox kits were revealed. Each one looked to be no more than a few months old and it seemed like they were just waking up from a nap. The display caused a few of the people present to make small noises at how cute the foxes were.

"It's lunch time!" Naruko said loudly.

That woke the kits up. All of the foxes turned to face were Naruko was pointing and saw a feast of rats laid out in front of them. Many happy noises were heard as the foxes began to chase down the rats. It did not take long for a majority of the rats to be caught and those that remained disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Thanks everybody. Be sure to say hi to sensei for me." Naruko said and received many nods before she dismissed the demons.

"Naruko? What was that?" Hinata asked with a small smile on her face.

"Those were the students from the Roasting Swan Daycare. I figured they would enjoy a treat for all the hard work they put into their studies." Naruko replied.

All Hinata could do was shake her head and place a light kiss on her girlfriend's cheek. Naruko was just too cute sometimes. After the display of affection was over the genin turned towards Gato to see him running away. Naruko glanced around and wondered why no one was pursuing him when she saw Zabuza appear in front of him and stab the man in the chest.

"That's for betraying me." The Demon of the Mist said.

Zabuza then swung his massive blade and the small rat man was flung from it. Arashi walked up to Zabuza and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I know why you wanted to kill him, but couldn't you have done it after I questioned him?" Arashi asked.

"Don't worry about it. I'll show you where his hideout is and you can get all of the information you want about his dealings with Orochimaru." Zabuza replied.

"I'm going with you."

Arashi and Zabuza turned and saw Anko approach them. Zabuza just shrugged before he turned and started to walk away. Arashi nodded to Anko and the two started to follow the big man.

"Haku." Zabuza called over his shoulder. "Stay here and catch up with that red headed girlfriend of yours."

Haku went red and gulped when he turned to face Hinata and Naruko. He was surprised that the Hyuga was not giving him a death glare but was instead looking at the Hunter quizzically.

"Um, he was teasing, I think. He's never done that before. But then again I've never had a friend before." Haku said with a slight blush.

"Well now you have two." Hinata said with a smile as she reached out and gave Haku's shoulder a squeeze.

The black haired teen blinked for a few times before he smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Hinata said kindly before she got serious. "So long as you know not to try anything with my girlfriend."

Haku chuckled sheepishly as he nodded. Naruko looked between the two and shook her head before she grabbed her girlfriend's hand and pulled her towards the bridge entrance.

"Come on everyone, let's get out of here." Naruko said as she gave Hinata's hand a squeeze.

A/N: And that ends Chapter 19. I hope you all enjoyed it. Now I have a question for the audience. Who do you think I should pair Haku with?