an:/HAPPY THANKSGIVING, PEOPLE (not really anymore, I was planning on giving this out yesterday, but it was already midnight)! I know. You're all like "why was she writing on Thanksgiving when she should be celebrating?" HAHAHAHA. I know. It's my gift to you :D
Thank you for all the reviews so far. As I've counted, a majority of you readers want Zabuza and Haku to survive! What? No blood and gore? No first deaths? Well, it was kind of expected. But I'll keep my promise and write what you guys want. BUT THE FIGHT WON'T APPEAR IN THIS CHAPTER.I'll give a few more days to get in votes, so next chapter. For now, let's get on with the story already.
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Team 7 and Tazuna had finally reached the village. If you could even call it a village. The buildings were mere shacks with broken windows and unhinged doors. The place smelt of rotten fish with a evanescent smell of blood. There were many people on the streets, beaten up and disease ridden. Most of the villagers were in rags. At the corner of the street intersection, Konohamaru caught sight of some thugs beating up a man. He quickly ran over.
"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing!"
With that Konohamaru quickly dealt with the three thugs. Konohamaru held out his hand to the beaten man but he only scrambled away in fear. Konohamaru frowned. Naruto flashed to his side and put his hand on Konohamaru's shoulder.
"It's best if we leave right now."
"But, these people! We need to do something!-"
"We will, not now."
Konohamaru averted his eyes from Naruto and looked at the ground. Naruto walked back to the group as Konohamaru slowly followed. Sakura put her hand over her mouth to block out the stench, but, it was futile. Sasuke tried to avert his eyes from making contact with the villagers on the sidewalks. Naruto kept his face forward, unfortunately experienced with these kinds of hardships. They were just like the people at Kiri if not better. At least the dead were disposed of properly. Back in the war ridden villages of Kiri, dead bodies were left on the streets. The stench of blood and rotting flesh was more prominent. Bile and other excrements littered the streets along with rats and other fowl rodents. At least this village in Waves was clean. Naruto looked over to his genin. Konohamaru kept his face in a scowl and was clenching his fists.
When the five arrived at Tazuna's house, it was slightly better. The house was towards a better part of the village. The house was whole and inside was furnished. A young woman came out to greet the group.
"Hiya! You all must be the ninjas my father, Tazuna, requested! Welcome to our humble home, I'm Tsunami"
The whole team muttered a small greeting as Naruto returned the enthusiasm in his greeting, complete with a wave and a small smile. The five entered the house and situated themselves in the kitchen. Konohamaru slammed his hand on the table.
"What the hell is wrong with this pithole? These people are suffering!"
"Sarutobi, calm down."
"No. I've had enough! I mean, don't these people have ninjas to protect them from thugs? Where are all the law enforcements? Why is this place so devastated?"
Tazuna looked up solemnly.
"We don't have ninja. Ever since our neighboring Uzushiogakure was destroyed, we never had any ninjas, leaving this place open for all the thugs to come in, and come in they did. This man, Gato, started to take over this place, hiring the thugs to do his deeds in promise of large sums of money."
Naruto's eyes narrowed. Konohamaru's eyes widened in recognition, as well.
"Gato? No way! He's like one of the richest men in the land! I saw it in a magazine back at Konoha"
"The very same. He cut off our water trade routes by seizing it with his thugs. Without our oversea trades, our economy collapsed. Most of the money are taken by Gato's thugs who took all the jobs and the food. Our hospital, if it even is one, consists of midwives and local healers. The thugs beat up a lot of people so the hospital rarely sees patients unless its really an emergency. The thugs like to rob us, beat us up for no reason. If your family has women, hide them. These men are ruthless. But, with this new bridge I'm building, we won't need our trade routes. That's why Gato has been trying to take me out. I'm the reason why he is going to lose a lot of profit. Most of my builders are not paid, but it doesn't matter. They do it for free because they know the benefits that will come to them if this bridge is finished. They were all traders before, their businesses destroyed by Gato."
"Urg, this Gato man. I really don't like him. Naruto-sensei, we gotta do something about this!"
"I agree. However, we need to take this slow and take in all factors into consideration."
The genin looked up to Naruto as he continued.
"I'll be going solo around the village to see what we can do. Meanwhile, I'll leave a clone to train you three and guard the builders during their working hours."
"What will you be doing, Naruto-sensei?"
Naruto's eyes narrowed at Sakura.
"Things only a jounin can do."
Naruto was interrupted by a small voice behind him.
"Quit tryna act all tough! Gato is gonna kill you an' you can't do anything 'bout it! You act all tough but you can't do much can you! I bet you've never been through anything as tough as we're going through"
Naruto turned around to see a small boy standing at the frame of the door. Naruto's face distorted into anger, his chilling eyes freezing the child.
"Hey, kid. You want to know about tough? I'll tell you about tough. Go see Kiri-"
"Naruto-san, please excuse Inari. He's a bit brash."
Tsunami forcefully guided Inari from the room. But it didn't stop Inari from saying more.
"I-I bet Kiri is better off considering they actually have ninjas!"
Naruto slammed his hand down on the table and shot up from his seat. His eyes flashed with fury. Tazuna, a bit scared at the display of ki Naruto unleashed, attempted to calm him.
"P-Please, Naruto-san. Excuse the rudeness of my grandson. He has never seen Kiri before. He is speaking from inexperience, which I presume you don't have..."
Naruto flinched, collecting himself and toning down the ki. He sat down and took deep breaths.
"My apologies, Tazuna-san. But you are correct. I am not inexperienced with the horrors of Kiri. I will sadly inform you that they were and still are in a worse state than here."
The three genin looked in interest as their enigmatic sensei was about to reveal something. Naruto continued.
"Kiri was in a civil war only a few years back. I was on a training trip abroad and ran into a village not too different from yours. Being only ten years old, ignorant of the meaning of war, I openly stated I would help the official Kiri win against the rebels. I reacted just like Konohamaru did. But my mentor wouldn't have any of it, considering that if Konoha had interfered, political issues would rise from it. This is where my moniker began. I started posing as the god, Inari. Heh, what irony that your boy was named the same. Either way, I wore a mask to hide my association with Konohagakure."
"So Shinobi no Inariwas your name on the battlefield?" Tazuna questioned.
"Correct. My red bib was known to everyone, and my mask struck fear to every opponent, even those on my side. The jingling of my sword reminded them of the temples of Inari. My unbelievable speed was godlike to them. My fox-influenced jutsu was reknown in Kiri. They started calling me the Inari god of Shinobi. I guess it just kinda stuck with me."
"Wow, sensei! You were really cool! Didn't Zabuza say something about a flee on sight order?"
"Heh, yeah something like that. But I'm not as cool as you think. The war. It was mentally scarring. The mental trauma that you'd think you would be immune to was inevitable. I started having nightmares of all the men I slew, the blood I drew, the pleas of help they cried. War isn't as fun as you think. Watching your friends get slashed down in front of you, is anything but cool. Now as for your grandson, Inari. I'm afraid that he has yet to experience true horror. The villages were littered with dead bodies to rot. At least Gato had the decency to clean out the streets."
Sakura walked over to Naruto and hugged him. Naruto was least to say shocked.
"I-it must have been hard, Sensei."
Naruto's eyes softened. Sakura's tears were leaking onto Naruto's shirt.
"It's fine, Sakura. Thank you."
Konohamaru's eyes narrowed in anger as he focused on a spot on the table.
"Those bastards. These people. They're suffering for the gain of Gato. GATO HAS NO DECENCY! We-we gotta do something about it!"
Sasuke's eyes flinched up at Konohamaru's burst. Sakura released her hug and looked at Konohamaru, tears still spilling from her eyes. Naruto looked up as well.
"No shit, Konohamaru. We're obviously gonna do something about it. It's our will of the fire. It may not be in the mission description-"
Naruto looked at Tazuna who winced a little.
"-but we're Konoha's very best genin team. We're gonna change this town. Let's prove this Inari-kid that Konoha's ninja are not to be trifled with."
"Osu!"
"Alright, off to bed. We gotta wake up early tomorrow so I can train you three. Tazuna, thank you for your hospitality."
The three genin got up and went to their designated rooms, led by Tsunami. Naruto got up and head towards the door. Tazuna looked up and asked.
"And where are you going, Naruto-san?"
"Like I said, Jounin stuff."
"...Such as?"
"Extermination, maybe even some Recon"
Tazuna's eyes narrowed questioningly. Naruto shrugged and exited the building.
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Sakura opened her eyes in the morning. She stretched and looked around her room. Oh wait, she was not in her room, she was on a mission. She remember what happened the day before and remembered hugging Naruto. She squealed and held her face in self embarrassment.
"I hugged him!"
She rolled around on the bed until she fell to the floor which snapped her out of the love trance. She got up and got ready for the day.
Next door, Konohamaru and Sasuke were forcefully shoved off their beds thanks to two Narutos.
"Get the hell up, twerps"
Sasuke and Konohamaru groaned as Naruto crossed his arms and glared at the two boys, sprawled out on the floor.
"That's it..."
Suiton- Suiryuudan no jutsu!
Two miniature water dragons splashed onto the faces of the two boys who both jolted up, rubbing the water off their face.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR, NARUTO-YARO!"
The two boys yelled as Naruto made a beeline to the kitchen, giggling with glee like a little girl.
Breakfast was chaotic as Sasuke and Konohamaru tried getting revenge on their sensei, only to be tied up to their chair. Sakura was trying to act as mediator between the three boys. Tsunami was chuckling at the four teenage ninjas. Tazuna was grumbling as he read the newspaper. Sakura stopped short when she noticed something on Naruto's leg.
"Naruto-sensei, what happened to your leg- OH MY KAMI! It's bleeding! We gotta heal it!"
Naruto looked down to see his leg. It had a six inch gash going diagonal from his thigh. Oh right, I got that from last night. Konohamaru interrupted his thoughts.
"Naruto-sensei? How did you get that wound? I'm sure you didn't get it from Zabuza. It wasn't there yesterday..."
Naruto awkwardly shifted away, looking to the side.
"I was just...doing stuff..." More like taking out thugs and low rank nukenin. Maybe a bit more.
Sakura got up from her seat and approached the retreating Naruto.
"Doesn't matter. Now I may not be the best medic nin right now, but I picked up a few tricks from my Mom. I can give you first aid before it infects."
"N-now now Sakura-chan. That's not necessary, I'm sure the fox-" Crap. Naruto cut short before he revealed anything about the Kyuubi.
"Fox?"
"Uh- I heal quickly...Uzumaki blood?"
Tazuna's eyes widened.
"Uzumaki, you say?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Are you part of the Uzumaki clan? Are there survivors?"
"Yeah, me and my mom, Uzumaki Kushina"
"Kushina-chan! Ah, the heiress?"
"Whoa, my mom's an heiress?"
Konohamaru interrupted the conversation.
"Don't change the topic! The real question is, how the hell did you get a wound like that? It wasn't there before!"
"Hn"
"Guys, it's only a flesh wound...I'm sure I got it from, I don't know, a stray branch."
"Hn, Naruto. Branches don't cut pants and flesh that cleanly. It looks like a wound from a Kunai. What exactly were you doing last night?"
Tazuna whispered loud enough so the whole table could hear.
"Busted~"
Naruto flinched and glared at Tazuna while the other three genin looked at Naruto with a scowl.
"What the hell were you up to, Naruto-sensei?"
"Yeah, Naruto-yaro! What were you up to?"
"Hn"
"W-well, I-Wait. Why the hell am I being pushed around by you three. I don't need to respond to you! That's it, end of discussion. Get ready for training!"
Naruto flashed away. The three genin yelled.
"COWARD!"
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Thanks to the antics of the three genin earlier, Naruto had pushed their training to the limit (not as much as back home since they were on a mission, still hard though). Konohamaru kept grumbling. By the time they reached the bridge for guard duty, Naruto had gathered the genin into a circle.
"Team 7, I have some pretty important news that I need you all to take very seriously and calmly."
The three genin gulped.
"I believe that Momochi Zabuza...is still alive."
Konohamaru screamed.
"WHAT?"
Naruto clamped his hand over Konohamaru's mouth to shut him up.
"I told you to take it calmly! Not shout out to the world! Quiet! Now where was I-"
"Hn. But how did he survive? Wasn't there a hunter nin?"
"That's what the enemy wanted us to think. The hunter nin was probably on Zabuza's side."
Sakura continued.
"Naruto-sensei brings up a good point. Most hunter nin carry larger weapons that inflict more damage to ensure that the nukenin is dead and in a sense, requires less skill. This specific hunter nin used senbons. Senbons require lots of accuracy and probably immense skill and if the accuracy isn't good, well senbons don't have much damage. The body has lots of pressure points too-"
"-points around the neck that can inflict a near death state. And that, my little genin, is how the fake hunter nin fooled us into thinking he killed Zabuza. And if that doesn't convince you, it is mandatory procedure that the body of a nukenin be removed on the spot. This hunter nin grabbed the body and left, probably to rescue the damn guy."
At this point, Sakura was innerly squealing. We're finishing each other's sentences!The other two genin were shocked. The nukenin had an accomplice from the start! Naruto coughed a bit for their attention and continued.
"That being said, we gotta train harder. The accomplice seemed really skilled and around our age."
"What! Another prodigy? I thought you'd be the only one!"
"Quiet Konohamaru. Remember, with teamwork, you can beat the hardest opponents. I'll be busy fighting Zabuza so you guys gotta work together. Now, I've already sent a messenger hawk to the Hokage with the change of plans. Backup won't be happening because last night I was busy taking them out."
"So that's what you were doing! Damn, Naruto-yaro, you coulda just told us."
"Anyways, I went in for a bit of recon, which ended up into Interrogation and, well, one thing led to another and the whole operation turned out to be an assassination in a massacre."
The genin's mouths dropped at the blond who just shrugged off a mass killing like it was nothing.
Sasuke was puzzled.
"By assassination, do you mean you killed Gato already?"
"Pretty much, and his thugs too."
"Then doesn't that mean Zabuza won't kill us?"
"No. Since he's not getting his pay, he'll need to get some compensation for his work. My bounty will be more than enough for him."
"Your bounty?"
"18 million ryos"
"WHAT!? THAT'S FRIGGIN' A LOT!"
"Shut it, Ren- I mean, Konohamaru."
"Hn, then what are we gonna do about it?"
"Well, sadly I got you guys into this considering it's my head he's after. But this will be good training, no? A little bit of fighting on the side, showing off your teamwork in a real fight. I think this will be great for you little genin."
"But Naruto-sensei, wouldn't a hunter nin be too much?"
"I understand the concept seems frightening, but I believe you guys can do it. Isn't it the job of the sensei to believe in their students? How about this, you guys beat this little hunter nin and I'll treat you to something back at Konoha"
"OSU!"
"Let's finish guarding this bridge. If my calculations are correct, Zabuza should have a week to recover. Let's mosey"
(an:/ whoa! is that a FFVII reference? I couldn't see it from a mile away :|)
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The rest of the week went by like a breeze. There were no thugs to take care of considering Naruto had practically taken them all out. Naruto had given each of his genin a scroll to learn a new jutsu. Sakura learned Douton- Doryuuheki. Though it was an elemental jutsu, Naruto deemed Sakura able with her chakra control. Sasuke learned Raiton- Kaminari Suzume because his katon jutsu arsenal was suffice thanks to his Uchiha upbringing. Konohamaru learned Katon- Goukakyuu no jutsu. Though less powerful than Uchiha, Konohamaru was gifted with a few talents from the Sandaime Hokage. Konohamaru was able to shoot out multiple fireballs consecutively, equal size, equal speed. This was a feat that the Sandaime was well known for. This genin team was exceptional with excellent skill.
Naruto noticed Sakura's interest in medical jutsu so he taught her the very basic chakra healing for minor cuts and bruises. With her excellent control she was able to take the skill even further and could do more complex injuries. How could she do this? Well somehow, something clouded Naruto's judgement and so, impulsively, he volunteered himself as her practice dummy. Ridiculously, he self inflicted wounds on himself and asked Sakura to heal him. Pretty stupid and in a sense, a bit psychotic since he's self harming, but he wanted to see if Sakura could improve more. Anything for his students to improve, in this case, Sakura.
Naruto sparred with the three genin to improve their teamwork. Uchiha was getting better at working with the other two. Konohamaru, though still brash as ever, was able to make actual logical decisions during a fight. Sakura was able to make more complex strategies on the fly, thanks to personal lessons given by Naruto, which Sasuke dropped by and listened once in awhile (not everyday the prodigy of konoha gives lessons on strategy, much more in depth than the ones at academy).
Today was the final day. It has been a week and Naruto was almost sure that Zabuza would attack the minute he could move. His judgement was rarely wrong but he tried not to remind the genin that much. Last thing he wanted was to give them cold feet. But he couldn't have them freezing up or making rash decisions like he and Rei did on their c-rank fight. They were having their breakfast after a (Forceful, thanks to Naruto's insistence) good night's sleep.
"Team 7. Today is the day."
"What do you mean, Naruto-yaro?"
"Zabuza will probably attack the bridge today."
"What? Why didn't you tell us this earlier, Naruto-sensei! We could have trained more!"
"I believe I have trained you three to the best of my ability in one week. And with your healing abilities, Sakura, you're team has nothing to fear."
"We're up against a hunter nin!"
"He's probably not even a real one since he's a rogue like Zabuza."
"Sure, but he seemed to be pretty skilled!"
"I believe in you guys."
"See, Sakura-chan! Naruto-yaro believes in us! We can beat him and bring peace to this place. Naruto's massive amount of clones got a majority of the bridge done. Just this one fight and a few more days to complete the bridge and this mission is over! We'll be heroes!"
"Quit lying to yourselves!"
Team 7 looked to the door to see the intruding voice. It was Inari again. Damn that little depressed brat.Inari started again.
"You can't beat Gato! I know you can't! Heroes don't exist. Not even the heroes here could save us. What makes you think you can do the same? You'll probably die just like the rest of them."
"Now listen here kid-"
Inari left before Naruto could even finish his sentence. Tazuna entered the room this time and sat down.
"Don't hate on the ignorance of the kid. He just had a bit of a rough spot. His idol, this man named Kaiza, tried to be a hero to these people. Gato killed him in front of poor Inari and the rest of the civilians."
Sakura looked down.
"That's sad, he must of had it rough."
The silence of melancholy was cut short when Naruto spoke up.
"Well he's just being a little wimp. Running away from reality. He thinks he got it rough but other's have gone through worse. He's just gotta suck it up. His little depressing attitude needs to end as well."
Naruto got up and left the kitchen. Naruto went outside to find Inari on the roof, looking towards the sea. Naruto jumped up to the roof and sat next to Inari. Naruto tried to look at Inari's story in a sympathetic way. Though a bit difficult to think that way, Naruto tried to be softer on the civilian.
"Look, Inari. I know having someone close to you die is a sad thing-"
"You don't know anything! What do you know about death! You're just a kid no older than me by 3 years! How would you know-"
Naruto's eyes turned ice cold again as his face went from empathetic to cold.
"I've been to war. I've seen countless people die in front of me, by my hand or by the hands of my enemy. My friends that I made bonds with during this war, were all killed. I know what it feels like to have people you cherish, die in front of you."
Inari started to tear up, but Naruto continued in a softer tone.
"It's tough to have nightmares every night, replaying the deaths of friends. But I told myself, would they have wanted to see me like this? Would they have wanted me to give up just because they couldn't continue?"
Naruto remembered some of the people he knew in the war. There was this boy, Umaru. Umaru was only a bit older than Naruto by 4 years. He was 14 at the time. Umaru had made friends with the Shinobi no Inari, offering him food during breaks, giving supplies. Umaru had the dream to become the Mizukage. Naruto had joked that he wanted to see him as Mizukage when he was Hokage. They were friends on the battlefield, showing teamwork that could take out a huge chunk of platoons in the enemy's forces. But on a certain mission, Umaru sacrificed his life for the life of the rest of the platoon. He went as bait and blew himself up and the enemy so that the rest of the platoon could escape. Naruto had nightmares of Umaru's last smile and last words. I'll see you as a Kage someday, Namikaze Naruto. Meet me there!
"My friend died, telling me his last few words before dying. I almost gave up on my dream when he died. I almost lost sight of what I was fighting for. But my friend wanted me to continue. I figured, he wouldn't want me to give on my dream. He would've wanted me to complete it. He died a hero, and his legacy was burned as a long living memory, etched into each of our minds as we fought the remaining enemy. I continued for him, and I moved on in memory of him."
Inari was sobbing and dove into Naruto's chest cried.
"H-he was my hero! He wasn't suppose to die! Kaiza wasn't suppose to die!"
Naruto smiled softly.
"I know, Inari. I know. They all weren't suppose to die."
Naruto looked up to the morning sky as he patted Inari on the back.
"That's why you gotta fight for their memory. Make sure that their beliefs didn't follow them to the grave. Your name is Inari. My name is Shinobi no Inari. You gotta live up to it if you're named after a god. Inari is awesome!"
Inari sniffed a bit and looked up as he saw Naruto smile a megawatt smile.
"Be brave, Inari! Don't forget what Kaiza lived for!"
"H-Hn!"
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Naruto had convinced Tazuna and all the builders to stay home today because of Zabuza. Naruto's team got ready at the bridge, looking sharp and attentive. The bridge started to get a bit foggy and Naruto got into a stance.
"Here they come"
Naruto yanked out his sword just in time as the huge executioner's blade swung full force at his face. Naruto deflected the sword and bounced back.
"Sharp as ever, Shinobi no Inari"
"Hello to you too, Zabuza-san"
"Let's make this fight interesting shall we?"
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an:/ I KNOW! DON'T KILL ME! I'm sorry I didn't include the fight! It's just gonna take a while considering not only do I want this fight really detailed and badass but I also have "peaceful mornings" to rewrite (which is being rewritten slowly but surely). I just needed to get the "waiting week" over with so we could get to the fight all in one chapter. The poll is still on so if you want Zabuza and Haku to live or not, please tell me! The question and options are in the previous chapter. Any jutsus, by the way, either have appeared earlier in the story and are recurring, or appear in the series as official jutsu. The new jutsu will appear next chapter in the totally badass fight. So wait patiently for it! By the way, didja notice the subtle narusaku thats starting to build up? May not be obvious now, but it's the little things that count. Alrighty then, see ya tomorrow and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and if you don't live in America, then I hope you had a wonderful day!