Chapter two: a new team, a kekegenkai? And a secret coming to the surface!
Haren looked up from washing dishes, the sun shone bright on the hot summer day. She turned off the water and wiped her soapy hands on her apron.
Haren put her hand on her chin and watched a messenger hawk fly off into the distance. A few chunnin hopped along the rooftops nearby. It had been about a year since she had graduated the academy, yet she was always stuck at home while Naruto and Sasuke went off doing cool missions, she pouted everyone besides her and Chibi was gone nowadays...She saw Chibi on her way to the Hyuga estate. She waved ecstatically, Chibi noticed and waved back, hopping over to her window,
"Hey Haren whats up?"
Haren went inside and came back with a piece of paper,
"My birthday is next week! Ill be turning twelve!"
"I would love to come to the party!" Chibi said reading the invitation.
they chatted for a few more minutes but then Chibi ran off when Haren threatened to dump dishwater on her. Haren would never actually do that of course, but the fake threat had made Chibi laugh. Haren had noticed since she met them both of the Uchiha's true personalities were coming out. Sasuke was very sweet and considerate towards everyone, besides Sakura and Ino, and even then he tried. Kaori though she had been unable to approach much less befriend.
She enjoyed the new Sasuke but, whenever she looked into his eyes she could still see the little spec that was Itachi. He still desperately wanted to kill him... and Haren knew that no matter how sweet Sasuke acted his brother would always make him cold and empty on the inside. Even towards herself, he would try extra hard to be sweet around her, but his inside pain seemed to sharpen when she was near. Most of the time when they were alone she found herself comforting him. Then there was Chibi, she used to be so quiet but now, she was very loud and friendly towards everyone. She had made other friends besides Haren, one of her best friends was Hinata. The Uchiha children had bloomed like lovely for-get-me-not flowers. Now the only outcasts in the village were the Uzumaki's.
Haren watched the street below and followed a strange head of red hair until it disappeared. How odd, there weren't many red heads in the village besides Haren herself. But then again a lot of people from all over had been arriving lately for the chunnin exams. Even though they were at least a month away, she guessed some just wanted to sight see.
Again looking at the cloudless sky Haren suddenly thought of something. She rushed over to the calender, oh...
Tomorrow was supposed to be the day that Naruto and Sasuke got home from the Land of Waves. Sasuke...
the way he had looked at her, how kind he was to her, and it wasn't a fake kindness either. But he probably just thought of her as he thought of Chibi.
She had found out that Chibi had a huge crush on Naruto, they would make a good couple if Naruto stopped being dense for two seconds.
Haren pulled on her white coat and grabbed her shopping basket.
Locking the door behind her she walked out of the apartment complex. Humming a little tune Chi Sensei had taught her. Chi Sensei had been training Haren for a year now about jutsu. Haren had the transformation jutsu perfected, and she was a master at tai jutsu. But her gen jutsu skills weren't that shabby at all. Then they had found out something really important about Haren along the way.
She rounded the corner and was blinded momentarily by the light of the sun directly hitting her,
"Hello..." Haren would recognize that voice anywhere!
Opening her eyes slowly she saw Sasuke and Naruto, with Sakura trailing behind. They weren't supposed to be back till the next day! She felt like throwing her arms around the two boys. She felt like punching the whiny pink haired witch. They all had packs on so they apparently had just gotten back,
"Oh my gosh I cant believe you guys are-" Haren was cut off,
"Saaaaasssuke Kun!" Sakura whined, " My back hurts can we go put down these heavy bags?" both Naruto and Sasuke gritted their teeth. Haren felt really sorry that they had to spend almost two weeks with her,
"Naruto please escort Sakura home." Sasuke said never taking his eyes off Haren,
"Sasuke kun! I want to stay with you!" Sakura whined hugging his arm as the obedient Naruto tried to pry her off.
A vein pulsed in Sasuke's temple, and he closed his eyes, Haren could see the old Sasuke trying to get out.
" I'll take you home Sakura, but after that leave me alone!" Sasuke said reluctantly. Haren glared at the pink haired girl, taking away Sasuke before she even got a chance to say hello.... it made her very angry for some reason, something deep inside stirred.
Haren's eyes opened wide as she saw the blue cloudless sky in her mind cloud over. And she had the urge to scream. No! Not here, not in front of him! She thought desperately. Its okay its not that bad just calm down...
Sakura squealed with joy.
All of them except Haren felt that the air got noticeably colder.
"Hey what happened it was nice and warm but now I'm chilly." Naruto said glancing at Sasuke. Sasuke was staring at Haren who was shuddering and grinding her teeth. His eyes had the sharingan activated,he saw her chakra spike.
Haren sighed her breath visible. Naruto was watching her too, so it was silent for a moment.
"Ignore it, its nothing." She looked up pain visible on her face, the air seemed to warm some.
Sakura took Haren's advice and ignored it linking arms with Sasuke,
" Hey Sasuke want to go out to dinner with me?"
The temperature dropped quickly and the genin could all see there breath.
Haren cursed under her breath,
" Haren whats wrong with you?" Sakura said snobbishly, tightening her hold on Sasuke's arm.
" Please don't provoke me..." Haren said through clenched teeth glaring at the pink haired girl. She made a snorting sound, and the temperature dropped even more, Haren looked down, and grabbed her side, there was a low growl in her mind.
Kill her, you want to, I can help you, you hate her kill her! The growl seemed to say.
" What could a pathetic little drop out like you do! You graduated from the academy, but you never even got put on a team!" Sakura seemed completely unaware of the rapidly decreasing temperature. The growl became deafening Haren gasped and covered her ears, could no one else hear it??? Sasuke was to riveted watching Haren to even defend her. He saw her pupils getting smaller and smaller, as if a bright light was shinning in her panicked eyes.
Sasuke's sharingan saw another massive spike, he knew that she was losing control of something, he was frozen with fear as he saw the outline of a gigantic dragon form behind her.
Naruto was looking back and forth between Sasuke and Haren, not being able to decide what to do.
" Your pathetic, you don't even deserve to be called a ninja." Sakura said reaching up and brushing her long hair out of her eyes.
that did it, an ominous wind whipped up around the genin, the growl turned to a roar, Haren's vision blurred she saw the heat pulsating in all the living things around her, Her eyes glowed blue, Sasuke saw the outline more clearly, and the wind gave sound to the dragon's previously mute roar.
What the hell was that thing? He thought frozen.
"You know who's really freaking pathetic Sakura?" Haren said her voice trembling with anger,
"PEOPLE LIKE YOU-!" Haren had sprung forward her eyes blank with fury. The wind reached its peak, sending bits of rock and dust swirling around, a high pitched roar could be heard.
but then suddenly everything stopped.
It had happened so quick not even Sasuke could trace the movements.
Sakura had been ripped away from him and she lay a few yards away moaning. Haren on the other hand lay under a huge scroll, with three jonnin surrounding her, all had Kunai at her throat.
Then there was one elderly lady standing off to the side a little bit,
"Haren I warned you not to get angry sweetie," she sighed and bending down she patted the writhing girl on the cheek,
" You young people never listen do you?" Haren growled savagely In response her blue eyes glowing with hatred for Sakura.
"What the hell is going on?!" Sasuke yelled rushing over the the woman.
She looked him up and down sceptically,
" you wouldn't happen to be Sasuke would you," when he nodded she laughed,
" Hmm... how disappointing, Haren said you always knew what to do in a panic situation, but when she was starting to lose control of her kekegenkai you just stood there now didn't you?"
Sasuke's eyes widened,
" Haren has a kekegenkai?"
the woman nodded,
" Yes its a wonderful one to... but why don't you come to my house with Haren and myself, we can discuss matters over a cup of tea."
" I'll come too!" Naruto came to stand beside Sasuke. Chi narrowed her eyes, this Sasuke looked observant, she would have to be very careful what she said around him, wouldn't want him finding out to much...
" I'm Chi Sensei. Haren is my apprentice, I am one of the only ninja in Konoha who knows how to use ice techniques, they are quite tricky unless your born with one."
Haren, Sasuke, and Naruto all sat on a tatami mat in front of a large cushioned chair. Chi sipped her tea idly and looked at the young genin, Haren in particular. Haren sat there not saying a word, knowing that Chi Sensei was experienced in telling the cover up story.
"Haren's kekegenkai is very peculiar, I have seen one like it only once. And that was in a ninja from the land of waves." Chi sipped her tea and then her eyes narrowed,
" her name was Kushina Uzumaki..." Haren and Naruto both tensed and sat up a little straighter.
" the technique is really quite extraordinary. The user gathering moisture from the air and then using wind to freeze it turning it into the perfect disposable weapon. Their fighting style is based on the beast within them, for example Kushina's was a Jaguar, so she fought very smoothly yet powerfully. And Haren's..." she paused, and all three genin leaned forward anxiously,
" The Ice Dragon. So she fights with utter abandon and disregard for her own safety. Its very rare to get the dragon, its quite ferocious, and positively lethal in battle. Had she not been stopped with that chakra suppressant scroll... Haren probably would have killed that girl." Naruto tensed and Sasuke looked down in shame. Haren was brooding inside, ugg what were they thinking, Sasuke and Naruto weren't idiots they would never believe this... she got a shock when the two started talking in more detail with her Sensei. Haren looked down in shame, she guessed she could use this as a cover up for now...
" Alright Haren come at me with all you've got!" yelled Rock Lee, lately because everyone else was training super hard for the chunnin exams Haren had been training with Lee.
She was completely unaware that almost every day many people came to observe her. Today it was Chi Sensei with Kakashi and the rest of team seven. Kakashi watched in awe as if out of no where ice walls formed all around Haren. Instead of running at him which she was given no time to do, Haren went on the defensive. Lee ran forward his shape a blur he dodged the first ice wall, but with a flick of her wrist Haren made another one slam into him in mid jump,
"Oh! Lee! I'm sorry that looked like it hurt-" she blinked as Lee was no longer laying in the grass. Haren felt arms wrap around her waist from behind, and a voice whisper in her ear,
" Treat me like a real enemy, if you pause in protecting yourself for even a moment like you did just then, you would be dead right now." Lee stroked her hair,
" And no one would want that now would they lovely one?" Haren totally oblivious to Lee's true feelings thought that he was just giving her a compliment. She shrugged out of his embrace and the ice walls turned to puddles.
" Lee, as thanks for training with me again would you like to get some lunch?"
Naruto and Kakashi had to stifle a kicking Sasuke, he had almost completely blown their cover by jumping out of the bushes. His face was red with anger, and he looked like he would kill Lee given the chance.
Kakashi and Naruto made shadow clones to keep Sasuke restrained as they went back to the edge of the bush with Chi.
They watched Lee and Haren walk off the field and once they were out of sight they let Sasuke go, he started screaming about how the freak with the huge eye brows was dead when he caught up. With that he ran after them.
Naruto and Kakashi sighed Chi Sensei just laughed like a school girl. Naruto and Kakashi jumped up to catch a yelling Sasuke.
" So Haren are you going to be taking the chunnin exams?" Lee asked between spoonfuls of egg drop soup.
" um probably not seeing as I am not on a team..."
Rock looked sympathetic,
" but your such a talented kounoichi! I cant believe they wont let you take it just because you don't have a team!"
Haren shrugged,
"Well my kekegenkai was very unstable when teams were selected so I really didn't have a choice, and now that every one is on a team what can I do?" Rock shrugged and the two went back to eating, they heard a shuffling behind them, and they turned to see a boy who stumbled into the shop before talking to them he called someone else. Once he caught his breath he yelled,
"ill be on a team with you!" He had auburn hair sticking out in all directions in disorderly spikes. He had lavender eyes with no pupils a pale face with thin lips and a tiny nose.
"Haren we have been looking all over for you! We want to form a team!" Someone else who was equally out of breath said coming up behind the boy.
it was Chibi, she hadn't been put on a team either because her sharingan had not awakened yet and she needed special training, but apparently now she was fine.
"This is Jannu, he is Hinata's cousin. He can use the byakugan and he's a very talented medical nin. I met him when I was at Hinata's house, he just came to Konoha he was born in a very far away land, so he didn't get put on a team either!" she said panting in between her hurried sentences. Haren and Rock Lee were to shocked to say anything. Chibi continued in a rush, "We have a really good Sensei in mind to, he is a jonnin that just transferred here from the land of waves!"
From behind the curtain in the front of the shop, an incredibly tall tan man walked up. He had deep brown eyes, with plain brown spiky hair. He wore the hidden leaf vest and carried a gigantic sword on his back. He didn't look out of breath at all, in fact he didn't even look winded. He smiled revealing sharpened teeth,
"the name is Zabuza Momochi, pleased to meet you. Ive been to hell and back and I'm willing to teach you youngsters all that I know."
Haren sensed strength seeping from every fiber of this guys being, but his eyes were so gentle... he noticed her staring and his mouth turned up into a smile,
" Your really cute ya know, whats your name?"
Haren bowed in thanks for the compliment,
" My name is Haren Uzumaki, pleased to meet you Zabuza Sensei! I would be honored to be on a team with all of you!"
"Good because we already did all the paperwork for it, we are a team whether you like it or not." Said the tall Hyuga crossing his arms and looking into the distance.
Zabuza's eyes widened, and he bent down to look her in the eye, Lee flinched as the jonnin came extremely close.
"Are you by any chance related to Naruto Uzumaki?"
Haren smiled,
"He's my big brother!He should be coming by for lunch any-"
"WHAT THE HELL!?!?!?" Naruto had just come into the shop and he was pointing at Zabuza with a genuinely shocked look on his face.
Haren sighed,
"there he is."
Zabuza turned, and smiling he said casually,
"Hey Naruto, how ya been?"
Naruto,Sasuke,and Kakashi all stood pointing mouths gaping at Zabuza.
"Your alive?!" they shouted.
Zabuza laughed forcefully and scratched the back of his head,
"do you idiots know how friggin hard it is to dig yourself out of a grave when your severely injured and pretty much starving?!" a vein pulsed in Zabuza's forehead,
"Didn't you have any medical nin look at me before you buried me?!" he said still smiling but anger was plain on his scarred face.
Team seven was speechless.
"but I decided after a few weeks of wandering around mourning Haku that I needed to turn my life around. So I went under a fake name in order to get over here then I talked with your Hokage, he was sympathetic, and considering my power level he allowed me to become a jonnin. Then," Zabuza gathered Haren, Chibi, and Jannu into a big hug, "i got assigned to be the captain of team 18!"
Naruto had already fainted, Sasuke looked like he was close to fainting, and Kakashi... he was dead looking he stood completely still and didn't even breath. This was the man he had almost impaled with chidori. This was the man that DID get impaled by at least twenty swords and spears. This was the man whom he had pronounced dead. This was the man he had buried himself. He was dead! He had no pulse! What was this guy!!?
Rock Lee turned to Haren and said sadly,
" I guess we wont be training together anymore huh?"
Haren was to excited but it hadn't quite sunk in yet. She was going to be on a team, have a Sensei, train with everyone, go on missions....
Haren looked down sighing but then seemed to brighten,
" well no we wont be training together, but every day we can have lunch together if that would make you feel better Lee."
Rock Lee brightened, then he got up, and pumping his fists with flames in his eyes he yelled,
" I will do 500 laps around the village so I will one day maybe be worthy of your kindness Haren! Farewell until tomorrow!" with that the youth crazy genin ran off with a trail of smoke behind him.
Sasuke looked like he was going to be sick, then Zabuza spoke up,
"Alright new members of squad 18, lets go see what you can do!"
Zabuza stood at the ready with no weapons, Chibi had started crying when he jokingly said he would use his sword in the mock battle.
"Alright first lets go with Chibi first." Zabuza said pointing to the tiny Uchiha. He had brought them to the practice field as the sun was setting because he said he was impatient and he wanted to document the teams current power levels.
Chibi stepped forward her eyes slipping into a one flame sharingan.
Her face was stony and she eased into a fighting stance her sharingan assessing all the elements of her atmosphere, she could see every twitch that Zabuza made.
"OK Chibi lets go! Come at me!" Chibi rushed forward in a black streak across the battle field. As she pounced on Zabuza, he flicked her away like a troublesome fly. She then twirled around midair and landed a solid kick to Zabuza's gut. He didn't even flinch. Chibi's eyes widened,
"You've got real good speed and flexibility, but your power level is just plain pathetic."
he reached out and snatched her leg that was still in the air and said,
"get stronger or this will keep happening to you."
he swung her around in the air and then threw her like a rag doll into the river. She screamed then hit the water with a slap that made Haren and Jannu cringe.
"Alright, one down, next is Jannu."
the Hyuga nodded solemnly and walked forward. Clapping his hands together he yelled,
"Byakugan!"
veins pulsed around the boy's eyes and he said,
"eight X trigram! 32 palms!" and rushed forward trying to jab Zabuza all over his midsection, the jonnin either parried the blow or knocked Jannu off his feet, the boy tried many tricks to find an opening, but the larger man would always catch him.
Finally Zabuza caught the young boy's arm and flung him into the river as well. Chibi had just climbed out and was starting to dry off when he landed and she was soaked again by the big splash he made.
"OK little red head! Your up, lets see what you can do!"
Haren nodded.
"Shadow clone jutsu!" Haren shouted,
Another Haren appeared and jumped off into the trees,
'there now I don't have to worry about losing control of the demon while I fight if someone is there to keep me sane!'
Zabuza eyed the direction where the clone went warily, figuring she would try and use a surprise attack later.
Haren clapped her hands together and let her chakra completely lose, the dragon roared in triumph of being finally let free. It looked at the opposing jonnin through Haren's eyes. And growled sensing that he meant to cause harm to his vessel.
Haren went unconscious, her bodies head hung for a moment. Zabuza tilted his head to the side, what was she planning?
Then he heard it, a growl that most certainly did not belong to the tiny gennin, Haren looked up her eyes were completely blue with slitted pupils in the middle. Zabuza reeled, this was not on her profile.
Blue chakra swirled around her and ice started covering the battlefield. Zabuza using his instincts realized that this had elevated from a mock fight to a real fight. Something was wrong with Haren, and she was dangerous,he was not one to be scared but he also did not want to be hurt. He ran over to a tree and pulled his sword out of it.
Haren launched forward recklessly crashing over to Zabuza's side of the field. Their were ice shields around her and her hands were claws. She crashed into the sword with one of the shields and let out a roar that made her sound like a true beast, and it only barely cracked. Then with the sword lodged in the shield, she took this opportunity to punch Zabuza on the right side of his face.
The water clone exploded with a loud pop.
"Thanks Haren that is all I needed to see."
Haren found herself suddenly under a scroll with Zabuza sitting on top of it.
Her eyes reverted back to normal because of the chakra suppressant. And all the ice melted until they were just puddles on the ground.
" thats an impressive kekegenkai you got there! I've seen something like that in the land of waves. But I really didn't expect to see that here in the land of fire... hmm... well it looks like you can't control it yet." then he understood the purpose of the clone he had disposed of, it was to keep her conscious and sane. This kekegenkai was a lot like having a Bijju. Then Zabuza realized something, this was not a kekegenkai, he had seen something like it but it wasn't the same! He thought for a moment, the leaf village probably wanted to keep the sealing of a second biju secret, ans thats why it wasn't on her profile...
Chibi and Jannu walked over as Zabuza was rolling up the scroll.
"SO," Zabuza said loudly " I have measured your strength and my advice to you is...."
"YOU NEED TO GET STRONGER!" He boomed pointing to Chibi, making her squeak.
"YOU NEED TO BE FASTER!" He pointed at Jannu who hung his head.
Then he turned to Haren, staring in an almost affectionate way at the little girl sitting on the ground he saw suddenly in her place Haku when he had come upon the little boy on that snowy day. The chain on the haggard boy's neck jingled as he turned his liquid chestnut eyes to Zabuza.
Zabuza's eyes widened as he saw tears run down Haku's cheeks, and the image returned to normal, but Haren stared up at him, tears streaming down her pale cheeks.
"Sensei?" Zabuza seemed to snap back to reality,
" Uh what is it." blush colored his cheeks and he was embarrassed about how much he had let Haku's death get to him.
"Why did Haren go crazy like that?" Jannu asked.
Haren choked out another sob she had been holding in.
Zabuza sighed and explained what he knew of Haren's kekegenkai to Chibi. Or well the kekegenkai that was apparently the cover story for her being a jinjiruki. The kekegenkai's special ability was utilizing unused genes. It would find the part of Haren's personality that she would never have used, and lock it way. In this case it was courage, strength, and rage. After feelings like that started to naturally arise in Haren the kekegenkai would be inactive. But once it sensed even a shade of those feelings in which it so jealously guarded, it would manifest into a form fitting to those feelings. In Haren's case it was a dragon. So whenever she got angry, wanted to find courage, or had to use a lot of strength for something the dragon was called to the front of her mind and used to control her. Using the resources closest at hand, or ones passed down through a bloodline.
Chibi's eyes widened.
And turning to Haren she said,
"i have been practicing sealing, maybe I can help?"
Haren nodded, Chibi stepped over to her and began the process.
Zabuza warily opened his eyes, he had been previously shielding the two other children when he had sensed the chakra burst coming. He had even seen the mass of energy coming at him like a wave. But there had been no pain, not searing gash, no broken bones, nothing.
He let go of Chibi and Jannu, and turned around to the barren training field.
"I think it worked! I don't feel the dragon anymore!" Haren said happily, standing on the one untouched spot on the training field. Zabuza stood up and dusted himself off,
"Are you okay Haren?" he said walking over to her and laying a hand on her shoulder.
"Yea I feel great, no voice, no feeling of going out of control, I feel like, me!"
Zabuza smiled,
"Well now that you are under control I can teach you some water techniques. And a very special jutsu developed by a close friend of mine." Haren pumped her fists,
"Alright Sensei I am ready for anything you can throw at me!"
Chibi leaned over to Jannu,
"Does she seem a little more flamboyant to you?"
"Yea I noticed... maybe it is the result of the dragon being sealed away, all the emotions he was keeping locked up are now hers."
"geez it seems like this kekegenkai is more of a curse than a blessing."
Jannu nodded in agreement. Though both of them were highly unaware that Zabuza and Chi Sensei were lying through their teeth. It was not a kekegenkai, and it was NOT a blessing.