Along Came a Symbiote
Author's note: Thank you everyone that has left such positive and helpful reviews. On another note, a lot of people assume that if Toxin bonds with someone such as Lee, then he will be able to use chakra. This isn't the case. The symbiotes can only augment what already exists. Also some of you believe that Carnage will bond with either Sasuke or (the more common notion) Anko.
Now while I won't confirm or deny anything, I want to state that the Carnage symbiote is going to start off on a clean slate as well. I'm not saying that the Carnage symbiote won't bond to a bad guy, but that it won't target just negative thoughts. You have to remember that Naruto's symbiote hasn't given birth yet, so who its 'child' bonds to and how their personality turns out is dependent on who Naruto is near at the time.
Chapter 3: Getting what We want
Naruto let out a sigh as he and his team walked dogs through the street for a rich elderly women. This was his so called mission. This wasn't the only mission he and his team completed as they had also pulled weeds, clean up trash, and chase a cat that had every right to run from its owner, among various other chores.
How these things actually took military man power, Naruto nor his symbiote would never know, but they were sure of one thing. This team was doomed.
After team seven became official Kakashi went back to running three hours late and the animosity between the Genin hadn't changed. Naruto still hated Sasuke, Sasuke still had the delusion that Naruto was weaker than him and would only slow him down, and Sakura still made futile attempts to date Sasuke.
Kakashi had given them many team building exercises, but this had solved nothing except giving each member a good understanding on how the others fought. While Naruto would admit that it did help to know a little more about Sakura's habits when she fought, he had already known plenty about how Sasuke fought.
Sasuke was the type of fighting that made others dance to his tune. If Sasuke took a step forward, then he expected you to step back, if he took a step back, then you took a step forward. If he lowered his guard on his left side, he expected you to strike his unguarded side so he could easily deflect the predicted attack and counter-attack your now unguarded area.
'Not that it helped him against us.' Naruto thought as he chuckled, causing his team mates to give him odd looks.
Back when they fought in the academy, Naruto destroyed Sasuke's prideful style with brute force and ferocious speed. Sasuke had tried a feint on Naruto before only to receive one in return. When Sasuke's real attack missed, Naruto followed up with a lariat.
Sasuke had been just able to put up a guard , but with the momentum of his speed combined with his strength, Naruto's attack had caused Sasuke to back flip, landing hard on hard on his abdomen first with the rest of his body following. Despite the pain he felt. Sasuke had been able to continue fighting after that, but he had learned that when it came to Naruto, blocking was next to useless.
One of Naruto's dogs tried to chase after a cat and nearly caught it when.
"Aarrrkkk!" A strong yank of his leash solved that problem.
"Was that really called for?" Kakashi asked, clearly not liking the act.
Naruto shook his head. "It's a dog Kakashi. Show it who's boss and it will obey, let it do as it please and, well…..."
Kakashi followed Naruto's line of sight to find Sakura having trouble with her dogs as they tried to split of into different directions.
"Still, your dog made an awfully loud yelp. I would prefer it if the owner doesn't find out." Kakashi stated in a bored tone.
One of Sasuke's dogs attempted to split off from the group and Sasuke tried to mimic Naruto's action, or at least he tried. Sasuke did succeed in keeping his dog from leaving the pact, but lacked the strength to yank it back into the group. Instead his dog stood on his hind legs as its body weight leaned forward while it let out a troubled breathe thanks to the collar digging into its throat.
Naruto didn't miss the look of anger on Sasuke's face and didn't even bother hiding his awareness as he let out a laugh.
"Students please don't man handle the clients dogs." Kakashi said in a bored yet ordering manner.
Sasuke simply grunted in response and Naruto ignored Kakashi as he slowed his pace in order for him to fall back with Sakura. With one hand he took hold of her leashes and with the other, gave her the leashes to his now obedient dogs.
Sakura nodded as they traded off dogs.
"Thanks Naruto." she said as Naruto began getting the dogs under control, much to the dismay of Kakashi as several yelps could be heard.
Over the last few weeks, Sakura discovered that Naruto wasn't such a bad guy, as he would offer her help whenever she needed and usually didn't act like an ass if she didn't do something to upset him first. She still thought that he could be scary and didn't approve when he bad mouthed Sasuke or worse. Despite seeing Naruto in a new color, Sakura still saw Sasuke as a diamond compared to all other boys their age.
There had been several times that she had tried to defend Sasuke by implying that Naruto was just jealous of Sasuke or trying to act cool. Something that Naruto just laughed off which had slowly caused Sakura to decrease the number of rants she made.
Turning one last corner and walking an additional block, the three Genin and their sensei stopped in front of a gated yard that surrounded a luxurious two story house. Walking through the gate, each Genin unclipped their leashes from each dog's collar before dropping off the leashes and heading back to the Hokage tower.
Naruto along with his fellow Genin and sensei stood in front of the Hokage's desk giving their reports.
'As if walking dogs requires a report!' Naruto thought.
And preparing to get another mission/chore.
"Well Kakashi it seems your team has done well to finish their previous mission. Any chance they are up for another D rank mission today."
For a second the Hokage and Kakashi looked towards Naruto, both wondering if he would object to yet another D rank mission. Naruto for his part was thinking about doing such a thing. Only thing that stopped him from making their thoughts reality was a question he asked himself.
'Even if we bug him for a C rank, will we get something exciting or boring?'
Naruto thought back and forth between the possibilities and the differences. Sure it would be nice to get out of Konoha for a C rank mission, but what if all he ended up doing was escorting some paranoid merchant. That would be four or five days of him just walking on civilian roads.
'Hell we could do that here.'
Despite his inner thoughts Naruto still wondered about the possibility of going on a nice action packed trip.
"Hey old man, got any C ranks lying around?"
The old Hokage smiled while a few others gave him glares for his lack of respect.
"Naruto, I'm sorry to tell you, but your team isn't ready for a C rank."
The razor sharp teeth on Naruto mask seemed to form into a feral grin as Naruto caught the fact that the Hokage told him that his team wasn't ready, instead of saying that he wasn't ready.
"We know. We're just curious of if there are any available and what their objectives are."
Kakashi gave Naruto a questioning look. "Why do you want to see them if you know we can't take the mission."
Naruto shrugged his shoulders before replying. "We just want to see what's in store for us when we are allowed to take such missions."
The Hokage chuckled as he knew there was more to it than what Naruto said. Picking up a scroll that he had yet to file, the Hokage handed it to Naruto.
Naruto opened it, scanning through the mission objectives and locations involved
'Hmmm, seems like an escort mission, bridge builder from Wave. Looks like an old drunk…. ha, if he traveled all the way here in one piece then he can travel all the way back just as well. Just as we thought, paranoid old fool… or he's lyi….. no no, we're over thinking things.'
Rolling up the scroll and handing it back, Naruto took his place next to his team.
Both the Hokage and Kakashi stared at Naruto a second, waiting to see if he would make any demands. To their surprise he stayed silent.
"So Kakashi, do you think your team is able to take on another mission?" The Hokage asked.
Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and was given another D rank for his team to complete.
A week later
Naruto dashed through the village and towards the Hokage tower, leaping and bouncing from building to building. Why was he in such a hurry? Well that was thanks to an Anbu informing him that his presence was immediately required in the Hokage office.
While Naruto acted out a lot and didn't play by others rules, he knew that when an Anbu was sent to retrieve you, fun time was over. He respected the old Kage too much to gripe about being woken up so early, and was truly interested in what was so urgent.
Arriving at the tower, Naruto choose to climb up the wall and use his usual exit instead of simply walking through the front door. As far as he was concerned it was faster and less of a hassle.
Reaching the window, he opened it with his usual trick and flipped himself in. Once inside he saw that his other two teammates were already there and much to his surprise, his sensei as well.
'hahaha, guess he knows not to rock the boat when it comes to the old man'
Kakashi merely gave Naruto a puzzled look as he watched him enter via window. Though Kakashi wanted to comment on it, he knew that the Hokage was in no mood.
'Guess the Hokage's favorites are allowed to enter through the window.'
Once Naruto was standing next to his team the Hokage spoke.
"I'm sorry for waking you up at this time, but I'm in need of team sevens services. Three days ago I sent team ten out on a C rank mission because I believed that they have built a reasonable amount of teamwork. I got a letter today informing me that their client lied when he filled out his request forms and that team ten had been ambushed by two missing nins, the Demon Brothers. The client is currently being hunted by a man known as Gato, a man who has a large wealth and is hiring missing nin to kill our client. This mission has been increased to an A rank now and team ten needs reinforcements. Which is why I've called you here."
Before Kakashi could even add in his two scents, Naruto jumped in.
"We'll accept!" he stated excited.
"Now hold on Naruto." Kakashi ordered before turning to the Hokage. "I don't mean to question your thoughts, but why not order team ten back and send more qualified ninja to complete this mission?"
The Hokage nodded at this question. "I understand your concerns Kakashi, but I believe that team ten and team seven combined will be enough to complete this mission. I also believe that this will act as a good experience for both teams. Besides it's not like I'm only sending the Genins out, you and Asuma will be with them as well."
Once again Naruto decided to speak for his team. "Like we said earlier, we accept!"
The Hokage looked towards Kakashi and the rest of team seven. Sasuke looked slightly happy, or was he smug. The Hokage couldn't tell. Sakura looked unsure and unhappy from the reactions of her two teammates.
Kakashi just shook his head. "I guess team seven will head out and assist team ten. Alright everyone meet at the gates in two hours. Be sure to pack supplies."
"Good answer cyclops! We'd have made your life miserable if you denied us this chance."Naruto said before leaping out the window he came in.
The Hokage couldn't help but chuckle at Kakashi's expense as said Jonin sighed before leaving via leaf body flicker while his other two students took the door.
Three days later
Upon arriving in Wave, team seven could just smell the despair that emanated from the water surrounded village. But for Naruto none of this mattered as he was bothered by the fact that the mission he discarded turned out to be the adventure he wanted.
Making their way though town, it didn't take them long to arrive at the clients house. Once there they met their client, Tazuna. Just as Naruto believed, the man was an alcoholic as his breathe reeked of sake. Naruto easily ignored this while his team made their way to a guest room, only to discover that Asuma was bedridden.
Both Ino and Choji immediately seemed relieved when they saw their much needed support. Surprisingly Ino didn't pounce on Sasuke as she normally would and instead stayed by her sensei's side. Seeing as the original leader was down, Kakashi decided to take charge and investigate.
"What happened to Asuma, and where's your third member?"
Ino decided to be the one that explained for her team, while Choji didn't seem to have the confidence to talk at the moment.
"Shikamaru is outside keeping watch and Asuma…" she paused for a moment.
"Asuma got injured when fighting a missing nin. I don't remember his name; Asuma sensei kind of mumbled it."
Choji decided to put his two cents in. "Asuma sensei said his name was Zabuza."
Kakashi's lone eye widened. "You mean Zabuza Momochi?"
Choji merely nodded his head in response. Looking over Asuma, Kakashi didn't doubt Ino and Choji's claim. Asuma had many blood soaked bandages wrapped around what Kakashi could only guess were lacerations.
"Ino I need you to give me a detailed report of the fight." said Kakashi.
Giving an affirmative nod, Ino began explaining how they crossed over by boat and were attacked by Zabuza shortly afterwards. The fight had gone good for Asuma at the beginning, but a slip up landed him trapped in a water prison. Luckily team ten had been able to free Asuma. Unfortunately Zabuza had been able to land a few slashes and Asuma had started to lose thanks to a mixture of fatigue and blood lost.
At the end Asuma had been able to turn things around using one of his wind jutsu and had slammed Zabuza across a few trees, knocking him out. But before Asuma could give Zabuza the finishing blow, a Kiri hunter nin beat him to the punch with a few senbon needles to the neck and afterwards carried Zabuza's body away.
Naruto couldn't help but get excited at the tale, yet sad at the thought that most likely, there wouldn't be anymore missing nins to take on after Zabuza.
Once Ino finished telling him what he needed to know Kakashi decided to speak again. "Thank you Ino. I have a feeling that things won't settle down yet, but I want to talk to Asuma before I start jumping to conclusions. Naruto I want you to go and keep watch with Shikamaru. In a couple of hours, I'll send two others to replace you."
Naruto simply nodded before exiting the house.
Two days later
All members of team ten and seven were crowded in one of the spare bedroom of Tazuna's house. Asuma had just woken up and Kakashi was confirming what he already thought.
"So you also believe that hunter nin was just Zabuza's partner." said Kakashi.
Asuma nodded before putting a cigarette in his mouth and lighting it.
"Unfortunately that not only means that Zabuza's alive, but that he has back up. An unknown."
Naruto, who was using his chakra to stick his feet against the wall while leaning his back against it as well in some strange form of sitting, couldn't help but smile.
'We may have our chance yet!'
Choji chewed on chips as he responded. "Munch munch, I don't see what the problem is. Munch munch, Now that Kakashi is here, munch, there are two Jonins here. Munch."
Asuma shook his head. "We only have one Jonin capable of fighting. I'm not sure if my wounds will heal before Zabuza reappears. And we don't know how strong this unknown partner is. For all we know, he could be as powerful as Zabuza."
Ino was the first to ask the well known question. "Then what are we going to do? It's not like we can actually fight someone of Zabuza's level!"
Kakashi chose now to intervene. "Well first we're going to start you off with some training. You might not be able to take on a Jonin, at least not alone. But with a little training and if the six of you work together, you should be able to at least fend off one."
Half of the Genins seemed worried while the other half held different emotions. Naruto and Sasuke were excited. Sasuke was looking forward to proving himself while Naruto simply looked forward to the challenge. Shikamaru was among those that weren't nervous, though his emotion was simply a lack of care.
Kakashi looked at Naruto, and how he was sticking to the wall.
"Well Naruto seeing as your such a master of what I want the others to train on, why don't you explain how it's done."
Naruto gave a confused look towards Kakashi. "What do you want us to explain cyclops? How do you expect us to explain something when you don't tell us what you want us to explain?"
Kakashi let out a sigh before giving the Genins a sign to follow. He took them outside of the house and a few feet into the forest before stopping.
"Ok Naruto, what I want you to explain is how to do the tree walking exercise."
Once again Naruto gave a confused look. "The what?"
Kakashi wanted to slap his own face before he responded. "The way you cling to surfaces, that is typically known as chakra clinging, or thanks to the fact that most start off by climbing up trees, the tree climbing exercise."
"Ooooohhhhh." was Naruto's response, while he laughed internally.
He understood full well what Kakashi was asking him earlier, but Kakashi seemed to have a liking towards being cryptic. Naruto enjoyed frustrating the Jonin by acting naïve thus forcing the Jonin to explain in detail what he was telling or asking them.
Walking towards the tree, Naruto easily walked up the tree at a slow pace.
"In order for you to cling to surfaces you need to focus a certain amount of chakra to your feet to insure you stick. Too much and you repel yourself from the surface, too little and you won't stick, at least not very long."
Kakashi nodded at Naruto's explanation. "Very good. Also as you begin, you might want to get a running start."
With that said Kakashi threw a kunai in front of five trees.
"Mark the tree at each attempt. This way you can keep track on how far you've reached. Naruto, I'll go watch over Tazuna today. Watch over their progress, and help them if they need it."
Naruto gave a mock salute as Kakashi left. Looking back at the others Naruto gave a questioning look.
"So what are you guys waiting on, a starting bell?"
As if he actually rung it, the five began running up the tree, well four ran up their tree while Shikamaru decided to take it slow. Oddly enough it was Sakura who made it the farthest, with Ino only a few steps behind her. Choji and Sasuke had gone up a tenth of their tree before having to jump off due to lack of control.
While Shikamaru had yet to leap off his tree, he was going at a snails pace.
"Looks like Shikamaru's got the right mind set." Naruto whispered to himself.
Redirecting his attention to the two girls, Naruto saw that they had yet to retry.
"Sakura, Ino, what are you doing sitting around?"
"We've already proven we have great chakra control, we don't have to do this training." said Sakura with Ino giving a supporting "Yeah."
Naruto shook his head at this. "Keep repeating the exercise. It'll be good for you."
Ino looked unconvinced. "How many times do we have to do it?"
"Over and over and over again till we say stop!"
Sasuke who was trying to focus on climbing his tree decided to put in his two cents.
"And what are you going to do while we're doing this, idiot!"
Naruto's chuckle caused Sakura to freeze as she feared the worst for Sasuke. She let out a breathe she didn't know she was holding when Naruto spoke instead of beginning to tear into Sasuke.
"Ooohhh it's not what we're going to do that should be the question." Naruto said as he reached for his back pocket. "The real question is what's Kakashi sensei going to do?"
Both Sasuke and Sakura immediately stopped as Naruto held the all familiar book that Kakashi was constantly reading.
"Naruto you didn't!" Sakura yelled.
Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru all gave confused looks to each other before dismissing the occurrence and decided to go back to their training.
Naruto opened the book and began reading. "I've always wandered what these little orange books hold. I mean, even the old man has a few of them stashed away."
Sasuke returned to his training with renewed vigor, the thought of Naruto actually being able to pickpocket a Jonin infuriated him. Sakura just shook her head as the action was only typical of Naruto.
Nearly thirty minutes later, Naruto took his attention off the book and checked how the five were doing. While they all were beginning to sweat, Naruto was sure there was another way to make things interesting.
Looking between the current page he was on and his teammates, a wicked grin spread across his face.
"Satoru's hands glided across Kari's naked flesh, brushing across her erect pink tit and giving her breast a firm squeeze. A honey filled moan was released as a reward from Kari as she enjoyed the feel of his rough, calloused hands."
The effect was immediate. Ino who was taking a break turned beat red while Sakura nearly fell off the limb she was standing on. Shikamaru was forced to finally fall from his tree, a nose bleed as his undoing. Sasuke slipped and ended up slamming his face into the dirt and Choji, who was running towards his tree, ended up fumbling forward till he slammed his face into his tree.
Once they all recovered, they looked towards Naruto. Shikamaru, Ino, and Sakura were too shocked and embarrassed to do more than gawk. Sasuke and Choji on the other hand had enough pain on their face to allow them to send heated glares toward Naruto.
Naruto for his part was too caught up laughing his ass off to care.
Tazuna entered his house with Kakashi following him. The second Kakashi entered the dining area he felt two sets of eyes, giving him all the female fury they could. Kakashi gave a dulled look in return.
'Greeeeaaat. First I've lost my book, and now I have to deal with two teenage girls. What else can go wrong?'
Taking his place at the table, Kakashi looked around to notice that aside from Tazuna, his daughter Tsunami, and her son, that Asuma had joined them as well with the aid of some crutches.
Another thing he noticed was that Naruto seemed to be in a rather good mood.
"So Naruto how did their training go?"
The seemingly innocent question seemed to cause a mixture of reactions from the Genins, though embarrassment seemed to be the more common feeling.
Naruto's chuckle didn't bode well to Kakashi. 'Ok Naruto what did you do?'
"Don't worry sensei, we believe they did well. Though I'd have to say I'm more proud of our team bonding than anything else."
Kakashi's lone eye brow rose. "Team bonding?"
Naruto's chuckle began turning into a snicker. "Yeah! We decided to read them a story to help us bond."
'Oh a story. That's not so OH DEAR GOD THAT'S MY BOOK.'
Naruto pulled out the orange book and brandished it in front of Kakashi.
"We decided to read them a story from your book. Hope you don't mind."
Asuma fell back laughing. "Oh god, I knew something was up I just coul…." He stopped laughing and wrapped his arm around his torso in a pained expression. "Ow oohhh, my stitches." he said between laughes.
Three days later
Kakashi and Asuma watched over their students except for Naruto who was sent to guard Tazuna as he worked on building his bridge. At the moment the two were discussing their teams. Asuma had just finished talking about his team and the plans he had for them.
"So Kakashi, how do you believe your team is doing?"
Kakashi gave a sigh. "My team is doing ok, I guess. I just have concerns over Naruto and Sasuke.
Asuma pulled a cigarette and lit it. "Well you knew those two didn't get along."
"Well yeah, but not to this extent. I tried forming a rivalry between them once-"
"And let me guess. Naruto blew that plan up." Asuma interrupted.
Kakashi nodded. "Yeah, how did you know?"
"Kurenai told me a bit of what she learned about Naruto from when she was experimenting genjutsu on him. Naruto doesn't believe in rivalries. The person before you is either a friend or foe, no in betweens."
"So what do I do? The team suffers so long as Sasuke and Naruto hate each other. I've tried several team work exercises, tried rivalries, and have even tried getting them to understand each other." Kakashi stated.
Asuma rolled the cigarette in his mouth. "Maybe you're just approaching things wrong. You've been trying to get both to get along. Maybe you just need to have one of them understood the other or something. Naruto isn't really an ass, he just doesn't let anyone push him around or get way with insulting him."
Asuma took a drag off his cigarette before continuing. "Sasuke believes that being an Uchiha makes him superior. If you can get him to realize that, at the very least, Naruto is his equal. Maybe he will stop trying to treat Naruto like dirt. And then maybe Naruto won't treat him like a punching bag."
Kakashi took a moment to think over what he'd been told. "You really think that'll work?"
"Nope." was Asuma's simple reply, Kakashi giving an annoyed look in response.
"Well thanks for the help." Kakashi said sarcastically.
Asuma shook his head. "Your best bet is that Naruto gets bumped up to Chunin."
"That won't stop them from being on the same team." Kakashi stated.
"No, but it will get Naruto away from the team, or at least Sasuke every now and then."
A nod from Kakashi showed he agreed.
While Kakashi and Asuma continued their conversation, Sakura and Ino began conversing about the blonde teen as well.
"Geez Sakura, Naruto hasn't changed at all since the academy. He's either being an ass or annoying." Ino stated.
Sakura shook her head and she began running up her tree again.
"He can be annoying every now and then, but he usually isn't an ass. You kind of got to provoke it from him. I mean when has he snapped at us or been mean to us during our entire trip?"
Ino shrugged her shoulders. "Well he hasn't been an ass, but I still can't believe he read that book out loud while we were training."
Sakura blushed as she remembered the occasion. "Well luckily he's guarding Tazuna today, so we won't have to worry."
'Thank god for that.' Ino thought.
"It could have been a lot worse." Shikamaru added, deciding against his nature to get involved in the conversation.
"How so?" Ino asked.
Sakura and Choji decided to listen in as well.
"He could have replaced the character's name and description with ours. Truth be told I'm surprised he didn't."
Both Ino and Sakura paled at the thought, though Ino sported a slight blush as she thought of her name replacing Kari's and Sasuke's replacing Satoru's.
Each Genin got the thought out of their minds and went back to their training.
Soon afterwards Kakashi began approaching them. "Alright I think that's enough for today. Naruto and Tazuna should be returning to the house any second."
Three days later
Naruto slept on a black hammock out in the woods as his light breathes were the only real sound. His hammock took on a spider web like pattern and if one were to look close enough, they would see that Naruto's sleeping arrangement was slightly melded to his back.
Why was he sleeping out in the woods? There was a rather simple answer for that. He didn't want to commit murder. Tsunami's son had one day criticized the ninjas at the table, telling them how stupid they are for going up against Gato and how they were going to die. He further went on to say how none of them knew anything about suffering and pain when Sasuke boasted on how Gato's men had never fought ninja before.
Naruto had been livid upon hearing the boys pessimistic whining and ended up leaving in order to vent his rage. Despite having a bad temper, Naruto knew that ripping the boy in half wouldn't solve anything and instead chose to take his anger out on a few trees. But ever since then Naruto chose to only be around the house for food or seeing what the Jonins had planned and nothing else.
His eyes fluttered open as he began to stretch and wake. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes before standing. As he stood, the hammock slowly began to meld into his clothes till they were back to their original state.
'Guess I should head back to Tazuna's house and find out what we're doing today.' were Naruto's thoughts before making his way back.
As he walked he began to pick up weird signs through the woods. At first he ignored the slash marks on the trees, but when he noticed how numerous they were he began to grow curious. A close look at the ground showed two sets of tracks and he couldn't help but dislike the fact that they were going in the same direction he intended. It was when the smell of blood hit his nose that he began running forward. Before long his run turned into a sprint and then into leaps.
Jumping off one tree, he looked down at the carcass of a boar. Open wounds riddled the animal's body and a touch of it told Naruto it hadn't died long ago. Looking forward Naruto saw more tracks and decided to follow them. Just because he found one source of blood didn't mean he wouldn't find another. And if he could help it, he would prevent the spilling of innocent blood.
Asuma Sarutobi had heard the ruckus down stairs almost immediately. The sudden rise of his body caused pain to shot through him and remind him of his condition. Despite that he tried to get up and make his way down stairs.
Making his way around the hall, he began to hear voices as who ever was invading the house felt confident that they would succeed in whatever they were doing. Suddenly Asuma was reminded of the owners of the house as he heard Tsunami beg whoever was intruding
He quickened his pace, hoping to protect both Tsunami and her son. Unfortunately his haste had caused him to trip. The sound he made alerted the two goons and Asuma cursed as he heard one of them making their way towards him.
'Maybe this is for the best.' Asuma thought as he grabbed one of his trench knives.
He prepared himself as the footsteps got louder and readied his hand to strike. His opportunity never came as the two intruders turned their attention to something else. A fight broke out between a new comer and thugs. Whoever the person was, he took out the two brutally but quick. The sounds of hard, powerful hits echoed towards Asuma and the obvious sound of a neck snapping was the last he heard before silence filled the house.
It almost seemed that the fight was over as quick as it started and Asuma decided to make his way to the living room. Once there he saw two dead bodies near the center while Tsunami and her son were huddled in a corner.
"What happened?" Asuma asked.
After giving her son an assuring whisper she turned to Asuma. "Those guys came, hired thugs of Gato. And Naruto killed them."
Asuma thanked her before going over and checking the two corpses. Just as he thought, one of them had been killed via broken neck. But the other had died from internal bleeding. Further study revealed an already showing bruise over the man's temple and a sideways foot print sunk into the man's chest. If Asuma had to guess, he'd say that Naruto had punched the man over the head to stun him before kicking the man's chest in, crushing his rib cage while simultaneously causing the new broken bones to rip and tear the flesh around them.
'A little brutal for a ninja, but efficient none the least.'
Tazuna's unfinished bridge was covered in a thick fog and the sound of fighting could be heard.
Sakura stood in front of Tazuna as his only guard while the rest of her team and partners fought. Zabuza, who was wearing a sleeveless blue shirt along with urban camo pants fought with a giant sword that stood nearly as tall as himself against Kakashi. The masked Konoha nin had raised his headband to reveal a healthy mature Sharingon eye.
While Kakashi and Zabuza fought, team ten stood outside of an ice dome. The trio watched as Sasuke tried to fight Zabuza's partner, only to be pelted by senbon. Entering the dome was suicide while nothing they did on the outside seemed to harm the dome.
It was this scene that Naruto arrived to as he flipped over the railing of the bridge. The three standing on the outside jumped back and only let go of their tension when they recognized Naruto.
"What's going on here?" Naruto asked.
Shikamaru decided to speak for his group. "Troublesome blonde. Sasuke got himself trapped in there. We've tried to help him, but there doesn't seem to be anything we can do. Breaking this ice seems near impossible and the enemy is too fast for us to do anything."
Naruto looked inside the dome just in time to see a flurry of blurs rush from one mirror to the next while Sasuke received a few more senbon into his skin, a fact that caused Ino to gasp.
Walking over to the ice dome, Naruto punched one of the many ice mirrors that acted as its wall.
"Yeah, things solid as they come." Naruto said as he pulled his hand back only to reveal a few small cracks repairing themselves.
"If we can get Sasuke out of there can you get him medical attention?" Naruto asked.
Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders. "We can at least pull the needles out, but how are you going to-"
After Naruto heard what he needed to, he jumped in between two of the mirrors. The emergance of the new presence shocked the enemy nin and Sasuke. This shock was all Naruto needed in order to land next to Sasuke and throw him unceremoniously out of the ice dome in one fluid motion.
"That was very noble of you. But now you're trapped in here."
Naruto looked at the enemy nin or at least one of the many reflections of him. His enemy wore his black hair in a white bun except for two bangs that framed his face and wore a brown turtle neck under a short green kimono with white trimming, tied off with a greenish brown obi. A pair of loose pants that matched the color of his turtle neck along with a pair of sandals made up the lower portion of his body. The only other features that Naruto took note of was the green finger nail polish and the hunter nin mask his enemy wore.
"Noble? Anything we do concerning Sasuke can't be considered noble. To him, us saving his life is nothing but a spit on his face. As far as being trapped is concerned, We don't believe in such a thing."
Naruto didn't see the raised eyebrow on his enemies face. "We?"
"It's how we refer to ourselves. Now how should we refer to you?"
The enemy nin stayed silent for a moment before replying. "Call me Haku. And how should I refer to you all?"
Naruto chuckled at how Haku asked his question. "We're Naruto."
As soon as that was said, Naruto jumped to the side and immediately flipped forward. Senbon embedded the ground where Naruto once was as he flipped from one spot to the next.
Team ten watched Naruto as he used his acrobatic skills to dodge the projectiles. They couldn't help but be amazed by the site. Ino, who was pulling the senbon from Sasuke's body nearly froze in her work from the sight.
Sasuke only glared as once again he gave witness to being out done by the blonde.
Suddenly the barrage of needles stopped and Naruto stood in the center.
"Impressive, you're certainly quick on your feet. I wonder how long your fancy flips will save you before I hit my mark." said Haku.
"The same can be said for this jutsu of yours." Naruto stated.
What no one knew was that Naruto had been try to hit Haku using his leg like an ax kick during his flips. Unfortunately he had yet to land a hit. Once again blurs filled the dome and hails of senbon rained down forcing Naruto to stay moving.
Naruto's fighter instincts kicked in and he began to notice certain things that people outside of the dome might not take notice of. Like how despite the constant rain of senbon only a handful was thrown at a time. Or how Haku's blurred movements never crossed the center of the dome and instead went from one mirror to the diagonally closest. A thought hit Naruto as he continued studying his opponent.
'He's not as fast as everyone thinks he is. He only appears that way with how fast he's moving between mirrors.'
Another thing Naruto began to notice was the slight bits of water dripping down the mirrors. Just as he was beginning to question this, Haku stopped once again.
"Tell me, what do you fight for?" Haku asked.
'Why give us these breaks.' Naruto thought "An odd question. I guess we fight for what we believe is right. Why do you fight?"
Haku shook his head."You're in the wrong business then. As for your question, I fight for the one person who has given my life meaning."
Naruto could care less about Haku's reason to fight. His question was merely a means to buy time.
'That's it! These breaks and small conversations he starts with us are merely to buy time. But for what?" Naruto thought.
His mind went back to the small drops of water forming on the ice mirrors and he looked at them now only to see frost upon the mirrors. His mind began filling in the spots and soon after he finally understood Haku's jutsu.
Haku leapt from his mirror once again and Naruto went on the move once more except at a slower pace. He wanted his opponent to think he was beginning to slow down and allowing a few senbon to pierce him was an added bonus to aid in his deceit. Naruto used his lesser speed to allow him to monitor Haku's movements more closely and waited for the perfect time to strike.
A blur clearer than usual of Haku came into his vision and Naruto didn't waste anytime in throwing his fist forward while unleashing a small tendril of his symbiote. Haku had been struck by the sticky substance and in turn retaliated with a hand full of senbon. Naruto didn't even attempt to dodge them and instead used Haku's momentum against him and swung his tendril sideways, guiding Haku straight into the ground.
Before Haku could even react, he felt himself sent airborne towards Naruto, thanks to the still connected tendril and set back towards the ground from a strong right hook. Haku didn't allow himself to stay dazed for long and tried to get into one of his mirrors when he discovered that Naruto's black tendril was no longer attached to himself.
Unfortunately for him, Naruto attached yet another tendril and yanked up on it to send him airborne. While his opponent was no longer touching the ground Naruto pulled his tendril over his shoulder and down. This act sent Haku crashing into the ground once more and Before he could even get to his feet, an upper cut from Naruto sent him flying once more.
A quick turn from Haku revealed that he was heading towards one of his mirror. A little hope filled him as he prepared to sink back into his protective ice. But things didn't turn out as Haku wanted, for as soon as he entered his mirror, Naruto's fist crashed through one end and sent Haku out the other.
Haku rolled several times against the harsh ground and his mask broke apart from the abuse Naruto put upon it.
Naruto stopped in front of Haku's laying body.
"How did you break through my ice mirror?" Haku's asked in a defeated tone.
Naruto allowed a smile of pride to grace his face, though his mask blocked most of it. "You have to be inside your mirrors in order to pump chakra into them, so they are sustained. It was the reason you would take breaks in between volleys. You would talk to us in order to distract us from the water that was formed from your ice melting. After discovering this it was rather easy to find out that your jutsu would weaken if you had been forced away from them long enough."
Just as Naruto finished talking, Haku's other ice mirrors broke apart and fell to the ground and melted.
"I see." Haku said. "Then I've become a useless tool."
Naruto used both of his hands to grab Haku's collar and pulled him up so that they were looking each other in the eyes.
"Tool? What do you mean?" Naruto questioned
Haku didn't seem bothered by Naruto's action. "I am Zabuza's tool, for he gave me purpose. And a tool that does not serve its purpose becomes useless."
Naruto's look told Haku that he still didn't understand. So he decided to tell Naruto his tale. Haku told Naruto how he defended himself from his father and how the results turned him into his father's murderer. How Zabuza found him a year or so later when he was homeless and how the man took him in and gave him a purpose.
Naruto stood and allowed Haku to tell his tale, listening to every detail and so forth. He understood how it felt to be feared for something you have no control of. The feeling of being alone and having to fend for yourself. Had the symbiote not bonded to him, Naruto couldn't help but realize that Haku's life could have been his own. Some powerful ninja, finding him and deciding to manipulate him for his or her own agenda. It would have been far too easy.
Despite all this Naruto understood another fact. That he and Haku were enemies at the moment and no amount of pity would change that. But it did change how Naruto would handle the situation.
"You've had a tough life, We can sympathize with you. We can't just let you go, but we won't kill you." with that said Naruto reared his head back and slammed it onto Haku's.
The impact caused Haku's eyes to roll back into his head, successfully knocking him out. After wards Naruto wrapped a tendril of his symbiote around Haku multiple times until he was sure he couldn't break out of it. As a finishing touch, he sent two more pieces of his symbiote to splatter around Haku's hands to insure he couldn't cast a jutsu. So long as Naruto kept contact with the bindings, they wouldn't disintegrate.
It was at this time that the fog lifted and revealed a victorious Kakashi standing over a dead Zabuza. Team ten and Sakura spirits rose as they could clearly see Kakashi and Naruto, but they weren't allowed much rest when a short man accompanied by nearly a hundred hired thugs showed up.
Naruto and the others began packing their stuff as they prepared to leave. Also making sure that his prisoner/guest was still tied up. Haku simply fixed Naruto with a blank stare while this was happening.
The man that showed up after the fight on the bridge was none other than Gato. Feeling confident that Zabuza and Haku had weakened the Konoha nin enough so that lowly mercenaries could kill them, Gato decided to appear in person and watch. A fatal mistake, especially when he tried to make an exchange to Naruto for Haku. Naruto's only response was to tell the man to "Come over here and try, you little bastard" followed by flipping him off.
Afterwards Gato ordered his thugs to kill them only to find that while the Konoha nins were outnumbered, they were not outclassed.
Kakashi, while tired had still been able to fight and Sasuke had recovered enough to help. Team ten had yet to see any real action and had also joined the fight in a fresh state. Naruto would admit that his fight against Haku had not been easy, but wouldn't say he was anywhere near being tired.
Surprisingly despite the number of men, it hadn't taken long for the nins to take out over half of them and scaring away the rest. Before Gato could attempt to leave, Naruto had cut the man off while still holding onto Haku. The small man had whimpered and begged for mercy only to receive Naruto's twisted form of it. Setting Haku aside Naruto easily picked up the small man and knelt so that one of his knees faced towards the sky before slamming the man down onto it. Gato's back connected with Naruto's knee and a multitude of sickening cracks rang out, much to many of the Genins horror and slight nausea.
Kakashi walked up stairs in order to check on Naruto. Opening the door, Kakashi instantly felt the glare Haku gave him but ignored it. Naruto had told Haku all about what happened after his defeat. While Haku showed no emotion most of the time, Kakashi presence evoked such hate that it almost rivaled Naruto's hate for Sasuke.
"You about ready Naruto?"
Naruto nodded before picking up his travel pack and hoisting Haku's still bonded body over his shoulder. Once that was done he joined his fellow ninja outside the house before they left towards Konoha. Asuma was still reliant on a crutch to walk around though that would change once they returned to Konoha and had a good medic heal him up properly.
While they walked Naruto felt some of his team members staring at him. He turned his head to find that it was Sasuke, Kakashi and Shikamaru who were looking at him.
"What?"
Sasuke turned his head away and grunted while Kakashi decided to ask a question.
"What do you plan to do with your prisoner and what is that stuff you've restrained him with?"
Naruto nodded his head as he thought these were legitimate questions.
"We plan to get him help. And the stuff around him is something we created."
Kakashi waited for Naruto to add on and gave him a bored look when Naruto didn't. Instead of pressing on he dropped the subject as past incidents revealed to him that Naruto wouldn't reveal what he didn't want to.
Naruto gave Shikamaru a questioning look and the lazy nin looked away after saying. "Troublesome.
Once Naruto no longer felt the stares, he concentrated on moving forward, and questioning himself of how he was going to make his request to the Hokage.
Author's Note: Alright, I'll be honest. I don't want to hear any complaints about how I described Haku's jutsu. I've looked around many Naruto sites and I haven't found anything that says what I did in this chapter isn't possible. Also I don't plan to reveal my intentions for Haku, so don't ask or give suggestions on it. I know what I plan to do with him and I won't change my mind. I'm sorry if I seem aggressive but past experiences have shown that if I don't out right tell some of you NO, then you bug me about it over, and over, and over again. Example: Whirlpools rebirth, several readers kept trying to convince me to give Naruto sage mode and I kept being kind about rejecting it till the chapter came and I just blew up and said NO.