Author's Note : Blah blah blah don't own Naruto blah blah blah.

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Chapter Nine – Rising Wave

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"Copy-cat Kakashi, the man who knows a thousand Jutsu." The masked figure standing on the embedded sword stated. Kakashi glared up at his newest adversary.

"Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Bloody Mist and master of the silent killing technique." He responded. "I assume that you are here for a reason?"

"I'm here to kill that old man, Tazuna." Zabuza stated. "You may be able to slow me down, but those three brats of yours are good as dead already."

Kakashi frowned and slowly pulled out his Kunai as Zabuza leapt off his perch and pulled the sword out of the tree. A moment later, a thick mist rose, cutting everyon'e vision to less than arm's length and Zabuza's voice echoed menacingly.

"Eight choices. Liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, jugular vein, brain, kidneys, heart. Which one should I go after?"

Sakura gulped nervously, trying to see through the fog. Sasuke wiped the sweat off his forehead and Sai unsheathed his tanto.

"Where is he?" Sakura whispered.

"I wouldn't worry about him." Anko said, causing both Sasuke and Sakura to scream with shock while Sai inhaled sharply.

"Anko-san? Where the hell did you come from?" Sakura gasped, hands pressed to her chest as she tried to stop hyperventilating.

"Just got here." Anko smirked, finishing off her dango and hurling the stick into the mist. A second later, there was a faint ting as it bounced off something metal. "Came with some serious reinforcements. Yo, Kaze, time to live up to your name!"

There was a breathless silence and Anko clasped her hands over her ears, nodding for them to do the same. An instant later, the air seemed to tremble, then a massive roar sounded, the blast of air accompanying it blasting the mist away as a harsh clang announced that two swords had met. Zabuza stared in shock at the young blond who had efforlessly blocked his killing stroke.

"Naruto." Kakashi said in a relieved voice as he lowered his Hitai-ate back over his Sharingan. "You'll want to be careful, Zabuza is a kenjitsu master."

"Like Genma-san. I got it, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto grinned. "Okay, browless, let's dance!"

Zabuza tried to push Naruto's sword away, but his answer was a sudden thrust that launched him backwards. Kakashi ambled back to his team as Naruto and Zabuza slashed at each other.

"Shouldn't you be doing something to help him?" Kakashi asked curiously. Anko shook her head.

"Nah, Gaki learns best by doing. Going up against Zabuza, that's like a week's intensive kenjitsu training in less than an hour. Besides, he's got his clones watching from all around, like that squirrel there. He's learning Zabuza's style."

Zabuza blurred past, chasing Naruto who slashed a pair of trees, causing them to fall inwards and forcing Zabuza to slow down as he cut his way through them.

"He's good at using the environment in his favour." Kakashi noted. "How did you get here so fast?"

"His cats gave us a lift." Anko said almost absently as she pulled out another stick of dango. "Kaze got rid of the mist, and they're waiting over there."

Naruto charged by, slashing at a frantically-evading Zabuza.

"That Kekkai Genkai of his never ceases to amaze me." Kakashi noted. "His stamina is unreal. Hey, Zabuza! Naruto doesn't tire easily, he can fight for a full day before slowing!"

"I… didn't… need… to… know… that!" Zabuza roared back as Naruto's attacks sent him skidding across the surface of the lake. "How the hell… is this brat… so strong? Woah!"

"Bloodlimit! Super-strength." Anko called back. "So, Kakashi, these your brats you were complaining about? Emo duckbutt, pink banshee and inky idiot?"

"Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Sai respectively, yes." Kakashi replied, ignoring the killing glares that two of his team were directing at Anko. "They're my… wow, nice move, Naruto-kun!"

"Naruto-kun?" Sasuke grumbled. "How does that dobe deserve being called –kun?"

"I don't see you defeating Zabuza." Kakashi replied and Sasuke glared at him, then gave Sakura a confused look as she remained silent rather than speaking up in his favour. Sakura was staring at Naruto with a terrified expression as Naruto managed to block every one of Zabuza's attacks.

"Think we should step in yet?" Anko asked and Kakashi shook his head.

"Not unless Zabuza tries anything other than Kenjitsu." He said. "You said it yourself, this fight is a real learning experience for Naruto. I hope you three are paying attention."

Kakashi ducked as Zabuza was sent flying overhead, smashing through a tree. Naruto punched the falling tree out of the way and quickly blocked Zabuza's attack as he flew through the air in a prodigious leap, but Zabuza swung his sword and hurled him through another tree. Zabuza paused, breathing deeply and looking at Naruto with a confused expression.

"That is not a normal sword, kid." He said slowly. "Twice I've knocked it out of your hands, and each time you summoned it back. How?"

Kakashi glanced at Anko, who shrugged.

"I'm awesome that way." Naruto grinned, rising to his feet and spinning his sword one-handed before settling into the same stance that Zabuza had used at the start of the fight.

"You have one hell of a healing factor too." Zabuza mused as the cut on Naruto's arm finished closing. "Who are you?"

"Kagetora Naruto." Came the reply. "First of my line and soon-to-be clan head."

"First of your line?" Zabuza echoed. "Who were your parents?"

Naruto snarled. "Legally, I never had parents. Orphan at birth. No mother, no father. Pretty much everyone in Konoha knows who they were, but due to the damned council and the bastard who raided a certain house, I am legally clanless."

Sakura gulped and moved behind Sasuke.

"Tough break, kid." Zabuza said, lowering his sword slightly. "Once all this is over, how about I take you on as an apprentice? Your style stinks, but your reflexes are amazing."

Naruto grinned. "Sorry, but me and my senseis have other plans. Care to surrender now? Or will you try your luck against a supercharged genin and a pair of jonin?"

Before Zabuza could answer, a pair of senbon seemed to sprout from his neck, causing him to collapse bonelessly. A masked figure dropped down beside him.

"I thank you for distracting him long enough for me to get into position." The figure said. "Now, I must dispose of the body."

The figure vanished along with Zabuza's corpse and Kakashi turned back towards his team before he noted Naruto sniffing suspiciously at the spot where Zabuza had collapsed.

"What is that dobe doing?" Sasuke half-asked, half-sneered.

Sakura stifled a scream as a giant white-and-black shape seemed to materialise out of the woods and joined the blond. The boy and the cat continued sniffing at the area for a few more seconds, then the Naruto whispered something and the cat shook its head.

"Sensei, Zabuza's not dead. There's no death-scent."

"What?" Kakashi half-shouted. "But we saw the… senbon… hit… oh damn."

"False-death state." Anko groaned, slapping herself on her forehead. "How the hell did we both miss that? Kami, we'll never live that down."

"Ummm, excuse me, but what is it?" Sakura asked, keeping both Anko and Kakashi between herself and the irritated Naruto.

"Zabuza's still alive." Kakashi sighed. "The hunter-nin was obviously his assistant and used senbon to send him into a false-death state before fleeing with him. We've been duped. The only good point is that it'll take at least a week for him to recover, so we have some time to train you three up. Tazuna, I think we should get going."

More giant tigers seemed to materialise out of the trees as Naruto leapt onto the back of the first one. "Climb on, they'll carry us the rest of the way, we'll get there faster."

Sasuke glared at Anko. "Emo duckbutt?"

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Naruto was impressed.

Most people, upon opening their front door and seeing a half-dozen-plus giant tigers, would have screamed, slammed the door shut and piled up the furniture while swearing in panic. Tsunami had merely blinked a few times, then enquired politely if it was possible for the tigers to remain outside since she was unsure if they were housebroken, and she didn't know if the floor was strong enough to support them.

Anko and Kakashi found it hilarious, especially when all the tigers, after a quick series of growls, snarls, yelps and purrs, all nodded and settled down in front of the house. Once inside, Kakashi glanced over at his students.

"Sensei," Sakura said carefully, "What do we do? Will Zabuza return?"

"Probably, but not for at least a week." Anko said, pulling out a small scroll and unsealing a plate of dango. Tossing a stick to Naruto, she bit into her dango with a sigh of pleasure. "Going into a… scrumph… false-death state screws the body up. It'll be a week at least before he's back to battle-ready. Gives us time to get you brats to a level that'll give you a chance of living through this."

"Anko's right." Kakashi said. "For the next week, you are going to get trained. Basic chakra control and taijitsu practice. We'll start with tree-walking tomorrow."

"What?" Anko half-shouted. "You went on a C-rank without even teaching them the basics?"

"I was trying to hammer teamwork into them." Kakashi protested, much to Naruto's amusement. "The emo is insistent that the others will slow him down and he can do better alone, the pinky is a total fangirl and is thus currently totally useless and inky is so maladjusted that I'm amazed he's survived this long. If it hadn't been for the damned council forcing me to pass them and not do anything they consider harsh, they would have failed and been chucked out of the academy."

Naruto burst into howls of laughter and Kakashi paled as he realised that his three genin were staring at him, two of them with betrayed expressions. Anko smirked.

"I made no promises, so how about this. You and Naruto go and find where this Gato that Tazuna mentioned has his headquarters, I'll drill the terrible trio in the basics."

Sasuke and Sakura looked at Anko's feral grin and both shuddered. Kakashi placed his chin on his hand.

"Try not to hurt them too much, I need them to still be mobile in a week."

Anko pouted, then slapped Naruto's head. "Calm down, Gaki. It's not their fault that they're so pathetic. You know how most of the academy teachers were trying to screw up your education, these three… well, pinky and emo, just got caught in the splash. Since pinky is from a civilian family and emo decided to refuse any external help in favour of training badly by himself, neither of them could compensate. How emo got the rookie of the year award, I don't know. Probably council interference. So, you and Kakashi, and your tigers, go searching for Gato and find out what he's planning. Rich scum like him are always seeking ways of spending less, it wouldn't surprise me if he's planning on backstabbing Zabuza. Probably something like hiring a load of thugs and sending them to kill Zabuza after he's worn himself out trying to take us down."

Naruto nodded slowly. "That's dirty, underhanded, devious… from what I've heard about Gato, I'd agree."

"Then it's agreed." Kakashi said brightly. "Tomorrow, you and I will set off to see if we can find Gato's headquarters while Anko tortu… I mean trains my students in my absence. With my skills and your clones, we should be able to cover quite a bit of ground. Why did you suddenly look guilty when I mentioned clones?"

"Ummmm, Kaze and I were experimenting with what we could do…" Naruto muttered. "I think that the tigers may have learned the Kage Bunshin. On the plus side, if I do a Henge after linking my chakra to Kaze's, I turn into a tiger too!"

"I think I need to see what you've been getting up to." Kakashi said after a long silence. "On the plus side, what you've done may count as Clan Techniques, so you don't need to worry about teaching them to anyone for some time. Can the tigers turn into humans?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nah, they're happy as they are. They don't see human form as being anywhere near as perfect as they are, and I guess they do have a bit of a point."

Anko laughed out loud as Kakashi smiled behind his mask.