Disclaimer: Own Naruto? What are you kidding?
Chapter 19 – The battle…
Zabuza and Kisame both drew their swords and smiled with their shark-like teeth. "So, Shark boy shows up with his sentient toy," Zabuza said with joy written all over his words.
"So they let you out to play, huh? Zabuza-chan. This should be fun and I can shave you down to size," Kisame said happily.
"You can end this needless violence Naruto-kun," Itachi said, while he moved his hand up to the neck of his cloak and started to unbutton it.
Naruto smiled and closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You know Itachi, you did a really mean thing to your brother and he really wants to kill you for it," Naruto said calmly.
"My brother was not ready for this lifestyle, but since we have to fight… Fire style: Grand fireball jutsu!" Itachi exclaimed.
Hinata tapped a scroll and ran through several seals. "Water style: Water encampment!" she exclaimed, as the fire ball hit the dome of water and turned into steam.
Itachi raised an eyebrow as he felt the temperature drop. "It is early November, and thus should not be this cold just yet. Have you hidden something from me, Naruto-kun?" he asked in a playful tone.
"Ice style: Double, demonic ice mirrors!" two voices called out.
"So you have the Hyouton bloodline. Very fascinating, Naruto-kun," Itachi said to no one in particular, as the panels of ice began to entirely surround him.
"So the brat has some talent," Kisame exclaimed, while parrying an over head slash by Zabuza.
"He's just full of surprises," Zabuza said happily, as he ducked a sweeping slash by Kisame and did a jab of his own, which Kisame spun away from. Zabuza looked at Kisame and asked, "So are we warmed up yet?"
Kisame's grin took up most of his face and he said, "Almost, Water style: Big wave explosion."
Water came pouring out of Kisame's mouth and at Zabuza. He ran through a series of about thirty seals and then said, "Water style: Water explosion jutsu!" Water from the surrounding area pooled together and slammed into the water from Kisame's jutsu, blunting the force and making it just wash over the area.
The water began to rise and Kisame scowled and said, "That wasn't fair. I was supposed to capture you in my dome of water."
Zabuza chuckled as both combatants began to rise on the bubble of water. "So does that blunt blade still suck chakra for you to use, shark face?" Zabuza asked in a taunt.
Kisame smiled at his fellow former swordsman. "You know I control this jutsu and you're in trouble with it?" he asked happily.
Zabuza and Kisame began to do several hand seals. Both said at the same time, "Water style: Five shark feeding frenzy."
Five sharks composed of water and chakra began to form. After they were formed they immediately swam at each other. Each shark ran into a corresponding shark and dispersed, only to reform and began their attacks again. Zabuza and Kisame then began to engage each other with their swords yet again.
Itachi looked at the Naruto and Haku in two separate mirrors and said, "While this is an interesting jutsu, it will do you no good to resist. I can see your chakra flowing through this jutsu. Even though I can't copy this jutsu, it won't work against me. Be a good child and end this and come with me Naruto-kun."
The Naruto chuckled and drew his sword, before he said, "Sorry Itachi, this jutsu is based on speed. If you can't keep up you will lose."
"Thank you for your information I will attempt to put that information to good use," Itachi replied. He shifted his foot only an inch and saw a senbon where his foot was just a moment before. He also noticed that the image of Haku had moved to a different position. "I'm sorry little girl, but you'll have to do better than that…" he said, but suddenly winced in pain. "That wasn't nice Naruto-kun. Attacking my blind spot while I talked to your female teammate," he said in a near angry tone.
"What's wrong Itachi, can't go two on one?" Naruto asked.
Itachi glared at the image of Naruto that now took up two mirrors and Haku took up two also. "This type of jutsu must take a lot of chakra. Fire style: Flamethrower jutsu," he exclaimed, as a flame shot out of his mouth and impacted on one of the mirrors. He saw that it didn't melt and was actually impressed.
"Not going to work, Itachi. I have more chakra then the Hokage, and that is before we get to the Kyuubi," Naruto explained.
Itachi noticed that the flame was diminishing, but he was still adding the same amount of chakra.
"Not good for you. Hey Haku-chan, should we let him have some air or should we just let him suffocate?" Naruto asked the three Hakus in the other mirrors.
Haku smiled and then said, "It wouldn't be fair if we won just because he passed out would we? And Hinata-chan hasn't had a chance to do anything."
Itachi turned to see a several holes open in the dome and he was forced to jump as senbon came in from all the holes. He landed and said, "Impressive, to be have the control to send multiple water senbon in from several directions is quite impressive. I compliment all three of you and your sensei, Zabuza. Also the genjutsu will not work, Naruto-kun."
Naruto looked at him with a surprised look. "Hinata-chan, did try to use a genjutsu on Itachi?" he asked rather loudly.
"Yes Naruto-kun, I was just trying, hoping that he hadn't had his Sharingan engaged, or that I might have been able to fool it, because he was too busy with avoiding my senbon," she explained.
Itachi actually cracked a smile. "I see, I've been underestimating you and your team, Naruto-kun. So I will bring it to the next level, Amaterasu," he said quietly, as black flames leapt from his right eye, but it began to bleed.
Naruto and Haku avoided the mirror that was engulfed by the black flames. Naruto grunted, as he felt the black flames attempting to melt his ice mirror. 'Dang that jutsu is actually really hot,' he thought to himself. He nodded and then he and Haku started to move around the dome quickly, but avoiding the single burning mirror. Itachi earned his position as someone previously in ANBU, by avoiding about seventy percent of their attacks.
Naruto began to breathe hard, as he pulled the burning mirror out of the dome and replacing it with a new one. "Don't touch that mirror," he exclaimed, as the mirror flew up and nearly hit Kisame.
"Dang it Itachi, watch where you send that damnable black fire, it won't come out and it burns for days," Kisame exclaimed.
Zabuza looked at Kisame in awe. He had nearly been hit by a flame that burned for days and was chastising the originator of the jutsu.
Naruto continued the attack and was able to get a good slice on the back of Itachi's hamstring, but had to move back to a mirror that he didn't want to because Itachi had pulled out his own katana and nearly cut Naruto in the chest. His vest was now cut from the upper left chest to the lower right abdomen. 'Dang he really is good. Better than his brother though,' Naruto thought to himself.
Naruto and Haku continued to attack Itachi even to the point of freezing the bottom of the dome. Itachi had to use chakra to keep his footing, because of the ice and the water that would occasionally come in from a jutsu done by Hinata from the outside. His Sharingan was working overtime to make sure that he took the least damage possible. 'Maybe we should have waited until he was alone,' Itachi thought to himself, as he blocked yet another sword swipe from Naruto, only to get a senbon in his left arm that numbed his hand. 'This fight is useless. I can't win against this type of teamwork and with Naruto having this type of bloodline, and with his team working so in sync,' he thought before he yelled out to Kisame, "We must retreat, we cannot fight them right now."
Kisame grinned evilly only to jump so the floating ice with the black fire was between him and Zabuza. "Are you sure? I can still keep Zabuza busy for a little bit longer," he exclaimed, only to be hit by a water dragon in the back. Landing only an inch from the black flames he quickly scrambled away for fear of getting hit by the flames.
"Yes we must withdraw for now," Itachi said, only to find that his feet were now tangled in vines coming up through the ice and wrapped around his leg. He was suddenly hit by several senbon and found that he could no longer hold his katana, thus it hit the ice floor with a clatter. 'I can't move my right arm, I might be done for,' Itachi thought, just as the dome began to fill with water. His thoughts turned to terror and he asked himself, 'Are they going to drown me?'
"Hey Itachi, you're sure one cool customer," Naruto said in a taunting voice, but Itachi got the pun, as the water began to chill to a very cold temperature. Naruto then continued his taunt, "Why don't you chill out while we get ready to make some sushi?"
Itachi felt his feet begin to go numb and the water continued to rise. "So you're just going to kill me with cold water?" he asked.
The image of Naruto in a mirror smiled with a playful mirth in it. "Kill you, nah. We're just putting you on ice. Ice style: Ice cube prison," he exclaimed, as the water quickly rose to Itachi's head, but then stopped and began to freeze over. "Nighty night, Itachi-kun…"
Itachi began to feel his body shudder at the extreme cold and it began to convulse in an attempt to warm his core. He attempted to use his chakra to warm his body, only to find that it was only slowing the effects of hypothermia. 'So I will not be able to let Sasuke kill me for my crimes,' he thought to himself, as he lost consciousness.
Kisame turned his blade slightly and was rewarded with several senbon turning to water just before they hit him. "Nice try little girl, my sword, Samehada, absorbs chakra. So you don't think that you can take me on by yourself Zabuza?" he asked happily.
"Why waist the effort?" Zabuza countered.
Haku ran through several hand seals and said, "Ice style: Winter blast!" The water around Haku froze and began to pull up from the surface of the bubble and was blown towards Kisame.
Kisame's eyes went wide. 'This is a nasty jutsu,' he thought, as he dodged several large chucks of ice, but even the wind seemed to be against him. He felt it freezing his skin and also causing several small cuts on his body. He would have used Samehada to defend himself from the attack, but Zabuza was using his sword to attack from just outside of the jutsu, so he had to defend against both attacks. "Hey Itachi! What are you doing? I thought you said we should retreat," he yelled down to the dome of ice.
He then stopped and saw that Itachi was lying on the ground his face nearly blue and his eyes closed. He took a rather large chuck of ice to the ribs and decided it wouldn't help to fight this group by himself. He then got really scared when he heard the next few words, but it came from their target, "Ice style: White out!"
Kisame not wanting to figure out what a jutsu would do immediately used a shunshin to get away and lick his wounds. Itachi was a lost cause even if he wasn't dead just yet. He would be when he got back to his village. He felt bad that he had to abandon Itachi, but he had little choice if what he saw was any indication of what that jutsu could do. An area larger than the water bubble he had created was now blanketed in a blizzard and it was snowing heavily. He quickly left the area.
Hinata finished her medical preparation on Itachi, as she said, "He has left the area, Naruto-kun."
"Is he well enough to be sealed away, so that we can get back to the village?" Naruto asked, while he disengaged the jutsu and collapsed to a knee.
Haku was quickly at his side to make sure that he was okay. She then moved to tend to Zabuza's wounds. He had sustained a couple of abrasions from getting hit by Samehada, but the wounds were not as bad as the chakra that the sword has stolen from him. Naruto quickly sealed Itachi when Hinata nodded approval and the team quickly moved from the area.
Forty minutes later, Naruto was jumping erratically and nearly missing branches he was using to move along. Hinata called the group to a halt and examined him. She found that he was nearing exhaustion. She handed Naruto a food pill and the group waited for it to take effect before heading home.
---------------
Sakura woke up in the hospital. She looked around to see that was hooked up to several machines to monitor her heart and brain activity. She attempted to speak only to find that her voice was lost to her.
"Don't bother trying to speak, since Hinata disabled the muscle with her senbon. Your voice will return in a couple days," Kakashi explained. He then turned his head up and closed his book. He then asked, "You want to tell me why you're going to demand training from the Hokage, even though you know that you have done wrong by her son?"
Sakura frowned and took the paper offered to her and then wrote:
I thought that if I got training from a Sannin that Sasuke-kun would appreciate me more.
"I see…" Kakashi replied, but then asked, "But if Sasuke is back in the academy he isn't on the team until his probation is served."
Sakura then wrote:
What did he do that was so bad?
Kakashi sighed and began the explanation.
-----------------
Tsunade was frantic. She just got a report that there was a large 'bubble' of water about fifty kilometers to the west. That was near the village that she had sent Naruto's team and was really worried that he was in trouble. It would take an hour to reach the area even for the fastest shinobi. This information was more than twenty minutes old. She gathered her thoughts and sent a single ANBU team to investigate.
------------------
Sasuke was angry, no, he was furious. He was back in the academy and now the children in the class, even though most of them were eleven or ten, were teasing him incessantly. 'You got sent back? Ha ha…' was the usual taunt he heard, but the worst was 'So much for the great Uchiha clan…'This had nearly caused him to attack the child who had said it until Iruka pointed out that it was the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage. This was so frustrating, and he still had only been her for two days. He still had five more months of this to go. Worse yet was the training that this guy, Danzo was putting him through.
He wasn't learning any jutsu, but he was learning team tactics. 'Like those losers could actually help him on his quest for revenge,' he thought to himself. The only thing that he could actually say that was helping him was the focus on emotional control and not letting it get the best of him. He didn't want to turn into any of the zombies that seemed to work for the guy, but the lessons on emotional control and detachment were helping him in coping with his rage at his brother. Little did he know that it would come to a head soon, sooner than anyone would have thought.
-----------------
Two hours after leaving the battle sight Zabuza and his team along with an ANBU squad cleared the gates and headed towards the Hokage tower, with a nod and a look of surprise from the gate guards. They were soon standing in front of Tsunade, Minato and Sarutobi. Naruto was panting hard, but pulled out a scroll and handed it to Tsunade.
She looked at him with a wondering look and asked, "Is it really him?"
Naruto nodded and replied, "He's suffering from hypothermia and just thought you would like to ask him a few questions when you get him back into shape for questioning."
Sarutobi sighed and took a deep breath. "This complicates things greatly. There is something that we need to discuss. Zabuza, you're dismissed, since it does not include you, but the others should hear this out," he said in a solemn voice.
Zabuza bowed and left the room.
Sarutobi took a deep breath and began.
"I've lost everything, Sanbi," Yagura exclaimed, as he stood on the shore of a lake. He then continued, "I've lost my land and my people, all thanks to those Akatsuki freaks, and now I'm dying from poison from that man. Curse you Sasori of the Red Sands, I just hope you might get a chance to avenge me Sanbi. I know that you barely understand most things, but please be careful."
Yagura coughed up blood and lay down on his side. His body is suddenly surrounded by chakra and the whole body changes into a large turtle like creature that moved itself into the lake with only a slight ripple on the water.
----------------
Itachi coughed and was shivering. He couldn't see, because his eyes were apparently covered. He felt warm attempting to permeate his body, but it only emphasized his struggle against being cold. He opened his mouth to talk, only to have the muscles in his mouth seize up begin to chatter his teeth together.
"No need to talk Itachi. You're back in Konoha. We have you sealed up tighter than anybody has ever been. Naruto and his team were quite impressive to bring back a trophy, like yourself," a voice that Itachi recognized as Ibiki said in a matter of fact voice. Ibiki then continued, "I'm privy to your situation, but that doesn't mean I will go easy on you Itachi-kun." Ibiki lingered on the 'kun' for a little longer than Itachi cared for.
"So can I carve him up to get the info we need?" a voice identified as Mitarashi Anko asked in a most joyful tone.
"Let him warm up a little and he will give us all the information we need," Ibiki said with a wry grin.
Anko got a devious grin on her face, removed her trench coat and sauntered over to Itachi and climbed into the bed with the traitor, wrapping her arms around him. Ibiki rolled his eyes, as Anko asked, "So, do you feel warmer Itachi-kun?"
Itachi had to admit that the woman did give off good heat and it was warming him up. He only dreaded when she changed from giving him this affectionate touch and turned back into his interrogator.
------------------
Today was turning out to be the worst day in history for Sasuke. Now only had he been teased and chastised by academy students. He had been stopped from retaliating in the manner he wanted, mostly in fear of having to deal with the Sandaime Hokage. Even worse, when he went to the bank, he found out that Uchiha account had been reduced by eighty-five percent. While he could live off this amount, he was not happy when the manager informed him that it wasn't a mistake. He then attempted to see the Hokage to get information on what was going on, but was told that it would be at least a week from Saturday before he could get a meeting with 'her'.
He attempted to enter the office, but was restrained by a dark-haired woman with a slight figure. She had incapacitated him with a couple senbon and then informed the chuunin guards to take him to the hospital to reverse the effects of the poison that was now in his system. When they had finished neutralizing the poison, they informed him that he would not be able to mold chakra effectively for a week. He then found out that there was a new Hokage, the dobe's mother. He might as well turn tail and run for that Orochimaru guy.
Naruto just shook his head in disbelief. What they had heard was yet another failure on the part of the Sandaime to keep peace in the village. He wisely waited until the trio got home before he spoke. "It really gets me that they would do that to an entire clan. Worse yet, they would have the loyal one do the deed," Naruto said in frustration. Naruto then got really mad and yelled, "Momochi Zabuza! What the hell did you do to the apartment?"
The trio looked around and they were amazed at how the place looked even worse than it did after Naruto got back from vacation. The dishes were stacked high and not done, the garbage was piled on the table and the couches were torn up. The place also had several distinctive smells. One was rotting food the other he couldn't place, but was sure he didn't want to know.
Zabuza walked into the living room wearing only his boxers. Hinata and Haku glared at the former Mist shinobi. "Yeah what do you want? I was sleepin'," he explained.
Naruto moved his hand out in a motion, as if taking in the room. "What is the meaning of this mess? I also don't think I want to know what I'm smelling, but if you would inform me I could then figure out if you should be punished," Naruto said in a level tone.
Zabuza paled at the sight of Haku and Naruto's anger, he also began to shiver, as the temperature continued to plummet. He put his hands up in defense. "Hey, it's not like we had sex on the couch," he said in his defense.
"Who exactly were you having sex with in my house? Mr. guest…" Naruto said in an angry tone.
"Anko, of course…" Zabuza said tentatively.
"Well then get her over here to clean up the place and I want every place you guys had sex cleaned… twice," Naruto said, while holding up two fingers.
"Shall we go back to mother's place and sleep there until its clean here?" Hinata asked.
"I guess, but how will we make sure that it gets done?" Naruto asked.
"We could always ask your mother… I mean the Hokage-sama to make sure that Anko-san and father clean up the mess," Haku said with an evil grin on her face.
Zabuza paled, but went to his room and changed into some clothes and began to clean. After a little bit he made a clone and sent it to retrieve Anko, while Naruto, Hinata, and Haku walked over to the Senju compound.
"So we're at about eighty percent of what we were in our prime?" Tobirama asked the two other occupants of the Sarutobi household.
"That would be a good estimation," Hashirama replied with a grim look on his face.
"The latest reports have my former student somewhere in Rice country," Hiruzen replied.
"So we have five months to either eliminate this pest or we die?" Tobirama asked.
"That is what Minato-kun said and I believe him. Will my granddaughter authorize a mission for us to take out this pitiful man?" Hashirama asked.
Hiruzen pulled a scroll out of his robe and handed it to the Shodai Hokage. "This mission is for both of you to take all information on Orochimaru and to eliminate him with extreme prejudice. The Godaime also is authorizing you to use whatever resources you deem necessary, within reason of course," he said happily.
Tobirama looked at his brother and nodded. "We accept this mission and will do everything in our power to fulfill this mission," Hashirama said happily. He then said, "I have also left Naru-chan some scrolls to help him with his Mokuton training."
Hiruzen nodded and sighed. "I'm sorry I made such a mess of things, sensei…" he said in a disappointed tone.
"You're only human, and we so easily forget that fact. As for the villagers who prosper upon the back of my grandchild's misery, I have no sympathy. I just hope that Minato-kun will open their eyes," Hashirama said with a forlorn look on his face, and his brother mirrored his expression and could only nod in agreement.
----------------
A/N: To answer the burning question on what Tsunade did to Sakura and Kakashi's files… She reprimanded them. That is all, simple write up. So if they do something again, it is filed and she can then deliver some harsh punishment. She might talk to them at a later date, but she is quite busy right now and doesn't want to deal with it right now. To answer some other questions: I haven't decided what to do with the Suna siblings yet. As for more girls, not yet or maybe ever in this story, but I might soon release my ultimate harem story… for those who like harem crack stories, it is for you… look for it soon…
I do have some other stories that I'm flushing out, and also updating my others stories. Missing Hokage is about 50 percent complete, and Fox is about the same. This is just the first of my big Christmas release for stories and updates. Updates will come with time. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.