Chapter 3: Demon of the Mist and the Mysterious Kitsune

Kakashi pressed the intercom button on his wireless communicator and then sighed; he forgot how boring this mission really was "Target has moved are you in position" he stated his voice full of boredom.

"I'm in position" that was Sasuke

"So am I" there was Sakura

"Yawn why are we doing this again?" and there was Naruto

Kakashi held back a laugh, sometimes he had to actually stop himself from thinking of Naruto as Kitsune, but he had to be his sensei not his friend not his comrade "Naruto please were on a mission" he sighed

"Fine" came the stubborn reply

Team 7 had been together for the last three weeks and every day the team met the same ritual would happen, Sakura and Sasuke would arrive at the right time, then Naruto would arrive two hours late and give them an outrageous excuse like he was catching up with an ANBU officer before he would settle down somewhere and would play his pipe and then Kakashi would arrive three hours late and give them their missions. Today they had the infamous "Catch Tora the Cat" mission.

Naruto sighed as he spotted the cat and then leapt on it only to have it start scratching him deadly, after a minute or so Naruto glared at the cat making it freeze and fall silent in his arms. When Kakashi arrived on the scene and Saw Naruto stroking a now purring Tora in his arms he knew that the cat would probably run away just at the chance that Naruto would stoke him all over again.

"Very good team, let's head in" Naruto nodded and then scratched behind the cat's eat making it turn into goo and almost fall asleep in his arms. Kakashi smiled and shook his head; only Naruto would be able to tame Tora, although the young blonde had always had a connection to all animals but it seemed that cat's were wary around the blonde-that is until he lavished them with attention. Sakura shook her head and grinned a little, after everything she had heard about the Tora the cat mission she was on a team with Naruto, the one boy who has been recorded to have ever calmed Tora down. Sasuke sighed and thanked whatever god was looking out for him for letting him get paired up with Naruto who knew how to handle evil cats that seemed to want to kill him.

When team 7 arrived at the mission office all three genin were shocked when Tora's owner grabbed the terrified cat from Naruto's arms and proceeded to give it the strongest bear hug all three genin had ever seen. Naruto who felt bad for the poor animal walked up to the larger lady and whispered something in her ear. Suddenly the woman gasped and pulled her cat up to eye level and then smiled at Naruto warmly.

"Why thank you young man I will" The lady said before holding a much more comfortable Tora in her arms and giving one of the chunnin behind the desk the money required to pay for the mission. Sakura stared at Naruto in shock while everyone else in the room stared in disbelief; no one in the history of that one mission had ever gotten that reaction out of the owner.

"Naruto what did you ask?" Kakashi asked in a dazed and confused voice, Naruto smiled and shook his head.

"I merely told her that maybe it would be a good idea to loosen up on her grip because it seemed that she was hurting her precious cat" Naruto said simply making the Chunnin in the room stare at him shock. "What" the blonde asked innocently

The Hokage shook his head and then cleared his throat "Okay team seven you have the next choice of missions including walking the Inuzuka's dogs, fixing the Yamakas roof or"

"Old Man" The Hokage looked up and caught Naruto's eyes which had taken on their ANBU like quality and screamed at 'I swear if you don't give us something better I will hurt you in the best way I know how' The Hokage gulped and gave Naruto a small smile and then looked at the C ranked missions and picked the first one he saw.

"On the other hand I think you're ready for a C ranked mission" Naruto's glare softened and the Hokage felt relief wash through him "Yes an escort mission should do" Sasuke smirked and Sakura couldn't help but smile while Kakashi just stared at the Hokage like he was crazy who gives a fresh genin team a C ranked mission only mere weeks after it's been formed. "Could you send in Tazuna?"All four members of squad seven looked at the door and all frowned when a drunken old man leant on the doorframe for support.

"Huh are these three supposed to be my escort, they're kids...and the one in the orange and black looks like a toad" the whole room fell silent and Naruto lowered his head so his bangs covered his eyes while he shook in fury.

"Ah Tazuna maybe you should apologize Naruto is...a little different" Sakura nodded along with Sasuke as Kakashi tried to get their client to apologize, they still remembered what happened to Sasuke during the Tai Jut-su spar Kakashi had made them do after the raven insulted the blondes clothing-the training field was unrecognizable for a good three days.

"Nah what real ninja wears orange, it's ugly" Kakashi sighed and stepped back while Naruto pierced the man with a glare which froze the man in place why he stalked towards him.

"Listen here you drunk, did you know that in the animal kingdom the most dangerous animals wear the brightest colours" Tazuna gulped as Naruto glared up at him "and trust me when I say this...the same rule applies to me" With that Naruto turned on his heel and disappeared down the corridor making the room breathe a sigh of relief.

"Bit of advice Tazuna...don't make fun of his attire" Kakashi said as he patted the now sobering man on the back once before walking out the door followed by Sasuke and Sakura who both had amused grins on their faces.

Naruto grumbled as he walked down the streets about drunken men and annoying missions when suddenly he ran into someone and stumbled backwards. When Naruto looked down he saw Kiba sprawled on the floor with Akamaru his hood thrown back by the force of his fall. Kiba was rubbing his head and still hadn't looked up. But Akamaru had and barked happily when he saw Naruto.

"Hey buddy" Naruto said scratching behind the dogs ears making the small puppy roll over to have its stomach rubbed. Naruto laughed and began to rub the little puppy's stomach making him bark happily. "Hey Kiba you alright"

The canine shinobi looked over at Naruto and nodded before chuckling when he saw that Akamaru had been reduced to a whimpering mess under Naruto's hands "Naruto you mind letting him up we got training to do" he asked happily, Naruto stood up and then clapped Kiba on the back before jumping off leaving Kiba standing in the middle of the street with Akamaru. "Well boy at least we know that Naruto hasn't been killed by Sakura for insulting Sasuke yet" Kiba said before picking the tiny puppy up and putting him on his head and then giving Naruto's back one more look before he leapt off towards his team's training grounds.

Before going back to his apartment to gather his stuff Naruto raced to the shrine where the two keepers of the shrine were praying to Valor's statue. The two keepers had been good to Naruto over the years, after Ookami had bought him to the shrine as a six year old, Naruto had made sure to come at least once a week and do a sending, but now he wouldn't be able to.

"Old Man Shun, Grandma Hoshi" Naruto called out to the two shrine keepers making them both smile warmly. Shun had been a ninja in his day while Hoshi was a sender, she had become very well respected and blessed many people, Shun had met her when she was only twenty and had become her protector they had married one year after meeting and when Shun had retired so had Hoshi and when the fourth died the council had asked them to guard over his shrine.

"Oh Naruto what are you doing here, you had your morning pray didn't you" Hoshi asked in a grandmotherly way as she smiled warmly at Naruto. Sometimes she wished she had talked the boy into following her footsteps, he was so talented when it came to sending that she wished that Naruto had taken that road in life.

"Ah well I won't be around here for a while, I've got a big mission coming up and I have to leave the village for a while, I came to tell you so you didn't get all upset when I didn't turn up" Naruto said scratching the back of his head.

Shun smiled and rubbed Naruto's hair affectionately "Thanks kid, at least now we can sleep in peace knowing that you're not dead, but promise us one thing" Naruto looked up curiously at the old ninja "Promise us that as soon as you get back you come here and pray for us"

Naruto waved him away and scoffed "I'll do one better, I give you a sending" Naruto said hitting his chest with his fist making Hoshi smile happily at his eagerness, sometimes the old lady could imagine that he was her grandson and was going on his very own sending quest.

"Be careful" she said before Naruto nodded and jumped off leaving them standing watching him leapt through the trees.

"KIT, ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO WASTE YOUR TIME IN THIS TREE?" Kyuubi said laughing as Naruto sat in the tree just outside the gate watching as his team started to get irritated as he and Kakashi hadn't arrived yet.

"Oh come on Kyu look at Sasuke, he actually looks like he's annoyed" Naruto said to mentally to the great demon as he sniggered as he watched Sasuke begin to fidget on the spot in annoyance while Tazuna seemed to be skittish "hmm I'll have to keep my eye on this one"

"THAT WOULD BE WISE YOUNG ONE HE LOOKS TO NERVOUS FOR HIS OWN GOOD" Kyuubi advised making Naruto sigh before jumping off his branch and landing on the ground right in front of Sakura who had to hold back a scream.

Tazuna gulped when he realized who had just dropped in, he would never again make fun of the orange wearing boy's clothes, and he wanted to live another few years thank you very much. Sakura sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose while Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"Seriously Naruto why are you always so late" Sakura asked, she liked the blonde she did, he was like an annoying little brother you couldn't help but love, but sometimes she just couldn't understand how he worked at all "You're the one that left the Mission room first didn't you"

Naruto scratched the back of his head and then sighed "I tell you everytime you ask this question and everytime I do you don't believe me, I was at the Temple"

Sasuke snorted and shoved his hands even further into his pockets "Yes because you pray every day in some temple that I've never heard of" Naruto frowned and cocked his head to the side, he thought that every ninja knew about the fourth Hokage's shrine, it was just something that was so casual in ANBU that he didn't understand how the genin didn't know about the shrine. Suddenly Kakashi appeared in a large poof of smoke making Tazuna and the genin-minus Naruto-start to cough.

"Ah but Sasuke there is a temple in the leaf village, it's the fourth Hokage's shrine and is actually very well known in the shinobi circle, not many civilians go there though" Kakashi said opening his book as they started off through the forest,

Sakura frowned and looked at Kakashi with a curious glance "So why are Temples so important"

"Because each Temple is supposed to have a Sender" The scarecrows said in an all knowing voice

"What's a Sender?"

Senders bless people and perform ceremonies, although it takes a long time to be noticed as a sender, at the moment the Leaf village doesn't have an active sender" Kakashi said not taking his eyes off his book.

Sasuke just grunted and Naruto looked down, it was true that he wished he had become a sender some days but, now he was a ninja he couldn't just switch so he would do what he could by just sending locally. Tazuna cleared his throat and then began to look around nervously making Naruto on edge-no one notice except Kakashi, so when the group passed a innocent looking puddle Naruto couldn't help but frown, there was no way a puddle could be there, it hadn't rained for weeks.

"KIT GET READY...AND REMEMBER TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS" Kyuubi growled before fading away so that he would have a clear mind for the upcoming confrontation.
Suddenly two chains wrapped themselves around Kakashi and two cloak wearing men pulled their gauntlets that the chains were attached to and Kakashi was shredded to pieces. "SENSEI!" Sakura screamed.
Naruto glared and grabbed one of the chains and wrapped it around his hand, not even flinching when the metal cut into his skin and pulled the man forward. "Get over here" He growled and then punched the shocked ninja in the face before pulling out a hooked kunai knife that he had been given by Rat for a congratulation, and stabbed him in the gauntlet wearing shoulder rendering the arm useless before swinging up on his shoulders and placing his hands on either side of his head "You chose the wrong convoy to attack" he growled before twisting sharply. Sakura winced as a loud crack echoed from the man's body; Sasuke stared in shock from where he had bound the other ninja up as Naruto's opponent slumped to the ground lifelessly.

"BROTHER!" the other ninja screamed as Naruto ripped his kunai from his shoulder and advanced on the other ninja "You monster you killed my brother, why"

"Because you were trying to kill us" Naruto said placing the tip of his kunai on the man's jugular and was about to deal the final blow when he felt a warm comforting hand on his shoulder. "Naruto that's enough"

Naruto swung around and saw Kakashi standing behind him with a warm smile "You did well, but you don't have to do it, you've done enough" Naruto looked down at his bloody weapon and then at his teammates and then nodded before glaring at Tazuna so fiercely that the elder man started to shake.
"You lied to us" Kakashi tied the ninja to the tree and saw Sakura holding Naruto back who was tense and looked ready to kill. Tazuna was shaking where he stood and kept his eyes down in shame. "Naruto's right, we were ordered to protect you from bandits and the sorts, these two are Ex-Chunin from the hidden mist village, so you want to tell us the truth" Kakashi said while placing a calming hand on Naruto's shoulder.

Tazuna gulped and then nodded "My village is just a small island known as the Land of Waves, it is very poor, because a few years ago a business man by the name of Gato took over and made us very poor, now I'm trying to build a bridge that will allow us to get traders in from all over the land, but you see Gato doesn't want to lose his power over us so he is trying to kill me to stop the work on the bridge, but because we don't have much money our village couldn't afford an B ranked mission let alone an A ranked mission, but I can understand if you don't want to continue, but just think about how my daughter and dear grandson, if I die they will forever curse the leaf village" Tazuna said dramatically and then twitched when he saw Naruto's unsympathetic glance.

"Look if we continue will you stop being such a drama queen about it?" he asked plainly making Sakura giggle and Sasuke snort in amusement. Tazuna went red but nodded and Naruto sighed and looked up at Kakashi who nodded.

"Okay we'll continue" Tazuna smiled and Naruto turned around and whipped his new Kunai on the ground so that the blood didn't rust the blade. Sasuke watched as Naruto walked straight pass him and then scowled as he remembered how quickly the blonde had killed his opponent.

"Naruto your bleeding" Kakashi said suddenly and Naruto remembered grabbing the chain and brought his hand up for inspecting on sighed when he noticed the wound was already healed. "Do you need help?"

Naruto held up his hand and shook his head "No sensei it's not my blood it's his" he said before whipping his hand on the ground to clean it as well. Kakashi just stared at Naruto and narrowed his eyes, he saw the chain cut into him and cut into his skin, the only reason Naruto couldn't be hurt at this moment would be that the Kyuubi healed him.

"Oh okay that's a relief, let's keep going" Kakashi said happily as he pulled out his book once again and began to read as they walked. Naruto-being as curious as he was leapt on Kakashi's shoulders and began to read as well.

"Kakashi sensei" the older shinobi looked up into Naruto's happy eyes "Do you have any more of these books, I'm a little confused because I don't know the start of the plot" Kakashi smiled and nodded

"When we get to back to the village I'll give you volume one if your sure" Kakashi said not really caring that the said ninja was only twelve years old and was much too young to be reading Make Out Paradise.

"Great, now I'll get to see why you and Old Man Hokage are so obsessed with this book" He said before leap frogging over Kakashi's shoulders and landing next to Sakura who squealed and punched him on the head lightly.
"Naruto don't do that" She said before laughing. Naruto smiled at the pink haired girl and then looked back at Sasuke who just gave him an indifferent look before beaming up at Kakashi who eye smiled back at him.

"KIT HOW ARE YOU HOLDIG UP?" Kyuubi's voice said in a soothing tone, Naruto grinned mentally and shook his head.

"I'm actually quiet okay, my team has made everything okay" Kyuubi chuckled and nuzzled the young boy through the bars making him laugh. Sasuke watched as Naruto fell silent before a large smile spread across his face. Sometimes the young boy couldn't understand the blonde, at times he was serious and then other times Naruto was the most immature kid he'd ever met.

After taking a boat ride Naruto could taste the water in the air and couldn't help but frown, even if he was in the land of water the air was never that rich in water. Frowning Naruto stopped making the others stop and look at him curiously when suddenly the faint whistling of the wind caught Naruto's attention.

"EVERYONE DOWN" Naruto yelled while tugging Sakura down to the ground when suddenly a huge executioner blade flew pass his head and lodged itself into the tree in front of them. Kakashi looked up and glared as he spotted the ninja that had tried to kill them.

"Zabuza Momichi" Naruto whispered making everyone including Kakashi look at him in surprise. Standing on the handle of the sword was a tall man wearing camouflage pants with a bandage face mask.

"Oh so one of the little brats knows who I am, please tell me more" He said in a mocking tone.

Sakura looked at Naruto in fear as he stood up and looked the man in the eyes "Zabuza Momichi, otherwise known as The Demon of the Mist, you were a former Seven Mist Swordsmen and your blade is known as the head hunter blade or the executioner blade" Naruto said as the others stood up.

Sakura stood on shaking legs as Kakashi stepped forwards, the whole time Zabuza was laughing heartily pointing at Naruto "You know what kid, I like you, you're a smartass, you remind me of Kitsune, he comes from your village doesn't he?"

"Zabuza stop!" Kakashi snarled as Naruto froze and his eyes went wide while Zabuza leapt off his blade and ripped it from its hold in the tree trunk.

"Ah Kakashi Hatake, now I know why the demon brothers failed, with you on the brats team they wouldn't have been able to touch the bridge builder" Zabuza said mockingly as he swung his great sword up onto his shoulder.

"What is he talking about Naruto is the one who killed one of those ninja" Tazuna said in confusion making Sasuke and Kakashi groan while Sakura just glared at the bridge builder. Zabuza looked at Naruto and smirked.

"Well looks like you're not all that innocent, tell me boy did you enjoy the rush of power that flew through your veins as you ended his life" Naruto just stare at Zabuza and froze when Kakashi place a halting hand on his shoulder.

"Zabuza your opponent is me" He said while lifting his headband to reveal a spinning Sharingan making Sasuke gasp in confusion.

"Well revealing your Sharingan to me so early Kakashi Hatake copy cat ninja of Konoha I feel honoured" Zabuza said staring at Kakashi with what looked like anticipation in his eyes before he winked at Naruto "I'll get to you later" Naruto swung to protect Tazuna while the mist started to roll in along with Naruto could feel killer intent, and although it wasn't like Kyuubi's killer intent the pressure it put on even Naruto's will was amazing.

When Naruto saw Sasuke holding a kunai to him Naruto felt his heart almost stop. When suddenly the pressure stopped "Sasuke, I will protect you even at the cost of my life, I won't let you die" Naruto felt his admiration for Kakashi go up when suddenly he felt something behind him.

Strike behind you Naruto didn't pause and instead swung his kunai back and was shocked when I came into contact with Zabuza's large blade. Once again his instincts had never failed him.

"Know that's a ninja, you quiet the brat aren't you" The masked man said before kicking Naruto sending him flying "Too bad I gotta kill you, you would have been fun to fight once you grew up" Kakashi stabbed through Zabuza.

"Didn't I say I was your opponent" He growled before Zabuza turned into water "water clone" he said when a kunai stuck through his chest. Sakura held back a scream when suddenly Kakashi turned into water himself.

"What a water clone, how did he" Zabuza said when Kakashi appeared behind him with a Kunai at his back.
"Game over" Zabuza smirked and pressed himself into the Kunai and turned into water again. Kakashi cursed and turned around in time to get kicked in the chest sending him flying onto the water. When he pulled himself up he was heavy "This isn't normal water: it's heavy" he whispered when suddenly Zabuza appeared in front of him.

"You shouldn't have let your guard down" then before Kakashi could do anything he raced through several hand signs "Water Prison Jut-Su" suddenly Kakashi could only stare as he was swallowed by an orb of hardened water.

When Naruto looked up from the ditch he was laying in he saw Zabuza forming a water clone while he had his left hand in an orb of water. 'Kakashi Sensei" he whispered.

"Now which one of you brats am I going to kill first" The clone said before turning to Sasuke 'I think I'll kill you" Naruto's eyes widened

Run or he'll die. All that Sasuke saw was the blade coming towards him and a blur of orange when suddenly Sakura's scream filled the clearing. Sasuke stare in shock with what he was looking at. Zabuza's eyes were wide in shock while Naruto stood in front of him clutching the right side of his face while blood dripped from between his fingers.

"What?" he asked in confusion. Naruto let go of his face and Zabuza was shocked to see even though he had sliced his right eye to shreds the boy still hadn't screamed in pain.

"Sasuke step back" Sasuke was to shocked to do anything but what the blonde said, as soon as he was safely next to Sakura, Naruto launch forward and kicked Zabuza air born where he leapt after he and kicked him to the right and then up again and continued until he did a full circle when Zabuza reached the top of the Circle again, Naruto shot up and did a back flip kick "SPHERE SHOT!" Zabuza's clone exploded in a shower of water the minute it hit the ground and Naruto landed silently while blood streamed from his right eye. Without any warning he grabbed Sasuke's arm making the Uchiha heir look him in the eyes. "Sasuke do you want to beat him"

"Of course" he said gulping as he saw Naruto's completely ruined eye. Naruto nodded "Good I need you to throw me at him" Sasuke gulped and then grabbed Naruto's arm and then swung him around and sent him flying towards Zabuza who looked shocked when suddenly Naruto rammed into him sending the both of them flying across the water. While the water was streaming off him Kakashi stood up and glared at Zabuza who was now holding Naruto by the lapels of his jacket.

"You are an interesting one, you seem like an innocent little boy and yet you fight like a seasoned killer, I really like you, I mean your wound is very severe yet you just shrug it off" The swordsman said grinning as he lifted Naruto up higher to inspect the wound to Naruto's eye a little better.

"ZABUZA LET HIM GO!" Kakashi yelled, Zabuza smirked and hoisted Naruto up so that he was on his back.

"Nah I think I might keep him, he's an interesting little brat" That was when Kakashi saw red and his hands flew through several hand signs "GIANT VORTEX JUT SU" Zabuza was shocked when suddenly he was swept away in a large current of water while Naruto was snatched from his back.

"I'll get you Kakashi" Zabuza said as he was swept through the forest until he was hit by several senbon needles. Kakashi looked up from a spluttering Naruto to the hunter Nin who was standing on a high branch.

"Thank you Leaf Jonin for taking care of Zabuza he had been on my radar for a long time" came the very childish voice from behind the mask making Kakashi frown. "I will be going now" Then with a grace of a panther hunting the hunter Nin picked up Zabuza's body and disappeared.

"Kakashi sensei, Naruto needs help" Sakura said in a panicked voice as she rushed over and saw the blood still pouring from his eye.
"Is your home far?" Kakashi asked Tazuna as he to saw the severity of Naruto's wound. The bridge builder shook his head and Kakashi sighed and pulled his head band down before pulling Naruto's head band off and tied it around at an angle to put pressure on the wound. "Let's go then"